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Best-in-Class Impact Energy Delivers Maximum Productivity Mt. Prospect, March 12, 2013 – Bosch Power Tools is breaking the mold with its hardest hitting demolition hammer yet - the new Bosch DH1020VC 25 lb. SDS-max ® Demolition Hammer. The new model features a better than ever in-line design, Bosch vibration control technology and best-in-class impact energy to maximize efficiency and productivity during demolition work. Whether chiseling windows, removing sturdy floor tiles or working on large pipes, the DH1020VC helps professionals break through concrete, stone, granite, brick and more. The longer in-line design of the DH1020VC provides improved weight distribution during both horizontal and vertical demo applications. As part of the Bosch brand’s vibration control technology, an extended air cushion in the hammer mechanism and de-coupled main handle reduce vibrations in 2 locations inside the tool. Producing 17 ft.-lbs of impact energy, (based on EPTA standardized guidelines) this hammer is the hardest hitting in its class delivering up to 40 percent more impact energy and more than 80 percent higher chiseling removal rate than key competitors. A 12-position Vario-lock™ allows users to rotate and lock the chisel into 12 different working positions to fine the optimal working angle, while a variable speed dial reduces the impact rate and impact energy when controlled chiseling is required, enhancing productivity and comfort during use. Constant Response™ electronics offer users soft start functionality, overload protection and maintain constant motor speed under varying loads. A Service Minder™ light indicates the need for the carbon brushes to be changed with approximately 8 hours of brush life remaining. The hammer’s tool-free bit change features automatic bit locking, dust protection and maximum impact energy transfer. Bosch DH1020VC 25 lb. SDS-Max Demo Hammer retails for $899 USD and is available through authorized dealers nationwide. To find out more or to locate a dealer, visit www.boschtools.com or call 877-BOSCH-99. Follow Bosch Power Tools @ www.youtube.com/bluecrew4 Like Bosch Power Tools on Facebook @www.Facebook.com/BoschPowerTool Follow Bosch Power Tools on Twitter @ @BoschTools The Bosch Group is a leading global supplier of technology and services, active in the fields of automotive technology, energy and building technology, industrial technology, and connsumer goods. According to preliminary figures, more than 306,000 associates generated sales of 52.3 billion euros ($67.2 billion) in 2012. The Bosch Group comprises Robert Bosch GmbH and its more than 350 subsidiaries and regional companies in some 60 countries. If its sales and service partners are included, then Bosch is represented in roughly 150 countries. This worldwide development, manufacturing, and sales network is the foundation for further growth. Bosch spent some 4.5 billion euros ($5.8 billion) for research and development in 2012, and applied for over 4,700 patents worldwide The Bosch Group’s products and services are designed to fascinate, and to improve the quality of life by providing solutions which are both innovative and beneficial. In this way, the company offers technology worldwide that is “Invented for life.” Additional information is available online at www.bosch.com and www.bosch-press.com. In the U.S., Canada and Mexico, the Bosch Group manufactures and markets automotive original equipment and aftermarket products, industrial drives and control technology, power tools, security and communication systems, packaging technology, thermotechnology, household appliances, solar energy, healthcare telemedicine and software solutions. Having established a regional presence in 1906, Bosch employs over 22,500 associates in more than 100 locations, with sales of $9.8 billion in fiscal year 2011. For more information, please visit www.boschusa.com, www.bosch.com.mx and www.bosch.ca. About Robert Bosch Tool Corporation Robert Bosch Tool Corporation in North America, was formed in January 2003 when Robert Bosch GmbH combined its North American power tool, accessory and lawn and garden divisions into one organization. As a manufacturing pioneer with more than a century’s worth of experience, the Bosch name has become synonymous with engineering excellence. With 18,000 employees world wide and 3,500 in North America, the Robert Bosch Tool Corporation is a world leader in the design, manufacture and sale of power tools, rotary and oscillating tools, accessories, laser and optical leveling and range finding tools, and garden and watering equipment. For more information, call toll free 877-BOSCH-99 (877-267-2499) or visit www.boschtools.com, www.dremel.com, www.skiltools.com, www.rotozip.com, www.cstberger.com, www.vermontamerican.com, www.gilmour.com, and www.lrnelson.com. © Robert Bosch Tool Corporation

Pope Benedict XVI today called for reforming the United Nations and establishing a "true world political authority" with "real teeth" to manage the global economy with God-centered ethics. In his third encyclical, a major teaching, released as the G-8 summit begins in Italy, the pope says such an authority is urgently needed to end the current worldwide financial crisis. It should "revive" damaged economies, reach toward "disarmament, food security and peace," protect the environment and "regulate migration." Benedict writes, "The market is not, and must not become, the place where the strong subdue the weak." The encyclical, Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth) is a theologically dense explication of Catholic social teaching that draws heavily from earlier popes, particularly PaulVI's critique of capitalism 42 years ago. And echoing his predecessor John Paul II, Benedict says, "every economic decision has a moral consequence." Issued days before his Friday meeting with President Obama, the pope's views here are "to the left of Obama in terms of economic policy," particularly in calls for redistribution of wealth, says political scientist Thomas Reese, a Jesuit priest and senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. The encyclical also echoes Benedict's many speeches, saying that to reach sound a global economy every responsibility and commitment must be rooted in the values of Christian truth. Without that, he says, "there is no social conscience and responsibility." Neither, he says, are mere "good sentiments" enough. Human progress requires God, and today's choices concern "nothing less than the destiny of man." Although Benedict says the church has no "technical solutions to offer," he asserts that religion has a role in the public square. His very specific suggestions on the economy, ecology and justice are addressed not just to Catholics, but to everyone, from heads of state to household shoppers. According to the encyclical: •Labor must be safeguarded after years of rampant market forces leaving citizens powerless in the face of "new and old risks" and without effective trade union protections. •Elimination of world hunger is essential for "safeguarding the peace and stability of the planet," and the problem is not resources but their inequitable distribution. •"Demographic control" through an "anti-birth mentality" that promotes abortion and birth control "cannot lead to morally sound development." He blasts those who support abortion "as if it were a form of cultural progress." •The environment is "God's gift to everyone" and we have a "grave duty to hand the earth on to future generations" in good condition, says Benedict. He laments, "how many natural resources are squandered by wars!" •"Financiers must rediscover" ethics and not use "sophisticated instruments" to "betray the interests of savers." •Consumers, must "realize that purchasing is always a moral — and not simple economic — act." In this context, the ecological crisis is seen as a crisis in human ecology. "The pope is saying you need just structures and people who act justly," says Steve Colecchi, director of the office of international justice and peace for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. "He's calling on every level of society to be rooted in an ethical vision of the human person."

| Waco News Page 1 of 4 Waco Inquiry Failed to Test Correct F.B.I. Gun, Official Says(Associated Press 6/01/01) A simulation that helped lead anindependent inquiry to conclude that F.B.I. agents did not fire their guns intheir siege of the Branch Davidian compound eight years ago never tested thetype of assault rifle that the agents had there, an official who helped run the testsays. FBI Termed Uncooperative in Waco Probe(Washington Post 6/01/01) The FBI was so uncooperative in the Waco investigation that special counsel John C. Danforth threatened FBI Director Louis J. Freeh with a search warrant to gain access to relevant documents, Danforth said yesterday in an interview with The Washington Post. Ex-Davidian prosecutor could be jailed(Dallas Morning News 6/01/01) Former federal prosecutor Bill Johnston could face jail time when he issentenced next week by a St. Louis federal judge because the Wacospecial counsel has withdrawn a pledge to recommend probation. Ex-prosecutor guilty in Davidian case(Dallas Morning News 2/07/01) Former federal prosecutor Bill Johnston pleaded guilty to a felonyTuesday in St. Louis, admitting to withholding information about theuse of pyrotechnic tear-gas canisters in the Branch Davidian siegefrom the Waco special counsel. Ex-prosecutor takes deal in Davidian case(Associated Press 2/06/01) Former U.S. Attorney Bill Johnston will plead guilty Tuesdayas part of a plea agreement with federal prosecutors who accusedhim of obstructing the investigation into the 1993 siege of the BranchDavidian compound near Waco, a newspaper reported. Ex-Waco prosecutor wants charges dismissed (Associated Press 1/11/01) Felony charges against former assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Johnston should be dismissed because he is being held to a higher standard of conduct than other government officials involved in the Branch Davidian siege, his lawyer says. Ex-prosecutor declares he's innocent in Waco case (Post-Dispatch 11/14/00) A former federal prosecutor said Monday he will "let the process run its course" now that he has declared his innocence to charges he obstructed the investigation into the siege at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas. Waco case prosecutor enters plea (The Dallas Morning News 11/14/00) A former government prosecutor pleaded not guilty Monday to charges of obstructing the investigation into the 1993 siege at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco. Former U.S. attorney is accused of obstructing Waco investigation (Post-Dispatch 11/09/00) A former federal prosecutor who played a major role in the government's siege of the Branch Davidians was indicted by a federal grand jury in St. Louis on Wednesday on charges that he obstructed the investigation of special Waco counsel John Danforth. Former Waco prosecutor indicted (The Dallas Morning News 11/09/00) Former Waco federal prosecutor Bill Johnston, who helped expose a six-year cover-up of government actions in the Branch Davidian siege, was indicted Wednesday on federal charges of obstructing the special counsel's investigation that he helped set in motion. Danforth indicts lawyer in Waco probe, wants S.A. attorneys fired (San Antonio Express-News 11/09/00) Ending a detailed review of the disastrous 1993 Waco siege, a special counsel Wednesday urged the Justice Department to fire two San Antonio federal prosecutors and indicted their former colleague. Former federal prosecutor Bill Johnston indicted by special grand jury (Waco Tribune-Herald 11/08/00) Bill Johnston, the former federal prosecutor from Waco who claims he is being retaliated against for blowing the whistle on a Justice Department cover-up, was indicted Wednesday on charges that he lied to a federal grand jury and obstructed Special Counsel John Danforth's Branch Davidian investigation. Probe called awkward for attorney pair (San Antonio Express 10/28/00) They convicted a governor, interrogated the president and sent a judge's assassin to prison for life. But now, after nearly 30 years of pursuing South Texas corruption and conspiracies, it is their turn to be investigated. Grand jury witnesses allege testimony isn't needed (Post-Dispatch 10/27/00) Supporters of former Waco siege prosecutor Bill Johnston say their appearances Thursday before a federal grand jury in St. Louis were unnecessary and an effort to intimidate them. More subpoenas issued for grand jurors examining Davidian case (The Dallas Morning News 10/25/2000) Five more Central Texas residents have been subpoenaed by Special Counsel John Danforth to appear next week in St. Louis before federal grand jurors re-examining aspects of the Branch Davidian investigation. Prosecutor's supporters seek immunity from subpoenas in Davidian case (The Dallas Morning News 10/25/2000) Five supporters of former Waco federal prosecutor Bill Johnston filed a motion Wednesday seeking to block the special counsel's office from forcing them to testify before a federal grand jury investigating government actions in the 1993 Branch Davidian siege. Report: Clinton, Reno deceived public about Waco tragedy (The Dallas Morning News 10/19/2000) A Congressional report released Thursday alleges that President Clinton and Attorney General Janet Reno misled the public for years with claims that U.S. military experts endorsed the "flawed" FBI tear gas attack that ended the Branch Davidian siege. Judge blames sect for Waco tragedy (The Dallas Morning News 9/21/2000) The Branch Davidians' long-running wrongful-death lawsuit ended Wednesday with a federal judge's ruling that they and not the government were responsible for the 1993 tragedy. Davidians have prison terms cut (The Dallas Morning News 9/20/2000) A federal judge has more than halved the federal prison sentences of five Branch Davidians and also cut five years from the sentence of a sixth, ensuring that all could be free within less than six years, a defense lawyer said Tuesday. Davidians' attorney vents anger at judge (The Dallas Morning News 9/13/2000) Continuing a legal grudge match, the lead lawyer in the Branch Davidian wrongful death lawsuit filed a caustic motion Tuesday asking U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith Jr. to remove himself and declare a mistrial in the case. Prosecution of whistleblower could backfire (The Dallas Morning News 9/13/2000) Waco special counsel John C. Danforth won't confirm that a key whistleblower in the cover-up of the Branch Davidian siege is being targeted for prosecution. Danforth seeks to repair rift with judge over Waco case (The Dallas Morning News 9/09/2000) Special counsel John C. Danforth met privately Friday with U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith Jr., trying to repair a rift created when the special counsel's investigators recently threatened to indict a former federal prosecutor who turned whistle-blower in the Branch Davidian case. 2 More Waco Prosecutors Said to Be at Risk of Charges (New York Times 9/02/2000) Two federal prosecutors who helped send several Branch Davidians to prison may face prosecution themselves on charges that they withheld information about government actions in the siege at the group's compound near Waco, a lawyer involved in the case said today. Waco Whistleblower Faces Indictment (Washington Post 9/01/2000) The whistleblower who sparked a probe into whether the federal government was responsible for the deaths of 74 Branch Davidians near Waco, Tex., has been notified he faces criminal charges after acknowledging he withheld notes from special counsel John C. Danforth's investigators and misled a federal grand jury about the papers. Danforth reportedly targets Waco siege whistleblower (Dallas Morning News 9/01/00) The former prosecutor who warned last year of a possible cover-up of federal actions in the Branch Davidian siege has been told he is being targeted for prosecution by Waco special counsel John C. Danforth. Waco secrecy fed public mistrust, Danforth says (Post-Dispatch 7/23/00) Special counsel John C. Danforth was amazed that most Americans were willing to believe, without evidence, that the government intentionally burned up a group of its citizens at Waco, Texas, in 1993. Interim report clears government of wrongdoing at Waco (Post-Dispatch 7/21/00) Citing "overwhelming evidence," special counsel John C. Danforth Friday said that the preliminary results of his investigation into the confrontation with the Branch Davidians at Waco, Texas, in 1993 cleared the government of any of the "dark questions" he was asked to look into. Waco: What's next (Dallas Morning News 7/15/00) Judge Walter Smith will consider the jury's advice and issue a final ruling possibly as soon as August. He must decide whether federal agents were responsible for the gunfight that left four agents and six Branch Davidians dead in 1993 and whether the government was responsible for the fire 51 days later during which more than 80 Davidians died. Jurors retain anonymity (Dallas Morning News 7/15/00) When a federal judge read the verdict Friday in the Branch Davidians' $675 million damage suit, the five-member jury had already left the courthouse. Judge Smith's comments (Dallas Morning News 7/15/00) Lead plaintiffs' attorney Michael Caddell took the highly unusual step of strongly criticizing Judge Walter Smith on the courthouse steps after Thursday's proceedings in the wrongful-death lawsuit of Branch Davidians and survivors against the government. He said the judge was "trying to engineer a verdict" and criticized his instructions to the jury, as well as his decision to combine all the plaintiffs - including men, women and children holed up in the compound during the 51-day siege - into one group. Mr. Caddell said he thought the law should allow separate consideration of the death or injury and actions or negligence of each individual. Jury's findings reverberate across capital, country (Dallas Morning News 7/15/00) A Texas jury's quick finding that the government bears no liability for the deadly 1993 Branch Davidian siege drew sighs of relief in federal law enforcement circles Friday and dismay in some other quarters. Davidians didn't expect to beat government (Dallas Morning News 7/15/00) Branch Davidians accepted with a sense of resignation the news that a federal jury doesn't believe the government was responsible for the tragic events in Waco. What the jury decided (Dallas Morning News 7/15/00) The jury came back after 2 1/2 hours of deliberations on Friday with an advisory verdict clearing the government of any wrongdoing during the 1993 Branch Davidian siege in Waco. Here are the questions the judge asked the jury to consider, and their unanimous answers: The case before the jury (Dallas Morning News 7/14/00) U.S. District Judge Walter Smith will ask jurors to answer unanimously a four-step series of questions to reach a verdict in the Branch Davidian wrongful-death lawsuit: Sect lawyer says judge ignoring law (Dallas Morning News 7/14/00) A plaintiff's attorney complained Thursday that a federal judge appeared to be "ignoring the law" and trying to "engineer a verdict" favorable to the government as both sides finished presenting evidence in the Branch Davidian wrongful-death lawsuit. Davidian children shot, stabbed, autopsies show (Dallas Morning News 7/13/00) Several children in the Branch Davidian compound on the final day of the 1993 siege were shot and at least one was stabbed, according to autopsy reports presented Thursday in a wrongful-death trial. Fire at Waco complex probably was set inside deliberately, expert testifies (Post-Dispatch 7/12/00) An expert testified Wednesday that the high heat and speed of the fire at the Branch Davidian complex suggested that the fire had been set intentionally by people inside the buildings. The expert was James G. Quintiere, a professor of fire protection engineering at the University of Maryland. He said three or four fires started within two minutes, just after noon April 19, 1993. Agent backs FBI use of tank in siege (Dallas Morning News 7/12/00) The tank that ripped down the rear of the Branch Davidian compound wasn't trying to demolish the building but was trying to clear a path to get tear gas into the sect's hiding place, an FBI agent testified Tuesday. Davidians in excerpts discuss setting fire around sect compound (Dallas Morning News 7/11/00) Branch Davidians, overheard on FBI eavesdropping devices, made jokes about federal agents dying at the start of a 1993 standoff and also laughingly discussed their belief that God would take them "like flames of fire." Davidians gave orders to 'spread the fuel,' tapes show (Post-Dispatch 7/10/00) Branch Davidians joked about the possibility of becoming a "charcoal briquette" the day before the fatal fire the ended in the death of about 80 people. Then, the day of the fire, Davidians gave orders to "spread the fuel," "pour it," "pass the torch" and "light it." Government seeks end to gunfire claim (Dallas Morning News 7/09/00) Government lawyers again have asked a federal judge to throw out a claim of government gunfire at the end of the Branch Davidian siege, renewing their argument that the charge springs from faulty science and can be disproved with basic mathematical analysis. Rangers testify of gas, torch (Dallas Morning News 7/08/00) Texas Rangers said that they found a blackened torch and four fuel cans in the Branch Davidian compound's dining room and were told by a surviving sect member that the fire that consumed the building was fueled by Coleman gas. More News... [Page 1] [Page 2] [Page 3] [Page 4]

Honesty Is The Best Policy by Scott Perry | 2008/06/03 | In the current market, we're all doing what we can to generate business for ourselves, and sometimes it's tempting to promise more than we can deliver. But in the long run, does it do more harm than good? Blurbs from the Bossman :: A while back, I received a search request in an email from a client that went something like this: Can we have both of these by Tuesday? B Unless they are dirty searches, of course. Attached were two 60-year title requests. Keep in mind, this request was sent after 5:00 PM on a Thursday afternoon, and I've just come in from being out in the field all day. Not wanting to make a promise I can't keep, I replied: Hey, "Joe"! (not his real name) Cutting it kind of close, but I'll do the best I can. I'll let you know if I run into any issues. I figured this way, I had a little "wiggle room" in case one or both of these searches turns ugly. So, I get back to the office the following day to find this little missive in my "IN" box: Three full days should not be cutting it close. If you would like, I could find someone else to do my searches. I know that you don't go to Armstrong everyday, but three days notice for a search should not be asking too much. Now I understand that some searches tend to be difficult and get more involved, but for the most part, three days should be more than ample time to complete a 60 year search. Please let me know your thoughts on this, I have to have the information to my client within 4 days. Otherwise, the delay may cost me a client. This is not good for business, as you know. I hope that you can appreciate the situation that I am in, and try to work with me to achieve the goals of customer service that I have been requested to fulfill. Thank you for your time, Well, I think to myself, this puts me in a fine mood on a Friday afternoon. After resisting the temptation to put a .45 round through my computer monitor and muttering a few choice phrases about "Joe's" questionable parentage, I replied thus: I must admit that I am taken somewhat aback by your response. Don’t get me wrong, I very much appreciate your business. What I don't appreciate is your tone or your threats. However, I shall take the occasion of your email to clarify a few points: 1) "Three full days should not be cutting it close." When you originally approached me to engage my services, I informed you that the normal turnaround time for a 60 Year Title History is THREE-TO-FIVE BUSINESS DAYS. There are several reasons for this. First and foremost, I have ALWAYS allowed ample time to complete ANY search, be it a Current Owner Search or a Sixty-Year Title History. At NO TIME will ANY deadline take precedence over a properly conducted and thorough search. I have worked too hard over the past six-and-a-half years at building my business’ reputation and earning the trust of my clients to risk losing it all because of a shoddy search, hastily completed to accommodate one company’s “rush” request. 2) "If you would like, I could find someone else to do my searches." Do what you have to, "Joe", but don’t think that threatening me is going to get me to move any faster. It is very unprofessional. My clients keep coming back to me because they know they can depend on me! I produce a good quality product--I don't HAVE to beg for work. I know of no other abstractor in southwest Pennsylvania who offers the level of Customer Service and support that I do. When you have a question about any of my work, all you have to do is pick up the phone and I am available. I am constantly hearing horror stories from my clients who have been "blown off" by title searchers who do this work "part-time" or as a "hobby". Let's also not forget, you looked me up, not the other way around. Someone else recommended me to you, so I must be doing something right. 3) "I know that you don't go to Armstrong everyday, but three days notice for a search should not be asking too much." I'm a little confused here, "Joe". Has there ever been an issue with me getting your searches back to you in a timely manner? If so, this is the first I’m hearing of it. A review of your Account History shows that we have never taken more that four days to return one of your searches. Oh, and FYI, I am SINGLE-HANDEDLY covering 13, (count 'em, THIRTEEN) counties, sometimes working 12- and 14-hour days and an occasional weekend here and there, and am pretty darn proud of my track record of being able to turn my clients' work around in a timely manner. 4) "Now I understand that some searches tend to be difficult and get more involved, but for the most part, three days should be more than ample time to complete a 60 year search." Speaking strictly from a title searcher's point of view, I do think that asking for TWO sixty year searches in three days' time is, in fact, "cutting it kind of close", particularly in light of the fact that I will not have three full days in which to complete these searches. If you wanted me to move your work to the front of the line, I do offer expedited service for a premium of $25.00 per search. 5) "Please let me know your thoughts on this, I have to have the information to my client within 4 days. Otherwise, the delay may cost me a client. This is not good for business, as you know. I hope that you can appreciate the situation that I am in, and try to work with me to achieve the goals of customer service that I have been requested to fulfill." My twelve-plus years of experience in this business has taught me what can and cannot be done; it has also taught me that promising something to a customer that I don't think I can (or that I know full well I can't) deliver is not good for business, either. As I indicated, I'll do the best I can. Please let me know if that will be good enough. Please bear in mind when placing future orders that normal turnaround for 40- and 60-Year Title Histories "will be" THREE-TO-FIVE BUSINESS DAYS. Thank you very much for the opportunity to clarify my position. If you wish to reach me for comment, my contact information is below. Scott L. Perry, President Jireh Business Information Solutions, Inc. 724.863.7270 FAX 734.863.7271 I hear stories all the time from owners of firms who tell me that "so-and-so company promises they can turn a Current Owner around in 'x' time--can you match that?" Believe me, it's tempting to simply say "yes", but I truly don't think it's good practice to make promises without knowing whether or not I can deliver just to get business. I'd sooner be honest with myself and my clients and risk losing a deal than to compromise myself in that way. But, that's just me. and Ruminations of an Independent Title Examiner Living & Working in the "Steel Buckle of the Rust Belt."

||This article's introduction section may not adequately summarize its contents. (September 2012)| Operation Valkyrie (German: Operation Walküre) was a German World War II emergency continuity of government operations plan issued to the Territorial Reserve Army of Germany to execute and implement in case of a general breakdown in civil order of the nation. Failure of the government to maintain control of civil affairs might have been caused by the Allied bombing of German cities, or uprising of the millions of foreign forced laborers working in German factories. German Army (Heer) officers General Friedrich Olbricht, Major General Henning von Tresckow, and Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg modified the plan with the intention of using it to take control of German cities, disarm the SS, and arrest the Nazi leadership once Hitler had been assassinated in the July 20 Plot. Hitler's death (as opposed to his arrest) was required to free German soldiers from their oath of loyalty to him (Reichswehreid). After lengthy preparation, the plot was activated in 1944, but failed. The original plan, designed to deal with internal disturbances in emergency situations, was designed by General Friedrich Olbricht's staff in his capacity as head of General Army Office and was approved by Hitler. The idea of using the Reserve Army in the German homeland for a coup existed before, but the refusal of Colonel-General Friedrich Fromm, Chief of the Reserve Army and the only person who could initiate Operation Valkyrie besides Hitler, to cooperate, was a serious obstacle to the conspirators. Nevertheless, after the lessons of a failed assassination attempt on March 13, 1943, Olbricht felt that the original coup plan was inadequate and that the Reserve Army should be used in the coup even without Fromm's cooperation. The original Valkyrie order only dealt with strategy to ensure combat readiness of units among scattered elements of the Reserve Army. Olbricht added a second part, 'Valkyrie II' which provided for the swift mustering of units into battle groups ready for action. In August and September 1943, General Henning von Tresckow found Olbricht's revision inadequate, thus greatly expanded the Valkyrie plan and drafted new supplementary orders. A secret declaration began with the words: "The Führer Adolf Hitler is dead! A treacherous group of party leaders has attempted to exploit the situation by attacking our embattled soldiers from the rear to seize power for themselves." Detailed instructions were written for occupation of government ministries in Berlin, Himmler's headquarters in East Prussia, radio stations, telephone exchanges, other Nazi infrastructure through military districts, and concentration camps. (Previously, it was believed that Colonel Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg was mainly responsible for the Valkyrie plan, but documents recovered by the Soviet Union after the war and released in 2007 suggest that a detailed plan was developed by Tresckow in autumn 1943.) All documents were handled by Tresckow's wife, Erika, and by Margarete von Oven, his secretary. Both women wore gloves to leave no fingerprints. In essence, the plan was to trick the Reserve Army into the seizure and removal of the civilian government of wartime Germany under the false pretense that the SS had attempted a coup d'État and assassinated Hitler. The key requirement was that the rank-and-file soldiers and junior officers who were supposed to execute this plan would be motivated to do so based upon their false belief that it was the Nazi civilian leadership who had behaved with disloyalty and treason against the state, and were therefore required to be removed. The conspirators counted on the soldiers to obey their orders as long as they came from the legitimate channel — namely, the Reserve Army High Command in the emergency situation following Hitler's death. Apart from Hitler, only General Friedrich Fromm, commander of the Reserve Army, could activate Operation Valkyrie. Therefore, Fromm had to either be won over to the conspiracy, or in some way neutralized for the plan to succeed. Fromm, like many senior officers, largely knew about the military conspiracies against Hitler, but neither supported them nor reported them to the Gestapo. The key role in its actual implementation was played by Colonel Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, after his assassination attempt on Hitler on July 20, 1944. Stauffenberg also further improved the Valkyrie plan and made changes to address changing situations. Stauffenberg's position as Chief of Staff of the Reserve Army gave him access to Hitler for reports and at the same time required his presence at headquarters for implementation of Valkyrie. At first, Tresckow and Stauffenberg sought out other officers with access to Hitler who could carry out the assassination. General Helmuth Stieff, Chief of Organization in Army High Command, volunteered to be the assassin but later backed down. Tresckow attempted several times to be assigned to Hitler's headquarters without success. Finally, Stauffenberg decided to carry out both the assassination attempt and the Valkyrie operation, which greatly reduced the chance of success. After two abortive attempts, Stauffenberg placed the bomb on July 20 and hurried back to Berlin to assume his pivotal role. Discovering that the bomb had not killed Hitler, Fromm ordered the executions of General Friedrich Olbricht, his chief of staff Colonel Albrecht Mertz von Quirnheim, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, and his adjutant Lieutenant Werner von Haeften. Shortly after midnight, the condemned men were led to a mound of earth back-lit by idling vehicles where each was executed by firing squad in the courtyard of Bendlerstrasse headquarters. Initial order to the Wehrkreise I. The Führer Adolf Hitler is dead! - An unscrupulous clique of party leaders alien to the front has attempted, under the exploitation of this situation, to betray the hard-struggling front and to seize power for their own selfish purposes. II. In this hour of greatest danger, the government of the Reich has declared a state of military emergency for the maintenance of law and order and at the same time has transferred the executive power, with the supreme command of the Wehrmacht, to me. III. With this, I order: - 1. I transfer the executive power – with the right of delegation, to the territorial commanders – on the home front, to the commander of the army reserves under the simultaneous appointment to the supreme commander in the homeland war – in the occupied western area, to the supreme commander west – in Italy, to the supreme commander southwest – in the occupied eastern area, to the supreme commander of the army groups and the commander of the Wehrmacht eastern land for their respective area of command – in Denmark and Norway, to the Wehrmacht commander. - 2. The holders of executive power have control over: - a) all sections and units of the Wehrmacht, including the Waffen-SS, RAD and the OT, within their area of command; - b) all public authorities (of the Reich, Germany, the states and the municipalities), especially the entire law enforcement police, security police and administrative police; - c) all office bearers and subdivisions of the NSDAP and those of its affiliated associations; - d) the transportation services and public utilities - 3. The entire Waffen-SS is integrated into the army with immediate effect. - 4. The holders of executive power are responsible for the maintenance of public order and security. They especially have to ensure: - a) the protection of communications - b) the elimination of the SD (Security Service). Any opposition to the military power of enforcement is to be ruthlessly crushed. In this hour of highest danger for the Fatherland, unity of the Wehrmacht and the maintenance of full discipline are the uppermost requirements. That is why I make it the duty of all commanders of the army, the navy, and the air force to support the holders of executive power in carrying out their difficult task with all means at their disposal and to guarantee the compliance of their directives by the subordinate sections. The German soldier stands before a historical task. It will depend on his energy and attitude whether Germany will be saved. The failed plot has been represented in historical dramatic films. Georg Wilhelm Pabst's Jackboot Mutiny (Austria, 1955), Anatole Litvak's The Night of the Generals (Britain, 1967), Lawrence Schiller's The Plot to Kill Hitler (U.S., 1990), the German television production Stauffenberg and Bryan Singer's full length movie Valkyrie (U.S., 2008) have addressed the plot. In the Soviet Union, it was depicted in the third part of the film series Liberation. It was also depicted in an episode of Highlander: The Series, titled "The Valkyrie". Operation Valkyrie is the name of a Mythbusters episode that examined the effect of an explosive in enclosed and open-space rooms in an attempt to determine if the last-minute change of meeting venue permitted Hitler to survive. In all circumstances there was a chance of survival. - Assassination attempts on Adolf Hitler - July 20 plot - List of members of the 20 July plot - Stauffenberg (film) - Valkyrie (film) - Fighter Pilots Conspiracy - Philipp von Boeselager, "Valkyrie: The Plot to Kill Hitler, trans. Steven Rendall, Phoenix (Weidenfeld and Nicolson),2009 (ISBN 978-0-7538-2566-2) - Joachim Fest, Plotting Hitler's Death: The German Resistance to Hitler, 1933–1945, 1996 (ISBN 0-8050-5648-3) - Hans Bernd Gisevius, Valkyrie: An Insider's Account of the Plot to Kill Hitler, 2009 reprint of one volume abridgement of two volume text, To the Bitter End, 1947. Foreword by Allen Welsh Dulles, introduction by Peter Hoffmann. Translated by Richard and Clara Winston; Da Capo Press, Cambridge, MA ISBN 978-0-306-81771-7\ - Nigel Jones, Countdown to Valkyrie: The July Plot to Assassinate Hitler. Frontline, 2009 - Helena Page, General Friedrich Olbricht: Ein Mann des 20. Julis, 1993, Bouvier Verlag, Bonn ISBN 3-416-02514-8 - Dr. phil. Gerd R. Ueberschär: Auf dem Weg zum 20. Juli 1944, Motive und Entwicklung der Militäropposition gegen Hitler., - Bernd Rüthers: Spiegelbild einer Verschwörung – Zwei Abschiedsbriefe zum 20. Juli 1944. Juristenzeitung 14/2005, pp. 689–698 - Hans-Adolf Jacobsen (Hrsg.): Spiegelbild einer Verschwörung. Die Opposition gegen Hitler und der Staatsstreich vom 20. Juli 1944 in der SD-Berichterstattung. Geheime Dokumente aus dem ehemaligen Reichssicherheitshauptamt. 2 Vol., Stuttgart 1984 - Peter Hoffmann: Widerstand, Staatsstreich, Attentat. Der Kampf der Opposition gegen Hitler. Munich 1985 Montserrat (reissue) - Joachim Fest, Plotting Hitler's Death: The German Resistance to Hitler, 1933–1945, 1996, p219 - Peter Hoffmann, "Oberst i. G. Henning von Tresckow und die Staatsstreichpläne im Jahr 1943 - Joachim Fest, Plotting Hitler's Death: The German Resistance to Hitler, 1933–1945, 1996, p220 - Rupert Butler, The Gestapo: A History of Hitler's Secret Police 1933-45. London: Amber Books Ltd. 2004. pg. 149. - This article incorporates information from - German Resistance to Hitler – Valkyrie Conspiracy – German Conspiracy against the German government culminating in the Coup Attempt of 20 July 1944 - The Conference Room at the "Wolf's Lair" after the Assassination Attempt (July 20, 1944) from German History in Documents and Images a project of the German Historical Institute - Telex Message by the Conspiratorial Stauffenberg Group to the holders of executive Power (July 20, 1944) from German History in Documents and Images a project of the German Historical Institute - The assassination attempt from July 20, 1944, and the operation "Valkyrie" (German) - Consequences (German)

I tried a wooden alaia once before, and I was terrible at it. Essentially, I couldn’t do whatever it was that I was supposed to do on it. I didn’t come remotely close. Granted, the shore pound on a flat day by Off The Wall didn’t provide the friendliest conditions for an alaia introduction, but when I held the porous, leashless wood chip beneath my arm and jumped into the Pacific, I felt a certain sense of…confusion? Self-importance? Excitement? For a fleeting moment, I think I established a (very) shallow connection with surfing’s ancestry. After all, I was on a piece of timber (in Hawaii, no less) instead of a mishmash of chemicals and fiberglass from the bowels of industrial Orange County. This board had no fins. It barely floated. For these reasons (and the fact that I couldn’t actually do it…) I was a skeptic. I mean, the board’s just not that practical, right? Tom Wegener, one of the men responsible for the modern “alaia revival,” is well aware of this skepticism. Even after he was named Shaper of the Year by Surfing Magazine for his work with the wooden alaia, he couldn’t deny the fact that paddling a sinking tree into the lineup just isn’t the most accessible approach to surfing. While I don’t think accessibility was his primary intention, it’s certainly become a concern because one year later, after teaming up with Global Surf Industries he’s developed an EPS alaia called “The Tuna,” which puts a modern twist on an ancient craft…and effectively reinvents his reinvention for the masses. So when he offered me the opportunity to test-drive “The Tuna” while visiting Southern California on a rare sunny day at Cardiff Reef this summer, I was there in a skip. Granted, my expectations were low – especially after my failure back in Hawaii, and I told Tom as much. He told me that David Rastovich couldn’t even surf the alaia the first time he tried. I didn’t really believe him, but I appreciated the gesture. For those of us who will never achieve Rasta status, I conspired with Wegener to create a short list of mental notes from the EPS alaia experience. Here are a few observations from my “Tuna Test-Drive:” 1) “The first thing I say with new alaia riders is don’t even try to stand up,” Wegener told me. “Just get out there and feel the wave and the whitewash and feel the flex of the board. Get to know the board first. To the ancient Hawaiians, there wasn’t a big distinction between standing on a board and belly riding. Great surfers don’t mind belly boarding.” 2) Surfing an alaia is obviously different; however, it’s one thing to think it, and another to embrace it. The latter is essential. Because I was so accustomed to how surfing feels via fins and fiberglass, everything about the alaia just felt wrong…until I began to understand that it wasn’t wrong; it was just different. After conquering that mental barrier I actually started catching and surfing waves. It was a brand new challenge. More importantly, it was really fun. 3) It’s much easier to paddle than its wooden cousin. I felt like I was on a fish when paddling for sets, which I’m pretty sure was the point. 4) The board always wants to spin around, and that’s not something I’m accustomed to, so after making some mental adjustments and placing more weight on my back foot it was nice to almost complete 360s on the face of a wave. Advantage Tuna. 5) Attaching a leash to an EPS alaia was an act oozing with irony. It stripped most of that self-importance from the exercise, which is probably a good thing, and (in my mind) made it absolutely inexcusable to suck at this activity. I had to reconcile these seemingly antithetical concepts. Tom? “About being a ‘sell out,’ I knew that was coming,” Wegener conceded. “First and foremost, I strive to make the best surfboard I can. Working with GSI gets me there with this project. GSI is delivering what the vast majority of surfers want, a really quality surfboard at a low price. Also, working with GSI I can progress surfboard shapes in a way that I only dreamed a few years ago.” And you can’t really fault him for that. Sure, purists might cry blasphemy at the thought of merging ancient and modern surf technologies while implementing cost-cutting measures in the process, but I have a hard time sympathizing with the active discouragement of new ideas. After spending a few hours surfing with Tom, it was abundantly apparent that he believes in what he’s doing. Or he’s an awesome salesman. “It was killing me to think that the ancient Hawaiian style of surfing may disappear again,” Wegener told me. It’s actually been a highlight of my professional life to recreate and discover the whole separate universe of principles that these surfboards work off.” Energized after an hour-long surf on his new invention, I was happy as a clam to have tried something new. And that was worth something. I still wasn’t very good at it, but it changed my perspective in some small way about how to approach riding a wave. After a while that approach became more intuitive, which was addictive. Even if the alaia is a bit of a novelty, it forced me to think very hard about foundational elements of surfing, and that kind of time travel is priceless. I got to learn to surf again. “Surfing tends to get jaded, because people do the same thing for too long,” Wegener told me. “If you keep breaking it up, you stay stoked to surf.” So if you’re bored with your conventional quiver or looking for a new challenge, “The Tuna” might provide the catalyst necessary to reinvigorate your surf life. Priced at $495, it’s not exactly cheap, but like Wegener said, when every session is Ground Hog Day, it’s nice to throw a wild card in the mix. If nothing else, it’s a fun way to enjoy an otherwise unremarkable day of waves, and isn’t that the point?

Inaugural Founders Day To Celebrate 135 Years Of Academic Success Sam Houston State University will celebrate 135 years of academic success, while paying homage to its beginnings, through the inaugural Founders Day celebration on April 26. Founders Day will allow alumni, friends and faculty to reconnect through a day of interactive panels, a luncheon at the Peabody Library and will provide a unique opportunity to “grow” a new tradition. Events will kick off at 9 a.m. with registration in the Smith-Hutson Business Building. At 10 a.m. and 11:30 a.m., faculty- and administrator-led panels will be offered on “Building Bridges Between Town and Gown,” “How SHSU is Preparing Students for the Workforce,” “The Role of Arts and Media in Texas,” and “How SHSU Is Serving the Needs of the State.” These panels will explain research projects, community service endeavors and the efforts of SHSU to place new graduates in the workforce. “In many ways the individual research projects and classroom/teaching efforts of current faculty represent the heartbeat of the university,” said Jeff Wozniak, assistant professor of biological sciences and Founders Day panelist. “I think it is critical for all alumni—especially those who wish to continue to be engaged in shaping the culture of SHSU—to have a connection to what faculty are currently doing in the classroom and in the field. Hopefully all in attendance can walk away invigorated by some aspect of the current efforts of our faculty.” During the Founders Day luncheon, attendees will hear from SHSU President Dana Gibson and keynote speaker Mac Woodward, an SHSU alumnus, Sam Houston Memorial Museum director and Huntsville mayor, who will discuss “Sam Houston State University—Then and Now.” The event will end following a tree dedication ceremony at 2:45 p.m., during which a Catalpa sapling, grown from seeds from second-generation Houston-owned Catalpa trees, will be planted by Austin Hall. Legend says that Margaret Houston planted two Catalpa trees on the property of the Woodland Home, their family’s house in Huntsville—one symbolizing her, and the other representing her husband. |The heart-shaped Catalpa leaf, which, according to legend, was folded in half by Margaret Houston and sent in her letters to Gen. Sam Houston. Horticulture and crop science major Ali Ullrich planted seeds from the Houston family's Catalpa trees, which, as saplings, will be distributed to guests during the April 26 celebration. —Photo by Brian Blalock| While Gen. Sam Houston spent time in Washington as a state senator, the couple would send letters to each other professing their love and devotion; Margaret would often fold a Catalpa leaf and place it in the letter she would send her husband, as if she were sending him a heart-shaped Valentine. Capping off the celebration, many alumni and friends will leave Founders Day with a Catalpa sapling as a memento of the day, a reminder of the university’s rich past and sign of its promising future. “The idea of Founders Day is a great way to celebrate the university, remember why it is here, what the challenges have been throughout the years, and to celebrate how much we have accomplished and what we’ll do in the future,” Woodward said. Prior to Founders Day activities, alumni are invited to the Samuel Houston Society Dinner on April 25. Registration for Founders Day is $25, and the deadline for registration is April 21. Registration and complete schedule of events are available at shsu.edu/foundersday. In addition, the President’s Office will commemorate Founders Day with a panoramic group photo on April 21, beginning at 2 p.m. at Intramural Field No. 2. Live music will be provided by the SHSU School of Music, and cupcakes and punch will be served. Students, faculty and staff are encouraged to wear their Bearkat orange. For more information, contact the Alumni Association at firstname.lastname@example.org or 800.238.7478, and to register for the Samuel Houston Society Dinner, contact the Office of University Advancement at 936.294.3625. - END - Please send comments, corrections, news tips to Today@Sam.edu.

The Importance of Recordkeeping The Importance of Recordkeeping Mylene Kellerman, MS, COHC, USF SafetyFlorida Safety and Health Supervisor While OSHA has not changed its recordkeeping requirements, it has increased its enforcement of them. On October 1, 2009, OSHA initiated a national emphasis program on recordkeeping in order to assess the accuracy of injury and illness data recorded by employers. "Accurate and honest recordkeeping is vitally important to workers' health and safety," said acting Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA Jordan Barab. "This information is not only used by OSHA to determine which workplaces to inspect, but it is an important tool employers and workers can use to identify health and safety problems in their workplaces." Under this emphasis program, OSHA will continue to inspect the occupational injury and illness records of selected industries with high injury and illness rates and appropriately enforce regulatory requirements when they find employers under-recording injuries and illnesses. Here are some tips from USF SafetyFlorida that can help you with your recordkeeping: 1. When injuries and illnesses occur in the workplace, key risk management, safety and human resources personnel should meet to discuss whether the particular injury or illness is work-related and meets OSHA’s general recording criteria. They should also ensure that log entries are accurately completed. This is recommended since recordkeeping rules can be complicated and quite challenging at times to implement. 2. OSHA requires employers to complete data entry on the recordkeeping 300 log and the associated 301 incident report (or appropriate equivalent) within seven calendar days of receiving information that a recordable injury or illness has occurred. Employers should not be hasty to log the incident but instead do a thorough investigation, gather all of the facts, and then complete the required forms, if required. 3. Have a policy in place to ensure the injury and illness log is reviewed and updated every month to accurately reflect changes in the status of the injured/ill employee(s). 4. Keep abreast with OSHA’s letters of interpretations on record-keeping. These are available on OSHA’s website - www.osha.gov -- and employers are encouraged to routinely review and incorporate the guidance into their record-keeping policies and procedures. 5. Employers are encouraged to review safety incentive programs to make sure the programs do not dissuade employees from reporting injuries and illnesses. Certain safety incentives, disciplinary policies or other programs may at times keep employees from reporting incidents. Examine the extent to which the program or policy may discourage reporting and make appropriate changes. 6. An injury may be OSHA recordable, but not compensable under workers’ compensation, and vice versa. Make sure there is proper documentation available to explain why an injury was compensable, but not recordable. It is advisable to periodically compare workers’ compensation claims against the OSHA 300 log to identify any undocumented differences. 7. When injuries and illnesses occur in the workplace, document the steps taken and efforts made to address and prevent recurrence of the hazards. Document thoroughly what was done to address the underlying hazard that may have caused an injury or illness. Record-keeping is very important to OSHA and the nationwide emphasis program will steer the agency to vigorously enforce this rule. USF SafetyFlorida encourages you to take the time to review your injury and illness logs and your record-keeping procedures to ensure they are fully compliant with OSHA’s record-keeping rule and fully prepared for an OSHA inspection. Remember to post the reviewed, completed and certified OSHA 300A summary log of 2009 in a conspicuous place or places where notices to employees are customarily posted. The log must be posted from February 1 through April 30, 2010. And finally, to help you with your recordkeeping, USF SafetyFlorida provides RecordKeeper, a free and secure online OSHA recordkeeping system. Filling in the data one time automatically updates each of your OSHA recordkeeping forms.

Velocomp's iBike Powerhouse is an intelligent companion for all of your cycling exercises Perhaps, if you happen to be a cycling enthusiast, you’ll probably be enticed by Velocomp’s upcoming iBike Powerhouse. At its core, it’s essentially a shock-resistant case that’s attached to a bike using a universal mounting system. Beyond that, it’s referred to as an intelligent cycling computer that automatically adjusts to your exercise goals. Actually, the iBike Powerhouse was designed in collaboration with cycling coach Hunter Allen, and works with an iPhone or iPod Touch. Now what’s unique about it is the various goal-based plans offered with the accompanying app, where users can choose workouts that include iSlim, Express Fitness, Brazilian Butt, Kid Fit, Weekend Warrior, Zero to 50 miles in Three Weeks, and Healthy Heart. And if that’s not enough for your regimen, there’s always the additional in-app trainings that you can purchase to lengthen your routine. $269. Yes, it might seem steep on paper, but we’re sure there are going to be some exercise buffs that might find the entire thing engaging. Hey, it’ll help you out in keeping your resolution too! source: Velocomp via Engadget VELOCOMP INTRODUCES IBIKE POWERHOUSE FOR IPHONE/IPOD TOUCH AT CES -- World’s First Intelligent Cycling Computer that Automatically Adjusts to Your Exercise Goals Featuring Fitness Plans “iSlim,” “Kid Fit,” “Brazilian Butt,” & More Designed by Hunter Allen, the Foremost Power-Cycling Coach in the World January 3, 2012 – Boca Raton, FL – Velocomp www.ibikesports.com, a leading sports technology company and creator of the iBike Dash CC Cycling Computer, introduced today iBike® POWERHOUSETM, the world’s first intelligent cycling computer that automatically adjusts to your exercise goals. Based on periodic assessments of your fitness improvements, the revolutionary iBike POWERHOUSE works with youriPhone and iPod touch to measure, guide and motivate you to achieve important health, appearance, and fitness goals. The POWERHOUSE method maximizes the benefit of each ride and shortens the time needed to achieve results. To be introduced on January 10th at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2012) in Las Vegas, NV, Booth #3430, iBike POWERHOUSE combines iBike’s patented power measurement and analysis technologies with automatically-adjusting, goal-oriented cycling plans -- all delivered through the incredible display and computing power of the iPhone/iPod touch. Choose Your Goal-Based Plan – iBike POWERHOUSE Guides You Step-by-Step Working out with iBike POWERHOUSE is easy. Select a goal-based plan, from “iSlim,” “Express Fitness,” “Brazilian Butt,” “Kid Fit,” “Weekend Warrior,” “Zero to 50 miles in 3 weeks,” and “Healthy Heart” -- just some of the plans available through in-app purchases. Then, over a period of 4-6 weeks, iBike POWERHOUSE guides you through a series of 45-90 minute bike rides. During each ride, you are directed to pedal at specific levels of effort (power), customized to the plan’s goals and your measured fitness level. So, a “couch potato” will start out at a challenging but lower level of effort, whereas a fitter cyclist will start the same plan at a significantly higher level of effort. Fitness Plans Designed by Power-Cycling Coach Hunter Allen iBike POWERHOUSE’s fitness plans are designed by Hunter Allen, the world’s foremost power-cycling coach. Allen’s plans have been proven over nearly 20 years of coaching cyclists at all levels -- from beginner to world class. And, in addition to the structured ride information for each plan, videos are included with tips from Allen for getting the most out of your cycling. iBike POWERHOUSE is a complete system, including: · A water/shock resistant case for the iPhone/iPod touch. · Patented electronics that perform all cycling measurements, including power. · An app that interacts with iBike’s electronics. · A wireless speed/cadence sensor. · Universal mounting system. · The ability to listen to music or take phone calls while cycling “The iBike POWERHOUSE is the only product that creates cycling plans customized to your fitness level and goals, and that automatically adjusts as you improve”, said John Hamann, CEO, Velocomp. “iBike POWERHOUSE is a must for anyone who owns a bike and who wants to achieve measurable improvement towards health and fitness goals.” Priced at $269 MSRP, iBike POWERHOUSE includes the case, electronics, POWERHOUSE app, speed/cadence sensor, iSlim Plan, and mounting system. Additional fitness plans are available in-app, priced at $9.99 each. iBike POWERHOUSE is fully compatible with all bicycle ANT+ HR sensors. For more information, see www.ibikesports.com. About Velocomp - First to Deliver Precision Measurement and Expert Guidance for Outstanding Sports Performance Velocomp, LLP is a sports technology company based in Boca Raton, Florida. The first in the bicycle industry to deliver advanced power measurement at a mainstream price, Velocomp is dedicated to product breakthroughs in the areas of performance, measurement, design, and value. Launched in June 2006, iBike® power meters are being enjoyed worldwide by cyclists of all levels. In 2010, Velocomp introduced the iBike Dash, the first complete bicycle system for the iPhone and iPod touch. For more information, see www.iBikeSports.com.

As anyone who has worked in central government will know, policymaking is rarely a neat process and seldom systematic. Politicians are elected – at least in part – on the basis of their manifesto pledges. That means that from the time they come into office the pressure is on them to deliver results and demonstrate real change. Their understandable desire to move fast and to be seen to implement their policies can be at odds with robust analysis and evidence-based decision-making. Civil servants have an important role to play in offering objective advice on the feasibility and risks of proposed policies but, ultimately, they too work within the constraints of a pressured policy environment. Ministers view advice from officials and political advisors as well as other factors such as the party position, public mood or media focus on a particular issue. With so many competing factors it is naive to assume that scientific evidence, where it even exists, trumps all else when the final decisions are made. That's why organisations like the Warwick University Policy Lab are so important. They do not need to be constrained in the same way. With no political affiliation or ideological agenda the lab can provide a strictly impartial and evidence-based perspective. This means that it will be able to do things that ministers and officials still struggle to do well, including the following. The evaluation of policy implementation Whitehall tends to be buffeted by events and the next thing on the political agenda, whether that is dealing with an unexpected emergency, planning for an upcoming announcement, preparing for PMQs, the budget or the annual Queen's speech. It's an environment that unfortunately leaves scant time for pausing to evaluate how well new initiatives are working or whether there might have been a better way to roll out a particular policy. I'd like to see the Warwick lab helping to fill that gap by focusing some of its efforts on the evaluation of existing policies so that we can learn from the past, build on successes and avoid repeat mistakes. Looking to the long term While the lab will want to produce research that is timely and relevant, one of the benefits of being positioned outside government will be the ability to work beyond electoral cycles. Perhaps the single biggest failure of our current system is its short-termism. New ministers, keen to make their mark, will often rush to reverse the policies of their predecessors or implement reforms of their own even where the evidence base may be weak. This can result in a frustrating and seemingly endless state of change for much of the public sector. The Warwick lab will have the luxury of time to focus on some important, strategic questions without being diverted by every media storm or popular issue that comes along. In due course I would expect to see the lab commissioning long-term research, using techniques such as randomised control trials or pilots; research that may require years to undertake but that should ultimately help politicians of the future address intractable social, economic or environmental challenges in a more informed manner. Providing a space for collaboration and engagement The government is often criticised for failing to consult effectively on new ideas and policies. Warwick already has an excellent reputation for collaboration through its work with business and industry, as well as its international academic partnerships and overseas programmes in Africa and India. It is used to operating at a global level and with people from a broad range of backgrounds. It will be better placed to facilitate conversations with experts and interest groups, whatever their allegiances might be. As a non-judgemental host, the lab should provide the ideal space in which all parties feel valued and welcome to contribute. Ensuring policy is informed by the latest academic research There can be a long lag between research and policy implementation. This was brought home to me recently at an excellent session that brought together heads of professions, like medicine and engineering, with practitioners. We were reminded that James Lind, a Scottish naval surgeon, conducted tests and found that citrus fruits would prevent scurvy. He published the results in 1753 but it was many decades before they were implemented. The growing importance attached to assessing progress by better measures, such as wellbeing rather than GDP, are likely to have profound effects on policy over the next decade and the WPL can ensure that the research and implementation gap in such areas is significantly reduced. The new policy lab is an exciting venture in what are unquestionably difficult times for public policymakers. As a Warwick alumnus, I will be pleased to help steer its progress over the coming months and I look forward to the contribution it will make to the policy agenda. Lord Gus O'Donnell is former cabinet secretary • Want your say? Email us at firstname.lastname@example.org. To get our articles on policy and leadership direct to your inbox, sign up to the Guardian Public Leaders Network now. • For the latest on public services leadership, follow us: @publicleaders

|The information in this article is about the 2006 Census and is for historical information only. | You can choose to be part of the Census 2006 Time CapsuleHow Australia might look in 99 years time is a matter for speculation. But the people of 2105 will certainly have an idea about how we lived in 2006. The lives of leaders and other newsworthy figures of our day will be recorded, but they are not the only ones who have a chance to be a part of history. In the Census, to be held on 8 August this year by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, all respondents have the option of having their Census information saved for posterity. This option is called the Census Time Capsule. If people answer yes to this option the personal information on their Census form will be microfilmed and kept securely for 99 years by the National Archives of Australia. In August 2105 this information will be publicly released. It will be available to historians and genealogists for study. It will also be available to your own descendants. It will provide an valuable insight into how we lived at the beginning of the 21st Century. This is the second Census in which Australians have had the option of saving their Census information in this way. The first was in 2001. In 2001, just over 50 per cent of people chose to have their information preserved. Before that an individual's Census information was destroyed after being processed into statistics. In contrast Britain has long preserved personal Census information. Britain has recently put its Census records online. Census records dating back to 1841 can be accessed. The 1841 British Census showed that Queen Victoria was at home in Buckingham Palace on Census night, 6 June 1841. Novelist Charles Dickens, 29 years old at the time, was also at home in London's Devonshire Terrace. Of course there are millions of people who never entered the limelight, but who are vitally important to their descendants. The people of today's Britain can look back on these Census records and find them. That opportunity will also be available in 2105 to the descendants of those Australians who chose to have their Census information preserved in 2006. Census information will only be retained for people who select yes to the option. Each individual in a household will have the choice of whether they want to have their information retained. After the information of those who chose yes is copied on to microfilm their Census forms will be destroyed. All Census forms are destroyed at the end of processing, and the ABS does not keep any copies of these forms. The first Australian Census Time Capsule - the 2001 Time Capsule project - came into being after the Federal Government accepted the recommendation from the Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs report, Saving Our Census and Preserving Our History,which called for the retention of personally-identified Census information. This report stated that saving this data "for future research, with appropriate safeguards, will make a valuable contribution to preserving Australia’s history for future generations". The 2001 Census also coincided with the Centenary of Federation, which helped focus minds on historical issues. The project was officially endorsed by the National Council for the Centenary of Federation and the Census Information Legislation Amendment Bill 2000 was passed by Federal Parliament in early March 2000 to make the necessary changes for the 2001 Census. Since then it has been decided that the Time Capsule option will be made a permanent feature of the Census. Parliament has passed the Census Information Legislation Amendment Bill 2005, to make the necessary changes to the 2006 Census and all future Censuses. The Act, like its predecessor, guarantees the privacy of the information, including from courts and tribunals. Question 60 on the household 2006 Census form (question 54 on the personal Census form) is where people can choose to become part of the Time Capsule project. The project is called the "Census Time Capsule" because research conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics indicated that the general public understood the concept of a time capsule to be information placed in an inaccessible place, and subsequently released at a predetermined time in the future. The Census Time Capsule is not a "capsule" as such but secure storage areas within the purpose built repositories of the National Archives. These special areas are accessible only to authorised National Archives staff. Information held in the 2001 Time Capsule will be publicly available from 7 August, 2100 and information in the 2006 Time Capsule will be publicly available from 8 August, 2105.

IT’S the Birmingham school where nine out of ten kids speak English as a second language. Yet language is no barrier to success at the Holte School in Lozells, which has been named one of Birmingham’s best schools after getting a glowing Ofsted report. The 1,150-pupil secondary school retained its ‘outstanding’ tag under tough new inspection rules after a visit by the Government watchdog two weeks ago. Nearly 90 per cent of pupils speak a different language as their mother tongue – compared to the national average of just 12 per cent.The vast majority of children hail from Bengali, Pakistani or Somali backgrounds and there are just eight white pupils at the school. Head teacher Pat Walters put the school’s success down to the hard work of staff, students, parents and governors. She said: “We have a fantastic community here and are so proud to be outstanding. Lozells does get a bad press, so an Ofsted report like this goes a long way. “We may be up there among some of the most deprived schools in the country, but our pupils love coming to school and value education.’’ She added: “The school has changed as Birmingham has changed. ‘‘Holte has been open for more than 40 years, then pupils came from mainly white and Afro-Caribbean backgrounds, whereas now it is Bengal, Pakistan and Somalia.” Government figures earlier this year showed that youngsters with English as their first language are now in the minority in more than a quarter of Birmingham schools. The majority of students at 117 of the city’s 430 schools listed a different language as their mother tongue. At Holte School, Urdu and Bengali are the most common languages spoken at home, and many Somali children also speak Dutch after living in Holland. Every single sixth form student from the school who applied for university last year was awarded a place. One of the biggest success stories is Bangladeshi-born sixth former and deputy head boy Boni Amin, who couldn’t speak any English when he joined the school in Year 8. The 17-year-old, from Lozells, sailed through his GCSEs and is hoping to become a PE teacher. “I’ve been here for 12 years and the change has been incredible,” said Mrs Walters. “Back then, GCSE results were just 14 per cent, but results have improved year on year, and we have to turn pupils away from our sixth form because we don’t have enough space.” The Holte School is following in the footsteps of Park View School in Alum Rock, which became the first school in the country to be judged ‘outstanding’ after the new inspection measures were introduced in January.

The banana company had a deal to acquire the Irish fruit company Fyffes and move its tax headquarters abroad. This leaves only one remaining bidder, a Brazillian partnership between a bank and an orange juice supplier. Your workout vs. your junk food! The Billy on the Street star took to Twitter on Sunday to call out the fast-food chain for its new commercials. Twitter, what were you thinking!?! But why you would want to is another matter entirely. The Treasury Department will “make a decision in the very near future” on adminstrative action to “to make these deals less economically appealing.” Updated: Fast food workers in Boston’s protest were also arrested. Thursday’s protests planned in 150 cities across the U.S. are part of the “Fight for $15” campaign. Daniel Schwartz, Burger King’s CEO, repeatedly said that tax savings from the deal were minimal and not a driver of the deal. But while that may be true today, the more the company grows overseas, the better deal it gets from being Canadian. Basically, never order the breakfast platter. The King is moving north. Burger King insists in the face of consumer ire that it isn’t a tax avoidance deal. The combined company would be the third-largest fast-food chain in the world. According to the fast food employees themselves. Inspired by this Reddit thread. Wait til you hear what other countries call “Cool Ranch” flavored Doritos. Katheryn Deprill put out her plea for help earlier this month, and after her page was shared thousands of times, she finally met the mother who left her in 1986. Subway’s definitely not the only one. Because you can still smell CK One and carry a torch for Pamela Anderson. Plus 32 GIFs for Kate Middleton’s 32nd birthday, the 10 all-time greatest quotes from The Rock, and four sex questions men should totally be asking their doctors. Burger King, la NSA et… Miley Cyrus. OK, to be fair, these weren’t ever as great as Happy Meal Toys, but every once in a while they hit it out of the park. A majority of families of front-line fast-food workers are enrolled in one or more public programs, compared to 25% of the workforce as a whole, a new study by the University of California-Berkeley and University of Illinois reveals. Y’all need to educate yourselves. He was 17 when he played Hot Guy With His Parents’ Car in this mega-cool Burger King commercial. These rankings DO NOT reflect taste, only overall “grossness,” OK? From ye olde days. As in, the year 2000.

|Course Details:||Introduction to Early Modern Social Theory Start 2013-09-01 End 2013-12-31 |$6,067 per half course (195 hours nominally) $12,134 per full course (390 hours nominally) Please note: Instructors who are employed in a 2-hour/week lecture, or the equivalent of a 2-hour/week lecture, are responsible for the first hour of seminar/lab in each course. |Duties and responsibilities will be in accordance with Article 22 of the Collective Agreement.| |1.PhD in Sociology or a related discipline with demonstrated university training in sociology of early modern social theory. Doctoral candidates in Sociology or a related discipline with graduate course work and comprehensive exams completed (ABD) in sociology of early modern social theory. 2.Specialization or prior teaching experience in sociology of early modern social theory 3.Demonstrated success in university teaching 4.Demonstrated research in sociology of early modern social theory In your cover letter, explain how you meet each of the four listed qualifications. |Applications will be accepted until 2013-05-16 Applications should include a cover letter, a current resume, a CUPE 4207 application form and your seniority date. Jill DeBon, Administrative Coordinator Department of Sociology 500 Glenridge Avenue St. Catharines, ON |If applicable, applicants are responsible for submitting their seniority date with their application. Applicants that don't include a seniority date will be assumed not to have one. All applications should be forwarded to the appropriate department. Do not submit your information to firstname.lastname@example.org Positions listed on this posting are subject to course enrolments and budgetary approval. As per Article 22.04 of the Collective Agreement: - Graduate Students enrolled at Brock University shall not accept an appointment in excess of an average of ten hours per week over an academic term, in which she is enrolled as a full time student, without the prior permission of the Dean of Graduate Studies. - Undergraduate Students enrolled at Brock University shall not accept more than nine Teaching Assistant appointments, or the equivalent of nine Teaching Assistant appointments in any classification, per term minus the number of courses in which that student is currently enrolled; - Part-time Graduate Students and Non-Students shall not accept any appointment which, taken together with all other appointments at the University, would cause the member to exceed the maximum number of regular hours - i.e. not overtime hours - allowable in a work week under the Employment Standards Act, as amended from time to time. Applicants that are in excess of the above noted workload limits will not have their applications considered unless they have received prior written approval from the appropriate Dean and the Human Resources Department. A Collective Agreement governs part-time Instructor, Teaching Assistant, Lab Demonstrator, Course Coordinator and Marker-Grader positions at Brock University. A hardcopy of the Agreement can be obtained from Human Resources or accessed on the Human Resources Web Site - brocku.ca/hr-ehs |*THIS POSTING HAS BEEN REVISED DUE TO A CHANGE IN THE SCHEDULED COURSE TIME* Sociology 3P00: Introduction to Early Modern Social Theory Central ideas of the social sciences, their intellectual origin and their change over time. The works of major social philosophers from the 18th and 19th centuries as well as classical sociological theorists. Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week. |For office use only: 2013-05-01 - #5556 - Revised - 2013-05-01|

? A resident on Ridgeton Annapolis Road was arrested in the 200 block of East Rensselaer Street on a warrant out of Crawford County and was released pending a court date. 8:45 p.m. ? A report was received of someone ringing doorbells and running in the area of Lynne Avenue. 3:59 a.m. ? A West Mary Street resident reported her vehicle entered overnight. A briefcase, glasses and CDs were reported missing. 7:50 a.m. ? A Dudley Street resident reported money taken from her checking account without her permission. Officers are investigating. 9:17 a.m. ? A disturbance in the 100 block of West Mansfield Street was investigated and was a landlord-tenant dispute regarding repairs needed in an apartment. 10:31 a.m. ? A disturbance in the 1500 block of Isaac Beal Road was investigated. 10:31 a.m. ? A report of a suspicious person in the 200 block of Norton Way was investigated. A male was found prowling among parked cars. No thefts were discovered. 10:59 a.m. ? An alarm drop in the 100 block of East Warren Street was investigated. 12:10 p.m. ? A fight was reported and investigated in the 200 block of East Warren Street. The subjects remaining in the area were calm and denied there was a problem. 1:20 p.m. ? A domestic dispute in the 1600 block of Colonial Drive was investigated and was found to be a civil issue between tenants who share an apartment. 1:30 p.m. ? A disturbance involving a juvenile in the 900 block of West Perry Street was investigated. 1:34 p.m. ? An alarm drop in the 200 block of East Mansfield Street was investigated. 2:20 p.m. ? A report of a suspicious vehicle in the 900 block of West Perry Street was investigated. 2:45 p.m. ? A juvenile complaint in the 800 block of Cleland Avenue was investigated. The call involved a female juvenile who was truant from school. 3:14 p.m. ? A report of a possible burglary in the 500 block of South Spring Street was investigated. 3:33 p.m. ? A Jones Street resident reported a generator and three batteries were stolen from his property. 5 p.m. ? Officers met with Walmart security personnel in reference to a possible shoplifting. 5:20 p.m. ? A welfare check in the 500 block of South Sandusky Avenue was completed. 5:46 p.m. ? An employee of Kroger reported her purse stolen from her locker. 6:27 p.m. ? An animal complaint involving dogs in the 500 block of South Sandusky Avenue was investigated. 7:09 p.m. ? An officer assisted with an unruly juvenile at a Waterford Glen residence. 7:36 p.m. ? A report of a trespasser in Family Dollar, 221 S. Lane St., was investigated. 8:14 p.m. ? A report of a possible suicidal male was received and investigated. He was located in Morrow County and was safe. 11:22 p.m. ? A false alarm was found at the Clark gas station on Marion Road. 5:56 a.m. ? A Cherry Street resident reported the residence broken into. No list of what was taken was reported. 2:44 p.m. ? A South Riblet Street resident reported the residence entered. 1:13 p.m.

"this is me on my motorcycle drive by, the cigarette ash flies in your eyes and you don't mind, you smile", I could cry and I wish I knew why, but I feel like I am alive, and I feel like nothing matters but you, and that is what gets me through, when I am blue, my worries disappear in your eyes and and the rest of the world dies when you touch me and I am free, when i cant see, but I just feel and it is real, without you I couldnt deal, I would fall down and my life would just be a sound that echoes round and round for no one to hear and that is what I fear, and sometimes I feel like I dont care but my feelings for you are always there and havent I been here before only last time I thought this time I would know more, but no matter how far up I go there is always something more that i should have known, sometimes I try to wear myself inside out but there is nothing there but I dont care, it may escape me but I know it is there...you are up, i am down. i am lost, you are found you can swim, i just . drown he met this girl. he likes her a lot. he pays a lot of attention to her. he takes her out to dinner, brings her flowers, and buys her gifts. every so often he looks at her and thinks "god, shes perfect, i dont ever want to lose her". he asks her to marry him. she says yes. he is happy. time passes. he thinks it is no longer important for him to show her how he feels about her. he thinks, she already knows i love her, i dont have to say it, and what is the point of buying her flowers. so instead he takes the money and buys himself a couple of drinks after work. then he goes home and beats her because he had a bad day. every so often he looks at her, bruised and crying in the corner, and thinks, "damn, i guess she likes the flowers better"... in the above, i am not at all trying to blame violence on alcohol....i dont care how drunk a person gets, they can still tell the difference between a person and a punching bag...i am also not saying that guys need to buy girls flowers, just think of the flowers as being symbolic... everything will be ok i dont want you anyways that is what i always say ill forget you someday im just in the way makes no difference what i say i dont care anymore if i couldThe signs to look for in a battering personality: 1 Jealousy, 2 Sudden emotional dependency/attachment, 3 Controling behavior, 4 Isolation, 5 Blames others for problems, 6 Breaking or striking of objects, 7 Blames others for feelings, 8 Any use of force during arguement, 9 Unrealistic expectations, 10 Verbal abuse, 11 Ridgid sex roles, 12 Past battering, 13 Threats of violence.examples: what he says.........................................................what he means 1 why do you always talk to other guys behind my back?................i am insecure 2 what do you mean we're going too quick, you dont like me?...........i am insecure 3 listen, i told you not to go anywhere tonight, dont you listen?.....i am insecure 4 i thought i told you not to go anywhere without me..................i am insecure 5 you keep distracting me, i cant do my job...........................i am never to blame 6 yeah i broke the vase, you made me angry............................i am never to blame 7 i cant help it, you made me mad.....................................i lack self control 8 you dont understand words? maybe you will will understand my fists..i lack self control 9 you dont spend enough time with me, quit seeing your friends .......i am selfish and insecure 10 you worthless piece of shit........................................i am a worthless piece of shit 11 women are inferior, stay home and cook.............................i am threatened by your success 12 yeah sure i hit her, she was a bitch, i wouldnt hit you............i will hit you 13 you're lucky i dont just break your god damn neck..................i will eventually break your neck 50% of all dating women have been in a physically abusive relationship. what can you dohi, my name is cocaine, i am your friend. take me inside you, i will make you feel good. jump off a building, you can fly. hi, my name is concrete, i am your friend. i can be kinda hard sometimes, but dont let that stop you. oh, you did?...well, someone had to stop you. nothing matters because there is nothing to gain life is a waste life is a drain no matter what story you write the ending is always the same i want to give, i want to take i want to love, i want to hate i want to live, i want to die i want to fall, i want to fly i want silience and i want to yell i want heaven and i want hell i want good, i want bad i want happy, i want sad i want it short and i want it tall cant you see? i want nothing and i want it all. i want light, i want dark i want to drive and i want to park but i cant find any parking places people should think of parking when they build cities oh damn, you made him cry. you should have told the truth but no, you had to lie. oh shit, you let him die. why did you knock him down when you could have taught him to fly? oh fuck, you've killed yourself. but it wasn't your fault he just couldn't be helped. but i do looks like i missed the sign looks like it isnt fair looks like i fell behind looks like i dont careHer name is Chelsea. I like her. We always get along. I feel so free and comfortable when im around her. She doesnt care about anything. But i know she likes me because she always wants to be near me. Sometimes she cries when i go away. Sometimes we go on walks. But she always wants to run. Shes playful. I like that. She is so pretty. Sometimes i just look into her eyes and i feel something...something i cant explain. Sometimes we just sit together. We dont say anything. We dont have to, we already know what the other is thinking. Its cool like that.......yeah, Chelsea is a great dog... when I make toast I use bread when I die I am dead when I get cut I see red I sleep in a bed push me punch me kick me kill me people have made it into the deep end of the pool

Rice made the rounds on Sunday for likely the last time as SoS and she reiterated the WH's final talking point about Iraq and how everyone just wished they had had better intel before launching America's unprecedented pre-emptive invasion. As we noted last week, Bush, Rove and Kristol have each echoed that point recently. The media's reaction to the blatant falsehood what somehow it was unknowable in 2003 that Iraq didn't have WMD's? The press has done almost nothing. We suggested the press might be sleep-walking this story because it just brings back bad memories about how it so eagerly signed off on the bogus rationale for war. Meanwhile, Rice's series of Sunday interviews simply confirmed that the unspoken rule among Beltway elites is that nobody, and we mean nobody, is supposed to ask Rice truly uncomfortable questions about a war she helped engineer. It literally is a game. The TV hosts ask innocuous questions about Iraq. Rice responds with misleading information knowing full well that her host is never going to call her on it. And then the two dance onto another topic. And by the way, Rice also appeared on CNN's Late Edition, but host Wolf Blitzer didn't even bother to ask the out-going SoS about Iraq. Talk about a gracious host. For the Sunday low point, we'd have to point to this answer Rice gave to Wallace on Fox News about the intel [emphasis added]: The fact is, at the time, we believed that they were - that Saddam Hussein had reconstituted this biological and chemical weapons program and was likely making progress on his nuclear program. And that was the assessment of the intelligence community. Now, we have reformed the way that information gets to principals. And if I had it to do over again, yes, I'd have the system in place that we have now, not the system that we had then. But this system of alternative views that are put forward in a more - a crisper and clearer way is important to understanding intelligence...And so while it's fine to go back and say what might we have done differently, the truth of the matter is we don't have that luxury. And we didn't at the time. See, it was the system's fault. Principals in the WH weren't getting the right intel about Iraq. But fear not, the system has been fixed. Slight problem with Rice's fictionalization of history, and slight problem with Chris Wallace's playing dumb about Rice's answer: The intel system in place for the run-up to Iraq was specifically created by Donald Rumsfeld, and supported by VP Dick Cheney, in order to cherry pick information to make sure principals inside the WH were mislead. Or at least could later claim to have been misled. A topic worthy of debate, right? But that's not a question Rice is going to have answer on TV.

Do you ever hear about those people for whom receiving something of a household persuasion under the Christmas Tree would be grounds for divorce? I'm not one of them. Kitchen gadgetry? Bring it on. A new recipe book? Itching to test it out. In fact, I derive as much pleasure outside of the kitchen from my cookbook collection (in all its colour coded glory). I have a special bookcase devoted to my recipe books. Some are old workhorses - an original Delia Smith's Cookery Course in three volumes - still my go to choice for the measurements for yorkshire puddings or custard. I own multiple titles from my favourite cookery writers - Nigel and Nigella - national treasures both, for their ways with the words they write as much as for the recipes they suggest. There's not physical space for too many more. But I cannot help acquiring them. So it should be no surprise at all that when the nice folk at WHSmith asoked if they could send over a book for me to take a look at, that I found myself happy to oblige. And they chose for me a great volume - River Cottage everyday. I'm showing you the back cover, not as much for the beetroot salad, as much as for those little line drawings added onto the plate. The whole book is full of them - like doodles in the margin. Which appeals to me hugely, as I am always scribbling in my cookbooks. Jotting down tweaks to a recipe, or the date I first tried it, or who I've fed it to if it is more of a special occasion dish. Making suggestions to myself for a good accompaniment the next time I cook it. This, for me, is why an internet search for a recipe will never completely replace owning a volume and why my bookshelves will continue to groan under the weight of yet another book full of things which have been sampled, or ones I long to try. Which in the case of River Cottage everyday includes Tupperware Mexican chorizo, Honey Wholemeal cake and Egg tartare. Not all at the same sitting, I hasten to add. Parcels shaped like books are always a welcome addition under the tree. Luckily for me, hubby views them as the gift which gives twice - the pleasure of reading for me and the obvious benefits to them as resident taste testers. But Santa, a bookshelf extension wouldn't go amiss either. What is your cookbook crush of the moment? Just in case the big red guy needs a little steer.

Are you sick and tired of the old time hair styling routine? Then book for a cool makeover at your favorite hair salon and ask for the luxe layered hair styles 2011 which encourage you to adopt more versatile and on trend looks. Choose layering as the best remedy to turn your boring tresses into glamorous accessories for the next year. Get into action and sport some of the key styles of the season without having to sacrifice the length of your locks. The luxe layered hair styles 2011 will make you the talk of the town turning both long, medium as well as short crops into real style fantasies. Define the measure as well as the style of the graduation and make sure you feel confident in your skin when showing off your brand new statement accessory. Find out how hair stylists are able to perk up your plain appearance in an instant and drop a glimpse at the looks below to have the proper drive and make the big change. Take hair styling to the next level and appeal to the high quality formulas that visibly ease and improve hair sculpting. Barely there layers are perfect to furnish your face shape with the ideal frame. Some might think of embracing a similar do which would definitely cheer up the worn-out and flat locks. Stick to the front and top section if your aim is to enhance your do with volume. On the other hand, you can also enjoy the pleasure of adding movement to your locks. This can be best achieved with the thinned out tresses that would spare the roots from the burden of thick layers of hair. Indeed, graduation has endless benefits, therefore adapt it to your preferences and to your hair type and learn how to juggle with the proportions to create the do you're lusting for. Your Bob hairstyles as well as your blunt cuts will crave for a modern flair, therefore make sure you give your tresses what they need to make you proud. Long luscious locks are also perfect to popularize the stylish layered hair styles. Skimming through the various designs will offer you the chance to explore the versatility as well as the cutting edge effect of tapering. Hair stylists advise you to cheer up your long hair with these accessories which have also a revitalizing effect. Update your 'do with uneven steps placed either to the front sections and the bangs in order to make the look even more flattering for your face shape and more prominent. You can however stick to the lower layers also to get rid of split ends as well as the bulk that might weigh down your do. Take advantage of the volume boost this offers to your hair style and make sure you keep the layers in their best shape by regular touch-ups.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved SBi’s Scandinavian Total Ankle Replacement (STAR™ Ankle) system to treat U.S. patients. It is a safe, proven alternative to failed conservative treatment. It is the only three piece mobile bearing non constrained, uncemented total ankle replacement (to receive pre-market approval to replace a painful arthritic ankle joint due to post traumatic arthritis or rheumatoid arthritis). The instructions for use and patient labeling issued by the FDA indicates the STAR™ Ankle patients had superior effectiveness compared to ankle fusion and had comparable safety results to ankle fusion in the clinical trial. A U.S. Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) Clinical Trial of STAR™ Ankle was initiated in August, 2000 as a prospective, multi-center controlled pivotal study to compare the safety and efficacy of STAR™ Ankle to ankle fusion (the current standard of care). More than 670 patients were enrolled in the pivotal and continued access phases of the IDE clinical trials. The instructions for use and patient labeling issued by the FDA indicates that the STAR™ patients had superior effectiveness compared to ankle fusion and had comparable safety results to ankle fusion in the clinical trial. The STAR™ Ankle has more than 19 years of clinical experience and the current design has been implanted in over 15,200 patients worldwide. Additionally, there have been 35 peer-reviewed clinical outcome papers published on the STAR™ Ankle. SBi believes that this number of papers is more than any other mobile-bearing total ankle arthroplasty device. Currently, there are a few 510(k) ankle replacement devices cleared for U.S. marketing as an alternative to fusion. All of these ankle replacements are fixed-bearing devices that limit motion and are indicated for use with bone cement. STAR™ is the only FDA-approved total ankle replacement system for uncemented use, which allows for better bone in-growth, stabilization and bone preservation. The SBi STAR™ Ankle prosthesis consists of three components: 1. A tibial component with a highly polished flat articulation surface and two cylindrical fixation bars on the proximal side of tibia to anchor the implant in the subchondral bone of the tibia. Five sizes are available. 2. A talar component, also available in five different sizes for right and left. A ridge running anteroposteriorly in the middle of the gliding surface guides the ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) mobile bearing sliding core. 3. The mobile bearing is an UHMWPE sliding core, the flat surface of which articulates with the tibial component while the concave shaped underside articulates with the convex shaped talar component. The anteroposterior articulation is guided by the longitudinal ridge on the talar component and the matching longitudinal groove in the underside of the mobile bearing sliding core. Mobile bearing sliding cores are available in five heights: 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 mm. A porous plasma spray is applied to the STAR™ Ankle. The instrument set for implantation of the prosthesis consists of drill and saw guides, trial prostheses, and auxiliary instruments that allow precise, reproducible bone resection. The minimal resection required by the STAR™ Ankle prosthesis means that excessive bone loss is avoided. Precise Guidance Technology (PGT™) allows surgeons to perform total ankle arthroplasty with consistent and predictable outcomes. The PGT™ instrumentation provides a complete solution for total ankle arthroplasty. Moderate to severe pain or loss of mobility/function due to: - Post traumatic arthritis - Primary ankle arthritis - Rheumatoid arthritis Painful ankles and ankles with degenerative conditions but with sufficient stability are also indications for use of the STAR™ Ankle prosthesis. Please e-mail email@example.com for those interested in receiving information about the STAR™ Ankle as patients or surgeons interested in training. MKT 16080 Rev. A

The Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALS) documents significant historic landscapes of the United States and its territories, which can range from gardens and cemeteries to neighborhoods and parks. Using historic ground and aerial photos, land surveys, plats, property records, and oral histories, HALS captures and records the cultural history of a place, the story of people who occupied the landscape, their customs, their landmarks, social traditions, and how the landscape evolved over time. The National Park Service submits completed HALS projects to the Library of Congress, where they become a permanent record of our nation and are accessible to the public. The Florida Chapter of ASLA established a HALS program in 2007 and has submitted documentation on eight state sites to the Library of Congress so far. Measured and interpretive drawings, photographs, and written histories may be viewed on the Library of Congress website. HALS FL-01 is Barrancas National Cemetery at the U.S. Naval Air Station, 80 Hovey Road, Pensacola in Escambia County. Many Union and Confederate dead are interred there, and HALS large format photographs were produced by the National Park Service. Some of these photos are stunningly beautiful. Other HALS sites in Florida whose documentation can be found on the Library of Congress’ website include: - HALS FL-3: Saint Augustine National Cemetery - HALS FL-4: Fennell’s Orchid Jungle - HALS FL-5: University of Florida Campus, Plaza of the Americas - HALS FL-6: Cummer Museum Gardens - HALS FL-7: Lake Eola Park - HALS FL-8: Fort Clinch State Park The Smokey Hollow Community Historic American Landscapes Survey is the first large-scale project in Florida to be documented. Computer drawn maps, large format photography, and a book-size historical narrative about Smokey Hollow are heading to the Library of Congress. Blueprint 2000, the Tallahassee-Leon County agency building the thirty-million dollar Cascades Park, commissioned this Historic American Landscapes Survey of Smokey Hollow. The Smokey Hollow Community HALS, directed by Florida HALS Chapter Liaison David Driapsa, ASLA, documents an African-American community formed through institutionalized racial segregation. After the emancipation, African Americans moving to Tallahassee were “compelled” to live in segregated communities, such as Smokey Hollow, located in areas described as the “city’s dumping grounds.” Many lived in sub-standard rental properties. Others raised capital, bought land, and built modest homes. Prosperous individuals built large homes around the perimeter and a few occupied farms. The community offered churches, grocery stores and juke joints, as well as laundries, auto-repair, barber and beauty shops. Driapsa employed ethnographic methods of primary and secondary data collection and analysis, fieldwork, and informal and semi-structured interviewing to record the Smokey Hollow Community cultural landscape in measured and interpretive drawings. The most valuable source of documentation was the memories of the people who lived there, reflecting back sixty years to their childhood. Aerial photography from the years 1938, 1941, 1957, 1960, and 1972 provided primary information about the historic landscape, particularly a 1957 photo, which was of a high and clear resolution, and the Rosetta Stone for data capture, enhancing the interpretation of earlier lower resolution and grainy aerials. Secondary sources included scanned surveys, plat maps, and similar geographic data. In the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, state policies of urban renewal resulted in the construction of new office buildings and parking lots that “swallowed up” Smokey Hollow, forcing the residents to vacate their community. The community once encompassed roughly 85 acres and hundreds of residents. Today, approximately fifteen acres, a dozen historic houses (some vacant), and three structures from the original community remain. The Smokey Hollow Community HALS documentation includes large format photography by William “Bill” Lutrick, ASLA, and a written history by Dr. Jennifer Koslow and Dr. Anthony Dixon. These materials will be available on the Library of Congress website in the near future. For more on HALS, visit ASLA’s HALS webpage. The Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALS) was established in 2000 as part of the National Park Service’s Heritage Documentation Programs, along with the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS, established in 1933) and the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER, established in 1969). - The National Park Service administers the planning and operation of HALS which includes: selecting and approving landscapes for documentation, standardizing formats and developing guidelines for recording landscapes, catalogs, and/or publishing the information when appropriate. - The Library of Congress accepts and preserves HALS documents, furnishes reproductions of material, and makes records available to NPS. - The ASLA Historic Preservation Professional Practice Network (HP-PPN) provides advice on identifying, selecting, and documenting historical landscapes. The HP-PPN’s HALS Subcommittee, through its HALS Chapter Liaisons, oversees the nationwide identification of historic landscapes that merit HALS documentation. Beginning in 2014, each ASLA chapter is required to include HALS activities and liaisons in its annual report. by David Driapsa, ASLA, PLA, Historical Landscape Architect

©Colette Lewis 2006 Half of Saturday's quarterfinalists will wear either Illinois orange or Georgia red at the ITA All-American Championships at the University of Tulsa. Top seed and defending champion John Isner will face a no. 9 seed Kevin Anderson of Illinois after each crafted straight-set victories on a sun-splashed Friday morning. Isner, at 6-foot-9 more than a foot taller than his opponent, UCLA qualifier Chris Surapol, came back from a break down in the second set to win 6-2, 7-6 (11). It took Isner six match points in the tiebreak to finally subdue Surapol, and predictably, it was an ace that did the trick. Anderson, only three inches shorter than Isner, handled unseeded Adam Holmstrom of Denver 6-4, 6-2, to set up a battle of big men with big serves. The other pairing in the top half of the draw will see no. 4 seed Somdev Devvarman of Virginia take on unseeded Luke Shields of Boise State. Shields eliminated Matic Omerzel of Georgia, who was also unseeded, 6-3, 6-3, earning his third consecutive straight set victory. Devvarman, a 2006 NCAA finalist, needed three hours and a tournament referee's ruling to overcome Florida's Greg Ouellette 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-3. In the third set, with Ouellette serving at 3-4 deuce, Ouellette cracked his racquet in frustration over losing the point. Although Ouellette convinced the chair umpire that he had barely tapped it and didn't deserve a code violation, Tony Bresky, Virginia's assistant coach, requested a tournament referee, who ruled that breaking a racquet is not subject to interpretation, and awarded a point penalty, and therefore the game, to Devvarman. Serving for the match, Devvarman went up 40-15, let one match point get away on an overhead error, but converted his second, when Ouellette barely missed a passing shot. At the conclusion of that point, Ouellette heaved his racquet over the fence and outside the stadium, yelling "now that's a #% (obscenity deleted) point penalty." Devvarman's teammate and doubles partner Treat Huey also played a long three setter, but couldn't finish off Luis Flores of Georgia, a nine seed, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (4), 6-3. Flores will face Clemson's Clement Reix, also a nine seed, who took his first straight set win of the tournament, downing qualifier Jakob Klaeson of Mississippi 6-3, 6-4. The fourth quarterfinal will feature hometown favorite Arnau Brugues of the University of Tulsa, the fifth seed, who won the last eleven games in his victory over qualifier Ivan Puchkarov of Oklahoma State. Across the net from Brugues will be Illinois' Ryan Rowe, ranked so low coming into the tournament that he was one of the last players to get in to the main draw without qualifying. Rowe scored the day's only upset when he took out Bryan Koniecko of Ohio State, a nine seed, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3. The doubles will be down to the semifinals by the end of play on Friday. I'll update that action later on Friday. Friday, October 6, 2006 ©Colette Lewis 2006

How is the Australian Unknown Soldier significant? What makes him significant? The Unknown Soldier represents a part of Australia’s history and also represents the ANZAC soldiers that fought in World War One. He holds all the values and qualities that the ANZACs were said to evident in their everyday... TOMB OF THE UNKNOW SOLDIER November 7, 2011 1. The Unknown Soldier fought in World War I. The burial place of the unknown soldier was in France, near the battle at Vimy Ridge, marked by a tombstone that read “Known unto God”. The remains of an unidentified soldier were returned to... Unknown Australian Soldier Speech Analysis: The purpose of Prime Minister Paul Keating’s speech ‘Funeral Service of an Unknown Australian Soldier’ was to affirm Australia’s culture and values through reflection on the symbolic power of the sacrifice of the Unknown Australian soldier in World... The tomb of the unknown soldier is located in Arlington National cemetery Arlington , Virginia Is the burial place of a soldier that’s remains are unidentifiable .the tombs of the unknown soldiers are located on a hill overlooking Washington, D.C, On March 4, 1921, Congress approved the burial of... Techniques |Reception | | “Funeral Service of the Unknown Australian Soldier” |Primary purpose to commemorate & reflect on the selfless sacrifice made by the thousands of unknown Australian soldiers who had been killed in war • Keating doesn’t look to glorify... across the Potomac River sit 624 acres of honor, pride, and glory. After the Civil War the casualty rate was high with no place to bury the deceased soldiers. President Lincoln paid for a clear title on the Lee estate gaining roughly 200 acres for a military cemetery. At the rate the cemetery was going... using women and children as leverage against Confederate soldiers and inhumane treatment of family members. At the opening of every chapter in her book Enemy Women, Jiles uses several primary sources such as journal entries written by soldiers in prison camps, letters and other correspondence written... Tomb of the Unknowns The Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery is a monument dedicated to American soldiers who have given their life in battle, only to be unidentifiable. Many people recognize the name, “Tomb of the Unknown Soldier”, but that is not the official name. It as a tool of... In Anwar Sadat’s speech to the Israeli Knesset and Paul Keating’s ‘Funeral Service of the Unknown Soldier’ speech, what is demonstrated through their beliefs and ideas is that in a world at war, the fight for peace is a war within itself and rather than missiles and nuclear weapons, this wars weapons... the Unknown Soldier The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier sits near the center of Arlington National Cemetery and is the final resting place for unidentified soldiers from wars fought by the United States. It has a lot of history, and significance to the country. The idea of a tomb for unknown soldiers... the funeral of the Unknown Soldier carefully utilises rhetoric technique to persuade the greater part of Australia to reflect on the great sacrifice made by those who served our nation. The epideictic format and inclusive language engages the audience, whilst anonymity of the unknown solider establishes... and went back into the city. Seeing this some soldiers sympathized with the civilians while others let them pass, although this eventually was found out and corrected. Lin who was the commander of the Red Army for the city blockade also noted how some soldiers would beat up and abuse the refugees and to... are able to transcend time, echoing context and values. Former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating’s speech, ‘Funeral Service for an Unknown Australian Soldier’, Margaret Atwood’s ‘Spotty Handed Villainesses’ and Faith Bandler’s ‘Faith, Hope and Reconciliation’ each present particular ideas and values... India Gate is constructed as a memorial and was built in the memory of 90,000 soldiers who laid down their lives during World War I the Afghan Wars .The India Gate today also houses the Indian Army's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the Amar Jawan Jyoti. It is today one of the most famous monuments in Delhi... of Australian national identity through the values he embodies in the Unknown Soldier. Even as Keating honours the Unknown Soldier’s individual sacrifice, he also redeploys him as a representative figure. Not only does the Soldier represent the thousands that have gone to war for Australia, he also represents... interesting features (World Book; Vol.1; pgs.716-717). Some of the features consist of: the National cemetery, the Arlington House, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers, and the Changing of the Guards. The National cemetery covers six hundred and twelve acres for the burial of many honorable people (Kane, Robert... values and attitudes of their time period. In 1914, during WWI, Owen shows what life for soldiers was like in “Dulce et decorum est." The imagery he uses in “men marched asleep" creates the image of soldiers that have no rest at all, causing the reader to feel sympathy for them. The oxymoron of “marched”... horror of war is evident in Generals die in Bed. Discuss. It is said that war can totally change a man. What things might a soldier experience in war? What things would a soldier experience to totally change him? In Harrison’s novel Generals Die in Bed, the horror of war is a basic theme and has been... to honour the dead and are shortly forgotten after their unknown death. In war, instead of honouring those who have fallen, more are being killed by the same weapons. Owen describes the harsh scene which is faced by our young brave soldiers on the battlefield. The quote “die as cattle” shows the reality... the speech runs over images of Keating. A eulogy delivered by the Prime Minister, The Hon. P. J. Keating MP, at the funeral service of the Unknown Australian Soldier, 11 November 1993 grows with each passing year, particularly as the last Australians who served in World War I have passed. Funeral Service of the Unknown Australian Soldier Context and Purpose * Armistice Day- November 11th- internationally celebrated by allied countries that fought in WW1 * An appropriate date in 1993, for the entombment of the Unknown Soldier in the Australian... millions of deaths such as soldiers and civilians. The countries that had more deaths in the war were Germany with approximately 1,773,700 then Russia with approximately 1,700,000 deaths and France with approximately 1,357,800 deaths soldiers. The U.S. send about 4,355,000 soldiers and approximately 120,000... tricks a valiant army general into believing his wife is unfaithful in William Shakespeare’s Othello, and as he places husband against wife and soldier against soldier, a web of misconceptions blur the distinction between appearance and reality as the characters are not what they appear to be. Soldiers of the Tomb of the Unknown General Purpose: To inform Specific Purpose: To inform my audience about the soldiers who guard the Tomb of the Unknown Central Idea: Since 1937, the Tomb of the Unknown has been guarded 24/7 by an elite group of soldiers. Honors Literature 12 All Quiet on the Western Front May 22nd, 2013 A Soldier, A Beast The individuals, landscape, and atmosphere that a member of society is surrounded by has an extraordinary effect on the attitude, personality, and outlook that member experiences throughout their lifetime. As that... the American Civil War to illustrate both the Union and the Confederacy sides. It gives you the understanding of the effects of war on not only the soldiers but their families also. This book demonstrates a first hand look on the pain and struggles faced during this The Killer Angels rejects... Carried, by Tim O’ Brien, the author tells of several short stories that portray the horrors of war and how they can affect soldiers. These horrors have an adverse impact on the soldiers, and as a result of this, they are led to many dishonorable actions, such as Rat Kiley’s self-inflicted pain, Norman Bowker’s... THE UNKNOWN CITIZEN BY W. H. AUDEN PENGKAJIAN TEKS SASTRA INGGRIS Fakultas Ilmu Pengetahuan Budaya - Universitas Indonesia Kampus Baru UI, Depok The Unknown Citizen By W. H. Auden (To JS/07 M 378 This Marble Monument Is Erected by the State) Paul Keating- Unknown Soldier Paul Keating’s eulogy in the Funeral Service of the Unknown Soldier aimed to commemorate all those who died in war for Australia through the symbolic Unknown soldier and examines what Australia has lost and gained in war. Keating utilises anaphora in the first paragraph... called no mans land. Many of the German soldiers were young men, vibrant and full of vigor, ready to defend their country but not ready to endure the brutal and inhumane aspects of war. To me, the gas masks served dual purposes; they protected the young soldiers from the poisonous gas they unleashed on...

Witness Testimony of John D. Daigh, Jr., M.D., Assistant Inspector General for Healthcare Inspections, Office of Inspector General, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, thank you for this opportunity to testify on aspects of patient safety that are critical to the delivery of quality medical care to veterans. My statement and comments are based on reports by the Office of Inspector General (OIG). While the subject of this hearing is on substantive performance gaps where the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) needs to improve, I want to clearly state that from the body of work conducted by the OIG’s Office of Healthcare Inspections, it is clear that VA provides veterans with high quality medical care that has the support of veterans and employees as measured by satisfaction surveys and is rated with the best health care plans in the country. That being said, VA has had several high profile and highly publicized incidents that naturally would shake the faith of those who receive care from VA. Some of the incidents were the result of improper reprocessing of complex medical equipment and others were the result of leadership failing to act when presented information of serious breaches of infection control protocols. REUSABLE MEDICAL EQUIPMENT The reprocessing of reusable medical equipment (RME) is categorized based on the associated risk of and the level of cleaning required to prevent infection. Devices that enter normally sterile tissue, including joints and the vascular system, require sterilization to eliminate all forms of microbial life. Other devices, including many endoscopes, examine intact mucous membranes and do not ordinarily penetrate sterile tissue. For these devices, which are often constructed of materials and mechanisms that are unable to withstand exposure to the high temperatures or chemicals required for sterilization, high-level disinfection (HLD) is appropriate. HLD eradicates all micro-organisms “except for small numbers of bacterial spores.” OIG Reports on RME Healthcare Inspection – Use and Reprocessing of Flexible Fiberoptic Endoscopes at VA Medical Facilities (June 16, 2009) and Healthcare Inspection – Follow-Up Colonoscope Reprocessing at VA Medical Facilities, September 17, 2009) In June 2009, we reported on difficulties in reprocessing colonoscopes at the Miami, Florida, VA Medical Center (VAMC) and the Murfreesboro, Tennessee, VAMC, which led to the notification of 2,531 veterans at Miami and 6,805 veterans at Murfreesboro that they were at risk of developing the blood borne infections of hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and HIV. The same report details defects in reprocessing ear-nose-throat endoscopes that resulted in 1,069 Augusta, Georgia, veterans being notified of their risk of contracting blood borne viral illnesses. The report includes the results from an unannounced inspection of VA medical centers that found more than half did not have appropriate standard operating procedures (SOPs) and documented evidence of employee training for the colonoscopes in use at the medical center. In a follow up inspection of 129 VA medical centers that reprocessed colonoscopes, we found that all had the appropriate SOPs for reprocessing colonoscopes and one did not have adequate documentation of employee training to reprocess the scopes Healthcare Inspections – Patient Safety Issues VA Caribbean Healthcare System San Juan, Puerto Rico Report (March 16, 2010) The OIG received allegations regarding quality of care and patient safety related to the RME reprocessing at the VA Caribbean Healthcare System (the system) in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The complainant provided more than 137 pieces of evidence to support their allegations. In our March 2010 report, we substantiated multiple allegations: - For approximately 2 years, endovaginal transducers at the Mayaguez Outpatient Clinic were not submitted to high-level disinfection as required after each patient procedure. - Leak testing was not performed on colonoscopes in the Operating Room for at least 9 months, leak testing was not performed on laryngoscopes inRadiotherapy and at the Ponce OPC for 9 months and 3 years respectively. - Pre-cleaning was improperly performed on the laryngoscopes in Radiotherapy. - One of the laryngoscopes had a leak while it was in service during this time. - The system inaccurately certified compliance with RME reprocessing procedures and training on three occasions. - Senior system leadership and responsible managers were aware of these issues but took no action to assess the risk to patients. As a result of our review, issue briefs (IB) on each area were discussed on pre-Clinical Risk Assessment Advisory Board (CRAAB) conference calls. Based on information provided by the system, the risk to patients was determined to be negligible. An Administrative Investigation Board (AIB) was completed after our visit to address management responsiveness. We recommended that the Veteran Integrated Service Network (VISN) Director follow up on all recommendations from the AIB and take appropriate administrative action. Healthcare Inspection – Alleged Endoscope Reprocessing Issues St. Louis VA Medical Center St. Louis, Missouri (April 21, 2010) This review was conducted to determine the validity of allegations regarding ongoing issues in the Supply, Processing, and Distribution (SPD) department related to endoscope reprocessing and communication at the St. Louis VA Medical Center, St. Louis, Missouri. - Endoscope reprocessing issues have been ongoing. We reviewed documentation related to three contaminated gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopes, which were identified prior to patient use. We also reviewed documents notifying managers that damage and repairs to endoscopes had increased. We requested the 2009 repair log and associated costs from SPD and found that a majority of the scopes that were damaged or needed repair belonged to the GI service. - Breakdowns in communication of adverse events and outcomes existed. We found minimal documentation as well as communication failures for two of the three adverse event reports (AER) reviewed. In addition, we conducted an unannounced inspection of the SPD area. We identified several items related to reusable medical equipment reprocessing and staff safety that needed improvement as required by Veteran Health Administration (VHA) policies. We recommended that the AER reporting process is clearly defined, timely, and well-documented and that implemented action plans are monitored for compliance to eliminate ongoing endoscope damage and reprocessing issues. We also recommended that SPD meet VHA policy and is monitored for compliance. The VISN and Medical Center Directors agreed with the findings and recommendations. We closed this report on February 17, 2011. Healthcare Inspection – Reprocessing of Dental Instruments, John Cochran Division of the St. Louis VA Medical Center, St. Louis, Missouri (March 7, 2011) The purpose of this review was to determine the sequence of events involving alleged improperly cleaned and sterilized dental RME; errors in reprocessing or sterilization; actions taken to correct deficiencies; and decisions related to patient notification of breaches in dental equipment reprocessing or sterilization. The dental RME reprocessing issues at the John Cochran Division (JCD) were a long-standing problem that went unrecognized and unaddressed by VISN and VAMC managers. VHA self-identified the deficiencies and took actions to correct them; however, those actions did not always resolve the issues. Responsible managers did not verify the adequacy of RME reprocessing practices, nor did they assure that corrective actions were consistently implemented in response to VHA guidance and the Infectious Disease Program Office (IDPO) report. As a result, SOPs were not developed in a timely manner for the reprocessing of dental RME, SOPs did not always match manufacturers’ instructions, and Dental Clinic staff had not received training on dental RME pre-treatment or reprocessing. We concluded that the occurrence of a patient-to-patient transmission of a blood-borne infectious disease at the JCD was unlikely. Nevertheless, the Clinical Risk Board adhered to the process outlined in VHA Directive 2008-002, Disclosure of Adverse Events to Patients (January 18, 2008), when it recommended disclosure to 1,812 patients potentially affected by breaches in the cleaning and sterilization processes. We concluded that the VAMC promptly set-up and staffed its Dental Review Clinic, made appropriate efforts to contact identified patients, and provided adequate support and follow-up to patients. We recommended that the VISN Director require the VAMC Director to monitor the facility’s compliance with all appropriate elements of RME reprocessing, SOPs, staff training, and staff competencies as defined in relevant VHA guidance; ensure that the VISN SPD Management Board provides monitoring to ensure that SOPs based on manufacturer’s instructions are in place and that staff training and competencies are current; and take appropriate administrative actions based on the findings of the Administrative Board of Investigation and IDPO report. The VISN and Medical Center Directors agreed with the findings and recommendations Combined Assessment Program Review Results Despite the fact that VA leadership issued clear guidance to facilities on standards for reprocessing RME and that Congress held hearings on reprocessing failures at these sites, the OIG continues to find non-compliance with VA directives. Because of the persistence of deviations from expected performance by staff at VA facilities, a review of RME reprocessing practices was included in the OIG’s Combined Assessment Program (CAP) reviews from January 1, 2010, through September 30, 2010. Facility results were reported at the time of the inspection and rolled up to present a representative view of the system. We found that 87 percent of the reprocessing SOPs were consistent with manufacturers’ instructions and 92 percent were located within the reprocessing areas. In our observations of employees reprocessing equipment, the SOPs were followed 87 percent of the time. Documented annual training was found for 82 percent of the employees and item specific competencies were documented 87 percent of the time. Proper protective equipment was worn by employees 89 percent of the time. VA requires that RME activities (e.g. validation of staff competency, compliance with established SOPs, results of infection prevention and control monitoring, and risk management activities) be reported to the Executive Committee of the Medical Staff (ECMS). Of the 45 facilities inspected in this CAP cycle, 37 (82 percent) had documented ECMS discussion of all required elements. Compliance with these standards at the 82 percent to 92 percent level is not sufficient to ensure proper patient safety. A zero defects culture is essential at all VA medical facilities to ensure patient safety and promote patient confidence. Employees and managers must establish a climate of trust to ensure that RME is only presented for patient use when it is in the appropriate condition. Reprocessing high technology equipment and endoscopes can be complex. The methods available to report that proper reprocessing has occurred are not as clear as those used to indicate proper sterilization has occurred. Users of devices that require reprocessing must work with regulators and manufacturers to produce equipment that reduces the likelihood of reprocessing errors. VA must consider a variety of novel strategies from the method of procurement to the support of applicable basic scientific research in its quest to insure providers have equipment in the proper condition when patient care is delivered. VA’s Disclosure of Adverse Events policy was one of the Nation’s earliest efforts to systematically address the issue. A recent article in the medical literature, The Disclosure Dilemma — Large-Scale Adverse Events, highlights some of the issues faced by institutions as they struggle to deal with the application of the limits of science and proper public policy. I believe it is time to have a national body advise VA on potential changes to this policy in light of the broad national experience with these complex issues. Leadership failures may endanger patients’ lives. There have been two recent occasions when facility staff deviated from RME reprocessing standards resulting in VA CRAAB reviews. Failure to comply with accepted infection control policies in the Dayton, Ohio, VAMC Dental Clinic resulted in the notification to 535 veterans that dental care may have put them at risk of acquiring blood borne viral infections. In our recent report on the Dayton VAMC Dental Clinic, we concluded that the subject dentist did not adhere to established infection control guidelines and policies, and multiple dental clinic staff had direct knowledge of these repeated infractions. These violations of infection control policies placed patients at risk of acquiring infections including those that are blood borne. In our report on the VA Caribbean Healthcare System RME issues, we substantiated multiple allegations including that senior system leadership and responsible managers were aware of these issues but took no action to assess the risk to patients. In these instances, VA local leaders did not perform to the expected standard and placed veterans’ health at risk. It is imperative that leaders take the appropriate actions to ensure compliance with policies designed to ensure patients are not placed at risk of preventable disease in the normal course of the delivery of patient care. Just as physicians have access to senior facility leaders via clinical department leaders and nurses have access through the Chief Nurse, VA clinical leaders should strive to receive unfiltered information from the many technicians who are critical to the daily delivery of quality medical care. Current lines of communication may not be adequate to get the technicians concerns to facility leaders. Ongoing discussions between the facilities leadership and the hospital’s technicians may provide important data necessary to improve quality care. Some successful organizations recognize that the rotation of individuals through leadership positions or positions of special responsibility provide a periodic check for the organization on its adherence to policy. VA should consider how this management tool might improve performance at network offices and at medical centers. Clearly VA can perform better regarding RME reprocessing. Attention from Congress and VA senior leadership has improved processes but continuous attention to this issue at the medical center level will go a long way to easing veterans concerns about the safety of medical procedures and easing anxiety about having routine preventive tests such as colonoscopies and regular dental check-ups. Mr. Chairman, thank you for this opportunity and I would be pleased to respond to any questions that you or other Members of the Committee have. W.A. Rutala, D.J. Weber, and the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Guideline for Disinfection and Sterilization in Healthcare Facilities, 2008. Combined Assessment Program Summary Report – Evaluation of Reusable Medical Equipment Practices in Veterans Health Administration Facilities Report, March 14, 2011. VHA Directive 2008-002, Disclosure of Adverse Events to Patients, January 18, 2008. Denise M. Dudzinski, Ph.D., Philip C. Hebert, M.D., Ph.D., Mary Beth Foglia, R.N., Ph.D., and Thomas H. Gallagher, M.D., New England Journal of Medicine, The Disclosure Dilemma — Large-Scale Adverse Events, Volume 39, September 2, 2010. Healthcare Inspection Patient Safety Issues VA Caribbean Healthcare System San Juan, Puerto Rico, March 16, 2010; Healthcare Inspection – Oversight Review of Dental Clinic Issues Dayton VA Medical Center Dayton, Ohio, April 25, 2011.

An artistic touch By Jillian Shue | Photography by Critsey Rowe Photography Posted: Monday, Jan. 03, 2011 On the day of their engagement, Heather Kimsey and Michael Cole made their way through the lush gardens of Biltmore Estate. Around a bass pond, across a bridge and over a steep hill, they found the perfect location to lay out their picnic blanket and begin snacking on cheese, crackers and fruit. The day was incredibly romantic as they discussed the importance of friendship and camaraderie in life. Speaking of partnership Mike said as he got on both knees and pulled out a bobble ring with a picture on top. He always said if he proposed to me it would be with a Cracker Jack box ring, says Heather. It only took a few seconds for her to recognize the ring in the picture. It was the one she had been fantasizing over for months, peering through the glass at the 14 diamonds set in yellow gold, wondering about the history of the cluster ring. That day, Mike proposed to Heather: just the two of them, in the grass, under God. Heather didnt have to say a word. She cried and hugged him. A year and a half later, she had planned every detail of their wedding. It was an absolute, extremely conceptual, art project for me. It was like the biggest, most elaborate painting in the world, she says. Heather an old soul is drawn to things that are rich in history, which she incorporated into the style of their wedding. From her look, to the wedding partys looks, to the ceremony location, a 1950s feel flowed throughout. Heather embodied celebrity icon Grace Kelly with spiral curled hair pinned up to look like a short, curly bob paired with classic red lips. Her mother was styled after Audrey Hepburn and the groom and all his groomsmen personified Cary Grant with skinny ties and suspenders. The couple decided to have a special reveal before the actual ceremony where they would say their personal vows in an intimate moment surrounded by their closest friends and family. So, on their wedding day, Heather walked up to Mike in her gorgeous, mermaid silhouette gown from J. Major's and said, It had to be you, Baby. Critsey Rowe Photography was right there to capture every moment. The difference in a picture and a photograph is perfect composition, and Critsey has phenomenal talent for a perfect photograph, raves Heather. Critsey shot Heather's bridal portraits in a Cymbeline gown from New York Bride & Groom. Their friends and family blew bubbles and then piled into the limo, which took them to St. Marys Chapel in uptown Charlotte. As the 85 guests entered the quaint brick chapel, the soundtrack of the French film Amélie set a romantic mood. Heather held white roses and each of the mothers held red roses, bouquets designed by The Place for Flowers. She walked down the aisle with a family heirloom in one hand a violin belonging to her late grandfather and her niece holding her other hand. After the ceremony, the couple stood together and released white balloons outside the church. After many intimate and memorable moments, the reception at Bentleys on 27, a French-inspired restaurant, would prove to top off the night in style. Guests were welcomed by the soulful tunes of Michael Bublé being played by Split Second Sound. They did a great job of getting everyone revved up, says Heather. After a cocktail hour with crab cakes and shrimp cocktail, a sit-down plated dinner followed with choice of French onion soup or salad and one of three entreés including filet, salmon or chicken. One of the coolest things about Bentleys is that they do tableside service, says Heather. The servers flambéed the desserts right in front of us. The couple wanted the reception to feel like a huge family dinner. The dinner table is where families share ideas, opinions, stories and memories all over a meal, Heather explains. During dinner, time stands still and we are able to appreciate the closeness of family and friends. After their dream wedding, Heather and Mike flew out to Napa Valley and enjoyed five days at a marvelous resort on the Napa River. They spent those precious days bike riding through vineyards, hiking in Redwood forest and, of course, indulging at wine tastings. Mike says, It was the perfect cap to a very successful wedding.Featured VendorsPhotography Critsey Rowe Photography New York Bride & Groom The Place for Flowers Split Second Sound Bentleys on 27 704-372-0082'She said yes! - Kisha & Kimani' The Charlotte Observer welcomes your comments on news of the day. The more voices engaged in conversation, the better for us all, but do keep it civil. Please refrain from profanity, obscenity, spam, name-calling or attacking others for their views. Have a news tip? You can send it to a local news editor; email firstname.lastname@example.org to send us your tip - or - consider joining the Public Insight Network and become a source for The Charlotte Observer.Read moreRead less

When Louisiana State University System supervisors approved $34 million in midyear bed closures and layoffs across seven public hospitals on Feb. 3, LSU health-care executives described the changes as the painful but necessary consequences of Gov. Bobby Jindal's handling of state finances. With New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu leading a subsequent outcry over curtailing mental health services, the Jindal administration struck back, accusing LSU of mismanaging its budget and unfairly framing the governor's actions. The governor himself led the onslaught, eschewing the usual political practice of letting subordinates conduct the bruising back-and-forth. "The way LSU is handling its budget is simply not responsible, not acceptable," Jindal told television cameras last week in St. James Parish. He denied that his administration had reduced LSU's state support in response to a December reduction in estimated state tax revenue. Separately, Bruce Greenstein, Jindal's health secretary, told The Times-Picayune that LSU executives "lack credibility in managing their enterprise. ... They have a long history of not tightening their belts." Greenstein suggested that the cuts were "incredibly inflammatory" and "meant to mobilize communities and supporters" to LSU's cause. LSU's public relations staff declined to make the university's top officials available for an extended interview to counter Greenstein's version of the past several months. Reached directly, Dr. Fred Cerise, the system's top health care vice president, and Dr. Roxanne Townsend, Cerise's deputy and the interim CEO of Interim LSU Public Hospital in New Orleans, declined to respond. The disagreement turns on the way the state funds the Medicaid insurance program and pays "uncompensated care" grants to help hospitals cover expenses of treating patients without insurance coverage, including Medicaid. The heart of the dispute is how the budget was originally structured and how Greenstein's agency reacted to the downgrade in revenue forecast acknowledged in December, nearly halfway through the budget year. Before the situation blew up after the LSU Board of Supervisors meeting, Cerise and Greenstein agreed on certain facts. The budget bill enacted last year allocated $595 million to LSU's Health Care Services Division, the seven-hospital system that includes the New Orleans hospital. That includes direct state general fund money, Medicaid payments for treating beneficiaries of the joint state-federal insurance program and the uncompensated care payments, which come from a federal formula. Both the Medicaid and Disproportionate Share Hospital Program-Uncompensated Care appropriations are a combination of state and federal money, with Louisiana taxpayers putting up money to draw down congressionally appropriated money, again based on formulas set by the federal government. On uncompensated care, the federal government figures grants on a statewide basis, then leaves it to states to distribute them within certain guidelines. Following the money Louisiana among the most creative states in capturing more federal dollars, for public and for private hospitals. That practice helps explain the Jindal vs. LSU flap. Part of the money allocated to LSU for the current year is detailed in the portion of the state budget dedicated to Greenstein's agency, rather than the section devoted to LSU hospitals. The Department of Health and Hospitals budget lists specific amounts of state general fund money, totaling more than $35 million, to go to 10 LSU hospitals, seven of them in the Health Care Services Division, three in the Shreveport-based hospital system. Interim LSU Public Hospital's amount is $10.2 million. The budget states that the money in question is intended as replacement for allocations that were lost when, as a result of the 2010 federal health-care overhaul, the U.S. government began recalculating how it distributes DSH grants for uncompensated care. A key paragraph reads: "In the event the department is able to maximize the funding allocated above by drawing down federal financial participation in the Medicaid program, the department may proceed in drawing down these funds and reallocating the monies." From LSU's perspective, that meant Greenstein's agency would parlay the state money into more federal money, then redistribute the booty. LSU's expectations rest on the reality that its hospitals provide most of the uncompensated care that federal authorities recognize when sending DSH money to states. But Greenstein rejects the notion that LSU should have counted on the money. "That's a big hypothetical," he said, noting that there is nothing in the budget that says it would be redistributed to LSU hospitals. A moving target When the state reduced its tax revenue forecasts by about $250 million in December, Jindal, as required by law, ordered executive agencies to figure out how to absorb the shortfall. About the same time, Greenstein's agency disclosed that private provider Medicaid claims -- the bills that nonstate hospitals, private practices and other providers send to the state-run program -- were on track to exceed the state's budgeted amount by almost $500 million. When there are such shortfalls, governors face three choices: move money around to cover gaps, cut payment rates to providers so that the appropriated amount lasts for the year, or some combination. Jindal effectively chose to move money around. Greenstein said other maneuvers, meanwhile, will be used to keep LSU at its guaranteed appropriated level: $595 million for the Health Care Services Division. When the Legislature's Joint Budget Committee met in December, Jindal's top budget officer, Paul Rainwater, told lawmakers that the plans would not adversely affect LSU hospitals. Greenstein said last week that his agency has subsequently found a way to steer $21.2 million more to LSU, suggesting the bonus should make up for any federal largesse that doesn't materialize. In interviews before LSU went silent, Cerise conceded that the federal money was not allocated to LSU and that it would take subsequent action by the Joint Budget Committee, which meets throughout the year. The LSU System budget approved by the Board of Supervisors last year does not include the additional money. But there is historical precedent for LSU's assumptions. It's an annual practice for the interim budget committee to balance the Medicaid budget -- including direct claims appropriations and uncompensated care payments -- late in the budget year. That process is particularly important for LSU. The charity hospital system, run by LSU for more than a decade, is unique among Louisiana hospitals in that its Medicaid program appropriations are specifically delineated in the state budget. Because no hospital can know its actual patient volume and insurance mix, changes during the budget year are inevitable. The LSU System budget document notes the distinction. Private hospitals and nonstate public hospitals, on the other hand, aren't listed individually. They are simply non-state entities making claims throughout the year on the "private provider" portion of what the Legislature appropriates to Greenstein's agency. So as Jindal and LSU argue over whether the university has overspent its budget, it is clear that the non-LSU health-care infrastructure in the state is threatening to do just that. As in previous years, the final accounting on Medicaid spending is months away. Playing close to the vest While Greenstein maintains that LSU's cuts in no way result from his and Jindal's midyear action, he said his office and Jindal's executive staff had "been asking for the last several months for a plan" on how LSU was going to handle its budget. He said it did not come until Feb. 2, the night before LSU Supervisors approved the plan. "It would be better if we had the hospital system fully engaged," he said. He said LSU's close hold of the matter makes it impossible for him to comment on alternative cuts. It is clear that LSU's Board of Supervisors does not want to continue the rhetorical joust with Jindal, who is responsible for appointing a working majority of the current board. Besides the new silence of LSU administrators like Cerise, LSU System President John Lombardi penned a memo last week telling his fellow executives that Jindal wanted support for his fiscal 2012-13 budget and the LSU Board supported a "unified" public messaging approach across the system. Bill Barrow can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.org or 504.826.3452.

A New Dirigible with Wings INTENDED to revolutionize air and sea travel, a novel amphibian airship which combines various features of Zeppelin, airplane, and ship construction has been designed by Capt. William F. Cooper of Los Angeles, Cal. The model of his airship which is shown in the photos above is one ninety-sixth the size the air-liner will be when completed. With a wing spread of 200 feet, a length of 800 feet, and a gas-bag diameter of 135 feet, the airship will be the largest and most unusual craft ever to take the air. Around the World with the Graf Zeppelin Circumnavigating the globe in 21 days, the Graf Zeppelin has broken all records for speed in traveling around the world. Little known facts concerning the giant airship, its commander, and the world flight are presented below. Graphic Science Section Jimmy Terry, billed as the world’s greatest rope walker, recently walked between two Chicago buildings 39 stories above the ground. The stunt required skill and nerve, but the rope walker’s balancing pole was arranged as shown in the oval inset so that his task was greatly simplified. The pendulum effect of the weight at the pole’s end actually brought gravity to the aid of the performer, holding the pole upright so that he could balance himself by it. Nautilus May Meet Zeppelin at Pole Details of the methods by which the Graf Zeppelin and the Nautilus, Sir Hubert Wilkins’ polar submarine, hope to complete at the North Pole the most amazing rendezvous in all history, are pictured in the above drawing. The map shows the route these craft will follow. The Nautilus, described in detail in last month’s issue of Modern Mechanics and Inventions, is now on its way to the North Pole. Uncle Sam’s Amazing Warship of the Sky by DR. KARL ARNSTEIN (Vice President and Chief Engineer, Goodyear Zeppelin Corp.) As told to JAY EARLE MILLER The biggest airship in the world, an amazing structure which is veritably a flying battleship, is practically finished and ready for test flights by the U. S. Navy, The man who supervised the design of this warship of the sky reveals here the fascinating mechanical details of its construction. ABOUT the time this article appears in print the largest lighter-than-air ship ever built—the 6,500,000 cubic feet Akron will be walked out of the world’s largest airship dock, or hangar, for its initial trial flight. When the Akron takes to the air, the dream of Count Zeppelin—a super-airship capable of taking its place in world commerce—will have been realized. Not that the Akron is such a ship, for it is purely a military craft, a sort of flying battleship, built for scouting work with the fleet at sea, but it contains within it all the essentials which the coming trans-oceanic air liners will need, save actual passenger compartments. Crew Risked Lives to Repair Graf Zeppelin by EUGENE GRANT who interviewed the Zeppelin crew. BUFFETED by the wind, with a torn fin, the Graf Zeppelin faced destruction unless the damage could be repaired. Here is the inside story of how the daring crew climbed onto the fin and saved this giant from destruction. LITTLE has been told of that remarkable feat performed by the crew of the Graf Zeppelin in repairing the port horizontal fin damaged by the storms and threatening the destruction of the great air liner on the first passenger trip by air to the United States. THE AERIAL NEMESIS OF SUBMARINES HUNTING THE UNDERSEA PIRATES This remarkable photograph depicts clearly the type of small dirigible now being used by the French and British in hunting German submarines. The gas bag is short and stubby when compared to the latest rigid types of Zeppelins, and as a result, great speed is not possible. The car is the same as that used on English battleplanes, modified to an extent which allows slightly greater carrying Midget Dirigible Tests Novel AIRSHIP GIRDERS BUILT as a test ship to try out new features of airship design, the baby blimp Puritan embodies many new ideas in construction which will be used on giant Zeppelins of the future. The Puritan, photographs of which are shown above, is the first dirigible constructed by the Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation of Akron, Ohio. Blimp Tows Aquaplane to Give Latest Aquatic Thrill HITCH hiking behind the Goodyear blimp Volunteer is the latest form of water sport for thrill seekers on the California bathing beaches. One of the most ardent devotees of the sport is Elmer Peck, of Long Beach, holder of the world’s record for endurance on an aquaplane. He is shown in the accompanying photo stunting on an aquaplane in tow of the Volunteer which is flying low over the water at a clip of 60 miles per hour. Stunting like this demands the utmost in nerve and skill. LZ-129 The Latest Airship DR. HUGO ECKENER’S latest venture with rigid airships promises to unfold endless possibilities of traveling safely and swiftly through the air in modern luxury. The “LZ-129,” under construction since February, 1932, is about to make her maiden trip across the Atlantic, with Dr. Eckener as her master. Here are the main facts about the ship: Length, 812 feet; greatest diameter, 137 feet; gross lifting capacity, 418,000 pounds; pay load twenty-five to thirty tons; fuel load, 130,000 pounds; cruising speed eighty miles per hour, which will carry it across the Atlantic in about two days.

hill stations in India Ooty is very popular hill station in tourists. This place is also a place of visit in the summer season for its chill climate. Udagamandalam, Ooty Hill Station is also known as the “Queen of Hills”. It is located at the tri junction of Tamilnadu, kerala and Karnataka. It is at 7500 feet above the sea level and finds its location in the Nilgris (also called as Blue Mountain. The height of the hills in the Nilgiri range varies between 2280 and 2290 metres, the highest peak being Doddabetta at a height of 2623 metres. Nilgris is a beautiful mountain range which is a part of Western Ghats. Totally there are three places to visit namely Kothagiri, Coonoor and Ooty. Among these three Ooty is given the primal importance because of its scenic Beauty and excellent climate conditions. Nilgris is oldest than the Great Himalayas. Like Icing on a cake ooty adds Pride to this mountain Range. How to reach Ooty Hill Station: Coimbatore 105 km from Ooty, is the nearest airport. Ooty is on the narrow gauge railway, connected to Mettupalayam 47 km, which is directly connected to and Chennai. The famous toy train connects Ooty with Mettupalayam and Coonoor. A good network of roads and national highways connect Ooty with all major towns and cities. There are regular bus services to and from Coimbatore, Trichy, Bangalore, Madurai, Kanyakumari, Mysore, Palghat, Calicut, Tirupati and other important destinations in South India. Ooty is also well connected with major cities of Kerala and Karnataka. Ooty Places To Visit: Gardens to visit in Ooty Hill Station Botanical Gardens:most popular hill stations of India. They sprawl over 50-acre and lie on the lower slopes of Doddabetta peak, which is the highest point in Ooty hill station. Marquis of Tweeddale established these gardens in the year 1848. The gardens are formally laid out with lily ponds, and there are clipped bushes in the form of elephants, with raised trunks. One can find a thousand different species of plants including some thirty types of eucalyptus in these gardens. There is also a fossilised tree trunk, which is said to be 20 million years old. Towards the eastern part of the garden there is a wooden house made of logs known as "Toda Mund", which provides an excellent view. Mini Garden:Mini garden is also situated on the way to the boathouse where the children amusement park is housed. A snack bar is also available. Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation Limited maintains these gardens. Rose Garden is situated about 3 to 4-km away from Charring Cross. They are spread over an area of 10 acres of land with 2000 variety of roses. Rose Gardens lie on the way to the boathouse. Children’s park:At the eastern end of the lake we find a children’s park. Already the climate and natural green carpet, adding pride to ooty, this children’s park is also an important place. The Green atmosphere, the St.Thomas church view and the moving railway from the mountain would definitely attract any child and will make them enjoy so much. There are really Good entertainment inside this park. Rowing, Boating and Horse riding are they. A park filled with fun, really. The Thread Garden:This place is an amazing collection of flowers. But, differently these are not Natural flowers but completely made out of Threads. Because of this reason the name has been given as the thread Garden. The power of man kind could be seen when we visit this place. Without machines a hundred percent handcraft beauties are created. people say it took twelve years to create this fantasy. The difference between Natural and woven thread flowers could not be found easily. To that extent the perfection is seen. Attractions in Ooty Hill Station: St Stephens Church: Situated in the hilly area on Club Road, St Stephens Church is said to be the oldest in the Nilgiris. The church was built in 1829 and consecrated in 1830. The beam of the church was taken from the palace of Tipu Sultan at Srirangapatnam. The cemetery close by houses the grave of John Sullivan, the founder of Ooty. Government Museum:The government museum, Mysore Road, Ooty has items of tribal objects, district's ecological details and representative sculptural arts and crafts of Tamil Nadu. It was set up in 1989, with a view to provide education benefits to the residing and visiting population of Nilgiris district. At a distance of 1-km from the Lake there is a Deer Park, which is worth visiting. Hindustan Photo Films:The Hindustan Photo Films, one of the major industrial units of the district, is located about 5-km away from Ooty railway station over a sprawling area of over 300 acres, near the Ooty golf-links on the Ooty- Mysore road. Ooty Places To Visit - Falls & Lakes In Ooty Hill Station Located at a distance of 25 km from ooty. A place that should not be missed. A dam called Canada dam is seen here. An exotic experience of mountain trekking could be realized in this place. Green valleys around Avalanche and a top view or Hawk’s view, By which the Beauty of a large area of udagamnadalam could be seen are important ones. A nice hunt for photographic Beauties. A Williamwordsworth sleeping in every one’s inner mind would definitely waked up in view of this place. Kalhatty water falls:This water falls could be seen in ooty mysore route at a distance of 13 km from ooty. The road runs via the Kalhatty Ghats. As the waterfalls come from a steeper mountain, this place is best for mountain trekking. But falls could be seen in a particular season from September to November. The height of this falls is 40 m .A very nice place to enjoy. Ketti Valley View: Situated on the coonoor Road This valley is the second largest valley in the world. This region is a seen with larger constellations of villages, that forms the parts of coimbatore and mysore. An exclusive spot in ooty. Boat House Lake:Even though the name of this lake is boat House Lake, people use to call this lake as ooty lake. The British ruler called john Sullivan has constructed this beautiful lake in the years 1823-1825. He was the first collector of udagmandalm. To enjoy the riding in this lake there are various types of aquatic vehicles including pedal Boats, Row boats and aqua bikes. Not only the watersports but, things like Dancing cars and Mini Trains are the perks given to the Tourists. Tamilnadu Tourism Development Corporation takes charge for maintaining this Boat house lake. A place called Lake Park jolly world is also located in this Boat house lake. A Pleasant and pleasing feeling could be realized by visiting this place. This is the name of a river in this district. It is believed to be the largest in the place. The old Tribals called Todas Believed this River as a Holy one and they were worshipping this river in days of yore. It arises at the peak called mukurthi. The entire passage of this river is through the hills a large. Taking a North Direction this river turns west atlast when it reaches the edge of this plateau. When Pykara River runs down the plateau two Beautiful falls ranging from 55 m to 60 m are seen. These Two falls are called pykara falls. Like, the Boat houses in Ooty Lake a Boat house is also present here maintained by the Tamilnadu Tourism development corporation. Bangalore to Ooty Road distance between Bangalore to Ooty is approximately 252 kms via Mysore. Bangalore to Ooty Road Route: Road condition between Bangalore to Ooty is good enough to travel. Ooty Hotels - Ooty Resorts Below are some well known hotels & resorts in Ooty: - Vinayaga Inn - Nalapad Residency - Hotel Lakeview - The Willow Hill - Hotel Kluney Manor - Fernhill Palace (ITC Welcom Group) - Nahar Nilgiris Hotel - Hotel Villa Park - Hotel Kings Cliff - Hotel Preethi Classic Towers - Hotel Khems - Nahar Residency Hotel - Sterling Days Inn Fern Hill - Fortune Hotel Sullivan Court - Holiday Inn Gem Park - Hotel Gate - Hotel Darshan - Hotel Destiny - Hotel Preethi Palace - Hotel Sherlock - Meadows Residency - Savoy Hotel - Velan Hotel Ritz - Hotel Blue Hill International - Hotel Sarkar Palace - Hotel Silver Oak - Hotel Sinclairs - Sunshine Inn - Howard Johnson The Monarch Hotel - Orchid Inn - Regency Villas (ITC Welcom Group) - Riga Residency - Blue Valley Resort - Sagar Holiday Resort - Kurumba Village Resort - Glyngarth Villa Resort - Hill Country Holiday Resort - MGM Hillworth Resort - Safari Land Resort

Have you ever been surprised at how simple complexity is? -- DaveHarris Yes, and no. I'm often delighted when something seemingly complex falls into place in simple form. Taken unawares by the specific simple solution, but not surprised by the fact that it can be found. Almost always it's there to be discovered, reducing some bizarre and complex algorithm to something straightforward. Except, sometimes, in the works of man (see DijkstraAndRefrigerators ). In the payroll system that was the subject of this aborted page, we've found man-made complexity that won't simplify. Totally arbitrary decisions that make as much sense as multiplying the date times the pay rate and storing the result, to save space. Fields given new values but not new names. Five guys with different union dues from anyone else. Still, there's even a simple way to reflect those strange factors ... you just have to find it. Here's a question, to quote the famous AnnAnderson : Can you always refactor from complexity to simplicity, or is it sometimes necessary to make a leap? --RonJeffries I'm usually more surprised by how complex simplicity is. - Alistair When you're a bear of very little brain, you have to assume there's simplicity to be found, lest you continue to bump downstairs on your head. - Ron Oh. That may explain this constant pounding between my ears... wonder how I turn the other way up. Sounds simple enough... - Alistair I'm a bear with a very little brain, and what I find is that when I'm faced with solving a problem I'll first "solve it" by specifying code that's complex and prone for defects. Then, through the fact that I became more intimate with the problem I'm trying to solve by doing it, I'll start refactoring. I do this out of reaction because I learn new things and have new insights about the problem that help me make solving it simpler, in a Darwinistic sense. Finally, in the end, when I'm satisfied with its simplicity, if people decide they want to criticize me for it, I can start firing questions at them that start showing them why it's that way. So yes I have a little brain, and it throbs a lot. Perhaps I'm a masochist. But I like making it simple and I like it when I find people who can prove me wrong. - Philip What I meant is that a complex thing is made out of a large number of different pieces that interact. The pieces themselves don't have to be complex. The original Payroll page looked like that - lots of pieces none of which seem too bad on their own. The description looked simple because complexity can be simple, even though it is still complex in another sense. The killer is the "that interact" part. The first step towards simplifying may not be to identify commonalities and refactor, but to isolate into chunks that interact as little as possible. It's OK to have 5 guys with different union dues if their special rules can be isolated. I guess to really get the complexity across you need to explain how hard the isolation is/was to do. "I'm sorry, Dave, I can't do that." (I always wanted to say that.) I've solved very few complex problems. Did a couple of operating systems, but they weren't very complex ... the relational database systems we wrote were pretty simple ... optimizing FORTRAN wasn't very tricky. There was this Extended Memory allocator for a set-theoretic database for the PC that my partner couldn't get debugged. We rewrote that so it was simple enough to see that it worked. Nope, sorry, I can't describe anything complex that I ever managed to do. --RonJeffries Me too. Simply right, simply wrong or complexly meaningless. --RichardDrake So is payroll easy after all, or is it hard in some way not involving complexity? -- DaveHarris I guess the point of this page is that nearly anything, no matter how apparently complex, can be implemented simply. And that starting with simple solutions can carry the day quite well. As for payroll as a problem, the requirements are hard and often surprisingly complex. I'd say it's harder than a language compiler, harder but smaller than a relational database system. Our implementation is [mostly] simple and straightforward. Getting it simple is usually a matter of starting simple, but it's hard for smart people not to do clever things sometimes. The surprising result, to me, was that in watching it we realized how seldom the cleverness pays off, and how often it gets in the way of necessary change later. --RonJeffries I can't recall the Einstein or Ingalls quotes, but perhaps the real goal is to conceptually simple solutions to problems that (at first sight) appear intrinsically complex and difficult --- iteratively designing solutions which are just complex enough to satisfy the underlying problems. This is very different to common practice PeterPrincipleProgramming making the most complex thing that just sort of works, for example writing the two hundred vendor required lines of code to create a window, and another hundred to display it. is very different from (see also the ProgrammersStone I think "the Einstein quote" would be (approximately - please correct) Everything should be made as simple as possible - but no simpler . There's also a related quote from was TonyHoare : There are two ways of constructing a software design. One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies. And the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies. Everything is made of simple parts when EverythingIsa

While I’m on a spiritual roll, I wanted to share with you a snapshot of one of my most favorite small prints hanging on my wall right now. Here it is: The quote says, “Love is, above all, the gift of oneself.” Several years ago, when I first moved into the place where I currently live today, I was fleeing the inevitable transition of a challenging relationship. In those first days in my new apartment, I had bare walls, bare shelves – I didn’t even own a kitchen knife (thank goodness, given the mood I was in most days at that time). Then one day I got tired of staring at an endless expanse of unbroken pale yellow walls, and I got in the car and drove myself to Michael’s. There I found an assortment of cheap prints in cheerful colors that seemed to go with yellow. I didn’t pay much attention to what they said – hearts, flowers, bunnies, anything that looked the opposite of how I felt – that was what I was after. So it took me some time to actually digest what this particular print was trying to tell me. I absolutely love getting older. Yes, you read that right. As I get older, I learn things about myself that I never knew were possible to learn. Things that I’ve puzzled over for years begin to finally make sense. I slow down, calm down, as I perceive my role in my own life and in the lives of others differently. The most recent edition of Good News for Eating Disorders Recovery, the eating disorders-specific ezine I publish monthly, has just been released, and in it I share one such “aha!” moment, courtesy of hitting (and passing) the 40-year mark. I thought I would share it with you here. You Can Hold Joy Do what it takes to hold on to your joy. Funky sunglasses, nature, a cute furry buddy – just remember, joy is yours as sure as sadness or any other emotion! I am reading a wonderful book right now (called “Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking”). In this book, the author shares that only about 50% of our personality type is determined by genetics. The other 50% is determined by personal choice. I keep a vision board hanging on my wall. I will admit that I do not update it far often enough….in part because “crafty” is not a word I typically use to describe myself (and vision boards involve a lot of cutting and pasting words, images, etc), but also because the things I envision as fleshing out a truly amazing life are pretty big things, and they do not shift or change very often in my world. The vision board experts suggest sectioning off your vision board into segments, such as “career”, “personal”, “hobbies”, “romance”, “spirituality”, etc. So of course I did this with mine (see “not crafty” above). One quote that has been on my vision board for years in the “spirituality” section states: “Spiritual maturity is the capacity to live from your true nature in the midst of the everyday madness of the ordinary world.” I really love this quote. I especially love how it doesn’t specify whether the “everyday madness” is coming from inside of me or from all around me. Or neither. Or both. Never in all my innards did I ever see this post coming. I travel a lot during the spring and fall when I am speaking at college campuses and conferences, and in addition to the opportunity to meet lots of fun new folks and see new places, my schedule also gives me access to an amenity I do not have at home. I have lots of fun speaking and we definitely take a lighthearted and proactive approach to discussions about recovery, eating disorders, and the meaning of struggle and being human, but I suppose it is fair enough to say that after a few hours of this, I am ready for some lighter entertainment to close out my evening. This last round of travels, I found myself glued to Jersey Shore. I had never really watched the show before, and the “gluing” part was a good 85 percent due to the fact that I just Could.Not.Believe. people actually used such crass and shallow terms for actions and choices that I regard as highly personal and private. But there you have it. Several episodes later, clearly they do. The other 15% of my fascination, however, I did not really decode until later on, during another speaking event, when I got to talking about the show with one of the students who hung around after my presentation to chat. ….can and often does hurt you. It also hurts others, but mostly it hurts you. We often spend so much time getting to know others – and the more we love them, the more time we spend. We might be able to recite our pet’s top 5 favorite foods in perfect order, or our spouse’s exact morning routine from the time they stop hitting “snooze” to the moment their car backs down the driveway. But how well will we do, and with what tone (on a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 being “adoration” and 10 being “disdain”) will we describe our own? On average (just a question if you are up for it) how much time would you say you spend studying yourself versus studying others in your life? On average (ditto above) how much curiosity (loving and open-minded, not judgmental curiosity) would you say you feel towards yourself versus towards someone else in your life whom you especially love or admire? In recovery, as in life, often the great sensibilities we gather that help us assess our overall quality of life really do boil down to a collection of the littlest things imagineable. Like – do we live in a beautiful place? (if we love nature) Do we have at least one close friend we can confide in? (the average number of close confidantes most people have, according to the authors of the book “Connected”, is between 2 and 12) Do we feel healthy and rested on a regular basis? (an inner sense of wellbeing and life enjoyment go hand in hand) Do we have some source of inspiration that moves us? (this could be work, family, a cause, etc – it will be different for each of us) In the same way, your “little things” may be quite different from my “little things”. For instance, I have a friend who just loves country music, boats, and football games. We are good friends and I appreciate her. Yet all three of those things – things that she loves enough to spend nearly every available waking minute of her free time doing them – consistently rank right down near the bottom of my favorites list (side by side with root canals and taking my bird to the vet). I do marvel at how our “little things” can be that different – but then again, thank goodness, right?! My own best friend only begrudgingly attends STING concerts with me, while I plan my year around them. She prefers Train concerts, which I will attend with her, but only because it makes her happy. We are so different – so interesting – so unique – and our little things will necessarily be unique to us. ….so you do unto me. I am not well-versed in religion, Christian or otherwise. I would never presume to attempt to sermonize, or to assume I fully understand the words of those who do. But I do know this – if by “the least of these” Jesus was meaning bugs, then I’ve got a LONG way to go to earn my “great human being” stripes. I cannot seem to help myself. I have so much compassion for animals, children, and most adults. I keep my house neat and see my folks at least once a week on average. My bird lives better than some people do (so do my fish and my houseplants for that matter). But just TRY being a bug in my household and see how you fare. Splat. Whack. Smush. At least I don’t stalk them with those electric zapper paddles like my Dad does. But if I’m being honest, that is just because he hasn’t bought me one yet (I hear it is on order). Since I’ve moved into this place – a 100 year old historic duplex home in the heart of one of Houston’s most historic districts – I have battled roaches (shudder), fleas, both red and black ants, countless spiders of all colors and sizes, one medium sized rodent and a host of black gnats that think houseplants make mighty fine insect residences. When we are recovering from any difficult challenge life throws at us, it is totally normal to feel discombobulated for awhile. Who am I again? What am I all about? Am I here? Normal, normal, all too normal. Oddly, being thrown for a loop is about the only time that a human being can absolutely, with 100% certainty, count on having the experience of being “normal”. Because while there is nothing normal about struggling, there is everything normal about the experience of the human struggling. A colleague, Liz Dennery Sanders*, recently resposted a great article on what fellow blogger and author Julien Smith calls “The Cult of Awesomeness”. She also added her own thoughts on what it means to be awesome, and I liked both articles very much. I liked them so much so, in fact, that I thought they were re-mentioning here as well. If we are to believe shame and vulnerability researcher Brene Brown, vulnerability can just about cure cancer. The thing is, I believe her. I first heard about Brene’s work several years ago. She happens to do her research at the University of Houston, and I happen to live in Houston. So I had visions of sitting down with her over coffee, sharing with her about how shame is a factor for those who develop eating disorders. But I think (know) that she already knew that. In her latest talk for TED.com, called “Listening to Shame”, Brene implicates the all-too-human experience of shame in the development of just about everything that hurts and kills us. You name it. Vulnerability, on the other hand, is a necessary ingredient in the antidote to shame. One of my all-time favorite movies is the Nicholas Cage classic “Gone in 60 Seconds”. Nicholas Cage in “Gone in 60 Seconds” This is not just because Nicholas Cage and my brother Adam could be identical twins, either. In the movie, Cage plays car thief Randall “Memphis” Raines. His nemesis, Detective Castlebeck (played by Delroy Lindo) and Castlebeck’s sidekick (played by none other than a younger Timothy Olyphant, aka Justified’s Raylan Givens) spend what seems to be every waking minute trying to bust his chops. Me with my brother Adam (aka “The Young Nick Cage”) Continually throughout the film, you hear Castlebeck muttering, “The easy way or the hard way, Raines….the easy way or the hard way.” I must have watched the movie a dozen times before I realized that that was my favorite line. It felt like something I’d been asking myself for most of my (now) 41 years.

Scientists have developed a technique that could significantly improve the success of IVF pregnancies by looking for telltale movements within fertilised eggs before they are implanted. The method could also cut the frequency of multiple births often associated with IVF, which are known to increase health risks both for the babies and their mothers. In a normal cycle of IVF treatment, fertilised embryos are implanted after around three days in culture. Embryologists look for abnormalities in the eggs as an indicator of how well each is progressing and how successful a pregnancy might be. Because of the uncertainties involved, several embryos are often implanted at once. This can lead to twins or triplets, which increases the potential health risks and risk of miscarriage. Professor Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz of the University of Cambridge led a team of researchers to look for ways to assess fertilised embryos more effectively, allowing fewer embryos to be implanted. In her experiments on mice, she found that when a sperm entered an egg, the egg's jelly-like innards would start to pulsate soon afterwards. "The pattern of those movements is predictive of whether the embryo will have successful developments throughout the entire pregnancy," said Zernicka-Goetz. "I believe this method has very important potential medical applications, as it provides a totally non-invasive and rapid way of making this prediction of which embryo will have successful and which will not have successful pregnancy." Her findings were published on Tuesday in Nature Communications. Dr Jane Stewart, a spokesperson for the British Fertility Society and consultant gynaecologist at Newcastle Fertility Centre said that egg quality was fundamental to the success of both natural conception and fertility treatments. "In IVF the selection of the 'best' embryo to replace remains key to live birth success, but clinical approaches to this are not sophisticated. This work adds to our understanding of how 'good' eggs may function in the mouse model." The oscillations seen by researchers in the egg's cytoplasm – the jelly-like liquid inside the cell – is caused by the influx of calcium ions after an egg is fertilised. Zernicka-Goetz's team filmed the eggs in the hours after fertilisation and used a technique called particle image velocimetry (PIV) to measure the frequency of the movements. They then implanted the embryos and noted which ones led to successful pregnancies. The cytoplasm in an unfertilised egg moves at around 4 nanometres per second, said Anna Ajduk, a postdoctoral researcher in Zernicka-Goetz's laboratory and an author on the research paperBut the oscillations speed up after fertilisation. Those embryos that were most successful at creating pregnancies had cytoplasm moving at around 10-15nm per second, with waves of movement peaking every 10-30 minutes. "It's easy to identify embryos that will not develop well because they have low, low values," said Ajduk. "Everything above, they seem to cope relatively well." Movements in human embryos would probably be similar to those seen in mouse eggs, said Ajduk, because of similarities in their biochemical properties and size. "Our method provides a way of assessing the potential on the second day because you just need a few hours to analyse the data and make the movie, and you will know. We can provide a really fast method of assessing embryos – potentially, the fastest available." Zernicka-Goetz said she was discussing with IVF clinics to initiate trials involving human embryos and hoped it could be done within a few months. "Within a year's time we should know whether such movements are predictive of the successful development of human embryos," she added. Dr Allan Pacey, an expert in reproductive biology at the University of Sheffield, said there were currently no satisfactory methods to predict which fertilised eggs would develop into good quality embryos, apart from waiting for several days to see what happens. "Clearly the technique of performing PIV is complex and will need to be simplified or automated for use in a busy IVF lab. This is the biggest hurdle I anticipate that might prevent more people experimenting with this approach. But I hope they do, as we really need to develop something more technical than the 'watch and wait' approach we have currently."

I was able to take in the Saints-Falcons matchup on Monday night, and enjoyed every aspect of the game. Ignoring how the NFC playoff seedings might play out, I believe these teams are trending toward a third meeting this season, one that will decide who goes to Super Bowl XLV. My bet is that it will be played at the site where we saw them square off last night, at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. After watching the Saints win, I was actually rather stunned when looking at the final numbers and realizing they won by just three points. The Saints ran 74 plays to 52 for the Falcons. They controlled the ball for slightly more than 36 minutes. They converted 8-17 on third down, and held the Falcons to 3-12. Turnovers kept the Falcons in this game. Drew Brees threw two interceptions, the first of which Chauncey Davis returned for a pick six. The second interception should have led to points, but Brees made a great tackle on John Abraham. At that point in the game, if Brees doesn’t make the tackle, I think Atlanta would have taken full control. It didn’t happen, and Brees got another chance. Here are a few thoughts on things I learned on Monday night: 1. The Falcons are the likely No. 1 seed, but I’m not sure any team really fears them. Their record in the dome is terrific, but I don’t see teams saying, “I don’t think we can go to Atlanta and win.” 2. I also don’t think Atlanta cares about what I just wrote above. I see the Falcons as a team that believes in itself and doesn’t care what anyone else thinks. Atlanta will challenge teams to come to the dome and prove otherwise. The Falcons didn’t play their best game last night, and were in it the entire way. 3. The Saints aren’t getting as many takeaways as last year, but they’re playing better overall defense. Don’t forget they had 39 takeaways a year ago, which is way above normal. That’s not what you’re going to get each season. But their defensive numbers are better across the board. When the Saints needed to make plays last night, they came through. They held the Falcons to 75 yards rushing and had four tackles of Michael Turner for negative yards. Plus, it was Jeff Charleston — that’s right, Jeff Charleston — who made the key play on the goal line with a tackle and strip, recovered by Marvin Mitchell. Notice I didn’t say Darren Sharper, Roman Harper, Jonathan Vilma, Malcolm Jenkins or Will Smith. Charleston and Mitchell. Anyone who gets on the field for this Saints team has an opportunity to make big plays. The guys on Gregg Williams’ defense give relentless effort and just seem to find a way. The Saints showed me a lot in this game, as did the Falcons.

"After the usual pre-gig beers and tequila shots, we found a spot to the right of the stage but with a good view of the band. When Baroness came on they immediately got the crowd going, and didn't let"... (read full reviews) "what can i say..saw these way back in the 90's...didnt know what to expect as they have a new drummer and singer but the didnt dissapoint...banging out new and the old favs..superb!"... (read full reviews) "Having seen Epica last year i knew i would not be disappointed, Simone's vocals are unbelievable, truly one of metal's great performers backed by an amazing band who are so tight. Opening for them"... (read full reviews) "The warm up band did exactly that they were really good Viza got the whole place bouncing. Serj was outstanding as always this was the first time I have seen him without system and man he rocked. His"... (read full reviews) "Top entertainers! nothing I have seen compares to them and as they are my favorate band, it just adds to the amaizingness! I enjoyed every second of it, Wayne gets the crowd involved by having them"... (read full reviews) "Ive seen Whitechapel every time they have been to Manchester and they always seem to impress me in some way. I think Phil's vocals were better than last time, however the venue was not big enough for"... (read full reviews) "I was expecting to be watching Winger in the much larger Rock City venue but ticket sales must have been very poor because the show was moved next door to the tiny Rescue Rooms. What a crime that a"... (read full reviews) "The headline act Bleed from Within were outstanding and the supporting acts really nailed it. The venue added an intimacy to the gig allowing the acts and audience to get close to each other."... (read full reviews) "they were amazing an so was enemo j I was lucky enough to sing children of the night with them me an my mate sang the chorus it was amazing an they also gave us a wrist band an got to meet them in the"... (read full reviews) "The night started off well with Dying Fetus putting on an admirable performance :) Well done, Fetuses! But the main show was the Kings Of Death Metal, Cannibal Corpse! Corpsegrinder was on top form"... (read full reviews) "Usually I wouldn't write a review on websites but I had to simply because after so many years of listening to Misfits I was so excited to finally see them live. They prove you're never too old to"... (read full reviews) "Kobra and the Lotus back in Nottingham for nearly a yr, and have really grown as a band. this time the setlist was predominately High Priestess oriented but a few classics from the 1st album also make"... (read full reviews) "Waited a very long time to see them, (before the iron maiden incident) so was apprehensive that they still had it. I was not disappointed, they totally rocked. Fantastic from start to finish. Band"... (read full reviews) "seems incredible to me that the level of musicians on stage should be playing this tiny wee venue in glasgow, but there they were. and from first to last it was truly amazing. surprisingly difficult"... (read full reviews)

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Twelve-year-old David escapes from a Communist concentration camp with little more than a compass, a sealed letter, a loaf of bread, and instructions to carry the letter to Copenhagen, ... See full summary » A drama set in 1986 Iran and centered on a man, Sahebjam, whose car breaks down in a remote village and enters into a conversation with Zahra, who relays to him the story about her niece, ... See full summary » High powered lawyer Claire Kubik finds her world turned upside down when her husband, who she thought was Tom Kubik, is arrested and is revealed to be Ron Chapman. Chapman is on trial for a... See full summary » Since the hit-and-run murder of his wife five years ago, Rennie Cray has crisscrossed America in his souped-up, stripped-down '68 Plymouth Barracuda, pursuing her killer. The man he seeks in a high-speed, high-stakes game of cat-and-mouse is James Fargo, a merciless, wheelchair-bound pyschopath. Through a series of mechanical innovations, Fargo has turned his rampaging '72 Cadillac Eldorado into a monstrous extension of his own twisted body and mind. Now, their deadly battle of wits and wills is about to move into overdrive. And caught in their headlights is a tormented beauty who unwittingly holds the key to their ultimate showdown. Written by Sujit R. Varma Flipped shot: Right before you see that the El Dorado has been chained up to drag Boone's car down the road, we get a quick glimpse of the front of the Cadillac. The right headlight is supposed to be burned our (or broken) but it is working again and the license plat is reversed. See more » It is great to finally get a film that doesn't run to the safety of digital video, computer special effects, and loud music. "Highwaymen" finally gives us a thriller, that avoids all the crutches of the mainstream film-making that we have seen in the last few years. The stunts are all metal cars crashing into each other - no fancy effects (i.e. Nic Cage jumping a bridge in a digital mustang during the cheesy "Gone in 60 seconds" remake). Here we have car doors getting ripped off and then actually being replaced with second-hand parts by the characters in the film - a realistic car chase film. Finally. The music, by Mark Isham, is very simple and very scary. It brings back memories of "Halloween" and "Nightmare on Elm Street" - when filmmakers knew how to use frequencies to build tension. There is no Brittany Spears or Metallica singles on the soundtrack, indicating that at least one filmmaker still can hold his own, and not fall to the popular vote when designing a film's soundtrack. The acting is excellent - Jim Caviezel is great. The cinematography is first class - and on film, which is refreshing when much of the movie takes place at night and many filmmakers get scared and run to video nowadays (Michael Mann "Collateral"). Great land scapes and long empty roads are brilliantly photographed by cinematographer Rene Ohashi. By far the best are the sound effects. All the car engine sounds are greatly accurate - from the Barricuda's Hemi to El Dorado's big block - all sounds are accurately placed and brilliantly timed. This, and all the great car-talk within the dialogue makes for a true car film that anyone who loved the old car chase films of the late 60's to the late 70's, would greatly enjoy this one as well. 29 of 37 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you?

Female presenters on the Saudi channel Awtan TV BBC Arabic Service Until recently you would never have seen women presenting television programmes dressed from head to toe in the niqab or burqa. But on the Saudi religious channel Awtan TV it has now become the norm. Female broadcasters at the station are draped in the all-enveloping dresses, which are usually black and also cover their faces. The work environment too is very different. Male technical assistants do not enter the studio while the women are presenting. There are more than 60 religious channels across the Middle East. Some allow women to present programmes without being fully covered or dressed in black. Others have no women presenters at all. Awtan TV decided to take a unique approach. The station was launched in 2008, and last month it set a precedent by allowing women to present, but only on the condition that they wear the niqab. Ola al-Barqi anchors a breakfast show, as well as a quiz show for girls called Mosabqat Banat. A key element of the programme is the relationship built between presenter, contestants and the audience - something that might be more difficult if the presenter is totally covered up. "The face is not the only way to build a relationship," explains Ms Barqi, speaking to BBC Arabic. "We're always receiving calls from viewers in various countries encouraging us to keep doing what we do." And, as Ms Barqi points out, women are not just confined to the studio at Awtan TV. "We report from the field in the niqab and it does not stop us from doing anything." Wahhabism, the strain of Sunni Islam that is officially practised in Saudi Arabia, is considered one of the religion's most conservative forms. Some critics say that Awtan TV is restricting women's freedom by making it compulsory to wear the niqab if they want to be presenters. These seamstresses in Saudi Arabia work in the factory completely veiled The issue recently returned to prominence when a leading Egyptian cleric, Sheikh Mohammed Tantawi, said he would issue an edict stating that the niqab was a "custom that has nothing to do with Islam". Many Muslim scholars take the position that the niqab is not obligatory. But Ms Barqi says nobody "forced the niqab" on her and she does not intend to force it on her three daughters, who watch their mother on television and feel proud of her. However, the presenter thinks that when the time comes, her girls will want to wear the niqab because that is how they were brought up and it is, she argues, part of Shariah - Islamic law. Ms Barqi says there are other good reasons why she wears the niqab. It helps her to concentrate more on her work rather than anything else, and what she looks like is irrelevant. "We don't introduce ourselves as beautiful women who put on layers of make-up. Our audience is focusing on what we present to them, our ideas and our discourse." Ms Barqi believes some people work in the media to become famous. But that is not why she became a presenter. "We don't need fame," she explains.

When Martin Rucker started at tight end for Missouri against Arkansas State, he did so with no previous experience. Although some might succumb to nervousness in their first college game, Rucker played undaunted, scoring a touchdown on the first pass thrown to him. After the game, Rucker said he wasn’t nervous partly because of the work he had been through, not only the weekly preparation leading up to the game, but also the preparation that had begun during Rucker’s redshirt season. Rucker, though, isn’t the only redshirt freshman to succeed and play a big role under coach Gary Pinkel. When a player redshirts, which allows a player to retain his first year of eligibility if the player does not play, he can focus on improving and adapting to the college lifestyle without having to worry about opposing teams. Wide receiver Jason Ray, who redshirted last season, said he matured during his redshirt season. “I think I’ve grown a lot. Just getting used to the speed of the game, really, is what I’ve really excelled on,” Ray said. “When I first got here, it was a fast pace the first two-a-days after I got here. “I’ve grown a lot. I got a chance to academically get acclimated, as well athletically. I’m getting into the offense. I’m out there reacting now, more than anything. I’m not thinking as much, so I think I’ve grown a lot.” Ray had an impressive fall practice and worked his way to second on the depth chart at one of the wide receiver spots. He also made his college debut against Arkansas State, making one catch for three yards. Ray said the biggest adjustment he had to make was to learn to pay attention to detail. Detail work is one of Pinkel’s trademarks. “Being a young guy, straight from high school, it’s a lot different,” Ray said. “In college ball, you have to read a lot more as defenses go. “The focus on that detail is what you have to get, and I think I’m getting there.” Most of the freshmen who come to Missouri take a redshirt because Pinkel said he wants to play physically and mentally mature players. “I’m very cautious of what I do with it, for the upside that you get when a young man is 21, 22 years old rather than being 18 years old,” Pinkel said. “The maturity level is something, I think, that you feel. You can see it. You can see they practice when they’re fatigued. You can see how they learn, a lot of those things.” As a result, making a recruit take a redshirt season does not necessarily mean the player lacks talent but might lack necessary maturity. Rucker is another player who impressed Pinkel during the fall practices. Rucker said he approached his redshirt season with determination. “Every day I was coming in and focusing to get better and not just to go through it,” he said. “That was probably the main thing was focusing to get better and not just go through it.” Quarterback Brad Smith broke on to a national scene when he was a redshirt freshman, but said he benefited from his redshirt season. “From what I learned then and on the field now (knowing) what works and what you need to do to win, it definitely helps a player out,” Smith said. “I think it’s hard to quantify anything because (you grow) so much in so many ways. Emotionally and physically as well as on the field, you just learn so much. Just by playing on the scout team and getting reps, just being around everything, you just get more comfortable.” Smith opened his career with a dominant performance against Illinois. He had 290 total yards and accounted for one touchdown in the Tigers’ 33-20 win. This season, several teams around the nation, including Tennessee and Michigan, have started true freshmen at quarterback, and after watching them, Smith wasn’t sure whether he could handle it. “Brad was a redshirt freshman, and that’s a huge difference,” Pinkel said. “I was talking with Brad the other week about the backups and asked him if he thought he could’ve played as a true freshman, and Brad just said he couldn’t even imagine how difficult that would be.” Offensive tackle Tyler Luellen, a redshirt freshman who replaced Rob Droege in the starting lineup, said he used his time as a redshirt to advance mentally and physically. “You come in from high school, and every coach teaches a new thing,” Luellen said. “You get here, and you’re basically starting over. You have to be taught everything again the right way. I got into the books. I started studying the plays just in case this year, which it did happen. I had to come in and fill a spot.”

About Quotes Trivia Born on: 12th Aug 71 Born in: United States Marital status: Married Occupation: Tennis player Pete Sampras is one of the greatest tennis players of all time. He has won a record 14 Grand Slams during his career. He was the number one ranked player in the world for six successive years & no one has managed to break this feat till now. His only major failure was his inability to win the French Open. He stayed at the pole position for 286 weeks & established a world record, yet to be broken. He had a long standing tennis rivalry with his contemporary Andre Agassi. He started his career in 1988 & retired in a blaze of glory after emerging victorious at the 2002 US Open. Pete Sampras is a very rich person due the enormous amount of money he has made during his playing days as prize money and by signing lucrative endorsement deals. He reportedly earned about 43 million USD from playing tennis. He has made his tennis earning look like small change with his ad deals. He used to earn about 8 million USD per year during his playing days as endorsement fees. He was brand ambassador for Nike. His current bank balance stands at a staggering 150 million USD! Pete Sampras leads a very luxurious lifestyle due to the enormous amount of money he has made as a successful tennis super star, not to mention his high value endorsement deals. He has a few luxury homes in California. He sold off his Beverly Hills mansion in California for 17 million USD in 2008 & moved to another one in the same state at a place called Thousand Oaks. It is reportedly worth around 25 million now. He drives around in a Porsche 911 Turbo & has a few other luxury cars. He owns his own private jet. Even though he is now retired, he still plays benefit matches to raise money for disadvantaged people. Pete’s Sampras’s family is of Greek origin. He was born to Georgia & Sammy Sampras. He has two elder & one younger sibling. He was brought up under a very strong influence of Greek Orthodox Christian traditions. He had a very stable childhood. His talent was apparent from a very early age & he received complete family support in pursuing tennis. He started dating Hollywood actress & former beauty queen Bridgette Wilson & got married to her in the year 2000. The couple has 2 kids, one son & a daughter. His personal life has not been tainted by any scandal so far & he enjoys a very happy family life. Family & relationships - Bridgette Wilson Wife - Christian Sampras Son

The Samsung Galaxy Gear. Gimic or useful? Well… Thanks to the guys at Mobicity we’ve got one to have a play with along with a Note III but I’m not gonna cover that, I will say its cool though. Priced at £229.99 in a good variety of colours and available for next day delivery, you can order one with this link… Mobicity UK – Galaxy Gear. The one we’ve got is the standard grey strap and it looks fabulous. On to the specs; 800 MHz Processor 1.63 inch (41.4mm) Super AMOLED (320 x 320) 1.9 Megapixel BSI Sensor, Auto Focus Camera / Sound & Shot Codec : H.264 Format : MP4 HD(720p) Playback & Recording Codec : AAC Format : M4A ChatON : mobile communication service Bluetooth® v 4.0 + BLE 4GB Internal memory + 512 MB (RAM) 36.8 x 56.6 x 11.1 mm, 73.8g Standard battery, Li-ion 315mAh The Smartwatch makes very good use of the hardware it’s got, the 800MHz processor paired with 512MB RAM provides enough umph to glide through the menus, respond to touches and open the apps with little lag. The screen… It’s a 1.63inch Super AMOLED, that said though, it’s more than ample for what you need, even the images taken with the camera don’t look that bad in my opinion. Storing the images taken isn’t an issue either, coming packed with 4GB storage you could walk round for a day taking images with the 1.9 Megapixel BSI Sensor and include some voice notes and not run out of space. Battery, you will more than likely need to charge it every night, I charge my phones overnight so to having to do this there too wasn’t such an issue. The Galaxy Gear looks the part, it’s a James Bond eat your heart out piece of kit. It has an elegant finish built with a strong build from good materials. Not the usual plasticky rubbish everyone is used to from Samsung. There is only one button on the device mainly for switching it on and off, you will notice the 5 pins on the underside of the main watch which are used to connect it to the dock. The dock provides the device with a regular Micro-USB for charging and debugging (for those developers out there), this though could be a potential issue, if you leave the dock at home, getting caught out somewhere could mean your watch battery runs out with no means to charge it. You will also notice on the fastener that there are cutouts, these are for the speaker. I made a number of calls using the Gear but all where like loudspeaker calls on a phone. In loud surroundings you’ve got no chance and if you want privacy, ha, not gonna happen. quality of the speaker is good considering the size. It’s gotta be a small one. The software included on the device is a cut down Android mixed up with Samsung’s bits and bobs to make the Gear work. With it being a limited version it needs dedicated apps to enable you to get notifications etc from your favourite social networks or auction sites. I found that eBay have a dedicated app, when I was using this device it cost me a few quid, getting notifications I was being outbid, not good. You install apps on the device you have paired and that also installs the application onto the Gear itself. Quite nifty really and seems to work well. I’m not going to go on about the camera because it’s not all that. Although sufficient for those quick snaps it is intended for it’s not spectacular. Here’s a few samples from the Trafford Centre. Overall, the quality of the device and the things it can do are excellent, with its good build quality it truly does look stunning. One thing I was a little unsure about was whether I had a true use for it. It’s quiet a large sum of money to pay out but… You can pay way more for a lot less functionality. At least this can give weather and other information and not just time so maybe it is useful after all. If you want to buy one, head on over to Mobicity using the links below, they are in stock and ready to go. Mobicity – Samsung Galaxy Gear And if you need a device to pair it with, they have the Note III too Mobicity – Samsung Galaxy Note III

LINGUIST List 23.4498| Mon Oct 29 2012 Confs: General Linguistics/Portugal Editor for this issue: Xiyan Wang From: Nathalie Gontier <nlgontierfc.ul.pt> Subject: 1st International Winter School on Evolution, Module on Language Evolution E-mail this message to a friend 1st International Winter School on Evolution, Module on Language Evolution Date: 11-Mar-2013 - 15-Mar-2013 Location: Lisbon, Portugal Contact: Nathalie Gontier Contact Email: < click here to access email > Meeting URL: http://evolutionschool.fc.ul.pt Linguistic Field(s): General Linguistics 1st Call for Students: 1st International Winter School on Evolution Module on language evolution March 11th – 15th, 2013 | Ciência Viva Knowledge Pavilion, Lisbon, Portugal We are happy to inform you that registration is now open for the 1st International Winter School on Evolution. Courses are open to international Master, PhD and Post-doctoral students in the exact, life, human and sociocultural evolutionary sciences. About the Courses: From Monday to Friday, parallel sessions are organized whereby visiting staff provide a 10-hour course (2 hours a day) on critical aspects of biological and sociocultural evolution. The courses are centered around the following modules: Module 1: Macroevoluton and the Major Evolutionary Transitions Courses are taught by Bruce Lieberman, Folmer Bokma, Eörs Szathmáry. Module 2: Language Evolution Courses are taught by William Croft, Mónica Tamariz, Daniel Dor. Module 3: Symbiogenesis, Lateral Gene Transfer and Virolution Courses are taught by Douglas Zook, William Martin, Michael Arnold. All courses are taught at a level accessible to Master, PhD and post-doctoral students in the exact, life, human and sociocultural evolutionary sciences. Students of evolutionary biology, microbiology, paleontology, evolutionary linguistics, evolutionary anthropology, and philosophy of biology will especially benefit from these courses. Students will be provided a mandatory reading list which will form the basis of lectures and discussions. There are neither examinations nor paper assignments. 350 euro for the whole week, regardless the number of courses you choose. How to Enroll: You can enroll for a specific module (therefore following a 30-hour course on the subject) or you may choose three courses of your specific interest. Places are limited, we therefore advise you to enroll as quickly as possible. About the Winter School: The School is organized by the Applied Evolutionary Epistemology Lab of the Centre for Philosophy of Science of the Faculty of Science of the University of Lisbon, in collaboration with Ciência Viva and with the support of the John Templeton Foundation. Download Our Poster: Subscribe to the Winter School Mailinglist: Read more issues|LINGUIST home page|Top of issue Page Updated: 29-Oct-2012 While the LINGUIST List makes every effort to ensure the linguistic relevance of sites listed on its pages, it cannot vouch for their contents.

Through three games, the Charlotte Bobcats are undefeated. 3-0. That's nearly half of their win total from last season, and two of those games are without second overall pick and star-to-be Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. The Charlotte Bobcats are almost without a doubt not making the playoffs this year, but they're not going to be blown out of the water like they were last year. Mullens proved last year that he is a talent worth watching, posting some valuable minutes for the talent-thirsty Bobcats. He posted a respectable 9.3 PPG, 5.0 RPG, and 0.8 BPG in 22.5 MPG. Not bad for a guy who had played in only 139 minutes combined in his previous two seasons with the Oklahoma City Thunder. What looked like more big-man dead weight on a Charlotte Bobcats team pretty full in that department ended up being one of the season's pleasant surprises, and in a 7-59 season, that's saying something. Charlotte has decided to bring Byron Mullens to summer league, and it's paid off so far. His talent was on full-display against the Timberwolves when he dropped 33 points and collected 8 rebounds to go along with a big blocked shot. Yes, it's summer league. Yes, Byron Mullens is a veteran playing with a bunch of rookies. Yes, it was just an exhibition. I know this. But if you watched Mullens play, you know why I'm excited. You got to see all of the best that he has to offer, and you got to see how versatile of a player Mullens is capable of being. Mullens is a towering, albeit lanky 7'0" known for being a finesse-oriented big man. Mullens tends to fall in love with the mid-long range jumper (including tonight, going 3-5 from three-point land) and has been pointed out as something of a liability in the paint. A seven-footer who is not extremely physical, not particularly good at defending in the paint or playing the post, but definitely a capable scorer. It was evident towards the end of last season when all hope was lost with the Bobcats that Mullens was trying to change the type of player he had become, and it yielded mixed results. His stat-line decreased fairly dramatically in the last half of the season, the Bobcats ended the season on a 23 game losing streak, and they became the laughing stock of the NBA. But Mullens, through it all, became a better player. Mullens showed tonight that he does not have to be limited to outside scoring or playing in the paint. He is proving that there is a middle ground to be met for big guys in the NBA. He has the skills of a shooting guard with the body of a center, and on Tuesday night against the Wolves he showed just how effective he can be, especially with a guy like the generously listed 6'0" Kemba Walker drawing people into the paint as he drives to the rim, and dishing it out to someone with a seven-foot frame for a 15-foot jumper. Don't pay much attention to summer league stats. I'll go ahead and tell you that Mullens is not a superstar, or at least he isn't yet. He's still fairly raw, and he still has a lot of work to do defensively. Still, Mullens is flashing signs of true potential, even in the regular season when he dazzled in a losing effort against the Milwaukee Bucks scoring 31 points and collecting 14 rebounds. It was arguably the single best performance by an individual for the Bobcats in the woeful season. He sparkled again tonight, and I'm looking past his stats. I'm looking at how he played and the confidence he played with. The addition of 7'0" center Brendan Haywood this offseason will give Mullens competition to earn minutes, though I think it's clear that Mullens has significantly more upside than the aging Haywood. Mullens could also be used as a power forward, a position the Bobcats are quite thin at. This article is my love letter to Byron Mullens. With the negativity surrounding this team, why shouldn't we focus on some of the upside? The Bobcats made significant improvements this offseason by adding Ben Gordon, Ramon Sessions and Brendan Haywood. This young team also has another summer to build charisma and learn how to play together. New head coach Mike Dunlap has installed a heavy pressure zone defense, to go along with a bruisingly-fast paced offense. A lot of attention will be paid to the Bobcats this season—not out of negativity like last season, but out of potential and upside. Byron Mullens embodies both of those things, and he truly showed it tonight. It's going to be a fun season.

Barring trade or injury, the Atlanta Braves have one rotation spot to fill with at least three legitimate contenders. The youngest and possibly most hyped is Julio Teheran. Teheran, who will be 21 on Opening Day, was ranked no. 5 among all minor league prospects by Baseball America for 2011. Though Teheran's 2011 Major League stats show a 5.03 ERA, that is inflated by two relief appearances in September that saw him throw a combined 5 2/3 innings and allow five earned runs right in the middle of the Braves' collapse. Teheran's three spot starts, ranging from two in May to one in early September, may be too small of a sample to adequately judge how the young righty will fair in the big leagues. He got the short end of the stick with his Major League debut against the Philadelphia Phillies, when he went just 4 2/3 innings and gave up three runs. He would then give up two runs to the Arizona Diamondbacks in his next start and one to the New York Mets in his final start. The downside to his starts, though he went 1-1 with a 3.86 ERA, would be that he never more than 5 1/3 innings, but that may be Fredi Gonzalez attempting to save a young arm. He also gave up two walks in every appearance until his final relief appearance, when he surrendered no free passes in three innings. A quick look at Teheran's minor league numbers will show his true potential as well as why he won the MLB.com Triple-A Pitcher of the Year. Even in 2008, the then 17-year-old Colombia native racked up 10.2 strikeouts per nine innings in Rookie-A Danville. Since then, Teheran has consistently put up power pitcher numbers, topping it off with a 15-3 record and a miniscule 2.55 ERA in 2011 in Triple-A Gwinnett. Teheran may have a similar body type to Tim Hudson at 6'2" and 175 pounds, but he does through about three miles per hour harder and tops out at about 96. He is not afraid to throw inside with his fastball and has very good command of it, and he repeats solid mechanics regularly. Teheran throws a sharp breaking ball with average command that could be improved, but his better off-speed pitch is his mid-80s change-up, which has good downward action. Regardless of his youth and the fact that he has worked through a bit of shoulder tendonitis, Teheran already has Major League confidence (and some may say cockiness) and solid stuff, which may force the Braves into making a tough call during Spring Training.Tags: Atlanta, Atlanta Braves, Julio Teheran, MLB No related posts. Short URL: http://sport-ne.ws/5nj

The documents posted on this server contain hypertext links or pointers to information created and maintained by other public and private organizations. These links and pointers are provided for the user's convenience. The U.S. Department of Education does not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of this outside information. Further, the inclusion of links or pointers to particular items in hypertext is not intended to reflect their importance, nor is it intended to endorse any views expressed, or products or services offered, on these outside sites, or the organizations sponsoring the sites. The following resources are internal sites that are administered and maintained by the U.S. Department of Education: EDFacts is a U. S. Department of Education initiative to put performance data at the center of policy, management and budget decisions for all K-12 educational programs. EDFacts centralizes performance data supplied by K-12 state education agencies (SEAs) with other data assets, such as financial grant information, within the Department to enable better analysis and use in policy development, planning and management. This website provides background information on the EDFacts initiative, as well as links to documents about the data set and links to state profiles developed by the EDFacts team. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is a program of the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics. It is a nationally representative assessment of what America's students know and can do in various subject areas. The NAEP website houses information on a wide range of topics related to the assessment, including its history, state and national results (via the NAEP Data Explorer), and publications on special topics of interest (e.g., the achievement gap and high school transcript studies). Through this website, users can access the entire NAEP data set and its documentation. The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is part of the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences. It is the primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data related to education. NCES collects data on all aspects of education, from preprimary education to adult and vocational education. This website provides background information about NCES and about their data collections. The Common Core of Data (CCD) is a program of the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics that annually collects fiscal and non-fiscal data about all public elementary and secondary schools, public school districts and state education agencies in the United States. The data are supplied by state education agency officials and include information that describes schools and school districts, including name, address, and phone number; descriptive information about students and staff, including demographics; and fiscal data, including revenues and current expenditures. From this website, users can also link to the Build a Table tool, which allows users to explore CCD data. This site also provides links to the complete documentation of the data set. The Department's official reports to Congress, required under section 1111(h)(5) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. State by state CSPR data submissions, which are the states' official data reporting on many formula grant programs under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Data tool for exploring the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC), which collects data on key education and civil rights issues in our nation's public schools for use by the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR), other Department of Education offices, and other policymakers and researchers. This data collection provides information about students in public elementary and secondary schools on a variety of indicators, including enrollment, access to educational programs or services, and academic proficiency results, "disaggregated" or broken out, by factors including race, ethnicity, sex, and disability. The primary source for data on colleges, universities, and technical and vocational postsecondary institutions in the United States. The Elementary/Secondary Information System (ELSi) is an NCES web application that allows users to quickly view public and private school data and create custom tables and charts using data from the Common Core of Data (CCD) and Private School Survey (PSS). A data display focused on priority areas for the current administration. The Dashboard presents indicators in 4 areas that are critical to improving educational results and achieving the President's 2020 college attainment goal. The following resources are external education related sites and are not administered or maintained by the U.S. Department of Education: The Center on Education Policy (CEP) conducts national research on public education. The CEP website houses a variety of publications and resources on a wide range of education topics including assessments, Congressional actions, graduation data and high school dropouts, special education, standards-based reform, student achievement, teachers, and vouchers. This site is useful for users interested in seeing analyses of education data conducted by an external organization. The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) is a nonpartisan, nationwide, nonprofit organization of public officials who head departments of elementary and secondary education in the states. CCSSO provides leadership, advocacy, and technical assistance on major educational issues. The Council seeks member consensus on major educational issues and expresses their views to civic and professional organizations, federal agencies, Congress, and the public. The CCSSO website houses a wide range of publications and resources on, for example, accountability, assessments and standards, data quality, early childhood education, educational leadership, math and science, special education, teacher quality, and many other topics of interest. In addition, the CCSSO website houses contact information for all state education agencies in the country. This site is useful for users interested in seeing tables and analyses of education data conducted by an external organization. The Data Quality Campaign (DQC) is a national, collaborative effort to encourage and support state policymakers to improve the availability and use of high-quality education data to improve student achievement. The campaign website provides tools and resources to help states implement and use longitudinal data systems, while providing a national forum for reducing duplication of effort and promoting greater coordination and consensus among the organizations focused on improving data quality, access and use. This website provides context on the efforts at the state level to improve the quality of all their data. This website provides public access to data about children and youth with disabilities served under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) - Part B and C; technical assistance (TA) materials to support the collection, analysis and reporting of IDEA data; and the forms and spreadsheets used for collection. KIDS COUNT is one of the major initiatives of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, a private charitable organization dedicated to addressing the needs of disadvantaged children in the United States. The KIDS COUNT website houses a database of state-by-state and national data on a variety of child well-being indicator including education, economic status, health, safety, and risk factors; publications and resources on factors that impact child well-being; and contact information for entities in a network of states working toward improving the well-being of disadvantaged children. The National Governors Association (NGA) is a bipartisan organization of the nation's governors. It shares best practices related to education and other policy areas. The NGA website houses publications from the NGA Center for Best Practices and a newsroom of current national events. This site is useful for users interested in seeing education resources published by an external organization. The Urban Institute provides nonpartisan economic and social policy research on a range of topics, including education. The website of the Urban Institute houses publications on education-related topics including, for example, school and teacher evaluations, school-based partnerships and services, standards-based reform, and vouchers. This site is useful for users interested in seeing analyses of education data published by an external organization. Comparative analysis of funding, student demographics and achievement data. Comprised of 13,641 school districts.

Found 36884 Digital Slr Camera Digital Photo Products. Kit includes:♦ 1) Nikon DSLR Camera/Tablet Messenger Shoulder Bag♦ 2) Spare EN-EL14/a Battery for Nikon♦ 3) Battery Charger for Nikon EN-EL14♦ 4) Precision Design PD-58PVTR 58" Photo/Video Tripod with Case♦ 5) Precision Design 6-Piece Camera & Lens Cleaning KitThis versatile Nikon Shoulder Bag can accommodate a Digital SLR with a lens attached, a flash, and 1 to 2 additional lenses, laptop/tablet, plus essential accessories. Equipment is well-protected inside the foam-padded compartment, which features adjustable, padded dividers. Numerous pockets for accessories. Includes adjustable padded shoulder strap. Camera Compartment (WxHxD): 13.5 x 9 x 4 in. / Tablet Compartment can hold up to a 10 in. tablet/iPadIncrease your shooting capacity with this powerful EN-EL14/EN-El14a Lithium-ion rechargeable battery.This Rapid Multi-voltage Charger plugs directly in to your wall outlet or your car's 12V outlet, and charges your battery in approximately 60 to 90 minutes.Avoid camera shake and achieve maximum image quality by setting your camera on this sturdy, lightweight 58-inch tripod.This 6-piece cleaning kit contains everything you'll ever need to properly clean your lenses, including a Hurricane Air Blower, Lens Cleaning Tissues, Lens Cloth, Lens Cleaning Liquid, Brush and Cotton Swabs. The Nikon D3100 DSLR Camera is a compact, DX-format DSLR that features a 14.2MP CMOS sensor and EXPEED 2 image processor to produce high resolution imagery with impressive low-light sensitivity to an expanded ISO 12800. Full HD 1080p video recording is supported at 24 fps and continuous autofocus is also available while recording, or when working in live view, with the full-time servo AF-F focusing mode. For controlling the look and feel of imagery, Active D-Lighting and Picture Control settings help to clearly render difficult lighting scenes and also give you the ability to refine the appearance over six different settings. Six scene modes are also available to help accurately depict common scene types, and Scene Auto Selector can work to intelligently determine the type of scene and settings needed to best represent it. A useful Guide Mode can be employed when beginning to help learn different camera controls and how and why to use them depending on the scene at hand in order to depict it as desired. In addition to the D3100 camera, two lenses are also supplied and cover a wide range of focal lengths from wide-angle to telephoto lengths. the AF-S DX Zoom-NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED II gives a 35mm-equivalent focal length of 27-82.5mm while the AF-S DX Zoom-NIKKOR 55-200mm f/4-5.6G ED gives an equivalent length of 82.5-300mm. Both lenses incorporate a Silent Wave Motor for quick and controlled focusing performance and they also integrate aspherical and extra-low dispersion lens elements into the design to improve optical performance. The Digital Concepts TR-60N Camera Tripod is designed for most film and digital cameras as well as camcorders. Featuring a quick-release plate that makes it a breeze to switch to handheld shooting and a professional grip for fluid 3-way panning and tilt, the TR-60N lets you capture images from any angle you can imagine. The tripod can extend to a height of 55 inches when in use, and collapse to just 22 inches for travel or storage. For your convenience, a carrying case is included. Lightweight, versatile, and affordable, the Digital Concepts TR-60N is a great tripod for photographers of all levels of experience. Like every Nikon SLR camera, the Nikon D100 is fully compatible with more than 40 world class AF Nikkor lenses. And since the D100 uses ultra-advanced digital technology, film is not required, and processing is instantaneous! 1.8 TFT LCD monitor + optical viewfinder Compatible with Compact Flash Type I & II, including IBM MicroDrive Optional MB-D100 Multi-Function Battery pack enables remote control, voice memo & more Unit Weight - about 14.7 ounces w/out battery Lenses sold separately The red Nikon COOLPIX L830 Digital Camera from Nikon features a 16 MP CMOS sensor, and a 4-136mm (22.5-765mm 35mm equivalent) f/3-5.9 Nikkor Lens for capturing high-quality still photos and Full HD 1080p videos. The 34x optical zoom Nikkor lens has both super-telephoto and wide-angle capabilities. You can zoom in to shoot far-away objects and close-ups, or zoom out to shoot the whole scene. Vibration Reduction helps to maintain image sharpness when working in low-light conditions or at the longer end of the zoom range. The camera's ergonomic design features a large grip for improved comfort and control. The 3" 921k-dot LCD display can be tilted so you can take photos and videos from unique angles while still being able to compose your shot. Shooting high quality images with the COOLPIX L830 is made easy by offering 19 scene modes, as well as an Easy Auto Mode. This allows you to focus on composing your photograph, rather than worrying about the settings. A built-in flash assists in low light or backlit situations. The camera is powered by 4 readily available AA batteries. •Nikon COOLPIX L830 16 MP CMOS Digital Camera with 34x Zoom NIKKOR Lens and Full 1080p HD Video (Red) •16 Gigabyte SD Secure Digital Memory Card •Focus Camera Rechargeable NiMH AA Batteries with Charger •Focus FC-CR1 All In One High Speed Card Reader •Focus 5 Piece Digital Camera Accessory Kit •Focus Lens Cleaning Pen •Focus Deluxe 8 inch table Tripod •Vivitar Coco Series Small Gadget Camera Bag - Polyester The cover has elastic cord & cord locks on both ends. Slip the camera into the back end of the cover and attach the small end of the cover around the lens. Leave the back end open however much you want when you're shooting (the back opens to about a 10" diameter circle when fully open), and close it down when you're not shooting. Key features: ~ 16" long fits cameras and any lens combo that are up to 13" long (3" is allowed for the back to fully close) - Larger sizes up to 35" avalible. ~ Made of a highly durable, ultra lightweight, waterproof material ~ Takes mere seconds to attach or remove. ~ Easy Velcro closure along the bottom which allows handheld or tripod shooting. ~ Compact, flexible, & ultra light - weighs approximately 1.5 oz. ~ The cover fits with an external flash on the camera. ~ TTL flash works thru the cover. ~ Will work with lenses that rotate to focus. ~ Makes a handy sunshade. DSLRs produce images with less "noise" if you keep the camera's sensor cool. GE X500 Power Pro Series Bridge Camera with Electronic View Finder, Optical Image Stabilization, 16MP, 15X Optical Zoom, 2.7"LCD, 27mm Wide Angle Lens and advanced features including Shutter & Aperture Priority mode, Program mode, ASCN, Pan-Capture Panorama, Smile & Blink Detection, Face Detection, Face Auto Exposure, Red-Eye Removal, High Dynamic Range. Power by AA Battery.What's in the box: General Electric X500 Bridge Digital Camera – Black, 4x AA Alkaline Batteries, USB Cable, Shoulder Strap, CD-ROM Manual, Quick Start Guide, Feature Guide and One Year Limited. Warranty. Multiple compartments to hold lenses, cameras & battery packs; holds 2 digital slr cameras & lenses with additional room for 6-8 more lenses; 2 full-size tripod holders; weather resistant design includes covered zippers & attached pull-over rain shield; shoulder harness system is padded & contoured for extra comfort & durability; interior dim: 12.38"h x 9.5"w x 5.5"d; exterior dim: 14.5"h x 13"w x 8.25"d; padded secure compartment for up to a 14" notebook computer The lightweight and extremely durable Vivitar One DSLR Sling Backpack (VIV-DKS-25) fits one DSLR camera with lens attached, a 17-in. laptop computer, 1-4 extra lenses, a flash unit and numerous accessories. Features adjustable foam padding, adjustable straps, tripod holder, trolley sleeve, and removable rain cover. Interior Dimensions: Laptop Compartment: 18 x 10.5 in. (45.7 x 26.7 cm) / Top Compartment: 9 x 7 x 6 in. (22.9 x 17.8 x 15.2 cm)/ Bottom Compartment: 11 x 10 x 6 in. (27.9 x 25.4 x 15.2 cm) Perfect for families, budding photo enthusiasts and first-time SLR users alike, the EOS Rebel T5 makes it easy to capture movies and photos that are nothing short of dazzling. It features a powerful 18.0 Megapixel CMOS (APS-C) image sensor and Canon's DIGIC 4 Image Processor for easy recording of HD video and high-resolution photos and has a huge 3.0-inch LCD screen for Live View recording and review. With a 63-zone, Dual-layer metering system, an expanded ISO range for outstanding operation in less-than-perfect light, shooting modes like Scene Intelligent Auto to take the guesswork out of complex shots plus creative options like Canon's Basic+ function and Creative Auto, the EOS Rebel T5 is ready for anything. With a helpful Feature Guide, rugged, lightweight construction and proven Canon design, the EOS Rebel T5 makes EOS SLR photography faster and easier than ever!

Tripod Advice Needed Posted 22 April 2011 - 01:43 AM I'm trying to minimize my expenditures, so I'd appreciate your suggestions. I don't do a great deal of visual, and much of what I'd be doing would be limited to lunar/planetary plus an assortment of brighter DSOs. Posted 22 April 2011 - 12:15 PM Posted 22 April 2011 - 12:33 PM Posted 22 April 2011 - 01:31 PM Years ago, I used Teegul (Lapides Modified)on Berlebach UNI 15 (similar to the current UNI 14) with my Takahashi FS-78. That was a nice setup. The Teegul handled the 3" scope very well, but tripod was the weak point, it was tippy when the scope is moving between two tripod legs (az motion). I dont recommend Teegul for a ~20 lbs scope (with accessories attached) with a weak tripod. It may be useful if go for a heavy/higher capacity tripod. Since the scope is side mounted, tripod capacity will be cut in (~)half, so the heavy tripod will not be a grab and go setup. Also look for a tripod with widest stance, so it wont be tippy. I believe Teegul handles your FSQ for low-power viewing when combined with a solid tripod. Posted 22 April 2011 - 03:38 PM Is there a way to connect the Lapides mount to a tripod from an Atlas EQ-G? I have one of those lying around because I use a pier for imaging. I wonder if that would be strong enough? Posted 22 April 2011 - 03:57 PM All you need is an adapter with a 3/8-16 Stud to attach it to the Teegul. I heard ADM makes custom adapters, you can check with them. Berlebach also makes adapters for various asro-tripods, but it will be expensive when we include the shipping charges from Germany. Also, consider the tripod height if you prefer to observe seated or standing. FSQ is a short tube with good balance due to petzvel design. The balance may be little lower to the focuser side when you have diagonal and huge eyepieces. This is advantageous as the tube wont hit the tripod legs when observing near zenith. True zenith viewing is a pain as it is almost impossible to point your scope. Posted 22 April 2011 - 05:38 PM

Thank you for the email and txts that comments are down. I hope they will be up tomorrow. Comments are working now! This whole Patraeus thing is like a frickin' train wreck. Folks, I hate to admit this, but I can't quit reading about it. It just gets crazier and crazier. It falls into the category of 'you can't make this $hit up'. I read all sorts of spy/CIA/FBI books. From characters Mitch Rapp to Scott Horvath, authors John LeCarre, Tom Clancy. I can't get enough of the rough and tumbly spy world. And they have the FBI pitted against the CIA a lot. And I've thought, 'Oh, I'm sure this little section is maybe a bit overblown...' Well, if it was before, it's not anymore. Wow. I think it's not possible to have two agencies that probably hate each other any more than they do now... Good Luck with that one, President Obama. And can you imagine being the FBI guy who is just casually looking into the potential cyberstalking to help out a friend and then... it gets deeper and deeper and takes some weird ugly holy crap turns? There has to be some point in time when he or a group of them finally turned over that one rock and realized what they had. It was the big 'Oh F*ck' moment. The 'wait, this is wrong. Let's retrace our steps... we didn't do something right' moment. I was privy to one of those moments once, a non-bloggable moment, not nearly to the degree as what we're seeing with the CIA, but still one of those things you don't forget. One of such dread and horror... and I was a spectator watching the train go out of control. It was not a 'pull up a chair and get popcorn' moment. It was a 'grab a garbage can so we can all throw up' moment. The cold heat... the flush of the face, the cold sweat, the adrenaline flow of 'no... this cannot be...' Yet it was. If you've had one of those life altering moments, even been witness up front and personal, when you witness something like this Patraeus thing... you start thinking of the background players, the guy that turned over that rock and thought, "oh... oh... oh... no... Please... no..." Crazy stuff.Posted by Boudicca at November 12, 2012 10:50 PM

USG CORP's gross profit margin for the third quarter of its fiscal year 2014 has increased when compared to the same period a year ago. Even though sales increased, the net income has decreased, representing a decrease to the bottom line. USG CORP has average liquidity. Currently, the Quick Ratio is 1.45 which shows that technically this company has the ability to cover short-term cash needs. The company's liquidity has decreased from the same period last year. At the same time, stockholders' equity ("net worth") has greatly increased by 1,560.86% from the same quarter last year. Together, the key liquidity measurements indicate that it is relatively unlikely that the company will face financial difficulties in the near future. STOCKS TO BUY: TheStreet Quant Ratings has identified a handful of stocks that can potentially TRIPLE in the next 12-months. To learn more visit www.TheStreetRatings.com. |Income Statement||Q3 FY14||Q3 FY13| |Net Sales ($mil)||972.0||925.0| |Net Income ($mil)||-12.0||23.0| |Balance Sheet||Q3 FY14||Q3 FY13| |Cash & Equiv. ($mil)||305.0||554.0| |Total Assets ($mil)||4064.0||3714.0| |Total Debt ($mil)||2210.0||2315.0| |Profitability||Q3 FY14||Q3 FY13| |Gross Profit Margin||22.02||20.86| |Return on Assets||2.14||0.99| |Return on Equity||11.64||-30.43| |Debt||Q3 FY14||Q3 FY13| |Share Data||Q3 FY14||Q3 FY13| |Shares outstanding (mil)||144.59||108.69| |Div / share||0.0||0.0| |Book value / share||5.28||0.42| |Institutional Own %||n/a||n/a| |Avg Daily Volume||1529763.0||1877597.0| HOLD. This stock's P/E ratio indicates a premium compared to an average of 41.09 for the Building Products industry and a significant premium compared to the S&P 500 average of 18.92. For additional comparison, its price-to-book ratio of 5.02 indicates a significant premium versus the S&P 500 average of 2.61 and a discount versus the industry average of 5.97. The current price-to-sales ratio is well below the S&P 500 average and is also below the industry average, indicating a discount. |USG 44.18||Peers 41.09||USG 26.16||Peers 25.08| Average. An average P/E ratio can signify an industry neutral price for a stock and an average growth expectation. USG is trading at a valuation on par with its peers. Average. The P/CF ratio, a stock’s price divided by the company's cash flow from operations, is useful for comparing companies with different capital requirements or financing structures. USG is trading at a valuation on par to its peers. |USG 11.70||Peers 25.74||USG 0.21||Peers 4.67| Discount. A lower price-to-projected earnings ratio than its peers can signify a less expensive stock or lower future growth expectations. USG is trading at a discount to its peers. Discount. The PEG ratio is the stock’s P/E divided by the consensus estimate of long-term earnings growth. Faster growth can justify higher price multiples. USG trades at a significant discount to its peers. |USG 5.02||Peers 5.97||USG 561.53||Peers 127.79| Discount. A lower price-to-book ratio makes a stock more attractive to investors seeking stocks with lower market values per dollar of equity on the balance sheet. USG is trading at a discount to its peers. Higher. Elevated earnings growth rates can lead to capital appreciation and justify higher price-to-earnings ratios. USG is expected to have an earnings growth rate that significantly exceeds its peers. |USG 1.04||Peers 1.42||USG 6.19||Peers 14.90| Discount. In the absence of P/E and P/B multiples, the price-to-sales ratio can display the value investors are placing on each dollar of sales. USG is trading at a significant discount to its industry on this measurement. Lower. A sales growth rate that trails the industry implies that a company is losing market share. 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- Clipper Odyssey (charter) - Luxury Expedition Ship - 110 Capacity - 19 Days - Price from Summary : From elegant Hanoi, cruise southward along the sinuous 1,000-mile-long coast of Vietnam, topping to discover new wonders daily—including the World Heritage Sites of Hue, My Son, and Hoi An. Enjoy a bicycle ride through emerald rice fields, discover the sublime beauty of Vihn Lan Ha Bay, buy silks in the centers where they are woven, photograph vibrant markets, sample delicious cuisine, cruise down the Perfume River, and snorkel over the colorful reefs of Phu Quoc. A highlight of this journey is a two-day exploration of the jungle-enveloped temples of the vanished Khmer and Champa Empires, including a sunrise visit to Angkor Wat. Activities : Culture $999,999,999 to $0 Depart the USA on your independent evening flight to Asia. Day lost crossing the International Date Line. Arrive in Hanoi and transfer to your hotel for a welcome dinner and overnight. After breakfast, visit Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum, Vietnam’s most highly revered monument; the Presidential Palace; the One Pillar Pagoda; and the history museum. Then, it’s off to the Water Puppet Theatre for a performance with traditional wooden puppets. After lunch, stroll through Hanoi’s old quarter which teems with noodle vendors and patisseries. Later, drive to Haiphong to embark the Clipper Odyssey. Vinh Lan Ha Bay is a dreamscape archipelago of thousands of limestone islets and rocky outcroppings. The ship anchors amid the dramatic formations that rise straight from the seabed. Board beautiful wooden vessels to explore these craggy monoliths where gnarled trees cling precariously to narrow clefts; you may choose to go ashore via Zodiac to swim in secluded coves. This afternoon, Zodiacs take you ashore to visit the once notorious demilitarized zone (DMZ) at the 17th parallel, an arbitrary strip of land that demarcated North and South Vietnam from 1954 to 1975. View a bridge over the Ben Hai River and a labyrinth of extraordinary tunnels at nearby Vinh Moc which served both as a refuge for the villagers while the area was bombarded, and as a Viet Cong supply route. Today, enjoy a full-day excursion to the city of Hue, a World Heritage Site. Highlights include a visit to the picturesque Dong Ba Market and the vast moat-rimmed citadel, the Imperial City of the Nguyen Emperors, built between 1802 and 1945. After lunch, cruise up the Perfume River aboard local “dragon boats” and visit the picturesque royal mausoleums of Tu Duc and Khai Dinh reflecting Chinese-inspired architectural styles. This morning choose from three options: Explore Da Nang’s Cham Museum, a repository of sandstone carvings reflecting the Hindu styles of Champa. Visit My Son, the site of outdoor Cham ruins. Or, enjoy an immersion into Vietnamese cuisine, complete with a visit to the local market, a techniques workshop, and a lunch of traditional dishes that you prepare with your chef. After lunch, enjoy a walking tour in Hoi An. Historic 18th- and 19th-century homes, a Japanese bridge, a Chinese temple, silk shops, and small museums illustrating Hoi An’s cultural riches grace the winding lanes of this World Heritage Site. The seldom-visited provincial capital of Binh Dinh province hosts a large and colorful coastal fishing fleet. Explore the area, visiting the spectacular twin Cham Towers, dating from the 11th century, as well as four other historic towers perched serenely on a hilltop adjacent to a Buddhist monastery. At the Quang Trung Museum, members of Vietnamese hill tribes perform superb martial arts demonstrations with music and dance—named an “intangible treasure” by UNESCO. After sailing south, arrive in Nha Trang with its lovely coastal setting, colorful hillside houses, and brightly painted boats. Travel to nearby islands for snorkeling along the striking coral reefs, or explore the well-preserved Cham Ponagar Temple complex with its impressive towers built between the 7th and 12th centuries. The shores of Van Phong Bay are lined with massive sand dunes and the picturesque fishing village of Port Dayot offers excellent photographic and birding opportunities. After lunch on board, arrive in bustling Ho Chi Minh City and begin your exploration driving past Buddhist, Chinese, and Taoist temples on the way to visit the Presidential Palace—the site where the North Vietnamese tank crashed through its gates, signaling the end of the Vietnam War. Also, visit the colorful and energetic markets in the Cholon Chinatown district. On the drive towards the Mekong Delta, pass through rice fields and along a busy highway with people heading to or from market. Travel to the My Tho area, famous for its coconut palms and orchards of mangos, bananas, and citrus fruits. Board sampans to sail along the Mekong River, observing daily river life and the many different types of boats that use the river as a highway. After a lunch of local specialties, return to Ho Chi Minh City. Though this island is best known for its history as a penal colony, Con Son also possesses stunning scenery and a variety of unique flora and fauna. Today, enjoy nature walks through lush vegetation and a tour of the old prison buildings. Lecturers recap your experiences during an informative day at sea. Explore the island paradise of Phu Quoc. Known for its beautiful beaches, laid-back atmosphere, and excellent snorkeling, spend the morning discovering natural wonders, both above and below the warm, inviting waters. During lunch on board, sail for Sihanoukville. Here, you have free time to explore or dine ashore this evening. Disembark this morning and board coaches for your drive to the bustling city of Phnom Penh where you tour the stunning Presidential Palace complex. Also, visit the Silver Pagoda—more than 5,000 silver tiles cover its floor—housing an extraordinary collection of Khmer artifacts, including dozens of Buddhas. Following lunch, depart for the Tuol Sleng Museum, the infamous S21 Khmer Rouge security prison. This afternoon, board your flight for Siem Reap and transfer to the Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor for dinner and overnight. Depart early to view the sunrise at the World Heritage Site of Angkor Wat. Enjoy breakfast with magnificent views of the temple, then spend the morning exploring its soaring towers, courtyards, and tiered galleries. After lunch at your hotel, visit Banteay Srei, the Citadel of Women, a temple dating from the 10th century. Perhaps the most beautiful temple in Siem Reap, it is remarkable for its fine pink-sandstone carvings relating episodes from the Ramayana. After breakfast, visit Ta Prohm Temple built in 1186 by Jayavarman VII to honor his family. Atmospheric and mystical, many of the temple monuments are enveloped by the sinuous roots of soaring silk cottonwood trees. Continue to Preah Khan Temple, surrounded by a moat and guarded by statues of warrior deities. In the afternoon you have two options: explore wondrous Angkor Thom, the 12th-century capital built by Jayavarman VI encompassing the Bayon temple with its enormous mysterious faces; or opt to visit the Artisans d’Angkor Handicrafts Center to admire the beautiful metal works, silk weaving, and wood and stone carving from the region. Transfer to the airport for your independent flight, arriving in the USA the same day. Accommodations in hotels and on board the Clipper Odyssey as outlined in the itinerary; all onboard meals; all group meals on land; air is included from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap; arrival and departure transfers on group dates; services of the expedition staff, including lectures, briefings, slide/film shows; all group activities and excursions; landing and port fees; all gratuities; emergency medical coverage (maximum benefit per paying passenger of $50,000)*; evacuation coverage (maximum benefit per paying passenger of $75,000)*. All air transportations except as listed above; excess baggage charges; airport arrival and departure taxes; transfers for independent arrivals and departures; passport and/or visa fees; baggage/trip cancellation insurance; items of a personal nature such as laundry, bar charges, alcoholic beverages, email/Internet/fax/telephone charges. *Emergency Medical & Evacuation Insurance: Emergency medical coverage to a maximum benefit per paying passenger of $50,000 is included in the cost of this expedition, as well as evacuation coverage to a maximum benefit per paying passenger of $75,000. Insurance is underwritten by National Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburgh, PA. The policy will contain reductions, limitations, exclusions and termination provisions. All coverages may not be available in all states. Please note this coverage does not cover you against trip cancellation or for additional days of travel prior to and/or after the expedition trip dates. ExpeditionTrips strongly advises all clients to purchase travel insurance which includes trip cancellation and interruption coverage for the entire duration of your trip.

Sir Elton John’s partner has spoken in support of a proposal to outlaw incitement to hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation. Film producer David Furnish, 45, also praised the tolerance of British society. “I think any sort of hatred is unacceptable so yes, I support it,” he said. In December 2005 Sir Elton and Mr Furnish became one of the first couples in England and Wales to have a civil partnership ceremony. The new incitement law has drawn criticism from gay commentators and religious groups, while gay equality organisation Stonewall and the government insist that the scope of the proposed legislation has been widely misunderstood. Peter Tatchell, writing on The Guardian website, said: “Introducing legislation prohibiting the incitement of homophobic hatred seems a bit amiss when already-existing laws are not being enforced. “All incitements to hatred should be treated with the same zero tolerance. But not, in my opinion, by means of criminal sanctions.” In The Times Mathew Paris said the law threatens freedom of expression. “Some groups may be so weak and fragile as to need the law’s protection from hateful speech,” he wrote “I’d like to think we gays are no longer among them.” A Stonewall spokesperson told PinkNews.co.uk: “There’s a lot of misunderstanding about what the laws actually mean. “It will not criminalise people being rude, it will not criminalise people being offensive. “What it does criminalise is where people recklessly or deliberately incite hatred against gay people, which has a very high threshold.” This would only cover comments such as those contained in a BNP leaflet claiming all homosexuals were also paedophiles. “What we’re seeking to do is match existing laws for race which have been on the statute for twenty years and have not caused any difficulties whatsoever. “It’s about making sure where minority groups are already protected, gay people are protected as well.” In an interview with PinkNews.co.uk Justice minister Maria Eagle also defended the new legislation. “It has not been our intention to outlaw people expressing their views, whether they be Christians or comedians, about the way other people live their lives,” she said. “You can have protection against incitement to hatred and at the same time protect people’s right to express their free views. “It’s a very important factor of our history and heritage, freedom of speech, and I hope we can do it right.” The incitement to homophobic hatred legislation comes in the form of amendments to the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill. MPs will continue discussing the bill in committee tomorrow.

23 October, 2014 Velopi provides more than project management training courses; we support Project Managers throughout their careers, particularly when they seek professional qualifications. 10 July, 2014 The main difference between projects and programs is that Project Managers seek to produce deliverables, while Program Managers want to provide benefits. This article exxplains what benefits are and how they can help Project Managers. 23 April, 2014 The nuts and bolts of effective project management are available as 38 discrete written articles from Velopi. This article serves as a contextual index for all 38 of these free resources for project managers. 15 April, 2014 We have posted many articles over the years. This provides an index to the ones related to career paths and course options. 09 March, 2014 So you are a project manager and have been for quite some time now. But you have reached the stage when a certificate in project management would be welcome. Maybe you have been passed over for a promotion because you have no project management accreditat 10 February, 2014 Explains how the FMEA approach corresponds to Project Risk Management in PMP training. 13 December, 2013 This article explains what PDUs are and shows how to earn them in order to maintain PMP certification. 01 August, 2013 If you have studied the PMBOK 4th edition and didn't get around to sitting the exam before July 31st - what does the change to PMBOK 5th edition mean for you? 13 June, 2013 Project Management Triple Constraint 08 March, 2013 PMP Exam at the Prometric Centre 03 July, 2012 Add to your experience as a project manager, your ability to solve problems, and your strong foundation in Project Management. 05 June, 2012 The reasons why projects might fail 11 May, 2012 List of just 10 of the many benefits of going on a Project Management Professional Training Course and getting your PMP Certification in Ireland. 30 March, 2012 You have attended Project Management Professional Training ; you have read the study materials; you have learned the FREE PMP Cheat Sheet; you believe you have a good handle on project management theories and the application of those theories; and you fee 02 March, 2012 the PMI have announced changes to the rules for the rescheduling and cancellation of Project Management Certification examinations 24 February, 2012 Sample of FREE PMP® questions. This is a sample of 10 PMP® questions. Test your knowledge! Q1 Scope A project stakeholder is trying to add some scope to your project. The project sponsor specifically said this scope was not part your project when the 24 February, 2012 Project Managment FETAC Level 6 course cork, limerick and dublin. This course is beneficial for people working in project teams and are now looking to enhance and expand their skill set and move into a project management position. 17 February, 2012 The main objectives of this course is to give attendees the ability to apply the GAMP® 5 approach to categorise software and hardware for a networked and configured computerised system. 10 February, 2012 This Microsoft Project Training is designed for people who has an understanding of project management concepts, who are responsible for creating and modifying project plans, and who need a tool to manage those project plans. 01 February, 2012 Revised dates for Dublin training course for Project Management Professional certification. 18 January, 2012 Velopi is also a Registered Education Provider for the Project Management Institute (PMI). This means our quality systems and course content has been approved by the PMI as meeting their expectations. Velopi have expertise in getting people the internatio 16 January, 2012 The Project Management Institute (PMI) has developed a set of criteria and credentials for recognising Project Management Professionals (PMPs) worldwide. The credentialing process is rigorous, including: three to five documented years of work experience i 29 November, 2011 The following are a list of our Project Management Professional (PMP) and Software Validation Courses lined up for Q1 of 2012. We have had a number of bookings for these courses already, so if you are interested please get in touch soon to book your pl 04 October, 2011 With over 80 exhibitors showing best-in-class technologies, tools and tips for world-class medical device manufacturing strategies coupled with a high-powered conference visitors to this year€™s exposition - will have plenty to see and hear to help t 07 September, 2011 Our Project Management Course Dublin (starting September 19th) is now FULL. The next course dates will be added to our home page later in the week. Be sure to book early to avoid dissapointment as our Early Booking Discount of ‚¬100 is very popular!! 22 August, 2011 Upcoming Project Management Professional (PMP®) Courses - details of PMP Courses and early booking discount 03 August, 2011 Becoming a PMP is not a difficult thing to do. This article will explain how to get PMP certified the easy way. In response to queries looking for material titled €œPMP Certification for Dummies€, we have written this document to outline the basic info 03 August, 2011 The PMP exam will be updated as of 31 August. This means that the last day to take the current PMP exam in 30 August. For those you out there thinking of taking the PMP exam this year, it€™s worth remembering that a new version of the exam will be issued 05 July, 2011 A concise Project Management Professional (PMP)® Cheat Sheet by Velopi train with the experts. 04 July, 2011 12 step guide to completing PMI's PMP Exam online Application form 01 July, 2011 We require a System Test engineer with Finance application experience for a Cork contract role: 21 June, 2011 Professional certification in Project Management can lead to increased career and employment opportunities. The Project Management Institute (PMI®) offers a wide range of Certifications to suit every level of project management practitioner. Achievement 16 June, 2011 The PMP exam will be updated as of 31 August. This means that the last day to take the current PMP exam in 30 August. For those who out there thinking of taking the PMP exam this year, it€™s worth remembering that a new version of the exam will be issued 15 June, 2011 HR (Human Resources) is considered to be one of the €œeasier€ exam topics however still requires attention before sitting your PMP Exam as it is a frequently asked question in the exam. At our recent Limerick PM Exam Preparation Course, we discusse 10 June, 2011 Today, we€™re going to run through some of the different types of questions you may be asked in the PMP project management exam. The ability to recognize and deal with each type of question will significantly increase your chances of attaining PMP certif 30 May, 2011 Conflict Management is a frequently asked question under the Human Resources section of the PMP Exam. 27 May, 2011 HR (Human Resources) is considered to be one of the €œeasier€ exam topics however still requires attention before sitting your PMP Exam as it is a frequently asked question in the exam. 06 May, 2011 Quality Planning Tools is a commonly asked question on the PMP Exam. It is crucial that a Project Manager would be familiar with all aspects of Quality Planning Tools on the course in order to gain PMP Certification. 18 April, 2011 The Project Management Professional (PMP®) certification is the most widely recognised certification available to Project Managers worldwide. 05 April, 2011 The project charter should be created by external parties and by the people who are to perform the tasks within it, for example, the project manager in collaboration with the client or sponsor. 01 April, 2011 Unusually, the PMI Code of Ethics is not covered in the PMBOK Guide. However, you can find the PMI Code of Ethics on the PMI Website. It is essential that you download and study the Code of Ethics because typically the PMP exam will contain 10-15 question 14 March, 2011 Today we€™ll take a look at strategies for answering PMP Exam questions even if you are not entirely sure of the answer. This is an important skill because you should answer every single question on the PMP Exam. 01 March, 2011 Different types of questions you may be asked in the PMP project management exam. The ability to recognize and deal with each type of question will significantly increase your chances of attaining PMP certification. 18 February, 2011 PMP 5 Essential Exam tips to help you pass the PMI PMP Exam first time! 17 February, 2011 For those you out there thinking of taking the PMP exam this year, it€™s worth remembering that a new version of the PMP exam will be issued on August 31st 2011. 11 February, 2011 Preparing your PMP Application 18 January, 2011 PMP exam preparation course in Dublin in April. Offered by Velopi unrivalled Project Mangement expertise. 17 January, 2011 PMP exam preparation in Cork 12 November, 2010 Upcoming PMP courses in Cork & Dublin 22 September, 2010 "Project Management Professional (PMP)® training course in Cork in November by Velopi. Next 4 day Project Management (PMP)® exam preparation course in Cork on the 9/10/16/17th of November. " 27 August, 2010 Next PMP® exam preparation course will be held in Dublin on the 13th to the 16th of September. Course outline can be viewed on our Project Management training page. 23 July, 2010 Project Management PMP course in Cork filling up! 19 July, 2010 PMP exam preparation course in Dublin by Velopi unrivalled Project Management expertise. 06 July, 2010 The first of a series of articles on 21 CFR Part 11 11 June, 2010 Project Management Professional (PMP)® Exam questions - free 1 week trial. By Velopi PMI accredited trainers. 11 May, 2010 So what is a Project Management Course? What does a Project Management training course cover? What does Project Management education give you? Will attendance of a Project management course help me in my career in Cork and in Ireland? Who should attend a 23 April, 2010 Last chance to register for upcoming Project Management Professional (PMP)® exam prep class in Cork & Dublin by Velopi. 07 April, 2010 Some interesting statistics on Project Management certification numbers for the PMP from the Project Management Institute. 31 March, 2010 Project Management Professional (PMP)® Exam prep course in Dublin in May 2010 by Velopi - PMI accredited trainers. 22 March, 2010 Project Management Professional (PMP)® Exam prep course in Cork in May 2010 by Velopi - PMI accredited trainers. 19 February, 2010 Project Management Professional (PMP)® exam prep course to be subsidized for unemployed. By Velopi- PMI accredited trainers. 09 February, 2010 Latest: New Project Management Professional (PMP)® exam questions loaded and available - by Velopi. 03 February, 2010 Successful completion of another computer systems validation project by Velopi. 25 January, 2010 Project Management Professional (PMP)® Exam preparation course in Cork by Velopi PMI accredited trainers. 28 August, 2009 News on Project Management Professional (PMP)® Exam preparation course in Cork. 4 days. Velopi train with the experts. 19 August, 2009 PMBOK® Guide - Fourth Edition and the PERT formula by Velopi. 07 August, 2009 Project Management Professional (PMP)® exam make up and structure - by Velopi 29 July, 2009 News by Velopi: Latest numbers released by the Project Management Institute shows that the number of Project Managers with PMP® certification is approaching 350,000 people. 21 July, 2009 News on Growing number of Project Managers with Project Management Professional (PMP)® certification by Velopi. 13 July, 2009 The Project Management Institute (PMI) have released a new version of A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, (PMBOK® Guide) - Fourth Edition, Project Management Institute, Inc., by Velopi.

Santa Clara, Calif. —On the heels of a good year for wine production and sales across much of North America, wine industry executives can look forward to continued growth, according to Silicon Valley Bank’s Rob McMillan. Releasing SVB’s annual State of the Wine Industry report in January, McMillan predicted that fine wine sales would grow between 6% and 10% this year—up from 4% to 8% in 2013. The report, based on a survey of nearly 650 West Coast wineries and other research, indicated that winery profits and margins slipped in 2013, yet three quarters of wineries reported they were in good financial shape. Silicon Valley Bank, which focuses on smaller, fine-wine producers, found that wine supply is in balance. “Inventory is tight on the most expensive wines, while high-volume and very small estate producers report modest inventory surpluses,” McMillan said. That means good news for the consumer: “Demand is up, supply is in good shape and pricing is stable,” he said. For the winery, however, grape costs and flat consumer pricing mean lower profitability. Based on SVB’s survey of premium wineries, profits dropped 1.5% on average in the first nine months of 2013. Bottle pricing stable The report indicates that 78% of wineries plan to hold the line or increase wine prices, but the bank forecasts that it will be challenging to raise prices. McMillan stated, “Many wineries believe they can increase bottle prices this year, but bottle pricing will remain stable…. The wineries will likely be unable to pass increased grape and bulk wine costs along to consumers except in some higher priced luxury wines.” He added, “This will depress winery gross profits.” Without raising the prices of individual wines, some of the predicted 6% to 10% growth in value will come from increased volume at the higher price points, and bottles in the $10 to $18 range are a good example, McMillan said. IRI data on off-premise sales tend to support this point if they continue as they did in 2013. Domestic wines at $5-$7.99 grew only 4% in value, while those at $11-$14.99 grew 15%. 2013 harvest total The SVB report predicts that the 2013 harvest will total 3.94 million tons when the final numbers are in, making it the second-largest harvest on record in California, behind the 4 million tons harvested in 2012. The two recent harvests have left tanks full and inventory close to balanced. McMillan predicted that grape prices have reached a peak and could soften. Nat DiBuduo, president of Allied Grape Growers, stated, “While the coastal regions are probably down in crop size, the interior regions are estimated to be as big as, or bigger than, in 2012. More new acreage has come into production this year, mostly in the interior.” McMillan said that grape planting is restrained, however, compared to prior periods when supply was in balance. The SVB report found that wineries and growers are planting or replanting 21,500 acres to fine wine grapes in California. The total acreage of these premium grapes is about 135,000 acres of the 460,000 total acres of wine grapes. Both Oregon and Washington also experienced record harvest years. The Oregon Wine Board reported that the 2013 harvest appeared to be larger than 2012—with a percentage increase possibly reaching the low double-digits. One knowledgeable winegrower believes the yield could top the 2012 record harvest of 50,000-plus tons by as much as 20%. Washington wineries also brought in more grapes than they did in 2012, a record year with 188,000 tons. If local sources are correct in predicting 2013 production was up at least 10%, the Washington industry may have crushed 210,000 tons. Industry metrics positive Another view of the wine economy comes from Wines Vines Analytics’ Wine Industry Metrics for 2013, which were all positive. Domestic wine sales grew 7% in both off-premise and direct-to-consumer channels. Retail sales grew from $6.8 billion to $7.3 billion according to IRI, while direct-to-consumer sales grew from $1.47 million to $1.58, million, based on numbers from ShipCompliant and Wines Vines Analytics. Even more impressive was the 27% growth seen in the Winejobs.com Winery Job Index, reflecting a growing and confident U.S. wine industry. M. Shanken’s Impact Databank stated that the U.S. market for all wines grew nearly 5 million cases in 2013, a slight slowing in growth to 1.5%, from 1.7% a year earlier. It reported that the volume was 329 million 9-liter cases, compared with 324 million cases in 2012. The slower growth appeared to stem mainly from slow restaurant and bar sales, according to Impact.

- About Us - Local Savings - Green Editions - Legal Notices - Weekly Ads Connect with Us Informed decisions: Elections and operations levies are coming soon Most of us can agree that the summer is flying by. I took stock of that over the last few days when I was confronted by multiple announcements for upcoming tax measures and requests for interviews by some of the area’s candidates for legislature. Suddenly, the August primary is days away. The August 7 vote winnows the field for another election on November 6 to decide our next set of state legislators, congressional representatives and governor. At the same time, we’ve got two important local tax propositions in the pipeline: Operations levy for both the City of Snoqualmie and the Si View Metro Parks District. Snoqualmie and Si View’s new levy requests are the latest signposts of a decade-long process of change in which the public’s desire for things like nice parks, top-notch cops or firefighters or schools collides with the realities of a slumping economy and an electorate that demands more for less. Of course there’s nothing wrong with getting more for less—we see it all the time in our stores or malls. We’re conditioned to seek out great deals. But in 2012, there’s a changing balance between what we want from local governments, and what we can afford. Our state’s property-tax-based system has a number of checks and balances, including a government-mandated cap on junior districts like Si View, and the annual 1 percent increase cap placed on local governments a decade ago by Initiative 747. But that revenue system is now being strained. The limit has been reached in areas of North Bend, meaning the arguably lower-priority Si View Park District goes hat-in-hand to voters. Snoqualmie benefited from waves of growth, but has found that growth alone can’t be relied on to meet needs due to the cap. Governments like Snoqualmie or Si View can cut and parse and belt-tighten to fit these new models, but the truth is that, unlike big companies, you can’t outsource a local firefighter or pool instructor job. Sooner or later, a hard choice must be made about what program to cut, which playfield to mow, or how long it might take to save that burning building. These ballot measures are a way for our schools, parks boards and cities to tell us, ‘Make a choice about what services you want, and back it up with your wallet.’ That choice is in all our hands, regardless of whether we own the property that is to be taxed. That’s why it’s very important to start now, while it’s still fairly early in the election season, to make yourself informed about city and parks district issues. E-mail your council or parks board, ask questions and offer your own advice. Visit with city staff at our local festivals, or when they’re on the job, and talk to them about priorities and the realities of their job and your own economies. Attend council or committee meetings and see how decisions are made. Remember to visit candidates’ webpages and get a sense of their platforms. Washington is lucky to have a primary in which you still have a menu of choices, not just a party platform. Spend some time at dinner with your family or friends and talk about these issues and hash out what’s really important to you and who might meet your needs. I sometimes hear that governments don’t do enough to communicate. Sometimes that’s true, but communication is a two-way street. Elected officials and candidates may not always be able to come to you, but you can go to them. It’s everyone’s own responsibility to become informed voters and citizens.

Rodriguez looked straight ahead emotionless as the sentence was announced. His mother, Dolores, and sister, Ileanna Noyes, cried, as did a number of the jurors. Rodriguez had previously been convicted of three sex crimes. That criminal history and the brutal nature of Dru Sjodin's death were factors prosecutors asked jurors to consider. U.S. Attorney Drew Wrigley said the death penalty verdict was justice for Dru Sjdoin. "The defendant's acts of the last three decades have brought us to this place at this time," said Wrigley. Standing with the prosecutor was Linda Walker, Sjodin's mother. She acknowledged it wasn't an easy decision for jurors to make. Despite the verdict, Walker says there will always be a void in her life. "I've searched for a long time. It's just insurmountable. I don't know how to put it into words," said Walker. "It's hard to go into public places and see other mothers with their daughters, sharing times together. I miss her every single day of my life." Family and friends of Dru Sjodin wore her favorite color, pink, to court Friday. The jury reached its decision after more than a day and a half of deliberations. The same federal jury of seven women and five men convicted Rodriguez Aug. 30 on a charge of kidnapping resulting in Sjodin's death. It was North Dakota's first death penalty case in more than a century. The state does not have the death penalty, but it is allowed in federal cases. Allan Sjodin, Dru's father, said he could have accepted a sentence of life in prison for Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. What matters most for his family is that the trial is behind them. "We've said all along we're here for one reason, and whatever would have happened would have been equally satisfied," Sjodin said. "I just felt all along that for Dru's sake, this needed to happen." The defense team that spent months preparing a case on behalf of Rodriguez was slow to respond publically. Some time after the courtroom had emptied, attorney Richard Ney spoke to reporters. Ney says he was saddened by the verdict. Ney, who has a history of keeping clients off death row, says a death sentence is always a shock. "It just seems difficult for us to grasp that justice is taking the life of a child of God," said Ney. "We're saddened also for the people of North Dakota, that they're joining states like Texas and Florida to think that solves the issues of crime in society." Ney says the Rodriguez family is devastated by the verdict and asking for privacy. He plans to challenge the decision. "We have a motion for a new trial to file. The judge will rule on that. If he denies it, then an appeal will be filed to the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals," said Ney. "So the 8th Circuit would be the first step in the process, and it's a long involved process of appeals that will go from here." Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. has become the 45th federal prisoner on death row in the United States. But it is unlikely his life will end anytime soon. The jury's death sentence is likely the beginning of a new legal chapter that will play out over time. On average, appeals in federal death penalty cases can take up to 10 years.

The text of H.R. 1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, is 647 pages long. The draft version of the bill currently making its way through the Senate is 736 pages long. Each document contains thousands of separate provisions, the result of multiple amendments, and each of those, in turn, is written in a pidgin form of legalese so dense and convoluted that it’s easy to forget that the language the package is meant to be written in is, ostensibly, English. Given all that—and given, as well, the fact that there are twenty-four hours in a day, and that caffeine can do only so much to increase the ratio of hours spent alert to those spent otherwise—how are journalists to fulfill their responsibility: distilling the bill, and filtering its most important components, for their readers? The Huffington Post, for one, is turning to a method with which many other news organizations have already experimented: outsourcing. In this case, to their readers. In a January 24 post, the HuffPost’s senior Congressional correspondent, Ryan Grim, linked to a copy of the bill, writing: Please take a look through the bill and let us know if you find anything noteworthy or surprising. Specifically, search for anything a little out of the ordinary, such as the section on page 14 that makes sure no money goes directly to Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. That provision was introduced earlier as an amendment and it has made it into the final bill. Or read through the oversight sections and the authority (and money) given to Government Accountability Office. Is it real oversight or are there wide loopholes? It’s the Talking Points Memo model of crowdsourcing—assigning readers to parse through textual information (what Josh Marshall refers to as a “document dump”)—adopted by the outlet that some have dubbed “the newspaper of the future.” And, in many ways, it’s a strategy that has worked as well for the HuffPost as it has for its fellow experimenters in citizen journalism. Nearly 400 people signed up to participate in the project (signing up gets an email from “HuffPost Citizen Journalism,” entitled “Taking on the Senate stimulus bill,” which thanks the recipient “for joining our stimulus package research team” and provides instructions for reading through an assigned portion—about a fifth, or 100 pages—of the bill). And those volunteers’ efforts led to hundreds of tips to Grim and his fellow reporters, in the form of individual emails and of comments on the HuffPost’s article pages. “We have readers who are highly intelligent, a lot of them are highly accomplished,” Grim notes. And, while not all of the tips panned out—several readers assumed nefarious intent in the omission of references to recovery.gov in the Senate version of the bill (it turned out that the Web address “was stricken on the advice of legislative counsel, who advised that specifying a specific url wasn’t appropriate in a piece of legislation,” Grim notes) —occasionally, their contributions bore fruit. Tim Dickinson, a politics reporter for Rolling Stone, “found that the Senate had increased funding for STD prevention to $400 million,” Grim writes. “(Senate Republicans found that appalling and have succeeded in stripping it from the bill.)” And Timothy Jost, a law professor and health care author, “noticed that the Senate had removed the House provision that would allow people 55 and over who are laid off to continue COBRA coverage until they’re 65 and eligible for Medicare. The House version also made folks who were laid off temporarily eligible for Medicaid; the Senate version strips that out, Jost found. Every one percent increase in unemployment throws more than a million people into the ranks of the uninsured.” There are many more where those came from. It makes perfect sense to have readers help out—with the stimulus package, in particular, whose content is as significant as it is dense. “People want to see these things come to light,” says Matt Palevsky, who coordinates distributed reporting for the HuffPost, and worked on the stimulus project. “It’s a feeling of interest,” he says—the content of the package will affect all of us both profoundly and directly—“and also one of responsibility.” There’s also that fact that “playing the investigator is fun for a lot of people—it certainly is for me.” Soliciting and taking advantage of that help is nothing new, either—and not just for the HuffPost (the stimulus project is a direct outgrowth of OffTheBus, the outlet’s popular—and, by most accounts, highly successful—citizen journalism project), but also for journalism in general. Crowdsourcing in this respect “is just an extension of what’s always been done in the media world,” Grim says. “People have always called into newspapers or network news shows with tips—and that’s all this is.” While the Web may allow easy access to the text of the bill, beyond that bit of technological facilitation, the work the HuffPost’s readers have been doing is a species of the kind of reader participation that has been a mainstay of hometown newspapers since the advent of contemporary journalism. It’s now simply happening en masse, and at warp speed. And in a way that turns the traditional structure of journalism—top-down—on its side, and that shifts the reporter/reader relationship from a vertical orientation to a horizontal one. “It’s a two-way street,” Arianna Huffington says. “We provide assignments—but we also listen to our community and see what they would like to report on, and follow up on what they send us.” And, though the stimulus bill is a logical choice for reader participation, the HuffPost’s efforts at crowdsourcing aren’t limited to legislative analysis. “We are doing it across all the verticals,” Huffington says. “And we are finding that every day, there are more and more opportunities to use the wisdom of the crowd, to use our community—which is so large and active at the moment—to report stories.” Still, combing through nearly 1,400 pages of dense text is a long and often thankless task—which is why professional journalists get paid to do it. Volunteer reporters, for all their eagerness and their admirable sense of civic responsibility, lack the accountability that comes with a paycheck. “It’s a running experiment,” Grim says of the project—and one of the more interesting factors being tested in that experiment is the extent that intellectual interest, emotional investment, a sense of community, or some combination thereof, will yield valuable journalism. Compare the HuffPost’s crowdsourcing approach to The New York Times’s combing of the stimulus package. Reading through the bill “is my job,” says David Herszenhorn, the Times’s Congressional correspondent. “I’m supposed to do that for the readers, not the other way around.” While Herszenhorn shares Grim’s respect for readers—”often our readers are smarter than we are about a given subject,” he says, “so we’re certainly paying attention” when a reader writes in with a comment or a tip—at the same time, “we’re not going to count on them to do the scrutiny of the bill.” Instead, Herszenhorn and his fellow Times reporters are engaging in what he calls “a loosely coordinated, newspaper-wide effort” when it comes to parsing the stimulus package—”with some of us responsible for the whole thing from top to bottom, but then lots of different parts of the paper having particular interests in different aspects of it”: Robert Pear is focusing on the health care provisions in the package, Sam Dillon is focusing on education, etc. They share tips among each other, and also use external resources—floor debates, press releases from lawmakers and interest groups—to help navigate through the most significant (which often means the most controversial) aspects of the package. Like the HuffPost’s approach, it’s not perfect. Even experts—whether paid to pore through the bill, or volunteering to do so—may miss things. But what matters, when it comes to the stimulus package, is the aggregate of our knowledge about it. The ability to share news across the superficial divide of outlet title and brand name means that information, in cases like these, matters more than any single organization. And quantity breeds quality: the more people we have to read the through that text, regardless of whom they’re working for, the better off we all are. The HuffPost may catch something the Times didn’t, and vice versa. As far as the public is concerned, the only thing that matters is that someone’s there to do the catching.

Mikki Taylor and Susan Taylor are sometimes confused as relatives. But they’re not. Both have roots at Essence magazine and play prominent roles in enhancing the inner and outer beauty, spirit and self-fulfillment of black women around the globe. They cut their professional teeth at the magazine more than 30 years ago and are leading independent projects that seek to serve and uplift humankind. Mikki Taylor is the magazine’s editor at large and its former beauty editor. Susan Taylor is the magazine’s editor in chief emeritus, its founding beauty editor and an inspiration for Mikki Taylor. Mikki Taylor will bring her brand of service to North Texas this month when she hosts the “What If …?” gala fundraiser for Humanitarian Hands Charities — a 6-year-old Dallas nonprofit that mentors and cares for African orphans, youths and their communities. The Oct. 13 gala, which includes a reception and dinner, begins at 5:30 p.m. at Hotel Intercontinental Dallas, 15201 Dallas Parkway in Addison. Other gala activities include a silent auction of African artwork and entertainment by Fort Worth jazz artist Tatiana Mayfield and her band. Mikki Taylor will also provide information about her recent book, Commander in Chic: Every Woman’s Guide to Managing Her Style Like a First Lady. Michelle Obama inspired the book. Gala proceeds will benefit the Ray of Hope Children’s Home being built in Fort Portal, Uganda. Tickets are $75. For tickets or more information, visit hhcharities.org or call 972-331-6098. Susan Taylor left Essence in 2008 to expand the Essence Cares outreach effort, begun to help Hurricane Katrina survivors, into the larger National CARES Mentoring Movement. She is founder and chief executive officer of the group, which mentors and aids youth across the nation. She will not be in Dallas this time but has visited on numerous occasions supporting various service efforts. ABOUT TOWN: Lynette Norris Wilkinson grew up in New Orleans’ Ninth Ward, which was devastated by Hurricane Katrina. She now lives in Dallas and gained attention for her book, Untold: The New Orleans 9th Ward You Never Knew. The book tells the before-and-after stories of many hurricane survivors and pays homage to the community spirit in the ward. Imani Williams is one Katrina survivor whose story is told in “Deadly Floods,” an episode of the National Geographic documentary series Forecast: Disaster. Wilkinson connected Williams with the filmmakers and accompanied Williams during the filming. The documentary will air on the National Geographic Channel at 8 and 10 p.m. Thursday and again Oct. 11. To learn more, visit hurricane katrinastories .com.

On the Radar: Gentlemen, Restart Your Engines So, where were we? Before Jamie Benn became a gold medal-winning, national hero, Kari Lehtonen helped Finland claim a bronze medal, and Val Nichushkin was introduced to the rest of the hockey world, the Dallas Stars were one of the hottest teams in the NHL. The Stars had points in eight of nine and worked their way into the final Wild Card position in the Western Conference. But that run for the Stars feels like it was decade ago, and now comes the time when we learn the answer to the much anticipated question: What will teams and players look like coming off of the long Olympic Break? Fortunately for the Stars, one big question has already been answered. They were all able to sidestep the landmine that caught guys like John Tavares and Henrik Zetterberg. All three players - and even Head Coach Lindy Ruff - made it back with their health fully intact. In fact, one could argue that no team had a better Olympic experience than the Stars. More than simply staying healthy, for a club that sent just three players and a coach, the impact their personnel had on these games was undeniable. Benn was heralded as perhaps the biggest surprise of the tournament (although no Stars fans were surprised by his play). Lehtonen stopped 43 of 46 shots against in two starts, leaving Sochi with a 1.50 GAA and a .935 save percentage to go along with his bronze. Nichushkin scored in his Olympic debut and played in every game for the host nation, despite being the youngest player on Team Russia by almost four years. And as for Ruff? The title of back-to-back Gold Medal-Winning Coach doesn’t sound too bad, does it? But as the team reunited in Frisco this week, and the Olympians rejoined their teammates who had been practicing since last week, everybody was very quick to look ahead rather than behind. Yes, there was the medal showcase following Wednesday’s practice, and some good-natured ribbing amongst guys from different countries. But you could tell the upcoming 24 games remained squarely in focus for the current occupiers of the West’s final playoff spot. In his initial assessment Ruff said he was happy with how his team looked coming out of the break. Before the NHL stopped for the Winter Games, Ruff held one-on-one meetings with each player and devised an individual plan for how they could best prepare through the 18-day break. Ruff is a man who has gone through this before. He knows what this return can be like. And that’s probably why he was as hands on as he was. Because many of his players do not know. Nine players on the Stars roster just went through the first Olympic Break of their career. Included in that list are players that will be key to the playoff chase like Tyler Seguin, Cody Eakin, and Brenden Dillon. Jamie Benn was just a rookie the last time there was an Olympic Break, and it’s safe to say he spent this one a bit differently from 2010. The Stars did everything they could to try to stay prepared for this post-Olympic sprint to the finish. And a sprint it will be. Beginning Thursday, Dallas has 24 games in the next 46 nights to try to snap the five-year playoff drought. That includes the first 17 games in just 31 days. To put that into perspective, remember that the Stars will have gone 18 days without a single game by the time they face the Hurricanes on Thursday. The return to action will be a trial by fire. And with the standings locked as tightly as they are, the margin for error is slim. Dallas knows the stakes. They prepared for this break all season long, and especially going into it. They formulated a game-plan to attack it. They believe they are ready for the grueling life after the Olympics. Still, the question that has been asked all season long still begs. On Thursday night we begin to find out the answer. Ready or not, here it comes. While you rejoice the return of the NHL, here are a few things to keep ‘On the Radar’ as the Starts try to pick up where they left off. The last time the Stars passed a checkpoint and came back with a loaded schedule against the Eastern Conference, it did not go so well for the club. After a 5-0-2 finish to the 2013, the Stars opened the new year with six straight losses – all against Eastern Conference teams. All told they lost their first seven games of 2014 to teams from the East. Coincidentally, after this recent checkpoint of the Olympics, the Stars are met with four straight games this week against clubs from the East. In all fairness, nothing changed from 2013 to 2014 except the date. The Stars had a one day layoff from their game on December 31 to January 2, which normally wouldn’t serve as any landmark. This time around the 18 day absence without games served as an actual “break” from play. Still, they’ll need to figure out their Eastern opponents, as they cannot afford another interconference stumble. They have points in their last three games against the East (2-0-1), and are 8-10-2 on the season. Three in Four This week features a segment that will become somewhat of a staple of March’s calendar. The Stars will play on Saturday, followed by games on Monday and Tuesday. It’s the first of three Saturday, Monday, Tuesday combos they will play this month. They had three prior Sat-Mon-Tue stretches in the pre-Olympic part of the season, spread out in October, December, and January. They went a combined 4-3-2 in the nine games. With over a third of their remaining games coming in that form, how they handle those jammed together games will play a big role in their final record. If you are a fan of speed and symmetry then boy, is the remaining NHL schedule for you. We’ve already covered the speed part above. But a look at the remaining schedule shows that there is a lot of balance ahead. The Stars have 24 games left. They are split evenly with 12 at home and 12 on the road. There’s also an even divide with half of their games coming versus the Western Conference, and half versus the East. Of the final 24 games they play, they will come against 17 different opponents. The winning percentage of their remaining opponents averages out to .565 per game. The Stars winning percentage coming out of the Olympics is .552. One of the biggest keys to success for the Stars before the Olympics was their ability to limit their opponents’ shots on goal. In their final 11 games before the break, the Stars never allowed more than 28 shots on goal, and averaged just 23.5 shots allowed per game. By contrast the Stars were allowing 32.4 shots per game in the first 47 games of the season, before that segment began. Not surprisingly the Stars went 6-2-3 in the aforementioned 11 games. Throughout the locker room the Stars believed they were playing their best defensive hockey of the season heading into the break. If they can come out playing similarly, there is good reason to believe that style could lead them back to the postseason. Josh Bogorad is the Pre-Game, Post-Game, and Intermission host for the Stars radio broadcasts. He can be heard 30 minutes before face-off and immediately after games all season long on SportsRadio 1310AM and 96.7FM The Ticket. Follow him on Twitter at @JoshBogorad.

Hands-On With Samsung’s Bigger, Faster Galaxy Tab - 5:09 pm | Due in stores soon, Samsung’s newest Android-powered tablet is bigger, faster and cheaper than its predecessor, and Wired.com had some time to test one. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 has been something of a tease since we first heard about it. After announcing the Galaxy Tab 10.1 earlier this year, Samsung decided to go back to the drawing board when the company saw how thin Apple made the iPad 2. Finally, the newer, cheaper Tab is redesigned and ready to launch in about a month. And lucky attendees of Google’s I/O developer conference in San Francisco were given an early limited-edition version of the tablet. My first impressions: It seems cool enough, and in certain aspects the tablet feels like an Android-powered iPad. When first picking it up, I immediately noticed how light the tablet was. Measuring 10.1 inches diagonally, Samsung’s tablet is bigger than the 9.7-inch iPad, and it’s actually one-tenth of a pound lighter. It’s also 0.34 inches thick, just like the iPad 2. The new Galaxy Tab has another thing in common with the iPad 2: Both their cameras suck. Many photos taken with the Galaxy Tab were either washed out, grainy or not at all crisp. In reviewing Apple’s tablet, Wired’s Brian Chen said “Apple took some shortcuts [with the camera], presumably to keep the costs down and to make the device thinner.” Could that be the same case for Samsung? And have we mentioned how weird it is to take pictures with a tablet? Because it is. Maybe we’re used to one-handed Instagram shots on our phones, but using both hands to point a slab of glass and plastic at something to take its photo just feels inorganic. Just like all the other recent Android tablet releases, Samsung’s offering is powered by Nvidia’s Tegra 2 dual-core processor. Swiping my way through Honeycomb’s five home screens is a breeze with the mighty chip. But there are at least three tablets on the market right now running on the Tegra 2: It’s become an Android-tablet industry standard. Still, the Tegra 2 is a powerful processor, and in smoothly running a 3-D game like the bundled Need for Speed HD app, Nvidia’s muscle certainly shows. I also tested how the Galaxy Tab handles Adobe Flash, the plug-in famously missing from the iPad. Alas, Adobe has only released a beta version of Flash for Android version 3.0 Honeycomb tablets, and it certainly shows. YouTube videos stuttered often enough to be noticeable. Moving into 1080p only made things worse, as playback choppiness was a fairly common occurrence. Flash is supposed to get better when the Honeycomb version 3.1 update is pushed out widely over the air in the next couple of weeks. We’ll have to wait and see about that. We’re glad Samsung went with side-facing speakers instead of some of the back-facing ones we’ve seen on other Android tablets. The sound wasn’t anything spectacular — nothing like the excellent front-facing speakers on BlackBerry’s PlayBook tablet — but it wasn’t terrible either. Side-facing speakers seem to be a compromise between keeping the tablet’s face clean and uncluttered, while trying to keep listening quality high by avoiding back-facing placement. For the most part, we’re OK with that. But honestly, if you’re using a tablet in public and don’t want to be obnoxious while listening to media, you’ll probably be wearing headphones anyway. Some glaring omissions: no HDMI output, no USB ports and no SD card reader. Aside from the headphone jack, there’s just one other external port (for charging and file transfers). If you care about things like HDMI mirroring or hooking up peripherals to your Android device, you might miss these important ports. And with Honeycomb version 3.1 supporting Android’s new Open Accessory interface, you’ll be missing out on a whole new wave of connectible devices. All in all, you’ll be sacrificing a lot of external-interfacing options for a slimmer, sleeker Android tablet if you go with the Galaxy Tab 10.1. If you don’t care about hooking it up to a big screen to watch your video, or increasing storage capacity with a larger SD card, this may not bother you. But knowing how open-minded (so to speak) Android enthusiasts tend to be , we think Samsung’s relatively closed-off direction on this tablet may turn a number of people off. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 hits U.S. shelves in early June, with a $500 price tag for the 16-GB version, and $600 for the 32-GB version (Wi-Fi only).

The Founding speech of Green Cross by President Mikhail Gorbachev,Kyoto, Japon, April 2O, 1993 Distinguished members of the Presidium and distinguished delegates to The Global Forum: I would like to welcome all of you who have gathered here in the wonderful city of Kyoto, a city that is now in bloom. The cherry blossoms are a reminder to all of us that we have met at a time when people are inspired by new hopes when they are thinking about a better tomorrow. I am sure that from Kyoto will be heard not only the voice of wisdom and the voice of concern but also the voice of hope. I thank you for all your words of welcome and greetings addressed to me, and also to the members of the Board of Trustees who have gathered, responding to your appeal, in order to launch here at The Global Forum, after long preparation, a new global organization the Intemational Green Cross. As you can see, the baby was born on time, in term, exactly nine months after you called last June for the creation of this organization. I thank you for your congratulations, and I hope we will be working together, hand in hand, thinking about our common future and looking for answers to the most difficult questions that we must face. The theme of my speech today is the values and the imperatives of the philosophy of survival. Today, everyone seems to agree that mankind is at a watershed in its history. The presentday global landscape is one of profound crisis, which could end either in the death of humankind or in the breakthrough to a new civilization. The one that has existed for many centuries is close to exhausting its potential, unable to sustain and manage life on planet Earth. It is true that a crisis of civilization was announced many times in the past. But today's crisis is qualitatively different. This time, we are speaking not just about something that causes widespread malaise or about people's protest against inhuman conditions of their existence, but about a threat for the first time ever to the very existence of the human race. Of late, tensions between man and nature have degenerated into an outright conflict between them. A real threat has emerged that the very foundations of human existence could be undermined, threatening life on earth. Technogenic progress based on perfecting the technology of civilization, far from having alleviated the conflict between man and nature, has in fact aggravated that conflict. For the first time in human history, signs have appeared of a breakdown in the stability of the biosphere. I am referring to the greenhouse effect, which is the biosphere?s reaction to the alarming increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide in it, currently exceeding 17 per cent. It is too soon to draw farreaching conclusions from this fact, but it is an indication that the biosphere may be losing its stability and that changes in it are becoming irreversible. Let me speak about another indicator of a possible catastrophe, which is often neglected by the media and the scientific community. I am referring to nature's fundamental inability to increase its productivity indefinitely, without The gap between demands and capabilities is widening at an accelerating pace and could assume the character of a planetary catastrophe within the lifetime of the generation born in the 20th century. We have to recognize responsibly and honestly, and say it publicly, that with ~e current levels of consumption, standards of living and technologies, the biosphere may one day fail to withstand such anthropogenic pressure. In saying so, I do not forget that there are hundreds of millions of people in the world who are hungry or undernourished. Nevertheless, mankind cannot build its civilization on an insatiable passion for consumption, on a thoughtless attitude towards nature. The current crisis of civilization is, above all, the crisis of the naive belief in the omnipotence of man, a belief that there is no limit to his abilities and his pretensions over nature. We are paying the price of human pride. Industrial progress has not always led to a growth of freedom and human happiness. As Dr. Thor Heyerdal said so aptly at our meeting yesterday, it is becoming increasingly difficult for us to define the criteria for and the concept of people's happiness. I am focusing on these global threats to human existence because as a rule the environmental movement concentrates its efforts on local problems. The time has come to understand that the sum of individual efforts and even a general ecological literacy, though they are absolutely essential, are not enough to solve the problem of humankind's survival. Something qualitatively greater is necessary. It is necessary, first of all, to declare this problem of human survival and of saving planet Earth to be the main issue today, one that has priority among the problems facing mankind; to understand that in order to solve this problem we need a totally different notion of man's place in the biosphere. The time has come to understand that mankind, like any other living species, is just one of the component in the biosphere, and that it cannot live outside of it. As for the biosphere itself, it existed for billions of years without man, and will continue to exist even if the human race is no longer there one day. It is time we understood that mankind lives within the laws of the biosphere's development, interacting with it as a part of an * * * I am calling for uniting the efforts of natural and social scientists in the cause of human survival, because the crisis of the interaction between man and nature is being aggravated by a crisis of social knowledge. We should understand that humankind has difficulty adequately understanding its own interests. Too often, man errs and moves towards the truth through delusions and all kinds of myths. We have not yet found a way out of the ideological crisis that has become so apparent in recent years. The traditional forms of ideology, including its religious forms, have not always been capable of explaining what is happening, and have been even less capable of uniting the people together in order to look for a way out of the current crisis and to address the problems of the magnitude that we see today. We must see that the current crisis of our civilization has been caused, to a large extent, by the crisis of our fundamental values. At the end of the 20th century, dramatic inherent conflicts have become apparent in the foundations of our knowledge about society and its progress. Against the background of the increasing integration and internationalization of the economy, we are witnessing an unprecedented outbreak of nationalism and clear tendencies towards autarchy, separatism and ethnic and religious isolation. The most archaic syndromes are resurfacing, bringing to the fore hidden ethnic conflicts accompanied by violence and unprecedented cruelty. We have so far failed to find ways of harmonizing the principles that form the basis of international relations. We have yet to develop mechanisms of harmonizing the democratic principle of state selfdetermination of nations and the fundamental principle of international relations, that of the inviolability of borders, of the integrity of All too often, the idea of development, of progress, conflicts with the need to preserve our planet, to assure mankind's survival. The idea of cooperation, of working together, often conflicts with the instinct of rivalry. Too often, modern nations, in pursuing their selffsh aims, undermine the global conditions necessary for life on Earth thus bringing closer their own destruction. There is no doubt that the liberation from communist totalitarianism and the end of the Cold War were great blessings, for they have sign)ficantly reduced the threat of nuclear catastrophe. But we have to see that even this great event of the 20th century the end of the Cold War has not diminished conflicts and tensions in the world. In Russia and in many countries of Eastern Europe, we can see an abrupt swing to the right in social attitudes, a growth of nationalistic sentiments, and increasing influence of fundamentalism in its various forms. Conflicts of one kind are being replaced by new conflicts, underscoring even more dramatically how lntle we know about society and about It has now become clear that the death of totalitarianism, in and of itself, does not lead to democracy. People who fought against totalitarianism have not always proved capable of strengthening and nourishing democracy. Political freedom is of the greatest value. But our experience has also shown that the growth of freedom, in and of itself, does not automatically result in a growth of morality, in ennobling the motives of people's behavior. The world community must see, for example, that the breakup of the Soviet Union has resulted in the aggravation of crimecausing factors in CIS countries, in an explosion of crime and drug addiction in Russia. We have come facetoface with phenomena whose nature we find it hard to Overall, we can say that the current crisis of the natural environment and of the entire human civilization is taking place against the background of the crisis of traditional methods of resolving social tensions. Social sciences and, even more, political thinking are still not free from ideological preferences and bias; we are still going around in a vicious circle based on attitudes of class, nation and state, and even partisan attitudes. So what is the way out? What should we rely on in our efforts to assure the survival of mankind? The first and the most important conclusion is obvious. Without an ecology of spirit and of human thinking, all such efforts would be pointless. When science and reason cannot help, there is only one thing that can save us our conscience, our morality. There is a need for moral strengthening of the roots of the humanism of the 18th century, which provides most of the underpinnings of our The survival of humankind will be impossible without solidifying and insisting on a simple thought: life as such is the greatest moral value which should underlie modern civilization. Today, it is not enough to say, 'Thou shall not kill." Ecological education implies, above all, respect and love for every living being. It is here that ecological culture interfaces with religion. Another important thought that was present during our meetings here is that the beauty and uniqueness of life have as their foundation unity in diversity. The selfidentification of every individual and of the many different nations, ethnic groups and nationalities is the crucial condition for preserving life on Earth. The philosophy of survival rests upon the philosophy of diversity. If life itself is the greatest value, then of no less value is the special character of every nation and every race as a unique creation of nature and of human We must abandon the philosophy and the imperatives of man conquering nature, which nourished modern industrial civilization, in favor of a philosophy of limits, which makes us wake up and see the abyss of probable disaster. We need a philosophy that curbs man's pride and passions. At present, it is not enough to insist on what is already obvious the organic unity of mankind and nature. Today, we must make sure that Kant's moral imperative is applied to man's attitude toward life and nature. Even in his thoughts, man must not wish for nature what he does not wish for No man has the right to live and enjoy life at the expense of others. Man has no right to seek wellbeing at the expense of another human being. Prosperous nations must not seek wellbeing at the expense of poor, developing nations, or big nations at the expense of small ones. But the most important thing is that man must not live at the expense of nature, for when we plunder nature, we steal from The time has come to formulate the conditions of the ecological imperative to draw a kind of line which mankind must not cross under any circumstances. If the human race proves capable of fulfilling these conditions, then it will have a chance to refashion its niche in the environment and to adjust its way of life to the needs of the The ecology of moral and spiritual health presupposes an absolute rejection of racism, chauvinism and national arrogance in any form. Today, it is not enough to understand that man is an element of nature and that his destiny depends on a reasonable coexistence with nature. We must also understand that there are certain things that man cannot accomplish in principle. During our meetings, we spoke at length about the need to change motivation, to shift the emphasis from technological to spiritual progress. Another important goal is to improve our way of life so as to resist consumerism. But, at the same time, we have no right to demand the impossible the slogan of changing human nature is no less destructive than the slogan of man conquering nature. Today, a caring attitude towards nature implies, above all, a caring attitude towards man with all his contradictory passions, strengths and weaknesses. Yes, we must understand human nature in order to live in harmony with ourselves and improve ourselves. But we must not try to recast or remold it; we must not seek the impossible. The idea of man as a kind of deity is one of the most dangerous and fateful ideas. I am quite sure that it is essential now to understand the limits of the elasticity of human nature, to understand that not only man but society's life too is unique. It requires that we treat it prudently, taking into account the inherent laws of its development. It is true that without developing, society would die. But we should also realize that society has objective limits to its development, to how much it can be preferred. We in Russia value the experience of Japan precisely because it has been able to strike a balance between continuity and growth, to find forms of development that strengthen the most important foundations of Japanese culture. Japan is a nation of the 21st century primarily because it has been able to preserve tradition and to enliven it with new content. The philosophy of survival presupposes a more serious attitude towards tradition, to what has been tested through The old assumption that the most radical and revolutionary actions assure lasting change and progress was quite wrong. Today, we can say that evolutionary development, the path of gradual reform consistent with the nature of mankind and of society, is more effective than the Coordination of all that coexists (interaction and cooperation) is much more productive than the mutually destructive struggle of the opposites. Struggles and conflicts burn out the diversity of life, leaving a social wasteland in their wake. The revolutionary way does not guarantee constructive development but inevitably results in sacrifice and destruction. The civilization of the future can only be planetary. However, the current processes of the globalization of human existence do not mean, nor will they ever mean, a general leveling of man's thinking and action, for this is contrary to human nature. The civilization of the future will certainly be characterized by a high degree of diversity, preserving the authenticity of different cultures and guaranteeing their full seHexpression. But its main focus, always and everywhere, will be on man. The 21st century will be either a century of the extreme aggravation of the deadly crisis or one when mankind will begin its recovery, its revival. * * * In conclusion, let me refer to some organizational aspects of our work. First of all, it is quite clear from what I have just said that we need a purposeful program of studies that would enable us to define much more fully and precisely a set of values and imperatives underlying the philosophy of survival. We have to be aware from the outset of the unique complexity of this task. Research of this kind should be of interest and concern not only to scientists but also to policymakers. We need to identify value goals relevant not only to the environmental movements but also to policymakers and international organizations. We cannot lay claim to the role of world government. But it is our duty to clarify for.mankind the evolving environmental situation and to reveal the zones that are offlimits to human activity. The scope of such research should go beyond purely academic interests. It should be similar to the kind of program that the international community is trying to implement in the area of disarmament, the elimination of nuclear weapons and nuclear safety. Political leaders must begin to assume that the issues of the harmonious development of mankind and of the rest of the biosphere will become part of their duties. The environment will increasingly become a matter of the highest priority in foreign as well as domestic policies. The main efforts in the environmental area should be implemented at the international level. Many environmental problems can only be solved through joint efforts of all countries. Furthermore, states must bear moral, legal and financial responsibility depending on whether they understand the meaning of the ecological imperative and whether they are addressing local environmental problems in the context of the problems of overall human survival. Our research must be largely independent of governments, whose actions inevitably carry the element of national self~shness. We need objective knowledge, objective information not affected by changing political winds. Those who pursue this knowledge should be independent of national, religious, geographic and other constraints. They must be responsible to humankind as a whole. It is time to set up a special institute for the study of planetary environmental problems. It should become an independent research center coordinating the scholarly activities of national groups in the area of global ecology. It would be appropriate to create such an institute within the nongovernmental organization of the Green Cross, but with financing provided by governments. Such a mixed governmental/nongovernmental status would also make it possible for private donors and foundations to take part in this work of general human importance. Research of this kind should be of a systemic nature. It would, therefore, be appropriate to use for this purpose the existing International Institute of Applied Systemic Analysis, located near Vienna The governments of a number of countries are already financing this institute. To affirm a new morality, we have at our disposal some effective means of education and training. At their basis lies knowledge anchored in credible information and in the cultural context of our time. Mankind must find enough courage to change the way it educates young people, to instill new literacy, a new language for communicating with nature and new meanings of traditional concepts. Here we will have to begin many things from scratch. We need promptly to launch a competition for a high school ecology textbook and to train teachers in the area. Another extremely important task is to create a global network linking the world's environmental organizations. Among the key problems of our civilization is that of developing a program and a strategy for the creation of noosphere. There are quite a few places in the world that are morally ready to become noospheric focal points. In Russia, such focal points could be found in areas surrounding old monasteries, such as Tikhonova Pustyn in the Kaluga Region. The Russian religious tradition is quite in harmony with the ideas of the coevolution of man and the The emerging "environmentalization" of our civilization and the need for vigorous action in the interest of the entire global community will inevitably have multiple political consequences. Perhaps the most important one of them will be a gradual change in the status of the United Nations. Inevitably, it must assume some aspects of a world government. Indeed, such a process has already begun. One day, however, the entire structure of the organization will have to be reconsidered. An advisory body will have to be established at the United Nations, for the work of this organization cannot be entrusted to politicians alone. Such a consultative council should bring together representatives of various professions, including both natural and social scientists, rather than those of nations. It should be a group of scholars with a known record of achievement and moral credibility, whose views have authority for all nations. Such a council could be called a Chamber of Professionals or a Cabinet of Eminent Persons. This group of people should be entrusted with the approval of research programs and plans for global educational activities. In the era of ecological crisis, when mankind acts as a single species, the transparency of information and access to it are of particular importance. Therefore, in addition to the development of a planetary strategy of reactions between humankind and the rest of the biosphere, the council should assume responsibility for creating and overseeing a global network of environmental information. The 20th century has been, in effect, a century of warning. Due to the logic of historic development, its vocation was to caution mankind and to prepare it for the need to develop a new consciousness and new ways of living and acting. Has it fulfilled this role? No, at least not To repeat, the 20th century will become either a century of the extreme aggravation of the deadly crisis or one of mankind's recovery and revival. At present, we are running a race against time. What will happen next a critical escalation of global threats and the collapse of our civilization, or a critical growth of hope, of the willingness and ability of the international human community to develop new, truly humane ground rules of living together, capable of saving civilization through its It is up to all of us who live today on this planet to answer this question

Perspectives on Pakistan U.S. policy confusion on Pakistan and India What is the U.S. policy towards Pakistan and India, and in particular over how to deal with their rivalry over Afghanistan which complicates U.S. efforts to bring stability there? I’ve been trying to find an answer for weeks now amid a raft of contradictory signals and statements coming from different U.S. officials. First we had the leaked report by General Stanley McChrystal in September suggesting the issue should be handled with caution given Pakistani sensitivities about a big rise in India’s presence in Afghanistan following the fall of the Pakistani-backed Taliban in 2001. “Indian political and economic influence is increasing in Afghanistan, including significant development efforts and financial investment,” it said. “In addition the current Afghan government is perceived by Islamabad to be pro-Indian. While Indian activities largely benefit the Afghan people, increasing Indian influence in Afghanistan is likely to exacerbate regional tensions and encourage Pakistani counter-measures in Afghanistan or India.” Then we had a series of reports, most recently here, suggesting Washington might welcome a bigger role for India in Afghanistan – precisely the kind of development that would exacerbate tensions with Pakistan given the current sour mood between New Delhi and Islamabad. U.S. special envoy Richard Holbrooke toured the region saying President Barack Obama’s administration would welcome better relations between India and Pakistan. But then he was followed by Defense Secretary Robert Gates who, if anything, actually worsened tensions between the two by saying that India might retaliate in the event of a another big attack like the Nov. 2008 assault on Mumbai. Gates made a similar comment towards the end of last year, when he said al Qaeda and its Islamist allies might try to use an attack to provoke a conflict between Pakistan and India. The problem this time around was the context. Saying this in Washington is one thing; saying it in India is quite different. Pakistan had already been jumpy about Indian intentions after its army chief said the military should be prepared to fight a two-front war against both China and Pakistan. Indian analysts describe those remarks, made at a closed-door seminar, as an aspirational view of the need for military preparedness, rather than any kind of immediate threat; but they went down badly in Pakistan and therefore coloured the way Gates’ remarks were interpreted. You have to wonder whether Gates had been properly briefed about the context when he talked about Indian losing patience in the event of another big attack, or indeed why someone with such long experience of the region would make what appeared to be a diplomatic gaffe shortly before flying into Pakistan to try to win support there. Did he, to borrow a word from the now U.S. Secretary of State, ”misspoke”? Juan Cole, who has generally been supportive of the Obama administration, was unforgiving, writing on his blog Informed Comment that its policies in Afghanistan and Pakistan were in disarray: “Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates’s trip to Pakistan this weekend has in many ways been public relations disaster, and I think it is fair to say that he came away empty-handed with regard to his chief policy goals in Islamabad. Getting Pakistan right is key to President Barack Obama’s policy of escalating the Afghanistan War, and judging by Gates’s visit to Islamabad, Obama is in worse shape on the AfPak front than he is even in Massachusetts. Since he has bet so heavily on Afghanistan and Pakistan, this rocky road could be momentous for his presidency.” Meanwhile Britain is hosting a conference on Afghanistan this week aiming to flesh out the timetable set by Obama for drawing down troops by 2011 and to convince regional players to cooperate rather than compete over a country which has long been a battleground for proxy wars. But as I wrote in this analysis, anything that might now be achieved in terms of easing tensions between India and Pakistan is likely to come too little, too late to deliver policy results in time for the 2011 deadline. According to Steve Coll at the New America Foundation, who I quoted in the analysis, Washington’s need to achieve results in Afghanistan by 2011 is at odds with the longer-term clock followed by India and Pakistan. ”My sense is that the administration feels stymied by India’s continued insistence that it does not want any outside help and the frustratingly slow pace by which India and Pakistan are trying (to find a way back to negotiations),” he said. ”The U.S. doesn’t seem to be able to construct a breakthrough.” The tensions between India and Pakistan complicate the current situation by undermining U.S. efforts to convince the Pakistan Army to turn on Afghan Taliban militants which it may eventually need to counter Indian influence in Afghanistan in the event of a U.S. withdrawal. Pakistan has also kept the bulk of its forces on the Indian border, limiting its capacity to mobilise troops to fight militants on the Afghan border. In the short to medium term, India and Pakistan are at odds over how far Taliban fighters should be brought into a process of reconciliation in Afghanistan. And in the long term, both could end up backing opposite sides in any renewed civil war between a weak government in Kabul and Taliban militants active in parts of the countryside. Then of course, both countries have nuclear weapons, so even without Afghanistan, it’s not a place where you would ever want tensions to escalate out of control. So you would think that after a year in office, the U.S. administration would have a policy on how to deal with relations between India and Pakistan and their roles in Afghanistan. But I’m still looking for it.

Agricultural Trade Opportunities with China Dermot J. Hayes (email@example.com) China now produces about 52 million tons of pork and 14 million tons of poultry per year. Increased consumer demand, a reduction of available producers and available land, disease, and other factors all contributed to a spike in pork prices in the summer of 2008 and 2011. The Government responded to these price increases by allowing for short term, massive increases in meat imports. It must now decide whether it wishes to achieve food security and affordability by allowing imports to moderate price levels or to target meat self-sufficiency by means of trade barriers. China has begun transformations that have the potential for large impacts on world agriculture and financial markets. In November 2013, the Party will hold an important meeting (The Third Plenary Session) to create the economic model to drive China to the next income level. It now seems likely that the key decision will be to allow markets to allocate resources. If this occurs, then Chinese trade patterns will become much more predictable and governed by the laws of comparative advantage. Premiere Li Keqiang has already announced his intention of cutting the rural population of China, currently about 642 million, in half. The relocation of rural residents to urban areas will drastically cut the amount of workers available for what has historically been a very labor-intensive agriculture system. China has been able to feed a population more than four times greater than the United States using about 80% as much crop land by essentially substituting labor for land, growing multiple crops on the same acre within the same year, farming mountainsides by hand, and raising livestock using household and restaurant waste. In the future though, this system will become unsustainable. China’s middle class is projected to climb from 247 million to 607 million—far surpassing the entire population of the United States. Along with the increase in middle class citizens will come a rapid increase in per capita disposable income. Meat consumption data for China shows that as incomes grow and families move from rural to urban areas meat consumption grows dramatically. Out of necessity, many rural Chinese families subsisted on starch-based diets, and as recently as 1990, consumption of beef, poultry, and pork was only one-third the levels consumed in China today. Since 1990, pork consumption in China has grown 140%, and broiler consumption has grown by almost 500%. With this increase in livestock production came an increase in the need for livestock feed. Currently, China already imports 60 million tons of soybeans per year—nearly all the feed necessary for its livestock industry. What can Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea teach us? Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea reached China’s current standard of living in 1980, 1990, and 1993, respectively, and as similar land-scarce countries, their methods of dealing with rising consumption may provide a predictable model for China’s current transition. All three countries saw a large increase in the volume of both feed and livestock imports that directly correlated with their standard of living. All three countries eliminated the domestic production of animal feed. Interestingly, China now imports as many soybeans per capita as these three countries did at the same phase of development. However, China is 140 million tons behind in terms of corn imports. This means that any market liberalization will lead to dramatic “catch up” of corn imports. Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea imported very little meat prior to reaching China’s current level of development, then meat imports picked up rapidly after labor scarcity forced a modernization and rationalization in agriculture. These countries now import from 20% to 50% of their meat needs. The recent purchase of Smithfield foods by a consortium that includes the Chinese sovereign wealth fund, coupled with the trade history of other land-scarce Asian countries suggests that China has the potential to import very large quantities of meat. Current trade complications A number of trade complications between the United States and China have prevented US producers from fully taking advantage of agricultural needs in China, especially where pork, beef, and poultry are concerned. Some of these trade barriers are artificial, such as subsidies and import duties, and are meant allow domestic livestock producers in China to remain competitive so as to retain food independence. Technical barriers, whether artificial or not, have also proven to be a factor in the unstable demand for US products in China, and have prevented many producers developing markets in China. China has been historically unaccepting of certain practices that are common in the United States, such as using genetically modified strands of soybeans, wheat, and corn, and the use of ractopamine in pork. China has restricted US beef imports due to the outbreak of BSE in the US beef herd. US political officials have also shown a general distrust of Chinese food quality standards, and have placed restrictions on poultry imported from China, furthering trade complications. Overcoming Complications and Leveraging Trade Opportunities The United States, and Iowa in particular, as a significant producer of livestock and livestock feed grains, could create mutually beneficial trade opportunities with China. However, the Chinese government is concerned about the possible impact that large-scale purchases would have on prices in world markets. One such way of overcoming current trade complications would be through the use of long-term production contracts, either with livestock producers, feed producers, or both. In this type of scenario, a US farmer could enter into a contract with a Chinese company willing to pay for feed, construction costs, or any other barrier currently restricting a US farmer from producing livestock for China’s market. The Chinese investors could retain ownership of the animal, with both parties benefiting from a contractually obligated purchase amount and price, thus helping stabilize demand. Secondly, China has more labor than almost any other country. If it were to further open its market to imported livestock feed, it would free millions of acres of arable land and laborers for production of labor-intensive crops, such as berries, fruits, vegetables, flowers, spices, honey, and dozens of other products. US imports of processed fruits and vegetables has already risen to $1 billion in 2012, and lessening the restrictions on a free-market would allow the United States to become a major exporter of feed grains to China, while at the same time offsetting the trade by becoming an even larger importer of China’s value-added agricultural products.

Pulse induction metal detectors By PhD Iliya Kanchev Revision 2.0 – june 2005 When a metal object is in an electro-magnetic field, it interferes with this field due to the self-induction of the metal object itself. If we transmit an electro-magnetic pulse with a certain duration and place a metal object near this transmitter, then the following effect will appear: After the initial effect of the pulse, a fading electric current pulse occurs in the metal object. This fading pulse is a result from the physics phenomenon self-induction. After the end of the transmitted electro-magnetic pulse, a secondary fading electro-magnetic pulse is transmitted from the object. If we can catch this secondary pulse, we'll have an information if a metal object is present near our transmitter. This is the basis on which the pulse metal detectors are developed and work. The main task for the pulse metal detectors' developers is catching this fading pulse and processing it. The parameters of the secondary electro-magnetic pulse, as duration and amplitude, depend poorly on the kind of metal the object consists of. Therefore, the pulse-type metal detectors are not able to discriminate successfully the variety of metals. Nevertheless, there are patents offering a way for defining the very small difference in the secondary electro-magnetic pulse's types. Unfortunately, it can only be used when we have equally size metal objects, consisting of different metals, and which are placed on the same distance from the transmitting and receiving antenna of the metal detector. And that's why these patents usually don't meet a practical usage. The pulse metal detectors, as any sensitive metering device, are affected by electro-magnetic disturbances. If during the receiving of the secondary electro-magnetic pulse from the metal object, placed on a distance from the receiving and transmitting antenna, another electro-magnetic signal from a random source is received, then it will add to the useful signal. Sources for radio disturbances may be: TV or radio, a working cell phone placed too close, radio stations, a nearby working TV receiver, a PC's monitor, the PC itself, a working electro-engine, a benzene engine that uses high voltage ignition coil, power lines. In the pulse metal detector there's a scheme for eliminating the electro-magnetic disturbances to the maximum possible degree. Advantages of pulse metal detectors The main advantages of the pulse metal detectors are the high working stability, as well as the option for a huge searching coil. This grants them a huge depth penetration of the electro-magnetic pulse. Earth and water does not have any effect on them. That's why the pulse metal detectors are used primary for hunting in great depths, underwater, on the border between the earth and water, and at the beaches. The simple design of the searching coil, compared to the other types of detectors, and the minimum effect the temperature and other climate changes have on it, makes the detector a useful choice. Disadvantages of pulse metal detectors This type of detectors are unable to discriminate metals and that's their main disadvantage. For this purpose, they're sometimes combined with magnetometers. These magnetometers react on magnetic metals only. - -Transmitting and a receiving antennas Generator of electric current pulses - -Amplitude restrictor of the transmitted and received pulse - -Low-noise pre-amplifier - -Useful signal amplifier - -Scheme for compensating the magnetic field of the Earth - -Filter accepting the useful signal only and negating the external noises - -End-amplifier of the useful signal - -Scheme making the indication when a metal is present and detected - -Control block - -Power supply Transmitting and receiving antennas The transmitting antenna is used to emit an electro-magnetic pulse. The receiving antenna accepts the secondary electro-magnetic pulse, transmitted by the target. The antenna, as the theory for broadcasting of electro-magnetic waves is concerned, works in a reversible way. In other words, generally there is no difference between the transmitting and the receiving antenna. The transmitted and the received pulse have a different timing, and therefore the same antenna is generally used in the pulse metal detectors. Generator of electric current pulses This generator serves for shaping the frequency and duration of the transmitted pulse. It can be quartz-stabilized or not. If so, this makes the whole metal detector much more stable and raises its ability to negate bad noises. In the microprocessor controlled detectors, the processor itself defines the duration and frequency of the transmitted pulse. Amplitude restrictor for the transmitted and received pulse The transmitted pulse may reach an amplitude of 400V - 500V. The forefront of the received secondary electro-magnetic pulse, if the target is close enough, may reach 20V - 50V too. For this reason, an amplitude restrictor has to be put in the lead-in circuit. It doesn't interfere with the sensitivity of the detector, because the useful signal in normal conditions is low enough. The amplitude restrictor decreases the signal in the entrance of the pre-amplifier to values of 0,2V to 0,7V. The already decreased by the amplitude restrictor signal reaches the lead-in of the pre-amplifier. The signal is amplified to the maximum value possible, which is when the noises in the amplifier, the antenna and the restrictor don't have any effect on the form and amplitude of the received useful signal. Scheme for extraction of the useful signal After it is amplified, the useful signal is extracted from the main input signal. This happens with a time selection. The precise selection is of great importance for the stable work of the detector. Usually, it is done by a microprocessor's control block. Amplifier of the useful signal The already extracted useful signal is amplified in an alternating current low-frequency amplifier. This amplifier has a quite narrow frequency characteristics, which helps separating noises from the useful signal. It is capped in a negative reverse connection. This reverse connection removes the "floating zero" of the operation amplifiers, on which the amplifier of the useful signal is based on. Scheme for compensating the magnetic field of the Earth The Earth's magnetic field creates an additional electromotive power in the receiving coil. This causes disturbances in the more sensitive metal detectors. Therefore, an additional scheme for compensating the magnetic field is installed in these type of detectors. Filter accepting the useful signal only and negating the external noises In order a metal detector to be sensitive enough and with as much as possible lower level of the unwanted noises, the low-frequency useful signal, after amplified, is processed by a narrow-band filter. Filters can be passive and active. The active ones are used in the more sensitive metal detectors and have a very narrow band for accepting in the low-frequency range. This contributes in a high grade for reducing the unwanted noises in the metal detector. End-amplifier of the useful signal Despite the high amplifying of the useful signal, it has a small amplitude. So that the amplitude of this signal is able to trigger the metal detector's indication, it should be additionally amplified by the end-amplifier. Scheme making the indication when a metal is present and detected A visual or sound indicator is used. The combination of the both indications is possible however. The visual indication system can be an arrow-like analog device, an LCD display or a LED indicator with a number of light diodes. The sound indication consists of a speaker or headphones. This is the indication system that offer the easiest use and more comfortable work with the detector, since it lets the operator focus on the work field. The control block manages the whole metal detector. It may consist of discreet digital schemes, or be a microprocessor itself, which is the prefferent variant. In the professional metal detectors, the operator is granted control over the work of the microprocessor, which sets many adjustment parameters of the detector available to be easily modified. Examples are: width and frequency of the probing pulse, positioning in time for the selecting pulse from the scheme for extraction of the useful signal, etc. Due to its specifications, the pulse metal detector uses a significantly greater amount of energy power than the other types of detectors. Therefore, it needs a power source that is stable and with enough power output capacity. - - Home - - PI907 Hunter package (new) - - Specifications for PI907/PI807 - - Pictures - - Other products - - Theory of pulse induction - - Comparison PI907 and PI807 - - PI907 inquiry - - PI807 inquiry - - Contact Us

What are the three things you don’t leave the house without? Your keys, your wallet or purse, and your phone! We have all become so connected and the mobile movement is upon us. According to Google, within the past week, 81 percent of us have used our phones to browse the internet, 77 percent of us have used a search engine, 48 percent of us have viewed a video, and 63 percent of us have connected with friends on social media … all on our PHONE! And since the saying goes, “There’s an app for that” -- the St. Tammany West Chamber of Commerce is helping keep that statement true. Servicing a community that is always on the go, we know how useful and important a mobile device can be to gather quick and comprehensive information – instantly. This past week, our Chamber, in partnership with ChamberConnex, launched a smartphone app that we are excited to introduce to the community. The app, for both iPhone and Android, is not only geared towards our members, but is designed to be a complete resource tool that can be used and enjoyed by area residents and visitors. The goal of our app is to help individuals on the go by putting valuable community information in the palm of your hand. Called StTammanyBiz, the smartphone app is being sponsored by Lakeview Regional Medical Center, Banner Ford, Habitat for Humanity St. Tammany West Restore, Humana Health Benefit Plan of Louisiana, Iberia Bank, K2Realty, N'tini's, NOLA Media Group, Northshore Broadcasting and Ochsner Northshore, and will include the following features: Mobile Directory: All St. Tammany West Chamber members are included and may be searched by company name and category. View business hours, get a map to the location, and click-to-call! Events: View a calendar of community events and find and register for Chamber events. News: Through our partnership with NOLA Media Group, you can catch up on news from nola.com, as well as our Chamber blog and news from our members. Special Deals: Opt-in to your favorite local businesses and receive special offers and coupons! To download the FREE mobile app, text the words StTammanyWest to 71441. You will receive a text message back with a link to download the app. We hope all of you enjoy using the app and connecting with our member businesses!Lacey Toledano is the St. Tammany West Chamber of Commerce’s President and CEO. She can be contacted at email@example.com.

Pioneering shows like Sesame Street have been encouraging young learners to follow their narratives across various media platforms for decades, but researchers of late have been specifically investigating the application of “transmedia” to education, in both formal and informal settings. It’s a buzzword for sure. But media scholar Henry Jenkins has defined it as storytelling across multiple forms of media, “with each platform making a unique and original contribution to the experience as a whole,” he writes in a recent blog post. Kids can interact with their favorite Sesame Street characters in the TV series, books, and online games, for example. Jenkins argues that a good transmedia narrative uses these different media to “flesh out the world, to extend the time line, to deepen our familiarity with the characters, and to increase our engagement.” He says this encourages a new kind of learning. With an educational property like Sesame Street, transmedia does something else – it reinforces the learning both by encouraging us to reread and re-experience a particularly pleasurable narrative (something, as we all know, kids are often inclined to do with little or no adult encouragement) and because they are invited to connect together pieces of information across multiple installments. In his book, The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell (2000) describes the original Sesame Street as “sticky,” suggesting that young people become so drawn to its vivid characters that they keep coming back for more and in the process, these repeated encounters reinforce what they learn from its curricular design. Last month, researchers at the USC Annenberg Innovation Lab and and the Joan Ganz Cooney Center released T is for Transmedia: Learning through Transmedia Play, a guidebook to understanding the role of transmedia in the lives of elementary school children. The report helps to identify the relationship between transmedia and storytelling, play, and learning, and provides case studies of meaningful transmedia play experiences as examples. “We really have two goals for the report,” said co-author Rebecca Herr-Stephenson. “Our first is to get educators thinking about how they might incorporate transmedia play into activities, lesson plans, or projects. Our second goal is to put the design recommendations before media makers in the hopes that the principles will reinforce the good work people are already doing as well as encourage others to bring play and learning to the forefront of their transmedia projects.” The authors, including Herr-Stephenson and her fellow researcher Meryl Alper, say that transmedia experiences, such as following the digital novel “Inanimate Alice,” are integral because they help students dig deeply into narratives that interest them, and encourage media engagement as well as visual and oral literacy. “All of these are ways for kids to participate in and create culture,” Erin Reilly, Creative Director of the USC Annenberg Innovation Lab, said in a short video produced by the lab. “They don’t see a separation between online or offline. They see that technology—this medium right here—is a representation of how they can actually share their voice in the culture.” Helping participate in new media culture as creators is just one of the many capabilities of transmedia, especially when the concept is woven into a diverse curriculum. Game designers and developers have a special opportunity to produce more “transformative” games that often help encourage personal growth and development. Along with others in our region, Schell Games has been championing the production of transformative games and recently took their commitment to the next level. They’ve joined the Fred Rogers Company and PBS to create the interactive website Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, the online supplement to the new animated series based on the legacy of Fred Rogers. The new online Neighborhood includes free, interactive games for kids featuring the “next generation” of the beloved characters from the original Mister Rogers television program. The cast of characters, led by a young Daniel Tiger, use imagination, creativity, and music to explore social-emotional themes. The show and the interactive games on its website, mobile, and tablets are designed to teach key social skills to preschoolers ages 2 to 4. The concept may seem simple, but the implementation of transmedia is crucial for today’s students to develop along with a comprehensive understanding of 21st-century tools. More importantly, it helps erase the boundaries between learning and play in the most exciting ways—by engaging children in interactive media they love and can learn from.

One of the shelters that the city of Worcester uses to house stray dogs, the Barton Brook Kennel & Humane Shelter, has been ordered by a state agency to stop accepting dogs. The Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources made an unannounced inspection of Barton Brook on March 11 and found inadequate conditions in both its buildings, according to an order issued to the shelter's president, Patricia Dykas. Ms. Dykas is also the animal control officer for Leicester. She said she did not know about the state order. She then declined to comment. Worcester animal control officers and other animal control officers have been taking animals, including dogs, to Barton Brook, 305 River St., for detention, according to the state order. Worcester police used Barton Brook on a limited basis in March and April, according to Kathleen A. Daly, spokeswoman for the department. For much of 2013, Worcester police primarily used the Worcester Animal Rescue League for animal shelter services. According to the state order, the smaller building at Barton Brook, which operates as a crematorium and is used to isolate animals, lacked an adequate heat source to maintain an ambient temperature between 65 and 85 degrees. The larger building, which is used to board animals, also lacked an adequate heat source, the state said. The main floor of this building is a dirt floor, making sanitization impossible. This building also lacked an adequate water source, impeding the ability to maintain sanitary conditions, and the artificial light in the room was not strong enough for people to see the animals and their surroundings. Finally, animal food in this building was not stored in rodent-proof containers. Barton Brook was ordered to immediately stop accepting dogs for detention from Worcester and from other animal control officers. Barton Brook was also ordered to make arrangements to transfer all of the dogs detained there to a more suitable facility. “The department discontinued using Barton Brook Kennel & Humane Shelter in compliance with the desist order issued by the Massachusetts Department of Agriculture and Resources,” Ms. Daly said. “Prior to the order, the department sent approximately seven to 10 dogs to the Barton Brook Kennel & Humane Shelter. We will continue to use the Worcester Animal Rescue League until a contract for animal services is fully executed by the city of Worcester.” The state agency said that if Barton Brook wishes to continue boarding and detaining animals it must install a concrete floor in the main room of the larger building; provide adequate heat sources for both buildings; install a sink with running hot and cold water in the larger building; install adequate artificial illumination in the larger building, and store all animal food in rodent-proof containers. Contact Mikala Kane at firstname.lastname@example.org

Daring Do swings into action! Coming one thousand summers from now to a moon near you, it's the latest hot non-film out of not Hollywood, and best one to not see the light of day since Celestia's cinema debut in Some Like it Plot. The non-existent Daring Do film wowed imaginary critics up to three towns over from an undisclosed starting location, and promises to feature all of the crystals, dungeons, Nazi-ponies, and nuke resistant refrigerators your little pony minds can handle. If you don't not see one film this summer, make it this one. Or not. On with the actual news. Children of the Night Animation Seeks Talented and Motivated Voice Actor to Play Tired Grown Up You might remember this project as the drop-dead gorgeous fan animation seeking to tell the story of Luna's fall from grace by way of child napping to create a kingdom of eternal night and dreams. If you haven't seen any of the buildup to that, then... surprise! It's beyond fantastic. But they need a voice for their narrator character, a little pony who lived through the events of the short. You should check out the details here, and either try out or poke a friend you might know who could be up to the task. In Unrelated Related News, Tucan Estudios Seeks a Singing Pinkie Pie The video says it all, really. Not to be Outdone, Mane6 Studios Requires the Talents of Rainbow Dash And congratulations, talented actress, whomever you may be. You're the new Rainbow Dash! If you've got the scratchy voice and badass attitude needed to take on the challenge, Mane6 needs you to make Fighting is Magic 20% coo-- ok, please put away the knives, they are not needed here. Scientists Determine Cake to be Not a Lie When Directly Viewed by Neutral Observer, Mess of Icing After They Look Away Photos from Everfree Northwest Turn Up in Local Paper's Not-As-Local Servers I could stand to be more clever, but sue me. Check out all the pretty pictures here. News Items Continue to Come in Bunches as Everfree Northwest Sets Local Brohoof Record The Magic Flute Provides Rare Moment of Consistency for Discord It's a joke because he's the lord of chaos, I don't mean to imply John de Lancie is ever anything but awesome. Check out the full gallery of pictures from the event of all the lucky bronies who attended to see him narrating Mozart: Link to MBD for pictures: https://www.facebook.com/groups/150035345073901/ Link to Windy City Bronies for pictures: MLP Forms for pictures: http://mlpforums.com/topic/29553-ravinia-with-discord/ Photos from Jack Burn: Houston Bronies Make Contact With Omnipony, Declare Successful Meetup Omnipony came all the way from New Jersey to visit family, and the Houston Brony Group knew just what that called for... a PARTY! Omnipony blasted some of his awesome music and Djed the rest of the time while people chatted, played trading card games, or played Fighting is Magic on a huge projector screen. We from the Houston Bronies just wanted to let the Mane6 team know that we are extremely impressed by what ya'll are doing and are so excited for FiM! Personally, I won't be surprised if FiM becomes THE staple thing to do at meetups all around the world, keep fighting the good fight guys! We then played a game of Pony Jeopardy created by one of our own, and the winner was none other than Omnipony himself (who was dead last most of the two rounds, but was the only person to know the answer to the Final Question "What is the title of the book Spike accidently burned in Owl's Well that Ends Well?" [Hint: This is how he knew: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLG9aEZa_eg]). Also, the Houston Bronies wanted to give a shoutout to Omnipony's parent's, because... having parent's that are bronies and are 100% behind you being a musical celebrity at the age of 15 is -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYjpE1I7XbE Link to more pictures: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.457275950961783&type=1 SoCal Bronies Declare War On Concept of Non-Meetup News Items, Gain Traction in Form of Gigantic Writeup This past Saturday, 36 SoCal Bronies met up at the Irvine Spectrum for a day of hanging out, toy store raiding, and fun! The day started off just gathering from 11:30am-12:30pm. At 12:30, the existing group split into two groups; one headed to Red Robin and the other to Panda Express. The Panda Express group finished faster and went to Barnes and Nobles for awhile then off to the Target. Once at the target, the Red Robin group finished up and reconvened with the Panda Express group at Target. At this point it was about 3pm. After the Target was raided, we ventured our way to the Apple Store to convert EVERYTHING to pony! Our mission was going well until a staff member went around and started resetting the machines. All that work, wasted. We then went over the Hot Topic to buy pony swag! Pony shirts, sweatshirts, pins, and trading cards were bought! After Hot Topic, we went to Dave&Busters for some more food, games, and hanging. We spent around an hour hanging out and talking pony (watching failed at playing Portal 2! Haha, that was fun though!) We had a royal wedding of our own with blind bags, ponies, and plushies! The group then left the spectrum and went off to more local stores to pony raid! We headed towards the Toys R Us in the Tustin Market Place where we were successful in buying blind bags! Then to the Target across the way in the Tustin Market Place where more ponies were bought, including more trading cards! Then off to another Target not far from there where more ponies and card were bought. After the raiding was complete, we reconvened at a local Denny's to show our spoils! We ate food, listened to music, opened ponies, drew and enjoyed each other's presence. As the night started to come to a close and some bronies started to head home, a small group remained and headed over to our very gracious host Briston's home! We sat around the TV and did what Bronies do best, watch My Little Pony! We sang to every song that came on and talked about interesting facts during the episode currently being watched. All in all, very awesome and amazing day! Thank you Briston for putting this together!! Seriously, Look At That Writeup The Age of the Meetup is Over, Welcome The Age of the Podcast With "Elements of Absurdity" Featuring music, artists, and writers who purportedly don't get enough exposure and put on by someone brave enough to call themselves DJ Octaviapuss. Go check it out. Podcast F'tagn Roundup. Ia! Ia! Now Featuring The Brony Show, Episode 64 The Brony Show, Episode 64 - Filly Gamez Hey, everypony! Monday blues got you down? Pick yourself up with The Brony Show, now with 20% more flavor and in a convenient and fat-free portion for the pony on the go! An hour before the show (about 5:00 PCT/8:00 EST) join Anchors once again for his fanfic reading. Then, our guest interviewee will be the amazing and talented Writer’s Block and Raishy, the founders of Filly Gamez! http://www.fillygamez.com/. They will be answering questions about their upcoming game Welcome to Ponyville, some asked by us, some asked by you! If you follow Filly Gamez, then you don’t want to miss this interview, because there will be a super-secret special reveal exclusive to us. Which means, you need to be here to see what’s in store! It’s a once in a lifetime chance, so be there! We’ll also be playing the first episode of Mentally Advanced as our episode for the day. Then we’re watching some awesome PMV’s and music videos to wrap up the show. Be sure also to stick around for CrimsontheWolf’s Oatmeal Galore Afterparty, where we will continue our crazy party long into the night with random hijinks and a Let’s Check it out at www.thebronyshow.net or www.livestream.com/thebronyshow It all starts at 5:00 PCT/8:00 EST Can't wait to see you there! The Silenced Theater to Showcase Noisy Mare-a-thon, August 24 Live stream Channel: http://www.livestream.com/silenttheater?t=656193 On August 24th, at 8:00 PM central time, The Silenced Theater will be hosting a six episode MLP Mare-a-thon. There will be an interactive activity where you need to watch for a specific character and guess how many times they appear. The winner will get to choose the first episode for the next stream! Hope to see you there! Pony Parody Found In AdventureQuest: Experts Shocked to Discover People Still Playing AQ Didn't Pinkie Pie sing a song about this once upon a time or something? I feel like she might have. Eh, probably just a coincidence. An Open Letter From A Dramatic Reader on The Youtubes Hello dear reader over at Equestria Daily, I'm a brony on youtube that does fan-fic readings and reaction video's. I have a small audience of about 106 subs. I'm taking requests for fan-fic readings and reaction video's, and currently having a small contest where 4 people can win a reading with me. Sadly this is going really slow because I have such a small audience. And I know that alot of people would want to win a reading or would want to submit a story they want to have a reading of. Here's some links to: My channel, 1 reading, 1 reaction video and to the video of the contest. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ti9Xy8_g2-Q (Reaction Video) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJ3cb2AgO5k (Random Reading) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMbjvsQzgJw (Contest Video) Puerto Rican Bronies Facebook Group Announces MLP Election Day I don't actually have a Facebook account and can't confirm any of the details here, but these guys have done some neat little art events in the past, so maybe those of you with social netwebbing skillz should go here and find out what this is all about. By Royal Decree, go forth and explore. Merchtastic Mega Mall Signals End of Roundup, Text Weary Eyes Cry in Relief Really Awesome Derpy Plush Vinyl Scratch Decal Sticker Foil Promo Fluttershy Phoe's Cheerful Optimism and Witty Reparte Replaced With Tired Cynicism, Trixie to Blame I mean really, who thought that pony was a good idea? I could go on, but you've read far too much tonight already. Good night, everypony, and have pleasant dreams. EqD will be returning to its normal schedule and tone soon.

Generally, my own field of geology is not somewhere you find a lot of pseudo-science. So it's nice to be able to comment on some, via the folk at Answers Research Journal. Thanks to Michelle for the heads-up. The journal contains a paper on 'catastrophic granite formation', an attempt to show that granites can form very quickly, quick enough to be consistent with what creationists call 'flood geology', the theory that most of the geology we see was formed in the Genesis flood. The author is one Andrew Snelling, proud holder of a doctorate in geology from the University of Sydney. It seems that Snelling is happy to use the conventional geological column when working as a consulting geologist, but happy to disregard it when propagandising in favour of creationism. The 'journal' claims to be "a professional, peer-reviewed technical journal for the publication of interdisciplinary scientific and other relevant research from the perspective of the recent Creation and the global Flood within a biblical framework". This raises some questions. Who are the reviewers for the journal, and who reviewed this article? In geology it is standard practice for reviewers to be acknowledged in published papers; reviewers usually identify themselves to authors, unless there are strong reasons not to do so. No reviewers are identified in the article: in fact there are no acknowledgments at all. In the instructions for authors [PDF], prospective authors are asked to suggest at least three referees. The guidelines state that comments will be solicited by at least three reviewers. I wonder if only reviewers nominated by the authors are used? Certainly it's hard to imagine mainstream geoscientists agreeing to review for the journal, or agreeing to the publication of any articles on 'flood geology'. Why is the journal restricted to "research from the perspective of the recent Creation and the global Flood within a biblical framework"? The instructions for authors suggest that work will be rejected if it is not "formulated within a young earth-young universe framework". This would be like, for example, a physics journal refusing to accept papers that were not formulated within a string-theory framework. No real scientific journal would restrict itself to publication of work that addresses a single hypothesis, because that wouldn't be science. The journal is claimed to be a "technical journal", but there's a lot of language in the article that suggests otherwise. For example, in the introduction, Snelling writes that "Each recognizably distinctive granite mass, the boundary of which can be traced on the ground, is marked as a separate geologic unit called a pluton on a geologic map". In a section headed 'Magma Principles', Snelling writes that "The molten material which flows from volcanoes is known as lava and cools to form volcanic rocks. So lavas must be molten rocks; that is, they were originally rocks that melted deep inside the earth underneath volcanoes. When deep inside the earth, these molten rock materials are called magmas because they are slightly different in composition and physical properties due to the steam and gases they have dissolved in them that erupt separately from the lavas through volcanoes". There's nothing in particular wrong with these statements, but they read much more like excerpts from a GCSE level textbook than prose from a technical journal. This sort of basic information is never included in real geological journals: the assumption is that those who read them are already familiar with the basics. The article reads much more like a piece written for a general audience. What of the actual science? It's actually not too bad in the main. The issues surrounding the production and emplacement of granite are quite well set out. The point of the article is that granites could be created and emplaced within a timescale of 6000-7000 years. This seems like a reasonable conclusion, at least in some cases, though I'm not convinced that it applies to every intrusive granite body on the planet. The problem is that Snelling then jumps to the conclusion that this is consistent with the Genesis account of creation. At this point, the article is no longer talking about science, but is trying to provide evidence for an answer that has already been decided on. The argument that the earth is a lot older than 7000 years does not depend on granites taking more than 7000 years to form and become emplaced. It relies on pretty much everything we know about geology, but particularly on radioisotopic dating. How does Snelling get around this? He simply states that isotopic dating is in gross error because it fails to account for the acceleration of decay. This is a load of rubbish, as you can see here. The dead giveaway, though, is the section devoted to 'Evidence from radiohalos'. A radiohalo is supposedly a zone of crystal damage surrounding a crystal that contains radioactive substances, for example zircon crystals that are relatively common in granites. Snelling claims to be able to identify radiohalos associated with decay of three polonium isotopes. The argument is that the isotopes of polonium have very short half lives: 3.1 minutes (218Po), 164 microseconds (214Po), and 138 days (210Po). Therefore cooling of the granite has to be rapid, because otherwise the polonium would decay too rapidly to form halos. Not to put too fine a point on it, this is drivel. There's a useful summary of why it's drivel here. Snelling has come to an initially reasonable conclusion about the potential rapidity of formation of some granite bodies, and then extrapolated wildly to suggest that this is the case for all igneous rocks, and that most of what we know about geology is wrong. Still, he is happy to ignore that conclusion in his consultancy work and publications in real scientific journals. Like Homeopathy, Answers in Genesis is a pseudojournal: it's designed to look superficially like it is publishing real science "from a different perspective", but it is not. It is a creationist propaganda organ, and it is publishing creationist propaganda.

Cedar Rapids, Iowa News, Sports, and Weather Lawmakers divided over embattled I-380 speed cameras By B.A. Morelli, The Gazette After two traffic cameras on Interstate 380 were deemed non-compliant with state rules, some Iowa lawmakers say recipients of speeding tickets from the cameras should get their money back or fight them. Others are urging Cedar Rapids to move the cameras or turn them off. Move the cameras and give people their money back, said State Rep. Bobby Kaufmann, a Republican from Wilton. However, at least two lawmakers are defending Cedar Rapids’ position. Cities should have home rule, said State Sen. Bob Dvorsky, a Coralville Democrat. There’s still a big question if the DOT has jurisdiction over that sort on thing. It might be helpful for a city like Cedar Rapids to go ahead and challenge the DOT. The Iowa Department of Transportation administrative rule, enacted on Feb. 12, required cameras be at least 1,000 feet from a speed limit change. City officials said Thursday they will continue operating the two cameras as is, and have no plans to issue refunds. The cameras at J Avenue southbound and Diagonal Drive northbound have issued approximately 40,000 tickets worth more than $3 million since February. Police Chief Wayne Jerman acknowledged he had known for some time that the two cameras were within 1,000 feet. J Avenue sits at 895 feet and Diagonal Drive at 860 feet. On Aug. 22, Cedar Rapids received a DOT email requesting additional information about the camera program and notifying the city of non-compliance with the administrative rule. (An administrative rule is enacted by an agency to help interpret laws, but it is not a law passed by elected officials.) Cedar Rapids Mayor Ron Corbett said the city believed the existing cameras were grandfathered in when the new rules took place, and that the email was a request for additional information, not a directive to move the cameras. Cedar Rapids has a contract with the DOT to use the cameras, and the DOT has never given the city permission to move the cameras nor directed Cedar Rapids to take them down, he said. Corbett said the city wants to work with the DOT to resolve the issue, and he hopes there can be flexibility in the rule. Some, though, say Cedar Rapids should have tried to make sure they were following the rule first, rather than after being called on it. The city needs to have the same respect for laws and rules as the citizens have in paying the tickets, said State Sen. Mark Chelgren, a Republican from Ottumwa who served on the administrative rules review committee that approved the DOT rule changes. Anyone issued a ticket by a camera that doesn’t follow the rules shouldn’t pay it because none of those tickets are valid, Chelgren said. I would encourage anyone issued one of those tickets to challenge it. State Sen. Wally Horn, of Cedar Rapids, who co-chaired the administrative rules committee, said the city should move the cameras. The mayor and city council need to decide to meet guidelines and move it back, Horn said. I think (people who got a ticket) would have a right, probably in a class-action suit, probably to get their money back. State Sen. Tod Bowman, a Democrat from Maquoketa who chairs the transportation committee, said Cedar Rapids and the DOT need to work together to solve the issue so the rules are clear for Iowans. In the meantime, he says Cedar Rapids should abide by the rules. I don’t want to pass judgment on what Cedar Rapids is doing or not doing, but if the rule or law clearly states what needs to happen for a city to have authority for a city to issue tickets via video cameras, I would hope they are following the rules, Bowman said. State Sen. Jeff Danielson, a Democrat from Cedar Falls, defends Cedar Rapids. He said the DOT overstepped its bounds by establishing the rules after the state legislature failed to ban traffic cameras. He said he favors local control. The DOT picked the fight; it’s up to them to figure it out now, he said. The DOT official that oversees the traffic camera program was out of the office, and DOT director Paul Trombino didn’t return phone or email messages Friday afternoon. l Comments: (319) 339-3177; firstname.lastname@example.org

Cable vs. Satellite Compare the differences and get the right service for you.Compare Now Are bundles bogus? Nope, they can save youSee How a bundle of cash. See the provider map. You want cable, you need cable, but who is your cable provider?View Now It's easy to get cable. Call 1-866-921-5828 Why Cable TV in Hyder, AK The team here at CableTV.com loves cable TV service in Hyder. Here are some reasons why. Cable is reliable in bad weather. And the hundreds of HD channels are available whenever it's convenient for you thanks to On Demand. Cable TV is easier to install; it requires less equipment than satellite. And when you bundle it with high-speed internet, you get a fast internet connection, one low monthly bill, and can save up to $400 every year. Plus cable is: Cable TV offersmore HD choices Snow may mess up satellite, but itdoesn't faze cable Cable can beinstalled virtually anywhere How People Watch TV in Hyder Do you know how many people stream television programs online? How about the number of people who bundle TV and Internet? Well, cable TV use in Hyder, AK tends to follow larger trends. In America, 97% of people watch television as it is broadcast, 48% stream at least one show online and 7% use their DVRs to watch TV whenever they want. Plus, 72% of Americans bundle their cable subscription with high-speed Internet and approximately one-third of Americans have four or more televisions in their homes. 85 people live in Hyder, which means there are: - 82 people who watch broadcast TV - 41 people who stream TV online - 6 people who regularly use DVRs - 61 people with bundled services - 28 people with a plethora of plasma-screens Cable Internet in Hyder, AK If you are considering digital cable service in Hyder, AK, you can easily include high-speed Internet. Bundling cable service and high-speed Internet can save you $400 per year, not to mention that cable Internet is 25% - 100% faster than the national average. Broadband usage increased by 0% in Alaska from 2009 to 2010 and today 27 people in Hyder are cable customers. It's easy to get cable, Call 1-866-921-5828 CableTV.com's Favorite Hyder Actors She's the Queen of reality television, and Hyder is part of her nationwide kingdom. Kim Kardashian is the most well-known member of the Kardashian family. Her charismatic personality, wit, and natural beauty have made her an instant star. She stars on several shows on the E! Network including "Kourtney & Kim Take New York" and "Keeping Up With the Kardashians." Her fashion sense and business savvy have allowed her to grow her net worth with multiple business endeavors. Be sure to watch her flaunt those assets on E! and cable TV in Hyder. Find Cable TV in Hyder Hopefully all this has helped you realize that we know cable like E.T. knows awkward finger touching moments. We can even help you discover which cable provider is right for you. Local governments restrict cable companies licensing so they usually don't overlap. Simply enter your zip code in the box to find out who the cable provider is in Hyder.

You probably know that Google has recently announced that they were stopping development for Google wave, and indeed after the initial buzz and all the hype that surrounded wave when it was launched, interested faded rapidly. Why did that happen ? I mostly agree with this post: Why Google Wave “failed”. When users need to say things like “To understand what Wave is, you have to either use it or watch the video; it’s impossible to explain“, you should know that something is wrong with your product. To survive and proliferate, products need a clear purpose that everyone can understand. It doesn’t mean that Wave’s purpose was not smart or that it didn’t have any usefulness, but it could mean that Wave was too much in advance for its time. There are a lot of examples of inventions that didn’t prove successful when they were first published, but only later when the time was ripe for it. If you tried to explain what Twitter is no more than 20 years back, I bet you’d have the same difficulties in communicating Twitter’s purpose than Google had trying to explain what Wave was. E-mail is so popular because it’s simple: self contained messages sent back and forth between individuals, forming conversations. But these conversations have limits that Wave tried to lift: not real-time, no central archiving, no plugin, little automation… unfortunately, a wave is both too similar and too different from an e-mail conversation for most people to see a clear benefit. But this alone can not explain Wave’s lack of success; there were also some bad choices in UI design. Google is (was?) well known for its spartan yet functional UI design, which is exemplified in Google Search for example or GMail. No fancy animations or drag and drop or big icons, just functional buttons, at the exact right position, with the exact right size and font so that you’re not distracted from your goal. Wave was the exact opposite: unintuitive and confusing interface, with minimizing frames (why on earth?), trying too hard to unify concepts (my settings is a wave? come on!). I’m sure that after receiving their long-awaited invitation, most users connected once, tried to figure it for a while and then gave up and never came back. I’d be curious to know the stats… Anyway, I’m sure that Wave will resurface in one form or another, because it is a response to one of the biggest challenges of communication these days: the scattering of information and ways to communicate. The need is there, just waiting for the right product when the time is ripe…

Users Online Now: GLP Poker Rooms Donate To GLP Back to Forum Back to Thread REPLY TO THREAD In the 1950's & 1960's the top tax rate was 70-92% so what is repubs malfunction? Ms Sans Serif In accordance with industry accepted best practices we ask that users limit their copy / paste of copyrighted material to the relevant portions of the article you wish to discuss and no more than 50% of the source material, provide a link back to the original article and provide your original comments / criticism in your post with the article. [quote:Anonymous Coward 7958210:MV8xNTYzMzM5XzMyMTI4NTQ0Xzc4MjRENkQz] [quote:Christofurio 3438228:MV8xNTYzMzM5XzI3Njg3MDA4XzgyNzE4QTYx] Begin at the beginning: were the rich actually paying 70% or more during that period, or were they availing themselves of various loopholes and paying a good deal less? My guess (subject to correction) would be that they probably weren't actually paying much more than they are now. This matters because the general 'point' is that good things happened at time X, and Y was true through the time X, so Y must be the cause of the good things in X. That is either valid for EVERY pertinent Y, given the EXACT Y involved, or it is not valid at all. Thus, as to taxes, every loophole that existed for the avoidance of taxes by the wealthy during the period in question must be scrupulously preserved or restored in order for us to get back to the wonderful postulated good old days. For the loopholes are all part of the Y, right? We want the good old days "back," right? And there are other candidate Ys that had nothing to do with the tax system. Those were the years of the Bretton Woods accords, after all, which lasted from 1944 until 1971. These accords created a gold standard with regard to international financing. So maybe it was the gold that was behind all those good things! (Indeed, personally I take this quite seriously, although I acknowledge that just daydreaming about good old days would not make up an argument for it.) The 1950s and 1960s were also a period when neither the US nor the UN recognized the People's Republic of China. In both contexts, only the government in Taipai was China. So ... withdraw recognition from Beijing! and go back to spelling it Peking! You want those good things "back," right? But ... look at the list of "good things" again. The US "defeated Communism" in the 1950s and 1960s? Assuming that the word "Communism" in that sentence refers to the bloc of nations led by the old Soviet Union: didn't its "defeat" come after the reduction of the highest marginal taxes? In the late '80s and early '90s? What the US did in the 1950s and 1960s was "contain" Communism. By, for example, making a point of committing to the defense of Quemoy and Matsu, the forward posts of the regime in Taipai that we continued to recognize as the only legitimate China. So why should this lead us to the conclusion that we should replicate the tax system of the period without also replicating its diplomacy? Rescind the recognition of Beijing! (Or, recognize reality and don't do that -- but drop silly arguments.) The US created the interstate system during the period. Yes: but should we pay no attention now to the possibility that that is one of the causes of subsequent troubles? After all, it made the rapid consumption of gasoline a lot more easy and a lot more tempting. That in time became a geostrategic imperative: we have to keep importing the crude oil that makes that possible in ever-increasing quantaties. In the good old days, the best way to get to California was to take route 66. It made for a nice TV show but unwieldy travel. You want those good old days back? Tear up the interstates! Or keep the interstates and look beyond lame arguments about how we have to do things just like we did back in the good old days. Arguments like the paradigm of lame at the top of this thread. [/quote] [/quote] In the 1950's & 1960's the top tax rate was 70-92% USA laid the interstate system, built the Internet, put a man on the moon, defeated Communism, their education system was the envy of world, their middle class thriving, their economy was unparalleled. You want that back? Raise the fucking taxes on the rich! 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8 Security Tips to Secure your WordPress Blog WordPress security is a major concern for every writer who uses WordPress as a blogging platform. Self hosted WordPress blogs are more vulnerable than third party hosted services like blogger. WordPress is one of the most used websites CMSs; this information-rich database is therefore a main target for website attacks. If your website generates a lot of traffic, then hackers will aim at these sites to steal sensitive personal information. So WordPress’s security must be a priority for a blog owner. So as an Administrator or Editor-in-Chief of your WordPress blog it is very essential to use these WordPress security tips and keep the hackers away. If you are wary of plugins then you may take a look at the Top 10 WordPress Plugins I use on DailyBlogging and select the plugins accordingly. There are some tips you can use to protect your blog from potential hackers. These tips are not 100% hacker-proof, but they can go a long way in deterring a hacker and making it harder for them to breach the borders of your privacy. Take these easy preventive measures to secure your site and your data from attacks. 1. Update to the Latest WordPress Version As soon as an upgraded version is released, try to upgrade your blog. You can use the WordPress Automatic Upgrade plugin to upgrade to the latest version. Any major security issues will be likely to be fixed in the upgrade. 2. Update your Plugins after checking the change-log The plugins that you use are all developed by third party programmers; thus they are more vulnerable to hackers than WordPress itself. It is recommended that before you start using a plugin, check the profile carefully and read the comments and stats. Also, update your plugins regularly. 3. Take regular Database as well as Full Site Backups This is perhaps the most important tip. Take back up of your site on a regular basis and store that back up in a secure place. This will ensure that even if you are compromised, you will be up and running. Without back up, you will lose everything. I have written a tutorial which uses Cron Jobs for taking Nightly Database Backups. 4. Delete/Rename the Default admin User By default, all WordPress installations come with an admin user. This will be the first thing that a potential hacker will look for when targeting your site. You will have to delete this user. First create a new user with a unique username. Then login using this new user name and then delete the admin user. The hacker now has to crack both your username and password. 5. Use a Secure Password This is a fundamental security tip: do not use your name or birthday as passwords. These can be easily cracked. Try to use a combination of capital letters, small letters, numbers and punctuation in the password and ensure that it is a unique one. 6. Install WordPress Security Plugins There are many WordPress security plugins that you can install to keep your site secure, like WP Security Scan and WP Exploit Scanner. You can use WP Firewall or WP Antivirus also. With WordPress 3.1 onwards the Login Lockdown plugin comes in by default. So you don’t need to worry about users who are trying to somehow get into your Admin panel using exploits or password guessing techniques. 7. Check and Update your Themes If you are building your own theme, try to check for the common security flaws and the PHP security holes before using the template. For this you can use WP Theme Scanner. Update your Themes, specially the free one’s as soon as an update is made available by the developer. 8. Protect your WP Admin folder You may add a .htaccess file to your WP admin folder; this restricts access by blocking all IP addresses except the ones you use. Below is the .htaccess code to do so. Make sure that you place this .htaccess file in the WP-Admin folder. If you place it in the root directory of your WordPress blog then only you’ll be able to access your site. So be cautious when dealing with such htaccess commands. Allow WP Admin Folder Access only to a specific IP order deny,allow deny from all allow from 126.96.36.199 Change 188.8.131.52 to your own IP Address. If your blog is multi-authored or has multiple owners then add another allow command with your partner’s or guest blogger’s IP. Now, I know many people have Dynamic IP. So if you allow your current Static IP then you will be blocked when you reconnect and try to access your blog. To avoid such a situation you need to allow Dynamic IPs. But that would mean, that some people apart from you can also access the WP Admin folder. Here is the code for blocking Dynamic IP. Allow Access to a Dynamic IP order deny,allow deny from all allow from 1.1.1.* We use the Wildcard character (*) here. This means anyone with the IP 184.108.40.206 can access your WP Admin folder. Another way to protect your WP Admin folder is to password protect that directory itself. Popular web hosts like HostGator and Bluehost provide the facility to ‘Password Protect Directories‘ within the CPanel itself. These tips require little time and effort to set up. But if you can implement a few of these, then they will go a long way to ensure the security of your WordPress blog. So, which security tip do your employ to protect your WordPress Blog ?

Wozza, Gus and Tim head from London to Cannes in time for cocktails, so make it as fast as possible please, by Hayabusa, Blackbird and ZX-12R It's pitch dark and my eyes, already shot from the last flat-out 700 miles and the weekend that preceded them, are straining through the inky blackness of the twisting, winding autoroute ahead to the small red dot that is Gus' tail-light. It heads upwards then disappears left and out of sight. There must be a corner coming. Concrete barriers lining the three-lane motorway flash by in my peripheral vision while the blazing pool of light from the Busa's headlamp taunts my eyes into its comforting bright arena. But I have to ignore it. Where I need to concentrate is into the deep darkness beyond, scanning for the slightest clue as to where this rollercoaster of a road is going next. At 150mph, life happens quickly. Then the corner. It's an uphill left which the Hayabusa dives into with a healthy shove and a touch of bodyweight and as I fix my eyes into the far distance to keep the bike on a steady course I wonder what exactly am I doing. There's no hurry. There's no reason for us to be doing this. We could slow down. Why ride as fast as possible on the fastest bikes in the world, down a blind and curving stretch of motorway, at night? The sensible part of my brain wants my right hand to give up the chase now. But sensible is only one part of the equation that has brought us to this point. Sensible is not motorbikes with 150-plus horsepower. Sensible is not engines that pull shockingly hard from 130mph, in top gear, as if they've barely got into their stride. Frankly, sensible is not a Hayabusa, or a Blackbird, or a ZX-12R.Sensible is a nice little car. Sensible is a package holiday on the Costa del Sol with all-you-can eat buffets and a case of San Miguel. Sensible is not this trip, on these bikes. My right hand ignores sensible and as the left gives way to straight, the needle creeps to 155, 160, 165mph. Damn, it feels good. Then it doesn't. Distraction is the last thing needed at over two-miles-a-minute, but something's up. I realise my right index finger is floating in air where the front brake lever should be. Not looking down, and with my brain refusing to believe the lever has simply vanished, my finger probes empty air. A glance tells me the lever is no more. My right hand does sensible and shuts the throttle. Fast. Another look and there's definitely no lever. Exhilaration gives way to cold sweat at what could have been. With the Hayabusa's hefty engine braking and adequate back brake I cruise the last 20 miles of our journey into Cannes. As Cannes centre hoves into view, all we want is our hotel and a beer or three. Sadly we haven't got a clue where our hotel is. Salvation comes in the shape of Tim and his dedicated organisation as he plucks a streetmap of Cannes from his rucksack. "Hmm," he ponders, scowling alternately at the map and the streets around us. "Down here, left, and it's on the right," he announces. Relieved, we head for the budget delights of the Kyriad hotel, which, thanks to us being the only guests and it being in a state of mid-refurbishment, is a halfway-house between Fawlty Towers and The Shining.Half an hour later and we're kicking back with a brace of cold beers as the tall tales run hard and fast and we start to come down off the gruelling rush that has been the last 14 hours since leaving our P&O cabin at Le Havre. Backtrack to this morning and I'd started aboard the Kawasaki. For any of you taller folks out there, this is a bike that makes a lot of sense. It's just like a sportsbike, but ten per cent bigger everywhere, which means for anyone over six foot it's perfect. There's nowhere you get any undue aches or pains no matter how far you're going on the ZX, although it can be a little unwieldy at low speed in town as the weight makes itself felt. Turn up the wick however, and the Kawasaki sheds pounds dramatically as the needle heads around the dial, and it makes a lot of sense beyond the 100mph mark. Continue the Cannes test Become a fan of Visordown Follow us on twitter Other Immediate Media Sites Our eCommerce Platform © Immediate Media Company Ltd. 2014 This website is owned and published by Immediate Media Company Limited. www.immediate.co.uk

(And Peggy's Responses) This is a sample of Peggy's correspondence with readers of "Beyond Affairs." These letters are from Peggy's files, written more than twenty years ago. They are offered only for the purpose of getting better perspective on this issue. Since my own story in the book discussed how my husband had affairs, the letters were from women who identified with me. In later years, following the publication of "The Monogamy Myth" I've heard from almost as many men whose wives had affairs as from women. Dear Peggy and James, I was very fortunate to read your book—and did it ever hit home! Not only was it comforting to know that Peggy knew how I felt but also I began to see my husband's point of view. The answers he gave me to some of my questions were so much like James's that I almost wondered if he had already read the book. It was extremely helpful to me. It's uncanny how although our circumstances were different—how very similar my thoughts and actions were, as were his. We are presently separated—in the process of divorce. At any rate, I want to thank you for writing the book. It helps to have someone say I know, I've been there, and I care. — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — Thanks for your letter. Your comments are the kind that make us feel so good about sharing our experience—having people identify with the feelings and know they're not alone. I feel blessed by the additional perspective I've gained from having other people share their experiences with me. I'm also glad to see that you recognize that our attempt is to help people understand this whole confusing situation better—whether or not they stay together. You mentioned being in the process of divorce. Many people think we're only interested in promoting how people can stay together, whereas we see the main issue as one of dealing with the impact this can have on your life no matter what decision you make. Thanks again for writing, and good luck. My husband, too, has had an affair. His was short in duration and very intense. I noticed it because of the obvious changes in his personality, and began to check it out. My surprise and pain was so great that I nearly went into shock—couldn't eat, and couldn't sleep without medication for months. Circumstances and reality forced my husband to face the situation we were all in. I insisted that he share his experiences with me, since we had always been close and honest friends, and I didn't feel I could subtract that part of our relationship and still live with him. My husband has always been a person with very high standards and he, too, was shocked by his own behavior and his own feelings. During the course of the affair, we talked extensively and for long hours about our feelings. When my husband began to reestablish the patterns of his life around our family, he did so without explanation or apology. And this is where the talking has ended. I'm amazed that he could expect that I would easily accept him back without working through the feelings I have verbally. I am quite bitter; I feel that we have come to some different conclusions, he has not given me his own insights and expectations for the future. Mostly he ignores my suggestions for "a talk" or for counseling—and hopes that it will go away. It is easy to see why he would not look forward to talking with me—because I have mostly negative things to say and I have so much anger to express. And yet, if I do not express these feelings, I will probably carry them with me and they will fester. Also, I want to regain the respect I once felt for him. It is not just the affair itself that troubles me. It is the changes in his personality which disturb me. He is far less responsible, I feel, about all matters that have to do with our home, our family, and our future. He is happiest when he is pursuing his personal interests, and in trying to please people outside of our family. He has become less and less so, but he still is operating very much apart from us. I feel that I am forced to be the stabilizing force; I do not feel that any plans are being formulated together for the happiness of myself or our children. And I value my own life enough, that I can't face a future where my own personal goals are submerged. Also, I am very resentful that I am the one who is left to labor over how to get things right—that I seem to have to carry a burden for finding solutions—when his actions are the ones which upset the apple cart. I am so tired and depressed by the effects of all of this, that I am not cooperating with my husband on a day to day basis. My interest in pleasing him is at an all time low, and I often think his behavior is very childish. Also, I perceive that when he focuses on our home and the people here, he becomes very dulled and unmotivated, and when he's cheerful and enthusiastic it has to do with outside factors. I feel terribly resentful and unimpressed. I don't feel pain so much anymore, but I do feel that I'm involved in a type of endurance. For us to truly come together, I think will involve a lot of effort on both parts—a lot of giving and expression on both parts. An attempt to UNDERSTAND and to empathize. So far my husband is giving his time and he is doing very mice things to me, taking me out and buying me things, accounting for himself, helping. But because he will not talk—I have felt that he not meeting the issue, the real person, the feelings...and I have so little patience left that I am not handling things in a very healthy manner either. I admire the way you have dealt on a human level with your life—and all of the time and effort you've put into it. — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — Your letter is one of the most thoughtful and thorough in describing your situation that I have received. There are so many things you describe that are similar to the experiences of so many other women—especially the problem with husbands who won't continue talking. This is an almost universal "need" for most people in your situation and a universal "avoidance" for the person who had an affair. It's understandable that they don't want to keep talking about your feelings. It's tough to have to face feelings that result from your actions; people would usually prefer to avoid that. And it's also a way for them to continue feeling OK about themselves. To fully face the feelings is to make it more difficult to accept themselves. I'm not trying to analyze your husband specifically, but this is the general motivation behind men's resistance to talking. Also, there's a very strong code among men that you simply "don't talk" about affairs unless absolutely necessary, and that if you do, you say as little as possible. So your husband is acting out the very strong conditioning in the male society when it comes to how to deal with this issue. They "honestly" believe it is better for everyone that the talking not go on and on. But their perception of what's better for everyone is naturally biased by their strong desire to avoid dealing with it. While I don't think our book has THE answer to this problem, many men who have read it have been able to see more clearly the benefit from continuing to talk. I'm convinced that's the only reason our relationship lasted and the reason for the comfort we have with each other now—and even the "joy" we have in our interactions. There's "staying together" and then there's "staying TOGETHER." I sense that you want the real vitality and energy of a relationship that is together through knowing and dealing with each other's feelings. I want to offer you encouragement in your ongoing struggle to getting beyond the strong feelings that tend to linger from this experience.

When talking to clients, or when reading through RFPs, the topic of accessibility often comes up. Will the site be accessible? Will it be Section 508 compliant? The impression I get is that to many people, both clients and developers alike, accessibility is thought of as a feature request—as though it were an item that can be checked off a list. I’d like to urge people to think of it differently. Think of accessibility not as a feature, but as an objective. If you think the purpose of web accessibility is to reach a miniscule number of impaired or disabled users, I’ve got news for you, it's a lot more. When accessibility is your objective, you're reaching for the future. Think of accessibility as an objective, not a feature. The delineation between feature and objective is important. A feature can be defined by a fixed number of parameters, and is either included or excluded from the scope of a project. A photo gallery is a feature. Accessibility on the other hand is not an add-on component, it's an objective—a goal to strive toward. There are varying degrees to which your site might be accessible (and enough grey area that you can potentially create a horribly painful experience while still meeting mandated requirements). When you set accessibility as an objective however, you’re placing a priority on publishing content that can be consumed by the widest audience, regardless of their physical or cognitive limitations, the device they are using, or their connection speed. Designing Accessibly is Designing Responsibly Along the way, web projects become increasingly complex. It’s easy to lose sight of the goals. But if you think back to the original reason you needed a website, what was it? It usually stems from the recognition that others will find value in the information you have, or the services you offer, and you want to connect with them. By publishing to the web, you’re taking some piece of content and giving people around the world the ability to access it. That’s the default state. Maybe the goal of accessibility should be “not to mess this up”. Why does this all matter? Because people DO think your content is important, and people ARE visiting your site. All different kinds of people. People who can hear well, and people who can't. People who can see big things but not tiny things. People with fat nimble fingers and people with tiny clumsy fingers. People who are color blind. People who have large vocabularies and people who don't. You get the picture. As children, we learn that everyone is different, and that’s ok. We’re taught not to treat somebody differently just because they aren’t like us. On the web we must be cognizant of what factors determine who gets access to content. Are we imposing designs that prevent peoples’ access to information, or that block their ability to perform tasks, based on the sophistication of their technology? Don't penalize people with physical or cognitive impairment that need to rely on assistive devices. Don’t penalize people who can’t afford or to spend money on the most advanced smartphones. My Friend Albert Its easy to forget about cases like this because we fall into the habit of designing for users and not people. We’re all guilty of this at times. There is screen, both literal and metaphorical, between those of us who design or commission sites, and those who use them. We just need a reminder once and a while to stay in touch with the people who are trying to use the things we build. When an architect designs a building, code requires that handicap accessible ramps are installed so that everybody is able to access the space...regardless of demographics of the target audience. Same thing, only in this case, we don't need a bunch of concrete. We just need to not mess anything up. Design with web standards. Don't try to simply satisfy the minimum web content accessibility guidelines, continually shoot for the highest degree of compliance you can attain. Talk about it with the other people on your team and on your client’s team. And while you're at it, feel awesome about yourself and about the fact you are designing for the frickin' future. Oh yeah, the future. We've been focusing so much on audience diversity and disabled users, I almost forgot to mention the most exciting part. When you design responsibly, you are designing for the future. Computers are getting faster and more powerful, smartphones are becoming more capable and more aware of their surroundings, and screen sizes are exploding in both directions at once. But what about when the new popular smartphone isn't a better version of the iPhone, but rather a less expensive, less capable piece of hardware with a fully equipped web browser? What about when the internet begins to seep its way into all the other pieces of technology we surround ourselves with? There will be moment of realization, when we look around and realize that devices we use to consume web content are every bit as diverse as the people using them. ...and when we're struck by that notion, we’ll recognize that accessibility was the objective all along. - Web Content Accessibility Guidelines - Web Accessibility in Mind - Web AIM Color Contrast Checker - Stories: How People with Disabilities Use the Web - NonVisual Desktop Access (NVDA) - Simply Accessible (excellent blog on accessible design and dev)

Watch out for the ones with glowing eyes, their laser guns and never go pee alone. In "Final Hours," a short film by San Ramon Valley High seniors Cody and Casey Chavarria, five civilian squad members learn this lesson the hard way. Forced to fight for their lives after Earth was invaded by an unknown, heavily armed species, the group trudges through an abandoned land hoping to find a place to rest between battles. "It's pretty much a 12 minute story introducing them, it's them fighting and trying to survive. It's them against everything else," said Cody, who directed the short film over three days. The Chavarria twins, 18, have been filming short movies since age 7 and decided to enter the 14th annual Screenagers Bay Area High School Film and Video Festival at the behest of their video production teacher. Held at the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley on Feb. 11, the festival is curated by Berkeley High students. "I think, visually, ours will be the most impressive. Either way it turns out I'll feel good about what we made, I think people will enjoy it at the festival," Cody said. Cody and Casey began writing the script for "Final Hours" in the beginning of summer and began filming in the fourth week of the school year, after Cody's lung surgery cooled production. They then solicited 12 of their friends to act, provide costumes and find props for the futuristic action film. "You're kind of limited when you have no budget at all. You can't buy locations, costumes are expensive, as are props," Cody noted. "Probably the hardest part getting all my friends to give four to five hours of their day to film this thing, eight to 10 people at a time." Casey, who was in charge of editing, spent between 10 and 15 hours editing the film on Final Cut Pro and using Adobe After Effects to add special effects for a combined four months of production. The resulting crisp shots feature explosions, neon laser "bullets" and eerie glowing eyes on each alien. "Adobe After Effects is nothing other students had used before, which is why the students were more impressed than usual," Cody said of his film's screening during video production class. "Mr. Cochran even said hat it was the most visually appealing video he had seen in all his years of teaching. There were things like explosions which weren't necessarily there before." While San Ramon Valley High's video production class does have a few copies of Adobe, instructor Chad Cochran said he is hoping to receive funding from the Regional Occupational Program to bring the rest of his students to same advanced level. "I think the biggest factor that made the movie stand out was their incredible use of effects. You could tell they spent a large amount of time planning. They spent countless hours to make sure their effects fantastic, it's above and beyond anything else in the classroom right now," Cochran said. The Chavarrias have already been accepted to several universities as film production majors. The two would like to attend a smaller school and have their collective eye on Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. Cody and Casey plan to take on another big project over the summer, but will spend the rest of the year filming football games and making videos for SRVHS' drama department. The Screenagers festival will begin at 3 p.m. at 2575 Bancroft Way in Berkeley. Cody will discuss the film, its use of special effects and discuss future goals during a question and answer session with the audience. To watch "Final Hours," visit the ChavarriaProductions channel on Youtube.

Struggling Sens out, not down If nothing else, Senators GM Bryan Murray has retained his sense of humour. |Report an Error| Share via Email OTTAWA – If nothing else, Senators GM Bryan Murray has retained his sense of humour. Moments after being grilled about his plans for the trade deadline – would he be a buyer or seller – he made a joke about his 11th-place team being a juggernaut. He paused. Then, with perfect comic timing: "Could we get into the Allan Cup playoffs?" Yes, the Stanley Cup playoffs are but a dream for the talent-loaded Ottawa Senators, who shockingly trail the Maple Leafs in the Eastern Conference standings with less than a week until the trade deadline. Last week, Murray made one of the more intriguing pre-deadline trades with another have-not, the New York Islanders. Murray got a young puck-moving defenceman he craved – Chris Campoli – along with veteran Mike Comrie for Dean McAmmond and a first-round pick the Sens had previously acquired from San Jose. It's early, but Campoli – a long-time friend and junior teammate of ex-Leaf Carlo Colaiacovo – went on a hot streak with four points in his first three games as a Senator before being blanked last night. "A change is something I needed," said the 23-year-old Mississauga native. "Things just weren't working in New York. I fit what they needed here." Despite where they are in the standings, Campoli says the Senators are still hopeful this season isn't a writeoff, given the presence of elite players like Jason Spezza, Dany Heatly and Daniel Alfredsson. "With the attitude here, the expectations, this team is too good to be where it is. We're playing too well," said Campoli. "There's a lot of time left in the season, no one is giving up. It's exciting for me to be a part of it,'' he added. - What transit changes do Torontonians want most? - Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion endorses John Tory - Doug Smith looks at Raptors' two decades of turmoil - Unpreparedness rooted in Tory policy, public’s parsimony: Mallick - Photos Updated Council needs a healthy dose of newcomers: James - ‘Dead’ hearts successfully transplanted into patients - NEW No question, John Tory is the best bet for mayor: Siddiqui - Susan Fennell supporter throws coffee in face of Star reporter

Newspaper Page Text THE DAILY CAIRO BULLETIN: TUESDAY MOUSING, OCTOBER 30, 1883. Rhcumatism, Neuralgia, Sciatica, Lumbago, Backache, Headache. Toothache, Son Throal. fcnclllns;,. !Mrnlna. Urutara, Kuril. fcrnliU. t'rukl lillr. 1K 41.1. in II Ml IUIHII.V l'tlh M AI1IF. BoH bt llrusl.Uli.l li-.lcr.ntrflbir.. Fill) t'MlU t botUt. Inmtiniii In II l.t:u... THE HI uti.F A. VOl.l I.KK ( o. (BwiMirw ti 1 t"-tl': 1,11 ' LMlliMor. 'L. C.8. & A Valuable Uico?ery for (applying Mnunctlsm to the Human svrem. Electricity and Maiructism u ilizud as never before lor Healing the Sick. TUB MAGNETON APPLIANCE CO.'S Magnetic Kidney Belt! FGU MEN IS WARRANTED TO CURE by Kefi'sdid. too following disease withou mod iclne: Pains in tuk baok, hips, head ob limbs, MHHVOl'S MBlUTir, LUMBAIIO. O'NtKAL DEBILITV, KHKl'MATIf M, I'KAI.rl, NKUIULfcIA, KCIAT1A, DISKAlUt or TIIK Kin.NEYs, KI'ISAl, UISA6BS, Tohrin liveii, Gent, i-eininal Emissions, Impoteucy, Asthma, lit art Dlrve, Py-pepe'a, Constipation, rvaipeia, ludiBeetlon, lkrnia or Knpture, Cat arrh, rilrn, hpiluppy, I unifo Aeu, tic. When anv debility of tbe (iESEKATIVR OU GANS oici'trf. Loit Vita'ity, Lack of Nervo Fnrco and Vigor, Wanting Weiku';a, and all those Dis eases of a personal namru, Irom whatever canoe, tbeconmiaous utreaui of mignetlem permeating through the parts, must reetore them to a healthy actum. There la no mistake about tbla Appli ance. TO THE LADIES: l&S Weakness of the Spine. Falling of the Womb, Leucorrluev Chronic Infl'iramation or Ulceration of the Womb, Incidental Hoiunrrbage or Flooding, Painful, hupprtased and irrepular .Menstruation, Barreniie8, and Cbange of Life, this in tho Bet Appliance and Curative AL'eut kuown. For ail lornn of Female l)i Acuities it la nnaur pasced Iit auvthin beford invented, both aa a curative ajjfut aud aa a source of power and vital ization. Price of either Bel' with Magnetic Insoles, $10, aent by express 0 O. I), and examination al lowed, or by mall on receipt of price. In ordering send meaxuro ol waist and size of shoe. Remit tance can be made in currency, sect in letter at The Magnetic Garments are aJnpled to all ages, are worn over the underclothing (not next to the body like the mauy Galvanic and Electric Hum bugs advrtis d so extensively), and should be tak n off at n'ght. They hold their l'OYVKK FuhEVEU. aud are worn at nil seasons of ttio Send stamp for the "New Departure In Medical Treatment Witboit Medlciue," with thousands of THE MAGNETON Al'PLIANCB CO., iHti Slutc Street, Chicago, 111 . Note. 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Mobile and Ohio: Cairo and St. Louis lianwuvs are all usl across tbe street; while the Steamboat Landing is nut one s-juare distant, This Hotel is tieated by steam, has steam Laundry, Hydraulic Elevator, Electric Call Hells. Ant jruatlc Fire-Alarms, Batbe, absolutely pure air, pencci sewerage aim complete appointments. Siuerb funiisblngs; perfect service; and an nn Zj. V. PAHKKU.V :).. Ihhwi AGENTS WANTED! J"S?$Z erness, or New pictorial History of the Lite and Times of tbe Pioneer Heroes Mid Ueroinea of America, by Col. hrank Triplet'.. over0 superb engravings vover me uiree i-ra in pioneer pro jrresa (1) irom tbe Allei'henles to tbe Mississippi; (ti) from tbe Mlssis-ippi to tbe Hocky M'mriiaii.s (3) California and tbe l'ac flc slope. M.W. Com bines graphic, thrilling narrntlv with prof'iseues of elegant Illustration, bv eminent artiste. Nimrly 100 personal portraits, embracing all tbe pioni-ur leaders, besides scores of incidents. A pletu e nailery of rare Interest. A true historical work of thrilling adventure in forest, plains, mountain anu streams; covers western progress Rua civilization Fluhu with Indians: ilcsDurate adventures: nsr row escapes; wild life on the border. A grand book for anent.. Outsails everyibing. 7 octavo page. Low in pnre. In reach of Masses. Agent's complete outfit 75 cents. (jyArtte at once for connqenuai terms ami u ustruteo description. Add ess, N. u. lUoMI'KON ft CO.. Pubs ., l'JU-61 St. Louis. Mo or New Yore City. A DM TIMER AM thoMwbo from indlirr'Hton, timum or whr mvm m tmnrrd, low r.irltil, pbrfiHv tlrmin, 4Q4 owabi t iry etrea, vimwui 1001 c nifiirmni HIT MiaWffWli-n bv 1 MM uaiirtn Of Ocri4iu rwrnwrmwu w iyii UQ Mtfi hwpU. tffHciin, ltuly, hJmmoL s ITOK KEJUUf CO, M W, MU It. SOT Vk Lnnin' it nn will snisiH-iasi u,. rt.niKMsi b. Annan. . M'nt'iu nr., ...it MTtk.M lit M AltflAN Kol.t H.V7ZZ The Daily Bulletin. Mrs. Brown's Opinions. What is my ojiiniitn of liioh-tonci!-nos? TIhtp's nn such wonl in the Kn; lish liintiag. niay he. lnt"t oxjircssos what 1 want to say. ami I Iihvp as niurh l ioht to coin a wonl as anyhody cUo, narticnlarly when no tlnT wonl exact ly meets tiii case. Hijjh-tonetiness. ns 1 undiTstand it, moans tho. desiro that some people have tf holding tip their heads and the ends of their noses, rela tively to other people who may have le.vs money or less social position, hut not less (rood hroedinr, for well-hred people are not that kind. To he high toned in the sense of elevation ahove the coarser elements', is eommendahle, hut the mischief of it is that someof tho coarsest kind of trash a fleet the quality, and have all'ceted it until it has heroine to he a term almost of reproach. As soon as a person can own a tine house and ride in a carriage, heatl'ects to turn up hi nose at his former estate, and cultivates only the faculty of forgetting the pat. People who have pasts that cannot lie rcnienihered with comfort, have to take n deal of toning hefore they arrive at the pure high pilch, although it is an easy matter to arrive at the .so ciety pitch." Women seem to he more seriously aft'eeled than the men, and while die husband may find real pleas ure in thinking of the time when he was a plain peddler, the w ife is driven fran tic if the thought comes to her thru he was ever anything else than a merchant prince. It does not .seem to occur to them thai there is more true nobility and manhood in one man who has the nerve and the brain to overcome all ob stacles and rise in spite of circu instan ces, than in live hundred, who, by acci dent of birth, inherit wealth and so cial position. Hone.-ty U royalty, and though society may not recognize its crest, the better jiart of man's nature accepts it, and this bettor part is what constitutes real high-toned men and What is my opinion of thoughtless people? They are a nuisance, general ly speaking, with some modifications in particular instances. Inoverthought," is given more times than any other, as un excuse, and it is absolutely no ex cuse. On the contrary, it is un open acknowledgement of negligence. A wo man or a man will sav or do something which can have no other result than in jury, greater or less, and when they see what they have done they wail out, "I never thought.'.' Ycni "may talk to a person, ami he w ill interrupt you with an entirely different subject, or answer you quite, foreign to the matter of con versation, and when you take him to task about the gross impoliteness of his misdemeanor, he says"l never thought." People will go along the street so ab sorbed in themselves as to completely neglect the courtesy of recognition when they meet friends! and though it is probable thej i,ave not sullicient mind to handle more than one subject at a time, it provokes you to have them ex 'euse themselves by saying "I never thought." When the Lord endowed His 'creatures with the faculty of thinking He, no doubt, expected them to exer no if, and notwithstanding the, fact of j His disappointment in so many instan ces, the original purpose remains, and people should think. "Thoughtfiilue.ss," says (.'hesterlield, "is the lirst principle, of a gentleman," and we supplement the polite nobleman's remark by adding "and a lady, also." There would be fewer sore hearts, fewer tears, fewer bitter memories, fewer animosities, few er enemies in life, if those who make up life only thought a little oftener tbtui they do. Mi irkunt TrunUr. Old Steel Pens. Says the New York Sun: "Pens aro made of the very finest steel. and can ho romelted and used again for many pur poses. They can be turned into watch springs and knife blades, and can be ,- P. ... 1 1 :i..i .. :.. .1.., Iissoivcii anil mauu avana n uie manufacture of ink. The suggestion is made that the children of the poor should lie taught to collect cast-away pens, and thereby save valuable materi al and earn money. The steel from which steel pens aro made is so thin that it can ho torn like still' paper. It goes through such tor menting processes in the rolling.cut ting, irosing. slitting, aud forming, that it is a wonder that enough of energy is left in it to stand the bath of lire, w ater, and the subsequent heat of the anneal ing furnace to have any of the original ite in it. And, in fact, there is little of the ct'Yi: of the original metal left when the steel pen has done its brief duty. It would be much more sensible to gather up the oxidized scale-, from about the smith's anvil for making into "watch springs and knife blades" than to col lect rejected steel pens for those pur Tint Aid to the Drowning. 1. flo through his pockets. 2. If there are any trees round hang the subject up by the legs to let tho w ater rim out. If you are in a city use :t. If the subject be a small man pum mel him with your lists to start the cir cnlation. If he be a large man give him a shock with a galvanic battery. 4. Endeavor to start respiration bv blowing in his no.-trils with a pair of bellows. If you can't get a pair take .'. Pour down his throat a mixture of 4.7(5 brandy, L'.L".' ipecac, I.07 paregoric, I.ihi ammonia, Winlow soothing (imp. lie very careful to get the exact If tin; above remedies produce no I fleet, as a l:i,t hope. sing. "Wait Till the Chiitds i;,,ll lu," to him, or read him a fiuniv article from I'umk. If he then ,-lmv.s m sign of writhing let him be. lie wa born to be drowned. 7. Ho through his pockets again,-- im . 1 . Frankfort, S. t'.. has a colored man who is as much of a prodigy ns "lHind Tom." His name is Zaeh Taylor, born in Cartaret county, of parents' who were slaves, is thirty-throe eur of age, n(.y. er went to school in his life, and jet he r in build a mill, repair a watch, tune a piano, or print a newspaper. The II o:-t remarkable gift he has, however, is the ability to repent scripture, which h can do for hours at a time without lKitkiug a inihtake. Kdison is sometimes reproached with having invented in the phonograjii : nioro seientifio toy. Hut other useful in ventions were likewise more toys ntlir-f. Professor Lankester said in Ids Presi dential address before tho British A'' ciation that "tho mioroscope.whioh was a drawing-room toy 100 years ago, hn, is the hands of devoted and gifted stu. dents of nature.been tho uieansof givinq us knowledge which, on tho ono huim, has saved thousands of surgical patients from terrible pain and death, and, ou the other hand, has laid the foundation of that new philosophy with which tii name of Darwin will forever ho nsso. s m 1 Sir Walter Raleigh made his way to fortune ami fame by politeness. " lie was not one of the Elizabethan ruffs. Monday Evening, Oct. 29, 1883. The rain at noon to-day finally gave place to clear weather, and the sun has shone bright and warm since; the first clear sunshine in four days. The preseut temperature is very high ; almost like mid-summer. The market is generally unchanged and FLOUR The market rules very dull, with large stock and weak as to prices. HAY Common is largely overstocked and unsaleable. Fancy grades are in fair CORN The demand ) pretty well sup plied and the market is easy. OATS The market rules firm with light stocks and active demand. MEAL Firm, scarce and in good de BRAN Scarce. Stocks are mostly held by the mills. BUTTER Choice and fnr.cy grades are in good demand and ecarce. Common is plenty and dull. EGGS The market is almost bare. Prices are firm and a Bhadc higher. POULTRY Choice hr-o young chick. ens and good hens are in stendy request. Small and common mix, d r.re dull. Turk eys are scarce and wanted. APPLES Choice stor is firm and in fair demand at quotatior.s. POTATOES Full stock, dull and a Sales and Cluotations. NOTB. The prices ten tnyenarefor sales from first hands in round lots. An advance Is lebarged for broken lotsin fllllngordors. 100 bbls family Hon bills various grades. 1W bbla choice 2 cars (jilt edge 1 cars gilt edge 5 cars choice Timothy. 2 cars mired 7 cars mixed in bnlk 2 cars white in bulk 4 car choice , in hulk ... i cars mixed in bnlk.. i cars in sacks No. 1 Red, per bu . ... No. i Medtteranean. liM) hbls Citv on orders. 100 bbls City In sacks 6"'A WOponnfls choice Northern dairy 22 Tisi pounds choice Northern dairy Klfvi'i 400 pounds Southern His, fresh Is 4,20 600 doacn 20&21 300 dozen 2" Large choice 8 00 Small ... .14.1.1,1.1 i 00 5 coops mixed young and old 2 25 22 75 Scoops large youDg 2 25 Scoops old Lous 00 Per bbl choice Ben Davis 2 7533 00 ' Home Beauty 2 753 no Small varieties 1 M Choice W'inesaps .....2 5032 65 Potatoes per bush 30&40 roiaioee per not 1 25 10 Crates, according to size ? CC&U 0 nue uuwsojeu h(tv2f) 8. C. naois..... Clear sides m 9 . 1 00 2'-i bushel burlaps g 9 nusnei , j2i Peaches, halves and quarters Choice navy .... Choice mediam . Choice, 'Factory 1 Calf, 0 reen r Dry Pilot choice 15 Dry Salt - " Green Salt 8 Plum Green , . t Sheep I'elta.dry lVt' Sheep Pells, green .. 1"" 'At Damaged Hide - hi c .. 4 sua r. Ol . 4 VM f nf ,. s now v fO ,. 7 50(4 it '0 KATES OP FKEIOI1T. 1 v Orleans,. Klineston, Miss SSVi VickBburg, I'rintess House, S'ic. per cwt., and ea. per bbl. higher. All other war points below Memphis to :f aur eus, same rates as to Klineston. The Best Salvo in the world for Cuts, Bruises, Sores, Ulcers, Salt Rheum, F'ever Sores, Tetter, Chapped Hands, Chilblains, Corns, and all Skin Eruptions, and positively cures Piles. It is guaranteed to give per fect satisfaction, or money refunded. Price 25 cents pr box. 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CPE Bach – Symphony in G major, Wq.173 JS Bach – Wer mich liebet, der Wird mein Wort halten, BWV 59: ‘Die Welt mit allen Königreichen’ Ich bin in mir vergnügt, BWV 204: ‘Die Schätzbarkeit der weitern Enden’ Ich lasse dich nicht, du segnest mich denn, BWV 157: ‘Ja, ja, ich halte meinen Jesum feste’ CPE Bach – Symphony in A major, Wq.182/4: ‘Allegro assai’ JS Bach – Der zufriedene Aeolus, BWV 205: ‘Angenehmer Zephyrus’ Liebster Jesu, mein Verlangen, BWV 32: ‘Hier meines Vaters Stätte’ JS Bach (arr. Mendelssohn) – St Matthew Passion, BWV 244: ‘Erbarme dich’ JS Bach – Orchestral Suite no.2 in B minor, BWV 1067: Overture Sei Lob und Ehr dem höchsten Gut, BWV 117: ‘Wenn Trost und Hülf ermangeln muss’ Mass in B minor, BWV 232: ‘Laudamus te’ Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 140: ‘Wann kommst du, mein Heil?’ Ach Gott, wie manches Herzeleid, : ‘Ich bin vergnügt in meinen Leiden’ St Matthew Passion, BWV 244: ‘Gebt mir meinem Jesum wieder’ Orchestral Suite no.3 in D major, BWV 1068: Air Der Friede sei mit dir, BWV 158: ‘Welt ade! Ich bin dein müde’ Mojca Erdmann (soprano) Matthias Goerne (baritone) Hilary Hahn (violin) Munich Chamber Orchestra Alexander Liebreich (conductor) A strange programme, this, with the appearance of little true rationale, beyond boosting sales of a recently released CD, featuring Hilary Hahn playing violin obbligato parts in Bach vocal movements, joined by Matthias Goerne, Christine Schäfer, the Munich Chamber Orchestra, and Alexander Liebreich. Schäfer having fallen ill, Mojca Erdmann came to the rescue. But the true problem lay with a programme that remained very much less than the sum of its parts, made odder by the seemingly random inclusion of a symphony and a bit from CPE Bach. A golden opportunity to present some of the latter’s largely ignored vocal music was shunned, the early symphonic music sounding merely out of place by itself, even on the debatable terms of the programme as it otherwise stood. As for the Emanuel Bach performances, the first symphony came off reasonably well: more than a little abrasive, but alas, one more or less has to expect that nowadays. The Sturm und Drang seemed overdone to me, feeling that I wanted to tell the conductor to calm down a bit, but the hyperactivity had a certain place as a curtain raiser. Likewise, the movement from the A major symphony had a sense of the theatre to it, akin to an operatic interlude. The problem was that this was hardly appropriate to the excerpts from Bach père. Admittedly, this was a movement from a secular cantata, itself seeming somewhat out of place amongst the sacred music, but even so, the change of register was odd. And whilst Bach have employed formerly secular music for sacred purposes, the words changed – which was not the case here. The lack of coherence was underlined by the abrupt change of performance style following the orchestral introduction. As soon as Hilary Hahn came to the stage, the violin tone we heard was unambiguously ‘modern’, as opposed to period. For the most part, she played alone with continuo or occasional other obbligato appearances (flute and, very briefly, oboe), so the contrast was underlined further. Indeed, the lack of something to do for the orchestra for much of the time itself contributed further to the problematical nature of the programme. But Hahn’s performances – much more Academy of St Martin in the Fields than present-day Munich CO, though listen to old recordings to hear how the orchestra used to sound… – were impeccably presented, clean of tone but never clinical. In this, she had much in common with Erdmann’s bell-like soprano; the two worked well together. From their first joint appearance, in the aria from BWV 204, there was a sense of objectivity that was not chilly, but which rather permitted Bach’s doctrine, theological and musical, to speak for itself. Matthias Goerne’s contributions, fine in themselves, seemed less connected to what the other soloists were doing, or vice versa. In the closing duet – one of only two – there was little interplay between the two singers, though that between baritone and violinist on the one hand, and soprano and oboist for the chorale, was noteworthy. Some of the most distinguished playing, though arising from quite a different school of Bach interpretation, came from the continuo performers, especially Rosario Conte’s theorbo and Kristin von der Goltz’s plangent, almost gamba-like cello. Tempi, in the first half pleasantly unsurprising, tended to the more eccentric in the second half. The ‘Laudamus te’, shorn from the B minor Mass, was absurdly fast, likewise Goerne’s ‘Gebt mir meinem Jesum wieder,’ which sounded merely petulant. Liebreich should listen to his Klemperer and Richter. What sounded as though it might be an interesting curiosity, Mendelssohn’s arrangement for soprano of ‘Erbarme dich,’ presented nothing that was characteristic of its arranger. There is no harm in hearing the aria for soprano, I suppose, and Erdmann sang it with expressive restraint, but one is so used to hearing a lower voice – Christa Ludwig an ideal here – that it is probably more an opportunity for sopranos than audiences. Doubtless fans of the artists concerned – though presumably not those of Christine Schäfer – went away happy. The programme, however, failed to satisfy: not quite a collection of encores, but with about as much integrity. To have heard a selection of, rather than from, Bach cantatas performed by these musicians would have constituted a far richer experience. Even to have been permitted to hear the recitatives that would have prefaced the arias would have afforded a measure of context. That the programme notes acknowledged Deutsche Grammophon for texts and translations told us what we needed to know concerning priorities.

Give Baltimore credit for trying. All across the city – and across Maryland as well – technology professionals, business people and government officials are scrambling to keep and add as many high-tech jobs as possible. It’s been a challenge for the city given the tumultuous economy and the results have been mixed. Chief among the efforts is a push dating back to January to market the city and state as a "cybersecurity hub" since major defense agencies and contractors such as Northrup Grumman and Oculis Labs are based in the city and state. Plus, the projected $7.9 billion the federal government will spend on information security this year makes this somewhat realistic. (Washington D.C. and Maryland already comprise the nation’s third largest IT market) Some of that money is destined for the National Security Agency at Fort George C. Meade, where the government is concentrating much of its cybersecurity efforts. ClearanceJobs.com (a Dice site) says the Department of Defense has nearly 1,000 cybersecurity jobs across the state as of August. Skilled tech workers with a security clearance can expect average salaries of $94,398 in Maryland. Additionally, Maryland’s Anne Arundel Workforce Development Corp. received a $4.9 million grant to fill hundreds of cybersecurity jobs expected to open up in the region over the next several years. "We are the epicenter of cybersecurity in America," said Senator Barbara Mikulski at a news conference earlier this year. At the same time, the state government’s Maryland Venture Fund is investing in small companies in startup mode. The Maryland Technology Development Corp. (TEDCO), along with more than a dozen other business incubators, also keep seed money flowing to tech startups in the state. Overall, Maryland is the 13th-ranked "cyberstate" according to TechAmerica Foundation’s most recent Cyberstates report. The state managed to add 3,400 net jobs as the current recession got underway. The number of workers in computer systems and related services climbed to 64,900 in June 2010 – nearly 5,000 more jobs than in June 2009, according to federal statistics. So the trend is heading in the right direction for Maryland. Tom Brandt, CFO of TeleCommunication Systems, Inc. based in Annapolis, Maryland told Cyberstates that, "While more recent 2009 national data show that even the tech industry is now experiencing significant job losses, Maryland’s tech industry may be better positioned to weather the storm as it taps into federal stimulus dollars that invest in technology infrastructure." Interestingly, the current numbers at Dice aren’t quite as optimistic. While Baltimore job listings are up 3.2 percent month to month in the most recent Dice figures (there are a total of 1,484 jobs posted), that total is actually down 3.3 percent year to year. This is one of the worst performances of all the metropolitan areas Dice tracks. Luckily, salaries buck that trend. The Dice Salary Survey pegs the average salary at $89,014, up 4.3 percent over last year. (Baltimore’s overall unemployment rate is at 7.4 percent, much better than the current national average of 9.6 percent.) "Skill sets that are in highest demand for 2010 are all levels of front end and back end Java development as well as SharePoint development and administration. These skill sets have been in demand since the end of 2009 and have increased dramatically over the past six months," says Bridgette Duhl, Branch Manager of IT recruiter Sapphire Technologies’ Rockville, Md., office. Manpower, a large recruiter, reports that between July and September, 17 percent of companies surveyed in the Baltimore area (across all industries) expected to hire at a respectable pace. That’s up from 10 percent in the second quarter of this year and 12 percent from the period a year ago. Manpower says the tech and government sectors in the area aren’t planning to do much of that hiring. However, this didn’t make much sense to one local business reporter, who said he’d been hearing about a "slew of hirings" expected for the upcoming Base Realignment and Closure Act, as well as cybersecurity positions. Saphhire’s Duhl also sees that uptick in security postings. "Overall, the IT market has increasingly been picking up since the beginning of 2010," Duhl said. "The first quarter proved to be the slowest time for IT, but contracting and permanent work have picked up dramatically during the year."

Dallas Mavericks beat writer Eddie Sefko held a chat Tuesday. Here are some highlights. Question: Donnie and Mark said it over and over how much they like the backcourt with José and Monta. But honestly, José can't be the answer as a starter on a team that wants to contend next year. You name Lance Stephenson as a guy they should really look after. Do you think they will try to upgrade in the backcourt even when they like what they see from José? Sefko: That's a fair question. But this is and always will be an upgrade business. The idea is to add talent wherever you can and try to get better at each spot on the floor. The Mavericks have plenty of options this summer. Calderon and Ellis will be valuable trade chips because their contracts are palatable and they are having solid seasons. But to be honest with you, it's going to be interesting to see how the backcourt plays out the rest of this season with Devin Harris back and Shane Larkin proving that he deserves a few minutes, too. The one thing I'd like to see is Monta Ellis' minutes go down to about 33 per game instead of th 37 he's averaging. That would help come playoff time. Question: Is it possible that Dallas lifts the restriction on the first rounder 2014 just to be able to trade the 2016 first rounder? Sefko: That's an interesting scenario. This is a pretty deep draft coming up, so I don't think the Mavericks want to give away that pick if it's protected. I could see them being good enough next season if the chips fall right for them that the 2015 pick would go to Oklahoma City no matter what. But that still doesn't help them use future No. 1s in any trade scenarios. I think if they do anything before the deadline, it's going to involve players and/or 2nd round picks. And I don't think they have any major moves on the horizon, by the way. Question: Hearing Sanders is on the trade block. Is Dallas interested? Would he be an upgrade or a problem in the locker room? Sefko: Well, he's had a few issues this season, so I'm not sure what kind of impact he would have in the locker room. He's a good player, but not so good that the Mavericks can't live without him. When a team is trying to jettison a good, young player, there's usually a reason. Think Thomas Robinson, who's been with three teams in less than two seasons. Question: I recall Cuban speaking of a two-year plan. Do you know about this plan? What is left to do in this two-year plan? Sefko: I think this might be year three of the two-year plan. But for the most part, it was about stocking the roster with younger, more attractive talent. Nobody knows if Monta Ellis and/or Jose Calderon will be here next season. They probably will be. But if a prime free agent decides Dallas is his first choice, then a sign-and-trade might be required and the Mavericks still would have cap room to pursue somebody else. The goal is to find a high-tone free agent and there are lots of them available this summer. Doesn't mean it will happen, but they at least are in the conversation. Question: You mentioned Stephenson: How will it work cap wise? Dallas will have 30 M in cap space. Stephenson max will be 14 M, Dirk resign will be about 10 so you have 6 M for a upgrade at center, a starting SF and a backup PF? Not so easy I guess... Sefko: It's like a jigsaw puzzle. The pieces will come together and sometimes you end up with a puzzle that has a piece or two that fell on the floor and got sucked up by the vaccuum cleaner. Just know that the Mavericks will shoot for the moon this summer. They'll try to grab the best of the best free agents and if that doesn't work, they'll work their way down the list. It'll be entertaining, but it's like every summer -- it comes with no guarantees. Question: Last week you said Dallas should go after Lance Stephenson: Who is going to the bench? Ellis or Calderon if that happens? Sefko: You could see a smaller lineup with all three of those guys playing at the same time. And by the way, I'm not sold that the Mavericks actually will go after Stephenson, who still has to prove he can handle his ascent up the profile ladder. He's got to show he's emotionally able to handle it as well as being able to be counted on as a No. 2 or 3 option for a good team. Right now, he's behind Paul George, David West and Roy Hibbert with the Pacers. Having that much talent alongside any player helps.

The centenary of the outbreak of the First World War may be commemorated by some as a great moment of national history. But the standard history of Britain’s choice for war is far from the truth. Using a wide range of sources, including the personal papers of many of the key figures, some for the first time, historian Douglas Newton presents a new, dramatic narrative. He interleaves the story of those pressing for a choice for war with the story of those resisting Britain’s descent into calamity. He shows how the decision to go to war was rushed, in the face of vehement opposition, in the Cabinet and Parliament, in the Liberal and Labour press, and in the streets. There was no democratic decision for war. The history of this opposition has been largely erased from the record, yet it was crucial to what actually happened in August 1914. Two days before the declaration of war four members of the Cabinet resigned in protest at the war party’s manipulation of the crisis. The government almost disintegrated. Meanwhile large crowds gathered in Trafalgar Square to hear the case for neutrality and peace. Yet this cry was ignored by the government. Meanwhile, elements of the press, the Foreign Office, and the Tory Opposition sought to browbeat the government into a quick decision. Belgium had little to do with it. The key decision to enter the war was made before Belgium was invaded. Those bellowing for hostilities were eager for Britain to enter any war in solidarity with Russia and France – for the future safety of the British Empire. In particular Newton shows how Prime Minister H. H. Asquith, Foreign Minister Sir Edward Grey, and First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill colluded to pre-empt the decisions of Cabinet, to manipulate the parliament, and to hurry the nation toward intervention by any means necessary. “Should Britain have entered the war in 1914? This question has recently aroused controversy. As Douglas Newton shows, it was controversial in 1914, too. This book is a compellingly written, tightly argued, deeply researched and bracingly revisionist study of the decisions that led to British intervention. Newton uproots many hardy myths and reveals the deep divisions within the political elite of a country on the brink of war” —Christopher Clark, author of The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914 “I felt I was breathing the pure, clear mountain air of real, refreshing history. Not justifying, not rehashing, not regurgitating, but boldly telling what the writer feels very strongly is an important truth, a truth which has reached out of the archives and put its thumb in his eye.” —Peter Hitchens, Mail on Sunday “A gripping story of high drama as fundamental decisions shift back and forth from day to day and even from hour to hour. These are also events about which we should say: ‘Lest we forget!’” —Dr Robin Archer, London School of Economics “Both scholarly and accessible. This in-depth account of the British response to the assassination of Franz Ferdinand will open the eyes of many hitherto reluctant to face the facts.” —Professor Keith Wilson, University of Leeds

No-hitter number two. Not many can say they have thrown a no-hitter in the big leagues, let alone two. Tim Lincecum joins that group of MLB pitchers that can say they have thrown multiple no-hitters as he handed the San Diego Padres another one today in the San Francisco Giants’ 4-0 win . After getting drenched by Powerade by teammates, Lincecum changed into a personalized USMNT jersey and a knight’s helmet. As the team waited on the opposite side of the clubhouse, champagne in hand, Lincecum walked towards them chanting, “Yes! Yes! Yes!” à la WWE Superstar Daniel Bryan—complete with the fingers pointing upward and arms thrust up with each “Yes!” During the postgame press interview, the 30-year-old said that he felt it was going to be a good day once he got a hit. When he got hit number two, he felt the stars were even more aligned than he previously thought. “It’s fun when you can actually put the pieces together on both sides of the field,” Lincecum said. “Obviously, we’re not asked to hit all that much, but to be out on the base paths to give the team a chance, that’s actually the part that I was really most impressed with myself.” It hasn’t been since the Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Rick Wise had two home runs in his no-hitter in 1971 that a pitcher has had multiple hits in a no-hitter. While Lincecum was impressed by his performance at the plate, his opponents have not had as much luck against him when the pitcher is on the mound. In July of last year, Lincecum threw his first no-hitter against San Diego. On Wednesday, he became the second pitcher to throw two no-nos against the same team, with the first to do so being Hall of Famer Addie Joss (against the Chicago White Sox in 1908 and 1910). He joins Roy Halladay, Randy Johnson, and Sandy Koufax as the fourth pitcher who has both multiple Cy Young Awards and multiple no-hitters. Lincecum and Koufax are the only two that can boast multiple Cy Young Awards, no-hitters, and World Series rings. The no-hitter statistics show a glimpse of what many feel is a reflection of what a dominant pitcher Lincecum can be—something that his season numbers don’t quite mirror. It isn’t just Lincecum; the entire team has been struggling, going for 9.5 games up in the NL West to a 3-game lead a little over two weeks later. “The club really needed it,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “We’ve gone through a tough stretch here, so this is good for the whole club.” This may be what kickstarts the team into a gear they have been missing during their June swoon. The influence this has on the Giants is yet to be seen, but as an immediate result, Lincecum intends on going home to celebrate his second no-hitter, noting he may even “drink a little bit.” After two no-hitters thrown against them in consecutive years from Lincecum, the Padres may do the same.

Jan 17, 2013| Mikey, ryder and Lenny are talking about the Patriots-Ravens AFC Championship game and how much of an impact Ray Lewis will have. Transcript - will not be 100% accurate We just have to be really go you know for six minutes sometimes. Even more than that which we saw last week. They went to a you know. Football team endeavor -- -- when -- definitely -- to sixty minutes. They came Arnold talks -- there's a lot of -- this football team. Back in a planet here and down Lenny megs and a house. Halloween. Whose memories and letting. Yes it's still do to make it our full moon. I don't I -- that you positive about this game you feel. Well I would -- did you commit right now you know I get picked via the patriots yeah. Where it was score tied at 3121 I think that that's -- I was and I was last week I've wanted to for the early 3831. Patriots. -- man 69 points Butler put the story on the -- path and then there was one thing that you guys really. So you've doubted yourself and has the the hometown team yeah well it's crept in their emblem. If that argument hang around occurred -- and casino he -- believe in god. Well I or he could be a friend. -- that I I didn't say I didn't know did he get a good -- away. I didn't realize all the ravens fans were atheists. Who has -- breaking news news that yesterday you played games. You know Graham Ray Lewis springs ago. Yeah well all the time and I take numbers aren't I he says stuff like I went into that -- who he -- I don't -- Very polarizing figures embryos as them not Baltimore Hezbollah they aren't really sure I have taken the time these hate hammered you Kara I just don't I just tired of rest room he's done some nice things around veterans. If you two football life as a media but. So resist it's a -- he did he not kill them is that -- did it was now it's. Help IQ people would get cancer -- IQ yes I can. I spent half the afternoon darkened people in Baltimore and give it a Baltimore take a moment right electrical Ballmer -- Nate -- that's right. Baltimore hands and they love Ray Lewis I mean he can't do any wrong you can even to the courts you can remembering it right he can't even bring up the incidence. You know. Just did you try to bring -- -- Yeah but what they say they just basis not that's in the past and you know I don't know if this is the big game we don't want to -- market. And you know they just they just go to the online ads went up and down. You know I don't believe. I mean they believed Apollo all of his the motivation of the -- his last name possibly. Is is a force in this day I'm gonna make a difference -- doctor attempt to keep doing this rain yeah I they get down early out of there is going to be a different winners for rain. And they'd they'd they buy into that -- kick off. You guys think about the Simon's -- -- about how much money in his his pocket if they were in the game and wanted soup -- if it's ridiculous that doesn't help. A guy that terrorized staff that right now that's talent yeah. The hearts of guys announces it. That only works. In contact sports there there is -- -- product -- remote Varitek went Francona said there -- Tokyo sums wrong with this -- -- have a meeting right. And protects it -- the same thing. Did Varitek kept in a -- about now Francona. Anthony's right you're right about the context -- our rob -- thing is hockey and football takes professionals. -- to get themselves up nearly -- -- right with you know they they go by this -- is OK I got. About that let's bring this rabbit -- patriots into this year up. If I'm not mistaken or ravens are already paid a patsy that they have. That's a big factor -- -- -- anyone carry it while ago at camelback things can change in wake up and smell the coffee. We've seen this before it's unthinkable. Ravens who what would surprise we've always ended up winning by a couple of touchdowns it's unthinkable if you read. They look who's on the phone Franken Gloucester -- people. Well why don't go and I would give Libby the -- -- seven Pickens -- well. Not November but let me know that I didn't see you are. I'm just I've learned that order should they win a ball and let them go to Ed Gordon got -- quit don't don't touch. It out but -- I'm glad to read. -- that I don't I don't assist. Yeah I'm not sure I gotta tell you. Nothing no no other breaking news from Gloucester. -- didn't know don't have that opportunity that's limited you receive an embassy man tell tale with foxy. Present imagine being there wouldn't doubt in my -- good and I don't know. Then and ride -- all the blood and blood grant program that -- Toledo frank frank has a lot comes amid today -- -- which -- named its here's some of measuring girlfriends are all right and all of -- -- -- accepted you know he's got an excuse. You know he's 87 years old and senile dementia what a great lives on the line -- -- -- public look -- was great and loaded with stuff. We have a -- -- the set up for those who like -- -- about had a vote on the line -- -- -- suffering the good thing about it. The government has. -- -- -- is apparently she didn't have to sell their bread and you're right in the middle of the -- I was killer I was pretty well. Week. I don't. I don't wanna say talked about the -- -- and brings up we are. But you decrypt a clip from -- actually it did and I think I'll I'll -- an -- I think Inglewood commonly -- -- Well. -- -- the players -- different but the key thing I think is that the was that you had even from the beginning of the -- now have. Have really developed. There there are kind of how to do their job better you know I guess some of them are young enough so that is. I was really they're virgin territory here for them well learning as they go yeah. And they gonna get a real bomber. Towards Mexico -- -- Flacco so I mean those those safeties you know the -- going to be. Yeah there's some weapons there there's added they have more weapons and Houston as this picture -- yeah. There Heidi okay so it's a higher scoring game that we -- -- -- -- -- can get but we have maybe on the but the problem. And -- they -- it forward. Six game. So that's a low scoring game. It yet but sometimes the only thing that Janet. And I -- a lot -- -- -- Candidate -- -- in the sixty habit if what you say to force a -- yet sixty. And the over -- 51. -- those numbers how they will shows the finals right. So this -- still evident -- all of what is actually takes its going to be the under I mean that's by eleven you know do you buy into you I guarantee you obviously it let me if it's under if the games forty or under. -- ticketed -- obvious. I -- I have all the -- you one. Rate you could pick from the wide list. K the most expensive bottle they have but let me just say that ever since you've been going to Vegas right usually if you read it comes out of the lines but -- -- -- it's a guide -- people because it's not just what they say -- experts that. -- people would spend full time their Big -- is to research system. But also its adjusted. Quickly or slowly by by the way the rest of the country finds -- -- and what they do is to come out -- that number. And then they hope a lot of Baltimore fans -- on its goes down to seven and get more patriots fans on board. Both sides might don't worry about it first got to be seduced and they use. It's but it's not a bottom seduced and just say it. 51 and a half is the over under. He says forty that's that's kind of way off. Well that's ever happened over the course where it was guys right where is this guy can't I was has never happened before injuries for determining what it'll just saying just that snowstorms in the desert nobody what I'm saying is when you do get -- -- gears. Never been games where in the spring you will answer to that of course there have so I can't happen here but okay. It can't -- in rookies might fly out of my ass. You know what's your what's your -- -- accepted help -- support as we. Just because something's happened before doesn't make you think well. You know I could be right now but the general the general. Correctness of this is. Because it happened before. -- -- relevance of what's gonna happen Sunday I mean it's it's open I hope that -- can't be unique to itself I hope that right that's -- correct. Number once you have to recant number two you have to make it obvious that is gonna we -- guys that the Red -- was party wants to win a -- dress up like Moses Halloween go over there you know saying -- dressed up like him now so -- -- -- that --

Oh hey there! Morning (or err afternoon/evening depending on what time you’ve sat down to read), let’s have a chat today about the most important meal of the day. I KNOW, you’ve been hearing this for your entire life. Why do need you another person to tell you that it’s so incredibly important to start the day with a good meal? Because it is, that’s why and because you can make that meal pretty darn awesome. I get it, because it is isn’t a very valid argument. How about because a protein packed breakfast not only is healthy but also gives you the energy to be productive throughout the day? How about making a delicious breakfast at home saves you time and money? Yes it does, this avocado toast might look fancy but I promise it’s easy to put together and it’s a lot cheaper than that coffee and pastry you buy on a regular basis. I also don’t want to hear the argument about not having time in the morning to make breakfast. I’m a busy person, I work full-time, I run a blog, I’m opening a bake shop, I’m a wife, I’m a mother to a very spoiled pug, I work out to keep myself fit and healthy and I eat breakfast every single morning. There is a reason why I’ve presented two options on the plate here. You’ve got option A) weekday breakfast: toast your bread, cut up your avocado, tomatoes and sprinkle it with the feta. Then there is option B) weekend breakfast: top option A with that poached egg. Avocados and eggs are packed full of protein, healthy fats and vitamins. Plus it just tastes good! American Family Insurance is continuing with their Choose Dreams campaign today and we are discussing healthy eating on a budget and recipes for performance. It doesn’t matter if you’re a family of two and a pug like me or a family of 4; the first steps to saving money and eating healthy is cooking at home. Starting your day with a healthy breakfast will keep you away from the office vending machine and will fuel you with energy for a jam packed day. - 2 thick cut slices sourdough bread, lightly toasted - ½ ripe avocado - 1 roma tomato, diced or 3 cherry tomatoes quartered - 2 ounces feta cheese, crumbled (Bulgarian feta recommended) - kosher salt and za’atar to taste - 2 poached eggs - Mash or thinly slice the half of avocado and divide it between both slices of toasted sourdough. - Top with the chopped tomatoes, crumbled feta and season with kosher salt and za’atar. - Place a poached egg on each piece of avocado toast and serve immediately. For more great ways to lead a healthy fit lifestyle check out American Family Insurance’s Health and Fitness #ChooseDreams Pinterest Board plus recipes below from #SundaySupper contributors. Get Up and Go Power Breakfasts - Get Up and Go Mocha Breakfast Smoothie by The Foodie Army Wife - Avocado Tomato and Feta Toast with Poached Eggs by The Girl In The Little Red Kitchen - Peanut Butter Banana Oat Smoothie by The Messy Baker Salads and Healthy Snacks - Cherry Kale Panzanella by Jelly Toast - Watermelon Salad with Blueberry Balsamic Dressing by Runner’s Tales - Southwestern Chicken Salad by That Skinny Chick Can Bake - Pantry Greek Yogurt Ranch Dip by Cupcakes & Kale Chips - Peanut Butter Oatmeal Energy Bars by Magnolia Days Healthy Fit Lifestyle Dinners - Grilled Fish Tacos with Summer Salsa by Foxes Love Lemons - Blueberry Pork Chops by MealDiva - Individual Grilled Veggie Pizzas by Curious Cuisiniere - Almond Cashew Chicken by The Not So Cheesy Kitchen - Quinoa Bowls with Grilled Vegetables and Corn Salsa by Ruffles & Truffles - Chicken and Mushroom Stuffed Peppers by Cindy’s Recipes and Writings - Sesame Chicken and Vegetable Pasta by Momma’s Meals - Spiced Yogurt Chicken Kabobs by Bobbi’s Kozy Kitchen - Chicken Spinach Quinoa and Brown Rice by Family Foodie - Healthy Coconut Banana Cookies by Alida’s Kitchen - Strawberry Banana Smoothie Popsicles by Peanut Butter and Peppers - Blueberry Quinoa Cobbler by Run DMT Join the #SundaySupper conversation on twitter on Sunday! We tweet throughout the day and share recipes from all over the world. Our weekly chat starts at 7:00 pm ET. Follow the #SundaySupper hashtag and remember to include it in your tweets to join in the chat. To get more greatSunday Supper Recipes, visit our website or check out our Pinterest board. Would you like to join the Sunday Supper Movement? It’s easy. You can sign up by clicking here: Sunday Supper Movement.

In an effort to make the 2014 Taylor Summer Festival a fun event for all ages, the festival committee has added two youth-friendly features to the usual array of outstanding concert and fireworks entertainment. The festival is scheduled for Thursday, June 26, through Sunday, June 29. While Elliott's Amusements will again return to handle the carnival midway along Pardee Road in front of the Sheridan Center, a "Family Fun Zone" will extend between the carnival location and the Heritage Park Petting Farm, thanks to the addition of MotorCity Moonwalks this year. MotorCity Moonwalks plans to bring in at least 10 adventurous inflatable bouncies, which will be housed just north of the Petting Farm location. For the first time ever, the Heritage Park Petting Farm will be open (June 26, 27 and 28, but not on Sunday, June 29) to the public during the festival, which means mom and dad will have plenty of places to find some family fun while they attend the Taylor Summer Festival. "It's important to have activities for everyone at city festivals, and the Taylor Summer Festival is no different," Mayor Rick Sollars said. "It never made sense to close the Heritage Park Petting Farm during our summer festivals -- after all, it's one of the biggest 'destination attractions' we have in this city. My wife and I have small children, so we know that they need a place to have fun during these types of events. We're happy to have MotorCity Moonwalks as a partner." MotorCity Moonwalks will offer a daily armband pass. The price of the armband will be $10 on Thursday, Friday and Sunday. Armbands will cost $15 on Saturday, which is the night of the Masco Fireworks Display. Meanwhile, just steps away from the moonwalks will be the Petting Farm. The carnival, moonwalks and Petting Farm will all be open on Thursday (4-11 p.m.), Friday (noon-11 p.m.) and Saturday (noon-11 p.m.). The Petting Farm will be closed on Sunday, June 29, but the carnival and moonwalks will remain open from 1-8 p.m. (June 29 is the fireworks' rain date, so those Sunday hours might change if weather becomes a problem.) Tickets for the Petting Farm are $5. Entry to the Petting Farm will be on the NORTH END only during the festival. The Petting Farm parking lot located at Northline and Pardee will be used during the festival as handicapped-access only, so families attending should park at any of the surrounding lots, which cost $5 per car. This year's Taylor Summer Festival should be the best it has been in some time. On opening day, Thursday, June 26, the carnival, moonwalks and Petting Farm will all open at 4 p.m. The beer garden, located outside the north end of the Sheridan Center, will open at 6 p.m. Everything will remain open until 11 p.m. The garden will feature a DJ and sponsor Eastown Distributors will be featuring Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy, Coors Lite, Miller Lite and various Mike's Hard Lemonade products, all for $5. ID will be required to enter the beer garden. Friday, June 27, the carnival, moonwalks, Petting Farm and beer garden will open at noon. Gates open at 6 p.m. for the Friday night concert inside the Sheridan Center, which will feature The Rock Show at 7 p.m. and Satisfaction at 9 p.m. Tickets are just $5 for the concert, and can only be purchased at the gate. The Rock Show and Satisfaction are two of the better tribute bands in the country, with The Rock Show specializing in Journey and Satisfaction focusing on The Rolling Stones. Saturday, June 28, promises to be the premiere day of the event. Again, the carnival, moonwalks, Petting Farm and beer garden will open at noon. The gates to the Sheridan Center open at 5 p.m. for the festival's main concert, which will feature country recording icon Phil Vassar, Detroit up-and-coming grassroots sensation Ty Stone and folk and Americana specialist Joe Jaber and the Last Divide. Tickets for June 28's concert are $10 in advance and $15 at the gate, and are available only through www.etix.com. A Lynchburg, VA, native, Vassar has released eight albums during a storied career that has seen him claim ASCAP Songwriter of the Year, Billboard County Songwriter of the Year, countless hits as both a singer and songwriter and a load of awards that enabled him to launch his own Rodeowave Entertainment label. He’s hit the Top 5 seven times including memorable songs like “Carlene,” “Last Day of My Life,” and “American Children.” He topped the charts with “In A Real Love” and everyone’s favorite, “Just Another Day in Paradise.” In addition, Tim McGraw’s “My Next Thirty Years,” Alan Jackson’s “She’s Right On The Money” and Jo Dee Messina’s “Bye, Bye” and “I’m Alright” were written by Vassar. New artist David Nail’s hit, “The Sound of a Million Dreams,” also penned by Vassar, was named the No. 1 song in Billboard’s Top 10 Country Songs of 2012. Taste of Country.com said last year that Vassar’s knack for finding irresistible hooks is as sharp today as it was a decade ago and offered that his new song, “Love Is Alive,” finds Vassar returning to a familiar formula for success. For Vassar, his philosophy about songs has never changed during his time spent writing hits for himself and other artists, it’s important for a song to carry a message and make the listener feel something. “Songs should evoke something, whether it makes you happy and puts you in a good mood, or makes you cry and feel desperation…you know, whether you’re going through a marriage, or a divorce, or you’re in love or you hate somebody, or whatever it is… songs should evoke something,” says Vassar. “And if it’s just having a drink with your friends in the hot tub, that’s just as good as any song for me! I mean, I’ve had hits with every kind of song – ballads, mid-tempos, up-tempos and silly kinds of songs. You can’t save the whales with every song you write, that’s too heavy for me,” he adds, laughing. “I honestly don’t think I’ve written my best songs yet,” he added. Joining Vassar on the Sheridan stage will be Stone – a self-proclaimed “powerhouse singer in an unprettified package” who combines the everyday with a chainsaw for a voice. A Detroit native, Stone motored onto the scene with “American Style,” his Top Dog/Atlantic Records debut, which was executive produced by his close friend, Kid Rock. Roughstock.com said that “there are few singers in the music world as gifted as Ty Stone.” The opening act Saturday night will be Detroit-area rock/folk Americana band Joe Jaber and the Last Divide, famous for his wondrous new CD “Both Sides,” a savory blend of rock, folk and Americana with a dash of folk stirred in. Saturday will be capped off by the Masco Taylor Summer Festival Fireworks Display, which promises to be bigger and better than anything in the recent past. Sponsored by the Masco Foundation, a major sponsor in the festival, Mayor Sollars remarked that the fireworks display promises to bring you out of your seat. "Taylor has always had the reputation of great fireworks displays," he said. "At one time, we had the reputation of having the most impressive fireworks display outside of Detroit's Fourth of July performance. Frankly, I was never convinced that Detroit's were better -- and this year's Masco display will be outstanding. I promise you that." The Taylor Summer Festival will wind down on Sunday, June 29, with the beer garden opening at noon and the carnival and moonwalks opening at 1 p.m. Barring a fireworks rain out, the festival will close around 8 p.m. June 29. The Taylor Summer Festival is presented by the City of Taylor, Meridian Entertainment Group and CBS Radio, which includes 99.5 WYCD Detroit’s Country and 104.3 WOMC Detroit’s Greatest Hits. Joining Masco as a sponsor of the Taylor Summer Festival thus far are The News-Herald Newspapers, Michigan CAT, Taylor Ford, Vibra Hospitals of Southeastern Michigan, Fritz Enterprises, Eastown Distributors, Taylor Chevrolet, McKinley Properties, Shwedel Dental, DTE Energy, MI Custom Signs, Trinity Transportation and Vicar's Trailer Sales.

With summer fast approaching it is little wonder that I am getting hungry - like a big grizzly bear (yes my cub scout name is Baloo), I hibernate over winter and look forward to the melting of the snows when I can once again leave my abode and feast on the best of what mother nature has to offer. With the promise of freshly cut asparagus from our garden, the crisp lettuces and aromas of mint and fennel alongside the emergence of new season potato tips, I can tell that this summer is going to be tasty indeed. My first sample is as a judge at Herzog's Restaurant for the Great Wine Capitals awards and it sets the bar very high. Delicious homemade breads, delicate tasters and a yum monkfish main course tell me that I am one lucky bear. If it was not for the fact that I had a appointment with Spy Valley to go to sooner than later, I would have happily hibernated there for the rest of the day. Spy Valley may look further away than it actually is (it is only 2 kilometres out of Renwick) but it is well worth the visit, with a great selection of premium and ultra premium wines to taste and purchase. It is funny how the little things are what you remember most, and a conversation around geo caching ensures I am a much smarter bear. A quick tasting at Seresin Estate on the way home finished off the day that had begun at Framingham's in the morning - yes and I am now a fully qualified wine taster and have the certificate to prove it after the black glass test. Thanks to the Framingham team for getting us off to a great start. Day two of my awakening saw me at Yealands Estate sampling cheese and collecting eggs from the vineyard's chook houses . . . sustainability is the key and while the eggs go to staff and guests, it is the chooks eating grass grubs that showed me that we are not the only ones in the food chain - there are piggies, piggies and more piggies as well as baby doll sheep - they all make a tasty appearance in the vineyards where the best sav blanc in the world is produced. It is the combination of many small things done right that make Yealands stand out from the crowd One of the keys to survival for a bear is to feast in the summer and fast in the winter, and if two days in our own backyard is anything to go by then we are in for a great year. SPRING ASPARAGUS WITH YEALANDS FREE RANGE POACHED EGGS AND SHERRINGTON FETA CHEESE Marlborough flaky salt 1 Tbsp Marlborough extra-virgin olive oil Freshly ground black pepper 4 large free-range eggs 1 cup wild rocket leaves 1 small piece of feta cheese Snap off the tough ends of the asparagus; cook in boiling salted water until just crisp-tender, about 1-2 minutes only, drain and cool under running cold water. Toss with olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Divide asparagus among four dinner plates. Bring about 1 inch of water to a simmer, add 1 tablespoon white vinegar and swirl the water, break each egg on to a saucer or into small cups or bowls. Slip eggs carefully into simmering water and poach for 2 minutes. Lift each egg from the water with a slotted spoon and place on top of each asparagus portion. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and wild rocket, crumble over feta and enjoy. - The Marlborough Express

Territorial Behavior in Dogs Learn about causes and corrective actions for territorial dogs. Signs of Territorial Behavior - Urinating on things in the yard or during walks - Barking and charging fence when people or dogs approach or pass - Stiff body language, hard eyeing of visitors you permit into house or yard - Low, guttural growl directed toward person or dog approaching/entering property - Aggression toward a person or dog entering property - Barking and/or growling at people or dogs from inside owner's vehicle Causes and Corrective Actions for Territorial Dogs A dog who constantly worries about his own safety due to being left alone within an electrically fenced area or non-fenced yard where other dogs freely enter and leave the property often displays territorial/reactive behaviors trying to protect himself. FEAR Corrective Actions: Never leave your dog unattended in an unfenced area. While underground electric fences provide those who live where residential restrictions prohibit a solid fence as a means of confinement, always supervise your dog when outside to ensure his safety and the safety of others. Train a reliable recall using positive methods that allows you to call your dog when you see a potential intruder approaching. Work positive obedience training to increase your dog's confidence and establish yourself as an in-charge leader who can keep your dog safe. Teach a "Leave it" command that tells your dog to stop his current behavior, like barking at an approaching person or dog, and turn attention elsewhere. Selective breeding has produced many breeds with particularly strong territorial traits, such as flock guardians, that take the job of protecting their territory very seriously. Despite domestication, many of our canines still retain their ancestor's instinctual need to establish and defend a territory, a behavior that once ensured against food supply depletion and provided a place to raise their young. Dogs consider the owner's vehicle and, in some cases, anywhere the owner goes as defendable territory, often resulting in overprotective behaviors and territorial aggression toward anyone approaching or coming too close to the vehicle or owner. GENETICS, INSTINCT, PROTECTIVE Corrective Actions: Strongly territorial breeds demand suitable fencing coupled with positive yet firm obedience training that includes a reliable recall and "Leave it" command to switch dog's attention from territorial responses toward an acceptable behavior like coming when called or playing fetch. Neutering your male or spaying your female often reduces territorial behaviors. If your lifestyle involves children or teenagers who entertain frequent visitors, discourage territorial behaviors early on and allow visitors to hand your dog treats to encourage dog to look kindly on people entering the home and yard — if you remotely suspect your dog might bite, work with a trainer. When your dog goes with you in the car, insist he sit quietly harnessed or in a crate while traveling and use your obedience training during walks to command him to pass people and other dogs quietly and under control rather than barking or pulling on leash. Lack of Socialization A dog formerly isolated in a barn or kennel sometimes displays unwarranted territorial aggression in a new home because he doesn't know how else to behave. A dog formerly isolated in a barn or kennel sometimes displays unwarranted territorial aggression in a new home because he doesn't know how else to behave. LACK OF SOCIALIZATION Corrective Actions: A badly under-socialized dog displaying territorial behaviors requires expert socialization and training best overseen by a professional trainer who will work with counter-conditioning and desensitization methods to help your dog adjust to his new life. A dog who feels trapped and vulnerable within a small area will defend that territory vehemently, revealing one reason a person should never walk into an unknown dog's kennel. TRAPPED/VULNERABLE Corrective Actions: If you own a kennel, lock the gate and don't leave your dog kenneled for extended periods. If you own a kennel, lock the gate and don't leave your dog kenneled for extended periods. « Back to Dog Behavior Center Give us your opinion on Territorial Behavior in Dogs Login to get points for commenting or write your comment below Get New Captcha

? This Week's Podcast with Fred Wilson | | GE's Blogging R&D Squad ? March 15, 2006 Keeping Up With What's What Steve has some advice for my pseudo-existential crises in how you keep up with the flow of new innovations, and separate the wheat from the chaff. He says the answer is "circulating far outside our comfortable demo- and psychographic online. The easiest thing for us is to tune into sites and books and magazines where we know 70% of what is written, and the other 30% sort of fits into a picture we're familiar with. We need to stretch more." It's a good ides. But how to do it? Since I wrote the post this week, I have been adding new blogs to my feedreader. But does anyone have recommendations for how to stretch? TrackBack URL for this entry: Get involved in things which you never considered doing before; perhaps believe you don't enjoy because of some unpleasant experience from your childhood. If you don't program, try it. If you don't design, try it. There's never been a time when you could so easily try some many different things. Posted by: csven at March 15, 2006 01:09 PM Actually one place that makes me stretch my brain is 'In Bubble Wrap'. More so with the questions they ask in their daily book offer than in the book topics themselves. Michael Angeles with 'urlgreyhot', Rachel with http://www.cre8d-design.com/blog/ and Coudal are other places that help me discover new things. It all comes down to finding people who have original voices and perspectives. Reading news and ideas from other countries is also a positive step as we tend to be too US centric. Taking a walk and talking with real people works too. Have a good day Posted by: Serge Lescouarnec at March 15, 2006 02:40 PM Subscribe to the fabulous and free FUTUREdition e-newsletter from The Arlington Institute. Why? As they state: "At The Arlington Institute, we believe that to understand the future, you need to have an open mind and cast a very wide net. To that end, FUTUREdition explores a cross-disciplinary palette of issues, from the frontiers of science and technology to major developments in mass media, geopolitics, the environment, and social perspectives." Personally, I would forfeit all of my Bloglines subscriptions and paper sources just to receive this one little gem. It's simply that good and mind-bending... see their archived newsletters at http://tinyurl.com/rv43n and judge for yourself. Posted by: augustdiva at March 15, 2006 03:29 PM slowness. looking for the next big thing from inside the blogosphere is like... well, i don't know what it's like. you have to get off the train to see how fast it goes. Posted by: schadenfreudisch at March 15, 2006 03:35 PM

Rollins: Huckabee Can Fill Reagan's Shoes CONCORD, N.H. -- Mike Huckabee's low-budget, fast-moving campaign brought on some needed organizational muscle today in the form of Ed Rollins, the veteran political strategist for candidates including Ronald Reagan -- to whom he today compared his new client for his ability to communicate and connect with voters. "Governor Huckabee has probably inspired me as much as Ronald Reagan did," Rollins said after being introduced by Huckabee at a press conference here. "I've looked a long time to find a candidate like that...A lot of people walk around talking about the Reagan days and the next Reagan. I was with the old Reagan and I can promise you that this man comes as close as anyone to filling those shoes." Huckabee and Rollins both took pains to reassure the campaign's supporters that adding a heavyweight like Rollins to the team did not represent a betrayal of the grass-roots ethos that has helped Huckabee surge into the first tier of Republican contenders with far less money than his rivals. "This is not to say that we're not extremely grateful for the people who've gotten us here so far," said Huckabee. The campaign, added Rollins, is trying to build a national organization "so that once this momentum moves forward we won't be sunk by a lack of infrastructure." Rollins said the campaign was definitely going to compete in the New Hampshire primary, despite faring much worse in the polls here than in Iowa, which has a far larger contingent of socially conservative voters, a natural target for Huckabee, a former Baptist preacher. Rollins said New Hampshire nonetheless held potential for Huckabee because he does so well at the kind of retail politicking that the primary requires. "We're going to be full bore here," he said. Rollins also played down the campaign's financial disadvantage, saying that it was benefiting greatly from the free media coverage of Huckabee's surge and that none of the other GOP candidates have raised anywhere near as much money as they had expected to, not counting the self-funding of Mitt Romney, who Rollins said "was born rich, and became richer." The pairing of Huckabee and Rollins makes for somewhat of an odd couple, between an evangelical, small-state governor famous for his dramatic weight loss and a rotund, gruff strategist well-versed in political street-fighting (in 1994, Rollins had to apologize after claiming he had helped Christie Todd Whitman win her race for New Jersey governor by paying off African-American ministers to suppress the black vote.) Rollins acknowledged the unlikely pairing. "It's a unique campaign for me," he quipped. "There's no donuts and no booze." Injecting another twist to the scene was the presence of TV strongman Chuck Norris, who is campaigning with Huckabee in New Hampshire. Asked at the event's close what his favorite Chuck Norris joke was, the bearded tough guy didn't hesitate: "They wanted to put Chuck Norris on Mt. Rushmore, but the granite wasn't tough enough for his beard." Posted by: rockyjc | December 14, 2007 11:47 PM | Report abuse Posted by: vote4mikehuckabee | December 14, 2007 10:58 PM | Report abuse The comments to this entry are closed.

Soccer will continue to rely on human judgement when it comes to disputed goals after the game's rule-makers flatly rejected the use of video and chip technology now and in the foreseeable future. The International Football Association Board (IFAB) voted against two proposed systems on Saturday, and said it would not risk sacrificing the sport's human element. "It's an end to the potential use of technology within football," FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke told reporters after the IFAB meeting. "Technology should not enter the game and that was a clear statement made by the by the board. FIFA has been under increasing pressure to use some form of technology to eliminate the sort of mistakes that are regularly highlighted by television replays from numerous angles. The most high-profile recent case was a clear handball by France striker Thierry Henry during the build-up to the goal which earned his team a place at the World Cup at the expense of Ireland. A matter of minutes after the IFAB decision was announced on Saturday, English club Birmingham City had a goal disallowed in their FA Cup game against Portsmouth when replays showed the ball had crossed the line. Valcke said the IFAB had decided to postpone a decision on a greater role for the fourth official and on whether to introduce two extra linesmen -- one behind each goal -- to help increasingly beleaguered referees. Both proposals will now be discussed at an extraordinary IFAB meeting in May, he said. Founded in 1886 and seen as the guardian of the rules of the game, the IFAB is composed of the representatives from the FAs of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, each having one vote. FIFA has four votes and a 75 percent majority is needed for any proposal to be passed. Jonathan Ford, chief executive of the Welsh FA, said that debates such as England's third goal in their 4-2 win over West Germany in the 1966 World Cup final were part of the game. "The human element of the game is a critical component of it," he said. "It's the thing ultimately we end up debating. That's the beauty of the game and it's what keeps people talking in the pubs afterwards." The IFAB made the decision after watching presentations of two systems -- Cairos, which uses a chip inserted in ball, and Hawkeye, currently used in tennis and cricket. "It was put on ice two years ago and now a decision was made to stop it," said Valcke. "If you start with the goal line, then any part of the pitch will be a potential space where you will use a video. We're also trying to avoid having many ways of stopping the game." Each match at this year's World Cup will be covered by 32 different cameras placed at different points around the pitch, Valcke said.

Samuel Hamilton, born in Ireland, in 1752, was the son of a linen merchant, or weaver, came to Boston about 1772, and settled in Chesterfield sometime between 1780 and 1785. He married Mary, sister of Dr. Joshua Tyler, May 9, 1775. He was engaged after coming to Chesterfield in the weaving of linen cloth. He In the troubled times of the Revolution the little town performed her part bravely and well. In September, 1775, the selectman made an enumeration of the inhabitants of the town, and in their report to the provincial authorities stated that thirty-six persons were absent in the army; that there were eighty-three guns in the town Benjamin Marsh, son of Rev. Elisha Marsh, came here from Walpole, about 1785. He married Mrs. Hannah Graves in 1788, and died April 7, 1811. His children were Reuben, Asa, Elizabeth and Mary L. Reuben was born December 20, 1788, and married Mary, daughter of Joab Wetherbee, in 18r5. He was captain of one of Alexander, son of Clark Chandler, married Lydia J. Herrick, April 29,, 1839, and died June 29. 1881. His widow resides on 14 1/2. Their children were Maria F., Francis Mason, Harriet Barber and Clark Nelson. John Kneeland, son of Timothy, was born in Gardner, Mass., in 1766 or 1767. He married Polly Johnson in 1791. He came to Chesterfield about 1797 and resided many years on the farm now owned by Charles C. P. Goodrich, Esq., and which has long been known as the “Squire Kneeland farm.”He was justice of Early settlers on or near the shores of Spafford lake were one Ladd, near the northwest shore, hence the name of Lard’s meadow, one by the name of Jewels, on the “Charlier place, “giving the name Jewell’s point, a Mr. Reed, who settled near the east shore, in the vicinity of Reed’s cove, Capt. John Benjamin F. Pierce, youngest son of Ezekial P. Pierce, was born in Chesterfield, August 1, 1833. He attended the district school and the academy in his native town, fitted for college under Professor Lafayette W. Ward, of Westminster, Vt., and afterwards attended Corner’s Commercial college at Boston. In 1859, he was employed in the counting-room Joseph Titus came to Chesterfield in 1777, from Douglas, Mass., soon after his marriage there to Mary Bigelow, and cleared and put in thorough cultivation one of its most rocky, hill-side farms. He was fourth in descent from Robert Titus, who came from near Stanstead Abbey, Hartfordshire, England, in 1635, and finally settled on Long Sidney S. Campbell, now a retired manufacturer residing at Factory Village, was born in Westminster, Vt., and came to this town in 1830. He married Clarissa Daggett, of Westmoreland, who bore him three childrenMary E., Charles S., and Clara Anna. Eleazer Jackson was born May 12, 1736, married Rachel Pond in 1761, and came to Chesterfield about 1778. He settled upon the land which is now a part of the farm on which his grandson, Jay Jackson, resides, and which has always been, since 1778, owned by members of the Jackson family. He was selectman

I’ve had The Clash in my head since Tuesday night. Except replacing “the law” with “the wall.” It’s just too fitting for Abby’s most recent episode. Tuesday night, as the three of us were at the in-law’s home (waiting out another house showing) (buy my house), Abby and Papa were playing “bug hunt” in the basement. Apparently, Abby was enthusiastically running away from the vacuum when she ran straight into a wall (or a corner?), face first. I wasn’t in the room, but could hear a thud followed by blood curdling screams. I could tell almost immediately that she was for-real-seriously hurt, but when I saw her on the bottom step of the basement stairs with blood covering her face and Papa’s hand, I got woozy. “Mom mode” kicked in and I quickly carried her up the stairs for a closer look. Nana got a paper towel and an ice cube, and we put them on her bleeding lip. It was then I realized it wasn’t just a split lip, but two perfect teeth marks DEEP into her lower lip. I knew we had to take her to the ER. This was looking like stitch territory. (My “I am not amused” face.) This isn’t her first trip to the ER rodeo. Back when she was nearly 1.5 years old we took her in for croup-related stridor. This though? Scary on a totally different level. She was hysterical from the pain and seeing all the blood, but we piled into the hubs’ car and headed in. Thankfully, after having her lip cleaned up (and out) (gross) the doc decided that although she could put a stitch in each hole, they would probably heal up just as well on their own, with less irritation from the stitches. (THANK GOD. Holding my child while she gets a stitch in her lip? NO THANK YOU.) She was allowed to leave with nothing more than a printout of “laceration home treatment” and a blue slushie, with the nurse letting us know that her lip was likely going to look “like hamburger” for a few days. (He wasn’t lying. Also, he looked like Meatloaf aka “Bitch Tits” from the movie Fight Club. It really rounded out the whole ER experience.) Abbers and I stayed home from school & work yesterday to let her face rest, and to ice her lip every few hours as the doc had prescribed. She used the time to practice being a princess. And also to eat all the food. Does a traumatic event usher in endless hunger? Girlfriend ate about 3,428 Angry Birds Honey Grahams. Today she went back to school and while her lip looks like something out of a horror movie, she assures me it doesn’t hurt so I think she’s on the mend. We took the train into downtown and I kind of felt like yelling, “STOP JUDGING, EVERYONE ON THIS TRAIN.” (Sidenote: I texted my bestie during this ordeal and she mentioned what I (of course) was thinking – “Has CPS stopped by yet? :)” because GOOD LORD. Thankfully this clearly was a “toddler coordination” issue, but I’ve heard horror stories of “interviews” during ER visits from people I’ve shared this story with. So glad that wasn’t a part of this experience.) All in all, quite the Tuesday night. In house related news, we have another showing tomorrow (buy our house) but no offers yet. SOMEONE BUY MY HOUSE. KTHX.

The Executive Philosophy of the University of Missouri states:" The basic principle that will be followed in leading and managing the university is that authority and accountability will be linked. Accountability in management will be coupled with the authority necessary for effective decision making, and those persons with designated authority will be held accountable for the effectiveness of their decisions." The University of Missouri Board of Curators Collected Rules and Regulations, Chapter 20.030". The Board of Curators By mandate of the Missouri Constitution, the governance of the University of Missouri System rests with a Board of Curators, made up of nine persons appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the state Senate. Each member of the board is appointed for a six-year term, with three members being appointed every two years. Anyone appointed must be a citizen of the United States and a resident of Missouri for two years immediately before appointment. Not more than five curators can belong to one political party, and only one person can be appointed to the board from any one congressional district (see the Collected Rules and Regulations, Chapter10) (See the UM System Organizational Chart). The President of the University of Missouri System, who is directly responsible to the Board of Curators, serves as the chief executive and academic officer of the four-campus system. At regular meetings of the Board, the President reports on the progress, conditions, and needs of the University System and recommends measures needed to promote the institution's interests. The President has the right to preside at any meeting of a campus faculty, to vote at all meetings of the campus faculty or any divisional faculty, and to appoint all System committees, unless otherwise provided for by the Board of Curators. Moreover, the President delegates authority for specific programs and functions to the campus Chancellors, the Vice President for Academic Affairs, the Executive Vice President, the Vice President for University Outreach, or other designated officers (Collected Rules and Regulations, Section 20.020, 20.030, and 320.020). The Vice President for Academic Affairs The Vice President for Academic Affairs, under the direction of the President, provides coordination, direction, and communication in all areas of academic planning and programs; reviews proposed new academic programs; monitors the review of existing academic programs; monitors academic personnel decisions and promotes the development of academic staff; administers policies related to research; and coordinates affirmative action policies in the academic area. At any given time, the UM-Academic Affairs homepage provides links to sites for information and input on issues that are under active consideration to recent IFC and taskforce reports and policy changes. Other UM System Officers General Counsel serves as legal counsel for the UM System. Director of University Relations is a source of public information concerning the activities of the Board of Curators and the System administration; provides information and services to external and internal audiences through print, radio, television and the internet, as well as through community and media presentations; coordinates internal and external information efforts with counterpart offices on the four campuses and in University Outreach and Extension; carries out special projects for the Board of Curators and the UM System administration. The Chancellors are the chief executive officers, both academic and administrative, on each campus. They report directly to the President of the University and serve on the Cabinet. Since each campus maintains a great deal of individual autonomy, the Chancellors are responsible for the establishment of campus priorities in budgeting and program implementation and take a major role in representing the campuses before the central administration and the public (Collected Rules and Regulations, Section 20.030, 20.070, and 320.030). The Cabinet consists of the President, the three Vice Presidents, the Chancellors of the four campuses, the General Counsel (General Officers), and the Chair of the Intercampus Faculty Council. This group advises the President on internal and external issues affecting the university and approves a variety of administrative policies, some of which may also require approval of the Board (Collected Rules and Regulations, Section 20.080). The Intercampus Faculty Council (IFC) The Intercampus Faculty Council (IFC) serves as a liaison committee between the President and his staff, and the faculties of the four campuses. It meets regularly with the President to discuss issues of common concern among the campus faculties. The IFC elects a chairperson who presides at its meetings and has customary powers of the chairperson of a committee. The President, or any member of the council, may request that items be placed on the agenda. The IFC, on its own initiative or at the request of the President, may form committees as needed. In appropriate cases, faculty who are not members of the council but who have special knowledge or skills may be appointed to these committees (Collected Rules and Regulations, Section 20.100). The Collected Rules and Regulations of the University of Missouri System consist of policies, guidelines, and official rules and regulations for the system, as approved by the Board of Curators or mandated by Executive Order of the President. The Collected Rules and Regulations do not constitute the only policies, guidelines, and regulations of the University. Others are collected the Human Resources Policy Manual, the Business Policy Manual and others which reside with the individual campuses and their administrative units. However, all other policies are subject to the authority of the Collected Rules and Regulations. The Coordinating Board for Higher Education (CBHE) was established in 1974 to govern the Missouri Department of Higher Education. While the CBHE has no governance responsibilities for the University of Missouri System, which submits its own budget request to the Governor and the Legislature, the University works in cooperation with the CBHE in carrying out that board's statutory responsibilities. The appointment of the nine-member board and the terms of officers are similar to the UM System Board of Curators. The CBHE is responsible for reviewing new degree programs in all public institutions of higher education in the State, establishing guidelines for appropriations requests to the Legislature, making recommendations about budget requests for public institutions, facilitating transfer of students between state institutions, and collecting data for higher education planning purposes.

Actors Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin will host the show. Martin for the third time, after previously presiding over the 73rd and 75th ceremonies, while Baldwin is hosting the show for the first time. This was the first telecast to have multiple hosts since the 59th ceremony. 8:30 p.m.: The ceremony is starting. Best actor and best actress nominees take the stage. 8:32: Neil Patrick Harris does a pretty hilarious song and dance number. Hmmm, maybe next year, he'll have the hosting gig... 8:34: Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin take to the stage. Pretty witty banter... Vaudeville is not dead. 8:44: Christoph Waltz wins best supporting actor. 8:56: Animated nominees chat about being nominated in a taped segment. Umm... They said it was going to be a short ceremony, right?? 8:59: "Up" wins best animated feature. 9:01: Miley Cyrus and Amanda Seyfried present nominees for best original song. They look like they're going to prom... 9:04: "The Weary Kind" from "Crazy Heart" wins best original song. Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett. 9:12: Robert Downey Jr. and Tina Fey present writing awards. 9:15: “The Hurt Locker, written by Mark Boal, wins best original screenplay 9:17: Molly Ringwald and Matthew Broderick present a tribute to late director John Hughes. Can almost feel the room getting sentimental... 9:28: Carey Mulligan and Zoe Saldana introduce taped footage of famous directors chatting about their short film Oscars. The Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzs begin. 9:32: “Logorama” by Nicolas Schmerkin wins best animated short. 9:34: “Music by Prudence” by Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett ins best documentary short. 9:37: “The New Tenants” by Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson wins best live action short. 9:38: Ben Stiller comes out as an Avatar. Where's Borat when you need him? 9:40: Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow win best makeup for "Star Trek" 9:50: “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” written by Geoffrey Fletcher wins for best adapted screenplay 9:55: Roger Corman and Lauren Bacall are introduced for their honorary Oscars 9:58: Mo’Nique wins best supporting actress for her role in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” 10:07: Rick Carter, Robert Stromberg and Kim Sinclair winbest art direction for "Avatar" 10:11: Sandy Powell wins best costume design for "The Young Victoria" 10:12: Wondering why presenters have changed Academy Award vernacular "The Oscar goes to..." Now they're saying "And the winner is..." Kinda wanna know why. 10:17: Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin in a parody of "Paranormal Activity." Dear Academy: We want this to end early! 10:18: Taylor Lautner and Kristen Stewart introduce a tribute to horror films. This is gonna be a long night... 10:21: Morgan Freeman explains sound editing and mixing in a taped segment 10:24: The best sound editing Oscar goes to Paul N.J. Ottosson for "The Hurt Locker."

On July 12, the world was rocked with the announcement that Glee’s leading man Cory Monteith's (Finn) had died, and though no cause of death has been announced, some are speculating that it might be a from a drug overdose. Though Cory had been open about his struggle with drugs and alcohol — he went to rehab once at 19 and again just months ago — his untimely death still comes as a total shock. Here, we take a look back on the final months of Cory’s life, from his decision to enter rehab to his seeming successful recovery, including some adorable couple moments with his girlfriend Lea Michele (Rachel). March 31, 2013 News that Cory had entered treatment broke at the tail end of March. His co-stars immediately took to Twitter to send their support. Cory's on- and off-screen love interest had stayed by him through everything. The news came as a shock to everyone, it seems. His co-stars were firm in showing their support. Lea has stood by Cory, but reports also say she was adamant that he seek treatment. Very adamant. Background Information Emerges What exactly Cory was involved with is unclear, but there are some reports. What one source has to say. An addiction expert praised Cory's choices. April 26, 2013 Cory left treatment after the minimum amount of time; one month after he entered rehab. The Glee star thanked fans for their support. April 27, 2013 Kevin McHale (Artie) was proud of his friend's success. April 30, 2013 Just days after he left treatment, Cory headed to Canada with Lea and the two spent time with his family. May 1, 2013 They were such an adorable couple. May 8, 2013 Up next, the couple went on vacation to Mexico. May 11, 2013 Cory celebrated his 31st birthday surrounded by those closet to him. At this point, everything seemed to be going so well. May 21, 2013 The couple seemed just as strong as ever. July 13, 2013 Then, tragedy. Cory was found dead in a hotel room in Canada on July 13 when he failed to check out on time. The cause of death is still unknown, but an investigation is underway, and many people think drugs may have been involved. It feels like all of Hollywood took to Twitter to react to the sad news. It's clear that Cory will be missed, and that everyone around him is heartbroken. At the time of Cory's death, he and Lea had been dating for about a year and a half. Many people thought for sure that the two would get engaged. Knowing that this will never happen is beyond tragic.

Stricter regulations of chemicals used by the auto industry appear to be on the horizon for the U.S. Legislation is expected to be introduced by late November by Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and others in Congress for an update to the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), a federal statute intended to allow the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate toxic chemicals in the U.S. Lisa Jackson, EPA administrator, says in a recent speech there is a need to review all chemicals according to risk, based on information and safety data provided by industry and to empower the EPA to outlaw any substances that don’t meet regulations. In short, it appears the U.S. may roughly copy the European Union’s REACH (registration, evaluation and authorization of chemicals) registration system, which took effect last year. “Nobody wants to appear to be copying someone else’s law, and my guess is there won’t be too many words (in the U.S. act) that are identical to REACH, but we’ll find principles and ideas that are very similar,” says Daryl Ditz, senior policy advisor for the chemicals program at the Center for International Environmental Law. The nonprofit, public interest group provides environmental legal services in international and comparative environmental law. ACEA, the European vehicle manufacturers association, says REACH has significant implications for the European automotive industry. “Registration is required for some 30,000 substances, and all chemicals used in cars must comply with the regulations,” the group says. “If the data is not provided, the vehicle cannot be sold, registered or imported to the EU.” But pending TSCA reform may not be as big a shock as feared by U.S. auto makers. The list of chemical substances included in the regulations is unlikely to surprise the industry thanks to work in recent years by the Global Automotive Stakeholder Group, an international auto/chemical industry organization established to exchange information “regarding the use of certain substances in automotive products.” Says Phil Hope, manager of the value-chain team at the European chemical industry council CEFIC: “A lot of the unease in the auto industry over REACH disappeared last year when people realized that many of the substances were already on the GASG lists and had been addressed.” Similarly, there was concern in the U.S. regarding how REACH would affect vehicle and components exports to the EU. The impending legislation then was seen to be “fairly significant in terms of potential disruption to the supply chain,” says David Lalain, director-business development for the Automotive Industry Action Group, a not-for-profit association of companies involved in the automotive industry based in Southfield, MI. “There was a lot of churn,” he says. “We put on classes and e-learning about REACH, put together an expert committee, hired lawyers, etc. This year, it’s rather stalled. After a huge fanfare, there’s now a lull.” Indeed, registration of chemicals, which involves a risk assessment of their use, appears to be going according to plan without major upset. There appears to be little panic at the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, a Washington lobbying group representing 11 auto makers in the U.S. “Companies may have different opinions, but in principle we’re all supportive of new ways of educating consumers and others about the environmental impact of our product,” AAM spokesman Wade Newton says. How bad has REACH actually been for the European auto industry? While the policy still is far from being fully implemented, the deadlines for registration of chemicals run until 2018 depending on toxicity and volume, there are indications the impact is not as harsh as feared, and any higher costs are being absorbed without needing to raise selling prices. “Quite a few car companies were well ahead of REACH,” Peter Wells, co-director of the Centre for Automotive Industry Research at Cardiff University, tells Ward’s. “They already had concerns about chemicals in their manufacturing processes and had compiled their own databases and come up with lists of chemicals that could not be used in the manufacturing process or in the product itself,” he says. “The leading companies have been up to speed on this for quite some time.”

In my report card dated June 5, 1970, my teacher, Mrs. Marlene Larson, wrote: “Lynn is a good natured and friendly child who is most considerate when associating with her peers…She completes the majority of her assignments with a high degree of accuracy.” It was Mrs. Larson’s nice way of saying, “Lynn is a bit high strung and nervous. She hates conflict, hates to make mistakes, and seems to be growing a large stick out her ass.” Ah, the good old days. Academically, first grade was my favorite year ever. That’s when I learned how to write the alphabet, then words, then stories. I apparently was quite good at math, too, but it didn’t take long for my right brain to eat up most of my left brain, and in future years my math skills went in the toilet. But I could write! “In our creative writing program,” wrote Mrs. Larson, “Lynn can express her ideas through written communication. Her stories are indicative of advancement in the use of capitalization and punctuation technique.” Not exactly a rave review of the content of my stories, but it’s good to know my love of grammar was apparent from the beginning. My parents kept a few of my stories, and dad was kind enough to put them in the envelope he gave me years ago that contained my report cards that I found last week. Here’s what I wrote, verbatim, however, in a few instances I put the real word in parenthesis so you don’t struggle trying to figure out what the heck that misspelled word is. Jan. 28, 1970 I have a friend who lives in Omaha her name is Teela her est (used) to live here with me I love her very much her love me to OK, so my grammar sucks in that one, but Teela is still my friend (although she doesn’t live in Omaha anymore), and look at the next one and how much my punctuation improved in just a few weeks. March 6, 1970 If I want to go to the moon I wood see. Captain kangaroo and Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse. And the Man in the moon. That’s how Mane (many). I liked it. Some girls dreamed of being princesses. I dreamed of seeing Captain Kangaroo on the moon. Inspired, no doubt, by the moon landing seven months prior, I was apparently very excited about the possibility of space travel. I was no Phil Nowlan, but it’s fun for 44-year-old Lynn to see 6-year-old Lynn still had enthusiasm for fantasy. This next story was no doubt inspired by my love for Dr. Seuss books. I wish I could remember what was going on in my head as I wrote this because it is incomplete. Either I wasn’t given enough time or enough space to explain what “sneefing” is. The Gleefle went to the zoo and I’m sure he meant to “sneef” while at the zoo, but he apparently didn’t get past the pig exhibit. LynnH May 2, 1970 The Gleefle that Sneefed Once upon a time there lived a. Gleefle and he was going to the zoo. He saw a big pig his is a big fat one to. Sneefing could mean so many things. Maybe that’s what my husband was doing in 1970 when he and his friends got stoned at ZZ Top concerts on the beach in Galveston. Perhaps Nixon was sneefing in the White House. This has potential as a creative writing assignment: finish the Gleefle story and define “sneef.” Care to post your ideas? I’ve not known a time when I didn’t write. My grades in language and reading were always top notch, and I’ve kept a journal since fifth grade. I once thought about being a veterinarian, a marketing major, and a teacher, but always, always, I went back to writing. Yes, I am still sort of uptight and anxious, and that stick is still there much of the time, but writing has always been a release, a way for me to understand who I am. I appreciate it for the gift it is. What were you passionate about as a kid? Did you recognize it then and does your career or educational path reflect that passion? As always, post a comment or send me an email. And don’t forget to make your best guess about “sneefing.”

A selection of articles related to venezuelan spanish. Original articles from our library related to the Venezuelan Spanish. See Table of Contents for further available material (downloadable resources) on Venezuelan Spanish. - History of Voodoo - The notoriously perceived notion of Voodoo as practiced in the western world is that of grotesquely molded wax dolls with pins sticking out of them. Let's look deeper than that! Parapsychology >> Spirits - Astronomy in Ancient Civilisations - It is a pity that the myths of ancient civilisations are so easily dismissed as the musings of savage minds, as it is subsequently easy to overlook the fact that many of their myths were encryptions of their astronomical knowledge. The best example of this... Modern Science >> Astronomy - A Germanic Pagan Looks at the Ten Commandments - Once, the Ten Commandments were by law posted in schoolrooms in the great Commonwealth of Kentucky and other places around the USA. Now, efforts are being made to post them here and elsewhere. Most folks in these parts seem to think that's a great idea.... Religions >> Christianity & Paganism - Story of the Celts: The Celts in Galicia, Spain - The Celts in Galicia, Spain [ 26 ] Galicia is a region located in the northwest corner of Spain, just above Portugal; Galicia is comprised of the following Spanish provinces: La Coruna, Lugo, Grense, and Ponteverde. In all, over 2.8 million people live in... History & Anthropology >> Celtic & Irish - Spider: Grandmother of Creation - At the dawn of summer, in the warmth of springtime, Spider peeks her head out and begins again to spin her tale. Her tale, like her web is spiral, each year bringing greater more elaborate worlds and possibilities into manifestation. Her story, her web is the... Symbology >> Animals Venezuelan Spanish is described in multiple online sources, as addition to our editors' articles, see section below for printable documents, Venezuelan Spanish books and related discussion. Suggested Pdf Resources - THE PLURALIZATION OF HABER IN VENEZUELAN SPANISH: A - evolution of this phenomenon in Venezuelan Spanish. Many studies. - Mainland Spanish Colonies and Creole Genesis: The Afro - Venezuela: the Spanish Crown's role in trade with its colonies and the proportion . - PROSODIC CHARACTERISTICS ASSOCIATED WITH THE - prosodic characteristics of clauses in the Mérida dialect of. Venezuelan Spanish. We based this study on two analyses: one acoustic and one audio-perceptive. - stephanie lain dissertation - Acoustic correlates of [voice] in two dialects of Venezuelan Spanish by. Stephanie Lain, B.A. Suggested News Resources - Miami's Hip Larry Land Quarter Thrives on Art Deco Madness - Business is brisk and overwhelmingly conducted in Parisian French, Venezuelan Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese. Suggested Web Resources - Venezuelan Spanish - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Venezuelan Spanish is a dialect of the Spanish language spoken in Venezuela. Spanish was introduced in Venezuela by the conquistadors. - Venezuelan - English-Spanish Dictionary - WordReference.com - Venezuelan - Translation to Spanish, pronunciation, and forum discussions. - Venezuelan Spanish - Venezuelan Spanish Translation - This variety of Caribbean Spanish, with numerous similarities to the Spanish of Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Cuba. - Venezuelan Spanish | Facebook - Venezuelan Spanish - Description: Venezuelan Spanish is a dialect of the Spanish language spoken in Venezuela. - Spanish language courses on Margarita Island, Venezuelan - Learn language abroad on the caribbean Island Margarita, Venezuela. Intensive language Courses with fun and skill. Venezuelan Spanish Topics glenn quagmire quotes will smith sitcoms atmosphere band biography watership down translations

Unless you are a socialite, a New College student or employee, or a caterer, you may be unaware of one of the most impressive old houses in Florida. It’s the former home of circus co-owner and real estate developer Charles Ringling and his wife, Edith. Built in 1925 and clad in pink Georgian marble, the 18,964-square-foot structure has been owned by New College since 1962 and serves as College Hall, housing the admissions office, classrooms and the offices of several professors. “Charles and Edith’s home is so classical and stately,” said Ringling history expert Ron McCarty. “Many examples in the same taste and style are in cities all over America. But it’s so very unique in its architectural details and opulence.” Its grand spaces and expansive lawn overlooking the broadest width of Sarasota Bay also are the scene of some of Sarasota’s most impressive social events and fund-raisers. And not just once in a while. Weddings and other parties can be held there, too. Revenue from rentals helps pay for upkeep costs, which are substantial. A week ago, McCarty conducted a tour of the Charles Ringling Mansion, and a peek at the Hester Ringling Sanford House immediately to its south, for members of the Sarasota Architectural Foundation. As is always the case, McCarty, keeper and curator of Cá d’Zan, the John and Mable Ringling Mansion, did his homework and enlightened the tour-goers with Ringling facts and trivia. Over his 30 years with the Ringling organization, McCarty has spent countless hours in College Hall, even using it as a lunch venue and taking an exercise class in the Music Room some years ago. Charles Ringling, on the other hand, spent only a few months there after the house was completed in March 1926 at a cost of $880,000, with another $300,000 spent on furnishings and decor. He died at 62 of a cerebral hemorrhage in December of that year. Edith Ringling, a beloved figure in the community, especially after she reimbursed depositors in full from her own funds after Charles’ bank failed during the Great Depression, lived in the house until her death in 1953. “I admire Edith for what she has given to the community, and having been such a great life partner with Charles,” said McCarty. “She has many qualities and should be showcased. She loved the community and her children were involved here. It was very much their home, not a seasonal residence. They loved Sarasota. “I love the Charles and Edith history in Sarasota as much as the John and Mable,” said McCarty. “They were very different people and gave so much to what we now know as the elegant and artistic Sarasota of today.” Edith’s children could not afford to maintain the mansion. Jerry Collins, the owner of the Sarasota Kennel Club, bought the 30-acre property in 1958 by paying off the county property tax liens, said McCarty, and then sold it to Fred Wynans of Stocksdale, Pa., who spent $100,000 on repairs and restoration. New College, founded in 1960, bought the Charles Ringling Estate two years later for $4 million. “Crucial to New College’s early start-up efforts was the purchase in 1962 of the Charles Ringling estate on Sarasota Bay as the site of the college’s main campus,” wrote then-New College President Gordon Michalson in 2004. McCarty said New College has done an admirable job of maintaining the mansion and adapting it for collegiate use. In 1965, the school did something that may have both minimized maintenance expenses and extended the life of the building: It enclosed the loggia on the west side of the building, protecting marble arches, French doors and an intricately painted ceiling from wind, rain and salt air. “New College respects the space very much,” said McCarty during a private tour for the Herald-Tribune. “They understand its history and beauty. They could have changed so much more, so I think they have been very sensitive. Without something like this preserved, you lose so much of your heritage. I think they (Charles and John) would be very pleased.” The Charles and Edith Ringling Mansion is part of a National Register historic district that includes the John and Mable Ringling of Art, Cá d’Zan, the Hester Ringling Sanford residence, the Ralph Caples Estate the original Asolo theater and about 100 acres of bayfront. Cá d’Zan is the better known and more opulent of the mansions. It has been published in many books about Florida’s, and the nation’s, most outstanding homes, and is an icon for Sarasota. “The Charles,” on the other hand, is largely ignored by the press. “The Charles and Edith mansion is elegant and stately, while John and Mable’s is much more like a Hollywood fantasy, having castle-like features,” said McCarty. “Both are clearly the most important private residences of the 1920s Florida Boom on the west coast of Florida.” The main difference today is that Cá d’Zan is a museum, while College Hall is a working building. But as it is public property, visitors are free to walk the grounds or see the inside of the building during business hours. Admission to Cá d’Zan, on the other hand, is $25. The proximity of the two mansions is a testament to the closeness of the brothers. “John and Charles were very visionary in everything they did for the community,” McCarty said. “Charles developed a lot of the downtown business district, and John was doing the resort type of real estate, as well as investments down by Myakka State Park. John bought 67,000 acres and sold half of it to his brother. “They were very close, no matter what you read. They were very much a loving family and enjoyed being together and working together. Later on, stories would arise that maybe Edith wasn’t close to John. But that is not important at all. The two brothers were very close, or else Charles would not have invested with John.” John Ringling died in December 1936, one day short of 10 years after Charles’s death, at age 70. “They are such a great aspect to this community,” said McCarty.