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parameterlab
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scaling_mia_the_pile_00_Pile-CC

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Wednesday, 13 July 2016 Software and Logic exams L/O 1 - To revise for the software and logic exams L/O 2 - To complete the software and logic exams Starter - 10 minutes Complete the worksheet system and application softwareAdd the software under the correct type of software Main - 45 minutes RED TASKRevise for your software examAMBER TASKTake the software exam - 15 minutesGREEN TASKRemind yourselves of the binary numbers.... You only need to know up to 15! Take the logic exam - 15 minutesEXT TASKYou can complete any of the following/if you get stuck this lesson there are two tasks you can complete:Complete a madewithcode project -->https://www.madewithcode.com/projects/Create a software Kahoot --> https://getkahoot.com/(sign up with your Wildern email account for free!)	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
Having gap after graduation will always be a red flag for the application but getting continuous hands-on clinical experience will help to show to the programs that you are clinically active which can help to minimize the gap. Also if you have good scores and connections it will help the application to match.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
carpet cleaning sittingbourne Can Be Fun For Anyone carpet cleaning sittingbourne Can Be Fun For Anyone All of our solutions are CHEMICAL Compound Totally free! and absolutely Secure for modest small children, domestic pets and allergy influenced people today. It absolutely was about forty a long time ago that several like-minded carpet cleaners bought along with considerations concerning the specifications of some cleaning businesses and a typical need to enhance their industry and its general public perception. Our professional cleaning deal in Sittingbourne and Kent is perfect for small and huge enterprises that look for a office they are often pleased with. Get in contact with us now to find out more. In general, the Ozone Approach has consistently offered exceptional microbiological efficacy as compared to a regular carpet cleaner. I only use Medway Pros for almost any get the job done I would like accomplishing. The company is very easy to use & I have never had to wait for over 1 hour just before I have already been contacted. Our price ranges are extremely competitive and we provide knowledgeable services that our customers are proud of. We'll always attempt our greatest to make certain all our clients are proud of our get the job done as our popularity speaks for alone. We provide An array of cleaning alternatives you can get any time you lease one among our devices around in Sittingbourne, and these will depart your carpet spotless and sensation refreshing and comfortable. üVisual appeal. Your carpets/furnishings may be previous in age but can generally appear to be new subsequent an experienced cleanse. üEnhanced existence expectancy – this eliminates lots of challenges that can cause carpets and furnishings needing to be replaced and preserving you income. We have been industry experts in spring cleaning and shot over to assist her accomplish her target of vibrant and newly spring cleaned carpeting, drapes and upholstery. Sittingbourne Carpet Cleaners is the greatest choice for all the customers residing in Sittingbourne and it’s spot. Reserving our services will likely not only considerably Enhance the appears and condition within your carpets and rugs, additionally, you will prolong their everyday living. Superb, right after getting in contact with you i had two telephone calls inside a number of hours. As the first time i used your Internet site I discovered just about every issue first-class. üHygenic surroundings. The removing of basic dust and soil debris – providing an even better living issue for people who have problems with bronchial asthma. Plenty of people suppose that carpets and curtains needs check here to be adjusted routinely soon after a particular amount of time, this is usually not legitimate! Our productive cleaning therapies will supply a new lease of lifestyle with our Upholstery, Carpet and Curtain cleaning in Sittingbourne.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
Memorial Sculpture: Suffragettes sculpture scroll Erection date: 1970 Inscription {The Suffragettes badge of a portcullis with an upward pointing arrow, followed by:}This tribute is erected by the Suffragette Fellowship to commemorate the courage and perseverance of all those men and women who in the long struggle for votes for women selflessly braved derision, opposition and ostracism, many enduring physical violence and suffering. {and near the bottom:}Nearby Caxton Hall was historically associated with women's suffrage meetings and deputations to parliament. {The Suffragettes badge is repeated on the back of the scroll.} This is made of fibreglass finished in cold cast bronze. Designed by Russell and unveiled by Lenton. As for the inscription, surely on this occasion it could have been ". . . women and men . . . "?	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
Contents Calcutta was almost destoyed in the 'teens thanks to VITAS and the fires that followed but is now the largest city in the Indian Union with 10 million citizens. It was rebuilt as a cutting edge, state of the art sprawl and although attempts were made at cleaning out the surrounding slums they were unsuccessful.[3] A nuclear exchange with Pakistan some time in the 2020s turned most of Kashmir into a wasteland [4] The Indian Union is a federal republic. The President of India is elected every five years, and is the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces. The Parliament of India consists of the lower house, the National Assembly, and the upper house, the Senate. The National Assembly is elected every three years. The Prime Minister is normally a member of the National Assembly. The Senate is the "states house", with the legislaturs of the Indian States electing ten Senators to serve six year terms. There have been several referendums in the States, asking their people if the State should become an independent country. All have failed, however. To respond to this crisis, the Parliament of India passed the India Act, 2030, which makes clear that if any state wished to leave India, they would have to ask their people a clear question, and must get a clear result. Several Governors of the States protested this Act, and declared their States independent, sparking the Indian crisis of 2030. The Supreme Court of India is the Highest Court in India. Justices of the Supreme Court are appointed by the President on the approval of the Senate. The Supreme Court also has the power to veto state legislation, but has never used such power yet. The Armed Forces of India consist of the Indian Army, the Indian Air Force, the Indian Navy. The President is the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces. The Armed Forces are one of the most powerful military's in Asia. India is also a nuclear country.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
Asociación Herrerías Recuperación Histórica y Patrimonial Minera de Minas de Herrerías Puebla de Guzmán (Huelva) Groups of people In this section, the Herrerias Association aims to exhibit photographs related to the life, facilities, jobs, events, etc.. at the Herrerías Mine.The photos are classified into several themes to facilitate your enjoyment.We greatly appreciate the contributions of the public and photographs of friends and reletives, highlighting "Photo Gallery" of www.lasherrerias.com and Domingo Suarez Ribes.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
NM mom: I followed instincts in chasing abductor ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) – Melissa Torrez didn’t even think when teenagers in her apartment complex said a man had just grabbed her 4-year-old girl and drove away. She jumped in her car and began chasing the brown Buick through traffic, zigzagging on Interstate 40 at high speeds and staying with the car even as it bluffed trying to exit in an attempt to lose her. Many called Torrez a hero after her story came out Wednesday. But Torrez said Friday that she was just a mother following her instincts. “My mind went black. I grabbed my keys,” said the 27-year-old mother of three. “I just got in my car and I … went looking for her.” Torrez said she remained only focused on getting her daughter back and quickly drove around the complex as teenagers chased the suspected abductor, later identified by police as 31-year-old David Hernandez. The teenagers pointed out his whereabouts, she said. Torrez said she eventually found a man in a brown Buick who led her on a high-speed chase throughout Albuquerque. “I felt like I was flying … as if I didn’t have my soul or something,” she said. The frantic mom was able to corner the man in the Buick at an apartment complex with no exit. She said as she drove toward his vehicle, she lost control of her car and struck his car. “I wasn’t trying to hit it because I thought my daughter was inside,” Torrez said. Torrez said the man got out of the car and raised his hands but took off running when police arrived. She then ran toward the car to search for her daughter but the vehicle was empty. An empty infant car seat was the only thing left. According to a police report, Hernandez pushed the 4-year-old out of the car at the Saint Anthony’s Plaza Apartment complex shortly after the abduction “presumably once he noticed Torrez had been notified and was following him.” Authorities said the child was uninjured. Torrez said she found out that her daughter was safe when neighbors called her. Police arrested Hernandez the next day following a massive manhunt that involved Homeland Security Investigations and the newly created multiagency called Sexual Predator and Exploitation Enforcement Detail, or SPEED, a task force aimed at finding missing and abducted children. Hernandez was charged with kidnapping and child abuse. He told reporters Thursday he was innocent. It was unclear if he had an attorney. Police were also investigating a possible connection to the abduction and sexual assault of a 6-year-old from the same apartment complex last week. The suspect in that case was described as a male in a silver or gray vehicle. Torrez said the ordeal has left her on edge. “I’m overprotective, but I’m even more overprotective now,” she said. “That’s my baby.”	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
This rendering shows the Symphony Honolulu condominium, which is being developed by San Diego-based OliverMcMillan. San Diego-based developer OliverMcMillan, which began construction on its Symphony Honolulu luxury condominium project in late 2013, has sold 90 percent of the units in this project, which is expected to be completed in less than a year, the firm’s CEO said this week. The project, being developed on 3.35 acres at 888 Kapiolani Blvd. across from the Blaisdell Center, includes 388 units in a 45-story tower, with commercial space on lower floors, including an automobile showroom for JN Automotive Group. Dene Oliver, CEO of OliverMcMillan, the keynote speaker of the International Council of Shopping Centers Hawaii event in Waikiki, said that he plans to own and live in a unit at Symphony Honolulu. He also has lived in a unit at another OliverMcMillian project, Pacifica condominium in Honolulu. The firm has recently opened a Hawaii regional office in Downtown Honolulu at Bishop Square’s Pauahi Tower. It also has offices in Atlanta, Houston and a showroom in New York. Alan Ong, former chief operating officer of Hunt Development Group’s Hawaii Division, has recently joined OliverMcMillan as its regional manager of its Hawaii operations. When asked by PBN about new projects the firm is working on, Ong declined to specify. The developer, through its former Hawaii regional manager, previously told PBN that it is eyeing several other projects in Hawaii. OliverMcMillan has been chosen to develop a nearly 27-acre parcel in Kapolei in West Oahu into a 400-unit mixed-use residential project. Ong, who was in attendance at the ICSC event, told PBN that it is working on the planning and design of this project. Duane Shimogawa Reporter Pacific Business News OliverMcMillan Pacific Rim LLC has put 10 penthouses at its 388-unit 45-story Symphony Honoulu condo project on the market with prices that start at $1.56 million. The company said Wednesday that the largest the penthouses at 888 Kapiolani Boulevard is 2,053 square feet. All of the penthouses have floor-to-ceiling windows, and some have 10-foot ceilings. They also have white oak flooring, kitchens with Thermador applicances, stone and marble bathrooms and ocean views, the company said. OliverMcMillian broke ground last year on the project, which should be ready by 2016. It is 75 percent sold, the company said. OliverMcMillan, in partnership with JN Automotive Group, will offer residents a car service called Velocity Premier Auto Concierge, which will allow them to use cars such as Ferrari, Maserati and Lamborghini. (Honolulu, Hawaii) — The developer of the newest residential project in Kaka‘ako to launch sales says the public response and sales have been strong. Symphony Honolulu is to be built at the corner of Ward Avenue and Kapiolani Boulevard, with the address 888 Kapiolani Boulevard. “The response to our project indicates there is a strong demand for homes in the urban core of Honolulu,” said Dan Nishikawa, president of OliverMcMillan Pacific Rim, the developer of Symphony Honolulu. He says 194 residences were sold during the weekend, with several potential buyers still in the sales center reviewing their choices. Nishikawa says buyers cited location as a major reason for their purchase. “People want to live close to their jobs so they can walk more and drive less. Avoiding traffic congestions and long commutes gives them more quality time to enjoy with their family and friends.” He also pointed out that buyers saw value in Symphony residences compared to other condominium projects in the area. “The size of our apartments average 1,100 square feet, with the added benefit of amenities such as a pool and spa, work-out and yoga studios, multi-media theaters, and outdoor grills and cabanas with a kitchen.” The condominium apartments include 288 market-priced residences and 100 reserved housing units. The market price ranges from the low $500,000s for a one-bedroom, the mid $600,000s for two bedrooms, and from the high $800,000s for three bedrooms. Reserved units are for buyers who meet income and asset requirements set by the Hawaii Community Development Authority (HCDA) and will be available for sale at a later date. Symphony is a mixed-use condominium tower with commercial areas and parking on the lower floors. The ground floor is being designed by JN Auto Group to create a world class auto galleria. Construction is expected to begin at the end of 2013 on a 25-month schedule. The project will create 400 jobs for construction and related industry workers. The auto galleria is expected to add 100 positions. The exclusive project broker is Heyer & Associates, with the project sales gallery at the Inspiration Design Center, 1250 Kapiolani Boulevard, 3rd floor. The sales gallery will be open daily from 10 am to 5 pm. Sales for units in a new 40-story condominium being built across from the Blaisdell Center have begun, according to the project’s developer. When completed, the Symphony Honolulu condos will have a total of 388 residential apartments in a 400-foot tower at the corner of Ward Avenue and Kapiolani Boulevard. “We believe there is strong demand for a range of market-priced and reserved housing in the urban core of Honolulu,” said Dan Nishikawa, president of OliverMcMillan Pacific Rim, the developer of Symphony Honolulu. The condominium apartments include 288 market-priced residences and 100 reserved housing units. The market price ranges from the low $500,000s for a one-bedroom residence, the mid $600,000s for two bedrooms, and from the high $800,000s for three bedrooms. Nishikawa says the Symphony Honolulu supports the vision of the Kaka‘ako Development Plan to create an urban community where residents can live close to their jobs, and walk to recreational centers. HAWAII AMERICANA REALTY For the past 14 years, Mark G. Howard has practiced his skills as a licensed Realtor in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Las Vegas, Nevada and now Principal Broker & President of 'Hawaii Americana Realty', in Honolulu, Hawaii. He has gained a competitive edge in the real estate market by earning his status as an Accredited Buyer’s Representative (ABR).	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters Thoughts on, and a place to discuss, the plot details we can't reveal in our review. Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters isn’t the kind of movie that requires or rewards thought, but it’s hard not to walk out of it with questions, and to wonder whether it was hacked down to the all-important under-90-minutes mark from a longer cut that made more sense. So many plot points are introduced, only to be instantly dropped. For instance, Jeremy Renner’s “sugar sickness” from being force-fed witch-candy as a boy. (A sort of magical diabetes, apparently.) He gets fatally ill out of nowhere for a couple of seconds, gives himself a shot, and later gets sick again in combat for another couple of seconds, but that scenario is instantly resolved. The whole thing adds less than a minute of drama-free content to the film, and contributes nothing. Was there once more there? Similarly, there’s the whole plot involving Edward the troll. It’s possible to mentally sketch out a history for him that would explain why he feels he has to serve the witches, why he rebels when he sees Arterton being bullied and abused, and why he decides to help her fight the witches in the end, but he’s a plot device rather than a character here, no matter how many times the camera pauses to look into his soulful eyes. Ditto Thomas Mann, whose plot arc amounts to: “I want to be like you guys!” “Meh.” [Hourlong pause.] “Want to come with us and fight witches?” “Yes!” “Okay, now sit over here for the rest of the film.” And then there’s Famke Janssen’s three seconds of backstory. And the fact that she wants to use Gemma Arterton’s heart as a spell component because she’s a “grand white witch,” which—apparently Arterton is a witch because her mom was or something? Even though she never uses any magical abilities herself, and becoming a witch is apparently a conscious choice. And there’s poor Pihla Viitala as the love interest with no personality who dies basically so the film can have a hero body count, which it instantly forgets. This movie feels like all the story was pared out of a two-hour film that actually made sense, and that spaced out the action scenes enough that they didn’t feel so repetitive and dull.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
The administration of President Nicolas Maduro faces a set of adverse conditions which have the potential to turn a majority of the country’s citizens against the incumbent government at the next election. In this context, there is perhaps more riding on economic and state reforms currently being designed than first meets the eye. From 1999 to 2012 the Bolivarian government was able to win and maintain mass support in the oil-rich South American nation, most of all from among the least well-off sectors of the population. This was due to several factors, including the promise of an inclusive, participatory political system and development model that could diversify the country’s economy from dependence on oil income, the improvement in living standards through the social investment of oil wealth and sustained economic growth, and the singularly powerful connection created between the leadership of Hugo Chavez and a substantial portion of the population. As a result of the successes of this project, including notable gains from social policies, Chavismo reached an almost unchallenged state of political hegemony in the mid 2000s, and has won almost every national election since December 1998. While the political opposition slowly regained electoral ground from 2006, until recently it had been unable to pose a serious national challenge to Chavismo. However from late 2012, coinciding with Chavez’s death and Nicolas Maduro’s narrow election in April last year, a worsening economic situation coupled with the accumulation of persistent long-term problems threaten to reverse this balance of power. In this context, it is important to examine changing public opinion toward the government and the factors which may be influencing this. Economic troubles hit Maduro’s popularity Following the waning of hard-line opposition unrest earlier this year, the wobbling state of the economy has become the central focus of attention for the country’s citizens. Problems seem to be centred around the complex system of fixed-rate currency exchange controls, which came under pressure last year when the value of the bolivar plummeted on the black market against the dollar, creating a large gap between the official and “black market” values of the currency. The economic distortions generated by this process, and the government’s effort to cut back on access to foreign currency as a result, have helped to create product shortages across the economy, including of essential consumer goods and some medicines. At the same time annual inflation has shot from 20% at the end of 2012 to over 60% currently, hitting the value of wages. Authorities meanwhile accuse business groups of helping create or worsen these problems, and say that around 40% of the country’s food supply is being smuggled into Colombia in order to escape Venezuelan price controls and make a higher profit. The situation with food scarcity should also not be exaggerated. Generally, supermarket shelves appear full and the majority of essential consumer items can be bought most of the time. Nevertheless several basic products, including milk, toilet paper and corn flour, are often absent, meaning that shoppers must visit more than one store or wait in long queues when scarce goods arrive in order to get all their weekly groceries. The effect for consumers is irritation and anxiety, as well as extra expense if they must resort to buying scarce goods at a speculative street price. Other developments add to the sense that the economy is not operating in a state of normality. Citing their inability to repatriate profits in bolivars through currency controls, international airlines have reduced flight capacity to Venezuela by 36%over the past year, and flight prices have skyrocketed. Meanwhile car assemblyhas plummeted by 83% compared with the same period last year. Companies attribute the situation to difficulties importing parts through currency controls. Such problems, in addition to conflicts over wages and conditions, often with the management of nationalised industries, have led to a wave of industrial unrest in several sectors recently including steel, electricity and car assembly. Further, surveys by Venezuelan consultancy firms Hinterlaces, Consultores 21 and Datanalisis show that between two thirds and fourth fifths of the public feel the country is “heading in a bad direction”, and that the overall negative perception of the state of the country’s affairs permeates down to the lowest income groups. This is a relatively recent phenomenon. The Hinterlaces organisation measures that less than two years ago these numbers were reversed, with two thirds of citizens expressing a positive outlook on the country’s affairs. There are other factors which contribute to growing dissatisfaction, such as high crime rates and perceptions of corruption and inefficiency in state administration. Yet these do not affect presidential approval as strongly as the economy, as citizens distribute responsibility for problems such as crime among a wider range of actors. There is also discontent among the dissident left wing of Chavismo in response to what they see as the reduction of spaces for criticism and debate within the government and the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), a complex issue covered in a recent article by author Federico Fuentes. A deeper process which works against the government is longevity in office.Chavismo has been in power since 1999, and by the next presidential election the Bolivarian government will have been running the country for almost two decades. This makes calls for “change” more attractive, especially to younger voters who have no first-hand experience of the pre-Bolivarian era with which to make a comparison. Nevertheless the available evidence suggests that the state of the economy is the determining factor behind a fall in presidential approval since Maduro was elected. Economic troubles, understood as food shortages and the rising cost of living, have overtaken crime as the country’s main problem in the eyes of citizens in a number of surveys. The majority of the blame for economic problems is being placed on the government’s shoulders: in a recent survey by Consultores 21, almost 63% of respondents felt the government was “at fault” for the economic situation. Parallel to this, approval ratings for Maduro’s performance have fallen to between 41- 47 percent.[i] Thus while approval for Maduro continues to be quite strong, polls suggest that his popularity has been reduced by around ten percentage points over the past twelve months. The worry for the government is that if this trend continues it may not be able to count on an absolute majority of votes at the next national election. This could have disastrous implications for the PSUV in the National Assembly elections toward the end of next year, where if the opposition were to win a majority of seats, it would essentially be able to hold a veto over new government legislation and the national budget. In such a situation, it is also possible that the opposition would try to subject Maduro to a recall referendum in 2016, putting the survival of the Bolivarian project to the test earlier than the December 2018 presidential elections. A closer look at public opinion Despite this challenging outlook, there are several factors which could contribute to the Maduro administration maintaining or recovering its level of support in the coming period. The first is that the 55 – 60% of the population that is expressing dissatisfaction with the government is not uniformly pro-opposition. The president of Datanalisis, Luis Vicente Leon, explained recently that in terms of political affiliation the country is divided into three roughly equal self-identifying groups comprised of chavistas, independents and opposition supporters. From these, the government can concretely count on the electoral support of around 40% of the population in a presidential election, while the opposition can also count on up to 40%, leaving around 20% of independents who could swing toward either pole during a given moment. In this context, a second advantage for the government is that since the end of last year the opposition has been unable to present a united voice or alternative project to the country. The prominent role played by the right-wing of the opposition compounds this as such groups promote a national vision that stands at odds with the values and demands of the country’s majority. This was evidenced earlier in the year when the hard-line opposition’s strategy of pressuring the government through protests and violent street barricades was rejected by a majority of citizens and left the opposition openly divided. With the recent resignation of the coordinator of the opposition MUD coalition, Ramon Guillermo Aveledo, and the holding of closed door meetings between opposition parties to try and sort through differences, the opposition has not managed to take advantage of the uncertainty and discontent affecting the population. However Luis Vicente Leon warned that if conditions remain as they are, an effective opposition could manage to draw together an anti-government majority in the future. “At some point a leader in the opposition will emerge, known or not, that capitalises on the energy againstChavismo,” the pollster predicted in a June interview. A third factor in the government’s favour is that a large majority of the population identifies with the ideals and values of Chavismo more than any other political movement. This includes young voters, a key group for evaluating shifting public opinion. In a national youth survey (15 – 29 yrs) conducted September – October last year by the Andres Bello Catholic University (UCAB), 78% of respondents felt that the state, rather than the private sector, has the main responsibility for creating employment. Meanwhile 81% felt the state has the main responsibility to ensure citizens’ wellbeing, and 84% felt the state should be the main provider of healthcare and education.[ii] These and other survey responses reflect a broad consensus, shared even by some opposition supporters, around the desirability of the state to play a leading role in a mixed economy, with the state also delivering key public services and policies to create employment and reduce inequality. However in the same youth survey there was not one majority positive evaluation for the Maduro administration’s performance in a range of areas measured. For example only 30% felt the government was managing the economy well, 34% felt the government was combating corruption, and 48% felt the government was acting to reduce poverty. It therefore seems that falling approval for the Maduro administration is not based on an outright rejection of the existing model or the ideals of the Bolivarian project, but stems from dissatisfaction with the government’s performance and the accumulation of specific problems. In addition, it is worth noting that the continued pursuit of social progress and attempts to protect living standards may have helped maintain presidential approval at a moderately positive level. Despite the aforementioned economic difficulties, social spending and other policies have so far managed to conserve gains in poverty reduction, while unemployment is at a record low. As such, Hinterlaces director Oscar Schemel argued in late July that Venezuelans “aren’t looking for people to blame, they’re demanding solutions. They are demanding a leader that executes decisions, that announces the new course…That is the task of the new leader of the revolution [Maduro], of the new stage of the revolution”. Reforms in the pipeline The government will likely be aware of these trends in public opinion. Nicolas Maduro’s response has been to propose a series of major reforms to the economy, state and party in the hope of setting the country on a course that can guarantee his administration majority support into the future. Regarding the economy, the executive cabinet appears to be planning some market orientated adjustments to reduce current distortions without relinquishing state control over the main levers of the economy. This strategy will possibly involve unifying the multiple official exchange rates, which would effectively devalue the currency closer to the “black market” value. Authorities are also looking to boost international reserves and internal revenue by renewing debt, centralising off-budget funds, reducing subsidies on domestic gasoline, and increasing tax intake. With this, the government hopes that a more stable model can lead to increased national production and the reduced use of foreign earnings for imports. On state administration, Maduro has announced he is looking to reduce corruption and bureaucracy, and improve efficiency, by conducting a review of the budgets and operation of each of the 30 government ministries and other state entities. In terms of the PSUV, pledges were made at the recent national congress to renew party authorities by January 2015, limit the use of “cooption” where party leaders unilaterally name electoral candidates and other positions, and to reorganise grassroots party structures. A conference is to be held later this year to analyse strategies for an “economic transition to socialism”. Conclusion Despite the relative calm on the streets of Venezuela after the defeat of the radical opposition’s uprising earlier this year, the Maduro administration finds itself at a critical juncture, with the loss of majority support before the next national election emerging as one possible outcome. It is a situation where the potential consequences of acting, or not acting, to reform the Chavez-era economic model are being weighed. Beyond the government’s policies and their results, there are a myriad of actors in Venezuelan politics that may influence public opinion over the coming period. Within the opposition these include various political parties, opposition-aligned NGO’s and pro-opposition student groups. In the Bolivarian movement they include the other parties of the Great Patriotic Pole (GPP) alliance, as well as dissident left groups within the PSUV and social movements such as the communes. External forces will also play a role, as China’s announcement of fresh loans for Venezuela and the U.S.’s on-going financing of opposition groups andrecent sanctions exemplify. However the evidence from opinion polls suggests that it is the economic situation which is the determining factor behind decreasing approval ratings for the government, and as such, the impact of planned economic reforms may prove decisive for the country’s political future and developmental path. [i] 41% = Datanalisis / May, Consultores 21 / June, 47% = Hinterlaces / July. While Hinterlaces polls tend to produce slightly more favourable results for the incumbent government than Datanalisis polls, both are considered credible for following trends in public opinion. [ii] The political affiliations of those who participated in the youth survey reflected the distribution of political self-identification in the country as a whole.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
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Rep. says Stiles is hardest working state senator Friday Sep 5, 2014 at 2:00 AM Sen. Nancy Stiles is the hardest working state senator in Concord. Living in Stratham, Nancy is my state senator. Being a state representative, I have seen Nancy in action firsthand. We have co-sponsored bills together and I have seen her leadership moving them through the legislative process. I have testified before the Senate Health, Education and Human Services Committee, of which she is the chairwoman, and seen her dissect issues with probing questions. I have also seen her in action at public meetings locally where she fights for her constituents and towns she represents. Sept. 2 — To the Editor: Sen. Nancy Stiles is the hardest working state senator in Concord. Living in Stratham, Nancy is my state senator. Being a state representative, I have seen Nancy in action firsthand. We have co-sponsored bills together and I have seen her leadership moving them through the legislative process. I have testified before the Senate Health, Education and Human Services Committee, of which she is the chairwoman, and seen her dissect issues with probing questions. I have also seen her in action at public meetings locally where she fights for her constituents and towns she represents. I did not agree with Sen. Stiles on every vote this past session. There were a handful of votes in which I had disagreed with her position, but at the same time there were several votes where she disagreed with my position. When voting, you should step back and look at a person's total record. Nancy's record of accomplishment certainly outweighs any differences we might have on certain issues. In the end, we are both thoughtful Republicans who believe in efficient government, no broad-based taxes and regulations that do not smother business but encourage businesses to come to New Hampshire. Steve Kenda, who is her opponent in the primary on Sept. 9, is a successful businessman whom I have met several times. He would be a great senator if Nancy wasn't running. Nancy is a tested leader who has served all on the Seacoast well in both the New Hampshire House of Representatives and the New Hampshire Senate. In my opinion, we do not need to be looking for a new Senator, whether Republican or Democrat, when we already have one of the most productive senators representing us in Concord. Please join me in voting for Sen. Nancy Stiles in the primary on Sept. 9, as well as in the general election on Nov. 4. Rep. Patrick F. Abrami Stratham Never miss a story Choose the plan that's right for you. Digital access or digital and print delivery. Advertise Original content available for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons license, except where noted. seacoastonline.com ~ 111 New Hampshire Ave., Portsmouth, NH 03801 ~ Privacy Policy ~ Terms Of Service	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
Why Does Anyone Pay Off Debt? Debt has become such an important feature of so many aspects of our lives that it is worth expending a bit of effort on understanding the basic operations of debt. So today let’s look at the question: why does anyone repay their debt? This might seem like a dim question. People repay their debts because they made a repayment promise when they borrowed money. They incurred a duty—legal and moral—to make payments according to a repayment schedule. The lender only agreed to extend the loan on promise of this repayment. But there’s something a bit thin to this way of looking at things. It no doubt explains a lot about why we repay our debts in good times. But when times are tough, often our obligations to our creditors interfere with other legal and moral obligations—such as providing for our families, or even paying off other debts. To put it a bit abstractly, in a world of unlimited abundance, the choice to pay off debt is obvious and easy. In a world of scarce resources, it is more difficult. So the question really is why we choose to meet certain obligations rather than others? It helps to think about debt not a single loan and repayment transaction—but as a series of purchases. The lender purchases a promise to pay—and perhaps security rights in collateral—in exchange for a special kind of payment called a loan. The borrower purchases back this promise to pay—and perhaps security rights in collateral—with a special kind of payment called a “repayment.” What Is a Mortgage? When you take out a mortgage, for example, you are really selling something to the bank—security rights in your home and your promise to pay the loan back with interest. When you make payments on your mortgage, you are working toward the total repurchase of those security rights on an installment plan. While you are making those payments, you are also purchasing the right to continue to reside in your home. Eventually, you pay off your mortgage and complete the repurchase of what you sold to the bank. But it is not just residency and the security interest you are purchasing, you are also purchasing optionality of various sorts. You are purchasing the right, for instance, to default on your loan later if home prices drop too far. In limited recourse states, you are purchasing the right to put future losses to your bank. You are also purchasing the right to the future gains on your home if prices go up. Finally—and importantly—you are purchasing your access to the loan market in the future, knowing that if you default, obtaining future loans will be very difficult. From this example we can see why the present situation—falling home prices, increasingly restrictive mortgage lending, and interest rates likely to rise—is not promising for mortgage repayment. The value of future gains looks increasingly diminished. The price of residency through mortgage payments versus renting is no longer as favorable. The already steep decline in prices makes it tempting to realize the value of the put option on your home. And, importantly, access to credit markets may already not exist if you are a subprime borrower with a poor credit score. Muni Bonds? If we understand why people do and do not pay off collateralized debt such as mortgages, we need to ask: why does anyone pay off non-recourse debt? If you cannot force a borrower to repay, why should you expect him to repay? This question is especially important when it comes to municipal bonds. A huge portion of muni debt is not really secured by anything except a promise to pay. The bondholder has simply purchased a promise of payments. What is the bond issuer buying by making payments? The answer seems to be: access to credit markets. The bond issuer makes payments not principally because he borrowed in the past—but because he plans to borrow in the future. Once we understand that municipal debt payments are purchases of a good, we can better understand the likelihood of municipal debt defaults. The chances of default are dependent on the relative marginal value of access to credit markets compared to the marginal value of other goods—such as pension and healthcare benefits, education, highways, bridges and social services. Importantly, this marginal value calculation is not an objective one that can be made in the abstract. It is the subject marginal value of the decision makers. Less abstractly, it is the value to the politicians who must make decisions about where to cut their budgets. Will it be pensions and healthcare or bonds? Which do they value more: the support of the pensioners or access to credit markets? A lot of bullishness on muni bonds depends on the idea that access to credit markets is very valuable. But there is surely some limit to its value. If the price in terms of other goods foregone becomes too steep, some politicians will prefer to default. A Reversal of Values In short, credit markets are better understood as purchase transactions in which lenders and borrowers exchange cash for goods. Whether or not the cash is exchanged depends on the value of the goods and the opportunity costs of goods that cannot be purchased. An aging population that is increasingly involved in influencing political outcomes could make it very pricey for politicians to cut pension and health care benefits. At the same time, rising interest rates may make credit so expensive that the value of immediate access to credit markets diminished. When wondering when any loan will be repaid we should always ask: what is the debtor buying with his repayment?	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
First Principle: Evidence is the best, most reliable way for humans to approximate truth as we interrogate the world of experience. Tuesday, November 9, 2010 Against Self-Importance [Updated 12/18] Humankind's pronounced predisposition to self-importance, bordering on haughty arrogance, leaves me with some combination of bafflement at our childlike taste for palatable delusion, frustration with our seeming inability to reason beyond it and weary resignation to our current solipsistic (in the sense of being characterized by extreme egocentrism) stance. Certainly, almost every successive discovery that is won through diligent scientific effort bespeaks the wondrousness of the world as we know it and the humbling majesty of the small planet on which we live. One need only consult the exciting developments emerging in disciplines ranging from biology to cosmology, chemistry to astrophysics, and paleontology to geophysics. However, our compounding and expanding scientific understanding only serves to testify to a universe far larger and grander than we will ever experience, and one in which we play such an infinitesimal role that we charitably could be said to have essentially no significance. As a regular reader of my writing might expect, I believe the institution of religion is the principal cause of the delusive idea that humans, either as individuals or as a species, hold some special significance. And, for clarity, I speak not only of significance exceeding that of other animals but, in fact, of any cosmic-scale significance whatsoever. From extremely early childhood, those of us raised with religious inculcation are told that we are children of god, created in his glorious image, and cared for and loved by him. Moreover, we are told that god is deeply concerned with our thoughts and actions, down to the trivial and the mundane, and that he is comprehensively aware of what we, as individuals, do. If the intellectual cancer of creationism is grafted onto, or simply replaces, our scientific education, we might well be led to believe that the universe, our planet in it and we on that planet were literally and supernaturally created, making us, by extension, godly objects. All of this is to say that, in youth, our intellectual development is so minimal that we have no defense against attractive delusion that is presented as fact by those whom we trust. If, in childhood, the fangs of religious indoctrination are plunged deeply into our bodies, pumping their unique brand of sweet-smelling toxin, we are likely to grow to be adults whose brains are hopelessly addled by nonsense. Recognizing religion as the robust, well-adapted phenomenon that it is, one cannot help but to approach it in Darwinian fashion in an attempt to understand why it is so pervasive. That religion, in general, promises an afterlife following earthly death certainly contributes to its appeal, inasmuch as the prospect of nonexistence seems to frighten and disturb most of us. In religion, many people also find not only solace and comfort but meaning and inspiration, too. For these people, god and religion, to some extent, provide life with an overarching purpose, without which, presumably, they would feel adrift. Religion also feeds into our innate egocentrism, inasmuch as many of us like to feel loved (especially by a supreme being!) and to believe that our actions, for better or worse, reverberate beyond our minuscule little sphere. Although religion might well be the vehicle through which human self-importance most frequently reveals itself, and I certainly would contend that it exacerbates and magnifies whatever predisposition toward egocentrism people might have, it definitely is not the only way in which this mental distortion becomes manifest. And I would be dishonest to say that I, myself, do not fall victim frequently to variants of this selfsame delusion. I suffer from an extreme susceptibility to the rose-colored visions of pure, undying romance that have permeated cinema for decades and that are so frequently echoed in sappy love songs, causing me to be sucked into ideas such as "soul mates." By that, I mean two people who, among the nearly 7 billion who populate this planet, are romantically meant for each other to the exclusion of all other possible couplings. The problem with such ideas is the unanswered, and seemingly unanswerable, question: "Meant for each other" by whom? And even granting the possibility that there were an individual, among the billions of people on our planet, for whom you were personally meant, it seems rather silly to think that you would find that individual. And let us not neglect to mention those old canards that it is sometimes just a person's "time to go" or that, if something happens, "it was meant to." One sometimes hears things similar to the former when a tragedy befalls somebody, such as, for instance, when a plane crash kills a happy young couple. Perhaps more to the point, somebody might say it was a young daredevil's "time to go" if he were to plunge to his death while mountain climbing. The apparent implication of this is that, if the daredevil were to have stayed home and watched television that day, some other accident would have offed him. Turning to the latter phrase, "it was meant to happen," I view it largely as a mental illusion one conjures to absolve oneself of blame and emancipate oneself from regret over an unwelcome development in one's life. That is, it involves believing that something was preordained, thereby allowing one to embrace the comforting notion that, no matter what choices had been made, the outcome would have been the same. The problems here are identical to the one previously identified: If one has a "time to go," by whom is it determined? If something "was meant to happen," to whom can we credit the planning? These generally secular forms of self-importance might seem meaningfully different from those characterizing religious practice. For instance, freethinkers recognize that prayer is a useless exercise that is undertaken by those who, in a fit of childish delusion, believe they can effect change in the real world by falling to their knees and murmuring to themselves, all the while thinking they are communicating with the creator of the universe. However, whether secular or religious, all variants tie together inasmuch as they are part of a fallacious-idea web wherein humans are significant, subjects of a plan, qualitatively different from other life forms and imbued with a nebulous "special something." It seems that there is insufficiently abundant comfort, purpose, meaning, ego stroking and reassurance in the harsh light of science, leading many to crawl back to the cool, dark territory of unreason, like bugs beneath a stone. From what, exactly, does the majority seek comfort? I argue that the answer is our proper place in a vast universe. The age of the universe--of which our solar system (as well as our entire galaxy) is the tiniest sliver--is 13.75 billion years, with an uncertainty of 0.17 billion years. The age of the Earth is 4.54 billion years, with an uncertainty of one percent. Modern forms of Homo sapiens first emerged on the scene about 195,000 years ago. Looking at these dates in context, we can say that humanlike creatures have been around less than one-hundredth of one percent of Earth's natural history. With a clearheaded comprehension of Darwinian evolution by natural selection, we understand that human beings happen to have evolved. We certainly were not bound to evolve, nor is evolution an efficacious stepladder that was designed to reach the heights of humankind, nor is humankind the "final product" toward which everything has been building. Furthermore, Darwinian evolution knows of only one Tree of Life, and we exist as part of, rather than standing apart from, that multiply branched tree. Finally, we also know that that which lives eventually will die and, despite a great deal of wishful thinking of both an explicitly religious and vaguely spiritual nature, there is literally no persuasive evidence to support the contention of an afterlife. The evidence, it turns out, is to the contrary. In God: The Failed Hypothesis--How Science Shows that God Does Not Exist, Victor Stenger writes, "We have seen that neurological and medical evidence strongly indicates that our memories, emotions, thoughts and, indeed, our very personalities reside in the physical particles of the brain or, more precisely, in the ways those particles interact. So this would seem to say that when our brains die, we die." Perhaps it is upsetting to accept, but the simple fact remains that each of us will die. There will come a day, whether distant or close at hand, when each of us will be but a cold, lifeless body, lying in a morgue or funeral parlor, or on a medical examiner's slab. Makeup and powder will be applied to our faces, our best clothes will be draped on our corpses and we will be injected with chemicals to forestall the process through which each of us will decompose...until we become nothing at all. If one adheres to Christian dogma, quite a bit of the preceding discussion might be questioned or flatly denied. I recognize that, if one is a bible-believing Christian, one is fully entitled, if not outright obligated, to believe in the intrinsic specialness of humankind and our species' cosmic, enduring importance. That one's false superstition compels such beliefs, though, does not prevent me from pointing out that Christianity amplifies, distorts and exacerbates delusive self-importance, a condition that is well recognized if only partially understood. I see no particular reason to relitigate all the issues that I, and many others, have already discussed, such as the ludicrousness of prayer, the many frailties of Christianity and the profound weakness of the design hypothesis, but I do think it is worthwhile to reiterate the principal reason why I am not, and intellectually cannot be, a Christian. Quite simply, to subscribe to Christianity, one must believe that a god who, in barbarous and ignorant times, was eminently clear, present and active suddenly, upon the emergence of a scientific understanding of the natural order, became a silent, inert sluggard whose presence can only be discerned in the most obscure, skepticism-baiting ways. The Israelites had precious little need for abstruse philosophical prestidigitation like the Transcendental Argument. Whether it is the seemingly endless succession of people predicting the end of the world in their puny, insignificant lifetimes, the thoroughly irrational masses who are convinced that Jesus will return to judge the living and the dead sometime before they, themselves, would die off, or the people who foolishly pretend that Earth holds a place of significance in an observable universe that is estimated to measure 93 billion light-years in diameter, humans habitually betray a breathtaking ego that is completely unwarranted by the evidence. If one wishes to think and, as a result, behave in accordance with truth (as best as it has been currently ascertained), one should recognize that, qualitatively, we are no different from any other evolved creature, our current perch atop the animal kingdom notwithstanding. And if one requires meaning of some kind to persist in life, one must invent such meaning for oneself. Because just as surely as there is no objective, prescriptive moral code weaved into the fabric of the cosmos, nor any god above, below or anywhere else to love, supervise, create or punish, there is no purpose to life, to humans, or to you or to me apart from whichever one we invent. And as much as we might like to believe we are a grand, towering thing of a sort that only a deity could assemble, the truth is contrary: We are the accidental product, among millions and millions of others, of a Darwinian trial-and-error process. Most importantly, the universe did not notice our arrival and does not notice our persistence; it will not notice our eventual, inevitable extinction and shall not remember our follies. 3 Comments: This deserves a thumbs up simply for the use of the word "prestidigitation". It almost sounds like a medical disorder, like being born with an extra finger or toe. My (somewhat clumsy)catch-all term for what you describe in this post is "human egocentrism." So much of religious expression manifests itself in this way. From the relatively harmless belief some people have that God is like some non-judgemental BFF who they can always talk to when their feeling down, to the other end of the spectrum, where we are so gosh darn important in this universe filled with billions of galaxies that the forces of good and evil literally struggle against each other through us. In the one corner, we have God and the angels, imploring us to follow God's commandments so that we can achieve a heavenly reward. In the other corner, Satan and his demons, whispering in our ears, telling us "Go ahead, do that line of coke. Cheat on your spouse. Jerk off to that picture of Kim Kardashian. Steal that old lady's purse." I was reading a while back about one of those Quiverfull women who was talking about cranking out the babies so they can swell the ranks of God's army. Right, a being powerful enough to create this vast universe needs human beings to serve in its army. Talk about overinflating our importance. I beg to differ with you on a premise you start out with, namely, "I believe the principal cause of the delusive idea that humans, either as individuals or as a species, hold some special significance--and I speak not only of significance exceeding that of other animals but, indeed, of any cosmic-scale significance at all--is the institution of religion." Assume, only for this moment, the world has A Creator. Assume too, for this moment - hold your breath if you have to - that The Creator "creates man in His image". What this means is that man has branded into his feature-set:1) The feeling that he is the only one there really is; And2) The feeling that he can create something. This is why, after you present the well-appreciated beauty that exists in Nature, I then part ways with you because I believe there IS the artist that created this near-perfect world (leaving something for mankind to accomplish - otherwise why put us here on earth in the first place?), whereas, according to you, were you to come across a beautiful painting in a desert, you'd think that billions of years of evolution took that picture to its beauty. I believe the creator hypothesis is fraught with problems, ranging from relatively minor to crippling. First, in what manner, exactly, did the creator create the world and humankind? Do you propose a universe that is 6000-some years old? If so, I cannot join you on that path, because it is scientifically indefensible. Do you propose special creation of humankind, as opposed to Darwinian evolution? If so, I cannot join you on that path, because it, too, is scientifically untenable. For the sake of argument, let us assume you acknowledge that the universe is 13.7 billion years old, Earth is 4.54 billion years old and humankind, in something approaching modern forms, is around 200,000 years old. Let us assume you concede universal common descent, and humanity’s place on the Darwinian Tree of Life. Assuming all this, how can you assign such seemingly random importance to humans? Science has allowed us to discover that there are hundreds of billions of stars in our galaxy--a large percentage of them with planetary systems--and hundreds of billions of galaxies. We are one species, which is less than 200,000 years old, populating one planet, which orbits a fairly ordinary star, which is but a single star in a massive galaxy, which itself is a mere speck among the hundreds of billions of galaxies in the universe, which itself might be one of the near-infinite number of universes suggested by quantum mechanics. From whence comes this incredible importance associated with humans? Additionally, if you posit a creator of the universe and of humankind, you aggravate the challenge of explaining things. Any deity that is sufficiently creative and intelligent to design a universe or a human being is also sufficiently creative and intelligent to require its own explanation. To give no explanation is simply to accept unexplained organized complexity, which is the very thing we are trying to explain away.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
Aprilia SR 150 Scooter launched Price Tag Rs.65,000 in India Piaggio’s Aprilia SR 150 Scooter:The highly anticipated Aprilia SR 150 has been officially Launched Today in India which to be on August 22nd, 2016. The Italian brand Aprilia has launched the Scooter at an introductory price tag of Rs 65,000 for the Indians. As who want to buy this product need to get through the Vespa dealerships in the country. The company has already started accepting the bookings of the New Aprilia scooter which can be easily booked through Online. For the booking of the SR 150, the users need to pay a booking amount of Rs 2000 through the Paytm. Check Aprilia SR150 Scooter First Ride ReviewBelow : Aprilia 150 will be expected to be offered in two different colours. The external and internal features of the scooter are packed with such a dual tone art leather seat, under seat storage and a USB provision. The front visual of the scooter will be getting the break styled front apron twin headlamp, handlebar mounted turn indicators and instrument cluster. Aprilia SR 150 Scooter is powered by a 154.4cc 3-valve, air-cooled, single-cylinder engine that also does duty in the Vespa 150 in the country. It will generate 11.39bhp of power and 11.5Nm of torque mated to a CVT unit. The instrument cluster will sport with a twin-pod analogue unit for speedometer, fuel gauge, and odometer. The company is expected to commence its deliveries soon after the launch of Aprilia 150. As this scooter is very special because this is the first Aprilia model to be manufactured in India. The 14-inch alloy wheels wrapped around the 120/70 spec wheels. The Aprilia SR 150 will employ telescopic front forks and a mono shock unit at the rear. Piaggio will be selling the Aprilia through Vespa outlets. Book Aprilia SR 150 Online throughPaytmoffers 100% cashback on booking amount .	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
Cold and hot cylinder is also known as aging tank, cold and hot cylinder belongs to a device in stainless steel container&period; Have the characteristics such as energy-saving, noise reduction, corrosion resistance, strong production capacity, easy cleaning&period; It is widely used in dairy industry, food, pharmaceutical, chemical, beverage and other industrial departments to heat, cool, insulate sterilization processing or store slurry&period; Especially suitable for the pasteurized milk, and is the necessary equipment in ice cream production line&period;	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
Do Days by Vito J Racanelli The first few weeks after it happened, I came home from St. Sebastian’s School and looked across the street at Steven's basement window. The last time I’d seen him, Steven burst out of that window, the glass exploding into an otherwise quiet June day. He was gone now, but I still expected him to do that each time I passed by. Steven was like that. When the traffic on the expressway backs up so badly that the cars sometimes don’t move for days, the commuters give up on driving altogether and begin to walk. Some of the refugees head straight for Manhattan two or three miles away, and some head back into the safety of the suburbs, but others wander down our street in what was once an almost a fashionable neighborhood in Brooklyn. They bang on the doors of brownstones, begging for water or a toilet or places to plug in their phones, and that’s when Rachael and I know that it’s time to go scavenging through the abandoned cars, looking for whatever we can eat or drink or sell. Charlie knocked the scuffed, mean-looking heel of her right Dr. Marten boot against the toe of the left. She knocked the shoes together in time with the swaying of the subway train, stopping only when the cars came to a slow, screeching halt.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
CoffeeSpoons Wednesday, January 23, 2008 QUESTIONS FROM THE UNITED KINGDOM Regular readers of CoffeeSpoons will undoubtedly have noticed that I have been having an on-line dialogue recently with Andrew "White Rabbit" Keogh. Andrew is a London barrister who discovered my blog and began to comment on it; he maintains a fine blog site of his own, and we've been exchanging comments and observations over the past couple of weeks. The exchange has been fun. It has become obvious that, despite the similarities between our two countries, there are different customs and terminologies that sometimes interfere with our understanding of one another. This became obvious when Andrew posted an interesting commentary about the dearth of good salads in the United Kingdom. I responded, noting that one of my favorite salad ingredients is garbanzo beans. This was a term previously unfamiliar to Andrew. When I told him that they are sometimes referred to as chick peas or hummus, he immediately knew what I was talking about. In further discussing the differences in terminology and customs, one of Andrew's regular readers quizzed him as to whether he knows what "cilantro" is. Of course, as one who loves Mexican food the way that it is served in the United States, I was immediately familiar with the term. It turns out, though, that the substance that we call "cilantro" in the United States is referred to as "coriander" across the Atlantic. If I understand correctly it also appears, to my surprise, that those in the United Kingdom sometimes put mayonnaise on salads. I've never seen that done here. In his most recent comment on CoffeeSpoons, the White Rabbit asked me several questions. These pertain more to me personally than to anything dealing with our culture generally. I answer them now for the edification of any who may be interested. Question 1: What on earth is a garbanzo bean? Answer: See above. Question 2: Can a vegan eat honey? I suppose it's a kind of animal product. Answer: I think that you are right. While I doubt that a true vegan would eat honey, I don't feel qualified to answer this question. I am actually a vegetarian, but not a vegan. I don't drink milk or eat eggs by themselves, but I do consume some animal products. I discovered early on that it is almost impossible to completely avoid them. Accordingly, I do eat cheese sometimes and, undoubtedly, I occasionally consume some items that have milk and eggs in them. Question 3: Why has a vegan (vegetarian) got the handle "Meatbe?" I can't see past the 'meat' bit. Answer: That is funny, isn't it? The nickname actually has nothing to do with my dietary habits. It goes back to when I was in junior high school. I went by "Matt" in those days, and some of my buddies changed it, for whatever reason, and started calling me "Meat." It evolved into "Meatbe," but there's really no great story behind it. My oldest friends call me Meat or Meatbe to this day. One blogger in my home town suggested a year or so ago that they should now change it to "Vegbe," which I found to be a very clever suggestion. Question 4: I'm curious to know what the sporting event in the background in your profile pic is. Having said that, sport causes even more transatlantic confusion than food methinks. Answer: In the picture, I am attending a college football game at the University of Illinois. There were almost 60,000 fans at that particular game. College football games are very fun and festive events here. If you ever have the chance to go to one, I would highly recommend it. Friday, January 18, 2008 THE TEMPEST While most of Cardinal Nation was busy cheering the U of L men's basketball team to a victory over Marquette last night, my son Collin Matthew and I were engaged in other pursuits. We were taking advantage of an opportunity to see The Tempest at Actors Theatre of Louisville. We had been looking forward to seeing the show, and I'm pleased to report that we were not disappointed in the least. The Tempest is a wonderful, imaginative play. It is generally considered to be William Shakespeare's final solo work. The play is a "magical comic romance," filled with poetic imagery and powerful evocative language. Having been banished to a deserted island the protagonist, Prospero, conjures up a storm to exact revenge upon those who have betrayed and banished him. Collin and I both felt that the cast did an outstanding job of creating the story, using all available theatrical tools to great advantage. We felt that Henry Woronicz was very compelling in the role of Prospero. Overall, the cast was strong, and the performance was memorable. Special thanks go to Susie and Mike Stewart (who were busy attending the 'Ville game) for making the tickets available to us. This was a special evening for father and son. I loved getting to share the experience with Collin, and I won't soon forget it. Wednesday, January 16, 2008 THE NEW GYM It isn't every day that my mug appears on the front page of the Indiana section of The Courier Journal, but it happened back in September. The occasion for my appearance in the limelight came as a result of the unexpected closing of the gym where I had worked out regularly since 1992, The Fitness Zone on Spring Street in New Albany. No one was more surprised about the gym's closing than I was. I showed up at noon one Monday, ready to work out as usual. To my dismay, the gym was locked. A terse hand-written sign informed me that the facility was being closed indefinitely because the owners had lost their lease. There was apparently no way for me to recoup the dues that I had paid in advance for my ongoing membership. A C-J reporter, Ben Zion Hershberg, happened to be there investigating the closing. He interviewed me and snapped my photo for the story. I was very dismayed about the closing of The Fitness Zone. It was a great gym. Those who worked out there were generally pretty serious about their training. It was close to my office, and I had many friends there. The day that The Fitness Zone closed, I began looking for a new gym. Working out is something that I cannot do without. If I go more than a day or two without hitting it, I begin to feel like a slug. I ended up settling on Total Fitness & Wellness. It is Dr. Stanley Schooler's gym, located on Charlestown Road behind Kohl's. It's a nice place. It is much smaller than The Fitness Zone, and much less convenient for me to travel to from my office, but it is clean and the people there are friendly. I've been hitting it four or five times per week, and I've kind of gotten used to it now. It doesn't feel like home yet, but I'm getting more comfortable there. I really miss The Fitness Zone, and I wish that it were still open. I'm looking forward to checking out the new YMCA at Scribner Place when it eventually opens, and I can envision joining there if it fits my needs. For now, I am happy to have found a suitable place to work out. Sunday, January 13, 2008 THE SMOKING BAN The city of Louisville has reinstated its smoking ban, and I couldn't be happier about it. Now, without exception, patrons are barred from lighting up in public venues, including bars and restaurants. Once again, we can go in and have a beer and/or a meal without having to worry about someone else's smoke invading the air that we are trying to breathe. I enjoyed that very privilege yesterday, going into a Louisville establishment to enjoy the NFL playoffs in a busy bar that was delightfully smoke-free. To me, the smoking ban makes absolute sense as a public health measure. Some say that it should be left up to the individual bar or restaurant owner to decide whether he or she wants to permit smoking on the premises. I strongly disagree. Why should it be permissible for anyone to be allowed to emit a dangerous carcinogen into the public breathing space? Why should workers be forced to endure a dangerous and unhealthy working environment? I hope that the city of New Albany will join the rest of the civilized world and enact a similar ban soon. To its credit, the city of Jeffersonville does have a smoking ban, but it unfortunately does not extend to bars--at least not yet. This is not an issue of civil liberties. Those who wish to smoke are entitled to do so within the confines of their own homes. They are not, however, entitled to invade the space of others and pollute the public air. Thursday, January 10, 2008 INNS OF COURT Tonight, I participated in a meeting of the Sherman Minton chapter of the American Inns of Court. The Inns of Court is an organization in which lawyers and judges have monthly meetings to socialize and share legal education programs for the betterment of the local legal community. Participation is voluntary. All of the local judges are members, though, and so most of of the leading lawyers in Floyd and Clark counties are members as well. Each month, a different team of members is responsible for presenting a continuing legal education program. It was my team's turn to present the program this evening. My team is comprised primarily of litigators, and so it was our assignment to present a program relating to the requirements for introducing evidence at trial. I think that the presentation went very well. My particular topic was "Impeachment by evidence of prior bad acts." I researched and wrote a paper on the subject, and then gave a talk about it during our meeting. Some debate was called for, and I was enthused that Judge J. Terrence Cody, Judge Dan Donahue, Judge Jerry Jacobi and trial lawyer extraordinaire Jim Bourne all participated in some spirited discussion on my topic. It was fun. My group was led by Dick Mullineaux, a good friend and a very well-respected veteran of many jury trials. Dick did a great job of getting our group of attorneys organized to present a cohesive and beneficial program. Dick and I were both very close to Sam Day, who passed away almost five years ago now, and we share a special bond because of the bereft feeling that we share at his loss. Indeed, Sam and I presented several Inns of Court programs together. I suppose that I will never attend a meeting there without having his memory evoked. I think that Sam would have enjoyed tonight's program. I wish that he could have been there. Wednesday, January 09, 2008 TASTES LIKE CHICKEN Today marks the one-year anniversary of the day that I last tasted meat. Since January 10, 2007, I have not gnawed on an animal carcass or nibbled on dead animal flesh of any variety. I have not swallowed a teaspoon of milk or eaten a deviled egg. Steak, chicken, and fish of any kind have been off limits. Not one piece of shrimp, no chicken nuggets, and most definitely no hamburgers. And I must tell you that it feels great. I feel a great sense of accomplishment at having been strong on the vegetarian front for a full year, and I'm full steam ahead with that program for the foreseeable future. Many people cannot understand my conversion. I have explained several times on this blog why I decided to eschew the consumption of animal flesh. For me, it was primarily a decision to strive for healthy living. After battling high cholesterol and elevated blood pressure with limited success, I decided to take control of the situation. I owe a great debt of gratitude to Dr. Bryant Stamford, a professor at Hanover College who (via his C-J column) turned me on to The China Study, by T. Colin Campbell. In The China Study, Dr. Campbell debunks the myths that we have been fed about nutrition in our society. Contrary to popular belief, animal proteins are bad, bad bad for us! We have been sold a bill of goods, encouraged to drink milk and eat fish and other meats, not realizing that these substances are killing us. And this important health information has been kept from us because billions and billions of dollars are being made courtesy of our blissful ignorance. The dairy industry, meat producers and most especially the pharmaceutical companies to not want us to discover the truth that we are killing ourselves by consuming animal proteins. I did not come to this realization easily or lightly. For 45 years, I drank milk and ate meat every day, convinced that those foods would cause me to be healthy and strong. I couldn't have been more wrong. A diet consisting primarily of whole foods, fruits and vegetables is the key. The evidence is clear that in societies where milk and other animal products are not a substantial part of the diet, and where whole foods, fruits and vegetables are emphasized, there is a much lower incidence of heart disease, diabetes, cancer and other devastating health problems. It also turns out that the consumption of slaughtered animals is injurious to our environment--in case anyone cares about that. I would urge anyone within the sound of my voice, or within the reach of these written words, to read The China Study and decide for yourself. Saturday, January 05, 2008 JOYEUX ANNIVERSAIRE TO THE C-BEAR! Today is the seventeenth birthday of my youngest child, Collin Matthew Jones--or, as I have affectionately called him for many moons, the C-Bear. Collin is a true delight, a source of absolute pride to me, and a character who brings smiles to the faces of all who know him. Collin is a true renaissance man. He is an accomplished actor who is as comfortable with Shakespeare as he is with modern day comedic writers. He has been a varsity football player and wrestler, while at the same time honing his skills as a musician on the piano, the guitar, the cello and, more recently, the ukulele. While taking breaks from his studies at Providence High School, he writes poetry and short stories. He'll be visiting France for the second time this spring. He also has a lovely and delightful girlfriend, Sarah. Happy birthday, C-Bear! I hope that it is a great one for you. I'm especially pleased on this January 5th that the Cards were able to deliver a big win in basketball over our rival Blue Bellies. (O.K.--I understand that this win is much more significant to me than it is to you, but I trust that you are psyched about it as well. Hoo-Yah! Go Cards!) My dear C-Bear, I hope that this is a special and fantastic year for you. When 2008 ends, you will be a senior, well on your way to your college destination, wherever that may turn out to be. You have some big decisions ahead. I hope that you know that, wherever your path may lead, I will always be with you. I am proud of you and I love you.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
HACK DRAGON CITY Dragon City is a fun new browser game where you hatch, breed and raise all different types of dragons while using them to compete against other players in various ways. If you want to do the best at this game then you might hack Dragon City to get the most out of it. It isn’t exactly hard to hack Dragon City but if you do wish to go that route, you need to get the right tools to hack Dragon City. Not just any hack is going to do. Boom Magician HACK DRAGON CITY, GET IT GET IT GET IT The first thing you will need to do is find a hack Dragon City 2013. After you find one, a hack dragon city download will get you the small program file you need to abuse Dragon City and totally dominate at the game. What happens to you after that is only your fault and nobody else’s so don’t expect anyone to care if you get banned from Facebook or some other service for using illegal third party software. Downloading, installing and using a hack Dragon City download will be as easy as clicking a few buttons and following the prompts that appear. Make sure it is the hack Dragon City 2013 version and not from some other year for two reasons. First, you might be getting the wrong version of the software. Second, you’re downloading hacks; it is conceivable that they could be harmful viruses. You should not go looking for hacks without antivirus software installed.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
Leadership and management experiences from the manufacturing world. 15 May 2009 It’s about time! For years now the healthcare industry in the US has been suffering form a sub-competitive market. Demand for services, medicine, doctors, cures… and the list goes on… has far outpaced the availability of these, and in consequence has led to yearly price increases which double or triple the rate of inflation. Now, I’m not saying that I agree with the new administration’s ‘socialization’ approach, however, the fact that over regulation has made it nearly impossible for new players to enter the market, and forcing family doctors, who will spend most of their lives prescribing Tylenol and antibiotics, to spend 8 years in school just to do that, it’s about time government take a new approach to make these services, not only more affordable, but more abundant. Needless to say, whether government starts regulating costs or they open the gates to allow greater competition, the current players will have to find new ways to keep their bottom lines healthy. Not only at the research level, but at the operational level these companies and service providers will have to get better in light of the new rules that will likely impact the industry. The ‘medicine’ that these players will need heavy doses of will be “innovation”. However, this innovation will have to come with different rules governing the market. The lack of competition has allowed these players to forget what the words ‘frugal’ and ‘efficient’ mean. The entire system will be under cost pressure to meet the new reality, and they will no longer be able to throw unlimited amounts of money and resources to “find the cure”. All processes in this supply chain will need scrutiny and most providers will come to realize that not only the ideas from their scientists and doctors will have to be taken into account, but the ideas from the nurses, bill collectors, shop floor operators, call centers, ER staff, insurance companies, orderlies, and perhaps even the customers will need to be considered and addressed. 2 comments: Your statement "... lack of competition..." about the healthcare industry (social program, actually) says it all. Regulation, and government in general, is antithetical to choice and the concept of a "market." Competition is the natural result of free choice and a genuinely democratic society. Innovation requires the elevation of value, which cannot occur through an entropic process; energy, whether intellectual or physical, must be input to the system to elevate value to a higher level. That energy is the response to healthy competitive survival pressures. Unfortunately, given the presence of an innovation-squelching FDA, an AMA to monopolize the profession, and government-connected companies living off Medicare and throwing money at DC to keep things that way, healthcare is more of a Fascist realm than a bona fide industry. Great post. Thank you for sharing. I certainly echo your observations. I also can't say I agree with socialization of healthcare but I do believe that has inadvertently expose the serious lack of incentives to promote innovation in the healtcare industry. It often reminds me where the banking industry was 10 years ago, plagued by inefficient manual efforts and antiquated systems that could not keep up with the evolving customer needs and the sophistication of credit risk. We live in a data driven world where technology enables us to measure and compare everything. Thanks to competition, patients now have access to more choices and are able make informed desitions when selecting the best quality of care. This means that healthcare providers have to put a value based - patient centric approach to their business to remain competitive, and leverage new technologies (like the Cloud, Big Data, Analytics) to better manage costs and drive innovation.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
Hakuho goes for 41st title Although yokozuna Hakuho has pronounced himself fit enough to fight, the Summer Grand Sumo Tournament swings into action on Sunday missing two of its elite wrestlers. Hakuho is set to compete despite missing March’s tourney — won by fellow Mongolian yokozuna Kakuryu — due to a toe injury, but the yokozuna ranks will be without Kisenosato. The 31-year-old will sit out the tournament due to his inability to rehab properly from an injury he suffered over a year ago. Kisenosato’s stablemate, ozeki Takayasu, will be absent on the first day but hopes to get into the fray before it ends. Takayasu is coming off back-to-back 12-3 records, but he would forfeit his prestigious ozeki ranking should he compete and fail to get eight wins in two straight grand tournaments. Missing the start of the tournament would make eight wins a more difficult task. The 15-day competition at Tokyo’s Ryogoku Kokugikan kicks off with Hakuho, seeking to extend his record championship haul to 41. He will face compatriot and No. 1 maegashira Tamawashi, whom he has beaten in each of their 10 career bouts. Yokozuna Kakuryu is looking to follow his March championship with a strong effort, having never won 10 bouts in any of the three tournaments following his previous titles. The 32-year-old Mongolian will face the popular Endo on Sunday. Endo, who has beaten the yokozuna twice in eight bouts, is competing as a komusubi for the first time in his career. Ozeki Goeido will open his campaign against Brazilian Kaisei, who will look to build on his breakthrough March tourney when he won a career-high 12 wins — earning him promotion to the other No. 1 maegashira slot. Sekiwake Tochinoshin, January’s champion, will need to be ready from the get-go when he squares off against Shohozan. The Georgian enters the bout with an 11-3 career record against his opponent, but has been dealing with a balky right shoulder. The dynamic No. 2 maegashira gives away 13 cm in height and 28 kg in weight, but the energy Shohozan brings promises an entertaining confrontation between his speed and determination, and the sekiwake’s raw power.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
First, congratulations are due to President Obama on his reelection and to Republicans on a strong House majority. Each has a different lesson to take from last night’s results. The president must recognize that his reelection was not a mandate for his policies, but rather an impressive tactical political feat that gives him a second chance to govern and lead the United States away from predictable financial disaster. Republicans have a political lesson to learn on the serious demographic challenges they face moving forward. Any celebration for President Obama is short-lived, however, as he returns to Washington facing a $600 billion fiscal cliff that must be dealt with before the end of the year. Or, alternatively, he can resume his second term with a self-inflicted recession. Any mandate the president believes he has on raising taxes is equally strongly felt in the other direction by a House Republican majority that was returned despite his victory. The president must begin to work with the same partisan configuration in Congress that he has had for the past two years. However, even with the same cast of characters, the future of our country demands that this movie have a different ending. The most important thing for the president to do now is reach out to those who matter: Speaker Boehner, Majority Leader Reid, Minority Leader McConnell, and develop a path forward to avert the fiscal cliff. Partisan posturing aside, there are real policy challenges that can no longer be put on the back burner. Global markets, and rating agencies in particular, will want to see real improvement in the fiscal picture in 2013. After all, if it can’t be done in 2013, how will it happen before 2017 — which is far too late? With the president’s reelection, the prospect of transformational changes to Medicare, Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, and taxes are far less likely. Instead, what we can project from last night is a future of incremental reforms. I expect he will go small-ball on tax reform and entitlement reform, and continue to avoid the worse of our fiscal woes without really fixing the problem. In 2010, the president mistakenly disregarded the bipartisan solutions presented by Simpson-Bowles. Last night was the president’s last election. While history has given us no reason to believe that he will move to the middle and actually begin to govern, we can hope that without an election in his future, he will take this opportunity to do just that. Republicans can look to last night and see that President Obama won 40 percent of the white vote and more than 300 electoral votes. His coalition was broad. Over the longer term, the Republican party faces serious demographic problems, which they must and will overcome. But right now, focus must remain on the fiscal cliff. President Obama and leaders in Congress return to Washington facing the same fiscal challenges that we have had for years with no changes to the political makeup.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
Sunday, 20 August 2006 As Congress finagles over finances for this and monies for that, the bridges, roads, and other infrastructures of our country fall into disrepair. Money to fill potholes, improve railroad lines, and replace aging bridges is crossed off the books while tax cuts march in and other funds march out to wars. What happens when all of our bridges collapse, when our roads are not drivable, or when public transit, still fledgling throughout much of the country, is forgotten? We will all be in a heap of trouble. Unfortunately it seems that action is only taken following a tragedy and even then, it is often too little too late. Or in the case of the recent Amtrak crash, Congress fights over the entire system rather than attending to individual segments and the service as a whole. Spending time in Europe I have always marveled at the transit system. I can go virtually anywhere in cities like Paris and Madrid on the Metro and arrive just a few steps from my destination. Trains operate at high speed and efficiency in most countries and again take me within a few feet of where I want to go. Now I have not studied bridges and road conditions in much of Europe but it does seem that there are crews in action almost everywhere I glance. Even when funding is tight, there is an appreciation of the infrastructure's service and its critical importance. I remember long ago when the San Francisco Bay Area began BART the Bay Area Transit System. Market Street was a disaster for years as this huge project was completed. It is now a very handy service, however, it still has enormous gaps. If you need a half-moon bay loop BART is ideal, however the western city of San Francisco is out as are subways under the Golden Gate Bridge and connecting service in the eastern bay. With millions of commuters it seems full service, including the many airports, would be a must. But when money is gone, it is gone. The dream lives on as people continue to drive one person per car on desperately crowded roadways. Infrastructure is essential in linking our nation together. While I get restless as I sit on blocked highways waiting for the pilot car to arrive and guide me through, I also smile knowing that because of this delay roads and bridges are safer and well maintained. Infrastructure is the framework of travel. It sets the foundation upon which we depend. I realize that many in Congress fly rather than drive or take public transit, but it seems that their job is to look after all of us, not just themselves. What do you think?	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
As developers continually try to improve their sports titles year after year, consumers have the ongoing dilemma of deciding how much the latest installment has to offer over last years title. In the case of NBA 2K9, the reception of recent editions from hardcore hoop fans and casual sports gamers alike has been pretty positive due to its impressive presentation and realistic basketball simulation. In all, its the little details that make NBA 2K9 a joy to play and watch. Traditionally, developers have added some great animations that make playing the 2K series a unique experience. 2K9 is the best yet with new animations of the coach reacting on the sidelines, players arguing with a refs call and celebrating after a successful play. They are fluid, realistic, and the special attention given to between-play animations is something that 2K has continually excelled at. Whereas facial features are still inconsistently identical on some athletes and humorously incorrect on others, 2K does a wonderful job of continually delivering a variety of signature in-game movements for different athletes. Theyve taken huge strides in an attempt to recreate the NBA in their game by making some of the most popular athletes move as they really would, giving on-court action a far more realistic presentation. From a visual standpoint, basketball fans will love seeing a spitting recreation of the Kobe fade away and certain athletes such as Shawn Marrion perform his awkward-looking jump shot. Signature animations have become some of the most distinct features in the 2K NBA series and this game is an example of the best work yet from the developers. In comparison to EAs Live 09, on-court activity runs a lot smoother with seemingly less errors. There are fewer issues with framerate, and because animations are more fluid, 2K9 is a very entertaining visual experience. Where Live 09 is full of collision issues, slowdown, and inconsistent line violations, 2K9 is a well-oiled play experience, as athletes run up and down the court and perform moves without the annoying clipping or other visual problems. Even with the amount of people in the arena and detail given to things such as mascots and coaches on the sidelines, NBA 2K9 runs well with so much going on. One of the other highlights of 2K9 is just how well the A.I. functions. Players dive for the ball and spring into action to tip in a rebound. Athletes move around and play the game more realistically, making themselves open on offense. Sometimes, A.I. characters will run for the fast-break, as this game has a more up-tempo feel while not becoming an arcade whatsoever. The advertised Adaptive A.I. is evident while playing, and this game provides an example of how sports A.I. should react. Dont think youll be able to pass the ball around easily or make your way to the basket whenever you choose with a couple of trick moves. It may work the first couple of times, but the A.I. catches on quickly and youll have to call plays to instruct your teammates to be really successful and use icon passing when needed. This is a very defensive game and youll need to resort to the basics and utilize a lot of two-man play to win. The Shot Stick has been given a tweak, adding more speed to the game by allowing for some quick shots and dunks, while improving from last year. It pretty much works the same, though the shooter is now able to change his shot in mid-air. If youre stuck in mid-shot against a defensive monster, your player will be able to alter his shot to go up and around the back of the big man with another simple flick of the analog. Lockdown defense has also been improved to holding down the left trigger for a defensive stance then using the right analog to follow your opposing man.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
To understand receiver Julian Edelman's incredible value to the Patriots, just watch the drive in Detroit during which the versatile receiver's season ended Friday night. In the span of four plays, Edelman piled up three catches, four broken tackles and 52 yards. The torn ACL came on yet another snap where Edelman and Tom Brady made football look easy. Playing in a hurry-up offense, Edelman and Brady saw the field the same way before the snap. They knew they could victimize Lions rookie middle linebacker Jarrad Davis in coverage based on Detroit's formation and did just that before Edelman's right knee buckled in a non-contact injury. Trash Take No. 1: At least Edelman's injury happened in a season where he's no longer New England's best wide receiver. Let's hold off assuming that Brandin Cooks is going to transform into a No. 1 receiver until it happens. Edelman is the Patriots' all-time playoff leader in receptions and yards primarily because of his mind-meld with Brady, fastened by eight seasons playing together. New England's offense relies heavily on option routes where the receiver has to read the coverage the same way as Brady. It's one reason why rookies and free agents often struggle to adapt to the team's system. It's why guys like Troy Brown or Danny Amendola stick around an extra season or two. Cooks is a terrific talent, but he has exactly two catches for 15 preseason yards and will have to earn Brady's trust. A few drives after the Edelman injury, starter Chris Hogan failed to adjust to a route in the way Brady expected, leading to an interception and a rueful smile. The Patriots still have great receiver depth with Hogan, Cooks, Amendola and Malcolm Mitchell, but that play was a reminder that suiting up with Brady isn't always easy. Edelman just made it look that way. Trash Take No. 2: Edelman is the second-most important player on the Patriots' offense. This one goes too far in the other direction. New England winning a Super Bowl without Rob Gronkowski doesn't change Gronk's status as the second-most-valuable Patriot of the Brady era. (And possibly the most dominant tight end of all time.) He changes everything about how a defense can line up against New England. Trash Take No. 3: Eliminate the preseason! NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has commented often that the preseason is a disappointing product for fans, a subject that doesn't need to be repeated here. Still, it's strange how every injury inspires dirges about the pointlessness of August, as if a torn ACL in Week 1 is somehow better. Injuries are devastating any time. The only way to avoid these injuries is to not play at all. A great number of players will get hurt on the first NFL Sunday of the season. No one will be blaming Week 1 then. Would those injuries be even greater if starters were asked to go from zero to 60 snaps with no build-up? The same people blaming the preseason for injuries would also complain if starters were only played for half the game in Week 1 as they developed endurance. Unfortunately, Edelman was far from the only serious injury in the third week of the preseason. There were so many winners and losers across the NFL this past week that I'm breaking the column up by conference. The AFC is below. Click here for the NFC review. Moving up "This is not just for the moment. We're going to get with DeShone (and) ride with him through it all," Jackson said in a conference call Sunday. Kizer would have ideally sat his rookie season behind a veteran, but it became clear throughout the preseason that he is the best quarterback on the roster right now. So why not play him and let him learn on the fly? Kizer only completed six passes at Tampa Bay on Saturday, but showed so much on seemingly each one. He displays skills that are tough to teach, like navigating the pocket and pulling the trigger on difficult throws. While other young quarterbacks are fed short, "confidence-building" tosses, Kizer is asked to handle grown-man pass attempts. It's all happening. The young Baltimore Ravens defense: The Ravens' front seven is populated by relatively unknown youngins set to make an impact: outside linebackers Tyus Bowser and Matt Judon, defensive end Brent Urban, nose tackles Michael Pierce and Carl Davis. None of the above may be superstars, but the collective wave of youth and speed throughout Baltimore's defense is noticeable. Ravens games could have a distinct early-2000's feel to them when combining this group with a banged-up, lackluster offense. Taywan Taylor, WR, Tennessee Titans: It's a safe bet by now that Taylor's early-season role will be more significant than that of No. 5 overall pick Corey Davis, who has been sidelined since early August with a hamstring injury. Taylor, a third-round pick from Western Kentucky, has been a consistent playmaker in the preseason from the slot. Philip Rivers, QB, Los Angeles Chargers: Perhaps more signal callers should install a "mobile quarterback room" that takes you to work. Rivers used the extra study time to complete the ultimate veteran quarterback preseason: three drives, all ending in Chargers touchdowns, with only one incompletion. The comfort and continuity in coordinator Ken Whisenhunt's offense shows, as does Rivers' surplus of young skill-position teammates. Going down Kansas City Chiefs running game: Initially a sixth-round pick of the Seahawks back in 2013, Spencer Ware had slowly worked his way into a starting job in Kansas City. Now expected to miss the season with a torn PCL, Ware will be missed for his ability to handle any situation well. Andy Reid confirmed that third-round rookie Kareem Hunt will take over primary running back duties, with veterans Charcandrick West and C.J. Spiller playing behind him. Hunt might offer a higher ceiling than Ware, but this was an offense already thin on reliable weapons. First-round AFC rookie quarterbacks: While DeShone Kizer prepares to start Week 1, the third week of the preseason was a reminder why it's nice Patrick Mahomes doesn't have to. He makes a few breathtaking passes each week, but his play was frenetic in Seattle on Friday. It's a terrific luxury that Reid can prepare Mahomes behind the scenes while trying to win games with Alex Smith. The Deshaun Watson truthers also can admit he faded in the preseason. He was picked off once against the Saints and had at least three more passes which were nearly intercepted. There was a general lack of awareness of the pass rush -- moments that allowed coach Bill O'Brien some fine teaching points. These are all expected stages of a quarterback's development and should be remembered when fans are inevitably pushing for Watson and Mahomes to start in mid-September. Mike Maccagnan, GM, New York Jets: If Christian Hackenberg had been drafted in the fourth round, he'd be a strong candidate for release. Since Maccagnan scooped up Hackenberg in the second round, the team gave him first-team reps all last week and started him in the team's third preseason game. Hackenberg is by all accounts well-liked inside the Jets facility, but his play has failed to meet even the lowest of expectations entering this preseason. Before re-entering Saturday night's game in the waning moments following Bryce Petty's knee injury, Hackenberg had completed eight of his 15 passes for 60 yards, with two interceptions returned for touchdowns. Petty's solid play has made Hackenberg look worse by comparison. Hackenberg is either late or inaccurate on anything but the shortest of throws. These are not your normal developmental blips. These are sequences that cause lower-drafted players to lose their jobs. Taylor could be a similarly awkward long-term fit with the organization as Beane and new coach Sean McDermott try to re-shape the Bills in their image. Taylor's concussion suffered Saturday comes at a difficult time. Taylor and the first-team offense have reportedly struggled to get in synch all offseason, a trend that has kept up in August. Taylor's absence opens the door for fifth-round rookie quarterback Nathan Peterman to get snaps with the first team. Peterman has absolutely shown some flashes of potential, but way too many Bills fans on my timeline want the rookie to start. He's only completed half his passes this preseason, while averaging 5.5 yards per attempt. This Bills offense is set to take some lumps, but Taylor has a much better chance of leading the team out of the darkness if he can get back on the field soon. Kony Ealy, DE, New York Jets: The Patriots are very thin at edge-rushing talent, so consider it a bad sign that Ealy couldn't even make it to final cuts with the team. (The Jets claimed Ealy off waivers, but he's far from a lock to make the 53-man roster.) While Bill Belichick gave up close to nothing to acquire Ealy (an eight-spot move down from No. 64 to No. 72 in the draft), this still qualifies as a big disappointment because the New England front seven needs some pleasant surprises to emerge. Chad Henne, QB, Jacksonville Jaguars: Coach Doug Marrone cited Blake Bortles' mobility when choosing him as the team's starting quarterback. Perhaps that's a nod to Jacksonville's struggling offensive line, although it's hard to find the logical through line connecting the Jaguars' quarterback decisions since February. It's strange to think Henne could have kept the starting job if he had been more accurate on a handful of throws in the rain. It's even stranger to imagine Bortles starting all 16 games. Vontaze Burfict, LB, Cincinnati Bengals:Bengals coach Marvin Lewis brought back Burfict in 2016 despite the linebacker's repeated rules infractions that led to a three-game suspension to start last season. With Burfict facing a five-game suspension for an August 19 hit on Chiefs fullback Anthony Sherman, the Bengals are left flat-footed. Perhaps the team should be used to this. If Burfict's suspension is upheld after appeal, he will have missed 27 of the Bengals' last 53 games because of suspension or injury. Lewis' reliance on Burfict as a team leader grows more mystifying each season.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
Chrysler 300 .copy img.grp-half {width: 49%;} When Chrysler last updated its 300 in 2011, the fullsize sedan market was a very different place than it is today. Ford's redesigned Taurus was in showrooms, sure, but segment stalwarts like the Toyota Avalon and Chevrolet Impala were languishing at the tail end of their model cycles. And still, the second-generation 300 (not counting the "letter series" cars from the 1950s and '60s, of course) failed to recapitulate the booming success of the model reboot in 2004. Something in the combination of the down economy, higher gas prices and great product from… We get it. Ads can be annoying. But ads are also how we keep the garage doors open and the lights on here at Autoblog - and keep our stories free for you and for everyone. And free is good, right? If you'd be so kind as to whitelist our site, we promise to keep bringing you great content. Thanks for that. And thanks for reading Autoblog. Here's how to disable adblocking on our site. Click on the icon for your Adblocker in your browser. A drop down menu will appear. Select the option to run ads for autoblog.com, by clicking either "turn off for this site", "don't run on pages on this domain", "whitelist this site" or similar. The exact text will differ depending on the actual application you have running.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
March 06, 2015 Like many professionals, lawyers take pride in their ability to perform at the highest level of their professional capabilities. But even when they’ve reached this peak, the best lawyers never stop learning. That's why they are naturally drawn to the useful nuggets of information that are strewn around the Internet in the form of “tips.” While finding a single useful tip constitutes a good day, turning up an entire list of tips is even better. In my contribution to the literature of useful tips, I’ve narrowed my own list to just three. While a tip-list of this size is short enough for busy lawyers to skim, it’s also meaty enough that lawyers with a free weekend and an underused Internet connection can spend hours and hours really pondering how they will use each of my three tips to really super-charge their (hopefully ever more successful) daily law practices. Without further ado, here are my three tips-- 1. Tip of a Butcher’s Nose I was a little reluctant to list this as my first tip, as it seems a tad too specific and might not aid to strengthen the law practice of every lawyer who reads this list. Although a more generalized tip, e.g., “tip of an average Caucasian nose,” might have increased the reach of my advice somewhat, it’s likewise possible that I would have veered into over-generalization, in which case my advice would have been watered down to the point that it was of little value to anyone. This is another way of saying that the lists of tips you find on the Internet (but not this one!) often fall into one of two categories: (a) inapplicable to your own personal situation, though possibly of some general help to some other greater idiot, or (b) applicable to your own personal situation, but so obvious that, unless you are a greater idiot yourself, you’re already putting the tip to good use. (Either way, if not properly written by a true authority, only greater idiots stand to gain from lists of tips.) (Bonus related tip: Tip of the Nose of a Parisian Whore) (not illustrated). 2. Tip of the IcebergMy second tip might seem to fall into one of the traps I mentioned above: so obvious as to be of little merit in a list as short as this one. Should I have saved it for the list of twenty tips I plan to publish next month, or the list of fifty-seven tips I hope to publish the month after that? The answer might surprise you: No. The beauty of the tip of the iceberg is that it is actually much larger and more powerful that it seems at first glance. This being the case, you owe it to yourself to obtain complete mastery of this tip. I don’t mean to scare you, but if not properly understood and applied to your own law practice, this tip—the tip of the iceberg—could end up sinking your entire enterprise. As a student of history, I can assure you with confidence that something like this has happened before. Don’t let it happen to you! (Bonus related tip: Tip of the Tongue) (not illustrated). 3. Tip of a Chest of Gold Half-Buried Near a Shipwreck Beneath the Indian Ocean My third tip, motivational in nature, will, if used properly, allow you to break away from your unhealthy attachments to lists like this one, written by people you don’t really know. In undermining my own authority like this, I hope you don’t think I’m merely being modest. I’m not. When I say I probably don’t know you, I’m being serious. I probably don't. In what sense is my third tip “motivational”? While the tip is certainly a mouthful—here I’m speaking metaphorically, of course, as I don’t really expect you to try to eat this tip—it’s a tip that represents, if considered in the proper way, a wealth of useful motivational power. The reason is simple. The notion of a “chest of gold” makes one think of “gold” which conjures up the notion of “money," which is something which if desired with the requisite passion, will always get you away from your Internet-surfing and working a little harder. Why not try it yourself? It's so well known that merely thinking of wealth can bring you wealth that it's even been the subject of a number of books, and so therefore must be true. Want a personal testimonial? Here's one: I thought of wealth, and I got rich! And I'm much happier for it too! Conclusion. Even if not ideally suited to your own law practice, this list of three useful tips will nonetheless do a world of good, if not for you then for me, by residing on and being indexed on the great Google search engine, where it will bring fresh and eager eyes to my own little corner of the Internet, with its two advertisements (both on the upper left side of the page) that I hope all lawyers will see whether or not my list of tips actually helps them. March 05, 2015 Here's Lone Peak in Big Sky, Montana, from a slightly different angle than the one I drew on February 20. The picture was taken from the top of the Southern Comfort lift. Eventually, we went to the tip of the peak and skied our way down the entire mountain. The final lift that takes you to the peak is called the Lone Peak Tram. Here it's shown heading up the mountain from the lift line. The tram is the black square in the center of the photo, and it holds 15 or so skiers and their skis. The blue sky made for some good pictures on the peak. Here I am standing on the top with Bob and Al--I'm on the left. If I look content with the wind blowing in my face at the top of Lone Peak, it's only because I forgot for a moment that I had to ski down. But I did, just minutes later, and lived to post about it! February 24, 2015 "My co-counsel Ron Motley and I have filed a lawsuit against the tobacco industry on behalf of the State of Mississippi to get the state reimbursed Medicaid costs for treating people with smoking-related illness. If you'd be interested in talking to us, we'd certainly like to talk to you." In the quoted passage, the actor who portrays real-life plaintiffs' lawyer Dickie Scruggs is talking to Jeffrey Wigand, the tobacco-company "insider" played by Russell Crowe. It's not many movies that could make a line about a Medicaid-reimbursement lawsuit sound dramatic. Additional drama in The Insider is provided by the actor who portrays plaintiffs' lawyer Ron Motley. As Motley is conducting a deposition of Jeffrey Wigand, a tobacco lawyer interrupts with an objection. "We've got rights here," the tobacco lawyer says. Motley responds: Oh, you've got rights. And lefts. Ups and downs and middles. So what? You don't get to instruct anything around here. This is not North Carolina, not South Carolina, nor Kentucky. This is the sovereign state of Mississippi's proceeding. WIPE THAT SMIRK OFF YOUR FACE! Dr. Wigand's deposition will be part of this record. And I'm going to take my witness's testimony whether the hell you like it or not. You go, Mr. Plaintiffs' Lawyer! At the end of the movie, this notice appears: "Although based on a true story, certain events in this motion picture have been fictionalized for dramatic effect." But certainly the fictionalization wouldn't apply to the portrayal of a deposition that actually happened. Right? Wrong. If you read the actual deposition, you'll find that Motley's heated speech was the product of Hollywood screenwriters. During the actual deposition, the lawyers were polite to each other, generally speaking. Perhaps Overlawyered.com wasn't far off the mark when it called The Insider a "portentous litigation epic." Lawyers don't normally yell at depositions quite so loudly as Ron Motley is portrayed as doing in The Insider. And if you tell another lawyer to "wipe that smirk off your face," it's probably not going to happen like it does in the movie. But the following back-and-forth did actually happen, and I think it's probably a good summary of the Motley style: Q. [By MR. MOTLEY to MR. WIGAND] Sir, at any time did you learn that Brown & Williamson was using a form of rat poison in pipe tobacco? MR. BEZANSON: Object to the form. A. Yes. MR. MOTLEY: Q. What form of rat poison is that, sir? MR. BEZANSON: Object to the form. A. It is a compound called coumarin. It was contained in the pipe tobacco -- MR. BEZANSON: Object on trade secret grounds and instruct not to answer. MR. MOTLEY: You are objecting that the man is revealing that you used rat poison as a trade secret? You may answer, sir. MR. BEZANSON: Object to the form. MR. MOTLEY: Q. Go ahead. If they used rat poison in pipe tobacco that human beings were taking in their bodies, I want to know about it. Will you tell me about it, sir? Finally, there is a rumor among plaintiffs' lawyers that Ron Motley's friends tried to persuade Danny DeVito to play Motley in the movie, as a sort of joke. Although I've heard this rumor more than once, I have no idea if it's true. UPDATE 2/24/15 This post was originally published on 9/6/04. Broken links have been updated; links that couldn't be updated were deleted. Ron Motley died in 2013. The other day, I happened to read an article about Motley's death by John Schwartz at the New York Times: "Ron Motley, Who Tackled Big Tobacco, Dies at 68." It's there I learned that even though Motley didn't say the line that's the subject of this post, he might be remembered for it anyway. Writing about The Insider, Schwartz says, "Mr. Motley was played by Bruce McGill, and his bellowed 'Wipe that smirk off your face!' to a tobacco industry lawyer stands out as a moment of high drama in the film." February 20, 2015 This is Lone Peak at Big Sky, Montana, drawn from a photo. I'll be headed there next week. Weather permitting, the Lone Peak Tram will be taking me to the very tip of the mountain. It's possible to ski off the front side--the one that's pictured--but I ski off the back. February 13, 2015 The largest annual event in New Orleans is something which we arrived too late to sample--the Mardi-Gras festivities. I saw the procession of the Mystic Crew of Comus there, twenty-four years ago--with knights and nobles and so on, clothed in silken and golden Paris-made gorgeousnesses, planned and bought for that single night's use; and in their train all manner of giants, dwarfs, monstrosities, and other diverting grotesquerie--a startling and wonderful sort of show . . . There is a chief personage--"Rex;" and if I remember rightly, neither this king nor any of his great following of subordinates is known to any outsider. All these people are gentlemen of position and consequence; and it is a proud thing to belong to the organization; so the mystery in which they hide their personality is merely for romance's sake, and not on account of the police. ... This Mardi-Gras pageant was the exclusive possession of New Orleans until recently. But now it has spread to Memphis and St. Louis and Baltimore. It has probably reached its limit. It is a thing which could hardly exist in the practical North; would certainly last but a very brief time; as brief a time as it would last in London. For the soul of it is the romantic, not the funny and the grotesque. Take away the romantic mysteries, the kings and knights and big-sounding titles, and Mardi-Gras would die, down there in the South . . . So, to this weekend's revelers, in New Orleans, St. Louis, Memphis, Baltimore, and wherever--Happy Mardi Gras! February 12, 2015 There’s one thing he knows for sure: once his legal thriller is published and the royalties are pouring in, his life is going to significantly improve. Wasn’t Turow able to cut way back on his hours? And didn’t Grisham quit the practice altogether? When his legal thriller is published, he won’t be settling for anything less. He imagines the shock his clients will feel the day he’s finally able to tell them all to go to hell. Yes, things are going to be very good indeed. Didn’t he always say he was destined for greatness? It’s something he’s known since he was eight or nine, when he wrote it on a scrap of paper that has since been preserved by his mother in a frame hanging over her kitchen window: “Someday, I’m going to be really, really famous.” Yesterday, he indulged himself in a little daydreaming about how his photograph will look on the book’s back cover. Should he smile? Or should he adopt the ponderous, knowing gaze of the serious author? He thinks the latter, unless it means he’ll need to grow a goatee, which his wife ruled out two weeks ago. A remaining question is how long it’s going to take him to finish the book. He doesn’t like to think about this question, because it always makes him think about another: How should he start it? Frankly, that’s the question that’s really got him stumped. There’s going to be a lawyer character, of course, and the lawyer may as well be sleeping with his secretary. But what happens next? He’s not precisely sure. It’s a mystery, all right. But it’s nothing that a bottle of whiskey and a couple of writing guides can’t solve. After all, with success just around the corner, how can he go wrong? [Like this post? It's one of many included in my book How to Feed a Lawyer (And Other Irreverent Oberservations from the Legal Underground). Details here.] February 10, 2015 I used to read lawyer websites all the time. But I must have been away--something about them seems to have changed. Last time I looked, lawyers could brag about their settlements in only nine figures, never more. I remember it well. You might too: "over $300 million in settlements for our clients!" and "more than $550 million in total verdicts and settlements!" and "nearly $700 million recovered on behalf of our clients!" But all that's in the past. Now, for the first time, lawyers have surmounted the billion dollar mark! I noticed it for the first time today. After a quick search, I turned up five. I don't know whether to groan or to applaud. After all, I'm still old enough to remember when The Six-Million Dollar Man was something to get excited about. But not anymore! Let's hear it for the plaintiffs' lawyers!* Disclaimer. Of course, I'm a plaintiffs' lawyer too. Later today, I'll be giving myself a big pat on the back. Plus, perhaps, breaking out a case of Opus One--a wine that's known to be created without a single, solitary sour grape! Update: Readers Respond. Undoubtedly, there are many of these billion-dollar-in-settlement firms. I have been informed that I missed this one: Burg Simpson. In the awesome liner notes to Bob Dylan's Biograph (1985), Dylan says what he thinks of the Jimi Hendrix version of All Along the Watchtower-- I liked Jimi Hendrix's record of this and ever since he died I've been doing it that way. Funny though, his way of doing it and my way of doing it weren't that dissimilar, I mean the meaning of the song doesn't change like when some artists do other artists' songs. Strange though how when I sing it I always feel like it's a tribute to him in some kind of way. Dylan continues with more about Hendrix, divulging that his favorite Hendrix songs are "that song Wind Cried Mary" and Dolly Dagger. Says Dylan, "The last time I saw him was a couple of months before he died. He was in that band with Buddy Miles. It was an eerie scene. He was crouched down in the back of a limousine. I was riding by on a bicycle . . . I don't know, it was strange, both of us were a little lost for words, he'd gone through like a fireball without knowing it, I'd done the same thing like being shot out of a cannon." The full set of liner notes for Biograph, which includes a long essay by Cameron Crowe, isn't easily found on the Internet. I guess interested consumers will have to buy the thing, just like in the old days. I'll thank my mother for the link. She sent it to me this morning, apparently thinking I suffer from writer's block. As regular readers of this blog know, I don't believe in writer's block. Well, not really. I think it was in my post "Advice to Young Lawyer's #13" that I first began to examine the concept of writer's block. I concluded that "the cause of writer’s block is always the same: a mistaken notion of self-entitlement, a touch of self-pity, and perhaps a lack of sleep." To cure writer's block, I proposed this solution: "Simply take your head and bang it on your desk until you either lose consciousness or come to grips with the fact that you, and you alone, must write the next sentence. Continue in this fashion, sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph, page by page, until your memorandum is complete." In later posts, I proposed other cures, having concluded that the bang-your-head solution wouldn't necessarily work for everyone. It's possible that in the past, I've been too harsh and dogmatic when it comes to writer's block. I might as well think about this for a little while. I'm stuck here in this room, after all, for another three hours, twenty minutes. And I really don't feel like banging my head on my desk. A final warning. Please don't go looking for writing-block cures 1-56 and 58-177 on this blog--I haven't published them yet. Maybe I will soon. In the meantime, happy writing! P.S. Of the three posts I linked to above, only one of them is compiled in my book How to Feed a Lawyer (and Other Irreverent Observations from the Legal Underground). To find out which one, you'll have to buy the book--or at least examine the Table of Contents in the "look inside" feature at Amazon. Please note that if you should happen to purchase and read this book, I would VERY MUCH APPRECIATE a review at Amazon. Why? Because I recently had a five-star literary agent tell me that the lack of Amazon reviews for How to Feed a Lawyer might make it impossible for me to ever interest a publisher in anything I write ever again!!! Lacking additional Amazon reviews, in other words, my writing career is pretty much finished. And that's bad news for a guy who rarely suffers from writer's block! February 04, 2015 Publication note: Originally published 3/1/04, but still as relevant today as ever. The time has come for the author of this blawg to post a disclaimer. Henceforth, this disclaimer should be considered incorporated into everything that’s come before, as well as everything that comes after. Disclaimer: The author of this blawg is not fair and balanced. In fact, he is hopelessly biased. He will make no attempt to present both sides of any story. The author of this blawg is not a journalist. He will not pretend to be a journalist while writing this blawg. The purpose of this disclaimer is to state the author’s biases. The author of this blawg is a lawyer. As a lawyer, he is biased in favor of other lawyers or anyone studying to become a lawyer. If forced to choose between a lawyer and anyone else, he will usually choose the lawyer. However, even though he is friends with lawyers everywhere, he is not a member of any conspiracy by lawyers to take over either the country or the world. Although he does desire power and control, he mostly wants it over his own wife. He fully understands that even in this department, the best he can hope to achieve is some freedom of movement around the house while she is sleeping. Even this will happen only if he is very quiet. Though the author of this blawg considers all lawyers his friends, he is not always consistent when applying his friendship. He favors friendly lawyers over grouchy lawyers. As a trial lawyer, he favors trial lawyers over other sorts of lawyers. He favors lawyers who do not attempt to seek an unfair advantage over their opponents. He favors lawyers who desire civility in litigation. He favors lawyers who follow the rules. He disfavors lawyers with large egos, but realizes that actual enforcement of this bias would conflict with his other biases favoring lawyers. Thus he is willing to grant lawyers with large egos the benefit of the doubt, at least until they demonstrate that in addition to their large egos they don’t have a sense of humor. Does law school breed tiny monsters? You bet it does. Each year, another group of bright-eyed innocents enters law school, their brains filled with nothing but song lyrics, sports statistics, and perhaps a bit of Nietzche. This is scary enough, but law school transforms them into something even more perverse. After just three years, these young law students are now ambitious and ruthless baby lawyers. They can quote black-letter law, distinguish between the writing styles of "Posner" and "Scalia," and place bets on which editor of their law journal will be the next Supreme Court justice. Not only is the world theirs for the taking, they think, but so are the highest reaches of government. All they have to do is get a well-paying starter job and then wait for the earlier generations of monstrous law-school graduates to do them the favor of dying. Exaggerated? Hardly. I myself am a textbook example of this phenomenon. In 1990, bloated with self-importance, I graduated from law school and assumed my rightful place in our nation’s democracy as a “BigLaw associate.” If had been a character in a novel, perhaps one written by David Lat, the reader would have been willing to wait a great many pages for the world to finally deliver a well-deserved smack in my face. That smack would persuade me, once and for all, that I was just an ordinary person. In David Lat’s first novel, the fun and entertaining Supreme Ambitions, the monstrous baby lawyer who eventually gets her comeuppance is the first-person narrator Audrey Coyne, a graduate of Yale Law School. As a first-person narrator, Audrey is unreliable only in that she doesn’t fully know herself. The genre of Lat's novel most closely resembles chicklit. (Male writers, if you didn't know, aren't excluded from the genre.) Lat's novel is a fast read. With generous doses of dialogue, Audrey recounts her tale in a linear manner, chapter by chapter, beginning to end. In addition to the main action, diversionary asides include Audrey’s flirtations with co-workers, both male and female; the ins-and-outs of her job as a federal appellate clerk; and plenty of observations about fashion. January 26, 2015 In The Atlantic, Noah Berlatsky says that a book's "difficulty" is subjective. The opening might grab you-- What's the most difficult book you've ever read? For me, at least within recent memory, there's no question—the book that was hardest for me to slog through, the book that I would have put down if I didn't have to read it for work, was E.L. James's Fifty Shades of Grey. Yeah, well . . . I don't think I'm buying this definition of "difficult." Among people who sit around writing essays about difficult books--by which they mean, right from the start, something that has some objective claim to merit, at least to others in that group--they are leaving commercial entertainment out of the discussion. To this group, that other kind of writing is "bad." And when they say reading that sort of "bad" entertainment is "difficult," they don't mean it's difficult for them to understand, but difficult to stomach. That's my riff, in any case, on the first paragraph of Berlatsky's essay. It's an essay that I liked a lot, despite my questions about whether he's setting up a straw man by defining "difficulty" to mean something other than it normally does in discussions about books. January 23, 2015 To excel in a law firm, make yourself indispensable. Start by identifying a type of knowledge within the firm that is highly-valued but in short supply. Exploit this shortage by making yourself an expert. Then leverage the value of your new knowledge by becoming involved in as many projects as possible. After you have become an expert, think twice before teaching your skills to others. If you share your knowledge too freely, you will devalue the currency that has made you rich. When called upon to instruct others, learn the secret known to every Italian cook: share your recipe willingly, but omit a minor, yet important, ingredient. The cook’s students will be able to replicate the dish but will never be able to duplicate it. The cook will remain the master. January 20, 2015 I took this photo of a lighthouse from a boat somewhere near Ushuaia, Argentina, in 2010. Ushuaia is near the tip of South America. In case you are thinking about a long trip to South America (and you should!), I posted some trip notes in "Notes on Our Trip to Ushuaia, Argentina." Other travel blogging is buried deep in this blog's archives. Some past posts with photos that I unearthed-- January 14, 2015 It can shatter windows or render old people completely deaf with one screaming, extended solo in a minor key. It was Kurt Cobain's prize guitar, the one he carried from concert to concert and never smashed onstage. His was a 1966 model. Mine's a 1965 with sunburst coloring, just like the one in the picture. I bought my Fender Jaguar when I was a high-school junior, after having played guitar since second grade. That was in 1980. It was years before the grunge rockers "rediscovered" the Fender Jaguar. But its unpopularity didn't matter to me. It didn't matter that my friends gave my guitar funny looks and asked me why I hadn't bought a Les Paul or a Stratocaster. I liked it and it sounded good, even if I wasn't a virtuoso. It cost $350, several months of working as a restaurant cook at $3/hour. It replaced a Gretsch 12-string that was on loan from a friend of my sister who one day, out of the blue, demanded it back. I didn't want a 12-string electric guitar anyway. Since 1980, I've lived in a lot of places, but I've always found a place for my Fender Jaguar. I've changed amps, and I've played with lots of different people, but I've never changed guitars. During the days when Kurt Cobain and others were repopularizing the Fender Jaguar, I saw the value of mine triple, then quadruple. It didn't matter, of course, because I wasn't selling. Too bad those high-school friends of mine had all scattered to the winds--I didn't get a chance to tell them I told you so. It's also too bad I became a lawyer and not a rock musician. But sometimes these things don't work out exactly like we want them to. I can still pretend I'm a rock musician. I do it sometimes late in the evening when no one's around, and I'm on my third beer, and the amp's turned up as loud as it will go. Mine goes all the way to 11. It's a fascinating interview, well worth reading, not only for Crumb's comments about the tradition of satiric cartoons in France, but also the process by which he created a pen-and-ink response to the assassinations at Charlie Hebdo. January 09, 2015 A view a few years ago near Two Tops Mountain in Idaho, taken from a snowmobile. Looking forward to doing it again next month! UPDATE: On further review, I see I've posted about snowmobiling before--in 2009, 2010, and 2013. Sometimes I forget what's on this blog. (Although it's hard to forget my video-podcasting debut in 2006, from a ski slope in Colorado.) January 07, 2015 Publication note: This post was originally published 10/23/06. I think the advice and comments still hold true today. In republishing the post, I made only minor edits. Another note: my firm is now called The Schaeffer Law Office, P.C., rather than Schaeffer & Lamere, P.C. What would you say to a lawyer with five years of defense experience who wants to open a plaintiffs' practice but is first considering a stint in a U.S. Attorney's office to get some additional trial experience? Is this a sensible way to make the switch from defense lawyer to plaintiffs' lawyer? I recently got a question like this in an email. Here's my response. I think there are many ways to make the switch to a plaintiffs' practice. Taking a detour to get some additional trial experience certainly isn't a bad idea: real, solid trial experience is something that will set a lawyer apart from most others and make him or her employable at many different types of firms. Of course, there is a huge difference between being employable as a lawyer and opening a plaintiffs' firm. It brings to mind the two stumbling blocks that keep most lawyers from starting a plaintiffs' practice--a lack of capital and a need for a steady income. Even with a low-overhead operation, many can't get by without a salary. You don't get a salary if you own the firm. It can be hit or miss for months or years. A common solution to the problem is to find a plaintiffs' firm that's willing to pay a salary. This option allows a lawyer to reduce some of the downside risk of changing careers while being paid to learn the ins-and-outs of a plaintiffs' practice. In addition to a salary, many firms will also pay a portion of the fees a lawyer generates from his own cases. It's a sensible alternative to immediately hanging a shingle as a plaintiffs' lawyer. It's more or less the route I took myself. After leaving a defense firm, I worked at a plaintiffs' firm for a few years on a salary. One thing that made my situation a little different is that I had the good fortune of joining two lawyers I already knew. Just a year before, we'd all worked together at the defense firm. When they left to start their own plaintiffs' firm, I stayed behind, in part because I needed a salary. A year later, they already had had enough success to be able to pay me one. I joined them in 1996. Eventually, I became a partner at the firm and we continued to do well enough that eventually, I was able to move on to a new opportunity. That's how my firm Schaeffer & Lamere came to be. At Schaeffer & Lamere, I work on our firm's class action and personal-injury cases, but I also frequently join up with other plaintiffs' lawyers--including my former partners at the old firm--to work on various other projects, including the mass torts I often write about on this weblog. It's a sort of flexible deal-making--being able to supply both brainpower and capital to projects that are expected to pay in the future--that makes a plaintiffs' practice especially fun for me. By thinking of myself as a free agent, I can work on many different types of cases with many different lawyers. There's always something new to work on or something new just around the corner. With this said, I certainly don't consider myself an expert on the right way to move from a defense firm to a plaintiffs' practice. Things worked out fine for me, but it was due in part to being in the right place at the right time. If someone has other solutions to the problem, please leave a comment. December 26, 2014 The following is a true story that may or may not amuse, depending on your point of view. One morning during a long trial, a young associate was delighted by the news that his boss, the lead trial lawyer, was going to allow him to cross-examine a defense witness after lunch. The cross-examination took place later that day without a hitch, and the young lawyer was justifiably proud. That night at dinner, the young lawyer had all sorts of questions for his boss. He started with the first: "How come you let me do the cross-examination?" The lead trial lawyer knew the answer, but wasn't sure how to respond. Finally, he decided that he should answer honestly, since it seemed like the truth might contain an important lesson for the young lawyer. "I let you do the cross-examination," the lead lawyer said, "so that the jury would know just how unimportant that witness was." According to the story, the young lawyer didn't take the explanation very well. He was so unhappy about it, in fact, that he was still recounting it years later to anyone who cared to listen, hoping that they'd be shocked, as he was, that his former boss, the lead trial lawyer, had so heartlessly duped him into playing the role of fool before the jury. December 16, 2014 The young lawyer should never adopt the attitude of a know-it-all, even if he believes himself to be wiser than his peers. Rather, he should let others speak first. He should be content to watch, listen, and learn. To gain a tactical advantage over an older opponent, the young lawyer should feign ignorance. “I don’t understand,” he should tell his older opponent. “Will you explain?” The older lawyer, who is apt to be boastful and self-important, will be eager to show off his years of accumulated wisdom. In his boastfulness, he is likely to talk too much, giving away insights into his legal reasoning and justifications for his legal strategies. December 09, 2014 I titled this "Hodgman for the Legal Set", because I think fans of one would enjoy the other ... It is our world, but at an oblique angle, where there is a wealth of strangeness and even sadness behind the expensive suits and crushing workloads and sacrificed personal lives. I think that oblique angle allows Schaeffer to get into what is important to him without being pedantic: the nobility of the profession in theory and in practice. He has scorn for those who abuse the law, who treat it as a game, who use litigation tactics as a way to avoid the truth. It is never heavy-handed, but there is an anger there. ... That's a long way for a book that is, at its heart, wildly funny. The reader is drawn through verbal mazes one step behind a winking guide. For a book that ostensibly teaches you what you need to know about dealing with lawyers, Schaeffer proves that the practice is as weird, unpredictable, and as idiosyncratic as the human race. --Cairo Brian Evan Schaeffer is a unique lawyer for three reasons. He's extremely successful (rare in any profession) yet he also has a sense of humor (rare among lawyers) and is down to earth (even more rare). In How to Feed a Lawyer, Evan offers insights and commentary about the legal system and through humorous essays, also shares what it's like being a lawyer. ... Evan's book is well-written, insightful, and worth reading. --Crime & Federalism Loved this book! Great fun to read and excellent writing by a Midwest lawyer who loves to poke fun at himself and his profession, while educating & enlightening his readers -- who are most likely -- though don't have to be -- fairly informed on the legal profession. --Sarah Bernard* The book isn't for lawyers who take themselves or their profession too seriously. We don't want them anyway! The book is for BigLaw associates and partners; young lawyers, small-firm lawyers and solos; bitter lawyers and wannabe lawyers; most (but not all) of the judges I have known; lovers of H.L. Mencken, Mark Twain, or James Thurber; wannabe lawyers; and bright people of all types. December 08, 2014 I just completed my first semester teaching. I had no teaching or grading experience, except as a recipient of both services over a number of years. In other words: I am like the Baby Spice of the professorial world…though my hair doesn’t do that sassy dangling thing. With that caveat, I submit six things not to do on law school exams (hereafter “TNTDOLSE”). While they are based on this first semester of exams, I expect they would be useful advice for most law school exams. I should also note that, even though these are identified as things not to do, I was actually quite impressed by my students’ efforts this semester. For many decades, suicide was the unquestioned final chapter of Vincent van Gogh’s legend. But in their 2011 book, Pulitzer Prize-winning biographers Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith offered a far more plausible scenario—that Van Gogh was killed—only to find themselves under attack. Now, with the help of a leading forensic expert, the authors take their case a step further. In the article, Naifeh and Smith describe how they took the evidence to "one of the world's leading handgun forensic experts," Dr. Vincent Di Maio, who concluded: "“It is my opinion that, in all medical probability, the wound incurred by Van Gogh was not self-inflicted. In other words, he did not shoot himself.” I'm not taking sides in the debate. But I am taking notes. If nothing else, it gives me another chance to put a nice image on the blog. November 21, 2014 Once upon a time, a lawyer was defined as a person who practices law, while an attorney was a lawyer with a client. So that in 1965, the author of "The Careful Writer" noted that "a lawyer is an attorney only when he has a client." These days, such a distinction seems kooky. What lawyer doesn't have a client? Garner also mentions that "lawyer" might have negative connotations. But what about the prairie lawyer, Abraham Lincoln? Can you imagine "Lincoln: The Prairie Attorney"? On the other hand, you'll often hear defense firm types referring to themselves as "attorneys" or "litigators," lest they be confused with "trial lawyers." This is even true of defense attorneys who are trial lawyers. Go figure! Sometimes, the conundrum can be solved by a consideration of rhyme. Just ask "Ernie the Attorney." (But isn't Ernie also a defense lawyer?) Publication Note: Originally published 1/3/04. Republished today with broken links repaired. November 13, 2014 I’m in a terrible bind. There’s a partner in our 1,127-attorney firm named Mr. B who everyone is scared of, including me. Unfortunately, I got assigned to his practice group yesterday. Even though I’m a fourth-year associate, Mr. B apparently wanted to break me in easy. He called me on the phone, said his secretary had a document for me to copy, and told me to come to his office. When I did, he was on the phone again. He held up his right hand with all his fingers extended and mouthed, “This many.” So far, so good. I made five copies. But later in the day, he called me into his office again. He wasn’t on the phone anymore. He held up his right hand and extended his fingers again. Then he started screaming. “Look!” he yelled. “Tell me what you see!” A chill ran down my spine when I counted only four fingers. November 04, 2014 With so much evidence that the popular social networks -- Twitter, Facebook, etc. -- are all that lawyers need to double their existing client base, kick their practice into hyperspeed, and become super-rich and successful, I was initially reluctant to accept a friend's invitation to join yet another social network. Not only has my Twitter habit made me a little short of time, but I was also skeptical about what they were calling this new social network. Twitter sounds a little silly, sure, but I can live with it. After all, it comes with its own fun twerminology that's just about as cute and cuddly as my own five-year-old: tweet, retweet, featherologist, plus a hundred other twitterisms that you can find in just about any twictionary. But the name they'd given this new social network sounded so old-fashioned to my Web 2.0 ears, so dull and lacking in color, it instantly reminded me of my own drab life and law practice way back at the turn of the century (more than five years ago), when there wasn't an easy way to meet people electronically and I'd sometimes have to meet them in person, which would require me to go outside, even when it was windy or cold or raining.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
Wound definition and classification The skin lesions, more or less deep, are breakdown areas with tissue loss and exposure of underlying tissues. The term "external lesion" or "wound" denotes the destruction of morphological and functional continuity of the superficial skin layers and, in severe cases, deeper subcutaneous tissue. The lesions are evaluated and categorized according to their width, depth and characteristics. Other considered factors are their development, causes (etiology) and pathophysiological context of the wound. Superficial, minor lesions affect only the epidermis, the dermis and at most one part of the hypodermis; the deeper ones involve all the subcutaneous (fat) tissue up to the muscles, the periosteum, to bone exposure or support structures (tendons and cartilage); serious (chronic) ones are characterized by loss of substance in the skin and a low tendency to healing. Depending on healing time, they can be divided into acute and chronic lesions. The acute ones heal through 3 different stages and reach the state of tissue repair by 8/10 weeks (01). Beyond this time the lesion becomes chronic, and if you do not act properly, the wound degrades in stages more and more serious. Acute wounds that the health professional must deal with more frequently are surgical wounds. (01) Chronic tissue lesions involve the loss of substance affecting the epidermis, the dermis and the superficial and deep subcutaneous tissue; they tend to recur and difficultly heal spontaneously. (02) The chronic tissue lesions represent a significant risk factor for hospitalization, amputation, sepsis and mortality. From the point of view of the patient, lesions therapy is often painful and uncomfortable. (02) fase 1 exudative(which includes hemostatis stage) also known as inflammatory orautolytic cleansing stage fase 2 proliferative granulation tissue formation fase 3 regenerative of re-epithelialization, scarformation or remodeling stage The wound healing process can be divided into different sequential, yet overlapping stages. When a lesion goes through these stages, the healing takes place. Unfortunately, chronic lesions due to systemic diseases or weakness and malnutrition conditions fail to progress through these stages and degenerate in progressively worse stages. The diagram below shows the interaction between the three different stages of the wound healing process and its average time by primary intention (excluding a further period for remodeling). Wound classification and their healing stages are important tools to research and choose the optimal topical therapy. (03)There are different types of lesions categorization according to their characteristics. Some of them are used for all types of ulcers, while other only for certain types of lesions. 1) model based on "colour-coded" optical parameter, as proposed by Wound CareSociety. Black wounds - Yellow wounds - Red wounds - Pink wounds 2) using a rating scale, as the one proposed by the National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel (NPUAP) divided into "four stages" according to the different layers concerned, and usually used to classify bedsores. Stage I, intact skin erythema, which does not disappear applying pressure; it classify a lesion that heralds the skin ulcer. On darkly pigmented skin, other symptoms can be a different color, loss of warmth, edema and swelling. Stage II, partial thickness skin loss involving epidermis, dermis or both. The lesion is superficial and clinically presents as an abrasion, a blister or a shallow crater. Stage III, full thickness skin loss involving damage to, or necrosis of, subcutaneous tissue that may extend down to, but not through, underlying fascia. Presents clinically as a deep crater with or without undermining. Stage IV, full thickness skin loss with extensive destruction, tissue necrosis, or damage to muscle, bone, or supporting structures (tendon or joint capsule). Undermining and sinus tracts may be associated with bedsores of stage IV. (03) In addition to this classification, which is the most widely used, there are other models: Grade 3: Deep ulcer extending through bone, with or without osteitis or osteomyelitis; Grade 4: Localized gangrene (forefoot or heel); Grade 5: Gangrene of the foot. (03) 4) The University of Texas has recently adopted a classification that can be considered, quite rightly, more complete and articulated.The lesions are evaluated depending on severity (in grade) and pathogenic moment (in depth), allowing a satisfactory clinical definition. 5) There is also a STATUS classification of the lesion:The ulcer, once formed, can be present in one or more of the following statuses: Necrotic Colliquative (the colliquation is a degenerative process that involves the fluidization of a tissue; the degenerative process of a tissue accompanied by liquefaction of necrotic material) Infected Fibrinous Fibrin-membranous Cleansed (that do not include foreign bodies or metabolic debris) With granulation tissue The lesion can also be: poorly exudative (exudate: fluid produced by the lesion, consisting of serum, leukocytes and devitalized material. Volume decreases as tissue repair progresses. The exudate may have bactericidal properties and contain nutritional factors. It can also be infected) exudative heavy exudative and can be: undermined and/or with tunnels and/or fistulas (Fistula: an abnormal communication tract between an inner tissue and the skin) (30) This need to classify and evaluate is just the logical and practical result from difficulties arising from treating chronic lesions.The lack of a unique product that could assist in the treatment at any time of the lesion, has created the need to choose a common evaluation system, in order to indicate the various dressings to be used according to the condition of the lesion.For this reason and for the complexity of the lesions, the models have multiplied. If it was not necessary to treat differently each stage/grade/state/phase of a lesion, it would not make sense to create different classifications. That's why it is a real revolution having a single product able to assist in the treatment of any lesion at all times.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
Tory Burch TILDA JACKET $119.60 Catch of the day: Our Tilda Jacket is dotted with tiny block-printed fish — a nod to the season’s island inspiration. Rustic flourishes, including leaf embroidery, yarn piping and half-moon appliqués at the collar, placket and hem, give this quilted cotton design a one-of-a-kind feel. It has a slightly boxy cut, with flap pockets and hook-and-eye closures for a clean finish.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
Fonzworth Bentley Releases New Single Essence.com Dec, 16, 2009 Fonzworth Bentley, the former umbrella-toting manservant-turned-host of MTV’s “From G's to Gents,” hits the music scene with his first single, "Everybody," featuring two of hip-hop’s biggest artists, André 3000 and Kanye West. The song is on his anticipated forthcoming album C.O.L.O.U.R.S., an acronym for CoolOutrageousLoversofUniquelyRawStyle. He explained to Vibe.com the inspiration for his album: "It's bossanova, rich New Orleans jazz. There's some ghetto ATL, but like throwback ATL, not like what's going on now as far as Atlanta music. There's some rich classical sounds. I play the violin; there's some of that flavor. I named the title that because every song is like its own color." The album is set to drop in spring of 2009. You May Like Read More Sign Up for our Newsletter Get The Essence Newsletter and Special Offers delivered to your inbox!	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
5S is a critical component of Lean Manufacturing. The 5S system is used by successful manufacturing facilities worldwide. It consists of 5 simple and concise steps – Sorting, Straightening, Sweeping, Standardizing, and Sustaining – that can help your facility reduce clutter and waste and, ultimately, increase efficiency and productivity. Production SkillSet™ Our online 5S training courses are built on Routsis Training’s exclusive SkillSet™ model. These courses combine clear online training videos and hands-on worksheets. This approach allows companies to perform the same type of classroom learning found in popular seminars in the comfort of their own production environment. Each unique training course is a blend of the following components: BACKGROUND: Your technicians understand the goal of each Production SkillSet™ PURPOSE: Technicians learn specifically how each Production SkillSet™ applies to their job EQUIPMENT: Items are detailed to ensure techs have the tools they need to succeed PROCEDURE: Each step is demonstrated so your techs can proceed with confidence WORKSHEET: Contains all the information your techs need to succeed with each SkillSet™ Step 1: Sorting In the 5S System, the Sorting step’s goal is to eliminate all unnecessary items from the immediate workplace. This is done by sorting the workplace to determine what to keep, what to toss, and what to store. This helps prevent clutter from interfering with everyday production activities. Step 2: Straightening At the end of the Straightening step, everything in the workplace is neatly organized; resulting in a more convenient and more efficient workplace. Step 3: Sweeping In the Sweeping step, the best method for cleaning each selected area in the workplace is determined. A reasonable cleaning schedule should also be determined to ensure the workplace remains efficient, clean and organized. Step 4: Standardizing The goal of the Standardizing step is to achieve consistency. A similar appearance and layout should be applied to all workstations whenever possible. This step is often performed after a similar workplace or area within the plant has already been straightened. Step 5: Sustaining The purpose of the Sustaining step is maintenance. This is achieved by a review of the workplace and the existing Sorting and Straightening documentation – to ensure the workplace is efficient and up-to-date. This helps identify necessary materials or equipment that have been added to the workplace but have not yet been incorporated into the 5S documentation.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
Angelina B Hello! My name is Angelina and I am a responsible person going into her first year of university!... Nanny in Richmond Hill Hello! My name is Angelina and I am a responsible person going into her first year of university! I love children and love working with them! I have 4 years of past experience working everyday after school. I have access to a car and will be able to get to you. I have looked after children whose ages range from 9 months to 13 years. I am an outgoing person who will always keep the kids safe and occupied. Babysat everyday after school for 4 years. Many other families just not as frequently. Picking them up from school, changing diapers, making meals, giving medications, cleaning up, putting children to bed. Child required a pill everyday for a condition	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
Testimonials Who We Serve We represent all facets of the hospitality industry including catering companies, hotel banquet facilities, resorts, private clubs, national chains, local and regional franchises and IT companies that service the hospitality industry. Tell us who you need – chances are we have qualified candidates ready to send your way – from operations management to human resource positions to District Management and corporate executive opportunities. The Candidates We maintain a vast database of management talent with all sorts of foodservice and hospitality backgrounds: fast food, casual dining, family style, former restaurant owners, catering, food & beverage, banquet, recent college grads who were servers during college, ex-military candidates who were involved in foodservice… most any type of experience. Our team is dedicated to constantly growing our database of active and passive candidates seeking the right career move. The Companies With Patrice & Associates, you’re in good company. We represent most major corporate chains. We are an integral part of this industry and maintain access to its best and brightest stars: $4M casual dining companies; $6M – $10M theme casual dining clubs; $4M family style restaurants; companies opening new locations every year; fine dining, fast food, airports, malls and travel plazas nationwide.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
Thanks for stopping by to check out some of the things that made us laugh, smile, and even cry. You never know what might pop into our minds, because there is too much going on in everyone's mind these days. Monday, March 17, 2014 Drones Have a Place in Private Business Even if It's Not Known Yet Drones are set to take the world by storm. At least most of the world anyway. The United States is lagging behind countries like Japan, the United Kingdom, and even Australia. In the US use of commercial drones is still not permitted. Sure you can fly one as a hobby by following some FAA guidelines for safety, but the moment you use that model airplane or quad-rotor to make a few extra bucks you are out of line. Why? In the name of safety of course. The US and FAA believe that private drones could interfere with other low flying manned vehicles, like helicopters and hot air balloons, which could result in a collision. The groups believe that US airspace is too busy to accommodate a group of private entrepreneurs to have a bunch of unmanned vehicles buzzing and whirling about. It doesn’t matter if the drone is delivering pizzas, delivering water to folks stranded somewhere, or if it is taking a hammer to a contractor on the 16th floor of a building. The fact is there are practical commercial uses of small and mid-sized drones, and the government needs to get on them quickly. Why? Simply put, a country that wants to be at the forefront of technology needs to be able to adapt to the changing business landscape. Moreover, the US has no issue spending money on drones for military purposes. So why not put those flying machines to some money making uses for private citizens as well.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
Waterloo, ONT Waterloo tickets are available now for all Waterloo events. Whether on vacation or a current resident, you'll never get tired of all the things that are available in Waterloo, Ontario, and the surrounding areas! Get tickets to Waterloo, ONT below.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
We are asked again and again to surrender to the divine but how many of us actually know what it means to surrender? We grasp the concept but not all of us grasp the work involved. Here's a few tips to what you can do to complete full surrender : Learn self acceptance - this is to say, you accept what you cannot change and change what you cannot accept. Bit of a mind fiddle but if you were born with, I dunno, a disability that affects your weight and there is not a 'fix' available to you then you accept it but if it's a case of weight gain via over-eating, you change that until you can accept yourself. That isn't to say, you cannot have hang-ups, just that you accept you are perfectly imperfect and accept you are the best you can be in the present time. Learn self-love- again, self-acceptance plays a big role in this. But to learn self-love is no easy challenge and you may have to keep repeating this lesson until it sticks. Self-love is treating ourselves kindly and with the same respect we treat others, to the best of our greatest good. If you are a naturally loving person, this may be easy for you. The trick is listening to your own inner dialogue and keeping it on a positive note. You may also what to step away from yourself ocassionally to make sure you are treating yourself and your body kindly and lovingly. Stop worrying!- the biggest lesson most us humans have is trusting ourselves and the world around us. Not that hard to believe given the current state of the world and all the conditioned templates we have. But working towards the motto, 'EVERYTHING IS GOING EXACTLY HOW IT SHOULD BE AND IN DIVINE ACCORDANCE WITH YOUR GREATER GOOD', will get you there. Surrendering to the divine is hard when you aren't trusting what's within and above you. Everything will work out and if it doesn't, it's to teach you something you must learn. To not fully trust is to not fully surrender. Follow your dreams and be YOU- to be One with the creator, is to be true to yourself. Find your soul purpose and live it. Even if you do not know what it is but have a vague idea...follow that. Do not think you are, know you are. Shadow-work your ass off! - Do the inner work. Trust me, it makes life easier. Yes, it's painful and not nice but it will clear a path for the Source/Creator to communicate better with you. Heal old wounds, forgive, change what you do not like inwards and outwards...heal. Let go- yes, let everything go. Do not hold on. Follow the flow of life. Disattach and reattach but never stay attached. Believe in what you know-this means to stand in your truth. Never mind what others think or say or do...it's not important. What's important is to stay true to you and be in power of your own life. Learn to love others- with all your heart. Love, love, love. Do not expect a return, just love regardless. Expectation is where people fail. Love has no conditions, expecting a return of love IS A CONDITION. Learn unconditional love with no 'reward' or 'exchange' and you will find that it flows and returns to you so much quicker and smoothly. Be non-judgemental and do not be scared of being judged - this is also an issue with us humans due to the pesky ego. Find self, you will realise no opinions of others matter and niether do yours. Those that do matter, don't mind and those that do mind, don't matter. Remember money doesn't make you rich - stop trying to get that bigger car, bigger house, better-paid job because, quite frankly, it doesn't matter. Money doesn't have a home in the realms of Our Lord. Richness comes from gratitude for what we already have and what others express to us. Moaning will hold you back -even when things get painful or uncomfortable, remember there's a reason for it and live in that reason rather than trying to escape it. Learn from it. Be grateful for the lessons that come your way. Surrender to the path you are taking. Surrender to yourself! - surrendering to God is a two-way street as we are God...well, anchors of His, so surrendering to ourselves is surrendering to the Creator in a way. Learn this. You are what you eat, you are what you think, you are what you surround yourself with. Meditate - this I cannot stress enough. Meditation builds a better relationship to the divine, even if you cannot feel it just yet. Take note, that when you meditate, you have a clear line to The Source and 'His' divine counterparts. It's just a few tips, to learn more you can ask on the forums or Google information. This info isn't fact, it's what I have learnt and what I am learning so take what resonates with you but do not take it as truth - my truth is different from your own and I'm not by any means trying to walk you down a path I do not belong and have no right to do in the first place. I just want to help at least one person become a better individual. If I do that, then I'm doing my job as it takes just one person to change the world and that, my friends, could well be you.<3 According to this article, we have reptilian brain responses. Recognising them helps us cut them off and reach a higher level of consciousness. The biggest thing to learn is DISCERNMENT but that requires DETACHMENT. Detachment is the state of being OBJECTIVE. In order to discern (or filter if that makes more sense to you) a situation (frequency) that you have manifested into your current reality, you must be able to detach yourself from it before compulsively (reptilian brain response) reacting to it. Being ‘impulsive’ is to react without forethought. This is harder than you think, as we have all been wired/programmed to operate at this level since birth, some label it 'survival mode'. It's just not needed. The Reptilian section (1) is the instant (no discernment) ‘survival mode’ response section of the brain. It is the oldest in terms of our human evolution, ‘The Old Brain’, The Reptilian Brain. And is related to traits like impulsiveness, manifesting our world based on negative thoughts, getting sucked into media stories, sexual/violent TV shows, watching too much news etc. Understand that as a human being, you are (well your brain is anyway) a hybrid of reptile, mammal and your true potential: creator. Upgrade your mind frequency and functioning through constant detachment and discernment and you will change your life. Understand the blessing of contrast that is provided with low vibrational manifestations (thoughts, emotions, circumstances). This contrast is not meant to drag you down into lower vibrational responses (although it will if you don’t understand how to get your mind right), it is meant to assist you through this observed duality you achieved through detachment/discernment, to tune into high vibrational frequencies that are in line with your life’s bliss, your life’s purpose, whatever it is that you are desiring to manifest into your life. Contrast and duality are tools (red flags) that help keep you in alignment (if perceived properly) and increase the specificity of your emitted vibration, to bring in what you want as quickly as possible. Your perception needs to be shifted into the (2) and (3) section of the brain. Nothing is ‘bad’ unless you invite it to continue to be ‘bad’. Anything that ‘pops’ up into your reality that makes you feel bad (remember your emotions are your compass), they are simply the smack across your face you need to snap back into alignment and emit the frequency of what you want which was provided to you through that experience that you attracted to begin with. Ask yourself about military conflicts and the reptilian based authority that persuades masses into low frequency acquiescence and perpetuation of such low frequency manifestations. Consider which part of your brain is being triggered when you see an advertisement or a TV Show or a news program. Our current world is controlled by reptilian brain dominated authority. It’s in your face y’all! Albert Einstein said: “You cannot solve a problem from the same consciousness that created it. You must learn to see the world anew.” So remember - Detach by watching what you do/say and learn discernment for yourself and others around you. What is Karma? Karma is the Sanskrit word for action. It is equivalent to Newton’s law of ‘every action must have a reaction’. When we think, speak or act we initiate a force that will react accordingly. This returning force maybe modified, changed or suspended, but most people will not be able eradicate it. This law of cause and effect is not punishment, but is wholly for the sake of education or learning. A person may not escape the consequences of his actions, but he will suffer only if he himself has made the conditions ripe for his suffering. Ignorance of the law is no excuse whether the laws are man-made or universal. To stop being afraid and to start being empowered in the worlds of karma and reincarnation, here is what you need to know about karmic laws. 1. THE GREAT LAW - “As you sow, so shall you reap”. This is also known as the “Law of Cause and Effect”. - Whatever we put out in the Universe is what comes back to us. - If what we want is Happiness, Peace, Love, Friendship… Then we should BE Happy, Peaceful, Loving and a True Friend. 2. THE LAW OF CREATION - Life doesn’t just HAPPEN, it requires our participation. - We are one with the Universe, both inside and out. - Whatever surrounds us gives us clues to our inner state. - BE yourself, and surround yourself with what you want to have present in your Life. 3. THE LAW OF HUMILITY - What you refuse to accept, will continue for you. - If what we see is an enemy, or someone with a character trait that we find to be negative, then we ourselves are not focused on a higher level of existence. 4. THE LAW OF GROWTH - “Wherever you go, there you are”. - For us to GROW in Spirit, it is we who must change – and not the people, places or things around us. - The only given we have in our lives is OURSELVES and that is the only factor we have control over. - When we change who and what we are within our heart our life follows suit and changes too. 5. THE LAW OF RESPONSIBILITY - Whenever there is something wrong in my life, there is something wrong in me. - We mirror what surrounds us – and what surrounds us mirrors us; this is a Universal Truth. - We must take responsibility what is in our life. 6.THE LAW OF CONNECTION - Even if something we do seems inconsequential, it is very important that it gets done as everything in the Universe is connected. - Each step leads to the next step, and so forth and so on. - Someone must do the initial work to get a job done. - Neither the first step nor the last are of greater significance, - As they were both needed to accomplish the task. - Past-Present-Future they are all connected… 7. THE LAW OF FOCUS - You can not think of two things at the same time. - When our focus is on Spiritual Values, it is impossible for us to have lower thoughts such as greed or anger. 8. THE LAW OF GIVING AND HOSPITALITY - If you believe something to be true,then sometime in your life you will be called upon to demonstrate that particular truth. - Here is where we put what we CLAIM that we have learned, into actual 9. PRACTICE. THE LAW OF HERE AND NOW - Looking backward to examine what was, prevents us from being totally in the HERE AND NOW. - Old thoughts, old patterns of behavior, old dreams… - Prevent us from having new ones. 10. THE LAW OF CHANGE - History repeats itself until we learn the lessons that we need to change our path. 11. THE LAW OF PATIENCE AND REWARD - All Rewards require initial toil. - Rewards of lasting value require patient and persistent toil. - True joy follows doing what we’re suppose to be doing, and waiting for the reward to come in on its own time. 12. THE LAW OF SIGNIFICANCE AND INSPIRATION - You get back from something whatever YOU have put into it. - The true value of something is a direct result of the energy and intent that is put into it. - Every personal contribution is also a contribution to the Whole. - Lack luster contributions have no impact on the Whole, nor do they work to diminish it. - Loving contributions bring life to, and inspire, the Whole. Taken from HERE. I thought it was interesting and for those who need to learn the karma law, including me, can use it as a guideline towards growing on a spiritual level This is so cool and inspiring. Such a wonderful story so I thought I'd share. I had completely forgotten about it until it started doing it's rounds on Facebook again. After his wife Linda was diagnosed with breast cancer, Bob began taking delightfully goofy photographs of himself in a pink tutu. The resulting images led to “The Tutu Project” and funding for Carey’s Foundation, and organization that provides support to women diagnosed with breast cancer, survivors, and their family members. Watch the video now to learn more and share with a friend! Isn't it brilliant? I think we can all find some inspiration in this. Plus it'll make you smile. It's sweet he does this for his wife, you can see she means the world to him and he's willing to change it in any way he can to make sure Linda sees a brighter world, a place to love and a place to share the joy. The story is a tear jerker and the images will make you laugh. This message isnt from me but an energy master... "The Crystaline Solar Earth "I had a powerful vision lately accompanied by downloads and syncing of knowledge. The Earth will indeed be turning into a sun, which is why ancient legends spoke of '2 suns' as well as many modern channels. But a sun is not what most currently think it is, its not a burning nuclear mass of gas - its a crystal structure frozen at zero point and thus emitting a VERY high and powerful vibration from its 'eternal heart'. Its a scientific fact that sound vibrations travel 4 times faster and further through water than they do air (which is why whales can communicate over vast distances), and even 14x faster through wood than air. This quite simply means that the DENSER the structure a vibration travels through - the higher it is and the further it travels. Most that are familliar with my teachings know that I am always encouraging more to 'solidy' their consciousness, to make their energy field as dense as possible and hopefully one day become crystal itself. So I just wanted to share this as scientific proof to back my claim. You see we have constant sound pulses traveling out of us, from our heart beat, from the sacred 'om' original sound pulse that comes out of the source within us. Well if we unify with our magnetic soul field, then increase its density - we will VASTLY magnify the power/amplitude and the distance we can project it. Since we form the exterior reality and its literally a mirror of our inside - when we crystalize so too will the Earth, which has its own heart pulse. So like I said Earth will indeed be becoming a 'second sun' but suns are NOT burning balls of nuclear gas - thats just how it appears to us because at its core it is a greater density than Earth, so all wee 'see' with our physical senses is how the sun's energy trickles through into our current density. So the destiny of the Earth is to one day be like the Sun, with a solid/perfected crystal structure radiating 'holy fire' outward unto the ends of the universe. Those who travel out of body already know that the sun is a vast and perfected planet/living space for those of a higher evolution, well what I saw in the vision indicates that the Earth will become an even more magnificent structure/orb/sphere/planet, like its the nest step that ALL physical based consciousness has been working on...! Well there really is only one way to finish this project... The interior reality projects the external level so MORE and MORE of us need to make a 'conscious' decision to take steps to master our energy. You need to 1st learn to feel your magnetic soul both inside and outside the body. From there its all about learning to focus, for you must feel your magnetic field all around you and inside you at the same time. Then to solidify/crystalize it you must be to 'hold' the energy, or 'solidify' your consciousness. Which takes an extreme amount of focus and mastery of the feminine principles of energy. You must feel your light and 'freeze' it, get it to ZERO vibration and your form will the start to turn crystaline. Its very startling to feel at first, to hold that much density of energy, but after the body adjusts a bit it becomes a heavenly and pleasurable feeling. Frozen crystal energy feels SO amazing and there are NO words for it, but I will try... Its feels like grace, love, forgiveness, cleanliness, perfection and worthiness. The first time you feel it you will be AMAZED as well as every time after...! SO get busy everybody...! Master those minds, master that energy - both feminine energy and masculine, a future beyond imagination, beyond beauty awaits ALL of us if we but put in a little work and effort...! The crytaline 5d Earth awaits us...!" And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God." - Revelations 15:2.. - Michael M. Keep it up the good work people. The past few days have been pretty hectic for me, which is why you haven’t seen me in the forums as much but never fret, as I am never away too long… Now that I am getting back in the groove, I just wanted to take this moment to give a special SHOUT OUT and expression of sincere gratitude to/for all of my brothers and sisters here, who consistently go the extra mile in assisting in improving, adding onto and expanding this network portal of information… I am particularly speaking to those of you, who have donated and/or given tremendous time and energy contributing to the forums, blogs and allowing yourselves to be vulnerable by way of sharing your personal thoughts, opinions, solutions, resolutions, art work, poems and personal stories. Whether you know it or not, you are planting seeds; building bridges and expanding minds as well! We are reaching far more people than the numbers show or more than you guys may realize in this land of illusion, please KNOW that! Just like those in the past, some of you will move onto other interests, while others who are ‘awake’, ‘awakening’ or ‘seeking’ will come into the fold and will inevitably pick up the mantle but you will forever be apart of US and we, apart of YOU; a beautiful and balanced cycle indeed! There’s a lot more room for expansion, evolution and original content here and all of this is well on the way and if it were not for you, this portal would not be on the amazing trajectory that it is on! Again, I want to THANK YOU ALL! You are and will forever be in my heart and I do sincerely hope that no matter where you go, I remain in yours. Whenever I am feeling ‘out of balance’ in anyway, shape or form – I go the extra mile to connect with nature; do affirmations; fast; detox and put on some high-vibratory music and just dance! Any form of aggressive physical activity, is a form of exercise and we will certainly burn calories as the result but this is not the main reason why I am bringing our attention to the power of dance… Whenever I dance, I can actually feel every cell in my body come alive! Of course my heart rate is accelerated, which forces me to breath more intensely and those healthy endorphins surge my brain and gives me the equivalent to a ‘natural’ high! I’ve also found that I just ‘know’ more of the things that I am focused on after a nice and passionate moment of dancing… I am more creative and filled with more ingenuity than I would before hand. And let me tell you, when I lie myself down to rest for the day – I often get my best sleep and most interesting dreams and astral travel. I have long since understood the physical, mental and even spiritual benefits of dance! So as I’ve asked in one of my youtube videos of the past; Low vibes? Ok, lets dance! DANCE, DANCE, DANCE! Below is a link to a very good article by Lauren Healey, relating to this subject matter. I love to read and share different views and perspectives on just about everything! Therefore, in the spirit of the aforementioned – please ‘read’ and take ‘heed!’ “I always defy the odds” is what I have stated in a couple of my videos in the past. I state this because no matter how high the odds where stacked against me in any situation, somehow, someway, I will get over and will be triumphant! I only like to share my stories with others ‘after’ I have ‘been there’, ‘conquered’ and have gathered the information that fulfilled the victory! When I am going through any challenge or situation that stretches me on every level imaginable, I choose to ‘hold my head up’ and still smile. I choose to help others in any way that I can with whatever I have available. I am still kind, considerate, respectful and honorable… I am not nor have I ever been the type to throw pity-parties for myself and I definitely wouldn’t do anything or say anything to make others feel pity or sorry for me. Within the past 4 years, I have been stretched to the extreme with just about every test and hardship that one could imagine. The events that set the trajectory to these events was my decision to resign from a well paying Federal Government position in December, 2006. I left because I hated my job and hated the politics and Division unfairness that went on, some of was it at my expense. My core was restless and was feellng a strong desire and need for a 'serious change' and therefore, I took a ‘leap of faith’ and left the closest thing to job ‘security’ anyone could have. When I had resigned; I took a position with a small business, who had a contract with an ‘elite’ government agency. Again, my core was restless and very unhappy there! I felt as if I was supposed to be doing something else; something far more purposeful and fulfilling but I held onto that job position for the steady income but fate had another plan. I was eventually fired from that position because I refused an assignment that went against my contract agreement. There I was in 2009, without a ‘secular’ job or without any income because I could not get unemployment insurance since I was ‘marked’ as causing my own situation and therefore ‘unqualified’ for employment benefits. I must have applied for hundreds of jobs in the first year and only 1 potential job opportunity surfaced – I interviewed for the job but wasn't hired. Yet and still, I forged ahead, while paying all of my bills and mortgage on time out of my life savings. I have a small production business that I worked here and there (part-time) since 2001. Therefore, I continued to produce, teach voice, do readings, design logos, websites, business cards, perform. Whatever I could do, I would do it to help make ends meet. Of course, the economy eventually tanked and people weren’t spending as much and there were no job prospects; no opportunities and my life savings eventually dwindled and quickly too! Eventually, I lost my life savings, my excellent credit status, economic status; loyal clients who could no longer afford to pay for my services; friends (or so I thought), close family members (via death) but still, I continued to smile and hold my head up high! I still found enough strength and energy to put my attention and focus on helping and inspiring others along the way… The one thing that I still have to show for years of hard work and sacrifice in this material world is my home. Since, April of this year, I had been battling a foreclosure law-suit without an attorney because I couldn’t afford one. I pulled together whatever resources I had; stood in truth and fought against this lawsuit with every bit of information that I had. In the end, I was given the ‘illusion’ that I had lost my home to foreclosure but I literally just discovered the contrary. It looks like being fearless and my standing in ‘truth’ has proven another example of defying the odds! These unprecedented experiences has shown and taught me that the things that we perceive as a ‘lost’ is in preparation for ‘greater’ gains! Not just materially but in wisdom, spiritual armor and soul-expansion. If we dwell in and over exalt our misery, anger, hate, bitterness, sorrow or just give up on life or ourselves, we change our trajectory away from our promised victory. Don’t get me wrong, we are allowed to feel anguish, despair, anger, hurts, frustrations, sadness because I have felt them all BUT do not let these emotions drive you – WE MUST strive to take CONTROL and DRIVE THEM! Some people may be wondering, if you are so ‘psychic or intuitive’, why couldn’t you have foreseen these things and avoided them? The truth of the matter is that ‘true-blue’ psychics and intuitive people are supposed to use our abilities to assist others who may fall or be falling off of ‘their map’ or destiny and there are even limitations on this. Intuitive or psychics are not allowed to peak into our personal trajectory and dodge anything because that would be cheating ourselves of some of our best life challenges. Most people would cheat or avoid their own challenges or be so preoccupied with the prospect of a ‘future’ challenge that they would be rendered incapable of living in the ‘now’… At the end of the day, it does not matter how 'spiritual', smart, talented, wealthy, rich or poor we are -- if we are in a human space suit, we still must go through trails, tribulations and the full ranges of being human, just like everybody else. However, it is our resolve in how we turn trials and tribultions around that could make us SUPER-human (Christ Being)! Today, I ULTRA-stand that had to go through all of what I had gone through because it is and will be another testament of how I defied the odds! My story will inspire and motivate even more! Through these hard-times, I ‘experienced and learned’ who my true friends were; I had to experience just how the courts and banking system really work. I had to learn and experience how law works. I had to ‘experience’ a health crisis, caused from being under so much stress, without health insurance, so that I lean on and ‘learn’ about natural and esoteric healing… I had to 'experience and learn' the full ranges of the 'laws of allowance' so that I may ULTRAstand my center. I had to temporarily ‘loose’ everything and tested to the extreme, so that I can be prepared on every level to handle and lead, direct and manage the responsibilities of what is unfolding as I type these words (major opportunities). Yes! I am doing it and had done it all without government assistance; 'secular' employment or conventional thought or wisdom... It was through support from the Almighty Prime Creator, guardians, guides, family, REAL friends and very close family members (some who have no clue of what I have gone through) and a couple of members from the ABB.net community! Most of all, it was by way of my ‘positive thought process’ and ‘WILL' to BE the impossible’. One day, I will tell of everything that I have been through, not just within the last 4 years but my entire life! Because again, my style, method is and WILL -- is to share the story of how I defied the odds ‘after’ I have experienced, conquered and gained the knowledge/information and coordinates to share, and inspire others to be equally VICTORIOUS!	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
Nebraska Women Binge Drink at Higher Rate than National Average Nebraska women binge drink at a rate higher than the average in the rest of the country, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Comment Nebraska City News-Press - Nebraska City, NE Writer Posted Apr. 20, 2013 at 4:18 PM Updated Apr 20, 2013 at 4:20 PM Posted Apr. 20, 2013 at 4:18 PM Updated Apr 20, 2013 at 4:20 PM Lincoln, Neb. Nebraska women binge drink at a rate higher than the average in the rest of the country, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC data indicate that in 2011, 15.7 percent of women age 18 or older reported binge drinking in the state, compared to 12.5 percent nationally. “This is an area where we don’t want to be Number One,” said Scot L. Adams, director of the Division of Behavioral Health at the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. For women, four or more drinks during a single occasion is considered binge drinking. For men, it’s five or more drinks. Nebraska men also report binge drink at a higher rate than the national average—30.2 percent, compared to 24.2 percent nationally. “For women, binge drinking is especially concerning because it increases the risk for breast cancer, heart disease and stroke—leading causes of death in women—as well as other health problems,” said Dr. Joseph Acierno, Chief Medical Officer and Director of the Division of Public Health. “Binge drinking isn’t healthy on many levels. There’s a risk of alcoholism,” Adams said. “There’s a risk of drunk driving. There’s a risk of social behaviors you don’t want to face the next day.” The Division of Behavioral funds community coalitions in Nebraska to combat underage and binge drinking, as well as drunk driving and prescription drug abuse. Strategies include responsible beverage server training, education in schools and media campaigns designed to raise awareness, and change social norms.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
Fearful, Shy or Anxious Dogs General informationJune 19, 2016 In order to help you with any issue involving fearful behavior, we must schedule you into a behavior consultation so we can assess your dog and determine the best course of treatment for that particular dog. Click here for information on our consultation program and to get started in scheduling a consultation. In the meantime check out these handouts:Fear of Thunder and Loud NoisesFearful DogsSubmissive and Excitement Urination	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
Friday movie roundup: Everlasting 'Beauty' This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted. The week's best movie is a timeless classic - and almost old enough to buy alcohol. First released in 1991, Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" remains a brilliant, funny and emotionally rich movie. The "tale as old as time," of the yearning Belle (voiced by Paige O'Hara) learning to love and be loved by a melancholy beast (voiced by Robby Benson), has great characters, strong animation and some of the best musical numbers ever put to film. (Admit it, you're humming "Be Our Guest" right now, aren't you?) This week's re-release, in digital 3-D, is a great chance to be bowled over by its charms all over again. (The movie is accompanied by a short, "Tangled Ever After," a follow-up to Disney's 2010 Rapunzel story.) Among the new films, there are slim pickings, though the thriller "Contraband" is a fun ride. Mark Wahlberg plays a retired smuggler who is forced back into the game for one more run, to get his idiot brother-in-law (Caleb Landry Jones) out of trouble with a ruthless drug thug (Giovanni Ribisi). The action is pleasantly gritty, even if the plot veers sharply toward the ridiculous toward the end. The big Oscar-bait movie of the week is "The Iron Lady," which boasts a note-perfect performance by Meryl Streep as former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. But as good as Streep is at nailing Thatcher's imperious cadences, the movie is rather a mess of disjointed scenes that don't bring any analysis to Thatcher's controversial career. Another movie with highbrow intentions is "Carnage," an adaptation of Yasmina Reza's hit play "God of Carnage," hectoringly directed by Roman Polanski. Two New York couples - one played by Jodie Foster and John C. Reilly, the other by Christoph Waltz and Kate Winslet - try to amicably settle a playground dispute between their 11-year-old sons. But after some cobbler, Scotch and vomit, the verbal knives come out. The acting is mostly one note, and that note is shrill and hard to listen to. ARTICLE PHOTO GALLERY There's some fine listening in "Joyful Noise," a comedy-drama in which two Southern ladies hard-working Vi Rose Hill (Queen Latifah) and wealthy G.G. Sparrow (Dolly Parton) battle for control of their small town's gospel choir. Writer-director Todd Graff ("Bandslam") stages some show-stopping numbers, but also overloads the story with heavy-handed subplots that shortchange any meaningful character development. Lastly, there's the French comedy-drama "Tomboy" over at the Tower. The movie tells of a 10-year-old girl who passes herself off as a boy when the family moves to a new neighborhood. I was unable to screen the film this week.' Share This Article USER COMMENTS Reader comments on sltrib.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Salt Lake Tribune. We will delete comments containing obscenities, personal attacks and inappropriate or offensive remarks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. If you see an objectionable comment, please alert us by clicking the arrow on the upper right side of the comment and selecting "Flag comment as inappropriate". If you've recently registered with Disqus or aren't seeing your comments immediately, you may need to verify your email address. To do so, visit disqus.com/account. See more about comments here.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
Design your Own Electric Vehicle With the Trexa EV Platform!... What if designing your own electric vehicle was as simple as picking out the parts and plugging them together? Trexa is aiming to make that dream a reality as they unveil the world's first fully-electric vehicle development platform. This svelte all-wheel	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
Carrollton, Ga. — Jon Ossoff’s defeat in Georgia’s Sixth Congressional District election on Tuesday wasn’t just a sign that Democrats may have a harder time winning in the Trump era than they had hoped. It is a symptom of a larger problem for the party — a generational and racial divide between a largely secular group of young, white party activists and an older electorate that is more religious and more socially conservative. Daniel K. Williams has made significant contributions in the past to establishing historical truths that fall between (or in conflict with) both political parties. I don´t know him personally, but my impression is he is a Christian, determined to research, publish, and speak the truth regardless of whose toes get stepped on. That makes me wonder if there is some intended tongue-in-cheek in this editorial. Williams says the Democrats current religion problem is that--unlike previous generations of Democrats--young, secular Democrats don´t know how to camoflage what they believe with religious sounding language. So in the matter of style vs. substance, Democrats have a religion problem when their style reveals their substance. Intentionally or not, this article is a reiteration of Rush Limbaugh´s longstanding accusation that Progressive Democrats CAN´T say what they really believe or what they really want to do, because they´d only get 20% of the vote! Because they really believe most Americans are despicable. They hate us. They really do. The vulgar endorsements of violence that one after another of them keep "apologizing" for when they´re caught -- that´s what they really believe. That´s also why progressive audience laugh too hard when a speaker dips into f-bombs, or jokes about crude vengeance against conservatives. It´s laughter curdled with hatred. It´s not genial. This writer is really straining to define past Dem Prez candidates as being Christian:McCarthy and R. Kennedy were Christians because they "found inspiration in the church’s teachings." (Being inspired by teachings does not a Christian make)..."Jimmy Carter was a Southern Baptist deacon who regularly taught an adult Sunday school class during his 1976 campaign for president" (Teaching a SS class doesn´t make one a Christian. One wonders what he taught since he was personally against abortion, but didn´t deny women the right to kill their babies)... "Jesse Jackson, who won several primaries in 1984 and 1988, was an ordained minister." (How many boxtops did he send in for that ordination? Maybe his love-child knows.) "Al Gore was a Southern Baptist who had attended divinity school." (If THAT makes him a Christian, then why didn´t Palin´s small colleges make her a qualified candidate? I´m not arguing that Gore absorbed divinity at school...just that he absorbed the candy kind, not the spiritual kind.) "Bill Clinton had deep roots in the Southern Baptist tradition" (I guess if your parents and grandparents were Christian, you´re automatically deemed a Christian)..."Hillary Clinton frequently cited her Methodist faith as a source of her values." (Do the Methodists realized that they´ve just been libeled? Wait - does this church of the rainbow flag realize anything?) "And Barack Obama, despite a secular (read Muslim)upbringing, learned to speak in the theological cadences of a Protestant Christian tradition while attending a progressive African-American church in Chicago." (Speaks like a preacher, so he must be a Christian. Attended a "progressive" church. May the progressive god bless him.)Pretty weak case you make, Mr. Writer, that these Dem candidates are/were Christian. I fear, #7, if you´d continued quoting from the article you´d have eventually proved the falsity of your own accusation. Does the writer even ONCE say that any of the Democrats he mentioned is or was a Christian? I think Williams knows what a Christian is, because he took great pains in the article to avoid conflating being a minister, Sunday School teacher, church elder, or seminary student with actually being a Christian. Williams´ point was that these older Democrats had rubbed shoulders with Christians and knew how to come across like one--a rather damning compliment among most voters. "Pundits should have fixed terms,” left-wing author Naomi Klein recently told the BBC. Awarded “jobs for life,” most professional commentators — whether opining in newspaper columns like this one or blathering on television — suffer no consequence for making predictions that turn out “spectacularly wrong.” Klein’s (partly tongue-in-cheek) solution? Hold our pundits to account by making them reapply for their sinecures every four years, banishing those whose prognostications prove most wide of the mark. The socialist Klein’s embrace of market forces, however selective, is welcome. Might I offer the unfolding horror in Venezuela as the first litmus test These are dangerous days for Stephen Bannon, President Trump’s brain. A new book about the White House chief strategist portrays the president as the empty vessel into which Mr. Bannon poured his ideology and agenda, propelling the two of them into the White House. The book, “Devil’s Bargain: Steve Bannon, Donald Trump, and the Storming of the Presidency,” by Joshua Green, a reporter who has known Mr. Bannon for years, is a best seller that gives Mr. Trump second billing. That’s made the empty vessel very angry. When players get political, it turns out that fans can get political right back. After months of speculation and piles of anecdotal evidence, market-research company J. D. Power has weighed in with real data. After surveying 9,200 fans, researchers found that “national anthem protests were the top reason that NFL fans watched fewer games last season.” The protests were never popular. A September 2016 Reuters poll indicated that a super-majority of 72 percent of Americans believed the protests, led by Colin Kaepernick, were “unpatriotic,” but evidence that his protest had an impact on ratings was spotty, at best. It’s heartening to see that President Trump’s weeklong, passive-aggressive assault on his own attorney general, Jeff Sessions, has crossed a line even for many of the president’s most stalwart supporters. Rush Limbaugh called Mr. Trump’s behavior “unseemly” on his radio show Monday. Of Mr. Sessions he said, “I hate to see him being treated this way.” Over in the Trump-friendly confines of Fox News, Tucker Carlson said the president’s humiliation of the attorney general was “a useless, self-destructive act,” and Mr. Carlson implored Mr. Trump: “For God’s sake, lay off Jeff Sessions. He’s your friend, one of the very few you Let’s review a few recent developments. Last week, Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, resigned. This was part of a “White House shakeup” to get the Trump administration back on track. The new communications director, Anthony Scaramucci, would fix the White House’s “messaging problem.” Within 24 hours of Scaramucci’s appointment, the president returned to Twitter and unloaded another torrent of political bombshells, including talking about his power to pardon, even as his attorneys were denying that Donald Trump was thinking about pardoning anyone. It costs as little as $10 and as much as $10,169 to get the same blood test in California. A lower-back M.R.I. priced at $199 at one Florida clinic goes for $6,221 in San Francisco. A shoulder X-ray can run anywhere between $21 and more than $700 across the United States. In Spain, a 30-day supply of Truvada, which helps prevent H.I.V.-AIDS, costs an average of $559, according to data compiled by the International Federation of Health Plans. In the United States it’s $1,301. In Britain, the average price of an angioplasty is $7,264 versus $31,620 in the United States. Carrollton, Ga. — Jon Ossoff’s defeat in Georgia’s Sixth Congressional District election on Tuesday wasn’t just a sign that Democrats may have a harder time winning in the Trump era than they had hoped. It is a symptom of a larger problem for the party — a generational and racial divide between a largely secular group of young, white party activists and an older electorate that is more religious and more socially conservative. Even if the country were to descend into widespread unrest, it wouldn’t look like the unrest of 50 years ago. One month into 1968, the Vietnamese celebrated their new year and the Viet Cong launched its Tet Offensive. The chief of the South Vietnamese national police was photographed executing a captured Viet Cong officer, horrifying viewers across the world. Communist forces rapidly overran most of Hue, and hundreds of U.S. Marines were killed taking it back over the following month. The Australian authorities are treating an abduction and a killing near Melbourne on Monday, which ended with the gunman dead, as a terrorist attack. The police killed the gunman after he held a woman hostage at an apartment complex in Brighton, one of Melbourne’s wealthiest suburbs. The woman was rescued, and another man was found dead in the lobby, the police said. The authorities did not immediately identify the victims. The police identified the gunman as Yacqub Khayre, an Australian citizen with a long criminal record who came to the country from Somalia as a child refugee. This week, two of Donald Trump’s top advisers, H. R. McMaster and Gary Cohn, wrote the following passage in The Wall Street Journal: “The president embarked on his first foreign trip with a cleareyed outlook that the world is not a ‘global community’ but an arena where nations, nongovernmental actors and businesses engage and compete for advantage.” That sentence is the epitome of the Trump project. It asserts that selfishness is the sole driver of human affairs. It grows out of a worldview that life is a competitive struggle for gain. It implies that cooperative communities are hypocritical covers for No liberal has standing to call any Republican stupid as long as Patty Murray remains in the U.S. Senate. Soon after being elected to the U.S. Senate in 1992, Murray went on a radio show and said: "When I was growing up, the big fear in my life was the nuclear war. I remember second- and third-grade teachers giving us skills to deal with it, if that big alarm goes off, which was ´Hide under your desk.´Would that do any good? I don't know. But as a child, that gives you a feeling there's something to do beyond panic. Today the biggest fear our kids live with is whether ... the kid beside them has a gun. We have to give them skills so The New York Times reviewed videos and photos to track the actions of 24 men, including armed members of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s security detail, who attacked protesters in Washington last week. Many of the protesters were American citizens. The men kicked people lying on the ground and put a woman in a chokehold just a mile from the White House. They outnumbered the protesters nearly two to one. Malia Obama lost her iPhone at Lollapalooza in Chicago over the weekend. The former first daughter was spotted doing some wild dance moves at the music festival, and was captured on video jamming and rolling around on the floor with a friend while the Killers performed. Unfortunately, due to her energetic moves, Malia also lost her phone, and was later seen visiting a Chicago Apple Store with Secret Service agents in tow. A witness told us, “Malia came into the Apple Store to get her iPhone replaced, but things didn’t go exactly [as planned]. The Apple Store couldn’t immediately help California Democratic Representative Maxine Waters wouldn’t rule out the concept of an all-black political party when asked about it on Monday. Waters joined “The Breakfast Club” radio show on Monday morning and was asked if it was time for black people to form their own political party. “No, not at this point,” Waters said. “You have to show that you’re willing and you’re able to put the numbers together and exercise your influence.” “We still are not voting our influence yet,” she continued. “What we should do is organize our power, exercise our power, particularly in the Democratic Party because Three-quarters of Americans do not trust President Trump, according to a new CNN poll published Monday night. Six months into his presidency, 38 percent of those polled said they approve of Trump´s performance, while 56 percent say they disapprove. Trump is also faring worse with his base, the poll showed. Among Republicans, his strong approval rating fell from 73 percent in February to 59 percent now. Among non-college educated white people, 35 percent of those polled strongly approve of Trump, down 12 points since February. The CNN poll was conducted by SSRS by telephone Aug. 3 through Aug. 6 among Rep Maxine Waters (D-CA) has been getting quite a bit of attention lately for her strong opposition to President Trump and frequent calls for his impeachment. She called President Trump “the worst” president she’s ever seen in a recent interview with “The Breakfast Club” saying he “believes in nothing. I think he believes in nothing," Waters said. "I think that he cares about nothing. I think that he´s capable of doing outrageous things. I believe it is possible to impeach him,” she said. “How long is it going to take? I don´t know, but I give it to about December." When former Attorney General Loretta Lynch and President Bill Clinton were busted secretly meeting aboard Lynch´s private plane last summer by a local television reporter, a number of government watchdog groups filed lawsuits for documents surrounding the meeting. After all the FBI, under the jurisdiction of the Department of Justice, was actively investigating Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton for mishandling classified information at the time. In response to information requests, the FBI and DOJ said documents didn´t exist. Fast forward more than a year and it turns out hundreds of documents related to the meeting do exist and show the Department The Republican Party should have cut off Donald Trump’s “birther” movement in its infancy, an anti-Trump Republican senator said Sunday. Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona said he regrets that his fellow Republicans kept quiet years ago as Trump rallied his phony conspiracy theory that former President Barack Obama wasn’t born in the United States. “I wish that we, as a party, would have stood up...when the birtherism thing was going along,” Flake said on NBC News´ “Meet the Press.” “That was particularly ugly.” Flake also condemned his party for supporting Trump’s “lock her up” campaign rally chants about Hillary Clinton, Hillary Clinton wants to preach. That’s what she told Bill Shillady, her long-time pastor, at a recent photo shoot for his new book about the daily devotionals he sent her during the 2016 campaign. Scattered bits of reporting suggest that ministry has always been a secret dream of the two-time presidential candidate: Last fall, the former Newsweek editor Kenneth Woodward revealed that Clinton told him in 1994 that she thought “all the time” about becoming an ordained Methodist minister. She asked him not to write about it, though: “It will make me seem much too pious.” The incident perfectly captures The Department of Justice on Friday released 413 pages of emails related to a controversial private meeting between former President Bill Clinton and then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch during the FBI’s investigation into then-presidential-candidate Hillary Clinton’s Benghazi emails. The FBI said earlier such records did not exist. This discharge of information is the result of a lawsuit filed against the DOJ by the American Council for Law and Justice (ACLJ) in November 2016. The newly-released emails mostly include DOJ officials’ conversations with reporters, who were seeking comment on the meeting between Lynch and the former president on an airport tarmac in President Trump´s approval rating dropped 5 percentage points in August to a new low of 32%, according to the latest IBD/TIPP Poll, with 59% saying they disapprove of the job he´s doing as president. Trump lost significant support across the board, but saw big declines among areas of core support, including Republicans, Midwesterners, middle-income families, white men and the high-school educated. The results come in the wake of the Senate´s failure to repeal ObamaCare, upheavals in the White House staff, the ongoing investigation into Russian meddling in the election, and the daily beatings administered by the mainstream press. Among Republicans, for example, While President Trump spends the next two weeks away from the White House, scores of workers will undertake the next steps in a long-planned renovation of the West Wing. White House staffers have been relocated while stairs and leaks are repaired, electrical systems upgraded, walls repainted, drapes cleaned and a modernized system of heating and air conditioning is installed. The massive 24/7 repair work area is an ideal metaphor for the troubled Trump administration rolling toward its eighth month. [Snip] However, one serious problem remains unaddressed – the deteriorating relations between the Republican president and the Republican Congress, something that Deyon Kaigler said in December that he was done stealing cars. His friends were still posting videos of high-speed joyrides to Facebook, wearing key fobs on lanyards around their necks. But Deyon, 16, had decided it was too dangerous. "I value my life," he said. "I´m not trying to be dead." Just eight months later, on Sunday morning, three boys died and Deyon was led away in handcuffs after a fiery, high-speed crash sent a stolen Ford Explorer pinwheeling through the air down Tampa Road in Palm Harbor, bursting into flames. Eight teenage car thieves from Pinellas have now died in the Donald Trump is the reigning king of American victimhood. He is unceasingly pained, injured, aggrieved. The primaries were unfair. The debates were unfair. The general election was unfair. “No politician in history — and I say this with great surety — has been treated worse or more unfairly,” he laments. People refuse to reach past his flaws — which are legion! — and pat him on the back. People refuse to praise his minimal effort and minimal efficacy. They refuse to ignore that the legend he created about himself is a lie. People’s insistence on truth and honest appraisal is so annoying. It’s all so terribly unfair.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
Firestorm Among Lebanon's Cedars In the annals of current Middle East crises, the collapse of the ever-polarized Lebanese government normally would not attract much attention. Lebanese governments come and go with disturbing regularity. Moreover, with riots in Tunisia and Algeria, and interreligious strife between Copts and Muslims capturing headlines, let alone the collapse of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and the diplomatic dueling over Iran's nuclear ambitions, there's a lot of bad news already to depress any already depressed Middle East soul. Don't be fooled. Lebanon is about to push itself over a cliff and once again up to the top of anyone's Mid East OMG list. When Hezbollah and its Christian allies walked out of the cabinet today, effectively dissolving the shaky government of Prime Minister Saad Hariri, it heralded perhaps the final showdown between Hezbollah and the so-called western-backed moderate "March 14 democratic alliance" -- a showdown which centered on Hezbollah's purported bloody role in the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri (the current PM's father) and 22 others (not to mention the other 494 injured in a tirade of Mexican-style disappearances and limb removals). Prompting the walkout is the much anticipated and imminent announcement by the United Nations Tribunal doing the investigating of the killings of official indictments against Hezbollah terror operatives reporting directly to Hezbollah's Secretary General Sheikh Nasrallah -- Hezbollah's mini ayatollah and Iran's puppet agent provocateur. A UN indictment of Hezbollah members has enormous political consequences for Sheikh Nasrallah, who has exalted Hezbollah and its impressive weaponry as the ultimate arbiter and protector of Lebanon's independence and sovereignty against any Israeli encroachment, rather than a terror-cum-mafia operation using its arms to kill other Lebanese, let alone prime ministers of Lebanon. Hezbollah is betting that by provoking a political crisis and threatening the resumption of civil war that the UN Tribunal and the Lebanese Government would be blackmailed into conveniently postponing the indictment and/or delaying indefinitely any effort to prosecute Hezbollah's guilty killers. Nasrallah has even tried to pin the assassination on Israel and is trumpeting conspiracy theories galore to repeat the lie enough times to make the gullible believe it. There is a lot of diplomatic wrangling going on to prevent Hariri from having to succumb to Nasrallah's blackmail and to call his bluff. In the meantime, a foreboding and growing wave of fear is hovering over Beirut as the U.S., France, Saudi Arabia and Syria frantically try to find a way to prevent another round of bloodshed after the collapse of an effort to find a fig leaf solution by Saudi Arabia and Syria (who are the key powerbrokers in Lebanon). Lebanon is about to fall into another dark period. But this time, the forces of Hezbollah and its patron Iran seem finally to have the upper hand. With a provocative infusion of tens of thousands of sophisticated new missiles allegedly to defend Lebanese "sovereignty" (that's a bad joke) and financing to buy off or bump off any Lebanese authority that stands in its way, Hezbollah may ironically be on the verge of converting its dastardly assassination of Hariri into a golden opportunity to finally seize full power in Lebanon, by deploying its militia to confront Lebanon's much more ill-equipped armed forces. The question is whether justice denied is a "better" alternative to what passes as stability in Lebanon. After all, the only way to avert a crisis is for anyone inside or outside of Lebanon opposing Hezbollah to back down for the sake of keeping the country from disintegrating. It's a hard, callous call that has to be made and so far, there is a lot of resistance to letting Hezbollah off the hook. To succumb to Hezbollah's blackmail would, in the annals of "nothing ever surprises me in Middle East politics," be a real, new low with grave consequences to the U.S. and the region. Given what passes as justice in the Middle East does it really matter that another Iran-backed Middle East terror group was let off scot free in the name of the "greater good," even if it has the former Lebanese prime minister's blood on its hands? In the case of Lebanon, absolutely. Even if Hezbollah blackmails the international community into submission, Lebanon is increasingly becoming a satellite of Iran, and there is nothing Iran wants more than for Hezbollah to emerge as the only power left standing in Beirut, waiting impatiently to do Iran's bidding as its frontline Frankenstein against Israel. Memo to Syria: You're chopped liver when it comes to Iran's real Lebanese proxy, Sheikh Nasrallah. Should Lebanon's leaders swallow Hezbollah's Kool Aid by declaring that the indicted conspirators had "gone rogue" they may avert a showdown; for now. Or maybe not. The Lebanese tinderbox is always on a short fuse, and waiting in the wings are Iran and Israel, each of which view Lebanon's day in court as a new and ominous chapter in the proxy war Hezbollah has been waging against Israel at Iran's beck and call. If, as everyone expects, the UN Tribunal indicts Hezbollah, it must be held accountable because Lebanon's future as a sovereign nation depends on showing the Lebanese what Hezbollah really is: a radical Islamic political and social organization that will deal with Lebanon's Sunni and Maronite minorities as it dealt with Hariri: through assassination, intimidation and expulsion. President Obama has yet another nasty Middle East crisis waiting in his in box.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
Tuesday, May 15, 2018 (CNN)An estimated 239,000 girls under the age of five die in India each year due to neglect linked to gender discrimination, a new study has found. The figure, which amounts to 2.4 million deaths a decade, does not include pre-natal mortality rates. "Gender-based discrimination towards girls doesn't simply prevent them from being born, it may also precipitate the death of those who are born," wrote the study's co-researcher Christophe Guilmoto in the Lancet medical journal. "Gender equity is not only about rights to education, employment or political representation. It is also about care, vaccination, and nutrition of girls, and ultimately survival," added Guilmoto. The report is the first to examine the number of avoidable deaths among girls under five in India at a district level, showing specific geographic patterns of avoidable female mortality across India's 640 districts. Avoidable or excess mortality is defined as the difference between observed and expected mortality rates. To determine that figure for India, researchers used UN population data from 46 countries to calculate the difference between the expected morality rate for girls aged under five in areas of the world without gender discrimination and the reality inside India. The researchers found that 29 out of 35 Indian states showed overall excess mortality in girls under five, and all Indian states and territories, apart from two, contained at least one district with excess mortality. India's gender inequality has led to millions of 'unwanted' girls India's gender inequality has led to millions of 'unwanted' girls The average level of excess mortality in girls aged 0-4 in India between 2000-2005 was 18.5 per 1,000 live births, or close to a quarter of a million deaths a year. "Around 22% of the overall mortality burden of females under five is therefore due to gender bias," the study's authors, the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) a scientific institute based in Austria, said in a statement released Monday. IIASA researchers found that the problem was most pronounced in northern India, where the four largest states, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh, accounted for two thirds of the total excess deaths of infant girls under five. The study showed that the areas worse affected were typically in rural regions, with low levels of education, high population densities and high birth rates. The study's co-author Nandita Saikia, from the IIASA, said that the findings reinforced the need to address directly the issue of gender discrimination in addition to "encouraging social and economic development for its benefits on Indian women." The report suggests many of the deaths are at least partly due to unwanted female child bearing in a society that has a preference for sons. "The sustained fertility decline currently observed in north India is likely to lead to a reduction in postnatal discrimination. Unless son preference diminishes, lower fertility, however, might bring about a rise in gender-biased sex selection," said Saikia. A preference for boys and the availability of sex-selective operations, although illegal in India, means there's a gender gap of as many as 63 million girls. As a result, India has one of the most skewed sex ratios in the world. For every 107 males born in India, there are 100 females. According to the World Health Organization the natural sex ratio at birth is 105 males for every 100 females.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
Apple's $98B Can Do Lots of Things Receive the latest press-here updates in your inbox In the Apple earnings call on Tuesday, everyone got to hear that Apple has about $98 billion in cash -- but should the tech company continue to save or do something radically different? Here are some possible ways Apple could use its cash surplus. Pay a stock dividend. We wrote about chief executive Tim Cook mulling over a stock dividend last November, but that never materialized. Steve Jobs was against the idea of a dividend or stock buyback because his philosophy was that money should always go back into the company, even if it was just as a pile of cash. Cook has no such philosophy, so why shouldn't he reward shareholders? Unfortunately, Cook didn't OK the dividend when Apple had more than $80 billion in cash, so his mind may not change at $98 billion. Buy a controlling interest in Facebook. At an estimated $100 billion valuation (and that's on the high side,) Facebook could be up for grabs. Apple could almost own the company at its initial public offering -- to crush or maintain at its leisure. Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg is a fan of Apple and Steve Jobs, but it's unknown if he would like to be told what to do by Apple execs. Cut prices on iPhones, iPads and every other device. With so much cash, Apple doesn't need to charge its sky-high prices, according to the International Business Times. This would also make Apple hardware more competitive in developing country's where an unlocked $649 iPhone 4S or $499 iPad 2 is out of reach for most people. Buy Cisco Systems. The Silicon Valley tech company makes Internet equipment, and more to the point, television transmission equipment and set-top boxes. What better way to help Apple TV get to the next level? Pay lawyers to keep working on its myriad of lawsuits. Apple is still busy suing Samsung for patent infringement (and defending itself from the counter-suit,) trying to legally strong-arm Amazon to drop its App Store name and is in the middle of numerous class-action suits from colluding with book publishers to allegedly faulty equipment. We all wish that Apple wasn't such a weenie about lawsuits, but because it has an expensive legal team it's able to intimidate smaller and less wealthy companies. Without such a legal team, Apple would have a tougher time competing in the market. Anything we missed? Feel free to add to our list in the comments section below.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
Protesters back at Kinder Morgan pipeline site, a day after court banned them Protesters were back in Burnaby Friday attempting to stop construction on the contentious Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, just a day after a B.C. Supreme Court judge granted the operator an injunction. In videos posted to social media, demonstrators said they were standing outside the “injunction zone,” on Underhill Avenue. One woman had chained herself using metal tubing to a dump truck believed to be owned by Kinder Morgan. According to Facebook group Burnaby Mountain Updates, RCMP arrived, removed the protester from the truck and placed her in handcuffs. The injunction against the demonstrators out is indefinite, allowing Trans Mountain to continue work it’s legally entitled to do after the federal government approved the twinning of an existing pipeline from Edmonton to Burnaby in the belief it is in the best interest of Canada. Trans Mountain has said that while protests began in November, it sought an injunction after demonstrators began intensifying their blockades recently when trees were being cleared.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
Minn. bear tale evokes memories of Quagmire CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Sometime during the winter of 2010, a West Virginia black bear named Quagmire perished, likely from natural causes. Depending on what month she died in, she was either 29 or 30 years old. That's a long, long, loooong life for a bear. Division of Natural Resources biologists, who had tracked Quagmire by radio since the early 1980s, marveled that the old sow lived as long as she did. Now word comes from Minnesota of a bear that is 39 and still ticking. Wildlife biologists in the Land of 1,000 Lakes recently visited the den of the radio-collared bear they call No. 56, and found her hibernating comfortably. Sam Cook, the outstanding outdoors writer for the Duluth Tribune, accompanied biologists on the visit and wrote an entertaining account of it. Cook interviewed biologist Dave Garshelis, who said No. 56 appears to have lived longer than any other wild bear. "No known bears of any species have lived longer in the wild, based on age estimates from teeth taken from harvested bears," Garshelis, bear project leader for the Minnesota DNR, told Cook. "That includes more than 60,000 specimens just in Minnesota and at least a million overall." The growth rings on one of No. 56's teeth, collected from her in 1981 when biologists captured her for the first time, indicated she was seven years old at the time. She's worn a radio collar ever since. From that standpoint, No. 56's life has closely paralleled that of Quagmire. Both were captured when relatively young. Both were outfitted with collars. Both had their comings and goings tracked by wildlife researchers. Both produced lots of offspring. Garshelis told Cook that No. 56 churned out 11 litters - 28 or 29 cubs - before she became barren. Chris Ryan, former bear project leader for the West Virginia DNR, said Quagmire produced about 20 cubs. Both sows bore their final litters at age 25. Both also lived in states where a lot of bear hunting goes on. According to Garshelis, fully half the female bears in Minnesota live fewer than four years. No such figures are available for West Virginia, but it seems reasonable to assume the averages for the Mountain State are roughly the same as for the Gopher State. That Quagmire could evade hunters in Randolph County - one of the state's top bear-hunting counties - for so long is pretty remarkable. Garshelis told Cook that Minnesota officials recently started asking hunters who frequent No. 56's corner of the Chippewa National Forest to be on the lookout for a collared bear with half an ear tag missing, and to avoid shooting the old sow. The story caught my attention for two reasons - its unusual nature and its parallels with Quagmire's life saga. While I tip my hat to No. 56 for her superior and ongoing longevity, I contend that Quagmire by far had the more colorful name. When Quagmire was captured, DNR researchers gave every radio-collared bear an alphabetically sequenced name to differentiate them. The letter "Q" happened to be next up, and after some discussion, biologists settled on "Quagmire." The name certainly was memorable, and as Quagmire grew old enough that biologists began to take notice, outdoors enthusiasts around the state followed her exploits in my columns as well as those by the late Skip Johnson and Andy Hansroth. Rest in peace, Quagmire. You might not have been the oldest, but you certainly entertained us while you were with us.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
She was from another world. She rudely awakened from her slumber. Her life flashed before the eyes, terrorized by the memories of her past, recollecting the moment her friend died in front of her. But she's not there anymore. She finds herself on a planet called “Earth.” She’s surrounded by fleshy aliens, and she looks … Continue reading Transformers: Revolution – Knightingale Flies Again – Cover	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
Mother gets death penalty for burning daughter in Pakistan Islamabad, Jan 16 (IANS) An Anti-Terrorism Court in Lahore on Monday sentenced a mother to death for burning her daughter alive in June 2016 after she contracted a ‘free-will marriage’. Zeenat Rafiq, 18, of Lahore’s Factory Area was set on fire by her mother Parveen Bibi more than a week after the girl reportedly eloped with Hasan Khan to marry him in a court in Lahore, Dawn reported. Parveen Bibi confessed she murdered her daughter for “bringing shame to the family”.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
Make a spinal cord - egg carton, thimble, needle and thread, short round noodles (optional) Cut out egg carton sections. String it together. It shows how the spinal cord is connected but can bend in every direction. 18 Breathtaking Christmas Door Wreaths That Are Begging To Be Stolen By Neighbors	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
In previous studies, we found that the emerging energetic chemical, CL-20 (C6H6N12O12, 2,4,6,8,10,12-hexanitro-2,4,6,8,10,12-hexaazaisowurtzitane), can be degraded following its initial denitration using both aerobic and anaerobic bacteria. The C and N mass balances were not determined due to the absence of labeled starting compounds. The present study describes the degradation of the emerging contaminant by Phanerochaete chrysosporium using ring-labeled [15N]-CL-20 and [14C]-CL-20. Ligninolytic cultures degraded CL-20 with the release of nitrous oxide (N2O) in amounts corresponding to 45% of the nitrogen content of CL-20. When ring-labeled [15N]-CL-20 was used, both 14N14NO and 15N14NO were observed, likely produced from -NO2 and N-NO2, respectively. The incubation of uniformly labeled [14C]-CL-20 with fungi led to the production of 14CO2 (>80%). Another ligninolytic fungus, Irpex lacteus, was also able to degrade CL-20, but as for P. chrysosporium, no early intermediates were observed. When CL-20 was incubated with manganese peroxidase (MnP), we detected an intermediate with a [M-H]- mass ion at 345 Da (or 351 and 349 Da when using ring-labeled and nitro-labeled [15N]-CL-20, respectively) matching a molecular formula of C6H6N10O8. The intermediate was thus tentatively identified as a doubly denitrated CL-20 product. The concomitant release of nitrite ions (Click to view the MathML source) with CL-20 degradation by MnP also supported the occurrence of an initial denitration prior to cleavage and decomposition.Keywords: CL-20; Degradation; Nitramine; Phanerochaete chrysosporium; Fungi Publication date 2006 Language English Affiliation National Research Council Canada; NRC Biotechnology Research Institute	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
The automotive industry is past the point of talking about the disruption coming from demand for electric vehicle powertrains or the potential of autonomous vehicles, and well on its way to responding to those disruptions thanks to advanced engineering tec The market's visibility to early quality issues has never been greater and will continue to accelerate. The extensive awareness creates opportunities for the prepared enterprise, and substantial risks for those slow to react. Siemens' PAVE360 provides a comprehensive environment for multi-supplier collaboration across the automotive ecosystem for the development of next-generation automotive chips, according to the company. The Motion Research Group at the University of Waterloo’s Centre for Automotive Research (WatCAR) has been contributing to the body of research around autonomous vehicles by working on a project related to self-driving vehicles. AVL is developing a scenario-based open verification and validation toolchain to generate operational scenarios, create the relevant test cases, and execute testing and homologation of automated driving functions. COMSA to join Mentor business to complement Siemens’ Capital portfolio with software solutions backed by technical expertise. Acquisition said to strengthen Siemens’ expertise in key electrical and harness standards being developed by leading European OEMs and suppliers.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
How to get rid of persistent virus programs. Long query about dealing with Pesky trojans and spyware===================================================== I have noticed that some virus or spyware programs stay in memory andthe removal programs state that the process can't be halted or the filecan't be deleted. They even stay that way when the removal programs arerun in safe mode What kind of processes are these, and why can't they be deleted? Do some of them run as services, and if so how can they be tracked downfrom the start up programs and services and eliminated? I know of utilities such as those available from sysinternals.com whichcan list running processes etc. Is there a way of finding out thosewhich are legal and those which are run by these trojans, the trackdown the processes in the start up groups which activate them anddelete them altogether? At least something like before and after lists, or a list of genuine orperhaps digitally signed images would help. mydejamail wrote:> Long query about dealing with Pesky trojans and spyware> =====================================================>> I have noticed that some virus or spyware programs stay in memory and> the removal programs state that the process can't be halted or the> file can't be deleted. They even stay that way when the removal> programs are run in safe mode>> What kind of processes are these, and why can't they be deleted?>> Do some of them run as services, and if so how can they be tracked> down from the start up programs and services and eliminated?>> I know of utilities such as those available from sysinternals.com> which can list running processes etc. Is there a way of finding out> those which are legal and those which are run by these trojans, the> track down the processes in the start up groups which activate them> and delete them altogether?>> At least something like before and after lists, or a list of genuine> or perhaps digitally signed images would help.>> Any ideas or guidance in this area? Long answer about dealing with Pesky trojans and spyware===================================================== See Tip 13 about the processes.See the rest on cleaning your PC(s)... Microsoft has these suggestions for Protecting your computer from thevarious things that could happen to you/it: Although those tips are fantastic, there are many things you shouldknow above and beyond what is there. Below I have detailedout many steps that can not only help you clean-up a problem PC butkeep it clean ,secure and running at its top performance mark. I know this text can seem intimidating - it is quite long and a lotto take in for a novice - but I assure you that one trip through thislist and you will understand your computer and the options availableto you for protecting your data much better - and that the next timeyou review these steps, the time it takes will be greatly reduced. Let's take the cleanup of your computer step-by-step. Yes, it will takeup some of your time - but consider what you use your computerfor and how much you would dislike it if all of your stuff on yourcomputer went away because you did not "feel like" performing somesimple maintenance tasks - think of it like taking out your garbage,collecting and sorting your postal mail, paying your bills on time,etc. I'll mainly work around Windows XP, as that is what the bulk of thisdocument is about; however, here is a place for you poor souls stillstuck in Windows 98/ME where you can get information on maintainingyour system: Now, let's go through some maintenance first that should only have to bedone once (mostly): Tip (1):Locate all of the software you have installed on your computer.(the installation media - CDs, downloaded files, etc)Collect these CDs and files together in a central and safeplace along with their CD keys and such. Make backups of theseinstallation media sets using your favorite copying method (CD/DVD Burnerand application, Disk copier, etc.) You'll be glad to know that if youhave a CD/DVD burner, you may be able to use a free application to make aduplicate copy of your CDs. One such application is ISORecorder: Another Option would be to search the web with Pricewatch.com orDealsites.net and find deals on Products like Ahead Nero and/or Roxio. Tip (2):Empty your Temporary Internet Files and shrink the size it stores to asize between 128MB and 512MB.. - Open ONE copy of Internet Explorer.- Select TOOLS -> Internet Options.- Under the General tab in the "Temporary Internet Files" section, do the following: - Click on "Delete Cookies" (click OK) - Click on "Settings" and change the "Amount of disk space to use:" to something between 128MB and 512MB. (Betting it is MUCH larger right now.) - Click OK. - Click on "Delete Files" and select to "Delete all offline contents" (the checkbox) and click OK. (If you had a LOT, this could take 2-10 minutes or more.)- Once it is done, click OK, close Internet Explorer, re-open Internet Explorer. Tip (3):If things are running a bit sluggish and/or you have an older system(1.5GHz or less and 256MB RAM or less) then you may want to look intotweaking the performance by turning off some of the 'resource hogging'Windows XP "prettifications". The fastest method is: Control Panel --> System --> Advanced tab --> Performance section,Settings button. Then choose "adjust for best performance" and younow have a Windows 2000/98 look which turned off most of the annoying"prettifications" in one swift action. You can play with the lastthree checkboxes to get more of an XP look without many of theother annoyances. You could also grab and install/use one(or more) of the Microsoft Powertoys - TweakUI in particular: Tip (4):Understanding what a good password might be is vital to yourpersonal and system security. You may think you do not need to passwordyour home computer, as you may have it in a locked area (your home) whereno one else has access to it. Remember, however, you aren't always"in that locked area" when using your computer online - meaning you likelyhave usernames and passwords associated with web sites and the likes thatyou would prefer other people do not discover/use. This is why you shouldunderstand and utilize good passwords. Good passwords are those that meet these general rules(mileage may vary): Passwords should contain at least six characters, and the character string should contain at least three of these four character types: - uppercase letters - lowercase letters - numerals - nonalphanumeric characters (e.g., , %, &, !, Passwords should not contain your name/username. Passwords should be unique to you and easy to remember. One method many people are using today is to make up a phrase thatdescribes a point in their life and then turning that phrase into theirpassword by using only certain letters out of each word in that phrase.It's much better than using your birthday month/year or your anniversaryin a pure sense. For example, let's say my phrase is: 'Moved to new home in 2004'I could come up with this password from that: 'Mv2n3whmN04' The password tip is in the one time section, but I highlyrecommend you periodically change your passwords. The suggested timevaries, but I will throw out a 'once in every 3 to 6 months forevery account you have.' Tip (5):This tip is also 'questionable' in the one time section; however -if properly setup - this one can be pretty well ignored for most peopleafter the initial 'fiddle-with' time. You should, in some way, use a firewall. Hardware (like a niceCable Modem/DSL router) or software is up to you. Many use both ofthese. The simplest one to use is the hardware one, as most peopledon't do anything that they will need to configure their NAT devicefor and those who do certainly will not mind fiddling with the equipmentto make things work for them. Next in the line of simplicity wouldhave to be the built-in Windows Firewall of Windows XP. In SP2 itis turned on by default. It is not difficult to turn on in anycase, however: The trouble with the Windows Firewall is that it only keeps thingsout. For most people who maintain their system in other ways, this isMORE than sufficient. However, you may feel otherwise. If you want toknow when one of your applications is trying to obtain access to theoutside world so you can stop it, then you will have to install athird-party application and configure/maintain it. I have compiled alist with links of some of the better known/free firewalls you can choosefrom: You should find the right firewall for your situation in thatlist and set it up. Every firewall WILL require some maintenance. Essentially checking forpatches or upgrades (this goes for hardware and software solutions) isthe extent of this maintenance - you may also have to configure yourfirewall to allow some traffic depending on your needs. * Don't stack the software firewalls! Running more than one softwarefirewall will not make you safer - it would possibly negate someprotection you gleamed from one or the other firewall you run. Now that you have some of the more basic things down..Let's go through some of the steps you should take periodically tomaintain a healthy and stable windows computer. If you have notdone some of these things in the past, they may seem tedious - however,they will become routine and some can even be automatically scheduled. Tip (6):The system restore feature is a new one - first appearing in WindowsME and then sticking around for Windows XP. It is a useful featureif you keep it maintained and use it to your advantage. Remember thatthe system restore pretty much tells you in the name what it protectswhich is 'system' files. Your documents, your pictures, your stuff isNOT system files - so you should also look into some backup solution. I have seen the automatic system restore go wrong too many times notto suggest the following.. Whenever you think about it (after doing aonce-over on your machine once a month or so would be optimal) - clearout your System Restore and create a manual restoration point. 'Why?' Too many times have I seen the system restore files go corrupt or geta virus in them, meaning you could not or did not want to restore fromthem. By clearing it out periodically you help prevent any corruptionfrom happening and you make sure you have at least one good "snapshot".(This, of course, will erase any previous restore point you have.) That covers your system files, but doesn't do anything for the filesthat you are REALLY worried about - yours! For that you need to lookinto backups. You can either manually copy your important files, folders,documents, spreadsheets, emails, contacts, pictures, drawings and so onto an external location (CD/DVD - any disk of some sort, etc) or you canuse the backup tool that comes with Windows XP: Yes - you still need some sort of external media to store the resultson, but you could schedule the backup to occur when you are not around,then burn the resultant data onto CD or DVD or something when you are(while you do other things!) A lot of people have wondered about how to completely backup their systemso that they would not have to go through the trouble of a reinstall..I'm going to voice my opinion here and say that it would be worthless todo for MOST people. Unless you plan on periodically updating the imagebackup of your system (remaking it) - then by the time you use it(something goes wrong) - it will be so outdated as to be more trouble thanperforming a full install of the operating system and all applications. Having said my part against it, you can clone/backup your hard drivecompletely using many methods - by far the simplest are using disk cloningapplications: Tip (7):You should sometimes look through the list of applications that areinstalled on your computer. The list may surprise you. There are morethan likely things in there you know you never use - so why have themthere? There may even be things you know you did not install andcertainly do not use (maybe don't WANT to use.) This web site should help you get started at looking through this list: A word of warning - Do NOT uninstall anything you think you MIGHT needin the future unless you have completed Tip (1) and have the installationmedia and proper keys for use backed up somewhere safe! Tip (8):Patches and Updates! This one cannot be stressed enough. It is SO simple, yet so neglectedby many people. It is especially simple for the critical Windows patches!Microsoft put in an AUTOMATED feature for you to utilize so that you doNOT have to worry yourself about the patching of the Operating System: Go there and scan your machine for updates. Always get the critical onesas you see them. Write down the KB###### or Q###### you see whenselecting the updates and if you have trouble over the next few days,go into your control panel (Add/Remove Programs), insure that the'Show Updates' checkbox is checked and match up the latest numbers youdownloaded recently (since you started noticing an issue) and uninstallthem. If there was more than one (usually is), uninstall them one by onewith a few hours of use in between, to see if the problem returns.Yes - the process is not perfect (updating) and can cause trouble like Imentioned - but as you can see, the solution isn't that bad - and isMUCH better than the alternatives. Windows is not the only product you likely have on your PC. Themanufacturers of the other products usually have updates. New versionsof almost everything come out all the time - some are free, some are payand some you can only download if you are registered - but it is bestto check. Just go to their web pages and look under their support anddownload sections. For example, for Microsoft Office you should visit: You also have hardware on your machine that requires drivers to interfacewith the operating system. You have a video card that allows you to see onyour screen, a sound card that allows you to hear your PCs sound output andso on. Visit those manufacturer web sites for the latest downloadabledrivers for your hardware/operating system. Always get the manufacturers'hardware driver over any Microsoft offers. On the Windows Update site Imentioned earlier, I suggest NOT getting their hardware drivers - no matterhow tempting. How do you know what hardware you have in your computer? Break out theinvoice or if it is up and working now - take inventory: Once you know what you have, what next? Go get the latest driver for yourhardware/OS from the manufacturer's web page. For example, let's say youhave an NVidia chipset video card or ATI video card, perhaps a CreativeLabs sound card or C-Media chipset sound card... Then install these drivers. Updated drivers are usually more stable andmay provide extra benefits/features that you really wished you had before. As for Service Pack 2 (SP2) for Windows XP, Microsoft has made thisparticular patch available in a number of ways. First, there is theWindows Update web page above. Then there is a direct download siteand finally, you can order the FREE CD from Microsoft. If all else fails - grab the full download above and try to use that.In this case - consider yourself a 'IT professional or developer'. Tip (9):What about the dreaded word in the computer world, VIRUS? Well, there are many products to choose from that will help you preventinfections from these horrid little applications. Many are FREE to thehome user and which you choose is a matter of taste, really. Many peoplehave emotional attachments or performance issues with one or anotherAntiVirus software. Try some out, read reviews and decide for yourselfwhich you like more: Most of them have automatic update capabilities. You will have tolook into the features of the one you choose. Whatever one you finallysettle with - be SURE to keep it updated (I recommend at least daily) andperform a full scan periodically (yes, most protect you actively, but afull scan once a month at 4AM probably won't bother you.) Tip (10):The most rampant infestation at the current time concerns SPYWARE/ADWARE.You need to eliminate it from your machine. There is no one software that cleans and immunizes you againsteverything. Antivirus software - you only needed one. Firewall, youonly needed one. AntiSpyware - you will need several. I have a list andI recommend you use at least the first five. First - make sure you have NOT installed "Rogue AntiSpyware". There arepeople out there who created AntiSpyware products that actually installspyware of their own! You need to avoid these: Sometimes you need to install the application and reboot into SAFE MODE inorder to thoroughly clean your computer. Many applications also have(or are) immunization applications. Spybot Search and Destroy andSpywareBlaster are two that currently do the best job at passivelyprotecting your system from malware. None of these programs (in theseeditions) run in the background unless you TELL them to. The space theytake up and how easy they are to use greatly makes up for any inconvenienceyou may be feeling. Please notice that Windows XP SP2 does help stop popups as well. Another option is to use an alternative Web browser. I suggest'Mozilla Firefox', as it has some great features and is very easy to use: So your machine is pretty clean and up to date now. If you use the sectionsabove as a guide, it should stay that way as well! There are still a fewmore things you can do to keep your machine running in top shape. Tip (11):You should periodically check your hard drive(s) for errors and defragmentthem. Only defragment after you have cleaned up your machine ofoutside parasites and never defragment as a solution to a quirkiness inyour system. It may help speed up your system, but it should be cleanbefore you do this. Do these things IN ORDER... I would personally perform the above steps at least once every three months.For most people this should be sufficient, but if the difference you noticeafterwards is greater than you think it should be, lessen the time inbetween its schedule.. If the difference you notice is negligible, you canincrease the time. Tip (12):SPAM! JUNK MAIL!This one can get annoying, just like the rest. You get 50 emails in onesitting and 2 of them you wanted. NICE! (Not.) What can you do? Well,although there are services out there to help you, some emailservers/services that actually do lower your spam with features built intotheir servers - I still like the methods that let you be the end-decisionmaker on what is spam and what is not. I have two products to suggest toyou, look at them and see if either of them suite your needs. Again, ifthey don't, Google is free and available for your perusal. As I said, those are not your only options, but are reliable ones I haveseen function for hundreds+ people. Tip (13):ADVANCED TIP! Only do this once you are comfortable under the hood of yourcomputer! There are lots of services on your PC that are probably turned on by defaultyou don't use. Why have them on? Check out these web pages to see what allof the services you might find on your computer are and set them accordingto your personal needs. Be CAREFUL what you set to manual, and take heedand write down as you change things! Also, don't expect a large performanceincrease or anything - especially on today's 2+ GHz machines, however - Ilook at each service you set to manual as one less service you have to worryabout someone exploiting. If you follow the advice laid out above (and do some of your own research aswell, so you understand what you are doing) - your computer will stay fairlystable and secure and you will have a more trouble-free system. <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...> Long query about dealing with Pesky trojans and spyware> =====================================================>> I have noticed that some virus or spyware programs stay in memory and> the removal programs state that the process can't be halted or the file> can't be deleted. They even stay that way when the removal programs are> run in safe mode>> What kind of processes are these, and why can't they be deleted?>> Do some of them run as services, and if so how can they be tracked down> from the start up programs and services and eliminated?>> I know of utilities such as those available from sysinternals.com which> can list running processes etc. Is there a way of finding out those> which are legal and those which are run by these trojans, the track> down the processes in the start up groups which activate them and> delete them altogether?>> At least something like before and after lists, or a list of genuine or> perhaps digitally signed images would help.>> Any ideas or guidance in this area?> Don't use pirated software, visit porn sites and be careful which attachments you open. Better yet don't use the internet. Beyond that use software to protect your computer and update regularly. You havent even mentioned if you use any software to protect your machine- just you 'know of utilities'- knowing about things doesn't protect you. To get rid of those you have identify the name of it then specific advice for removal may be needed- the only universal cure is a reformat and reinstall. Actually Firefox is my main browser, and I really find spyware on mycomputer as I don't download any stuff on my computer, and I runanti-virus and spyware removers regularly. I get calls to fix spyware problems regularly, and it is annoying notbe able to fix them with the available tools in one go, even in bothsafe and normal mode. Want I really want is something which can clear these programs if runonce in normal mode, once in safe mode and once is DOS mode. Something that can work from a disk like Barts PE Disk is what I amlooking for. A trojan remover based on something like Windows Scripting Host, thatcan be easily updated, and run in DOS mode or from Barts PE would begreat. A community based toolkit that end users could update regularlyfordealing with new spyware would be the best. Is there something like that out there. [email protected] wrote:> Long query about dealing with Pesky trojans and spyware> =====================================================>> I have noticed that some virus or spyware programs stay in memory and> the removal programs state that the process can't be halted or the file> can't be deleted. They even stay that way when the removal programs are> run in safe mode>> What kind of processes are these, and why can't they be deleted?>> Do some of them run as services, and if so how can they be tracked down> from the start up programs and services and eliminated?>> I know of utilities such as those available from sysinternals.com which> can list running processes etc. Is there a way of finding out those> which are legal and those which are run by these trojans, the track> down the processes in the start up groups which activate them and> delete them altogether?>> At least something like before and after lists, or a list of genuine or> perhaps digitally signed images would help.> > Any ideas or guidance in this area? mydejamail wrote:> Actually Firefox is my main browser, and I really find spyware on my> computer as I don't download any stuff on my computer, and I run> anti-virus and spyware removers regularly.>> I get calls to fix spyware problems regularly, and it is annoying not> be able to fix them with the available tools in one go, even in both> safe and normal mode.>> Want I really want is something which can clear these programs if run> once in normal mode, once in safe mode and once is DOS mode.>> Something that can work from a disk like Barts PE Disk is what I am> looking for.>> A trojan remover based on something like Windows Scripting Host, that> can be easily updated, and run in DOS mode or from Barts PE would be> great.>> A community based toolkit that end users could update regularlyfor> dealing with new spyware would be the best.>> Is there something like that out there. No. Not one application or even a combination.But many applications (Like Spybot) can run from BartPE. I clean dozens of machines in any given month and rarely do they come back for recleaning and rarely does the cleaning regime fail to cleanse the rogue programs from the system. However, there are cases where it is more economical and just all-in-all simpler/more logical to ghost the machine, format and reinstall from my unattended system, protect it from the beginning and copy the stuff from the ghost image that is needed. I don't know -- I think most people, whenthey want to create a letter or an email,just want to create a letter or an email.Same thing when they want to researchsomething on the Internet, order some stuff,etc... By your reasoning, even toasters shouldn'tbe simple -- if you want your toast in themorning, you'll need to know somethingabout infrared radiation, electrical currentflow, resistance, thermocouples, and such --not to mention also be handy with avoltmeter, soldering iron, and tools ingeneral. That might sound ridiculous, but that'sbasically what computer users are havingto put up with now, and that truly isridiculous at this stage. Give two people alist of the most common computer tasks todo, but give one a 1995 Pentium-75 PCrunning Win95 with 16 Mb memory and an850 Mb hard drive, and give the other a 3Ghz P4 Dell running XP SP2 with a Gig ofmemory and 160 Gb HD. Then see whogets done sooner -- from a standing start. A 10-year gap in technology should havea teeny bit more of an "improvement" thanthat, I do believe.... BC wrote:> I don't know -- I think most people, when> they want to create a letter or an email,> just want to create a letter or an email.> Same thing when they want to research> something on the Internet, order some stuff,> etc... And they can do that - they do not have to have a computer to do that. Many "appliances" have been made - they CHOSE to get a computer. > By your reasoning, even toasters shouldn't> be simple -- if you want your toast in the> morning, you'll need to know something> about infrared radiation, electrical current> flow, resistance, thermocouples, and such --> not to mention also be handy with a> voltmeter, soldering iron, and tools in> general. No - by my reasoning that is not implied. A simple device is just that(simple) - but they CHOSE the more complicated one. They could just as easily have gotten one of the many WebTV devices - but they chose a computer for the extra functions (do their taxes, type up a documents, store and edit digital images, edit video, program/code, etc.) It is possible they did not know any better - but they should know better after a few months of use.. They have too much machine for the purpose they wanted. You don't go out and buy a jet-fuel burning hot-rod to get you back and forth to work because you know it is too much for what you want to do... > That might sound ridiculous, but that's> basically what computer users are having> to put up with now, and that truly is> ridiculous at this stage. Give two people a> list of the most common computer tasks to> do, but give one a 1995 Pentium-75 PC> running Win95 with 16 Mb memory and an> 850 Mb hard drive, and give the other a 3> Ghz P4 Dell running XP SP2 with a Gig of> memory and 160 Gb HD. Then see who> gets done sooner -- from a standing start. Common tasks according to you are email and creating a letter. The time will depend on how fast they type. hehIf you add in online shopping - the one with Windows 95 is in trouble.. because he won't have the plugins or possibly the security level browser needed to complete the transaction. Billions of users - you are not going to satisfy even a decent percentage with a box that allows you to check email and shop online. TVs and Stereos used to be much simpler. Turn them on, move the knob.. No wiring to hook up, no such thing as Dolby surround sound or Digital TV or HD TV or everything else you have to connect up to your Television set (if it has the right inputs - if not you have to buy another converter box or a new TV..) - but now - hooking up a home entertainment system is more complicated than ever. And how about those poor people who still have the flashing 12:00 on their VCRs? Can't even set a clock because the only way they can is using the remote control - which has a total of 48 buttons for some reason. Sure - there are versions out there of just about every product that HIDE the complications from its users - but obviously the people having trouble didn't bother to research what they should get.. So they drive their jet-fueled car to work, wondering why their gas prices are even higher than all the people complaining about $2+/gallon prices - but never looking into it.. They then come home and move their entertainment center to their new room - which takes them all weekend to get the sound just right, lighting for the plasma TV hooked into the HD TV converter box just right and they sit back and eat their Microwave pre-packaged popcorn. But at least they have only their "WebTV" to shop and send/receive email - so their life is simplified. grin (Too bad it sits next to the TiVo and the dual VCR/DVD writer - which has a blinking 12:00 since they moved it into the new room.) In other words - people choose the level of tech they want to use. I know people that are still happily chugging along on their Windows 98 systems doing exactly what you say they do.. Let them be.. But if they choose to upgrade - ever - then things may get more complicated. And they will choose to upgrade as soon as their favorite (insert some product here) doesn't work anymore in their little world. (And don't even talk about backwards compatibility - after all, I cannot swap parts from my Model T with my Mustang.) You're are making computers sound far morecomplicated than they are. To go back to thetoaster analogy -- to get a slice of breadproperly toasted without danger and a lot ofattention actually requires an awful lot of thingsto work properly. But with a competetive marketand a lot of incremental improvements inengineering and manufacturing, toasters arenot only cheap, but we take them for grantedthat they'll work for years until they wear out orget broken. Not only is there absolutely nothing that XPdoes that Win95 couldn't do in a vastly smallersoftware footprint, but it was likewise the samewith even the still much smaller Win3.11 --actually even IE 5.0 was available to Win3.11. Secure shopping? I know of a public libraryrunning Win95 on most of their public accessworkstations and they're using Firefox as thedefault browser. Adding the type of security isonly a trivially slight upgrade to the browser,and if Microsoft wouldn't have done it at thetime, a then strong Netscape would have.Multimedia and video processing was alreadyaround during the 3.xx days, and everythingelse you mentioned was just an app or a plugincard away if it wasn't already around. By thetime Windows came around, actually, PC's andDOS apps were already pretty mature and timetested, so much so that for a while the Windowsversions of long established DOS apps werefar more problematic. For the past 10 years, there really hasn't muchif any, of an improvement in the useability andstability of PC's in general. Large improvementsin hardware have been offset by a largerincrease in the size and inefficiency of thesoftware. Very little tight code is written anymore,and I've noticed that the foreign subcontractedcoding is particularly bloated and sluggish. Andmuch, if not most of the security problems havebeen self-inflicted by a certain software giantadding "features" of highly dubious merit andintent. Again, I think most people, when they want tocreate a letter or an email, just want to createa letter or an email. Same thing when they wantto research something on the Internet, ordersome stuff, etc...	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
Questions: 1. Sand painting is also called what? 2. Tibetan Buddhist sand paintings are usually composed of what? 3. The word mandala in Sanskrit means what? 4. A mandala is a cosmic diagram that represents what? 5. Tibetan symbolism consists primarily of what? 6. What is considered the key to the mandala? 7. Squares represent what? 8. Triangles stand for what? 9. What will you usually see in the center of the mandala? 10. To create a Tibetan mandala is to evoke what? 11. The colored sands are poured from traditional metal funnels called what? 12. Besides sand, what else can a mandala be constructed from? 13. A mandala can take days, weeks, months and sometimes even years to complete; so why is it destroyed shortly after its completion? Answers: (no peeking!) 1. Sand painting is also called what? It is also referred to as drypainting. 2. Tibetan Buddhist sand paintings are usually composed of what? Mandalas. In Tibetan, it is called dul-tson-kyil-khor meaning mandala of colored powders. 3. The word mandala in Sanskrit means what? Circle. 4. A mandala is a cosmic diagram that represents what? The dwelling place or celestial mansion of a deity. Both the deity who reside in the mandala and the mandala itself are recognized as pure expressions of Buddha’s fully enlightened mind. 5. Tibetan symbolism consists primarily of what? Circles, squares and triangles. 6. What is considered the key to the mandala? The circle is the key for it represents the unity of all existence and the unbounded chaos of heaven. 7. Squares represent what? The order of the four directions and the boundaries of human life on earth. 8. Triangles stand for what? The trinity beyond duality. 9. What will you usually see in the center of the mandala? The center of the mandala is almost always a circle. Numerous circles within the mandala depict a multitude of centers existing simultaneously on many levels. 10. To create a Tibetan mandala is to evoke what? The “structuring principle” that brings cosmic elements into alignment and gives them form. Deities or sacred ancestral energies are understood to exist in the forms of these traditional designs while rendering the designs brings them to life. Creating a mandala is considered a sacred ceremony of great power. 11. The colored sands are poured from traditional metal funnels called what? Chak-pur. Each monk holds a chak-pur in one hand while running a metal rod on its serrated surface; the vibration causes the sands to flow like liquid. 12. Besides sand, what else can a mandala be constructed from? A mandala can be constructed from wood, precious jewels, rice or flowers. 13. A mandala can take days, weeks, months and sometimes even years to complete; so why is it destroyed shortly after its completion? Destruction is done as a teaching tool and metaphor for the impermanence of all things.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
video/picutre slideshow 3d help I want to get away from making the average slide show like using Roxio to put text, music and pics and then burn to DVD. I want expand out. is there a tool / software that I can use to make it where the text is 3d, i can add pics, and then short video as well and put in sequence for a slide show making it more Dynamic looking. any ideas please thank you	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
Tag Archives: equality In light of recent news events, it seems that sexist stereotypes and misogynistic behaviors continue to be supported and trivialized in our society. The “boys will be boys” attitude persists in all age groups, socioeconomic classes, and cultures despite attempts that have been made in the last few decades to eradicate it. What can we, as parents and teachers, do to combat the many chauvinistic messages that bombard our children every day? Inspiring Girls, an international organization based in the UK, has an idea. Noting that many of our children are exposed at an early age to a multitude of animated characters, the organization also found that only 29% of these potential role models are female. In a revealing video included on the resources page, a classroom teachers asks her students to draw people in several different professions such as a firefighter and a surgeon. 61 pictures were drawn as men. 5 were women. The #redrawthebalance campaign from Inspiring Girls wants us to bring awareness to this disturbing example of gender stereotypes, and to help our students see that women can be strong, intelligent, and hard-working as well. You can find a workbook on the resources page that can be printed with pages that prompt students to draw their own characters, who will hopefully be more representative of themselves. There are also downloadable posters of characters such as “Carla the Coder,” who are female. We’ve come a long way since we had to fight for the right for women to vote. But all we have to do is take a look at the headlines to see that it hasn’t been far enough. Like this: I love visiting the Kuriositas blog for unusual stories about animals, vivid descriptions of places all over the world, and their incredible video picks. Yesterday, I discovered the short video, Cogs, on their site. Directed by Laurent Witz for AIME (an organization dedicated to education equality), Cogs is one of those small packages that deliver a huge gift. In this gorgeous animation, a world is shown that is ruled by a factory that produces only two kinds of people – and they can only travel on their separate tracks. It is a sad, but unfortunately very appropriate, metaphor for the world’s drastically restrained and disparate educational systems. The film has a hauntingly beautiful theme sung by Mariot Pejon, and composed by Olivier Defradat. In less than three minutes, we experience melancholy that gradually evolves into hope. It is a wonderful inspiration to all of us who believe that every child should receive a quality education.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
Free kit with $20 purchase at MyMemories This week's free kit with $20 purchase is Rainy Days Kit by Pat's Scrap. This kit highlights the transitional period between summer and fall. With green trees and bushes to almost barren trees with a few orange leaves left. Don't forget that sometimes soggy part of fall...this kit also comes with raindrop, puddle, and splash elements. With mushrooms, acorn, leaves, flowers, frames, clock, books, teacup, animal friends, berries, and ribbons you will have anything you need to scrap those fun fall memories! This kit, normally priced at $4.99, includes 11 background papers and 86 embellishments. Also be sure to check out the rest of the Rainy Days Collection that includes quick pages, clusters, and word art. To make sure that you collect your free kit please follow these steps: Add $20 (must total $20 before sales tax) of any of our talented designers kits to your cart, but DO NOT add this kit to your cart! Once code is entered, the promo code will add it to the cart for you! Enter the promo code September9PSPJ (code is case sensitive) in the promo code field on the checkout page. Code will add this kit to your cart and then you can proceed to checkout as usual. Follow by Email Footer Links NEWSLETTER SIGNUP Terms of Use Our contact info: [email protected] Our Terms of Use are pretty simple. All our kits (whether FREE or purchased) are for PU/S4H/S4O ONLY unless otherwise noted as CU. Do not resell them, do not claim them as your own, do not use for Commercial use unless they are CLEARLY marked as CU. Please do not hotlink them, send people to the blog to download freebies or point them to the Facebook page. Do not redistribute these products. Thank you!!!	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
Sunday, June 14, 2009 I think Provo Craft definitely hit the mark on this one. Perfect for the intended audience. The screen shots below are of the initial screen/keypad, then the initial keypad with the shift key pressed, then feature key one, feature key one with the shift key pressed, etc. There's more than one screen shot per feature key/feature key shift, I made them a little bigger & they were wider to begin with. I wanted you to get a good idea of what was on the cart. I didn't include feature keys 5&6 as they are the standard shadow & blackout of the initial keypad. A proud member of The Lime Light, a charity-based design team. Click on over to see what we are doing. That information has been moved to the Imagine That Plus site so that this site will load faster (that one doesn't have as much, and everything is pretty much in posts & not at the bottom of every page so it loads at a pretty good rate).	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
Miley Cyrus To Appear In New Season of Black Mirror Through her career, Miley Cyrus has appeared in a number of different arenas. She’s made her name as a pop star, actress and much more. She’s dealt with controversy and gone through her own legal battles. Not to mention, she’s ventured outside of her comfort zone to collaborate with Mike WiLL Made-It and Juicy J. As she enters into the next phase of her career, Miley Cyrus is continuing in to her acting career. During a recent interview, she mentioned that she has taken a new role in an upcoming Netflix series. While doing an interview with Howard Stern, Miley Cyrus went in depth of losing her home during the California wildfires. In doing so, Cyrus confirmed that she was away filming in South Africa when she lost her home. Cyrus went on to say, “I was so far from home and the show is already really dark, and it’s already kind of eerie when you’re there all the time. But I learned a lot about myself.” The fifth season does not have a release date, but the show is expected to return in 2019 along with other Netflix favorites such as Stranger Things and On My Block.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
Tag Archives: Reimage PC Repair 1.9.0.2 Alll-in-one Reimage PC Repair 1.9.0.2 Crack Plus Keygen {Portable} Reimage PC Repair 1.9.0.2 Crack is a countless software program. It can repair the whole PC with the help of online automatically and manually detects errors or corrupted documents and folders quickly. It scans all your tool and device to check the malware, viruses, viruses and Trojan… Read More »	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
Work with Me AAUBlog is an award nominated Family Lifestyle blog. I am a wife and the mother of two lovely little ones. I love sharing our life and thoughts with our readers. Achievements I have achieved a top 100 ranking on HIBS100 (for lifestyle and home bloggers) – currently ranked 13. My social media following is over 20k (as of September 2017) and all networks continue to grow at a good rate. I was nominated for the MAD Blog Awards for two years running and the same for the Brilliance in Blogging Awards. I have won a Surrey Digital Award and was the top lifestyle winner for the Activity People Blogger Awards. How I can help You My blog is growing and growing in popularity and I would be happy to help your brand or business, as long as it is suited to my blog theme and readership. As a professional blogger and freelance writer, I can help in several ways including: writing interesting and engaging content in the form of sponsored posts paid link inclusions or product mentions in ‘wishlist’ style posts brand ambassador / enthusiast roles host competitions guest posts product reviews advertising space social media account management I have worked with big brands such as: (the list is not exhaustive) Tesco Santander Berghaus Hotel Chocolat Poundland Dry Like Me George Home CYBEX Citi Bank Stella Artois Mamas & Papas Trunki Diet Chef Garmin Helly Hansen Simply Supplements Please get in touch for up to date page viewing and follower statistics or download my media pack: I am Leslie J. Shearer – Founder of Colorgardening.com – a new blog that specializes in sharing about gardening and also a new reader of aaublog. I have read your blog and I found it extremely interesting as well as attracting. I wonder if there is any opportunities for us to cooperate. At present, I am trying to advertise my new blog – a blog I think is of a great amount of useful information and suitable for your readers. I actually hope to pay to have a sponsored posts on your sites. Will you accept the sponsored posts at this time? Look forward to hearing from you soon. Have a great day! Kind regards, I am Sushant Kumar-Founder of Passion for Fitness that focusses on providing fitness & lifestyle related solutions for fitness aspirants. I have written notable blogs reflecting my transformation journey from fat to fit. I also write blogs & articles on fitness & diet related tips. I have gone through your blogs & I must say that they are really interesting. Lot of my blogs have also been featured on a number of e-health magazines.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
Can you even say it...perfect body! She is so hot! Just can't get enough of her. The only bad comment I have is that I wished that she moved the camera a bit further back so I could have enjoyed her body more from head to toe. This video is visually beautiful! With all the lights and colors, its very relaxing to watch. I use my glass toy in the beginning just to get me started and then move on to my blue vibrator that I haven't used in a long time and remind myself how great of a toy it is	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
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Austin Energy is the nation’s eighth largest publicly-owned electric utility and a department of the City of Austin, safely delivering clean, affordable, reliable energy to more than 448,000 customers and a population of almost one million in the City of Austin as well as several neighboring cities, unincorporated areas of Travis County, and a portion of Williamson County. We have been recognized for achieving some of the highest performance standards in the industry, including aggressive renewable and reliability goals and demonstrated efforts to promote new clean energy technologies and a sustainable environment. Caprock Renewables is a project development firm that partners with some of the world’s largest and most advanced energy companies to develop renewable energy through large scale utility projects. Caprock has developed more than 1000MW solar, wind and storage projects, mostly in Texas, New Mexico and the Caribbean and its team members have been a part of some of the most exciting developments in Texas in the last 10 years. Citizens Energy works with a diverse array of government and private sector entities to develop solar sites, allowing our partners to save on energy costs while contributing clean and green energy to the grid. Georgetown - a town of 67,000 citizens is located 25 miles north of Austin in the heart of oil and gas country. It has attracted international attention due to the City's choice to become the largest city in Texas to convert to 100% renewable energy. CIC invests in technology driven, disruptive early stage companies that have the potential to transform and significantly impact climate change issues. 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Together, these gentlemen have many years of experience in the renewable energy field and have been associated in one way or another with several dozen wind and/or solar energy projects. RDEG’s mission is to provide early-stage development of renewable energy projects for owners of large tracts of property and to identify companies interested in construction of such projects at these sites. SolarEnergyONE Earlie Reynolds Copperas Cove, Tx SolarEnergyONE is a Commercial Physical Research business within the Engineering, Accounting, Research, and Management Services sector. We serve as a trusted voice for industry stakeholders to gain a broad understanding of consumers’ views about grid modernization, electricity delivery and energy usage, and for consumers seeking an understanding of the value and experience of a modern electrical grid. 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TEC wants to do our part in helping the world use less fossil fuels, more renewable energy and create a sustainable environment to be enjoyed by generations to come. Helping to reduce energy loss of existing homes is a pinnacle step in the movement to a cleaner and cheaper future. Texas Tech University hosts the Global Laboratory for Energy Asset Management and Manufacturing (GLEAMM), which combines the research and commercialization expertise of Texas Tech University with the field testing, certification and development expertise of Group NIRE, a for-profit energy development company.Education Institution. Vista Energy delivers a wide array of renewable energy programs across Texas, from Luminant’s wind purchasing - the largest in the state - to TXU Energy’s numerous renewable offers, to Oncor’s development of CREZ.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
Practical for the car.In tough fabric, quilted and with fabric pockets.There are up to 6 pockets: flap, mesh, open and closed pockets with Velcro.Adjusts to the seat, with safety fastening above and elastic cords below. See composition washing label. information RECOMMENDED AGE: From 0 months old Up to 36 months old Measurements Height : 56.00cm Width: 42.50cm Depth: 3.00cm Washing instructions Hand wash.,Do not dry clean.,Do not iron,Do not use bleach.,Do not tumble-dry. Use of Cookies: Imaginarium uses its own and third-party cookies to improve your browsing experience and for analysis purposes. By continuing to browse, we assume you agree to our cookies policy.Cookies policy	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
How to detect programmatically whether you are running on 64-bit Windows To detect programmatically whether your 32-bit program is running on 64-bit Windows, you can use the IsWow64Process function. Do not do as some people do and hard-code the list of 64-bit processors. You'd think that after the hard-coded list of 64-bit processors changed the first time (when x64 was added to ia64), people would have learned their lesson. But how do you detect programmatically from your 64-bit process whether you are running on 64-bit Windows? Easy. BOOL Is64BitProcessRunningOn64BitWindows() { return TRUE; } The fact that your 64-bit program is running at all means that you are running on 64-bit Windows! If it were a 32-bit machine, your program wouldn't be able to run. It's like asking the question, "Is the power on?" If there were no power, your program wouldn't be able to ask the question. Of course, if you want a single source code base that can be compiled both as a 32-bit program and as a 64-bit program, you have a tiny amount of work to do. It may have been interesting to have the function as an API though to already include a check for the day Win128 ships. Since there’s no such API, we’ll have to recompile. Or is it already known that there will be no Win128 within foreseable future ? BTW, why would a 32-bits process be interested to know that it runs on Win64 ? SHTDN_REASON_MINOR_CORDUNPLUGGED might also be the reason code used when "Power failure (cord unplugged)" is selected as the reason for an unexpected shutdown. There’s also "Power failure (environmental)". Just imagine if Win16 had included a function called something like GetSystemWordSize(). When Win95 came out, half-a-dozen crucial widely-distributed 16-bit apps would have promptly broken because this function was now returning 32. And a dozen more Win32 apps when it went to 64… Well, one reason would be so that you could go to your online update site, see that there’s a 64-bit version of the DLLs available for download, push them to the user, and then fixup everything to run that instead of the old 32-bit version next time they launch it. Not to brag or anything, but one of our apps still ships 32/16 thunk DLLs for interop with some 16 bit apps which our customers still use. We haven’t had to rebuild them in a while though. Luckily a couple of 16 bit apps owned by our group were finally EOL’ed last year. Even though I’m a pack rat, I’m ready to get rid of my win31 SDK manuals…. We’ve got a lot of 32-bit processes running on 64-bit Windows, but unfortunately they’re things like WSH that don’t have access to API calls such as IsWow64Process. I wish they did, though, because some of the registry and system directory fakeouts performed by the 64-bit OS causes confusion when we start launching 64-bit utilities (or use something like WMI) that are not subject to the fakeouts. At times like those, I need to know if I’m running on 64-bit Windows so I can tell my 64-bit utility and/or WMI where to look for something. As well – there can be some kind of crazy BIOS code that will keep track of current time or Wake-on-XXX events. This code definitely requere "IsPowerOn()" method – as there can be several different "Off" states – "Soft Off" and "Mechanical Off". If the intention was this to be used for powering off in a low battery situation (UPS, laptop) it could be worded a bit better!" The intention is to prompt the first administrator that logs onto the server after it comes up for the reason that the server was unexpectedly shutdown [how does it know the shutdown was unexpected? by using a heartbeat service]. In this scenario, it’s perfectly reasonable for the [sheepish] administrator to say it was because the cord was unplugged. I suspect that the reason the "reason code" is available for an API initiating a shutdown is just to have all the reason codes listed, even if it doesn’t make sense to say: "I’m trying to shutdown because the cord is about to be unplugged." I would think that the reason code for power failure (environment) would be more likely to be used for UPS/laptop shutdowns than "cord unplugged." You’re asking people to predict the future; no surprise nobody has taken you up on it. Besides, even if your program detected 128-bit Windows, what can you do in response? Are you going to start passing undefined flags in the hopes that one of them suddenly means something on 128-bit Windows? But surely thats the whole purpose of the emulator? You run it saying "Please pretend this program is running in 64bit windows". I would be upset if it didn’t detect 64bit in the emulator… wouldn’t you ? Yes, it’s the purpose of the emulator, but some people want to know that they are running inside an x86 emulator (for example, maybe they want to pass the REG_WOW64_64KEY flag to RegOpenKeyEx in order to open the 64-bit registry) – that’s the purpose of this exercise. That’s a function of the architecture, not of Windows. For example, the 80386 DX (I believe the DX was the first 32-bit processor) was fully backwards compatible with it’s 16-bit cousins. However, Intel’s Itanium 64-bit architecture is not backwards compatible with the x86 architecture and so you can only run 64-bit Windows on it. AMD’s X64 (and Intel’s copy of that, EM64T) /is/ backwards compatible with x86, and so 32-bit Windows will run fine on it. Running 32-bit applications on a 64-bit Windows is different again, and is like running a Windows 3.1 app on Windows 2000/XP – it’ll work, but the OS has to pull off a number of tricks to make it to work. Dean Harding: I’m quite sure the SX was also capable of i386 protected mode, but it had a cheaper 16-bit bus. But, I think the original 386s of all flavors (where I think the DX was introduced first) had some bugs that made them impossible to use in that mode, after all. wow means "Windows on Windows" afaik. 32bit windows uses wow to run 16bit code on 32bit windows, and 64bit windows uses wow to run 32bit code on 64bit windows. I could be wrong but its kinda like an emulator for the 32bit subsystem on the 64bit operating system. > You’re asking people to predict the future; no surprise nobody has taken you up on it. This is not what I initially asked. My original question was: Is it already known that there will be no Win128 within foreseable future ? Slightly different ! If the future cannot be predicted in this matter then the answer to the question is : No. And back to the problem at hand: Why then is there no Is64BitProcessRunningOn64BitWindows() API today to ensure further compatibility in non excluded future scenarios ? What I would do with it if it existed ? I don’t know. Neither do I know what to do with IsWow64Process() today. And Simon Cooke’s suggestion remains valid for a possibly upcoming Win128 as well. "However, Intel’s Itanium 64-bit architecture is not backwards compatible with the x86 architecture and so you can only run 64-bit Windows on it. " Not true. Not only does it have x86 emulation performed in hardware (albeit slowly), it also has (in Win2K3SP1 and up) software emulation (which I believe does fancy tricks like profiling and essentially recompile) which runs considerably faster than the hardware support. > Why then is there no Is64BitProcessRunningOn64BitWindows() API today? Because until there is a 128-bit Windows, then knowing that you’re running on a 128-bit windows in 64-bit emulation mode is meaningless. You only ever need to know you’re a 32-bit process running on 64-bit Windows if you want to take advantage of 64-bit features (e.g. like accessing the 64-bit registry as opposed to the WoW 32-bit registry). So without an actual 128-bit platform to take advantage of, you can’t gain anything by knowing whether you’re running on it or not. Of course, if 128-bit Windows ever does come out, then you’re going to have to modify your code to take advantage of it’s features anyway, so putting the call to Is64BitRunningOn128Bit is no problem. CN: Yes, 80386SX was able to run 32-bit protected mode programs, including 3.1 enhanced mode provided sufficient (extended) memory. Of course, it also could execute 32-bit instructions in 16-bit program too. 80386DX was a name put back (much like Win16), originally this processor was simply 80386. The first released steps of this chip (B1 and prior, that is before 1997-04) had a 32-bit multiply bug, but AFAIK it did not prevent to use 32-bit mode, it "just" requires to replace a 32-bit MUL with (several) 16-bit ones (remember the Pentium bug, anyone?) Of course, it was much easier to explaine the customers they should not install 32-bit softwares and let softwares use 32-bit MUL without worrying! And a very good problem I have no definitive answer to is how to detect if you are running on a 80286 or a 80386+, if you are in protected mode and do not want/can change the illegal instruction handler (one way to have 99% certainity is to check the upper word of SGDT, it is 0xFF with 80286; but this is a possible yet unlikely value for a 80386 too). So here again, the solution is to rely to an API, exactly as Raymond highlighted. My best candidate is the DPMI function 0400h. Btw: Win16 is not supported within Win64/x64, even if the processor allows execution of 16-bit protected mode code in long mode. I conjectured this is because the V86 mode is not available, and far too much Win16 programs may rely on it or on similar DOS-related things (such as allocating ‘real-mode’ memory, or PSP). Any insight?	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
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I have a cloudy memory of what I think was my first day of school. The memory is assisted by a first-day photo of me in a school uniform that I did eventually grow into. I remember my school bag feeling almost larger than me. My hair was cut short, especially for the purpose In the holiday period here in Australia, many young people get casual work. For many, that first causal job flipping burgers, wiping tables, or swiping groceries at the checkout will be their introduction to life in the workplace. The transition to work is a really important part of human development.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You will be required to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. Ridgid Lifetime Service 05-06-2007, 03:47 PM I was researching the Ridgid lifetime service agreement online after my local Home Depot store could not tell me much about it, and I was interested in purchasing a compound miter saw. According to the Ridgid online information, in order to obtain the 'limited time availability' lifetime service agreement, you have to register by a date in 2005. It seems odd to me that Ridgid would take the time to update their prices, but not the service agreement. So, you have lost me as a customer. I do not like companies who prey on consumers with faulty advertising. I am an employee of the Federal government, and will let everyone I know and meet that I believe that this is fraud. ittnb2 Houston, TX Not sure what you're referring too when you reference that 2005 date and frankly I could care less. If the Limited Lifetime Service Agreement was a major point in your consideration of what saw you might buy and you didn't take 5 minutes call the toll free Customer Service line and ask whether that 2005 date is correct then the only loser in this deal was you. As for you being an employee of the Federal government, so what! Every single taxpayer in this country works for the Federal government just by paying their taxes. The only difference is that most of us don't have nearly as good a health care program or retirement package as you do. It's obvious you're nothing but a pot stirrer but then as a Federal employee that probably is a role you are quite used too. ================================================== ==== ~~Don't worry about old age; it doesn't last that long.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
Well sometimes, just sometimes, we all need that gentle reminder. The reminder that life is too precious to waste, and money alone without love cannot make you happy in your family and love without money will in due course lead you to misunderstanding among yourselves. We need a little reminder to give more time to our families and friends and, just as importantly, ourselves. "RumourMan" is that reminder. It's a little nudge, to get you remembering what's important to YOU. It's free, and it's the kind of thinking you'll find adding joy to your life. To start receiving these precious reminders, just twice a month, enter your email address below and click on the button that says, "I deserve more!" We may sometimes send you in-house and third-party reminders. Did you miss a previous reminder? Don't worry, you can get rumourman reminder here... First Name: Last Name: Email Address: PRIVACY POLICY: Your information will be kept confidential and will be used only by me to send you my newsletter. I assure that your privacy is respected and protected. Can't find the information here? Try our "Sponsored Links". If you have a product you would like reviewed or an article, or have other questions about the work at home online business, online home based opportunities, internet marketing tools, e-books ebook resell rights and software, please contact us at:	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
News outlets had sought to unseal any court records that might exist for Michael Brown. Also Wednesday, Missouri’s governor lifted the orders establishing a state of emergency and activating the National Guard.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
PSL 4 trophy unveiled in Dubai The trophy of the fourth edition of Pakistan Super League (PSL) was unveiled in a ceremony in Dubai on Tuesday. Captains and owners of all six franchises were present on the occasion. Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) Chairman Ehsan Mani and Managing Director Wasim Khan were also present at the event. Mani, kicking off the ceremony, said that the PSL has become a renowned global brand, adding that the franchises, the sponsors and especially the players have played a key role in making the tournament a huge success. Mohammad Sami — the skipper of defending champions Islamabad United — stated that it was a proud moment for him to lead the side and is a big responsibility as well. It was Quetta Gladiators and Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed’s turn next and he said his side will look to gain momentum right from the get-go. He added that the tournament has produced new talent for the country, with the likes of Shadab Khan, Hasan Ali and Faheem Ashraf now household names after impressing in the PSL.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
Skip the games. Get satisfaction. Tag: pse While many clients are completely satisfied by an encounter with a traditional escort who provides a girlfriend experience, others are intrigued by the opportunity to meet up with their favorite porn star for a hard-core date. Continue reading → Many escorts start out in the industry providing general services to the client who wants a standard encounter. Some may expand their services to include the Girlfriend Experience (GFE) or role playing, but those are fairly “vanilla” provisions. When an escort who specializes in basic encounters looks for new ways to generate income, it’s fairly common for her to consider expanding her offerings. Continue reading →	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
Accessibility Links Dublin start up raises $20m for expansion Gerry Moroney, the CEO of Clavis Insight, said that it offered the industry standard in ecommerce analytics The Irish tech start-up Clavis Insight has raised $20 million to fund an international expansion. The company has been backed by Accel-KKR, a technology focused private equity investment firm, and existing investors. Founded in Dublin in 2008, the company has developed a system that provides analytics to online retailers. The investment will be used to expand Clavis’s sales and customer support efforts in the United States, Europe and China. Before the Accel-KKR deal, Clavis had previously raised about $5 million from investors including Delta Partners and the entrepreneur Brian Caulfield. Clavis, which is headquartered in Dublin, has offices in Shanghai and Massachusetts. It said yesterday that its system is used by the world’s top 10 consumer packaged goods companies and half of the top 100… Want to read more? Subscribe now and get unlimited digital access on web and our smartphone and tablet apps, free for your first month.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — A senior adviser to President Barack Obama's campaign says the Democrat's convention speech offered plenty of specifics that show voters where he wants to take this country. Robert Gibbs appeared on "CBS This Morning," a day after Obama's address to the Democratic National Convention. He says Obama's speech and the broader campaign offer a clear vision as to how the president will improve the lives of middle-class Americans, such as by boosting education and keeping the nation safe. Gibbs says being a president is a "humbling" thing and Obama understands that "we still have a long way to go" to rebuild the economy. His comments come as Republican opponent Mitt Romney released 15 television ads in eight states arguing that the nation is not "better off" under the Obama administration.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
Rockette Science Diane's Books “Diane’s book signing event at Book Expo America in New York City, May 28, 2009″ 29 Secrets On How To Own And Operate Your Own Successful School Of Dance It is the dream of many dance students to own and operate their own dance studio. That dream is often shattered when they realize they haven’t the slightest notion as to how to teach dance or how to operate a successful business. Why should they when all their time and efforts have been devoted to becoming an accomplished dancer? Yet being an accomplished dancer is only the first step toward being a successful dance teacher and being a successful dance teacher, although an integral part of the dream, does not qualify one to own and operate a successful business. Having owned and operated my own highly successful dance studio for over 49 years, I have reflected on the many ingredients that contributed to my success in the dance business. Now I want to share these secrets in hopes that your dream of teaching dance and owning and operating a successful dance studio will become a reality. It is my dream that in sharing these secrets, I might help you to discover the joy of sharing the art of dance with your students as well as being able to afford the finer things in life. I intend to do this by providing you with the foundation upon which you can build your very own successful school of dancing. So you think you can teach dancing and you want to open your own school? I am committed to converting my know how into show how. A true story about how I learned to dance on the world's biggest stage as a rockette and then learned to dance on an unpredictable, unrelanting planet while remaining relatively unscathed. … [Read More...] Having owned and operated what became one of the largest dance studios in the Niagara Peninsula for 49 years it became evident that I was teaching more than dance. I eventually learned that I had the responsibility and the privilege to be able to simultaneously assist students to gain the confidence in them-selves that it takes to become caring, responsible, amazing individuals. Later in life I … [Read More...] Zen and the Art of Being Slim, Rich and Adored is not a book about diets, financial strategies or advice on how to win friends and influence people. Nor does it spout formulas on positive thinking, visualization or repetitive affirmations. These eleven short stories impart the ineffable, indefinable, unthinkable Zen experience through the use of satire rather than metaphor. Metaphor is pleasurable … [Read More...]	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
Author Steven D. Greydanus is the creator of DecentFilms.com and regularly appears in Catholic print, radio, and television. He is a permanent deacon in the Archdiocese of Newark. He and his wife, Suzanne, have seven children. Follow him on Twitter: @decentfilms Newly remastered for Blu-ray and DVD, the classic animated adaptation of Richard Adams’ Watership Down is available from Criterion. Richard Adams’ Watership Down, a masterful epic about rabbits, occupies a space… Every year Valentine’s Day brings new lists of top romantic movies, often with many titles recycled from previous lists—some deservedly so (Casablanca, The Princess Bride, Groundhog Day), others less so in my book (Titanic, The Notebook, … May is the Month of Mary, and May 13 is the memorial day of Our Lady of Fátima. On this day in 1981, Pope John Paul II was shot in St. Peter’s Square, and he ascribed his survival to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin, linking the… Reading 1 Rv 1:1-4; 2:1-5 The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him,to show his servants what must happen soon.He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,who gives witness to the word of Godand to the testimony of Jesus Christ by reporting what he saw.Blessed is the one who […] Privacy Overview This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful. You can adjust all of your cookie settings by navigating the tabs on the left hand side. Strictly Necessary Cookies Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings. disable If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
The rise of infectious diseases due to the misuse of medicines all around the world Achievements in public health, 1900-1999: control of infectious diseases deaths from infectious diseases have declined markedly in the united states during the 20th century ( figure 1 ) this decline contributed to a sharp drop in infant and child mortality (1,2) and to the 292-year increase in life expectancy (2. Today, non-communicable diseases (ncds), including cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory diseases, and mental health disorders, are the leading causes of death and disability worldwide, accounting for 60 percent of all deaths worldwide—36 million deaths annually. As global temperature continues to rise due to climate change so are diseases “climate change endangers human health,” declared the geneva-based world health organization (who. We all need to work together to preserve and prolong their efficacy through their rational use and by reducing the burden of infectious diseases through all possible means we cannot, at any cost, allow our world to slide into the dark days of the pre-antibiotic era. This issue has become a public health crisis with devastating consequences including increases in opioid misuse and related overdoses, as well as the rising incidence of neonatal abstinence syndrome due to opioid use and misuse during pregnancy the increase in injection drug use has also contributed to the spread of infectious diseases including hiv and hepatitis c. Researchers who chart ed the rise of infectious diseases from 1980 to 2010 in the journal the an uptick in infectious diseases around the world: 1) more travel, trade, and connectivity. Interestingly, while the incidence of heart disease in india has increased significantly, there is a decline in heart disease among indians internationally, indicating that it is not all genetics. Since ancient times, humankind has tried to cure diseases with drugs whereas previously primarily active ingredients from nature (plants, minerals) were used, from the 19th century on, synthetic active ingredients started to make a major contribution. For infectious diseases such as ebola, polio, malaria, and cholera, and chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and cervical cancer, pci has a long history of working in disease prevention at the community level to empower people with the knowledge, skills, self-efficacy, services, and resources they need to stay healthy and free from disease. This is the first of two articles about the antibiotic resistance crisis part 2 will discuss strategies to manage the crisis and new agents for the treatment of bacterial infections compared to approximately $1 billion for a drug used to treat a neuromuscular disease 14 because medicines for chronic conditions are more profitable. However, the world drug report also indicates that many risk factors, including the transmission of infectious diseases such as hiv and hepatitis c and the incidences of drug overdoses, cause the death rate among pwid to be 15 times higher than in the rest of the population. An estimated 80,000 americans died of flu and its complications last winter _ the disease's highest death toll in at least four decades after rapper drake was forced to cancel a concert due to. Ncds cause more than two-thirds (70%, around 40 million) of all annual deaths 4 and are among the leading causes of preventable illness and related disability 5 cardiovascular diseases, cancer. The flu pandemic of 1918 was the last occasion a killer disease swept rapidly across the world at least 50 million people died since that notable blip, infectious diseases have continued to decline in the developed world, although smaller epidemics have occurred. The centers for disease control and prevention, better known as cdc, is an organization that has been working round the clock 24/7 for preventing outbreaks of prospective epidemics, and improving health and safety conditions in and around the united states. Drug addiction is a brain disease although initial drug use might be voluntary, drugs of abuse have been shown to alter gene expression and brain circuitry, which in turn affect human behavior once addiction develops, these brain changes interfere with an individual’s ability to make voluntary decisions, leading to compulsive drug craving, seeking and use. As many infectious diseases risk become uncontrollable, progress made towards reaching the targets of the health related united nations development goals set for 2015 might be derailed. Without the knowledge of using antibiotics it can cause a great danger among many people around the world antibiotics have helped to improve many lives from bacterial infections all around despite different ethnicities or races. Hence, ageing population, reversing the growing burden of non-communicable diseases, and early detection and timely treatment of infectious diseases, should be the focus of frontline services increasing access to quality and affordable essential medicines is also fundamental. All around the world, health is being compromised by the same powerful forces: population ageing, rapid unplanned urbanization, and the globalized marketing of unhealthy products under the pressure of these forces, chronic noncommunicable diseases, like heart disease, cancer, and diabetes, have overtaken infectious diseases as the biggest. Infectious disease is not limited by national borders the national academies, advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine, provide objective information about how our modern way of life contributes to the spread and emergence of disease, plus information about how infection works, major disease threats, and prevention and treatment options. Oneworld coverage of health related news provides news articles on issues concerning health around the world stop tb , a stop tuberculosis web site, provides facts, news, statistics, country profiles and additional information on tb around the world as well as on other diseases. The rise of infectious diseases due to the misuse of medicines all around the world	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
The Principal Charity Classic presented by Wells Fargo is pleased to announce decorated Spanish golfer Miguel Ángel Jiménez has committed to play in the upcoming 2016 Principal Charity Classic, the annual PGA TOUR Champions event held at historic Wakonda Club in Des Moines. This year’s tournament dates are May 31-June 5. Jiménez, who shot an 8-under 64 yesterday at the 2016 Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic to win his third career PGA TOUR Champions event, is often called “the most interesting man in golf.” Jiménez joins John Daly and defending tournament champion Mark Calcavecchia, as well as Jesper Parnevik, Fred Funk, Jay Haas, Tom Pernice, Jr., and Fuzzy Zoeller among notable names who have already committed to play in the tournament. Jiménez and his signature style – a red, curly ponytail, aviator shades and unique warm-up routine – are instantly recognizable on the course, as is his skill. Jiménez owns 21 career wins on the European Tour and has been a member of several victorious Ryder Cup teams. At age 50, he finished fourth in the 2014 Masters Tournament after tying the record for the lowest round score (66) by a player age 50 or older. “We are thrilled Miguel Ángel Jiménez has committed to join us in Des Moines for the 2016 Principal Charity Classic,” said Greg Conrad, Principal Charity Classic Tournament Director. “Miguel is one of the great characters in the game and a terrific competitor, making him a favorite of golf fans around the world. His commitment to join us is a true reflection of the popularity of Des Moines, the Principal Charity Classic and the tournament’s philanthropic mission among PGA TOUR Champions players.” This year Principal® is celebrating the 10th Anniversary of its title sponsorship of the Principal Charity Classic, which is focused on raising funds for Iowa children’s charities. The tournament has raised more than $7.7 million for charity in the past nine years – including a record $1.4 million last year. CHIP IN FOR CHARITY Principal Charity Classic tickets are available at www.principalcharityclassic.com, starting at just $20 for a Good-Any-One-Day ticket. Additionally, kids 15 and under may attend the tournament for FREE if accompanied by a ticketed adult. Complimentary admission is also provided for all active duty, retired and reserve military along with their dependents. “We ask people to think about the Principal Charity Classic in terms of making a donation to help kids throughout the state,” Conrad said. “When you chip in for charity, tickets to the tournament are your receipt and your reward. We hope everyone will make a donation and then come out and join us for some fantastic golf and great community fun to tee off the summer.” The Principal Charity Classic presented by Wells Fargo is an annual PGA TOUR Champions event focused on philanthropic giving. This premier golf event raises contributions for the tournament’s “FORE Our Kids” charities, including: 1) Tournament Charity Partners, select organizations that provide a broad level of support to children of Iowa in the areas of education and culture, financial security and stability, and/or health and wellness. These organizations are supported through net proceeds of the tournament; and 2) Birdies for Charity Partners, which includes more than 100 additional children’s charities across Iowa that receive support through individual pledges and contributions made prior to and during the tournament. The 2016 Principal Charity Classic tournament will be played May 31-June 5 at Wakonda Club in Des Moines, Iowa. For more information on the charities and the tournament, visit principalcharityclassic.com, or via Facebook or Twitter. About Principal® Principal helps people and companies around the world build, protect and advance their financial well-being through retirement, insurance and asset management solutions that fit their lives. Our employees are passionate about helping clients of all income and portfolio sizes achieve their goals – offering innovative ideas, investment expertise and real-life solutions to make financial progress possible. To find out more, visit us at principal.com. About PGA TOUR Champions PGA TOUR Champions is a membership organization of golfers age 50 and older, with the most recognizable and accomplished players in the game – including 34 members of the World Golf Hall of Fame, which compete regularly in its events. PGA TOUR Champions is where Legends play, and is home to The Ultimate Clubhouse. Conceived in 1980 as the Senior PGA Tour, it started with just four events and purses totaling $475,000. The primary purpose of PGA TOUR Champions is to provide financial opportunities for its players, entertain and inspire its fans, deliver substantial value to its partners, create outlets for volunteers to give back, protect the integrity of the game and generate significant charitable and economic impact in communities in which it plays. In 2016, the newly-introduced Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs will identify and recognize the Tour’s leading player via a season-long race for the Charles Schwab Cup. The Commissioner of the PGA TOUR is Tim Finchem. Greg McLaughlin is President of PGA TOUR Champions. The PGA TOUR’s website is pgatour.com, the No. 1 site in golf, and the organization is headquartered in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. Follow PGA TOUR Champions at facebook.com/PGATOURChampions and on Twitter @ChampionsTour. The Principal Charity Classic presented by Well Fargo, an annual PGA TOUR Champions event focused on raising funds for Iowa children’s charities, is pleased to announce champion golfer and fan favorite John Daly has committed to play in the 2016 Principal Charity Classic, set for May 31-June 5 at Wakonda Club in Des Moines. In 2016, The Principal® is celebrating the 10th Anniversary of its title sponsorship of the tournament, which has raised more than $7.7 million for charity in the past nine years and is set to be the must-see event of the summer in Des Moines. Daly, who becomes eligible to compete in PGA TOUR Champions events after turning 50 on April 28, is one of the most recognizable players and colorful personalities in professional golf. He is known by many for his driving distance off the tee, which has earned him the nickname “Long John” and characterized his style of play as “grip it and rip it.” “We are tremendously excited to welcome John Daly to Des Moines for the 2016 Principal Charity Classic,” said Greg Conrad, Principal Charity Classic Tournament Director. “His commitment certainly speaks to the quality of the event, which the Des Moines community has helped create, and is further evidence the Principal Charity Classic is considered a premier tournament by the players.” The Principal Charity Classic has an annual estimated economic impact of $23 million on the greater Des Moines region and raised a record $1.4 million for charity in 2015. “The Principal Charity Classic has been very successful in its mission of raising funds for charity and strengthening its community over the years,” Conrad said. “John Daly is someone who can help make an even bigger difference through his unique ability to reach new audiences and drive incredible excitement. He truly inspires people to engage in an event. “We also believe our tournament is a great fit for John because he has been very committed to personally giving back to charity throughout his career, which is what the Principal Charity Classic is all about.” Legendary Player Daly famously won the first of his two major championships at the 1991 PGA Championship at Crooked Stick Golf Club after qualifying as the ninth and final alternate for the event. His three-stroke victory, which came during his first year on the PGA TOUR, was one of the most unforeseen results in golf history and helped earn him PGA TOUR “Rookie of the Year” honors. Daly also won the 1995 Open Championship in a memorable four-hole playoff over Costantino Rocca, and was the PGA TOUR’s “Comback Player of the Year” in 2004 after winning the Buick Invitational that year. ‘Daly Deal’ For Fans In recognition of Daly’s Principal Charity Classic commitment and his upcoming 50th birthday, fans can chip in for charity and save 50% on 2016 Principal Charity Classic Good-Any-One-Day tickets now through March 7 by using the promo code DALY when purchasing tickets online at www.principalcharityclassic.com. As a reminder, kids 15 and under may attend the Principal Charity Classic for FREE if accompanied by a ticketed adult. Complimentary admission is also provided for all active duty, retired and reserve military along with their dependents. The Principal Charity Classic presented by Wells Fargo is an annual PGA TOUR Champions event focused on philanthropic giving. This premier golf event raises contributions for the tournament’s “FORE Our Kids” charities, including: 1) Tournament Charity Partners, select organizations that provide a broad level of support to children of Iowa in the areas of education and culture, financial security and stability, and/or health and wellness. These organizations are supported through net proceeds of the tournament; and 2) Birdies for Charity Partners, which includes more than 100 additional children’s charities across Iowa that receive support through individual pledges and contributions made prior to and during the tournament. The 2016 Principal Charity Classic tournament will be played May 31-June 5 at Wakonda Club in Des Moines, Iowa. For more information on the charities and the tournament, visit principalcharityclassic.com, or via Facebook or Twitter. About Principal® Principal helps people and companies around the world build, protect and advance their financial well-being through retirement, insurance and asset management solutions that fit their lives. Our employees are passionate about helping clients of all income and portfolio sizes achieve their goals – offering innovative ideas, investment expertise and real-life solutions to make financial progress possible. To find out more, visit us at principal.com. About PGA TOUR Champions PGA TOUR Champions is a membership organization of golfers age 50 and older, with the most recognizable and accomplished players in the game – including 34 members of the World Golf Hall of Fame, which compete regularly in its events. PGA TOUR Champions is where Legends play, and is home to The Ultimate Clubhouse. Conceived in 1980 as the Senior PGA Tour, it started with just four events and purses totaling $475,000. The primary purpose of PGA TOUR Champions is to provide financial opportunities for its players, entertain and inspire its fans, deliver substantial value to its partners, create outlets for volunteers to give back, protect the integrity of the game and generate significant charitable and economic impact in communities in which it plays. In 2016, the newly-introduced Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs will identify and recognize the Tour’s leading player via a season-long race for the Charles Schwab Cup. The Commissioner of the PGA TOUR is Tim Finchem. Greg McLaughlin is President of PGA TOUR Champions. The PGA TOUR’s website is pgatour.com, the No. 1 site in golf, and the organization is headquartered in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. Follow PGA TOUR Champions at facebook.com/PGATOURChampions and on Twitter @ChampionsTour.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
The New York Post reports that Hilaria will become Mrs. Baldwin on June 30 at the Basilica of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral in downtown New York City. The cathedral was used as a location in The Godfather, Mean Streets and Gangs of New York. The source added that Alec and Hilaria spent a long time deciding on a venue, and it "wasn't a quick decision." Despite the 25-year age difference, the 30 Rock star and yoga instructor have had a whirlwind romance since meeting in early 2011. "All of a sudden I found myself where I was available to have something more real in my life," Alec told The Daily Beast this past summer. "And now I’m going to move in with her. It’s the most serious thing, I guess, I’ve had in a long, long time." Alec and ex-wife Kim Basinger divorced after eight years together in 2001. This is the first marriage for Hilaria.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
Feb. 20, 2007 When fish become extinct, the cycling of critical nutrients in ecosystems changes, Cornell study finds Ecosystems are such intricate webs of connections that few studies have been able to explore exactly what happens when a species dies out. Now, a Cornell study using computer simulations has teased out how the disappearance of a freshwater fish can affect the availability of certain nutrients that other species rely on. Algae, at the base of the food chain, for example, rely on fish to cycle back into the water such nutrients as nitrogen and phosphorus, which are otherwise locked up in animal or plant cells. Fish excrete dissolved nutrients back into the water, making them available to algae, which need them to grow. The study, published in the Feb. 27 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, finds that overfishing could threaten the overall health of an ecosystem because it targets important fish species that play major roles in recycling nutrients. In fact, 20 percent of fish species accounted for more than half of all the recycled nutrients in the ecosystems studied, the computer simulations found. "The loss of the most heavily fished species led to the fastest declines in nutrient recycling," said lead author Peter McIntyre, a postdoctoral researcher at Wright State University who was a graduate student in Cornell's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology when he conducted the study. "Fishermen are targeting relatively large and abundant species that happen to play a major role in nutrient recycling." The simulations, which relied on data from Rio Las Marias, a Venezeulan river, and Lake Tanganyika, a massive lake bordering Tanzania, Zaire, Zambia and Burundi, also shed light on the roles that surviving species might play in replacing the lost nutrients. In both ecosystems studied, when surviving species successfully picked up the slack in nutrient recycling left by an extinct species, nitrogen and phosphorus were maintained at 80 percent of their starting values until over half the total number of species were lost. Studies of complex ecosystems, especially those involving large, highly mobile fish, are almost impossible to carry out in the wild, but new methods are helping researchers better understand these systems. "Computer simulations provide a means to assess patterns of species loss in a system in which we just cannot do complex experiments," said co-author Alex Flecker, Cornell associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, who served as McIntyre's adviser. "But we have to be aware that there is a whole set of assumptions that goes into simulating species loss." For example, it is unknown whether surviving species can truly compensate for extinctions. In a study of two species of fish in the Venezuelan river that eat mud from the river bottom, Flecker found that the rarer of the two species was unable to make up for the loss of the more common one. Thus, it appears that human overfishing of the common species, coporo (Prochilodus mariae), may have large effects on the ecosystem, in part because of its large contribution to nitrogen recycling. The current study also revealed that species that heavily recycle nitrogen are not always the same ones that recycle the most phosphorus. These differences would make it difficult for conservationists to prioritize species to protect. The study was funded by the National Science Foundation and the Cornell Program in Biogeochemistry and Environmental Biocomplexity.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
Friday, May 6, 2011 Sweet Spring Spring is beautiful in our garden with lovely flowers and lots of different kinds of birds visiting us. I love birds and all things bird related, like nests, eggs and feathers. Our sunroom looks out over our garden and I enjoy sitting there on a sunny day and having the birds come right up to the window on all the plants and trees. I have include some photos of our sunroom to share with you today so, you can see where I get my inspiration from. Todays Painting Party Friday is a watercolor painting of a nest with eggs, some flowers and an old tea tin. You will see this battered tea tin in future paintings. I adore the sea foam color and have painted it a number of times. Hope you will be able to enjoy the sweet songs of birds this week. Take care, gerri 33 comments: GerrieWhere do I start?Your sunroom is so beautiful and so glad you are sharing photographs of your home.The watercolour is filled with a sense of Spring but also tranquility.Gorgeousness in abundance.WishesLynne M Gorgeous painting, love all the inspiration all around you. I see you have many lovely details inside your home much the same as your art. The sunroom is awesome, love that window! The bird paintings and coasters are beautiful too. Thanks for sharing. Birds are beautiful aren't they? They are truly a gift and one to much appreciate and their birdsong is heavenly....imagine a world without them.....definitely can't! Your painting is beautiful , adoring those pink flowers and eggs.Nicely done. Now I see where the inspiration comes from..I can imagine the gorgeous light of day inside that space...Lovely room. Ah Gerri slowly but surely am seeing bits and pieces of your beautiful home such a beautiful room with so much light ahhhhhhh if only. Your watercolor are so pretty , lovely light tones in perfect harmony with the theme, thanks for sharing and have a wonderful weekend. Where we live About Me I am a creative individual whose current obsession is paper collage. I love stamping, painting, gluing and lots of sparkle. Vintage images speak to me, evoking strong emotions. They whisper of unknown stories just waiting to be discovered and shared. One of my goals is to design for creative companys and to do custom artwork by request. Please contact me if you like my style. Well everyone, thank you for visiting and joining me on this creative adventures, as I explore and grow in all my artistic endeavors. Together, we'll find that everything and anything we create.... it's all treasure. RubberStampMaddness Retro Cafe Art Flying Unicorn ...come join the fun /> Dezinaworld Paint Party Friday Just a Note I love to share, but please note: all content whether art, text or photos are protected under U.S. and international artistic copyright laws. Please do not reproduce, sell, transfer etc without written permission from me. Also some of the products used on my blog may have been provided by the vendors mentioned in my posts.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
Along with the new abilities of Google Assistant, the Mountain View company Google has announced a new product at the CES 2019 event and that is Google Assistant Connect, which will make things easier to e tech giant Google always keeps a strong presence in every tech-related events, but this year the company was not that much active in the CES 2019 show. However, the company reveals some new abilities We already witnessed for many new announcements from the CES 2019, now the South Korean electronics giant LG has announced 11 new OLED and LCD displays at the event. Well, the announced displays have the Last year Lenovo changed their gaming laptop aesthetics completely with Legion Y530 and Y730. Both these gaming laptops don’t look a bit like a gaming machine, they have a thorough professional as well as student	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
I have been using KatchUp now for a few weeks and I love the fact I can share photos in albums and photos with details without having to post them all over my social media accounts. I love the layout, it looks like a great scrapbook album. Its simple and easy to use. I would … [Read more...] Happy Easter everyone. Hope you have a lovely day.This is a Silent Sunday post as inspired by Mocha Beanie Mummy. Check out the rest of the entries using the tag #silentsunday on twitter.This post is protected under copyright. SusankMann 2009 - 2014 … [Read more...] This is a Silent Sunday post as inspired by Mocha Beanie Mummy. Check out the rest of the entries using the tag #silentsunday on twitter.This post is protected under copyright. SusankMann 2009 - 2014 … [Read more...] This week's Gallery Prompt at from the lovely Tara over at Sticky Fingers is Extreme Close Up.I was in the garden at the weekend, doing some gardening. I came across this little lone flower, not sure what it is. I thought it was pretty and decided to take an extreme close up … [Read more...] This week's Gallery Prompt at from the lovely Tara over at Sticky Fingers is colour.I am not a flower type person, I like to look at them in the garden and out walking but I don't really like to get them. I don't see the point, they just wither and die. I get that others … [Read more...]	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
Mark Lenz: Lincoln's dilemmas at Adrian's library Now, 150 years after Lenawee County's Haviland and the White House's Lincoln confronted the legality of slavery — and just days after South Africa's Mandela's passing from his lifetime fight for equality and unity — an amazing traveling exhibit comes to Adrian Public Library. "Lincoln: The Constitution and the Civil War" opened Friday. It's a milestone for the downtown library. It was the first National Endowment for the Humanities grant project that former library director Carol Souchock said she'd ever applied for, and new library director Shirley Ehnis said the chance to host it was unique. "With the 150th anniversary of the Civil War — this year, last year and next year — the opportunity to have a display like this is once in a lifetime," Ehnis said. "And because it was put together by the American Library Association and the National Constitution Center, we knew that it would be quality information and a museum-quality display. We wanted to offer it here to Adrian and Lenawee County." An opening reception is from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday. Tom Thiery's Art Prize painting of Gettysburg hangs next to the exhibit, and related events go on through January. The exhibit and other activities are striking, but the accomplishment is making real the constitutional dilemmas Lincoln faced: — How does a president respond when one-third of his states secede? The doctrines of "states' rights" and the 10th Amendment had been asserted in tariff disputes even before Lincoln enforced the doctrine of united states. Today, still, the boundary between state and federal rights comes up in such issues as medical marijuana, who may define marriage, Congress seeking to close National Guard bases and more. — What should be done when the Constitution and courts support positions that essentially create "a house divided"? Such was the case after the Dred Scott decision of 1857 upheld slavery in America, a nation supposedly founded on the belief "that all men are created equal." Lincoln used the Civil War to circumvent the Scott ruling with the Emancipation Proclamation, but also worked behind the scenes to win passage of the then-controversial 13th Amendment. — War broke out, riots flared and southern sympathizers tried to encourage Union troops to desert. Lincoln temporarily suspended habeas corpus (the right to challenge an arrest or detainment). As war raged across America, Lincoln explained in a letter why he ordered the arrest and detainment of Congressman Clement Vallandigham of Ohio: "Must I shoot a simple-minded deserter," Lincoln asked, "while I must not touch a hair of a wily agitator who induces him to desert?" Historians still debate whether Lincoln's actions were legal and proper. The exhibit points out the gray areas of Lincoln's constitutional choices. Echoes still resound in issues such as indefinite detainment, drone killings of U.S. citizens, as well as government surveillance of Americans conducted under secret legal interpretations. Americans have come to accept some limits to rights, even those the Constitution says shall not be infringed. "The Constitution is not a suicide pact," wrote U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson, dissenting in a 1949 free speech case, perhaps thinking of Lincoln's time of national emergency. More broadly, the edge of the Constitution still curls and cuts across life today. Does the so-called "privacy clause" used to defend abortion allow infringements? Can the federal government order an employer with religious objections to provide free contraception through the insurance he purchases? May citizens vote to ban state colleges from using Affirmative Action racial preferences? It is fitting to have "Lincoln: The Constitution and the Civil War" at Adrian Public Library, given what Haviland and other local abolitionists did to fight the law for freedom. Presenting what Lincoln did gives context to our trajectory of freedom, equality and constitutional rights. Mark Lenz, editor of The Daily Telegram, can be contacted at 265-5111, ext. 230, or via email at [email protected].	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
Dashlane and Google work on project ‘OpenYOLO’ Password manager Dashlane announced last Thursday to have teamed up with tech giant Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) to develop OpenYOLO, an open-source API. The project will allow Android apps to access automatically login data saved in password managers for devices, so users no longer need to type their passwords every time they want to enter a determined app. The project will initially target the Android mobile operating system, but Dashlane explained it hoped the initiative broke the platform barrier. A spokesperson for the company added they wanted a global implementation on the primary OS ruling the market. Dashlane says stolen passwords are the main issue on the net Short for “You Only Login Once,” Dashlane’s plan vows to “enhance and simplify” password entry when login. The company is working in collaboration with Google and other password managers. The project started with a $50 million funding. Strong passwords are the first step in protecting users from cyber-attacks, but Dashlane stated on a post in its official blog that data breaches and hacked passwords are still a big problem. Cyber criminals will get onto this information and sell it on black markets on the deep web. Moreover, Google realized a new trend was on the rise. Users are now looking for ways to protect their digital keys, and they are recurring to password managers such as 1Password and LastPass for security. That is why the tech giant joined Dashlane. The directors want to create the OpenYOLO API for it to become an authentification standard that looks and enters user login data directly from password managers. Password managers like LastPass and 1Password could join the initiative Dashlane’s development team further explained its choice on the type of project. They claim that open-source APIs allow users to protect themselves with a more simple approach, and it also suits every platform. A Dashlane spokesperson further revealed 1Password, LastPass, Keeper, and Keepass to be current or possible cooperations in the anti-cybercrime OpenYOLO. 1Password had to recently introduced paid subscription and other upgrades to tackle hacked passwords and data breaches, so collaborating on the project would benefit them. But OpenYOLO isn’t the first collaboration of Dashlane nor Google’s first project of this kind. Back in February, Dashlane became the first password manager to support FIDO Alliance’s Universal 2nd Factor (U2F) authentication standard, while Google kickstarted Project Abacus, which expects to replace passwords with biometrics by the end of the year. The tech company also launched Smart Lock, its password manager service, in 2015. Smart Lock’s developing team will join the OpenYOLO initiative, and the engineers behind Project Abacus have also expressed interest in the open software solution. So it seems like a new cybersecurity powerhouse is in the making.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
Things Confident People Do Differently As Shakespeare said, “Some are born great, some achieve greatness” Neil Armstrong, Issac Newton, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelsn Mandela, Albert Einstein, Edmund Hillary, None of them were born with a silver spoon, but they achieved great heights in their life because they were all Self-Confident. There are tons of examples where people succeeded in in their life because they had a belief in themselves. When we talk about confidence and achieving success, it is not just limited to fame or money but also includes accumulation of knowledge, what you give to others and how you bring happiness and best in yourself each and every day. Life of such confident people are an open book for us to learn what they did differently and excelled in their life. What things confident people do differently? 1. They Do not Rely on Others Self-confident people are self-motivated by nature. They are not affected if other’s praise them on their success or belittle them on their failure. Scale of their success or failure is measured only by themselves. They derive their sense of delight and contentment from their own accomplishments. 2. They Trust themselves and Their Decisions Self-confident people trust themselves while making a choice and stand by their decision. Their ultimate strength is having the belief of their own convictions and hence they never doubt or constantly question whether they will be able to accomplish anything or not. 3. They Don’t Compare with Others Confident people do not waste their precious time in comparing themselves with others and worrying about if they are not better than others. They know their capabilities and strengths and they always believe in challenging themselves. 4. They don’t Show off Confident people do not seek attention. They do not need to tell the world how great they are and hence they always refrain from bragging about their achievements.They believe to live their life on their own terms and conditions. Also, they never want others to judge them 6. They Do not Fear Confident people are strong enough to face the situation fearlessly and learn from their good and bad experiences. They believe in learning from their mistakes. They never stop to learn or experiment in their life. They do take risks. 7. They always Look Good in others Confident people, though competitive but are never jealous by nature. They enjoy if someone else rises to fame. They know how to celebrate other’s success and how to motivate and praise others. They judge people based on their own experiences and not by someone else’s perception. 8. They Refrain from Negativity Confident people know that negativity diminishes one’s confidence. They never allow negative thoughts to overpower them by continuous self-monitoring.Also, they make sure to stay away from negative people since they are good for nothing. 9. They Speak Assertively Confident people always speak with certainty unlike ‘I am not sure’ or ‘I think’ or ‘I doubt’. They are not aggressive and do not hurry in making a judgment or decision. They ponder before they speak. And when they speak, they avoid using words of uncertainty. 10. They Believe in following a Routine Confident people make sure they follow a proper routine which includes doing first things first, balancing a proper work-life balance and not getting distracted by unimportant events. Confident people also makes exercise as a part of their routine, which along with health benefits releases endorphin which triggers a positive feeling in the body. Lastly, Confident people understand the fact that working towards increasing your confidence is a never ending process. Building confidence is a journey, not a destination. As the old saying goes, ‘Keep moving, stagnant is dead’. Make sure to do every action which will help you to increase your confidence level. “Fill the bucket of your confidence level so high That the rest of the world can’t poke enough holes to drain it dry”	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
ABOUT THE CONTENTS OF THIS TRANSCRIPT: This telepathic channeling has been taken from transcriptions of the weekly study and meditation meetings of the Rock Creek Research & Development Laboratories and L/L Research. It is offered in the hope that it may be useful to you. As the Confederation entities always make a point of saying, please use your discrimination and judgment in assessing this material. If something rings true to you, fine. If something does not resonate, please leave it behind, for neither we nor those of the Confederation would wish to be a stumbling block for any. Sunday Meditation November 14, 2004 Group question: The question today has to do with breaking our forms and our rituals when it seems appropriate in order to let in the light better, shall I say. We are wondering if Q’uo could give us some guidance as to how to recognize when this is appropriate or how to, shall we say, roll with the punch when it seems inevitable. We are aware that, even when times and things don’t look like they’re working out the way they should and they seem to be totally askew, that all is well and all is perfect. How can we see that and how can we find a path that isn’t so deleterious to our own journey, sabotaging ourselves? Somewhere in there, Q’uo, I’m sure you could find something to talk about! (Carla channeling) We are those known to you as the principle of Q’uo and we greet you in the love and in the light of the one infinite Creator, Whom we serve. It is a great blessing to be called to your group this day to speak concerning forms and rituals and breaking them and making them and understanding how form works with the entity that you are. And we look forward to sharing our opinions with you. But we would ask you before we begin, as always, to use your discrimination very carefully in listening to what we have to say. We are not authority figures or teachers in the traditional sense of feeling that we know more than you do. Rather, we are those with perhaps a more varied palette of experiences from which to draw than you. However, we are brothers and sisters, walking with you on one path, the path which we all share. And it will allow us to speak freely if you will take complete responsibility for whether or not you use any of the thoughts that we share at this time. If you will promise to let all thoughts that do not resonate with you to fall away, then we will feel much more free to speak without being concerned that we may infringe upon someone’s free will or invade someone’s rightful process of evolution. First of all, let us speak a bit about how we see you and ourselves, for both you and we have form—not the same kind of form, but we do have that which could be recognized as an ego or an identity, as do you. You experience bodies. You experience a characteristic shape to the way you think and the way you process catalyst and create memory. And yet the essence of each of us is without form, in that traditional sense of a shape to be described or something to be seen, known and identified. Each of you, each of us, is an essence. If we were to be mechanical, we might describe each of us as a system of energy fields within the greater energy field of the universe or the Creator. Yet, this does not catch the magic of the soul, for each of you is indescribably unique. There has only ever been one of you and in all of the heartbeats of the infinite Creator, in all the creations stretching into infinity, there will never be another you. You are precious beyond telling to the infinite One because you have come through eons of form and experience to reach the richness and the variety of the mystery of you that you now experience; not precisely as your identity but as that upon which your identity within this incarnation stands. For you are so much more than this local experience, this lifetime, this personhood. We see you as glowing crystals, instruments through which the Creator moves, playing Its tunes, Its joyful songs, Its mournful hymns and all of the thousand, thousand songs of being. And we hear you. We hear the wind of spirit move through you. We hear the song you sing, and we stand in awe of the beauty of that song and the poignancy of the heart that sings that song. We see you glow with the colors of energy touched by the myriad momentary experiences which are shaping you at this time. And we rest in that light and we drink of the richness of the beauty that you represent. You are a face of the Creator that has never been seen before and will never be seen again. You have a reality beyond any expression, beyond any response. You are beyond our laughter and our tears; beyond our appreciation or our admiration. You escape us. Each entity that is part of the Creator overflows any way we might have of grasping or understanding you. You are too much. Any limit we might think to put on your identities is folly, for you will exceed it—carelessly, casually or earnestly and intentionally. You cannot help being more than you could ever imagine and know. This is the essence of you, as we understand souls. There is no holding you, there is no limiting you, there is truly no instructing you or guiding you. There is only appreciating the face of the Creator as you express the beingness of your nature. Each of you moved into the pattern in which you are now dancing for very good reasons. Each of you entered this particular incarnation with fairly coherent plans for service and for learning. Each of you stood as on the brink of a great abyss and planned. You packed, shall we say, a personality; you packed the baggage that you needed. Some of you packed with immense generosity and no concern whatsoever in the fate of redcaps in your wake, towing valise upon valise of personality traits and quirks. Others of you chose to pack just a bag or a backpack: a simple, stable, structure of life seeing as being needed, a straightforward personality—not too much baggage, not too much to burden the soul as it takes on this experience. But whatever you packed, in the way of a personality shell, you put those things in your suitcases because you felt that they were what you would need in order to mine the riches that you had prepared for yourself. And you did see yourself as a miner as you came into this lifetime. You buried your luggage within yourself, within the form of body, of face, name, history, parents, upbringing. You chose that carefully. And so you leapt into the abyss of incarnation, the archetypical fool, walking by faith and not by sight, jumping into the mystery. What did you hope but that you would be ultimately and egregiously confused? Some of you packed more of that confusion than others. For some of you it took years and years of incarnation just to discover that you were not who you thought you were. Others of you came through from the word go, from the birth, knowing that you were not what those about you were attempting to tell you that you were. Whatever your beginnings, each of you in this circle of seeking has reached a point of incarnation where the ground has become level and the playing field is seen. Each acknowledges the mystery of selfhood. Each sees the self as a player of a certain kind of game. It is not a game of gain, but it is a gamble. Hands are dealt in this game and you play the cards which you were dealt. And you get to choose how you shall play those cards. You cannot choose the cards, yet you may shape the game by the way you play. The object of the game is an increase in awareness and the question with which you come to us this day regards how you can evaluate the kind of game that you are playing—to know whether that game is the appropriate one for you at this time; appropriate in terms of learning and in terms of service. For these were your twin goals upon taking life and breath and body. How you burned to learn more about your true nature! You came into incarnation with certain prejudices concerning yourself. In your biased opinion you felt a better balance might be needed in one or another sense, in one or another phase of life and all that it has to offer. In your energy body you carried those biases and those hopes. This instrument is familiar with a seven-chakra body system so we may say that your incarnational lessons are scattered among those seven chakras and those seven ways of seeing energy. How do you deal with survival? That’s the red ray. How do you deal with personal relationships? Orange ray. How do you deal with legal groups and responsibilities such as jobs, marriages, families? That’s yellow ray. How do you work within your heart to open it and to become more fully the loving entity that you are by your very nature? That’s green ray. How can you communicate and relate in terms of soul to soul? That’s blue ray. How can you relate to the infinite Creator within yourself, within all of creation, and within the Creator itself? That is indigo ray. And who are you, really? That is violet ray. Each of you has unique incarnational lessons that you have asked yourself by the very way that you are built; by the very way that you tend to think. Each of you has biases you encounter again and again, biases which are unique to you. Again, these are gifts of the self to the self, gifts to be unwrapped at leisure and pondered through the years and the decades of an incarnation. This is the raw material [1] of your particular mystery. And that is the self before it meets the world that spins within your mind and before your eyes. The one known as Julian of Norwich said it very simply. She is recalled by this instrument to have said, “All things are well. All things are well. All manner of things shall be well.” And this is your matrix. You live in a creation in which you cannot put a step wrong. You cannot make a mistake. On the level of souls, you are immune to error. For there is nowhere to step that is outside of the creation. There are no choices to make that place you outside the ken of your guidance. You cannot choose wrongly. However, in a universe of infinite possibilities each choice that you make redefines your universe. Consequently, it is not a simple thing to determine right action and right choices for the self. Let us look at the concept of forms. A pottery bowl is a form. Its function is to be empty. That which you take in fills that bowl in a certain way. Each of you may think of the self, the physical body, as a form. And, indeed, there is value in expressing yourself at the very basic level of physical form. How you express yourself involves the way you cut your hair, the decorations that you might wear, the clothes that you place upon your body, the garments that you choose, the colors, and the fabrics. All of these things enter into creating yourself as a picture or an image. You have spoken somewhat of mirrors and the way that entities around you are showing you aspects of yourself that you either like or of which you disapprove. Yet you realize that all of those images are you. It is very instructive sometimes simply to look at oneself closely in the mirror, not at the image but into the image. And if you look closely, for instance, you might begin to see different faces move across your face as all of the forms that you have taken as a soul in various lifetimes begin to roll past your mind’s eye. Or you might look into the eyes that are looking at you in the mirror and begin to see the infinity that lies within that form of physical body. Habits and ways of life are also forms, bowls into which you are able to put your catalyst and brew your experience. Are you a shallow, wide bowl that picks up a great deal but at not a great deal of depth? Or are you a narrow, deep vase that can be filled with a great deal of water and go very, very deep but not terribly wide? Or has your eye for beauty caused you to become an amphora or some form of ewer in which there is shape and flow and pattern? What is the characteristic shape of your thoughts as you process from the inception of a thought about your day, your nature, or your choices? What is the shape, what is the form that that process takes within you? Are you satisfied with it? Do you have a sense of that deep content of which the one known as J was speaking, where the form of the life, the thoughts, the process are such good, stout helpers and are serving so well that there is no need sensed by the self to institute the breakage of the old form or the creation of a new one? Or are you in a situation where, as the one known as T said, there is a real question as to whether some parts of this form need to be broken and a new shape of thought and choice selected? Wherever you are, you are, as many have said within this circle, in the perfect position for this particular moment in your incarnation. Things are going well, however it may feel on the outside, that surface that the world knows as consensus reality. We are aware that it is not helpful to the conscious mind that so much remains a mystery. It is often desired that the whole be known, that the pattern be clear, that the choices be laid out, analyzable, gettable, sensible, rational, and yet, you are not those things, for that would limit you far too much. And so those hopes of a simple solution, a clear and obvious answer to whatever questions you have, are thoughts that are not going to be rewarded by manifestation. You do remain a mystery and your choices do remain choices made by faith and not by sight. You cannot see to the end of your path You cannot figure out even one day in the future, much less the burden of the remainder of your incarnation and all of its hopes for learning and for service. And so you are thrown back upon your own senses, those senses that elude rationalization. This instrument often uses the term “resonance,” and we find that it is a useful term because it expresses that for which we would wish you to search when you are asking yourself about the choices before you. The world says, do what is right. And yet, what is right for one entity at one moment will not be right for that entity [at another,] and will never be right for another entity even if it is [at] the same moment. Truth, reality and essence are endlessly subjective. It is very helpful for you to begin to trust yourself, not because you know anything but because you are who you are. This is your material. This is your gift. What you make of yourself within this lifetime will only show a little bit on the surface of consensus reality. Your work, your interactions with others on the conscious level, all of those things that create fame and fortune and give a sense of power and validity, are but hair growing from the head of someone whose mind and heart are infinite. What you can express of yourself is a tiny portion of what you are actually doing here and what you are actually giving to yourself, to those around you, and to the infinite Creator as you live your life. It is hard for us to express just how little of your essence ever comes through into those things that the world values, those things you do—your career, your reputation, your doings—and how incredibly much of your essence escapes any such shallow manifestation and remains part of the dance of creation, part of the pattern of the Creator that is being woven and rewoven in an endless creation of tapestry as moments march on in consensus reality and your very short, very action-packed incarnation ticks away. You have all the time in the world, quite literally, and yet your time is very short. You are a paradox and you live a paradox. How to value the forms, the things with which you shape your life, is as subjective and personal and intimate as what scent you prefer, what color you choose to wear, how you choose to express yourself. When you come to look upon an issue, then, your safest route is in trusting the self and looking for resonance. This instrument was saying earlier, apropos of a question about when one’s limit has been reached, that, in her experience, the limits that she had reached and overstepped were not those that she decided upon but those times when she realized that her nature had already made that choice for her and she was just getting the results of that election. It is not enough to feel that one is doing the right thing. It must also be, as one gazes at that thing, that one senses into it with a sense of resonance, a sense that this is alive for me. For you see, forms can die while the life within the form still exists. Form in the sense of a ritual, for instance, is something that those entities who choose to play the card of religion will experience changing time and again. For within a religion, the forms do not change, but the way that an entity relates to those forms can change completely, so that in one moment, a form of expression of devotion to the one infinite Creator may be a source of tremendous comfort whereas in another moment, it may seem to be hollow and dead. And it is very important to listen to the self as it reacts to the form, not asking the self, “How can I relate to this wonderful form?” but rather asking the self, “How can this wonderful entity that I am find resonance in this form?” And if that form has no resonance, then it needs to be let go and another one chosen. Or, in some cases, it is a matter of waiting for another kind of form, another kind of ritual of living to form itself to you as you simply exist within the mystery of your own, often contradictory, feelings. The one known as V was teasing earlier by saying that our answer is always meditation when it comes to [your asking us,] “How do I contact that part of myself that says this is resonant and that is not?” And we completely acknowledge the justness of her teasing. It is true that so often we simply ask you to meditate. And we would talk about that a minute because there is a substantive point to be made here. We are not going for a form of meditation when we suggest that you meditate. What we are attempting to do is lift you from form. Silence is an absence of form. Entities can create form for the silence by saying, “Well, I meet the silence in this and this way.” And that may be Zen meditation, walking meditation, contemplation, visualization and so forth. We are attempting to help you lift away from the prisons that you create when you lean on form to the exclusion of observing the contents that that form is holding. In so many ways, you are seduced time and again by the more subtle forms of non-physical formation, ritual and habit. How to lift entities away from that? In many cultures, instead of entering silence the practice of mystics is to enter rhythm by chanting, whirling and dancing. Repetitive movements, repetitive sounds, repetitive tones are things that will batter and finally break the habit of thought. Whether you are drawn to entering the formless by simply sitting down and stopping talking, by designing a particular kind of silence, or by entering into the chanting or other ritual which takes one out of oneself by out-talking the talker, is completely a matter of your own discernment. But the job that you face when you attempt to disconnect yourself from form is to get past the lions at the gate of your temple, that is, your heart. Those guardians do not want you inside if you are still of the world. They do not want you inside your precious heart still grumbling, worried, bargaining, rationalizing, justifying or worried about being right. There are many teachings … (Side one of tape ends.) (Carla channeling) … of bringing oneself to one’s own knees outside the door of the heart and laying it all down: every idea, every concept of self, every vestige of, “I did this,” and, “I thought that,” and, “I’m right”—emptying the self and becoming truly able to receive. However you get there, get there before you enter the sacred space of your own heart. For there the Creator awaits you, full of love, full of Its own nature, which is your nature as well, waiting to enfold you in the embrace of absolute and unconditional adoration and devotion. The one known as D often says at the end of a reading, “You are loved more than you can ever possibly imagine.” And this is true. Can you feel, as we speak about it, the quality and the abundance of that love? Can you sense into how justified and how completely approved of you are? You have no faults that are not forgiven, no perceived imperfections that the Creator does not see as balanced. Whatever your suffering, whatever the quandaries before you at this time, whatever those dreams are that you have not yet come into the experience of receiving, they are as nothing to the one infinite Creator. We hope that it is against that backdrop that you may stand and observe the issues before you in consensus reality. If you can gain a sense of the depth of the stability of your essence, you will know that your feet are in rich and substantial ground, ground that will not move beneath your feet regardless of how many times everything disappears from beneath your feet within that shallow, manifested world of consensus reality. You will know that disasters and troubles and woes are indeed real in that shallow sense but they are backed up by a part of yourself that is larger and more substantial than that thin stream of event of catalyst and experience. As you meet these woes, troubles and issues, do your best to continue seeing yourself as that crystalline entity that we described to you and know that all things are well, all things are well, and all manner of things shall be well. We would at this time open the questioning to any further queries that you may have at this time. J: Yes, Q’uo, this is J, and it’s great to be in your energy. I was wondering if there was anything that I or anyone else in this room can do to help make this instrument more comfortable? We are those of Q’uo, and are aware of your query, my sister. Indeed, each within this group has the capacity to aid this instrument in one way or another, as this instrument has the capacity to aid each within this group. May you enjoy the process of finding ways to serve each other and know that in all things there is reciprocity and balance. We thank the one known as J for this generous query and would encourage each within this circle to be aware of the many ways in which you are uniquely oriented to help and support those around you. What is your nature? What are your gifts? As you interact with those loving presences that are in your midst, you will find ever new ways to enhance the experience of the group of which you are a part. May we answer you further, my sister? J: I believe that each of us comes in on a different ray, one through seven, and I was wondering if you could tell me which ray it is that I came in on? We are those of Q’uo, and are aware of your query, my sister. We find that responding to this query would be to infringe upon your free will and we apologize for giving that answer. Is there another query at this time? J: No, not at this time, thank you, Q’uo. Is there another query at this time? R: I have a question, Q’uo, from someone who can’t be here but asks the following question which is somewhat specific, so I ask for forbearance if you cannot answer, but comments would be appreciated on this topic. Are migraine headaches connected to psychic greetings in any way? We are those of Q’uo, and are aware of your query, my brother. As it happens we are able to respond to that query because of the way it was asked. Everything that one experiences can have a relationship to psychic greeting. Psychic greeting, as we understand this term, is a way of describing the experience of receiving resistance and the experience is often understood by an entity as being a kind of attack by another entity that is unseen. In actuality, greetings occur all the time because of the distortions which pull various parts of the energy body away from complete balance. For instance, with this instrument, it frequently receives physical discomfort because of its many physical distortions over decades of experiencing the process of a disease called rheumatoid arthritis. Because of the fact that various bones and joints and so forth have become distorted, they can be energized to ache more than they did before. The question that we would put to the one known as G, who, indeed, this instrument knows asked that question, would be, “Is it more helpful to think of a negative, unseen entity energizing a physical distortion within the vascular system which would cause the headaches? Or is it more helpful to realize that there is resistance because of distortions within the being?” If one projects to an outside entity the role of persecutor or attacker, then one, in a way, cheats oneself of the chance to come face to face with the shadow self. Is it more helpful to see oneself as a being which is meeting resistance from an enemy? Or is it more helpful to see the self as a being which is experiencing resistance from its shadow self? We would encourage any who experience the seeming energizing of a previous distortion [to perceive it] as a signal that suggests you take a good look at what is going on in the process of evolution, as you understand yourself and your situation and your process. This never departs entirely from mystery. The mists may clear, briefly, and one may have realizations and epiphanies concerning the self and the process, but the process is ongoing and the mists will again surround one. And those shadows will come out of that mist and impinge upon one. The question hopefully remains, “What is the message that such shadows bring? And, how may I respond well to that message?” Is there another query at this time? G: Q’uo, I have one. In the Law of One series, Ra is speaking of kundalini and cautions that, to attempt to raise the locus, which is defined as the meeting place between the inner and cosmic forces, to attempt to raise that locus without an understanding or awareness of the metaphysical principles of magnetism is to invite great imbalance. I was wondering if you could define more clearly what those metaphysical principles of magnetism are? We are those of Q’uo, and are aware of your query, my brother. We look for a way to discuss this with you without impinging upon your process and do not find one and for that we do apologize. We would like to speak with you further. We would ask if you would perhaps move back into your studies, contemplate a bit more, and see what you could do to ask the question a different way. More help than that we cannot be and do again apologize. Is there a final query at this time? R: You are invited to stay for tea and cookies afterwards, Q’uo. We are those of Q’uo, and are aware of your invitation, my brother, and we assure that we always stay for tea and cookies. And, indeed, into the night and into the next morning. You can get rid of us if you ask us to leave! We are devoted to this group and to each within it and you have only to request our presence for us to be with you. Since we seem to have exhausted the questions at this time, we leave each of you as we found you, in the unity of the house of the Creator, the love and the light, the spirit and the form that is all that there is. We are those of Q’uo. Adonai.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
UK strikes deal for Marange diamonds to return to the EU markets Reports from Brussels, Belgium suggest that the United Kingdom has struck a deal with Belgium on the need for Marange diamonds to return to the European Union markets. According to the reports, Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders and Britain's William Hague clinched the deal on the 14th of February and there are expectations that other EU countries will follow suit when the grouping convene on Monday in Brussels for a meeting on foreign policy. The compromise is set to see the country's mining arm Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) being struck off from the EU blacklist. Belgium had earlier expressed its displeasure with the existence of the sanctions on diamond mining firms which had a negative impact on the EU member country's diamond industry. Due to the unjustified EU sanctions, Zimbabwe was forced to sell its diamonds at a discount, thereby losing millions of dollars in potential revenue. However, it appears the EU might retain other sanctions on Zimbabwe when the bloc sets to review them. Zimbabwe has always contended that the sanctions are illegal and unjustified.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
A new website has been created for The Dictionary of Welsh Biography. It will be launched at the beginning of November 2018 and will include new content, functions and design. Head over to biography.wales now to see what's new! This website will eventually be replaced by biography.wales. In the meantime, we would like to hear from our users so you're welcome to send us any questions or feedback that you may have. REES, DAVID JAMES (DAI) (1913-1983), golfer and author. DaiRees was born 31 March, 1913 in the village of Font-y-gary near Barry, Glam., the son of David EvansRees (died 1959) and his wife Louisa Alice (née Trow). As his parents were involved in the world of golf - his father was the professional at Leys Golf Club in the Vale of Glamorgan and his mother a steward in the same club - he was brought up to play the game from childhood. He began to play at the age of five. He was educated at the primary school at St Athan in Gileston and then Jenner Park School in Barry, but as his father was appointed to the Aberdare Golf Club, the family moved in 1925, and DaiRees attended the school at Aber-nant, the village where Aberdare golf course was situated. He began his career as a professional golfer in Aberdare in 1929 aged 15 as a deputy to his father. Soon he was making a name for himself and won the PGA Assistants Championship in 1935 and 1936. He moved to South Hertfordshire Golf Club, Totteridge after the death of HarryVardon in 1937 and he was associated with them as professional for 37 years. (It is interesting to note that his daughter GillWilliams was the Captain of the South Hertfordshire Golf Club in 2008, an honour that her father would have been proud of). DaiRees married EuniceThomas in 1939, and during the Second World War he served with the RAF, with responsibility for Physical Training. For a period he served in the Middle East. As a golfer he soon became a hero to the spectators. He is associated mainly with the British and Irish team in the Ryder Cup Competition against the USA. He took part in 10 of these competitions, beginning in 1937, and was Captain of the British team on five occasions - in 1955, 1957, 1959, 1961 and 1967. He did not play in 1967. He reached the zenith of his career when the British and Irish team won the Ryder Cup, under his captaincy, on the Lindrich Golf course in Yorkshire in 1957. This was the only time that Britain and Ireland defeated the USA between 1933 and 1985. As a consequence he was voted as the BBC Sports Personality of the Year. He was made CBE in 1958 for his contribution to golf. He won 39 major titles in his career, including the Professional Golfers Association in South Africa, the Open in Switzerland, Belgium and Ireland, two British Masters and four News of the World Match Plays. He was disappointed, that he did not win the British Open. He came second to BenHogan in 1953, to PeterThomson in 1954 and to ArnoldPalmer in 1961. Rees served as the Captain to the Professional Golf Association team from 1967 until 1976. DaiRees loved writing on golf to national newspapers, and five books came from his pen, namely Golf my Way (1951), Dai Rees on Golf (1959), The Key to Golf (1961), Golf Today (1962), and Thirty Years of Championship Golf (1967). He always expressed his pride in his Welsh background and emphasised the need for personal discipline. Rees never smoked and was an advocate of temperance with regard to alcohol. He kept himself physically in good shape and believed that all players should adopt such a regime. One of his greatest delights was supporting Arsenal Football Club. On his way home in 1981, after watching Arsenal play that afternoon, he was seriously involved in a motor car accident. His life was saved but he never fully recovered. He died aged 70 at the Barnet General Hospital on 15 November 1983. Following cremation, his ashes were buried at St Andrew's church, Totteridge.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
Notice: Undefined variable: searchresults_title2 in /var/www/html/dllibs.com/sitemapx.php on line 47 Notice: Undefined variable: searchresults_title3 in /var/www/html/dllibs.com/sitemapx.php on line 54https://dllibs.com/book/585874374/les-mis-rables-the-musical-phenomenon2019-03-220.8https://dllibs.com/book/604189839/a-musical-guide-to-magical-songwriting2019-03-220.8https://dllibs.com/book/493487920/great-musical-composers2019-03-220.8https://dllibs.com/book/847474878/three-little-notes-musical-composition-on-ipad2019-03-220.8https://dllibs.com/book/510029583/musical-memories2019-03-220.8https://dllibs.com/book/1018793516/the-secret-life-of-the-american-musical2019-03-220.8https://dllibs.com/book/510945093/chopin-and-other-musical-essays2019-03-220.8https://dllibs.com/book/614146314/simple-dreams2019-03-220.8https://dllibs.com/book/463564404/brand-like-a-rock-star2019-03-220.8https://dllibs.com/book/394347764/diary-of-a-player2019-03-220.8https://dllibs.com/book/453095429/guitar-zero2019-03-220.8https://dllibs.com/book/555553063/introduction-to-the-musical-art-of-stage-lighting-design2019-03-220.8https://dllibs.com/book/483958967/an-essay-on-musical-expression-by-charles-avison-with-alterations-and-large-additions-to-which-is-added-a-letter-to-the-author-concerning-the-music-of-the-ancients-likewise-mr-avisons-reply-to-the-author-of-remarks-on-the-essay-on-musica2019-03-220.8https://dllibs.com/book/895375203/elmo-the-musical-volume-one-sesame-street2019-03-220.8https://dllibs.com/book/479789731/babymouse-10-the-musical2019-03-220.8https://dllibs.com/book/511062172/musical-portraits2019-03-220.8https://dllibs.com/book/510935554/music-and-some-highly-musical-people2019-03-220.8https://dllibs.com/book/483445455/the-shepherds-lottery-a-musical-entertainment-as-it-is-performd-by-his-majestys-company-of-comedians-at-the-theatre-royal-in-drury-lane-the-music-composd-by-dr-boyce2019-03-220.8https://dllibs.com/book/636749010/musical-links-investigation-french-chanson-and-flamenco2019-03-220.8https://dllibs.com/book/499805637/bluebeard-a-musical-fantasy2019-03-220.8https://dllibs.com/book/498822513/musical-instruments-exhbition2019-03-220.8https://dllibs.com/book/488189658/the-book-of-mormon-sheet-music-from-the-broadway-musical2019-03-220.8https://dllibs.com/book/555627040/avenue-q-the-musical2019-03-220.8https://dllibs.com/book/1245665235/biblical-musical-instruments2019-03-220.8https://dllibs.com/book/1446763001/songs-from-a-star-is-born-the-greatest-showman-la-la-land-and-more-movie-musicals2019-03-220.8https://dllibs.com/book/385756753/martin-scorsese-presents-the-blues-a-musical-journey2019-03-220.8https://dllibs.com/book/963679893/tecnolog-a-musical2019-03-220.8https://dllibs.com/book/504839406/shrek-the-musical-songbook2019-03-220.8https://dllibs.com/book/515765017/call-centre-the-musical2019-03-220.8https://dllibs.com/book/898270261/beautiful-the-carole-king-musical2019-03-220.8https://dllibs.com/book/687070822/nate-the-great-and-the-musical-note2019-03-220.8https://dllibs.com/book/1229573059/life-is-like-a-musical2019-03-220.8https://dllibs.com/book/1010574779/listen-a-musical-play-script-and-lyrics2019-03-220.8https://dllibs.com/book/705702187/musical-guide-to-in-the-wake-of-poseidon-by-king-crimson-and-mcdonald-and-giles-by-mcdonald-and-giles2019-03-220.8https://dllibs.com/book/961945259/the-great-american-western-the-lost-episode-a-musical-comedy2019-03-220.8https://dllibs.com/book/445990342/high-fidelity-a-musical-vocal-selections2019-03-220.8https://dllibs.com/book/721178497/a-musical-mess2019-03-220.8https://dllibs.com/book/624460785/musical-warriors2019-03-220.8https://dllibs.com/book/1172328739/musical-instruments2019-03-220.8https://dllibs.com/book/532134039/teor-a-musical-para-dummies2019-03-220.8https://dllibs.com/book/428793717/musical-chairs2019-03-220.8https://dllibs.com/book/1149984709/songwriters-of-the-american-musical-theatre2019-03-220.8https://dllibs.com/book/593520896/hanon-virtuoso-pianist-in-60-exercises-complete2019-03-220.8https://dllibs.com/book/928228976/poemas-divertidos-musical2019-03-220.8https://dllibs.com/book/774949426/anything-goes-a-history-of-american-musical-theatre2019-03-220.8https://dllibs.com/book/593459721/kids-musical-theatre-collection-volume-1-songbook2019-03-220.8https://dllibs.com/book/523658450/musical-instruments2019-03-220.8https://dllibs.com/book/879946104/behind-the-scenes-musical-theatre2019-03-220.8https://dllibs.com/book/958278700/the-musical-brain-and-other-stories2019-03-220.8https://dllibs.com/book/958331578/diane-d-the-musical-drama-volume-1-part-12019-03-220.8	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
2020 prediction: Chelsea Clinton presidency (U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT) — Forget Hillary Clinton as vice president or a 2016 Democratic presidential nominee. Buzz is already building that budding TV journalist and former first daughter Chelsea Clinton will enter politics and become the first-ever woman president of the United States. Clinton associates have long whispered that the politically-trained daughter would be perfect for politics, but now an Obama expert who advises Fortune 500 firms on communications has bluntly predicted a continuation of the Clinton dynasty.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
DjVuDocEditor.h //C- -- C++ --//C- -------------------------------------------------------------------//C- DjVuLibre-3.5//C- Copyright (c) 2002 Leon Bottou and Yann Le Cun.//C- Copyright (c) 2001 AT&T//C-//C- This software is subject to, and may be distributed under, the//C- GNU General Public License, either Version 2 of the license,//C- or (at your option) any later version. The license should have//C- accompanied the software or you may obtain a copy of the license//C- from the Free Software Foundation at http://www.fsf.org .//C-//C- This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,//C- but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of//C- MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the//C- GNU General Public License for more details.//C- //C- DjVuLibre-3.5 is derived from the DjVu(r) Reference Library from//C- Lizardtech Software. Lizardtech Software has authorized us to//C- replace the original DjVu(r) Reference Library notice by the following//C- text (see doc/lizard2002.djvu and doc/lizardtech2007.djvu)://C-//C- ------------------------------------------------------------------//C- \| DjVu (r) Reference Library (v. 3.5)//C- \| Copyright (c) 1999-2001 LizardTech, Inc. All Rights Reserved.//C- \| The DjVu Reference Library is protected by U.S. Pat. No.//C- \| 6,058,214 and patents pending.//C- \|//C- \| This software is subject to, and may be distributed under, the//C- \| GNU General Public License, either Version 2 of the license,//C- \| or (at your option) any later version. The license should have//C- \| accompanied the software or you may obtain a copy of the license//C- \| from the Free Software Foundation at http://www.fsf.org .//C- \|//C- \| The computer code originally released by LizardTech under this//C- \| license and unmodified by other parties is deemed "the LIZARDTECH//C- \| ORIGINAL CODE." Subject to any third party intellectual property//C- \| claims, LizardTech grants recipient a worldwide, royalty-free, //C- \| non-exclusive license to make, use, sell, or otherwise dispose of //C- \| the LIZARDTECH ORIGINAL CODE or of programs derived from the //C- \| LIZARDTECH ORIGINAL CODE in compliance with the terms of the GNU //C- \| General Public License. This grant only confers the right to //C- \| infringe patent claims underlying the LIZARDTECH ORIGINAL CODE to //C- \| the extent such infringement is reasonably necessary to enable //C- \| recipient to make, have made, practice, sell, or otherwise dispose //C- \| of the LIZARDTECH ORIGINAL CODE (or portions thereof) and not to //C- \| any greater extent that may be necessary to utilize further //C- \| modifications or combinations.//C- \|//C- \| The LIZARDTECH ORIGINAL CODE is provided "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY//C- \| OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED//C- \| TO ANY WARRANTY OF NON-INFRINGEMENT, OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF//C- \| MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.//C- +------------------------------------------------------------------// // $Id: DjVuDocEditor.h,v 1.11 2007/05/19 03:07:33 leonb Exp $// $Name: debian_version_3_5_20-11 $#ifndef _DJVUDOCEDITOR_H#define _DJVUDOCEDITOR_H#ifdef HAVE_CONFIG_H#include "config.h"#endif#if NEED_GNUG_PRAGMAS# pragma interface#endif#include "DjVuDocument.h"#include "DjVmDoc.h"#ifdef HAVE_NAMESPACESnamespace DJVU { # ifdef NOT_DEFINED // Just to fool emacs c++ mode} #endif#endif/** @name DjVuDocEditor.h Files #"DjVuDocEditor.h"# and #"DjVuDocEditor.cpp"# contain extension of \Ref{DjVuDocument} class, which can create and modify existing DjVu document, generate thumbnails, etc. It does {\bf not} do compression though. @memo DjVu document editor class. @author Andrei Erofeev <[email protected]> @version #$Id: DjVuDocEditor.h,v 1.11 2007/05/19 03:07:33 leonb Exp $#///@{/* #DjVuDocEditor# is an extension of \Ref{DjVuDocument} class with additional capabilities for editing the document contents. It can be used to: \begin{enumerate} \item Create (compose) new multipage DjVu documents using single page DjVu documents. The class does {\bf not} do compression. \item Insert and remove different pages of multipage DjVu documents. \item Change attributes ({\em names}, {\em IDs} and {\em titles}) of files composing the DjVu document. \item Generate thumbnail images and integrate them into the document. \end{enumerate}/00106class DJVUAPI DjVuDocEditor : publicDjVuDocument { public: staticint thumbnails_per_file; protected: /// Default constructorDjVuDocEditor(void); /* Initialization function. Initializes an empty document. {\bf Note}: You must call either of the two available \Ref{init}() function before you start doing anything else with the #DjVuDocEditor#. /voidinit(void); /* Initialization function. Opens document with name #filename#. {\bf Note}: You must call either of the two available \Ref{init}() function before you start doing anything else with the #DjVuDocEditor#. /voidinit(constGURL &url); public: /* Creates a DjVuDocEditor class and initializes with #fname#. /staticGP<DjVuDocEditor>create_wait(constGURL &url); /* Creates a DjVuDocEditor class and initializes an empty document. /staticGP<DjVuDocEditor>create_wait(void); /// Destructorvirtual ~DjVuDocEditor(void); /* Returns type of open document. #DjVuDocEditor# silently converts any open DjVu document to #BUNDLED# format (see \Ref{DjVuDocument}. Thus, \Ref{DjVuDocument::get_doc_type}() will always be returning #BUNDLED#. Use this function to learn the original format of the document being edited. /int get_orig_doc_type(void) const; /* Returns #TRUE# if the document can be "saved" (sometimes the only possibility is to do a "save as"). The reason why we have this function is that #DjVuDocEditor# can save documents in new formats only (#BUNDLED# and #INDIRECT#). At the same time it recognizes all DjVu formats (#OLD_BUNDLED#, #OLD_INDEXED#, #BUNDLED#, and #INDIRECT#). #OLD_BUNDLED# and #BUNDLED# documents occupy only one file, so in this case "saving" involves the automatic conversion to #BUNDLED# format and storing data into the same file. #OLD_INDEXED# documents, on the other hand, occupy more than one file. They could be converted to #INDIRECT# format if these two formats had the same set of files. Unfortunately, these formats are too different, and the best thing to do is to use "save as" capability. /bool can_be_saved(void) const; /* Returns type of the document, which can be created by \Ref{save}() function. Can be #INDIRECT#, #BUNDLED#, #SINGLE_PAGE#, or #UNKNOWN_TYPE#. The latter indicates, that \Ref{save}() will fail, and that \Ref{save_as}() should be used instead /int get_save_doc_type(void) const; /* Saves the document. May generate exception if the document can not be saved, and \Ref{save_as}() should be used. See \Ref{can_be_saved}() for details. /void save(void); /* Saves the document. /virtualvoidsave_as(constGURL &where, bool bundled); /* Saves the document in the {\em new bundled} format. All the data is "bundled" into one file and this file is written into the passed stream. If #force_djvm# is #TRUE# then even one page documents will be saved in the #DJVM BUNDLED# format (inside a #FORM:DJVM#); {\bf Plugin Warning}. This function will read contents of the whole document. Thus, if you call it from the main thread (the thread, which transfers data from Netscape), the plugin will block. /virtualvoidwrite(constGP<ByteStream> &str, bool force_djvm=false); /* Always save as bundled, renaming any files conflicting with the the names in the supplied GMap. /virtualvoidwrite(constGP<ByteStream> &str, constGMap<GUTF8String,void > &reserved); /** Saves the specified pages in DjVu #BUNDLED# multipage document. /void save_pages_as( constGP<ByteStream> &str, constGList<int> & page_list); /* Translates page number #page_num# to ID. If #page_num# is invalid, an exception is thrown. /GUTF8Stringpage_to_id(int page_num) const; GUTF8String insert_file(constGURL &url, constGUTF8String &parent_id, int chunk_num=1, DjVuPort source=0); /** Inserts the referenced file into this DjVu document. @param fname Name of the top-level file containing the image of the page to be inserted. This file must be a DjVu file and may include one or more other DjVu files. If it include other DjVu files, the function will try to insert them into the document too. Should this attempt fail, the corresponding #INCL# chunk will be removed from the referencing file and an exception will be thrown. When inserting a file, the function may modify its name to be unique in the DjVu document. @param page_num Position where the new page should be inserted at. Negative value means "append" /void insert_page(constGURL &fname, int page_num=-1); /* Inserts a new page with data inside the #data_pool# as page number #page_num. @param data_pool \Ref{DataPool} with data for this page. @param file_name Name, which will be assigned to this page. If you try to save the document in #INDIRECT# format, a file with this name will be created to hold the page's data. If there is already a file in the document with the same name, the function will derive a new unique name from file_name, which will be assigned to the page. @param page_num Describes where the page should be inserted. Negative number means "append". /void insert_page(GP<DataPool> & file_pool, constGURL &fname, int page_num=-1); /* Inserts a group of pages into this DjVu document. Like \Ref{insert_page}() it will insert every page into the document. The main advantage of calling this function once for the whole group instead of calling \Ref{insert_page}() for every page is the processing of included files: The group of files may include one or more files, which are thus shared by them. If you call \Ref{insert_page}() for every page, this shared file will be inserted into the document more than once though under different names. This is how \Ref{insert_page}() works: whenever it inserts something, it checks for duplicate names with only one purpose: invent a new name if a given one is already in use. On the other hand, if you call #insert_group#(), it will insert shared included files only once. This is because it can analyze the group of files before inserting them and figure out what files are shared and thus should be inserted only once. @param fname_list List of top-level files for the pages to be inserted @param page_num Position where the new pages should be inserted at. Negative value means "append" /void insert_group(constGList<GURL> & furl_list, int page_num=-1, void ( refresh_cb)(void )=0, void cl_data=0); /** Removes the specified page from the document. If #remove_unref# is #TRUE#, the function will also remove from the document any file, which became unreferenced due to the page's removal /void remove_page(int page_num, bool remove_unref=true); /* Removes the specified pages from the document. If #remove_unref# is #TRUE#, the function will also remove from the document any file, which became unreferenced due to the pages' removal /void remove_pages(constGList<int> & page_list, bool remove_unref=true); /* Removes a DjVu file with the specified #id#. If some other files include this file, the corresponding #INCL# chunks will be removed to avoid dead links. If #remove_unref# is #TRUE#, the function will also remove every file, which will become unreferenced after the removal of this file. /void remove_file(constGUTF8String &id, bool remove_unref=true); /* Makes page number #page_num# to be #new_page_num#. If #new_page_num# is negative or too big, the function will move page #page_num# to the end of the document. /void move_page(int page_num, int new_page_num); /* Shifts all pags from the #page_list# according to the #shift#. The #shift# can be positive (shift toward the end of the document) or negative (shift toward the beginning of the document). It is OK to make #shift# too big in value. Pages will just be moved to the end (or to the beginning, depending on the #shift# sign) of the document. /void move_pages(constGList<int> & page_list, int shift); /* Changes the name of the file with ID #id# to #name#. Refer to \Ref{DjVmDir} for the explanation of {\em IDs}, {\em names} and {\em titles}. /void set_file_name(constGUTF8String &id, constGUTF8String &name); /* Changes the name of the page #page_num# to #name#. Refer to \Ref{DjVmDir} for the explanation of {\em IDs}, {\em names} and {\em titles}. /void set_page_name(int page_num, constGUTF8String &name); /* Changes the title of the file with ID #id# to #title#. Refer to \Ref{DjVmDir} for the explanation of {\em IDs}, {\em names} and {\em titles}. /void set_file_title(constGUTF8String &id, constGUTF8String &title); /* Changes the title of the page #page_num# to #title#. Refer to \Ref{DjVmDir} for the explanation of {\em IDs}, {\em names} and {\em titles}. /void set_page_title(int page_num, constGUTF8String &title); /* @name Thumbnails / //@{ /* Returns the number of thumbnails stored inside this document. It may be #ZERO#, which means, that there are no thumbnails at all. It may be equal to the number of pages, which is what should normally be. Finally, it may be greater than #ZERO# and less than the number of pages, in which case thumbnails should be regenerated before the document can be saved. /int get_thumbnails_num(void) const; /* Returns the size of the first encountered thumbnail image. Since thumbnails can currently be generated by \Ref{generate_thumbnails}() only, all thumbnail images should be of the same size. Thus, the number returned is actually the size of {\em all} document thumbnails. The function will return #-1# if there are no thumbnails. /int get_thumbnails_size(void) const; /* Removes all thumbnails from the document /void remove_thumbnails(void); /* Generates thumbnails for the specified page, if and only if it does not have a thumbnail yet. If you want to regenerate thumbnails for all pages, call \Ref{remove_thumbnails}() prior to calling this function. @param thumb_size The size of the thumbnails in pixels. DjVu viewer is able to rescale the thumbnail images if necessary, so this parameter affects thumbnails quality only. 128 is a good number. @param page_num The page number to genate the thumbnail for. /int generate_thumbnails(int thumb_size, int page_num); /* Generates thumbnails for those pages, which do not have them yet. If you want to regenerate thumbnails for all pages, call \Ref{remove_thumbnails}() prior to calling this function. @param thumb_size The size of the thumbnails in pixels. DjVu viewer is able to rescale the thumbnail images if necessary, so this parameter affects thumbnails quality only. 128 is a good number. @param cb The callback, which will be called after thumbnail image for the next page has been generated. Regardless of if the document already has thumbnail images for some of its pages, the callback will be called #pages_num# times, where #pages_num# is the total number of pages in the document. The callback should return #FALSE# if thumbnails generating should proceed. #TRUE# will stop it. /void generate_thumbnails(int thumb_size, bool ( cb)(int page_num, void )=0, void cl_data=0); //@} /** Use this function to simplify annotations in the document. The "simplified" format is when annotations are only allowed either in top-level page files or in a special file with #SHARED_ANNO# flag on. This file is supposed to be included into every page. /void simplify_anno(void ( progress_cb)(float progress, void )=0, void cl_data=0); /** Will create a file that will be included into every page and marked with the #SHARED_ANNO# flag. This file can be used to store global annotations (annotations applicable to every page). {\bf Note:} There may be only one #SHARED_ANNO# file in any DjVu multipage document. /void create_shared_anno_file(void ( progress_cb)(float progress, void )=0, void cl_data=0); /** Sets bookmark data /void set_djvm_nav(GP<DjVmNav> nav); /* Returns a pointer to the file with #SHARED_ANNO# flag on. This file should be used for storing document-wide annotations. {\bf Note:} There may be only one #SHARED_ANNO# file in any DjVu multipage document. /GP<DjVuFile> get_shared_anno_file(void); GURL get_doc_url(void) const; /* Returns TRUE if #class_name# is #"DjVuDocEditor"#, #"DjVuDocument"# or #"DjVuPort"# /virtualboolinherits(constGUTF8String &class_name) const; virtualGP<DataPool>request_data(constDjVuPort source, constGURL & url); protected: virtualGP<DjVuFile> url_to_file(constGURL & url, bool dont_create) const; virtualGP<DataPool>get_thumbnail(int page_num, bool dont_decode); friendclass CThumbNails; public: class File; private: bool initialized; GURL doc_url; GP<DataPool> doc_pool; GURL tmp_doc_url; int orig_doc_type; int orig_doc_pages; GPMap<GUTF8String, File> files_map; // files_map[id]=GP<File> GCriticalSection files_lock; GPMap<GUTF8String,DataPool> thumb_map; GCriticalSection thumb_lock; void (* refresh_cb)(void ); void refresh_cl_data; void check(void); GUTF8String find_unique_id(GUTF8Stringid); GP<DataPool> strip_incl_chunks(constGP<DataPool> & pool); void clean_files_map(void); bool insert_file_type(constGURL &file_url, DjVmDir::File::FILE_TYPE page_type, int & file_pos, GMap<GUTF8String, GUTF8String> & name2id); bool insert_file( constGP<DataPool> &pool, constGURL &file_url, bool is_page, int & file_pos, GMap<GUTF8String,GUTF8String> & name2id, DjVuPort source=0 ); bool insert_file( constGURL &file_url, bool is_page, int & file_pos, GMap<GUTF8String,GUTF8String> & name2id, DjVuPort source=0 ); void remove_file(constGUTF8String &id, bool remove_unref, GMap<GUTF8String, void > & ref_map); void generate_ref_map(constGP<DjVuFile> & file, GMap<GUTF8String, void > & ref_map, GMap<GURL, void > & visit_map); void move_file(constGUTF8String &id, int & file_pos, GMap<GUTF8String, void > & map); void unfile_thumbnails(void); void file_thumbnails(void); void save_file(constGUTF8String &id, constGURL &codebase, constbool only_modified, GMap<GUTF8String, GUTF8String> & map); void save_file(constGUTF8String &id, constGURL &codebase, GMap<GUTF8String, GUTF8String> & map); }; //@}#ifdef HAVE_NAMESPACES} # ifndef NOT_USING_DJVU_NAMESPACEusing namespace DJVU; # endif#endif#endif	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
In order to qualify for this cup, you'll have to be older than 40 and younger than a mere 100 years of age. If you feel discriminated against because you're slightly over the limit, feel free to let us know that the regular address given on the home page. Thanks! ;-)	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
Sigma-LA is a Windows application that captures, monitors and saves RF log data from UEs, scan receivers and GPS devices. Up to 4 UE data, 2 scan receiver data and one GPS data can be captured simultaneously. Sigma-LA can also playback saved data after the data collection session has ended. It is an essential tool for optimizing and troubleshooting mobile networks. Optimization LTE/WDMA/GPRS throughput and packet error rate based on L1 data can be displayed on a table/graph/map in real time. L3 message can be decoded in real time and can be displayed with decoded tree structure. Cell site information can be displayed on a map as well. Monitoring Sigma-LA is a suitable tool to verify radio network quality through drive test. Sigma-LA can measure network performance with up to four UEs, so that competitive measurement among the networks can be easily done. Up to 4 UEs, 2 scan-receivers and 1 GPS can be connected simultaneously. Troubleshooting When a log file is imported and played back in Sigma-LA, call events are displayed on a cell search view. You can easily understand detailed status of network problems by looking at synchronized L3 decode view and a map display. Handover status can be analyzed automatically as well. Intuitive Displays Designed with operator at site in mind with intuitive screens and displays. Various views for quick analysis like protocol message view, L1 data on graphs, map etc. all in sync with each other that help make better judgment of network status.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
UD and NRG Energy celebrated an important milestone for their eV2g project on Friday, becoming an official resource of PJM Interconnection and proving for the first time that electric vehicle-to-grid technology can sell electricity from electric vehicles to the power grid. Powering up Officials celebrate as electric vehicle-to-grid technology sells power to PJM power grid 1:19 p.m., April 26, 2013--Joined by government and industry leaders, the University of Delaware and NRG Energy celebrated an important milestone for their eV2g project on Friday, becoming an official resource of PJM Interconnection and proving for the first time that electric vehicle-to-grid technology can sell electricity from electric vehicles (EVs) to the power grid. Delaware Gov. Jack Markell and senior officials from the U.S. Department of Energy and the state were among those who participated in an event at UD’s Science, Technology and Advanced Research (STAR) Campus to mark the achievements. It was a day of triumph, cheers and collective relief as more than 160 students from 21 nations participated in the University of Delaware's Doctoral Hooding Convocation held Friday morning on The Green. "Moving innovative ideas out of the classroom and into the marketplace is critical to growing our economy," said Markell. “The partnership between NRG and the University of Delaware perfectly illustrates the potential for research institutions to spur economic development." The University and NRG began work in September 2011 to move from research results to prepare to commercialize the technology, which provides a two-way interface between EVs and the power grid that enables vehicle owners to sell electricity back to the grid while they are charging their EVs. On Feb. 27, the project took a big step forward when it became an official participant in the PJM’s frequency regulation market. Frequency regulation is used to balance supply and demand on the grid second-by-second. Since then, the project has been selling power services from a fleet of EVs to PJM, a regional transmission organization that coordinates the movement of wholesale electricity and whose territory has 60 million people in the 13 Mid-Atlantic states. “This demonstrates that EVs can provide both mobility and stationary power while helping making the grid more resilient and ultimately generating revenue for electric vehicle owners,” said Denise Wilson, NRG executive vice president, who leads the company’s emerging businesses. “The advancement also proves the power of partnerships such as these to accelerate the development of clean energy technologies that will deliver for the economy, consumers, security and sustainability.” UD President Patrick Harker echoed Wilson’s praise of partnerships. "Partnerships have been essential to the success of this initiative," said Harker. "I thank all of the industry and policy leaders who have come together around a project that incorporates clean transportation, stable energy and profitable sustainability. And I thank Prof. Willett Kempton and his fellow scientists for leading the way. It might be a few more years before a grid-integrated vehicle sits in every American driveway, but I'm excited to continue the journey." A key aspect of the technology is that it can aggregate power from multiple electric vehicles to create one larger power resource, rather than individual, smaller ones. Additional company partnerships that make up the entire system shown include BMW AG providing the EVs, Milbank Manufacturing providing charging stations based on UD technology, AutoPort Inc. installing UD control technology into the EVs and others. For grid operators, the technology serves as an innovative new approach to energy storage. It has the potential to balance the power provided by intermittent renewable resources such as wind and solar. Energy storage, such as large-scale batteries or those in a fleet of vehicles, can take the wind’s power generated at night and store it to use when demand is higher. “PJM changed rules for participation in the regulation service market to decrease the minimum amount of power needed to participate and we implemented new rules that recognize and compensate faster, more accurately responding resources, such as batteries,” said Michael J. Kormos, senior vice president of PJM Operations. “We knew that doing so would attract innovation and would find potential for energy storage or other technologies. We’re glad to be a part of this project and hope that this inspires continued innovation among our partners and others in the industry.” The technology is expected to initially help managers of commercial EV fleets by providing revenue while the vehicles are parked, with individual EV owners to eventually follow. The system is currently in development with restricted test fleets and is not now a commercial offering. Besides being one of the country’s largest and most diverse power generators, NRG is innovating to make clean energy more accessible. This includes work to deploy large-scale renewable projects, smart meters and other demand-side management technologies, and EVs through its eVgo network of charging stations. UD has strong clean energy research and development programs and industry partnerships in solar energy, wind energy, fuel cells, biofuels and electric vehicles.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
Ink India The only one of the company products in which was founded in India in more than half a century ago, Ink India covered in Brooklyn was started by the founder of NAndini Naik Wulf. "We want to please you by the products of the small company of India that I love," box, stationery, gift box, pen holder, as well as photo frames, earrings and hair clips, Hangul, etc. are made by paper. Paper, using a handmade recycled from newspaper, cardboard, and the magazine. The paper also plays the role of the empowerment of local village women, teaching the skills required for self-reliance. This is the handmade card brand of surprise and beautiful design, made from Eco and sustainable spirit.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
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"Eenheid in verscheidenheid, dat was onze rode draad aldus Judith Brüggenwirth, ontwerper van de jubileumpostzegels 2009 en peeling Hélène bergmans, projectbegeleiding, beiden van bureau barlock. "Change of eye muscle sarcomeres according to eye position". "He brought me right to the brink of an orgasm and was sharp enough to know exactly when to stop. "Feels like a face lift!". "How should we begin?" Bill questioned, more to himself then to the girls. "Met het ontwerp willen we vooral de jeugd aanspreken en hen zo betrekken bij het veelzijdige werk van het Nederlandse rode kruis aldus noordzij. "Antimicrobial effect of donkeys' milk digested in vitro with human gastrointestinal enzymes". "Cosmetic packaging compliant to iso 22715". Ria s beauty garden Schoonheidssalon, maassluis "Eenheid in verscheidenheid, dat was onze rode draad aldus Judith Brüggenwirth, ontwerper van de jubileumpostzegels 2009 en Hélène bergmans, projectbegeleiding, beiden van bureau barlock. 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VicPD has launched an educational pilot program that aims to reduce distracted driving. Although there have been increased fines and penalty points – it’s now $543 and four demerit points for the first infraction – fatalities related to distracted driving are still higher than from impaired driving. VicPD teamed up with Restorative Justice Victoria, ICBC, RoadSafetyBC and the Traffic Injury Research Foundation to offer distracted driving education to first-time offenders ticketed during a two-day campaign last month. Those caught were given the option of attending the Drop it and Drive seminar or accepting the hefty fine and demerit points – 32 of 42 ticketed drivers attended. The groups hope their efforts lead to a provincewide education campaign. VicPD Const. Sean Millard, who has been involved with the new program, hopes an educational approach can help drivers understand how dangerous distracted driving can be, and change their attitudes. “When people came in, they came with their arms crossed, their body language was cold and they were shut down to opening up and participating,” he said. But as the seminar continued, he said, he could see a shift happening. “I could see the impact on people. They could visually see what the consequences were …[thinking] ‘wait a second, is this really worth it?’” People often don’t understand what distracted driving is, Millard said. Comments made by seminar participants indicated a belief that texting at a red light or moving to plug in a phone while driving was acceptable, he said. And the temptation people feel to check their phones can be irresistible. “I think the sound of a phone going off, people just can’t not look at it. They’re afraid of missing that two seconds in life that someone may have sent an important message,” he said. “Sometimes I think people think [the messages] are more important than they are.” But it’s not just about texting and driving, he said. “Distracted driving is [also] when your three-year-old kid is throwing a fit in the back seat and you turn around to soothe them and take your eyes off the road and get in a rear-end collision.” Drop it and Drive was presented by Karen Bowman, a civilian who’d been hit by distracted drivers twice, including one incident where her daughter was injured. The Traffic Injury Research Foundation will follow up with participants after six and 12 months through anonymous survey, to determine whether their attitudes and actions have changed. VicPD will also be checking their databases to see if the drivers re-offend.	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }
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Mothers, Babies, Midwiives: With Woman in Kathmandu Tag Archives: Kathmandu The staff meeting was to begin at 1:30. At 2pm people were beginning to gather. There seemed to be no agenda but we began. Everybody chatted and the agenda made itself apparent. Chapatis and spicey potatoes and cups of tea were brought in. People wandered in and out and at one point I thought I’d better give my prepared report on my visit. So I did. I wanted to avoid being rude and inappropriate, but the more I suggested the more they nudged me to be more direct. The staff received everything I said with such receptive kindness that it was humbling. Truly amazing how different behavior can be in another culture, and yet we really do understand and respect each other. There is something about the way things work here that is both frustrating and extremely refreshing at the same time. I will miss it. The slow pace is both pleasant and irritating by turns. Nothing happens and things surprise you and all of a sudden, it’s done. Birth can be like that too, can’t it? I had my Dal Bhatt this evening, with the realization that I won’t be eating it many times more. I rode the bus on my 15 cent ride through the dirty streets knowing I would soon be breathing the marginally less polluted air of Texas. I walked through the throngs of pedestrians, narrowly missed by hooting motor bikers, knowing how much I would miss the street life, the noise and variety of Kathmandu in suburban Dallas. Women are women, midwives are midwives, and birth is birth, but Nepali style it’s all a bit different, wonderfully so. Thank you Kathmandu. And lots of love. I’m hanging out here in Kathmandu. I’m a routines kind of person. And I’m develping my routines. My quiet breakfasts. Organizing to go over to the birth center. What will I be bringing with me? What will we be working on? Wandering through the town to the bus. Last week or so I learnt that buses make sense. A cab is a bargain at $3 but it was my biggest daily expense! At 15 cents, it’s hard not to get a bus. And it feels a lot safer than a taxi. It’s bigger and it sticks to the bigger roads (much less picturesque and less bumpy). So it takes longer to get to the birth center. But I’m in no hurry. I love my wander/walk through Tahity (called Tahity??) and via a mini-monkey temple called Kathesimbhu Stupa Kathesimbhu Stupa and via the square with a temple that honors the tooth protecting deity I think this is the tooth guy but not sure. Fierce anyway and the veggie sellers of Asan Tole, and the crazy pre-festival shoppers, to Ratna Park where the foot traffic squeezes through a toothpaste tube and up onto the footbridge where people sit and sell flip-flops and watches, and a beggar plays listlessly on a drum and someone else is begging for a kidney transplant, to my bus. They squeeze us in cozily and off we go. Kalanki is dusty, dirty and busy. I walk a few minutes towards the birth center, and today before going in, I took a few pictures of the goat market opposite. Goats to be sacrificed for the Dashain festival Today at the birth center, I was planning to prepare three topics for a meeting with Kiran, the president of the Midwifery Society of Nepal: 1) A presentation on Childbirth Education (I seem, bizarrely, to be becoming an “expert” on this topic) 2) A presentation on the anti-shock garment, it’s benefits, research to support it’s use in shock secondary to postpartum hemorrhage. I really believe in this thing and hope that Kiran will be inspired to push it to the Nepali Government and 3) Some topics in evidence based maternity care. I was supposed to meet with her at 3 and worked away at my prep but then she cancelled on me till next week. That’s kind of the way things go here, so I worked with the birth center midwives on posterior babies and other topics. We’ve had a good few days at the center. A Nestle man (boo, hiss) came to present on nutrition in pregnancy, and while we were all somewhat stimulated by some of it, I was also inspired to prepare my own nutrition power point! (of course). Here are some midwives listening to the Nestle (boo, hiss) man: Here is more childbirth ed stuff: preparing material: Prena and Laxmi And here is a gorgeous Nepali lady smiling as she gets a depo shot!!! And here are two delightful midwives bravely preparing to head home on their motor bikes Ferst day of the Dashain holiday which is 15 days long! It seems day 1 days 7,8,9, and 10 are the highlights. Rituals and stories seem very complicated. Durga…. one of the many mothers, is the heroine and sacrifices play a part. Lots of people travel to be with family (It’s kind of like Christmas/Seder night I think) Lots of people were out shopping. Being both Saturday and a festival, I didn’t go to the birth center but instead, dedicated myself to Kathmandu tourism. Been here 3 weeks and decided it was high time to see the monkey temple. I did a lot of walking in the rain: Up to Swayambhunath (monkeys and staring eye stupa) and then back down over the river and through the alleyways to Durbar Square which I had visited on my first day in a jet-lagged fog. Great food and alleyways clogged with festival shoppers and back wet, muddy, satisfied. Ratna is excited by the childbirth education materials I brought. We are designing a great program…. Sapana is excited by a class on birth positions. Praticing giving birth on the birth stool! A satisfied mamma Rashmi (and I) got VERY EXCITED thinking about all the wonderful things that are going to happen at the Birth Center….. Rashmi and I have spent quite a lot of time thinking, talking and planning and I have a MUCH clearer idea of what is needed and lots of very specific work to do. We are designing a birth center brochure (3 or 4 of the young midwives and myself). We are planning a childbirth education curriculum and maybe it will be up and running within a few weeks. We are discussing reorganizing the flow of the birth center. We are discussing financial priorities. It is all very concrete and GOOD. And I am having fun! Thanks to all of you who are following me on this blog,,,, Don’t want to get too obsessive about my sleep in this blog, but it’s been a major feature of my life…. Trying to sleep. The night before last I slept very well. Halleluya. I awoke, excited to feel so good! My guest house includes breakfast and it’s 2 eggs, potatoes, tomatoes, mango juice, tea and 2 pieces of toast with butter and jam. Way more food than I normally would eat, but I have been eating it all! So I have my huge breakfast and get set on my way to the birth center. The center is about 20 minutes away by taxi. The taxis are my biggest daily expense, $3 each way. The ride is wild, scary fun, nutty, indescribable but I will try. My street which connects Poknajol to Chetrapatti, is paved, although most are not. The street is full of walkers bicycles, scooters, motorbikes, pedal rickshaws, push-carts, stray dogs (many looking much the worse for wear) and the occasional cow as well as trucks and cars (mostly taxis) and workmen with handtools doing various repair jobs in the street. I hurtle along in my vehicle as we approach Chetrapatti which is a sort of a roundabout with a temple in the middle, around which rush vehicles and pedestrians in a wild dance of weaving in a variety of directions, horns blaring constantly. We dive out onto an unpaved lane that dips downward towards the filthy river. I can practically grab pieces of fruit or a piping hot chapati as we rush by. We careen through a variety of similar turns and bumps, pass along a wider road with many pedestrians stepping out in front of vehicles as they try courageously to cross the sea of traffic, duck under a huge rusty metal bridge onto the ring road, right down a small dirt track and we reach the birth center. Deep breath. Safe and sound. What a ride for $3. Yesterday, had a short class on oxytocin and its various functions. Then Rashmi, the head midwife showed up. She is usually so busy, but was in relaxed mood, and we chatted a lot about birth center mangaement and her challenges. Then she took me out to a super wonderful dive where we watched the women making chapatis on the fire in front of us and ate them hot hot with a spicey bean soup. Followed by spicey tea mmmmm. Good! Then back to the center for some birth drills. Today I did a bit of a lesson with a video illustrating midwifery model of care. Very hard to get discussion with these girls. They are not used to being asked questions by the teacher and are hesitant to give wrong anwers. There are no wrong answers!. They are shy but very willing. I bought us all lunch as a treat….. they had done well. After lunch we did some more birth drill stuff. Another good day. Here are some of the lovely girls watching the video studiously on my laptop. (The laptop has a picture of my three boys. Prena has decided that she will move to Texas and marry Amos, the oldest)	{ "pile_set_name": "Pile-CC" }

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