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Tuesday, November 27, 2007
A SHOUT FROM COPENHAGEN: Rudy G. & the Scent of Corruption
by Thomas E. Kennedy
Recently I was surprised to receive an email from a Newsweek journalist, saying she wanted to phone me in Copenhagen to interview me for an article about one of my high school classmates, Rudy Giuliani. I had no idea that Giuliani had been in my class.
So I mailed back to the journalist saying that to the best of my knowledge I had not known Rudy, never even knew that he existed other than as the Mayor of New York. But she still wanted to talk to me to get some background about life at Bishop Loughlin High School, 1957-61. She mentioned that she had read an article I wrote about Loughlin in those years, that she found it "fascinating" and hoped I would be available to speak with her. We made an appointment for her to telephone me next evening.
I spent some time trying to prepare myself by thinking back on my time in Loughlin. They had not been particularly happy years. The atmosphere had been oppressive, anti-intellectual, jingoistic, and brutal. The only truth was Catholic truth. Questions were not encouraged, but memorization was, and sex – in general – was wrong. I recall our religion teacher telling us that once we were married we could do whatever we wanted with our wives as long as the seed found the womb, but that we shouldn't be pigs about it. Everything was dictated – from the length of our hair to the cut of our pants. Ties and jackets were mandatory. As for violence, one Brother told us that any boy who had not had five good fistfights by the age of 15 was on the wrong track; he liked to threaten to crack our jaws. So much for Christian love.
As I waited for the phone call, I got to thinking that my article on Loughlin that the journalist referred to contained an account of a senior year student- president election that had what I remembered as a certain scent of corruption. I learned years later that the father of the winning candidate – who had seemed to come out of nowhere and to have the support of everybody, including the school administration – had raised a very large sum of money for a building project for the order of brothers who ran the school.
Possibly I was mistaken about all this, but at the least a case could be made for it. And it occurred to me to wonder whether the Newsweek journalist suspected that Giuliani might have been involved.
I googled Rudy Giuliani and Loughlin 1961, and a good deal of information came up. It seems that there were in fact three parties in that high school election, and that Rudy Giuliani served as campaign manager for one of the candidates. Could it be? I dug deeper for the smoking gun. But there was neither smoke nor a gun. Rudy's candidate in that election lost. Quite possibly Rudy didn't even know about the fix – if indeed there really had been a fix. But when you consider that a slush fund of a million dollars was enough to undo the President of the United States in 1972-73, how much could that equivalent contribution to a building fund have done to help win a student-president election in a Brooklyn high school in 1961?
It occurred to me that the Newsweek journalist might have been following that scent of corruption, possibly had not realized that Rudy had not been on the possibly corrupt side in that high school election.
I waited for her call, curious to see if I might learn something from her, but she didn't call. At the last moment, she emailed an apology; she was stuck in a meeting and asked if she could call the next day, but no further calls or emails came until several days later when she let me know she'd spoken with a couple of others and got the background information she needed and politely noted that since I hadn't actually known Giuliani and lived so many time zones away and her deadline was close upon her….
I emailed saying that was fine, but wondering with whom she had spoken. She told the names of three persons – two classmates I vaguely remember as being prominent in the school and the Vice Principal, now in his 80s. I remember that Vice Principal as sarcastic and cold. The journalist told me it was fun speaking with them, that they were "very nice."
And it occurred to me that there might be people who go through high school happily, go on to happy college years, good foundations for happy lives. It took me ten years to get over my Catholic school experiences, the whole oppressing effect of 12 years of stunted men and women having authority over me.Perhaps I have a strain of conspiracy-nut in me -- it is also tempting to suspect that the journalist made the same discovery I had about that possibly corrupt election. If that distant, 45-year-old high school election really had been tainted, the taint had NOT been on Rudy G. He was cleared. Which, presumably, might make this bit of gossip journalistically less interesting.
However, in the course of all this, I discovered that I did remember Rudy from back then. At least I think I did. A google source reminded me that he had been the guy who started the Opera Club – a pudgy guy who wore dark suits, white shirts, gleaming black shoes.
Among the members of the Opera Club was as close friend of Rudy Giuliani's, a boy named Alan Placa, whom I don't remember either. However, some readers may be familiar with the name of Alan Placa; he would become a wealthy Long Island Monsignor and would later be accused in a Grand Jury hearing of the sexual abuse of adolescent boys and of protecting priests who were guilty of such abuse and ultimately relieved by the Church of all priestly duties and deprived of the right to administer the sacraments – whereupon Rudy Giuliani hired him in his law firm.
According to a New York Times article from February 2003, Msgr. Placa denied the allegations and remembered the adolescent he was alleged to have molested "as a 'troubled boy' who was always 'singling himself out.'" Perhaps that is another way of saying that the boy was unreliable, hungry for attention. Such a boy, no doubt, would be easy prey. Msgr. Placa also pointed out, able lawyer that he is, that the statute of limitations had already been exceeded on all the allegations.
This past weekend the Newsweek article appeared in print and on-line. The portrait of my school was of "a fortress-like high school run with an iron hand by the Christian Brothers." But I was surprised to find that Alan Placa was mentioned only with a fleeting reference – that allegations of sexual abuse had been made, that he had denied them, and was never formally charged. There was no mention of the fact that he had also been accused of protecting other priests against whom such allegations had been made and of concealing his law degree in dealing with boys who had spoken out about having been abused. Nor were the facts mentioned that Alan Placa had been relieved by the Church of all priestly duties or that Rudy Giuliani hired Placa to work for his law firm afterwards.
I sent an email to the journalist congratulating her on having captured the atmosphere of the school, but wondering about the Placa omissions. Was the press distancing itself from this connection in deference to the Republican candidate in a much higher-level election? Her response was forthcoming: "Thanks for writing - we should have included that about Placa. I appreciate you reading the story. All best…"Actually, although I did not have a very good time in high school, maybe others did – Rudy and Alan, for example.
See also http://www.copenhagenquartet.com/ for information on four independent novels about the souls and seasons of Copenhagen, each written in a different style and set in a different season and which can be read independently of one another or together in any order desired: Kerrigan's Copenhagen, A Love Story, which is a novel disguised as a guide to the bars of Copenhagen, each chapter unfolding in a different serving house; Bluett's Blue Hours, a noir tale about the deep dark of Copenhagen winter and the seamier sides of life in this beautiful capital; Greene's Summer, about a Chilean torture survivor who comes to Copenhagen to be treated in a torture rehabilitation center and meets a Danish woman who has herself survived a violent marriage; and Danish Fall, a satire about 12 people connected to a Danish firm which is being downsized.
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Downloading movies is very much harder now a days as it is illegal. But then also you can download them using torrents and many other websites.. Gunday 2014 movie Mp3 Songs Download. . Monali Thakur, Sohail Sen, Shadab Faridi star Cast by Priyanka Chopra Mp3 Download Links For Hindi Movie Gunday .
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In a deeply moving collection of interrelated stories, this 1919 American classic illuminates the loneliness and frustrations — spiritual, emotional and artistic — of life in a small town.
Category: Fiction
In the winter of 1912, Sherwood Anderson (1876–1941) abruptly left his office and spent three days wandering through the Ohio countryside, a victim of “nervous exhaustion.” Over the next few years, abandoning his family and his business, he resolved to become a writer. Novels and poetry followed, but it was with the story collection Winesburg, Ohio that he found his ideal form, remaking the American short story for the modern era. Hart Crane, one of the first to recognize Anderson’s genius, quickly hailed his accomplishment: “America should read this book on her knees.” Here––for the first time in a single volume––are all the collections Anderson published during his lifetime: Winesburg, Ohio (1919), The Triumph of the Egg (1921), Horses and Men (1923), and Death in the Woods (1933), along with a generous selection of stories left uncollected or unpublished at his death. Exploring the hidden recesses of small town life, these haunting, understated, often sexually frank stories pivot on seemingly quiet moments when lives change, futures are recast, and pasts come to reckon. They transformed the tone of American storytelling, inspiring writers like Hemingway, Faulkner, and Mailer, and defining a tradition of midwestern fiction that includes Charles Baxter, editor of this volume.
Category: Fiction
Purchase one of 1st World Library's Classic Books and help support our free internet library of downloadable eBooks. Visit us online at www.1stWorldLibrary.ORG - - Hugh McVey was born in a little hole of a town stuck on a mud bank on the western shore of the Mississippi River in the State of Missouri. It was a miserable place in which to be born. With the exception of a narrow strip of black mud along the river, the land for ten miles back from the town - called in derision by river men "Mudcat Landing" - was almost entirely worthless and unproductive. The soil, yellow, shallow and stony, was tilled, in Hugh's time, by a race of long gaunt men who seemed as exhausted and no-account as the land on which they lived. They were chronically dis-couraged, and the merchants and artisans of the town were in the same state. The merchants, who ran their stores - poor tumble-down ramshackle affairs - on the credit system, could not get pay for the goods they handed out over their counters and the artisans, the shoemakers, carpenters and harnessmakers, could not get pay for the work they did. Only the town's two saloons prospered. The saloon keepers sold their wares for cash and, as the men of the town and the farmers who drove into town felt that without drink life was unbearable, cash always could be found for the purpose of getting drunk.
Category: Fiction
A collection of interrelated tales chronicles the corporate rise of Adam Posner, who is spiritually and psychologically haunted by the legacy and dreams of his dead parents, survivors of the Holocaust. A first collection. Reprint.
Category: Fiction
Considered by many to be John Dos Passos's greatest work, Manhattan Transfer is an "expressionistic picture of New York" (New York Times) in the 1920s that reveals the lives of wealthy power brokers and struggling immigrants alike. From Fourteenth Street to the Bowery, Delmonico's to the underbelly of the city waterfront, Dos Passos chronicles the lives of characters struggling to become a part of modernity before they are destroyed by it. More than seventy-five years after its first publication, Manhattan Transfer still stands as "a novel of the very first importance" (Sinclair Lewis). It is a masterpeice of modern fiction and a lasting tribute to the dual-edged nature of the American dream.
Category: Fiction
An unforgettably challenging book about power and powerlessness, men and women, masters and servants, small countries and big countries, Alasdair Gray's exploration of the politics of pornography has lost none of its power to shock. 1982, Janine is a searing portrait of male need and inadequacy, as explored via the lonely sexual fantasies of Jock McLeish, failed husband, lover and businessman. Yet there is hope here, and the humour (if black) and the imaginative and textual energy of the narrative achieves its own kind of redemption in the end.
Category: Fiction
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Friday, July 19, 2013
5 Types of Social Media Content that Your Audience Like
What types of social media content does your audience expect from
you?
If you are one of those brands which struggle with developing social
content that is just right for your brand’s audience in spite of having a
clearly defined social media strategy in place, then read further. Below are 5
types of content that your audience would love to receive from you –
Contests and activities
that seeks audience participation:
Your fans and followers love a little
challenge here and there, especially if there are monetary or other types of
rewards involved.
‘Share’ and ‘Like’ Content:
If you want your audience to regularly visit
your social pages and consume your content, then it is absolutely necessary
that your contest is worthy of maximum likes and shares. When you create
shareable content, you not only create an opportunity for your brand to get
more visibility, but also allow your audience to increase their social
interactions.
Custom Content:
When your brand stands for something, your
audience also repeatedly come to your page to get regular product/industry
specific updates from you. So give them that a plenty, but keep it simple and
varied in nature. Using images, videos and info graphics regularly helps break
the monotony of plain text.
Reactions:
Show them that you are a brand with also has a humane nature.
Express your solidarity with global or local events and developments that
upholds human values and the general good of all citizens. Pay your homage to
victims of tragedies; applaud achievements of sports persons, the armed forces,
social workers, extraordinary individuals with extraordinary success stories.
Bloopers, humorous
content:
This is especially perfect for film and media
houses. Your fans always want to know what happens behind the scenes of movies
and soaps. Post lots of photos with interesting captions or upload a video of
retakes of a particular shot. Non entertainment brands can regularly post
content showing how your product is manufactured or developed from scratch.
So, what other types of social media content would
your audience like? Tell us in the comments below.
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Australian Blue Essential Oil - 15 ml
Overview
Australian Blue™ is a powerful, aromatic essence that unites ancient aboriginal wisdom with today's scientific knowledge about essential oils to uplift and inspire the mind and heart. This exotic essential oil blend has sweet, earthy undertones responsible for its calming and stabilizing effects.
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Get new posts when they come!
JavaScript Tutorials for Beginners
They really are for absolute beginners, so for somebody who works with JavaScript almost every day they would seem quite boring 😉
However for somebody who just started to learn or wants to learn JavaScript in the nearest future, these videos by Bob Tabor would be very and very useful!
Happy coding 🙂
Like and share:
Published by
Tonia Tkachuk
I'm an Android Developer, writing code for living and for fun. Love beautiful apps with a clean code inside. Enjoy travelling and reading.
View all posts by Tonia Tkachuk
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New study suggests that iconic structures more aptly named the Pillars of Destruction
Using the MUSE instrument on ESO’s Very
Large Telescope (VLT), astronomers have produced the first complete
three-dimensional view of the famous Pillars of Creation in the Eagle
Nebula, Messier 16. The new observations demonstrate how the different
dusty pillars of this iconic object are distributed in space and reveal
many new details — including a previously unseen jet from a young star.
Intense radiation and stellar winds from the cluster’s brilliant stars
have sculpted the dusty Pillars of Creation over time and should fully
evaporate them in about three million years.
The original NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image of the famous Pillars of Creation
was taken two decades ago and immediately became one of its most famous
and evocative pictures. Since then, these billowing clouds, which
extend over a few light-years [1], have awed scientists and the public alike.
The jutting structures, along with the nearby star cluster, NGC 6611, are parts of a star formation region called the Eagle Nebula,
also known as Messier 16 or M16. The nebula and its associated objects
are located about 7000 light-years away in the constellation of Serpens (The Serpent).
The Pillars of Creation are a classic example of the column-like
shapes that develop in the giant clouds of gas and dust that are the
birthplaces of new stars. The columns arise when immense, freshly formed
blue–white O and B stars give off intense ultraviolet radiation and
stellar winds that blow away less dense materials from their vicinity.
Denser pockets of gas and dust, however, can resist this erosion for
longer. Behind such thicker dust pockets, material is shielded from the
harsh, withering glare of O and B stars. This shielding creates dark
"tails" or “elephant trunks”, which we see as the dusky body of a
pillar, that point away from the brilliant stars.
ESO's MUSE instrument on the Very Large Telescope
has now helped illustrate the ongoing evaporation of the Pillars of
Creation in unprecedented detail, revealing their orientation.
MUSE has shown that the tip of the left pillar is facing us, atop a
pillar that is is actually situated behind NGC 6611, unlike the other
pillars. This tip is bearing the brunt of the radiation from NGC 6611’s
stars, and as a result looks brighter to our eyes than the bottom left,
middle and right pillars, whose tips are all pointed away from our view.
Astronomers hope to better understand how young O and B stars like
those in NGC 6611 influence the formation of subsequent stars. Numerous
studies have identified protostars forming in these clouds — they are
indeed Pillars of Creation. The new study also reports fresh evidence
for two gestating stars in the left and middle pillars as well as a jet
from a young star that had escaped attention up to now.
For more stars to form in environments like the Pillars of Creation,
it is a race against time as intense radiation from the powerful stars
that are already shining continues to grind away at the pillars.
By measuring the Pillars of Creation’s rate of evaporation, MUSE has
given astronomers a time frame for when the pillars will be no more.
They shed about 70 times the mass of the Sun every million years or so.
Based on the their present mass of about 200 times that of the Sun, the
Pillars of Creation have an expected lifetime of perhaps three million
more years — an eyeblink in cosmic time. It seems that an equally apt
name for these iconic cosmic columns might be the Pillars of
Destruction.
Notes
[1] The left pillar, considered as a complete object from top to bottom,
is estimated to be about four light-years in length. It is the longest
pillar and about twice the height of the right pillar.
More Information
This research was presented in a paper entitled "The Pillars of
Creation revisited with MUSE: gas kinematics and high-mass stellar
feedback traced by optical spectroscopy" by A. F. McLeod et al., to
appear in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society on 30 April 2015.
ESO is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in
Europe and the world’s most productive ground-based astronomical
observatory by far. It is supported by 16 countries: Austria, Belgium,
Brazil, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy,
the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the
United Kingdom, along with the host state of Chile. ESO carries out an
ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of
powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make
important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in
promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research. ESO
operates three unique world-class observing sites in Chile: La Silla,
Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large
Telescope, the world’s most advanced visible-light astronomical
observatory and two survey telescopes. VISTA works in the infrared and
is the world’s largest survey telescope and the VLT Survey Telescope is
the largest telescope designed to exclusively survey the skies in
visible light. ESO is a major partner in ALMA, the largest astronomical
project in existence. And on Cerro Armazones, close to Paranal, ESO is
building the 39-metre European Extremely Large Telescope, the E-ELT,
which will become “the world’s biggest eye on the sky”.
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OMG Ghost Caught On Camera For Real!
OMG Ghost Caught On Camera For Real!
OMG Ghost Caught On Camera For Real
Appropriate for this Halloween time of year...
Look close to see the ghost! :-)
LOL, Ha, Ha, Ha
EXTRAFunnyVideos.com…because a good laugh a day keeps the doctor away!
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Tag: dream
President Obama had earlier added some of his personal mud collectors to the Oval Office, changing china with mechanical devices and Native American pottery. This was a change from the unique Dream House in several ways – not solely was it significantly greater, but one may set up the home itself in different methods, not just the furnishings inside. Love just isn’t based mostly on purchasing sprees, purchases that costs greater than the down payment on a home (proudly owning not renting/pretending), and tons of money. They may be scrap wood from around the house, in that case the dog home could or might not come out too enticing relying upon the items you might have accessible and you might have to cobble together a plan for constructing the canine home because the items aren’t more likely to match what would be required for the plans accessible. The house is … Read More
The video beneath is one that I took of a black chook (I imagine it’s a Raven, others tell me it’s not) preventing off an attacking blue jay. This is the first Hub I have ever learn, the recommendation is terrific.I even have had a mildew drawback in the home porch for the reason that starting of December and was at my wits appears to be like horrible and I knew it was also a health hazard. It will go throughout the house so that you simply have to follow it. You can both remove it by pulling it by way of the partitions and ceilings or you’ll be able to reduce it into smaller pieces (smaller pieces are simpler to strip). A very modest one bedroom apartment may only cost $650 a month in finances housing however those that lease it must earn no less than $1950 a month … Read More
It’s been virtually twenty years since we parted methods with the Tanner family. Use these DIY Birdhouse Plans to make a number of bluebird nesting bins and create a Bluebird Trail of birdhouses, or give a bluebird house to a good friend. The leafy cloth is an outdated Schumacher print I took from The Suze’s home and the bottom material is a roll of ivory faux bois I found for $20 at the native antique mall. It’s much simpler (and less irritating) to check match the items collectively now to make any last adjustments rather than making an attempt to make modifications after the bat home is halfway assembled. Mould – If you discover mould within the kitchen or bathroom, it often means that there are ventilation problem, leaks or rising dampness in the partitions. The house storage tank was larger, but it was quickly overflowing during days of heavy … Read More
From thoughts-melding Vulcan’s with unparalleled logic, to abandon island castaways capable of building something below the solar with only bamboo sticks and coconuts, TV smarties have been gracing our tv screens, showering us with their brilliance for an extended, very long time. Hang the bat house dealing with an open area, ideally with a southern publicity to maximize the amount of warmth from the sun. I’ve corrected the scale, and I hope this helps to make constructing this bluebird house a enjoyable and successful undertaking. Work and jobs are additionally Sixth House points, however jobs which might be much less important than careers, which is a Tenth House concern. The early 1900s saw giant row home developments when builders created total new neighborhoods.
I had a home rabbit for awhile, but he scared my cats so I found a brand new house for him. Berkeley House is a wonderful Victorian … Read More
The stunning tragedy of the Queensland floods in Australia has raised many questions on why individuals had been allowed to build, and rebuild once more in flood-inclined areas. The Olsen’s mom almost made them stop after the primary season because she wanted them to have a standard childhood. It is 45 X eighty X 17. We initially deliberate to build a house at a later date, but have not too long ago decided to just tear out what we’ve got finished and re-do it and are searching for design concepts. The properties called the Painted Ladies are seen within the opening credits of Full House.
Since the beginning of season 4, Moran, Friend, and Lerner have been credited as executive producers on the series, joining Attanasio, Jacobs, Shore, and Singer. The fact is, that if your home is not appearing on Rightmove then you are significantly proscribing the people who … Read More
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Diana Martucci Joins Hammond Residential Real Estate Westwood Office
WESTWOOD, MA – Gail Bogle, manager of Hammond Residential Real Estate’s Westwood office, and Annie Jessup, Assistant Sales Manager, are pleased to announce that Diana Martucci has affiliated with Hammond. In her new role, Martucci will collaborate with buyer and seller clients from Hammond’s Westwood office location at 100 High Street.
Martucci is a longtime Westwood resident who earned a bachelor’s degree in Sociology and a master’s in Public Administration from Clark University. Passionate about her community, Martucci has served as the Executive Board President for Saint John’s Nursery School, as Co-Chair of the Westwood Early Childhood Council, and as a member of the Sheehan Elementary School PTA. She and her family are also proud to be a host family for the “Fresh Air Fund.”
As a Hammond agent, Martucci understands that the home purchase and sale process can be stressful, with unanticipated bumps in the road. She works hard to lessen those bumps, making the process as smooth and enjoyable as possible. Martucci takes pride in her flexibility and personal demeanor throughout the process. Her clients gain confidence in themselves as home buyers and sellers as a result of her attention to detail and ability to understand their needs.
Martucci began her real estate career in the local market, and her clients rely on her area knowledge and experience throughout all phases of a real estate transaction.
Gail Bogle said, “We are pleased to welcome Diana to Hammond’s experienced team, and we look forward to witnessing her many successes as a Hammond agent. Her exceptional client service and market knowledge, along with her use of Hammond’s unique marketing platform, will ensure her an expanding and loyal client base for many years to come.”
Hammond Residential is headquartered in Chestnut Hill, and has three Boston locations and fifteen suburban branch offices. The company reports over two billion dollars in sales volume annually, ranking in sales volume among the top 500 firms in the United States, and as the sixth-highest in mean average sales price and the ninth-highest in sales volume per sales associate. Hammond is well-known as the publisher of the region’s finest magazines featuring local properties for sale.
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Survey shows consumers are open to tax reform but oppose GST changes
21 April 2015
Two-thirds of Australians are concerned at how the looming Federal Budget might affect them, with increased spending on hospitals, the aged pension and schools topping consumers’ priorities. Among those with children aged under five years, 75% are concerned at childcare fees.
The findings are part of CHOICE’s latest nationally representative Consumer Pulse report, which also finds strong support for proposals that prioritise fairness and share the burden of tax reform.
“This is clearly an anxious time for Australian households, with last year’s Federal Budget casting a long shadow into 2015,” says CHOICE CEO Alan Kirkland.
“Australians also understand the Federal Budget faces a revenue challenge, and the strong sentiment is that large businesses, including mining companies and banks, have a role to play,” Mr Kirkland says.
“There is majority support for limiting aged pension eligibility and superannuation tax benefits for the wealthy, while a sizeable minority of 45% want to wind-back the tax benefits of negative gearing.
“Against this, moves to increase the rate of the GST are opposed by 60% of Australians, while an even greater number oppose broadening the base to healthcare, education and fresh food.”
CHOICE says the results of its latest Consumer Pulse report show consumers are receptive to a comprehensive discussion about tax reform, looking across business, industry and individual tax arrangements, rather than a debate narrowly focused on the GST.
“None of this should rule out a wide-ranging debate about Australia’s tax system and the Federal Budget’s revenue base,” Mr Kirkland says.
“But the clear message is that consumers are open to an informed debate about measures that are comprehensive and fair, not narrowly targeting household consumption.”
Key findings from the latest CHOICE Consumer Pulse report include:
Clear support for measured economic reform, with 45% of households agreeing that long-term pressure on the Federal Budget requires action over the coming 5-10 years.
This compares with 22% believing we face an immediate ‘budget emergency’, and 17% wanting no action beyond business-as-usual.
Strongest support for increased spending is on hospitals (62%), the aged pension (47%) followed by schools (42%), pharmaceuticals (37%), Medicare benefits for GP visits (35%) and roads (35%).
Electricity remains the top household cost-of-living concern for the fourth consecutive quarter, now at 78%, followed by food and groceries (75%) and fuel (69%) and health/medical including private health insurance (69%).
Concern over fuel has fallen significantly over the last nine months, from 81% in June 2014 to 69% now.
75% of those with children aged under five years are concerned about childcare fees, with 73% of students concerned about university fees.
30% say they are finding it difficult to get by on their present income, compared to 27% who say they are living comfortably.
One-in-five Australians (21%) say they lived off a credit card to cover the gap until payday.
1. The survey was designed and analysed by CHOICE with fieldwork by GMI/Lightspeed Research conducted with 1,049 consumers aged 18-75 years between 17 and 24 March 2015. Final data has been weighted to ensure it is representative of the Australian population based on the ABS Census 2011. Cost of living questions about people’s concerns with expenses is based on the total population including people who do not have a given expense. We have done this to represent the overall views of Australians.
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High-throughput computing environment for seismic risk assessment
(duration: 2/08-2/11, sponsor: Slovenian Research Agency)
Basic research project, supported by Slovenian Research Agency, is aimed at developing innovative computing environment, which will enable a seismic risk assessment of urban areas or determination of the seismic risk assessment of a particular building in the design or strengthening process. The computing environment will re-use state-of-the-art secure grid technology to interconnect with other similar environments.
The results of the project will be applications, which can be used to facilitate and accelerate the adoption of more realistic and transparent procedures for estimation of seismic risk and design of structures. Such applications can substantially contribute to reducing the risk of human or economic losses due to earthquake.
The research is performed in close cooperation with the research group Earthquake Engineering and e-Construction, both at the Faculty of Civil and Geodetic Engineering, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. The proposed research represents a continuation of some EU funded projects at which the researchers of the research group Earthquake Engineering or e-Construction participated.
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Tag Archives: Bible
From a tweet by craigadams49 In an AP article on the “Conservative Bible Project†The Gospel of Luke records that, as he was dying on the cross, Jesus showed his boundless mercy by praying for his killers this way: "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." Not so fast, say contributors to the Conservative Bible Project. The Continue Reading
Book burnings. King James Version worship. Mother Teresa? What did she write that would make her a heretic? Possibly some hint of criticism of “faith†over “works� These people seem to think they “do God’s will†by taking on the spiritual arrogance and self-proclaimed “purity†of their leaders. They do it today by also adopting the political allegiances of their Continue Reading
Putting into print what they already EDIT/ALTER in their “Bibleâ€. Hat tip to Ken Sloane [Andy] Schlafly, the son of national political activist Phyllis Schlafly, says a conservative Bible should be masculine, for example, using the words mankind and man rather than more inclusive language. It also should shun terms like laborer or comrade. It also should put a free Continue Reading
via Ryan Beiler, pointing to Ted Olsen’s comments on J.P. Moreland’s “How Evangelicals Became Over-Committed to the Bible and What Can Be Done About It.” Ryan observes: It’s refreshing to hear such criticism coming from within the evangelical academy. Ted Olsen describes how theologian J.P. Moreland challenged the Evangelical Theological Society with a session called: "How Evangelicals Became Over-Committed to Continue Reading
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Common Error Types of Iranian Learners of English
Ali Nezami, Mousa Sadraie Najafi
Abstract
This paper aimed at obtaining a clear understanding of Iranian EFL learners’ L2 writing error types. To develop such an understanding, a research question was formulated to see whether there is any significant difference between the participants’ language proficiency level and their error types in writing. To this end, a sample version of the structure and reading sections of a paper-based TOFEL test, and a Test of Written English (TWE) were administered to 103 university students majoring in English. The statistical analyses revealed that a) there were statistically significant differences among proficiency groups on overall error types they made in their compositions, and b) frequency of occurrence of error types in each group was different.
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Sponsor
Union preps nurses on long-term strike ahead of vote
The Minnesota Nurses Association began briefing its members Wednesday on its open-ended strike strategy. Twin Cities nurses will vote Monday on whether to authorize the union's plan.
The stakes are high for hospitals, but also for nurses. An open-ended walkout could cause severe financial hardship for many of them. Both sides are walking a fine line and lots of people are watching.
Nurses union spokesman John Nemo says there are lots of links to resources and other advice posted on the union's website as the union prepares its member to weather a long strike.
"As far as what steps they can do to talk to their bank and talk about mortgage payments or car payments and things like that," Nemo said. "And how you can call your creditors ahead of time and try to make arrangements to delay or make partial payments."
The union says most employers pay their health premiums at the beginning of the month, so if another strike occurs in early July, nurses would retain their coverage for at least a few weeks.
After that, they'll be able to purchase a temporary COBRA plan that would maintain their same health benefits, if a strike continues into August.
The nurses union also has a strike fund. Nemo won't reveal how much money is available to help striking nurses, but he says members have more ways of getting help than they might think.
Everyone is looking at Minnesota to see how effectively nurses can strike.
Labor professor Gary Chaison
"The purpose of sharing all that information is to help them understand that they can do this, that it is very feasible and it's not nearly as scary as it might seem at first blush," he said.
For nurses who have money in savings, going without a paycheck for a few weeks might not be that scary. But for those who live paycheck to paycheck, there's plenty to worry about, even if they're able to delay some of their bills.
Gary Chaison, a labor relations professor at Clark University in Worcester, Mass., said the union is walking a fine line right now. Tt needs to show the hospitals that its nurses are preparing for a long strike, he said, but those preparations will make some nurses very uneasy.
"It's important for the union to communicate that a vote for a strike doesn't mean they have to go on strike," Chaison said. "It just means that the officers now can back up their bargaining demands with the ability to strike and they can call a strike at any time."
The nurses union said as much yesterday when it invited hospitals back to the bargaining table next week and promised to delay filing an intent-to-strike notice, as long as negotiations show signs of progress.
Twenty-four hours after receiving the union's request for more talks, the hospitals are still evaluating the offer.
Economist Aaron Sojourner predicts a break in the impasse soon.
"Now we can expect to see the real negotiations get started," he said.
Sojourner, who teaches labor relations at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, said the prospect of an open-ended strike is just as scary to hospitals as it is to nurses.
"It's pretty easy to adjust for a one-day strike, to just reschedule some elective procedures, to bring in managers to do front-line work. It's not very disruptive," he said. "But an open-ended, long strike, you know those little adjustments can't get you through."
Hospitals still haven't provided estimates on what the one-day strike cost, but many of their 2,800 replacement nurses reportedly earned three times the daily rate that a union nurse earns, meaning they likely spent a minimum of several million dollars -- and probably significantly more than that -- to staff the one-day walkout. An open-ended strike would likely increase those costs substantially.
But Sojourner says losing money isn't the only risk. He says findings from a recent study of 50 strikes in New York state show that the quality of care isn't as good during strikes. The study found that the in-hospital mortality rate rose, as well as the 30-day readmission rate.
"This is good research and it shows that for the hospitals, for the patients, for the public the stakes are quite high," he said.
Just as the stakes of this labor dispute are high, even outside of Minnesota's borders.
Labor professor Gary Chaison says health care leaders across the country are grappling with similar budget issues and no one has an easy solution.
"Everyone is looking at Minnesota to see how effectively nurses can strike, whether they're willing to go on strike, and key issues of staffing as well," he said. "I think everyone in the health care industry is looking at how do we deal with these tremendous pressures to reduce costs? Can we get the nurses to go along with this or do we have to find alternative ways of dealing with it?"
In many ways, this labor dispute is a sign of the times. Poor economic conditions have influenced many of the concessions that the hospitals are seeking from the nurses. But Chaison thinks it's also an unintended consequence of health care reform which will force hospitals to trim their costs even more in the years ahead.
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First Grade Mega Math Practice Seasonal Unit Bundle First Grade Mega Math Practice gives your students a lot of practice in all areas of the Common Core First Grade Math Standards. Students need many opportunities to work with all new math skills.
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This is a bundle of seasonal units formatted like my other Mega Math Practice Units. It currently contains six units plus additional freebies. The price will increase as new units are added. Please see above for what is currently included
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These units are (NO PREP PRINTABLES) with year-round seasonal themes. I use these pages during our “written math practice” rotation during math workshop/guided math time. These pages can also be used for early finishers or homework throughout the year to spiral the specific standards. Watch for more MEGA MATH PRACTICE units to come aligned with the Common Core State Standards.
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• This material is copyrighted by Barbara Morgan Balius. The purchase of this copyrighted product includes a limited license for your classroom use. It is meant for use by one teacher in one classroom. You may use this resource for each of your students in one classroom.
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Ra: I am Ra. I greet you in the love and the light of the Infinite Creator. I communicate now.
Ra: I am Ra. I greet you in the love and the light of the Infinite Creator. I communicate now.
Ra: I am Ra. This matter is of small importance for our suggestion was made for the purpose of establishing contact through this instrument with this group.
Ra: I am Ra. This matter is of small importance for our suggestion was made for the purpose of establishing contact through this instrument with this group.
11.2 Questioner: Is it of any assistance to the instrument to have (name) and (name) present during these sessions? Does the number in the group make any difference in these sessions?
11.2 Questioner: Is it of any assistance to the instrument to have [name] and [name] present during these sessions? Does the number in the group make any difference in these sessions?
Ra: I am Ra. The most important of the entities are the questioner and the vibratory sound complex, (name). The two entities additional aid the instrument’s comfort by energizing the instrument with their abilities to share the physical energy complex which is a portion of your love vibration.
Ra: I am Ra. The most important of the entities are the questioner and the vibratory sound complex, Jim. The two entities additional aid the instrument’s comfort by energizing the instrument with their abilities to share the physical energy complex which is a portion of your love vibration.
11.3 Questioner: You said yesterday that Maldek was destroyed due to warfare. If Maldek hadn’t destroyed itself due to warfare would it have become a planet that evolved in self-service and would the entities involved have increased in density, and gone on to say the fourth density in the negative sense or the sense of self-service?
11.3 Questioner: You said yesterday that Maldek was destroyed due to warfare. If Maldek hadn’t destroyed itself due to warfare would it have become a planet that evolved with self-service and would the entities have increased in density, gone on to say the fourth, fifth density in the negative sense or the sense of self-service?
Ra: I am Ra. The planetary social memory complex, Maldek, had in common with your own sphere the situation of a mixture of energy direction. Thus it, though unknown, would most probably have been a mixed harvest—a few moving to fourth density, a few moving towards fourth density in service to self, the great majority repeating third density. This is approximate due to the fact that parallel possibility/probability vortices cease when action occurs and new probability/possibility vortices are begun.
Ra: I am Ra. The planetary social memory complex, Maldek, had in common with your own sphere the situation of a mixture of energy direction. Thus it, though unknown, would most probably have been a mixed harvest — a few moving to fourth density, a few moving towards fourth density in service to self, the great majority repeating third density. This is approximate due to the fact that parallel possibility/probability vortices cease when action occurs and new probability/possibility vortices are begun.
11.4 Questioner: Is there a planet opposite our sun, in relation to us, that we do not know about?
11.4 Questioner: Is there a planet behind our sun, opposite to us in orbit, that we do not know about?
Ra: I am Ra. There is a sphere in the area opposite your sun of a very, very cold nature, but large enough to skew certain statistical figures. This sphere should not properly be called a planet as it is locked in first density.
Ra: I am Ra. There is a sphere in the area opposite your sun of a very, very cold nature, but large enough to skew certain statistical figures. This sphere should not properly be called a planet as it is locked in first density.
11.5 Questioner: You say that entities from Maldek might go to fourth density negative. Are there people who go out of our present third density to places in the universe and serve, which are fourth-density self-service negative type of planets?
11.5 Questioner: You said that entities from Maldek might go to— some may go to fourth-density negative. Are there people who go out of our present third density to places in the universe and serve, which are fourth-density self-service or negative type of planets?
Ra: I am Ra. Your question is unclear. Please restate.
Ra: I am Ra. Your question is unclear. Please restate.
11.6 Questioner: As our cycle ends and graduation occurs, is it possible for anyone to go from our third density to a fourth-density planet that is of a self-service or negative type?
11.6 Questioner: As our cycle ends and graduation occurs, is it possible for anyone to go from this third density to a fourth-density planet that is a self-service type or negative type?
Ra: I am Ra. We grasp now the specificity of your query. In this harvest the probability/possibility vortex is an harvest, though small, of this type. That is correct.
Ra: I am Ra. We grasp now the specificity of your query. In this harvest the probability/possibility vortex indicates an harvest, though small, of this type. That is correct.
11.7 Questioner: Can you tell us what happened to Adolf (Hitler)?
11.7 Questioner: Can you tell us what happened to Adolf [Hitler]?
Ra: I am Ra. The mind/body/spirit complex known as Adolf is at this time in an healing process in the middle astral planes of your spherical force field. This entity was greatly confused and, although aware of the circumstance of change in vibratory level associated with the cessation of the chemical body complex, nevertheless, needed a great deal of care.
Ra: I am Ra. The mind/body/spirit complex known [as] Adolf is at this time in an healing process in the middle astral planes of your spherical force field. This entity was greatly confused and, although aware of the circumstance of change in vibratory level associated with the cessation of the chemical body complex, nevertheless, needed a great deal of care.
11.8 Questioner: Is there anyone in our history who is commonly known who went to a fourth-density self-service or negative type of planet or any who will go there?
11.8 Questioner: Is there anyone in our history that is commonly known who went to a fourth-density self-service or negative type planet or who will go there?
Ra: I am Ra. The number of entities thus harvested is small. However, a few have penetrated the eighth level which is only available from the opening up of the seventh through the sixth. Penetration into the eighth or intelligent infinity level allows a mind/body/spirit complex to be harvested if it wishes at any time/space during the cycle.
Ra: I am Ra. The number of entities thus harvested is small. However, a few have penetrated the eighth level which is only available from the opening up of the seventh through the sixth. Penetration into the eighth or intelligent infinity level allows a mind/body/spirit complex to be harvested if it wishes at any time/space during the cycle.
11.10 Questioner: How did they accomplish this? What was necessary for them to accomplish this?
11.10 Questioner: How did they accomplish this? What was necessary for them to accomplish this?
Ra: I am Ra. All of the aforementioned entities were aware, through memory, of Atlantean understandings having to do with the use of the various centers of mind/body/spirit complex energy influx in attaining the gateway to intelligent infinity.
Ra: All of the aforementioned entities were aware, through memory, of Atlantean understandings having to do with the use of the various centers of mind/body/spirit complex energy influx in attaining the gateway to intelligent infinity.
11.11 Questioner: Did this enable them to do what we refer to as magic? Could they do paranormal things while they were incarnate?
11.11 Questioner: Did this enable them to do what we refer to as magic? Do paranormal things while they were incarnate here?
Ra: I am Ra. This is correct. The first two entities mentioned made little use of these abilities consciously. However, they were bent single-mindedly upon service to self, sparing no efforts in personal discipline to double, re-double and so empower this gateway. The third was a conscious adept and also spared no effort in the pursuit of service to self.
Ra: I am Ra. This is correct. The first two entities mentioned made little use of these abilities consciously. However, they were bent single-mindedly upon service to self, sparing no efforts in personal discipline to double, re-double and so empower this gateway. The third was a conscious adept and also spared no effort in the pursuit of service to self.
Ra: I am Ra. The one known as Genghis Khan.
Ra: I am Ra. The one known as Genghis Khan.
11.14 Questioner: What does he presently do there? What is his job or occupation?
11.14 Questioner: What does he presently do there? What is his job or occupation? What does he do?
Ra: I am Ra. This entity serves the Creator in its own way.
Ra: I am Ra. This entity serves the Creator in its own way.
11.17 Questioner: At what stage does a planet achieve social memory?
11.17 Questioner: At what stage does a planet achieve social memory?
Ra: I am Ra. A mind/body/spirit social complex becomes a social memory complex when its entire group of entities are of one orientation or seeking. The group memory lost to the individuals in the roots of the tree of mind then becomes known to the social complex, thus creating a social memory complex. The advantages of this complex are the relative lack of distortion in understanding the social beingness and the relative lack of distortion in pursuing the direction of seeking, for all understanding/distortions are available to the entities of the society.
Ra: I am Ra. A mind/body/spirit social complex becomes a social memory complex when its entire group of entities are of one orientation or seeking. The group memory lost to the individuals in the roots of the tree of mind then become[s] known to the social complex, thus creating a social memory complex. The advantages of this complex are the relative lack of distortion in understanding the social beingness and the relative lack of distortion in pursuing the direction of seeking, for all understanding/distortions are available to the entities of the society.
11.18 Questioner: Then we have crusaders from Orion coming to this planet for mind control purposes. How do they do this?
11.18 Questioner: Then we have crusaders from Orion coming to this planet for mind control purposes. How do they do this?
Ra: I am Ra. As all, they follow the Law of One observing free will. Contact is made with those who call. Those then upon the planetary sphere act much as do you to disseminate the attitudes and philosophy of their particular understanding of the Law of One which is service to self. These become the elite. Through these, the attempt begins to create a condition whereby the remainder of the planetary entities are enslaved by their free will.
Ra: As all, they follow the Law of One observing free will. Contact is made with those who call. Those then upon the planetary sphere act much as do you to disseminate the attitudes and philosophy of their particular understanding of the Law of One which is service to self. These become the elite. Through these, the attempt begins to create a condition whereby the remainder of the planetary entities are enslaved by their own free will.
11.19 Questioner: Can you name any names that may be known on the planet that are recipients of the crusaders’ efforts?
11.19 Questioner: Can you name any of the recipients of the crusaders’— that is, any names that may be known on the planet today?
Ra: I am Ra. I am desirous of being in nonviolation of the free will distortion. To name those involved in the future of your space/time is to infringe; thus, we withhold this information. We request your contemplation of the fruits of the actions of those entities whom you may observe enjoying the distortion towards power. In this way you may discern for yourself this information. We shall not interfere with the, shall we say, planetary game. It is not central to the harvest.
Ra: I am Ra. I am desirous of being in nonviolation of the free will distortion. To name those involved in the future of your space/time is to infringe; thus, we withhold this information. We request your contemplation of the fruits of the actions of those entities whom you may observe enjoying the distortion towards power. In this way you may discern for yourself this information. We shall not interfere with the, shall we say, planetary game. It is not central to the harvest.
11.20 Questioner: How do the crusaders pass on their concepts to the individuals on Earth?
11.20 Questioner: How do the crusaders pass on their concepts to the incarnate individuals on Earth?
Ra: I am Ra. There are two main ways, just as there are two main ways of, shall we say, polarizing towards service to others. There are those mind/body/spirit complexes upon your plane who do exercises and perform disciplines in order to seek contact with sources of information and power leading to the opening of the gate to intelligent infinity. There are others whose vibratory complex is such that this gateway is opened and contact with total service to self with its primal distortion of manipulation of others is then afforded with little or no difficulty, no training, and no control.
Ra: I am Ra. There are two main ways, just as there are two main ways of, shall we say, polarizing towards service to others. There are those mind/body/spirit complexes upon your plane who do exercises and perform disciplines in order to seek contact with sources of information and power leading to the opening of the gate to intelligent infinity. There are others whose vibratory complex is such that this gateway is opened and contact with total service to self with its primal distortion of manipulation of others is then afforded with little or no difficulty, no training, and no control.
Ra: I am Ra. The Orion group passes on information concerning the Law of One with the orientation of service to self. The information can become technical just as some in the Confederation, in attempts to aid this planet in service to others, have provided what you would call technical information. The technology provided by this group is in the form of various means of control or manipulation of others to serve the self.
Ra: I am Ra. The Orion group passes on information concerning the Law of One with the orientation of service to self. The information can become technical just as some in the Confederation, in attempts to aid this planet in service to others, have provided what you would call technical information. The technology provided by this group is in the form of various means of control or manipulation of others to serve the self.
11.22 Questioner: Do you mean to say then that some scientists receive technical information, shall we say, telepathically that comes out then as useable gadgetry?
11.22 Questioner: Do you mean then that some scientists receive technical information, shall we say, telepathically that comes out then as usable gadgetry?
Ra: I am Ra. That is correct. However, very positively, as you would call this distortion, oriented scientists have received information intended to unlock peaceful means of progress which redounded unto the last echoes of potential destruction due to further reception of other scientists of a negative orientation/distortion.
Ra: I am Ra. That is correct. However, very positively, as you would call this distortion, oriented so-called scientists have received information intended to unlock peaceful means of progress which redounded unto the last echoes of potential destruction due to further reception of other scientists of a negative orientation/distortion.
11.23 Questioner: Is this how we learned of nuclear energy? Was it mixed with both positive and negative orientation?
11.23 Questioner: Is this how we learned of nuclear energy? Was it mixed, both positive and negative orientation?
Ra: I am Ra. That is correct. The entities responsible for the gathering of the scientists were of a mixed orientation. The scientists were overwhelmingly positive in their orientation. The scientists who followed their work were of mixed orientation including one extremely negative entity, as you would term it.
Ra: I am Ra. This is correct. The entities responsible for the gathering of the scientists were of a mixed orientation. The scientists were overwhelmingly positive in their orientation. The scientists who followed their work were of mixed orientation including one extremely negative entity, as you would term it.
11.24 Questioner: Is this extremely negative entity still incarnate on Earth?
11.24 Questioner: Is this extremely negative entity still incarnate on Earth?
Ra: I am Ra. This is correct.
Ra: I am Ra. This is correct.
11.25 Questioner: Then I would assume that you can’t name him. So I will ask you where Nikola Tesla got his information?
11.25 Questioner: Then I assume you can’t name him and would ask you where Nikola Tesla got his information?
Ra: I am Ra. The one known as Nikola received information from Confederation sources desirous of aiding this extremely, shall we say, angelically positive entity in bettering the existence of its fellow mind/body/spirit complexes. It is unfortunate, shall we say, that like many Wanderers the vibratory distortions of third-density illusion caused this entity to become extremely distorted in its perceptions of its fellow mind/body/spirit complexes so that its mission was hindered and in the result, perverted from its purposes.
Ra: I am Ra. The one known as Nikola received information from Confederation sources desirous of aiding this extremely, shall we say, angelically positive entity in bettering the existence of its fellow mind/body/spirit complexes. It is unfortunate, shall we say, that like many Wanderers the vibratory distortions of third-density illusion caused this entity to become extremely distorted in its perceptions of its fellow mind/body/spirit complexes so that its mission was hindered and in the result, perverted from its purposes.
11.26 Questioner: How was Tesla’s work supposed to benefit man on Earth, and what were its purposes?
11.26 Questioner: How was Tesla’s work supposed to benefit man on Earth, and what were its purposes?
Ra: I am Ra. The most desired purpose of the mind/body/spirit complex, Nikola, was the freeing of all planetary entities from the darkness. Thus, it attempted to give to the planet the infinite energy of the planetary sphere for use in lighting and power.
Ra: I am Ra. The most desired purpose of the mind/body/spirit complex, Nikola, was the freeing of all planetary entities from darkness. Thus, it attempted to give to the planet the infinite energy of the planetary sphere for use in lighting and power.
11.27 Questioner: By freeing the planetary entities from darkness, precisely what do you mean?
11.27 Questioner: By freeing the planetary entities from darkness, precisely what do you mean?
Ra: I am Ra. (Most of the following answer was lost due to tape recorder malfunction. The core of the response was as follows.) We spoke of freeing people from darkness in a literal sense.
Ra: I am Ra. [Most of the following answer was lost due to tape recorder malfunction. The core of the response was as follows.] We spoke of freeing people from darkness in a literal sense.
11.28 Questioner: Would this freeing from darkness be commensurate with the Law of One or does this have any real product?
11.28 Questioner: Would this freeing from darkness be commensurate with the Law of One or does this have any real product?
Firstly, the experience of no need to find the necessary emolument for payment, in your money, for energy.
Firstly, the experience of no need to find the necessary emolument for payment, in your money, for energy.
Secondly, the leisure afforded, thereby exemplifying the possibility and enhancing the probability of the freedom to then search the self, the beginning of seeking the Law of One.
Secondly, the leisure afforded, thereby exemplifying the possibility and enhancing the probability of the freedom to then search the self for the beginning of seeking the Law of One.
Few there are working physically from daybreak to darkness, as you name them, upon your plane who can contemplate the Law of One in a conscious fashion.
Few there are working physically from daybreak to darkness, as you name them, upon your plane who can contemplate the Law of One in a conscious fashion.
That is correct. Wanderers incarnated in several waves, as you may call them, in order to bring into existence the gradual freeing from the demands of the diurnal cycles and lack of freedom of leisure.
That is correct. Wanderers incarnated in several waves, as you may call them, in order to bring into existence the gradual freeing from the demands of the diurnal cycles and lack of freedom of leisure.
11.30 Questioner: That was the last question, so I will do as usual and ask if there is anything that we can do to make the instrument more comfortable?
11.30 Questioner: Well, that was the last question, so I will as usual ask if there’s anything we can do to make the instrument more comfortable?
Ra: I am Ra. You are doing well. The most important thing is to carefully align the symbols. The adjustment made this particular time/space present will aid this instrument’s physical complex in the distortion towards comfort.
Ra: I am Ra. You are doing well. The most important thing is to carefully align the symbols. The adjustment made this particular time/space present will aid this instrument’s physical complex in the distortion towards comfort.
May we ask if you have any short questions which we may resolve before closing the session?
May we ask if you have any short questions which we may resolve before closing the session?
11.31 Questioner: I don’t know if this is a short question or not, so we can save it till next time, but my question is, why do the crusaders from Orion do this? What is their ultimate objective? This is probably too long to answer.
11.31 Questioner: I don’t know if this is a short question or not, so we can save it till next time, but my only question is why the crusaders from Orion do this. What is their ultimate objective? This is probably too long to answer.
Ra: I am Ra. This is not too long to answer. To serve the self is to serve all. The service of the self, when seen in this perspective, requires an ever-expanding use of the energies of others for manipulation to the benefit of the self with distortion towards power.
Ra: I am Ra. This is not too long to answer. To serve the self is to serve all. The service of the self, when seen in this perspective, requires an ever-expanding use of the energies of others for manipulation to the benefit of the self with distortion towards power.
If there are further queries to further explicate this subject we shall be with you again.
If there are further queries to more fully explicate this subject we shall be with you again.
11.32 Questioner: There was one thing that I forgot. Is it possible to have another session later on today?
11.32 Questioner: Just was one thing I forgot. Is it possible to do another session late today?
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Universal Imaging Utility Version 4.0Pros: Works with existing cloning software, inexpensiveCons: Requires that you run the program on every type of system in your infrastructure to ensure total compliancePerformance: AEase of use: B-Features: AValue: A+Government price: $20.14 per seat for 50, $8.48 per seat for 5,000+
In the GCN Lab, we probably use cloning software more often than most agency administrators — at least, if they’re lucky. At the conclusion of almost every software review, we use Symantec’s Norton Ghost to restore a system to a pristine state. That way the next software we test won’t be influenced or disrupted by what has gone before.
Most agencies likely have to perform that cloning process en masse every couple of years — for instance, when buying new systems. By doing so, users all get the same desktop system, which makes them happy because they don’t have to learn something new, and it simplifies information technology support.
When you break it down, cloning is the copying of a master image file onto other computers. You set up one system to be whatever you consider the perfect configuration. Then you make a master image of that system. When you need to add new systems, you use a program such as Norton Ghost to copy that image to the other systems. They become identical to the original system — hence, the clone moniker.
The problem is that almost no two systems are the same. In the lab, we can avoid that problem by buying a bunch of identical systems at the same time. However, we need to buy new systems every year or so, and when we do, the new systems can’t take the old image because they have different drives, video cards and other equipment. Sometimes you will run into different configurations in the same purchase order. A computer manufacturer might use Western Digital or Hitachi drives, and it might mix and match them without letting the buyer know. If the drives are the same size, you might be OK, but sometimes even that bit of difference can mean an image file won’t take.
Of course, making an image file on a Hewlett-Packard desktop PC and then trying to clone it to a Dell computer almost never works. And using a desktop image file for a laptop PC is nearly impossible. Improperly cloned systems often suffer the blue screen of death when critical drivers don’t load or the hardware doesn’t match the drivers. Another common problem is a rolling boot in which a system keeps booting but never gets to a usable state.
Until now, the only solution was to create multiple image files. You could make one for laptop PCs and one for desktop PCs and further divide them, for example, into Lenovo or Acer laptops and HP or Dell desktops. At some point, you could end up with so many image files that the advantages of cloning become lost or at least diminished.
The Universal Imaging Utility Version 4.0 from Big Bang works with many existing cloning software suites to create a single image that can be copied to multiple systems regardless of hardware. We tested it using Norton Ghost as the cloning engine, and although UIU did not eliminate all the legwork involved in the process, it did greatly simplify things, which is much appreciated in a busy lab. Most agency administrators with anything more than a handful of systems to shepherd will quickly see the advantages.
To get going, you launch the UIU discovery tool on every system that is going to become a clone. That requires some work in most cases, along with the time necessary to get the discovery tool in place. However, the utility will then discover all the critical drivers on the target machine and prepare that information for the main UIU program. When you clone your master image, the clone will maintain every driver that it needs to function and not allow any unnecessary or harmful driver to make the transition.
That means you are not getting a true clone on the other end. A user who is accustomed to a certain desktop environment probably won’t notice a difference, but on the back end, you might have drivers that differ from those on the master image. We mention this only because a few agencies require perfect copies of the master image on clones for forensic or security purposes. That won’t happen when using UIU.
What you will get is a functional clone that in our testing worked across several platforms. We were even able to clone a desktop PC to a tablet PC. We were given the choice to keep a lot of the tablet PC functionality or trick the system into thinking that it was still a desktop PC in a new body. Either of those options would be impossible when using just Norton Ghost.
Although cloning from a desktop PC to a tablet PC is not something you will probably want to do often, moving from one desktop to another, or a laptop to a laptop, is a common chore when new systems are purchased. With UIU in place, the master image we created on a Dell XPS desktop PC was successfully replicated to a Lenovo desktop PC. And it didn’t even matter that we went from a single to a dual-core processor or from an nVidia to an ATI graphics card. Although it's not true cloning, the end result was a functional computer that worked just like the master PC did, right down to the individual settings.
UIU won’t eliminate all the work involved in the cloning process, but it will save time by resolving driver and hardware conflicts before one bit of data is transferred. And it will save you even more time because you won’t have to create multiple master image files. For those reasons alone, UIU could become the cloner’s best friend.
|
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Quick Hit: Body Dissatisfaction Increases Suicide Risk in Girls
Body dissatisfaction — independent of actual overweight status — has an impact on suicidal behavior in U.S. girls, researchers said.
The researchers found the perception of being overweight among girls raised the probability of suicidal thoughts by 5.6 percent, the probability of a suicide attempts by 3.2 percent and the probability of injury causing suicide attempts by 0.6 percent. [Link.]
Did you note that it’s the perception of being overweight — “independent of actual overweight status” — they’re talking about here? OK, good. Now check this out.
The researchers found the risk of suicide by adolescent females has the potential to add about $280 million to $350 million to the costs of adolescent obesity, including the direct cost of illnesses and premature mortality.
“If being overweight not only imposes the usual healthcare and labor market costs, but also increases the risk of suicide, we need to take these costs into account when offering solutions,” [study co-author Inas] Rashad said.
It all comes back to the “costs of obesity.” Even when what we’re talking about is girls wanting to kill themselves because they think they’re fat. WTF?
I wish I were less cynical, so I could believe that “tak[ing] these costs into account when offering solutions” might actually mean “making an effort to improve girls’ self-esteem and body image.” (So they don’t try to off themselves and drive up healthcare costs. Ahem.) But since they’re lumping this in with all the usual alleged costs of fatness, I have to assume the logic here is, “This is one more reason to insist that fat girls must become thin! If they don’t, they’ll be suicidal!” Even though the study showed that poor body image independent of weight is whatcauses the suicidal thoughts, and one reason why so many girls hate their bodies and think they’re too fat even when they’re thin might just be that PEOPLE ARE CONSTANTLY TELLING THEM THAT FAT IS HORRIBLE, UNHEALTHY, AND SHAMEFUL, AND GOOD, RESPONSIBLE, HEALTHY PEOPLE DO NOT HAVE ANY VISIBLE FAT ON THEIR BODIES.
Somewhat off topic, but once again, Dr. Sharma is leaning our way. Today’s National Post (Canada) carries this article: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=1398519 . Of course, they still refer to “the epidemic” but are actually scientifically backing up the idea that there are a lot of “healthy obese” people out there who should not be trying to lose weight. What a shock!
I hate to state the obvious when it’s mooning in my face but … exactly how much money is a successful suicide going to cost the government? And precisely what difference would it make if said suicide was fat or just thought she was? Sorry but huh?
Suicidality is totally under-researched, and there’s no really good established way to treat it. But I’m just going to guess that making young people feel even more anxious about their health isn’t going to work.
In my worst moments (let’s all read that as “most suicidal moments in an entire lifetime of anxiety and depression” so we’re all clear), calling myself fat, derisively, as justification and outer evidence of my utter worthlessness, was always one of the first things out of my mouth when the stream of self-deprecating shit poured out. Always always always.
(I kind of wish I had more to say about how much I wish people would TRY TO UNDERSTAND PEOPLE WHO ARE MENTALLY DIFFERENT TO THEM but I am frankly fucking tapped out of energy for that shit right now. People are such assholes.)
I had some serious emotional issues when I was in high school, and part of my nihilism was in the form of hating my body. As in, “I will never be as thin as I want to be; what is the point of living?” Now, this was not my only emotional issue, but it is seriously messed up that at that time being thin was so important that I didn’t think life was worth living.
The worst part? I was, for all intents and purposes, thin. Just not as thin as women in magazines and on TV.
This is why I am so absolutely petrified for my daughters and why I’m hellbent on teaching them size acceptance (FA, too, but as part of the whole picture).
But my six year old STILL told me that she thought she was going to be thin when she grew up, not fat like me. I shrugged and told her that we didn’t know what size or shape she would be yet (I went through a few of our diverse family standards) , but that the best way to be healthy and happy no matter what she looked like was to eat when she was hungry and stop when she wasn’t hungry any more, and no one should decide that but her—not even grownups. She nodded and went to sleep.
I left her room and started beating my head against the wall, more or less metaphorically. She’s SIX FREAKIN’ YEARS OLD.
Maybe they’re trying to attribute the extra dollar cost to obesity so when they want funding for anti-obesity programs (hopefully helpful, body-image reconstructing ones) they’ll have more ammo for why the cause needs to be addressed.
And can I stop saying overweight? Who chose the “weight” that I’m over? Am I only over-weight b/c there is a “weight” that’s been set as baseline? Is it the BMI b/c that’s bogus. Can’t I be at weight and others be underweight? And underweight will be the nasty moniker. Yeah, right.
Spoonfork, I was around six or seven the first time I lied about my weight. I know it was in first grade, when our project of the day was to write up a little certificate of sorts that had our name, height, and weight on it, and we were to decorate it. I was working on mine and looked around, noticing every other girl there was writing a weight that was significantly below mine, so I shaved a few pounds off before I wrote it down.
What loathsome madness this is! What kind of heartless, twisted logic makes monetary conclusions about obesity costs from the misplaced despair of young women and girls? How does insanity like this even get published?
I guess I should know- it’s one more piece in a plan designed to get funds for moronic interventions disguised as compassionate care for the fearful fat.
One of the best ways to improve girl’s self esteem is to get their minds off their body image and onto the things they can accomplish. Usually this is done with sports, arts, and other extracurricular activities, of the sort that schools are being forced to cut because of dramatically shrinking budgets. Clearly the ticket is to waste money on anti-obesity campaigns that direct girl’s thoughts right back to their bodies. We couldn’t have them feeling any sense of accomplishment, that might make them realize they’re human beings worthy of respect!
I’m reminded of the quip from an MST3K short: “People will like you more if you’re pretty.”
This reminds me of a conversation I had once with a very fat-phobic self-proclaimed “health nut”. We were in a bit of a debate over an article about a couple in the UK being denied by an adoption agency and she said among other things, “obesity is unhealthy, aside from the fact that it generally tends to add on a nice heaping dollop of depression and/or low self-esteem…” I wish I would have responded, “gee, don’t think that could have something to do with society telling them they aren’t fit to take care of a child?” But I figured it would be useless, she was also generally the type to rarely accept the fact that the environment one grows up in generally tends to have a big influence on how you turn out. *sigh* I really hate the fact that people still so easily buy the “It’s not society, it’s YOU!” bullshit. What is so wrong about even contemplating that there *might* possibly be something wrong with the way hings are? If nobody’d ever thought things could be different, we wouldn’t bother learning history, because everything would always be the same.
Clearly the ticket is to waste money on anti-obesity campaigns that direct girl’s thoughts right back to their bodies. We couldn’t have them feeling any sense of accomplishment, that might make them realize they’re human beings worthy of respect!
Yep, because we all know shaming those gross fatties down to beautiful thin people works oh so well.
Not to mention that ranting over the so-called obesity pandemic makes it easier to get government and private foundation money these days. They cut after school programs for kids and reduce public transit, yet there’s suddenly enough money for what is basically trying to perform an exorcism on fat. Makes you wanna twist your head around and vomit pea soup on these so-called “professionals.”
Really? Really? I’m not shocked by much that comes out of researchers’ mouths, but I am genuinely stunned that social scientists could be this dense. In one of the unquoted sections of the article, the author even directly states that there are youth who are dissatisfied with their bodies even though their weights fall within a “healthy” range (her terminology, not mine). How then do you suddenly make the leap from “poor body image is associated with suicide” to “being fat is bad for society.”
@spoonfork – you are a great mother! I wish my mum had told me something like that, just once. Yes, your daughter is getting a lot of other messages, but what you say (and do) will really stick with her. Keep going!
Anyone notice the link at the end of the story:
“Next Story: Obese women less likely to get mammography”
Uh, I wonder why that might be?
Oy this:
“If being overweight not only imposes the usual health care and labor market costs, but also increases the risk of suicide, we need to take these costs into account when offering solutions”
Gives me a big headache.
Economists.
Does anyone have any economist jokes?
There are other groups that have high suicide rates, and one of the contributing factors in these groups is hopelessness about the future, it’s not so hard to see that there’s a societal element going on. I think that for girls who believe they are fat, there may be hopelessness about the future.
Which is why Shapely Prose works as a suicide prevention intervention.
Oh, and I love how the implication is that for those girls who believe they are fat, are suicidal and actually are fat, these costs are due to obesity — how do we explain the ones who believe they are fat, are suicidal, but aren’t actually fat? Oh, it’s “bad body image.” And the fat girls who aren’t suicidal — what is up with their body image? It’s only unhealthy to have an “unhealthy body image” if you aren’t actually fat. If you are actually fat, and you have a “healthy body image” — that’s unhealthy.
Gee. I think they missed the day in health class where they taught that Anorexia Nervosa is a potentially terminal illness with deaths resulting most often due to suicide, organ failure coming a close second. I’m sure the millions of recovering anorexics around the world would happily explain the difference between
“perception of overweight” and the state of “obesity”.
Godless Heathen, I love your point that the best thing to do is get their minds OFF their bodies and onto other stuff, not keep dragging them back to it, whatever their size.
And yes, even as an adult, in my very down times, which are happily few and far between compared to my youth, in my head I still list being fat as one of the reasons why I should be dead, even if my little FA-trained bit of brain does kick in and point out the silliness of this to me immediately. Maybe if I keep reading the fatosphere long enough, I won’t even think it to start with.
But, they also mention in passing — almost as if they were ashamed of it — this tidbit:
“British researchers at the University of Oxford analyzed 57 studies mostly in Europe and North America, following nearly one million people for an average of 10 to 15 years. During that time, about 100,000 of those people died.
The studies used Body Mass Index (BMI), a measurement that divides a person’s weight in kilograms by their height squared in meters to determine obesity. Researchers found that death rates were lowest in people who had a BMI of 23 to 24, on the high side of the normal range.
Health officials generally define overweight people as those with a BMI from 25 to 29, and obese people as those with a BMI above 30.”
Hmmm. So “the high side of normal” is actually, even according to these folks, the best place to be.
Back during our grandparents’ time, people who were thin typically got dinged, sometimes heavily (pardon the pun), in mortality tables. Thinness was a sign of susceptibility to charming things like consumption, whereas fatness meant you had the bodily reserves to fight off illness.
(By the way: If you want to lose weight but are a heavy drinker or recreational drug user, you might want to consider easing up on the booze and drugs before working on losing weight: Fat acts as a storage spot for toxins; once the fat’s burned, the toxins get released back into the rest of the body. Several drugging and drinking fat folk have gone on diets, only to wonder why their livers suddenly started acting up when they lost weight. Now you know why.)
I spent years of being mostly trim and actually quite conventional-pretty but convinced I was obese and hideous. I never wore anything that showed my belly even though I longed to. I was ashamed of my body. I was convinced I was too ugly for boys to look at twice. I was shamed by my failed attempts to lose weight and any gain sent me spiraling into intense self hate.
Now that I’m truly fat I want to kick myself for wasting all those years I could have worn a bikini WITHOUT glares from the masses. I also wish I could have been brave enough to wear one at last summer’s family trip to the beach but my family acted as though a tummy-covering number was really the only way to go and I didn’t want to get into it, I just wanted to enjoy swimming (and then of course had nothing but trouble with the suit… next year, freaking full-on bikini… if anybody’s lookin’, fuck ’em).
Apparently the whole point about anorexic and extremely eating-disordered women and girls being the most depressed and suicidal subsets of humanity completely missed these sorry excuses for scientists. Guess what? When I was anorexic and a size 2, I contemplated suicide about every day. At “overweight” nearing “obese” at a size 14, I haven’t though about suicide seriously for years.
Being overweight caused my depression, obviously. Lol wut? Seriously, if size 2 me was “normal” and size 14 is me is supposed to be “suicidal”, you’d have to lock me up in a padded room lest I hand myself with dental floss right now because of the ghastly specter of DOUBLE DIGIT PANTS and LOVE HANDLES. Oh sweet Jesus!
Thanks scientists! Obviously my GP’s recent decreasing of my Zoloft dose was totally in error and I’m actually really truly horribly suicidal because the Twinkies I consume three times an hour have seeped into my cranium and killed all my happy synapses.
(I wonder how much Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig is paying these morons to do “research”? Wait, that was being too optimistic. It appears that “educated” scientists do bad logical all by themselves. FAIL)
Fat acts as a storage spot for toxins; once the fat’s burned, the toxins get released back into the rest of the body.
And of course, SPENDING YOUR WHOLE DAMN LIFE TRYING TO BURN FAT couldn’t possibly cause any sort of hepatotoxicity. Noooooo. Weight loss is always TEH HEALTHEEE. Always. (It’s a funny thing, when I took my 30-pound cat to the vet, he specifically told me not to let the cat lose weight too quickly, and to always make him try to eat something, for that very reason: Rapid fat loss could damage his liver. If this very same process happens in humans, why doesn’t anyone bother to mention it? Oh, wait, don’t answer that.)
In these kinds of studies, the conclusions they always seem to draw is “people need to chang their bodies” rather than “society as a whole needs to change their attitudes.” It’s really depressing after a while, but totally unsurprising at the same time. No one, apparently, can count on getting funding by concluding that society is fucked up.
Is anyone surprised? Hello?? We live in a culture that worships an impossible body type, to the detriment of everyone. And there are two types of people: 1) people who delude themselves into thinking they have or can get this body type, and 2)people, like these girls, who realize they can’t live up to these impossible expectations.
We’re all to blame for this.
“One of the best ways to improve girl’s self esteem is to get their minds off their body image and onto the things they can accomplish. Usually this is done with sports, arts, and other extracurricular activities, of the sort that schools are being forced to cut because of dramatically shrinking budgets. Clearly the ticket is to waste money on anti-obesity campaigns that direct girl’s thoughts right back to their bodies. We couldn’t have them feeling any sense of accomplishment, that might make them realize they’re human beings worthy of respect!”
Excellent point.
And, just another reason to be depressed in this world. And another reason that I shouldn’t have wasted time on college and should have just moved to Mexico! or some other country where I can’t understand the language…haha.
The economist wrote back to me right away. I didn’t ask her permission to quote her so I don’ t know what’s fair use, but she said the standard things about obesity: it’s on the rise, it’s urgent, that those of us whose families have always been fat are in the minority of fat people.
(I’d mentioned we’d always been around and that nothing would make us go away. I hadn’t put in the numbers, but even just looking at the straight CDC data and accepting it looks to me that if there 20% more of the population is “fat” given BMI, there was still 40% fat people in the 60s….)
But she also mentions that she’s aware of the cost of stigma and the need for science about what’s successful, and mentions that she’s unsure of the damage that might be done by BMI report cards.
It’s just so difficult to know the right things to say to my daughter, since I’m pretty much the lone FA voice in my household (Fat=Unhealthy is still the given for my husband and MIL).
I’m thinking of bringing my kids to live in Ailbhe’s commune, if she’ll have us.
Kathy A: I think I was in junior high when I told my science class (for a class project) that I weighed 105, because that was the top weight that had previously been said. I honestly didn’t know what I weighed at the time, but there was no way on God’s Earth I was getting on the scale at the front of that classroom.
Wriggles, I think the fact that some people fail to take full advantage of a privilege doesn’t actually mean the privilege doesn’t exist.
For instance, my brother didn’t get any college scholarships…but only because he never applied for any of them. They were still there and he had every chance to get one. He was identified as gifted, but failed to take advantage of the privileges available to him. Then he sat there wondering why nobody gave him a scholarship when he was smart. In the end, he took it as proof that he was put upon when he was actually failing to take advantage of the opportunities before him. I believe it was one of the first signs of the depression he’s struggled against all his life.
These girls have the same problem. They can have every advantage offered by society to those who are thin, but they fail to recognize those advantages are theirs pretty much by default. Unfortunately, they are stuck in a mental quagmire of self-loathing that won’t allow them to see a) that they aren’t fat and b) that THEY WOULD STILL BE WORTHY EVEN IF THEY WERE FAT.
Depression and body dysmorphia are problems in and of themselves, but they do not negate the existence of thin privilege, nor does it mean these girls don’t have it going in.
Wait, you’re kidding me, girls who feel like they’re “failing” at something that determines a huge chunk of their personal worth in a patriarchy actually try to kill themselves? Who could have predicted that one?
wriggles, having privilege doesn’t mean things don’t suck. It means things suck for other people in ways that you don’t have to bother thinking about.
The thin girls in this study are growing up in a seriously fucked-up society. That sucks and we all wish it otherwise. But when those thin girls go to the doctor and say “I’m so fat I want to die,” they can probably expect the doctor to give them support and antidepressants, rather than a scolding and a diet sheet.
These girls have the same problem. They can have every advantage offered by society to those who are thin, but they fail to recognize those advantages are theirs pretty much by default.
I think this is a little more complex than you’re making it sound. It’s certainly entirely possible to be ‘thin’ by most people’s definitions, and to still be the target of fat shaming from one’s family, peers, random strangers, etc – and that’s before unrealistic body image standards from the media even get a look-in.
I’d go so far as to argue that one of the more insidious offshoots of fat-hating culture is the fact that almost *any* woman can be called ‘fat’ at almost any time, and that (as this post argues) many of us are conditioned to respond to it as though it’s the worst insult in the world.
This absolutely is a Patriarchy-Hurts-Men-Too argument, and I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing in this context. The fact is that, as the findings of the study discussed above suggest, fatphobia *does* hurt women of all sizes. All the more reason to get behind the FA movement, as far as I’m concerned – ousting fat hatred is not a zero-sum game!
Depression and body dysmorphia are problems in and of themselves, but they do not negate the existence of thin privilege, nor does it mean these girls don’t have it going in.
The concept of privilege, as I understand it, requires you to gain at least what you have lost by buying into it.
sounds off to me. I don’t think you DO completely understand it.
So off, in fact, that I officially let everyone off the hook for trying to explain privilege to wriggles if you don’t feel like it. This is a 101 concept and this does not need to be a 101 space. It’s not our job to demystify privilege for people who willfully misunderstand and misrepresent it.
Scarlett, I agree that I didn’t try to cover all the possible complexities of the situation. I was trying to do privilege 101A, so I figured I would try to keep it very, very basic. There are a great many subtleties as you rightly point out.
The fact is that, as the findings of the study discussed above suggest, fatphobia *does* hurt women of all sizes. All the more reason to get behind the FA movement, as far as I’m concerned – ousting fat hatred is not a zero-sum game!
Absolutely! And I don’t think PHMT-type arguments are necessarily a bad thing, as long as they are of the form “patriarchy, which is designed to hurt women, in some ways hurts men too.” Fatphobia, body shame, public opinion on women’s bodies, etc. absolutely do collateral damage to the self-esteem and happiness of women who are not fat. We can certainly say “jesus, isn’t it shitty that anti-childhood-obesity campaigns make even thin girls feel awful about themselves.” But realistically, the rest of the sentence has to be “… when they were only supposed to make fat girls feel awful about themselves.” That has to be taken into account — that the problem of thin girls being hurt by fatphobia is treated differently than the problem of fat girls being hurt by fatphobia. The latter, as any stroll through this blog makes clear, is often seen not only as a virtue but as a public responsibility.
But realistically, the rest of the sentence has to be “… when they were only supposed to make fat girls feel awful about themselves.” That has to be taken into account — that the problem of thin girls being hurt by fatphobia is treated differently than the problem of fat girls being hurt by fatphobia. The latter, as any stroll through this blog makes clear, is often seen not only as a virtue but as a public responsibility.
The researchers found the perception of being overweight among girls raised the probability of suicidal thoughts by 5.6 percent, the probability of a suicide attempts by 3.2 percent and the probability of injury causing suicide attempts by 0.6 percent.
The percentages are so low (I was surprised they were so low), that I suspect data-mining.
Right, I mean of course, patriarchy DOES hurt men! And making that point is not even all that out of place in response to this post, which is kind of about that to begin with. So it wouldn’t even be a derail here. But wriggles said this was why ze doesn’t think thin privilege EXISTS, which is like, wha??
Okay, I’m glad you don’t think we should try to explain it, because as soon as wriggles’ comment went up I felt almost too tired to even try. Almost.
Nancy, I haven’t looked at the actual original study, but do you know how big the sample size was? Because 5-6% isn’t that low, and it could be significant. (I’m not against data-mining to the same extent some people are, because statistics can be useful; it’s the assumption of causation that’s usually a much bigger problem IMO.)
@ Nancy: from the researcher’s response to me on their methodology – “So we run a simultaneous equations model where actual overweight status has an effect on overweight perception, and overweight perception in turn has an effect on suicidal thoughts. While overweight status per se does not directly affect suicide, it does so indirectly.”
I’d go so far as to argue that one of the more insidious offshoots of fat-hating culture is the fact that almost *any* woman can be called ‘fat’ at almost any time, and that (as this post argues) many of us are conditioned to respond to it as though it’s the worst insult in the world.
Scarlett, not trying to dismiss anything you’re saying, but if “fat” were not a huge insult then other insults would probably step in to fill the void. They may or may not be as personal, but they would be there.
“jesus, isn’t it shitty that anti-childhood-obesity campaigns make even thin girls feel awful about themselves.” But realistically, the rest of the sentence has to be “… when they were only supposed to make fat girls feel awful about themselves.”
I don’t think that’s entirely true. Actual fat people are the Cautionary Tale by which thinner people are constantly reminded: Don’t get fat or this [stigma] could happen to you. A little anxiety will motivate you to stay at what we call your ideal weight.
“Actual fat people are the Cautionary Tale by which thinner people are constantly reminded: Don’t get fat or this [stigma] could happen to you. A little anxiety will motivate you to stay at what we call your ideal weight.”
Indeed. We must be kept around as ‘the other’ onto whom fears and anxieties may be projected, thus preventing such feelings from threatening one’s own ego.
Up until recently, I kept asking how *any* reader of such new stories could really fail to see the utter lack of logic behind the conclusions drawn. However, after grading my freshman students’ essays last term, I’ve become convinced that illogic is by far the predominant variety of thought today. :-(
Volcanista – I went in suggesting to her that she was maybe seeing the cost of the War on Obesity, not the cost of Obesity; that even the perception is scary because in this society, being fat carries a horrible stigma.
I think she was agreeing that the stigma against fat people that makes people want to kill themselves is worse for fat people than for thin people who are worried they may be fat. I don’t doubt there’s some truth to that: everyone’s afeared of fat these days, but likely it’s only actually fat people and body dysmorphic thinner people who are driven to self harm.
She also says that they focused on perception, because the perception hurt everyone. Which is a PHTM argument and I think a bit valid.
Then I went a bit crosseyed. She started with OMG obesity, there are only a few of us genetically heavy, and she understands all the alarms and urgency about the anti obesity agenda.
Which may be important for funding depending on where she’s researching.
But then she morphs into someone concerned primarily with the stigma.
Here was the hopeful bit:
“But as you said, in trying to make it so urgent, we are demonizing fat, and magnifying the stigma associated with being fat, which has huge costs in itself. Which is what my co-author and I try to point out in our research. Few studies have actually measured the effectiveness of various solutions to obesity. One proposed solution — BMI report cards in schools — may have very negative mental health consequences, and these costs should be taken into account in calculating the cost-effectiveness of various solutions. We don’t want to “address” one problem (which I’m not even sure BMI report cards do) whilst creating or exacerbating another one.”
When I wrote back, I thanked her for noticing the stigma that this war on obesity was creating, and the lack of science behind any “solution” proposed, but also challenged her idea that I was one of the few fat people who are genetically fat. Because if 40%ish of the population of the 60s were “overweight”/fat, and 60%ish now, that means that 2/3 of the targeted fat population probs already was.
IE: Maybe there isn’t a “solution” to “obesity”. I did sneak in some HAES suggestions.
I also tried to suggest the idea that my experience that dieting adds weight to my frame might add to the obesity issue – my chub is chubbier than it might otherwise have been. But I didn’t go into meds.
My point is that the anti-fat messages are meant for us all in one way or another.
Gotcha — yes, but the explicit target is fat people. It’s still an example of thin privilege that the message directed at fat people (“you are gross and inhuman”) and the message directed at thin people (“don’t become fat, you’ll be gross and inhuman”) both have vilifying and dehumanizing fat people as their explicit objective.
Thanks for the details, Arwen. I was more concerned with the fact that the description of the actual statistics you reported meant almost nothing in words. A simultaneous equations model? How is that not just… a model? Also, are they looking for correlations between overweight “status” (ugh) and suicidal thoughts, AND between overweight perception and suicidal thoughts, and comparing the two? That would be relatively robust, but that’s not what she says. HER words imply that since there is a correlation between overweight status and overweight perception, and between overweight perception and suicidal thoughts, thus fat people want to kill themselves. That is a bias-induced and lazy connection if they didn’t actually run the model for all of these possibilities and compare them.
I was pretty sure the 40% to 60% shift in BMI categories was hugely impacted by the definition change, and that the change in actual population body size was much, much more minor than that.
Read Anne of Green Gables to see some examples of girls being shamed for being “too thin” by their society’s standards (also “too red-headed” and “too eager” and various other things).</i.
What struck me about that is, late in the series (the 7th or 8th book), Anne and Gilbert go visit a woman who Gilvbert used to be involved with (or something like that; it has been a LONG time since I read it), and Anne is jealous/insecure. And when they get home, they somehow get on the subject of her insecurities, and Gilbert says something to the effect of “She got fat! And you didn’t!” It seemed like one of the reasons Anne didn’t need to be insecure was because she was still thin (even after having kids).
For some reason, that scene has haunted me for years, even if it has become fuzzy in my memory.
Well damn. That hit home. I’m pretty sure I haven’t been fat a day in my life, by all available (and ridiculous) standards, but I have sure experienced the self-destructive need to be THINNER. I’ve dieted myself to the point of starvation, got some therapy, started eating again, and you will not believe how many years it took for me to accept looking like 120 pounds without feeling like a pathetic, depressed failure.
Of course there were other factors that contributed to my self-hate, but isn’t it curious how all that self-hate was so easily projected onto my body/appearance?
It’s a bit like what Lindsay said, but self-imposed: “I feel like crap, my life isn’t working the way I want it to – I must be FAT!”
And while I am relatively sane now (and definitely never dieting again, or forgoing bikinis, or sucking in my gut), a bit of self-reflection has me admit that I still don’t know if my acceptance of my body is really unconditional, or whether it depends on whether I’m still on “this” side of 60 kilos. Because “I am sad, that must mean I’m fat!” has neatly translated into “I might be fat – compared to every billboard I pass on my way to the sandwich shop- therefore I must be SAD!”
What is certain is that it’s not weight that makes girls depressed, it’s the internalized prejudices against women’s bodies (of all sizes really, but moreso bodies “of size”). It’s even more f*cking depressing if you’re considered to be on the “right” side of the BMI index! For a teen as intensely insecure as I was, being even moderately “chubby” was almost unbearable.
I’m sure I’m preaching to the choir here, but I just needed to get that off my chest. Even women on the edge of the “underweight” (ha!) category of the goddamn BMI index have trouble accepting their “fat.”
Hey all, this is off-topic, but does anyone know where the term “fatophobic” originated? Was there a specific individual, or did it arise organically (say, in the fat-o-sphere?) I’m working on a project and want to make sure I give credit (or, conversely, do you think that credit is unnecessary because the term has made its way into the lexicon? I feel like my paper’s audience [academic types] will see that word and go, WTF?)
Gilbert says something to the effect of “She got fat! And you didn’t!” It seemed like one of the reasons Anne didn’t need to be insecure was because she was still thin (even after having kids).
It shows how narrow the margins are, yes? “Too thin” was mockworthy as was “too fat”. Hence the advertisements of that era selling weight-gain pills AND “reducing cream,” bust pads AND “stylish stout” corsets.
That said, I never read the ones after Anne and Gilbert got married because I always hated him.
it won’t involve trying to make girls feel better about the bodies they do actually have as that would just rip a huge hole in the fashion/ diet/ let’s fuck em up young industry. What it will mean is more Fat Hate, more Obesity Is The Devil advertising…. More money being pumped into making young girls hate themselves because they’re fat…
I was very suicidal in high school because of all the lookism. The message was clearly no matter how smart, good, kind or talented you were you had to be “pretty” or the rest didn’t matter. In time I was defiant. I wasn’t going to just fade away for some entitled twit’s viewing pleasure. I decided as a person with human status I deserved human treatment. I didn’t have to do anything special, I didn’t have to be the best at anything, I was here and that was enough. If it was enough for everyone else out there than it was enough for me too. I decided I was entitled to good music, good food, good books, and fresh air and sunshine. I was also entitled to make mistakes. I gave myself credit for trying and not giving up. Living well IS the best revenge. I recognise I see the world through a blue lens and it tints my perceptions so I am skeptical. I will never be thin but I am strong and my body serves me well. As far as this society goes “the secret of joy is resistance”. I refuse to believe we’re all suppose to have the same build anymore than we all have the same height.
sadly, fat is the last acceptable prejudice and governments feed this (no pun intended) by funneling millions into anti-obesity programmes designed to vilify and humiliate young people under the cloak of Teaching Self Control. I saw a magazine ad a few days ago which had a 7 or 8 year old girl holding up a bakewell tart and smiling. The copy read ‘Does premature death look so appealing now?’- and I blew a week’s worth of Sanity Watchers points in one go…
ooops, just reread the comments policy and now wish to say that fat is NOT the last acceptable prehudice but is however sadly something deeply ingrained into the prevailing culture in which we find ourselves living, and may therefore feel oppressive to those who have the attributes which are seen as undesirable…
phew, think I got away with it…! :D
And I still think that the advert I mentioned before was just plain nasty..!
But to break it down without folks having to read it:
(From a health assessment survey I took at Anthem)
“Risks, Conditions, and Costs
Many of the risks we take day-to-day, such as smoking, overeating, being inactive, having a high blood pressure level, and etc., are associated with a much greater likelihood of future health conditions and increased health care costs. Certain behaviors can increase your health care costs significantly:
Health Behavior % Higher Health Costs Each Year
If you suffer from frequent bouts of depression
70%
Well, also, Gin, the ways people generally calculate health “costs” associated with particular risk factors are kind of crap. And besides, if you have an inherited risk factor, and it might cost you (or your insurance company/everyone else) extra money because of the slightly elevated risk that you will get sick, well, uh, you inherited it. We all inherit some things that are advantageous and some that are not so favorable. Because we are complex animals, not robots. What is with the desire to analyze risk as though it is deserving of blame? Also, what do people think health insurance is FOR?? If you’re so goddamn healthy and have such low risk factors that you don’t think you’ll ever get sick, you apparently don’t need insurance anyway! But clearly you ARE more virtuous. (And please, everyone note that having a risk factor just means you have a slightly elevated chance of developing a health problem – not that you WILL get it, or that people who do not have that additional risk WON’T. You can have zero risk factors and still have a heart attack.)
And of course, you know who costs everyone the most when it comes to insurance premiums? Those damn people who live the longest! Oh wait, those are “overweight” people. They ARE costing us more! By being so damn healthy!
Having a hard time looking at your use of “you” and not taking it personal. I am unsure if you are attacking me– because for one I’m not virtuous nor was my post saying anything of the sort or attack you. It was actually pointing out a health care provider puts something else above being fat, meaning when people look at me any say “you cost us sooo much!”, I have ammunition–knowledge– to correct them. I apologize if you took it as some sort of attack rather than just information.
And frankly when it comes to health insurance i don’t see if as a “are you healthy?” or “are you not?” if you need it. While California offers low income residents like myself free reproductive health care, a lot of places don’t. And we all know that if women aren’t having Pap Smears there is an increase in cost because what if cancer is there and no one knows until it’s “too late”. I see going to the doctor as preventative, same as when I take my car in. (if it’s “time” for a new timing belt, then lets put it in before the care stalls and I have total engine failure). My research has illuminated this as being the main factor with the whole “fat folks costs us more” myth– this meaning people not going to the doctor because of experience with size discrimination or fear of it. As we see on First, Do No Harm, it is the Size discrimination that leads folks to not see a doctor for YEARS, meaning no preventative measures (like the Pap). Educate more doctors (who us terms like “lazy” to describe us…) and nurses (who report being repulsed to the point of not wanting to touch fat patients) on the matter and hopefully ease the fear, “society placed guilt”, and overall tension of going to the doctor. I fail to see why only non-healthy people would need health insurance or health care, I feel we all need health services and should be seeing doctors annually if not more depending on the problem. Had I not returned to see another doctor, had I not at the time had the FREE health “insurance” to do so, after my experience with size discrimination in the clinic my HPV turned cervical cancer would have been larger. (the doctor never even told me what I had… so you can imagine how excited I was when I went to planned parenthood to figure my “health issue” out).
(Also, healthy people DO need health insurance, because anything can happen at any time. But people who are healthy with no apparent risk factors tend to complain about “unhealthy” people or people who DO have risk factors raising their premiums. I tell those people to STFU.)
HA! I always have this problem when I see the “you” in comments and never know what to do outside of the “no no! we’re saying the same thing!!”.
I, personally, am trying to get the “You Guys” out of my vocabulary right now which is hard when you teach college kids who use it. Being southern allows me the luxury to say “ya’ll” without sounding forced, but I’ve found my best “you” is to make it a “you all” and then say “folks”. “One” should only be used in papers by high school seniors, so i tooootally get you on that!
wriggles, we are already under advisement not to go to great lengths to derail and explain 101 social justice concepts to you on this thread. I really think you’re not understanding how privilege works, period, not just thin privilege. And it just takes too much energy to have this argument AGAIN, FFS.
And while the insane levels of the current diet push are pretty recent, the ideal of a thin body CERTAINLY goes back far enough that most people on this site were born and raised with that ideal quite central to their experience. Just ask most of the commenters here about their mothers’ attitudes about body size when they were small children. And if you move your sense of worth from your basic humanity to your weight, as you say, AND that move is predicated on the assumption that some weights are BETTER THAN OTHERS, there is a big difference in how that is experienced based on, you know, your WEIGHT. That’s pretty damn straightforward.
Wriggles, you asked for a link. I don’t have a link in the context of thin privilege, but this post from the angry black woman discusses why the kind of dismissal of privilege that you’re making is wrongheaded.
If you can be in receipt of privilege without any overall gain, that must be unique enough to point out, go on fillyjonk, just a link will do.
Oh what? Let me list for you just a few of the things thin people “gain” just by being born with a different set of genes. They can:
– get more moderately priced health insurance, or indeed get health insurance at all
– raise children without fear that passing on their adipose-accumulation genes will lead to them being accused of child abuse and/or having their children taken away by the state
– adopt children
– fly without having to buy a second seat, or indeed fly at all
– eat in public without judgment and/or abuse from every fuckwad with an opinion
– buy fashionable clothes for reasonable prices
– see the doctor without being told that ANY and EVERY ailment is due to their weight (regardless of the actual underlying cause)
– get higher wages and better jobs than an equally-qualified fat person.
And that is just off the top of my fucking HEAD. Jesus. What are you even doing here?
Word, Caitlin. But I’d add that even if a thin person chooses not to get health insurance, have children, fly, eat in public, wear clothes, see a doctor, or seek employment, ze would STILL have thin privilege.
Having a HIGH STRESS LEVEL AND BOUTS WITH DEPRESSION ARE WORSE THAN BEING FAT when it comes to COSTS on the system.
Well, one reason why depression might increase one’s medical costs is that depressed people tend to live longer. But I’m glad to see that sensible people/medical professionals do acknowledge that fatness in itself doesn’t increase your health care costs all that much. It’s really the confluence of behaviors (poor diet plus the lack of exercise) and health outcomes (high blood pressure, cholesterol, and triglycerides) — that most people associate with obesity — that makes the real difference.
I think self-esteem IS a form of privilege. Obviously, a girl who thinks she deserves to live is better off than someone who doesn’t, just on that objective measure.
But while self-loathing and the tyranny of diet culture can limit thin privilege, sometimes by a lot (particularly with interpersonal stuff), it doesn’t eliminate it entirely. Building off Caitlin’s list: also, you can apply to rent an apartment or get into college without worrying that your weight will keep you out; you can place a personal ad without worrying that the person who shows up will be angry that you turned out not to be thin (I had a friend this happened to despite her going out of her way to accurately portray her body size before meeting); you can be reasonably certain that any concert, reading, lecture, or sporting event will have seats big enough to fit you; you can get together with a group in a restaurant and not worry that you won’t be able to fit in the booth; you can accompany your children in public without them requesting not to be seen with your big fat ass. I’m sure people who are much fatter than I am (BMI 40+) could make this list even longer.
Meowser – your parents are more likely to treat you well and care about your health and self-esteem if you’re thin. Don’t forget that one. From pretty much day one, your weight can determine how your family decide to show their love.
Can I suggest that those with daughters teach them EXPLICITLY about what’s going to attack them as they grow up, rather than more indirect methods like improving their body image and telling them about diversity being a good thing.
They need to know explicitly that the media and people they talk to are going to be trying to brainwash them (whether consciously or otherwise) into hating their bodies. Everything they see is going to be aimed at convincing them that a thinner body is better. They have to know that the healthy attitude is to be positive about your own body just like it is good to be patriotic about your own country, and they have to be taught to see the subtle body propaganda for what it is. How are they ever going to resist it if they don’t know that they are under attack? The persuasive brainwashing is subtle, relentless, and seems so REASONABLE when you first hear it because you’ve no idea the science is being misrepresented.
Once you’ve been exposed to the idea that this is going on, it is a lot easier to see it and a lot easier to prevent yourself getting influenced by it. Surely we owe it to our children to be as clear as possible to them about the (certain) dangers they face?
I think self-esteem IS a form of privilege. Obviously, a girl who thinks she deserves to live is better off than someone who doesn’t, just on that objective measure.
Indeed, my changing level of self esteem, as a fat woman has made such a difference to the way I feel that I no longer feel confident about assuming that thin people have more self esteem or are better off, which is what I just used to assume. In fact I was convinced, I saw evidence to the contrary, but I just felt like others that they were not realising the full gain out of the favouring of thinness.
Now, I even wonder whether that thinness; at least for women, is actually real, or just a theoretical thin state that they can never access, even when they are actually thin.
That might sound a bit strong, but things like this study are making me explore this thought.
I used to assume it was collateral damage as well, but there’s just seems to be so much of it, that I don’t know whether it’s less than that of fat (women) or just different .
I actually do feel better off compared to slim people who hate and loath their bodies. I know what it felt like to feel that way 24/7, the effects on me were physically as well as mentally debilitating in ways that I could not have understood previously.
I also suspect that’s the case with other’s too, although my case might have been due to the interaction between my mind and body.
Ironically it’s exposure to accepting myself that has given me more doubts.
I’m sure people who are much fatter than I am (BMI 40+) could make this list even longer.
I think this is in a way what I’m getting at, that differences in experience are as much about how fat you are, as they are between fat and thin. There is a difference between those who are less fat and those who are fatter, that might be greater than the former group and slim people.
A lot of the things listed don’t apply to me anymore than they do a slim or inbetween person to be honest. (Some of them are more specific to the US).
I know there are differences between the treatment and experiences of fat and thin, I’m very interested in fat people’s experiences, I’m just no longer convinced that thin does better than fat. Maybe they are just pinched in different places.
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I won't mention how long he whinged
for. Let's just say for the first time in weeks and weeks I found
myself pacing up and down the hallway pulling hair out by the fist
full wondering if it was too early for a drink, chanting 'short term
pain, long term gain!'
After err.. 'some time', we waved the
white flag and abandoned ship. Put the little master back with the
one arm out for some well needed rest - for both of us.
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Solutions that don’t break the bank, reinvent the wheel or marginalize our teachers are within our grasp. We could have rigorous classes, safe and disciplined schools and treat teachers like valued colleagues rather than easily replaceable cogs, and we could do so tomorrow if we wanted. Disclaimer, this is an opinion and commentary site and should not be confused as a news site. Also know that quite often people may disagree with the opinions posted.
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Tuesday, December 9, 2014
Florida's Class Size Amendment: A Case Study in How to Undermine the Will of the Voter
From Kafka Teach.wordpress.com
If you are a teacher in Florida, you may be wondering “Hey, what happened to the class size amendment this year?” Of course, you would have to be a teacher who was lucky enough to teach one of the 327 (out of 1200) courses still covered by the class size amendment. It seems every year since the Florida Class Size amendment was passed (twice), the Florida legislature has found a way to reduce the amount of courses that fall under the class size cap. In 2012, Advanced Placement teachers got a taste of what it’s like to be a PE teacher when AP classes were declared “electives” and AP class sizes ballooned to over 40 students. But now even teachers in core classes have noticed that the class size amendment has seemingly disappeared this year. At my school we’ve been scratching our heads at Curricululm Council meetings trying to figure out why the district hasn’t released any additional funds to hire new teachers when we have 40 core classes of over 40 students each. After a few minutes of playing Google detective, I happened upon the answer to the riddle that has been befuddling teachers across the state,
A little known bill was passed last summer that now allows school districts that don’t meet class size caps to calculate class size based on school wide averages rather than the size of the individual class, thus greatly reducing the fine (by approximately 3/4) that school districts have to pay the state for being out of compliance. Here is some of the language of the bill:
The bill revises the method for calculating the penalty for traditional public schools that fail to comply with the class size requirements by performing the calculation in Steps 2, 3, and 4 at the school average instead of at the classroom level. The increase in the penalty scheduled to begin in FY 2014-15 and thereafter is repealed. School districts must continue to assign students to teachers in a manner that meets the classroom level maximums. Districts that exceed the classroom level maximums will still be required to implement a compliance plan. However, calculation of the penalty at the school average will reduce the monetary penalties levied against school districts.
The bill does not have a fiscal impact on state government. The bill’s changes to the compliance calculation for traditional public schools will likely have a positive fiscal impact on school districts. See Fiscal Impact on Local Governments.
The bill takes effect July 1, 2014.”
Not only does the state get away with not funding the class size amendment, but it actually makes money off of school districts who do not comply by imposing fines! Of course, this makes school districts hate the class size amendment as much as the Florida legislature and last summer our Superintendent of the Year made sure to hammer the final nail in the Florida class size amendment coffin by making sure the fine was reduced and school averages could be used for traditional public schools, (see list of 2014 Legislative priorities)
There seems to be great agreement among school district officials that small classes hurt students.
Miami-Dade Assistant Superintendent Iraida Mendez-Cartaya spoke in support of the proposal. Mendez-Cartaya said complying with class-size limits was “not always in the best interest of family and students.”
Apparently, it has become quite the rage for district officials to claim that large class sizes are in the best interest of children. It’s funny how you can follow up any absurd statement with “It’s what’s best for kids” and nobody will question you. Beware, “It’s what’s best for kids” is usually preceded by a statement which coincides with adults making a lot of money. Watch how it works.
“We need to give every student an iPad and digital curriculum. It’s what’s best for kids.”
“We need longer, tougher, more frequent computer based high stakes testing. It’s what’s best for kids.”
See how easy it is! The district claims it has no money to meet the Florida class size amendment, but it had money to pay for a full day substitute for me to attend a PD telling me how teach the same way I’ve been teaching for the past ten years before it became packaged as a “history lab” or the “gradual release model.” They are taking teachers out of the classroom (teachers that could have been used to meet the class size compliance) and sending them around to schools across the district to terrorize other teachers into using group work. As one teacher with an inclusion class of 55 students pointed out at my PD session today, “You can’t put the kids in groups with 55 students in a room.” Amen sister.
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Smoke On The Water - Drum Set by Deep Purple. By Jon Lord, Ian Paice, Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, and Ritchie Blackmore. Arranged by Michael Sweeney. Marching band. For Drum Set. Rock. Individual instrument part. 1 pages. Published by Hal Leonard - Digital Sheet Music (HX.133648).
This item is the replacement part to the marching band set. It is not recommended to purchase this as a solo piece.
About Digital Print Sheet Music
Digital Print is printable sheet music available anytime, anywhere. Just purchase, print and play! View your online sheet music at home, school, work or anywhere you have a computer connected to the Internet. With Digital Print, you can print your digital sheet music immediately after purchase, or wait until its convenient. And our software installation is easy - we'll guide you through the simple steps to make sure you have Adobe Flash Player, Adobe AIR and the Sheet Music Plus AIR application. Learn more
Viva La Vida - Drums by Coldplay. By Chris Martin, Guy Berryman, Jon Buckland, and Will Champion. Arranged by Roger Holmes. Jazz band. For Drums. Rock. Individual instrument part. 2 pages. Published by Hal Leonard - Digital Sheet Music (HX.129649).
This item is the replacement part to the jazz band set. It is not recommended to purchase this as a solo piece.
About Digital Print Sheet Music
Digital Print is printable sheet music available anytime, anywhere. Just purchase, print and play! View your online sheet music at home, school, work or anywhere you have a computer connected to the Internet. With Digital Print, you can print your digital sheet music immediately after purchase, or wait until its convenient. And our software installation is easy - we'll guide you through the simple steps to make sure you have Adobe Flash Player, Adobe AIR and the Sheet Music Plus AIR application. Learn more
Life Is A Highway - Snare Drum by Tom Cochrane and Rascal Flatts. By Tom Cochrane (1953-). Arranged by Paul Murtha. Marching band. For Snare Drum. Film/TV; Rock. Individual instrument part. 1 pages. Published by Hal Leonard - Digital Sheet Music (HX.133689).
This item is the replacement part to the marching band set. It is not recommended to purchase this as a solo piece.
About Digital Print Sheet Music
Digital Print is printable sheet music available anytime, anywhere. Just purchase, print and play! View your online sheet music at home, school, work or anywhere you have a computer connected to the Internet. With Digital Print, you can print your digital sheet music immediately after purchase, or wait until its convenient. And our software installation is easy - we'll guide you through the simple steps to make sure you have Adobe Flash Player, Adobe AIR and the Sheet Music Plus AIR application. Learn more
(Featuring the Music of Liquid Tension Experiment and Dream Theater). By Mike Portnoy. For drum set. Instructional/Drum/DVD. Progressive Rock, Metal, Hard Rock and Instructional. Instructional video: DVD. Published by Hudson Music
Rock & Roll - Part II (The Hey Song) - Snare Drum by Gary Glitter. By Mike Leander. Arranged by Paul Lavender. Rock. Marching Band. 1 pages. Published by Hal Leonard - Digital Sheet Music (HX.133666).
About Digital Print Sheet Music
Digital Print is printable sheet music available anytime, anywhere. Just purchase, print and play! View your online sheet music at home, school, work or anywhere you have a computer connected to the Internet. With Digital Print, you can print your digital sheet music immediately after purchase, or wait until its convenient. And our software installation is easy - we'll guide you through the simple steps to make sure you have Adobe Flash Player, Adobe AIR and the Sheet Music Plus AIR application. Learn more
New Divide (from "Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen") - Snare Drum by Linkin Park. By Joe Hahn, Brad Delson, Rob Bourdon, Mike Shinoda, Chester Bennington, and Dave Farrell. Arranged by Tim Waters. Marching band. For Snare Drum. Film/TV; Rock. Individual instrument part. 1 pages. Published by Hal Leonard - Digital Sheet Music (HX.133784).
This item is the replacement part to the marching band set. It is not recommended to purchase this as a solo piece.
About Digital Print Sheet Music
Digital Print is printable sheet music available anytime, anywhere. Just purchase, print and play! View your online sheet music at home, school, work or anywhere you have a computer connected to the Internet. With Digital Print, you can print your digital sheet music immediately after purchase, or wait until its convenient. And our software installation is easy - we'll guide you through the simple steps to make sure you have Adobe Flash Player, Adobe AIR and the Sheet Music Plus AIR application. Learn more
The Beatles - Complete Scores by The Beatles. For voice(s), guitar(s), bass guitar, drum set and keyboard. Hal Leonard Transcribed Scores. Popular boxed gift set. Includes complete transcriptions of all instrumental and vocal parts. Classic Rock, Pop Rock and Psychedelic Rock. Difficulty: medium-difficult. Complete score songbook. Vocal melody, lyrics, standard guitar notation, guitar tablature, standard bass notation, bass tablature, chord names and drum notation. 1136 pages. Published by Hal Leonard (HL.673228).
ISBN 0793518326. With vocal melody, lyrics, standard guitar notation, guitar tablature, standard bass notation, bass tablature, chord names and drum notation. Classic Rock, Pop Rock and Psychedelic Rock. 7.25x10.88 inches.
A fitting tribute to possibly the greatest pop band ever - The Beatles. This outstanding hard-cover edition features over 1100 pages with full scores and lyrics to all 210 titles recorded by The Beatles. Guitar and bass parts are in both standard notation and tablature. Also includes a full discography. Songs include: All You Need Is Love * And I Love Her * Baby You're a Rich Man * Back in the U.S.S.R. * The Ballad of John and Yoko * Blackbird * Can't Buy Me Love * Come Together * Drive My Car * Eleanor Rigby * From Me to You * Glass Onion * A Hard Day's Night * Help! * Hey Jude * I Saw Her Standing There * I Want to Hold Your Hand * Michelle * Penny Lane * She Loves You * Twist and Shout * Yesterday * and many more! Book is packaged in its own protective box. A must-own for any serious Beatles fan or collector! 7-2/8' x 10-7/8'.
About Hal Leonard Transcribed Scores
Transcribed Scores are vocal and instrumental arrangements of music from some of the greatest groups in music. These excellent publications feature transcribed parts for lead vocals, backup vocals, lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass, drums, and all of the various instruments used in each specific recording session. All songs are arranged exactly the way the artists recorded them.
The Beatles! arranged by Douglas E. Wagner and Douglas Wagner. For handbell choir (3-5 octaves). Secular. Pop/Rock. Grade 3. Handbell score. Published by Hope Publishing Company (HP.1616).
A medley of "Yesterday," "I Wanna Hold Your Hand," and "The Long and Winding Road" by John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
Crazy Train - Multiple Bass Drums by Ozzy Osbourne. By Randy Rhoads, Ozzy Osbourne, and Bob Daisley. Arranged by Paul Murtha. Marching band. For Multiple Bass Drums. Rock. Individual instrument part. 1 pages. Published by Hal Leonard - Digital Sheet Music (HX.131610).
This item is the replacement part to the marching band set. It is not recommended to purchase this as a solo piece.
About Digital Print Sheet Music
Digital Print is printable sheet music available anytime, anywhere. Just purchase, print and play! View your online sheet music at home, school, work or anywhere you have a computer connected to the Internet. With Digital Print, you can print your digital sheet music immediately after purchase, or wait until its convenient. And our software installation is easy - we'll guide you through the simple steps to make sure you have Adobe Flash Player, Adobe AIR and the Sheet Music Plus AIR application. Learn more
Life Is A Highway - Multiple Bass Drums by Tom Cochrane and Rascal Flatts. By Tom Cochrane (1953-). Arranged by Paul Murtha. Marching band. For Multiple Bass Drums. Film/TV; Rock. Individual instrument part. 1 pages. Published by Hal Leonard - Digital Sheet Music (HX.133692).
This item is the replacement part to the marching band set. It is not recommended to purchase this as a solo piece.
About Digital Print Sheet Music
Digital Print is printable sheet music available anytime, anywhere. Just purchase, print and play! View your online sheet music at home, school, work or anywhere you have a computer connected to the Internet. With Digital Print, you can print your digital sheet music immediately after purchase, or wait until its convenient. And our software installation is easy - we'll guide you through the simple steps to make sure you have Adobe Flash Player, Adobe AIR and the Sheet Music Plus AIR application. Learn more
Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) (For Percussion Septet and Optional Bass Guitar). By Green Day. Arranged by Jeff Moore. For Multi Percussion Ensemble. Percussion - Ensemble. Graduation; Pop. Conductor Score & Parts. 26 pages. Published by Alfred Music Publishing (AP.30529).
This popular hit song from Green Day has been expertly arranged for percussion ensemble by Jeff Moore. Scored for six to eight players, the piece includes a conductor score and parts for orchestra bells, marimbas 1–3, vibraphone, bass guitar and drumset.
Crazy Train - Snare Drum by Ozzy Osbourne. By Randy Rhoads, Ozzy Osbourne, and Bob Daisley. Arranged by Paul Murtha. Marching band. For Snare Drum. Rock. Individual instrument part. 1 pages. Published by Hal Leonard - Digital Sheet Music (HX.131607).
This item is the replacement part to the marching band set. It is not recommended to purchase this as a solo piece.
About Digital Print Sheet Music
Digital Print is printable sheet music available anytime, anywhere. Just purchase, print and play! View your online sheet music at home, school, work or anywhere you have a computer connected to the Internet. With Digital Print, you can print your digital sheet music immediately after purchase, or wait until its convenient. And our software installation is easy - we'll guide you through the simple steps to make sure you have Adobe Flash Player, Adobe AIR and the Sheet Music Plus AIR application. Learn more
Life Is A Highway - Bells/Xylophone by Tom Cochrane and Rascal Flatts. By Tom Cochrane (1953-). Arranged by Paul Murtha. Marching band. For Bells/Xylophone. Film/TV; Rock. Individual instrument part. 1 pages. Published by Hal Leonard - Digital Sheet Music (HX.133688).
This item is the replacement part to the marching band set. It is not recommended to purchase this as a solo piece.
About Digital Print Sheet Music
Digital Print is printable sheet music available anytime, anywhere. Just purchase, print and play! View your online sheet music at home, school, work or anywhere you have a computer connected to the Internet. With Digital Print, you can print your digital sheet music immediately after purchase, or wait until its convenient. And our software installation is easy - we'll guide you through the simple steps to make sure you have Adobe Flash Player, Adobe AIR and the Sheet Music Plus AIR application. Learn more
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INSTAGRAM @VIWERNNN
INSTAGRAM @VIWERNNN
Wednesday, December 28, 2016
I've been absent for quite some time (as always). I just completed my diploma!
Besides that, nothing much has been going on.
My final semester in college has been hectic. It's the first time that I've gone more than 24 hours without sleep. Despite the lack of sleep and the long periods of stressing over assignments, I guess it was worth it in the end. It wasn't a 4.0 CGPA but I am satisfied because I got what I feel I deserved.
I'm currently finding an intern job. I've already sent two applications but I have yet to receive any replies. *devastated face emoji*
Some of you may be wondering on how I got this hair color.
I didn't get it done at a salon because I was simply too broke to afford a professional service.
I dyed my hair using La Riche Direction's hair dye in Lagoon Blue.
You can check out their website here:
https://www.lariche.co.uk/products/directions-hair-colour
If you look at the photo on the website, you'll realise that my color does not look like that.
This is because my previous blonde was pretty yellow and I didn't tone it nor bleach it once more before dyeing it.
I actually prefer my color over the striking blue that's shown on the website.
The dye itself is conditioning but I did mix it with more conditioner on my own.
Sunday, September 4, 2016
I'm back with a new video. This time it's my very first lookbook video in collaboration with Kvltvra!
I received several items from Kvltvra and I decided to make a lookbook video to show you how I'd style each product.
I've never really dabbled with streetwear so this was a great opportunity to try out a new style.
In addition to that, I get to show my support for a new local brand!
Yes, Kvltvra is an alternative streetwear brand based in Malacca, Malaysia.
What differs Kvltvra from your ordinary streetwear brand is that it ties streetwear and the alternative/punk scene together through their clothing.
I'm a huge fan of alternative music and fashion so Kvltvra definitely piqued my interest despite its products reflecting more of a street edge- a style that I never really involved myself in at that time.
Kvltvra is also a brand that has a strong sense individuality.
I'm very supportive when it comes to being true to yourself.
I'm all about embracing the fact that we are all unique individuals and we should not strive to be like anybody else or alter our personalities/outlooks just to "fit in".
Besides that, Kvltvra stands for independent thinking and free speech with their strong messages and quotes found on their items.
Their tee shirts are unisex but is in a male cutting. The fabric is thick but soft and smooth- unlike regular tee shirts that are usually rather rigid and rough.
I'm wearing an S but it is still a little oversized due to the cutting but it fits just the way I like it.
I usually roll the sleeves up (like how I did in the video) or knot the front of it (like in the GIF above).
I love pairing tee shirts like this with high waist jeans (preferably ripped) or tucked into an A-line skirt with a black belt.
You can get this tee at their website http://kvltvra.bigcartel.com
Their shirts are proudly made in Malacca.
This is my first and only six panel cap that I own. I chose white because black is out of stock.
I was skeptical about the white cap at first because I rarely wear anything all-white except for plain white tees.
Also, I've never seen myself in a cap and I was afraid that it would make my chubby face even rounder but I think it looks pretty decent. With the correct positioning, my hair helped in creating an illusion of a slimmer face hahaha.
(on a side note: I recently ventured out of my comfort zone and got my first pair of plain white sneakers.)
Last but not least, the package came along with a bag of stickers and their name card.
I immediately stuck one of them on my laptop to add to my growing collection of laptop stickers.
I tuck another underneath my transparent phone cover and used their name card as a bookmark.
It's safe to say that I'm a fan.
Follow their Instagram http://instagram.com/kvltvra/ and visit their website at http://kvltvra.bigcartel.com to make a purchase.
Monday, July 18, 2016
I've been pondering about making this post for ages but, as always with the same excuse, I couldn't find the time to do so. After much procrastination, I finally spared some time to evaluate all the art accounts I follow and pick out the ones that have me staring at their art feeling mesmerised and entranced by their detailed strokes each time it pops up on my feed.
First up is @roseellenswenson.
If my memory doesn't fail me, I found her account as I was casually scrolling through my popular feed. The feed was featuring one of her portraits and I stopped mid-scroll because of her use of colors that matched perfectly together and her gothic fairy-like art style that also carried such a beautiful aura of melancholy were pulling at my eyes like magnets.
Rose herself resembles her art- uniquely exquisite. Her portraits are one of a kind and are truly breathtaking. No words can describe the intricate beauty Rose and her art have, so do check out her Instagram feed for yourself!
Next is @lucasbavid whose real name is actually Lucas David. You've probably stumbled upon his art on tumblr if you look through the #grunge tag as often as I do (teehee). His gothic twist and dark interpretations of legendary rockstars, icons of the alternative scene and even the mainstream scene are undeniably creative. He also does art that do not feature celebrities but also carry the same cadaverous and darkly whimsical sense. I've been following his account for ages and I've been meaning to purchase his Kurt Cobain, Marilyn Manson and Lana Del Rey prints but his prices, which are in USD, are still unaffordable for me. Don't worry, there will come a time when I am financially stable and am able to purchase all the art I desire.
My first encounter with @johnrockart was when I was looking through tagged photos of well-known style blogger @luanna90 on Instagram. The photo that caught my eye was a drawing of Luanna in one of her outfits. It stood out amongst the rest because of the colors and the emphasized, ultra-long lashes that is one of @johnrockart's unique art style. She recently followed me back on Instagram and I was obviously thrilled to have the privilege of being followed by such a beautifully eccentric artist. One of my current favourite portraits done by @johnrockart is her sketch of Willow Smith's cover on a recent issue of Teen Vogue (the sixth photo in the above screen capture).
Gosh, there are no words worthy enough to describe the exquisite beauty, detail and striking realism of @fr.vnc's art. There were many times where I mistook his hand drawn portraits for a black and white photograph when it appears on my feed. He captures the beauty of his muses so accurately it always leaves me in awe at how realistic his portraits are. He captivates his many followers with his art and he also breaks their hearts when he slowly paints over his portraits with white paint and videos the heart-wrenching process.
@annajanesearle not only sketches, but does embroidery as well. Her art always touches my inner gypsy. You should know by now that I have a huge heart for detailing- the tinier, more minuscule the better. That's why I really admire artists like @annajanesearle who pay keen attention to details. What amazes me about @annajanesearle's work is that her embroideries are as detailed as her sketches. She mostly draws towers, moons and crystals. All three carry witchy vibes that I love. But recently, she's been drawing and embroidering ocean related scenes and objects. With her permission, I'd like to get one her artworks tattooed some day.
I haven't forgotten about my local talents!
Malaysia is also booming with immensely talented and creative artists.
Below are three of my favourite Malaysian artists that I've been a long loyal follower of.
I became completely infatuated with @brendalx3's art when I first came across it and maybe I'm a tad bit envious too because we're the same age but I'm barely half as talented as her. I love her color palette and her art style. I find the way she crops out her portraits and places them on a different background and how she edits her art very creative too. @brendalx3's art is definitely underrated and deserves so much more followers. I anticipate the day where her popularity rises and her talent is widely appreciated.
Ahh, @tianhu3y! We've been following each other for so long on Instagram we've practically became internet friends. She's one of the very first art accounts I followed. I don't remember how I came across her account but it was probably through mutual friends or followings. Her creative, versatile and varied art styles always amazes me. What astounds me even more is that she's two years younger than I am. I'm turning 20 soon but my knowledge of using paint is far from hers. Tian Huey, if you're reading this, I want you to know that I've always been a big fan of you. Always have and always will! It's so great to see how far you've come and how much you've grown. Don't stop making art because the world needs your quirky creativity, individualism and one-of-a-kind personality.
Last but not least is @jynwaye whom I discovered through mutual followings. Her earlier artworks consisted of realistic paintings of famous packeted snacks, flatlays and comic book heroes. She still occasionally paints the latter. Recently, she's been doodling places she visited and things she came across along the way in her journal. I find it such a creative way to document her travels. It's nice to see how she sums up her day through her art.
That's all for this post! Do give all the above mentioned artists a follow if you enjoy their work as much as I do. If you know any art accounts on Instagram that you think I should check out, please tell me in the comments as well.
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Let me ask you single turbo people with 6AT? Are you guys on different map than what I have? My car shoots upto 160 no problem, even after reading all this 5th gear choke I tool my buddu out for a spin to see, but again car pulls strong 3,4,5th. Unless my speedo is off by 20+mph
Let me ask you single turbo people with 6AT? Are you guys on different map than what I have? My car shoots upto 160 no problem, even after reading all this 5th gear choke I tool my buddu out for a spin to see, but again car pulls strong 3,4,5th. Unless my speedo is off by 20+mph
Only thing i can say is something wrong with that big single 335's tuning...go back home and retune it!!!!
valid point.. however if i was going to such an event and paying that kind of money, i would have been damn sure it would make the shift. Every time i go to the track i ensure i have clean logs and no issues running to at least 120-125 b4 i show up.
1. Nobody got humiliated.
2. Paying 400$ and having 2 full days to SAFELY run and tune your car at 100mph+ is well worth for some people. If u get caught doing 100+ on the street, u'll be out much more than a few hundred dollars.
3. Next time just show up and race
1. Nobody got humiliated.
2. Paying 400$ and having 2 full days to SAFELY run and tune your car at 100mph+ is well worth for some people. If u get caught doing 100+ on the street, u'll be out much more than a few hundred dollars.
3. Next time just show up and race
+1
Even if your car wasn't running good so what? Good time to figure out what's wrong and address the issue. It is very hard to do even 130mph on freeway without worrying about traffic, cops, bumps ect.
I bet people who went had a blast
I think everyone needs to calm down. This is the first time the Single 6AT guys have hit the pavement running the cars like this. I guarantee that the 6AT issues will be resolved for the good of the entire community and all the drama queens will have to eat their words. My cars motor and turbo kit performed perfectly, however the transmission had the same glitches that the RB guys had. I simply decided to test and tune to a certain point then call it. I'm in no way going to damage my Trans for a race. What we do with this transmission will help all those who have upgraded turbos period.
Patience is a virtue and those on this forum and others need that. As for spending $400 to test and tune that's really a small price to pay to do so safely and as an adult should. I do not recommend, nor have I ever recommended running your car on the street at these speeds. This is exactly why myself and the other two single turbo guys have not run our cars on public streets at this level.
I think I speak for myself and the two others when I say our cars run perfectly on the street and such we are very happy with the results. We are however true enthusiasts so we will place out money where our mouth is to improve this platform and are confident that we will do so. All those that have not spent the $ and the hard work of making history in my opinion really do not have an opinion.
I leave you with "Patience" don't get ahead of your self.
PS Captain Insano and his Single 6MT ran everything he could and did great. Wait for the vids to hit the forum his car is a beast he also asked to race the RB car and was ignored.
I think everyone needs to calm down. This is the first time the Single 6AT guys have hit the pavement running the cars like this. I guarantee that the 6AT issues will be resolved for the good of the entire community and all the drama queens will have to eat their words. My cars motor and turbo kit performed perfectly, however the transmission had the same glitches that the RB guys had. I simply decided to test and tune to a certain point then call it. I'm in no way going to damage my Trans for a race. What we do with this transmission will help all those who have upgraded turbos period.
Patience is a virtue and those on this forum and others need that. As for spending $400 to test and tune that's really a small price to pay to do so safely and as an adult should. I do not recommend, nor have I ever recommended running your car on the street at these speeds. This is exactly why myself and the other two single turbo guys have not run our cars on public streets at this level.
I think I speak for myself and the two others when I say our cars run perfectly on the street and such we are very happy with the results. We are however true enthusiasts so we will place out money where our mouth is to improve this platform and are confident that we will do so. All those that have not spent the $ and the hard work of making history in my opinion really do not have an opinion.
I leave you with "Patience" don't get ahead of your self.
PS Captain Insano and his Single 6MT ran everything he could and did great. Wait for the vids to hit the forum his car is a beast he also asked to race the RB car and was ignored.
that's fine but seriously... all the single turbos any only your 1/4 mile result? I don't get it. If you are literally telling them not to go to a track and post a result because you are still debugging something for them to make a simple 1/4 mile pass, cool just say it, that would be respectable. But you can't tell me an "enthusiast" spends that kind of money and doesnt go to a track and run a 1/4 mile. that's Bs. And I don't think you can validate that I "don't have an opinion" as I'm still waiting for some one to show me a better full weight no meth street tire stock turbo 1/4 mile pass than mine.
Where is drag strip? 6 hours away...i will find time to go up there...
Quote:
Originally Posted by ian2002525
Only thing i can say is something wrong with that big single 335's tuning...go back home and retune it!!!!
My car is running fantastic, my buddy who drove Lambo Merci, Ferrari Italia, GTR modded, I took him out for a spin, he posted on his FB following night said my car was the fastest car he has ever riden in. He loved it.
I am sure airstrip event was well worth every penny for tuners. I can't wait to see what comes next for N54 platform.
I think everyone needs to calm down. This is the first time the Single 6AT guys have hit the pavement running the cars like this. I guarantee that the 6AT issues will be resolved for the good of the entire community and all the drama queens will have to eat their words. My cars motor and turbo kit performed perfectly, however the transmission had the same glitches that the RB guys had. I simply decided to test and tune to a certain point then call it. I'm in no way going to damage my Trans for a race. What we do with this transmission will help all those who have upgraded turbos period.
Patience is a virtue and those on this forum and others need that. As for spending $400 to test and tune that's really a small price to pay to do so safely and as an adult should. I do not recommend, nor have I ever recommended running your car on the street at these speeds. This is exactly why myself and the other two single turbo guys have not run our cars on public streets at this level.
I think I speak for myself and the two others when I say our cars run perfectly on the street and such we are very happy with the results. We are however true enthusiasts so we will place out money where our mouth is to improve this platform and are confident that we will do so. All those that have not spent the $ and the hard work of making history in my opinion really do not have an opinion.
I leave you with "Patience" don't get ahead of your self.
PS Captain Insano and his Single 6MT ran everything he could and did great. Wait for the vids to hit the forum his car is a beast he also asked to race the RB car and was ignored.
that's fine but seriously... all the single turbos any only your 1/4 mile result? I don't get it. If you are literally telling them not to go to a track and post a result because you are still debugging something for them to make a simple 1/4 mile pass, cool just say it, that would be respectable. But you can't tell me an "enthusiast" spends that kind of money and doesnt go to a track and run a 1/4 mile. that's Bs. And I don't think you can validate that I "don't have an opinion" as I'm still waiting for some one to show me a better full weight no meth street tire stock turbo 1/4 mile pass than mine.
Listen bud I'm not sure who you are but if u can afford the kit you probably have a job and a demanding one at that. The results will be there. If my car was at the track there are enough 335 owners at Sac to state that I was there I simply have not been there and have been to busy surviving the economy to do so. That's not to say that results will not be available. The Trans is an issue that needs to be resolved and no one has looked at it. For you to call BS is childish. You have no contemplation of what busy could mean. All i am saying is relax your new on the forum the results will come and when they do they will help more than the Singles. I state again I don't know who you are (banned member or true user) but all things aside results will come. For god sake HPF has yet to show what their supposed single can do.
Listen bud I'm not sure who you are but if u can afford the kit you probably have a job and a demanding one at that. The results will be there. If my car was at the track there are enough 335 owners at Sac to state that I was there I simply have not been there and have been to busy surviving the economy to do so. That's not to say that results will not be available. The Trans is an issue that needs to be resolved and no one has looked at it. For you to call BS is childish. You have no contemplation of what busy could mean. All i am saying is relax your new on the forum the results will come and when they do they will help more than the Singles. I state again I don't know who you are (banned member or true user) but all things aside results will come. For god sake HPF has yet to show what their supposed single can do.
PS Creminz was not at the event.
Just about everyone nearing or above 500wtq, including myself, are having some sort of transmission issues on this platform. You just went off on a rant about the economy and not being able to afford to go to a test and tune 1/4 mile. Are you serious? If someone can spring for a single turbo kit they can pay 20 bucks and drive a few hours to make a 1/4 mile pass. I simply do not believe that no one has ran a 1/4 mile pass with the kit. I'll rephrase that, if no one has made a quarter mile pass, it could only be because you told them not to. Like I stated before, if there is a legitimate reason why, just say it. No nonsense excuses about a guy spending 7K plus for the kit but then the troubling economy preventing him from paying 20 bucks or so to see a real world result.
and trust me, I know busy. I spend 28 (24 hour) days a year flying between the oilfield on the arctic ocean in Alaska and my home state of Florida. I could easily afford the "kit" and make time to run tons of quarter mile passes. Until I see real world results I'll hold off on deciding the route to go with upgraded turbos.
I still want to see more customer ST 1/4 trap speeds. I think cuppertino's are the only ones out there right now? Someone correct me cause I can't remember.
Ask and you shall receive. My car should be finished tomorrow. Saturday I'm going to the drag strip for a European car show. Hopefully I can get any bugs fixed by then, but I won't hold my breath. I'm hoping other 335s race so we can get some baselines for the track, but I've dragged my car 100s of times so I know what it was capable of on the stock turbos.
I'll have a VBOX and GoPro with me as well.
Now the question is do I go for gold on the launch or baby it (still on stock half-shafts)?
__________________
Legal Disclaimer: Anything I or anyone else says about my vehicle on this website(e90post.com or any affiliated or nonaffiliated sites), pertaining to modifications, is only to gain acceptance from my/our peers, and does not actually represent anything actually existing on my car, and thus, cannot be held against me in any issues, i.e. warranty claims, that may arise.
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Description
The TLV316-Q1 (single), TLV2316-Q1 (dual), and TLV4316-Q1 (quad) devices comprise a family of general-purpose, low-power operational amplifiers. Features such as rail-to-rail input and output swings, low quiescent current (400 µA/ch typical) combined with a wide bandwidth of 10 MHz, and very-low noise (12 nV/√Hz at 1 kHz) make this family suitable for a circuits requiring a good speed and power ratio. The low input bias current supports operational amplifiers that are used in applications with megaohm source impedances. The low-input bias current of the TLVx316-Q1 yields a very-low current noise to make the family attractive for high impedance sensor interfaces.
The robust design of the TLVx316-Q1 provides ease-of-use to the circuit designer: a unity-gain stable, integrated RFI and EMI rejection filter, no phase reversal in overdrive condition, and high electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection (4-kV HBM).
These devices are optimized for low-voltage operation as low as 1.8 V (±0.9 V) and up to 5.5 V (±2.75 V). This latest addition of low-voltage CMOS operational amplifiers to the portfolio, in conjunction with the TLVx313-Q1 and TLVx314-Q1 series, offer a family of bandwidth, noise, and power options to meet the needs of a wide variety of applications.
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Sperry Mills site - south Vallejo waterfront
Current Issues
Prologue
As mentioned in the Intro, this section was written four years ago. Other long-festering problems have since taken center stage as pressing issues for the City. See the VPD in Crisis link for a discussion of one of these. Both issues covered here remain relevant this cycle, although the cement plant project was defeated last year and some improvements made in regulating the legal cannabis industry. There are lessons to be learned from these stories that can help inform voters about the motivations and interplay of the actors in these political dramas, many of whom are still on stage.
The City's attempt to regulate the cannabis industry remains a mess. While councilmembers pat themselves on the back for allowing recreational as well as medical use, they failed to lower the local tax rate sufficiently in response to the State's imposition of a fifteen percent excise tax. We approve liquor sales all over town but impose costly and wholly unnecessary regulatory requirements on legal retail cannabis businesses. Many former medical cannabis patients have been priced out of the legal market and forced back into the illicit cash market. A major economic development opportunity provided through the foresight of voters who overwhelmingly approved Measure C in 2011 has been squandered over the years by legislators who thought they knew better. They didn't know much of anything, and showed little interest in learning from the people with actual real life experience.
The following sections were written prior to November 2016 and give some historical context to these two issues. Links to articles written since on both topics can be found on the Home page of this site. Note that we have a new Mayor since 2016. Mr. Sampayan served on the Council at the time and was elected Mayor in the last cycle.
Intro to 2016
A couple flash point issues highlight the pivotal nature of this election for the future of our City. Like every election season, we’re going to hear a lot of talk from candidates about the importance of economic development and attracting new business. This year, those obligatory generic pronouncements only serve to obscure the fork we’ve arrived at in the road ahead. Economic development is not something uniform in quality and desirability, or in the nature of its economic and environmental impacts. The nature of the economic development that we decide to allow and encourage will shape the character of Vallejo for decades to come. We need to talk about what kind of economic development we want, how it will affect our quality of life, and how the costs and benefits are distributed.
Vallejo Marine Terminal/Orcem Project and the Shadow Government
Introduction
The controversy surrounding this project application exposed major fault lines in the community with regard to land use planning issues. In the context of our previous discussion of the currently active political players in Vallejo, we can better appreciate the interplay and motivations of the various actors in this drama. In light of the response to the VMT/Orcem proposal, we can see that various stakeholders in the community have started off down diverging development paths that lead to very different futures for the City and its residents.
Background
The industrial use of the historic Sperry Mills site on the south Vallejo waterfront dates back to the mid-nineteenth century. In those days the much smaller town was well off at a distance, and the rail line laid out in 1869 to serve the mill by-passed the residential area. The plant was operated by General Mills for many years and served critical roles in the military effort during both World Wars. In 2004 General Mills walked away from its lease with the City and abandoned the facility.
Instead of terminating the ground lease slated to run through 2014, the City Council continued to amend and transfer the lease to a series of new owners. (See Zombie Lease here) A development firm bought the 38 acre site in 2006 with the intention to build a mixed use project including hundreds of housing units, a restaurant, and a waterfront park. That project never got off the ground, and they lost the property to foreclosure.
A former City Manager from neighboring Pinole with two Bay Area partners purchased the site dirt cheap in 2012, with the intention to establish a private international port terminal. The Vallejo Marine Terminal LLC (VMT) somehow managed to get City staff to assign a newly resurrected version of the General Mills lease to them. VMT subsequently recruited Orcem, an Irish cement company, to serve as an anchor tenant and submitted a project application for both operations to the City in 2014. Following the required environmental review process currently underway, the project will go before the Planning Commission. Ultimately the Vallejo City Council will decide whether to approve the project in spite of the identified significant unavoidable environmental impacts, or deny the application.
The draft Environmental Impact Report released for public review and comment last fall revealed that the project would bring a multitude of significant unavoidable environmental impacts. Vallejo has grown dramatically since heavy industry first established in that location and now the site is surrounded by residential neighborhoods and schools. The rail line that would be reactivated runs right across the middle of town. While the environmental reports required under state law are often highly technical and difficult to wade through, the Executive Summary section at the beginning of the draft EIR posted on the city web site contains a rundown of potential environmental impacts that is readable and worth a look through.
Takes some time to load so be prepared to wait.
Orcem has taken the lead in selling the combined project to the public. They hired Zell and Associates, a public relations firm that represents corporate interests like the Chevron refinery in Richmond. After a round of polling, Zell has been pushing a jobs and the economy argument while engaging in what critics call an obvious 'green-washing’ campaign based on the anticipated capacity to import slag waste from the iron and steel industry. The slag would come from Asia in huge cargo ships for storage on site in forty foot open piles, then ground to a fine powder which can be substituted for the limestone clinker normally milled for portland cement.
Orcem’s green sales pitch starts with the unchallenged fact that mining and baking limestone for ordinary portland cement clinker in high temperature kilns releases a whole lot of greenhouse gases and other pollutants. Substituting a waste product that is ready to grind sounds like a pretty green idea at first glance. Critics point out that since the slag would be transported across the Pacific in huge cargo ships burning dirty bunker grade fuel, that green recycled sheen will have faded by the time it’s offloaded and piled on our waterfront. The actual operation of the plant and its impacts on neighborhoods across Vallejo would be anything but green, as the EIR reveals.
Orcem also hired consultants to prepare a “Fiscal Economic Impact Study” to put the best possible face on what is clearly an unbalanced distribution of costs and benefits to ordinary residents of Vallejo. The report inflates the jobs numbers well beyond the original application forecast, using speculative categories like “indirect” and “induced” jobs. We keep hearing about all these fictional jobs in the Orcem campaign talking points. The 'study’ ignores the terms of the lease with the City that would allow applicants to write off project construction costs against lease payments in an amount equal to more than the projected rent over the entire 65 year lease agreement. Nearly all the property taxes go to the County, and the City is left with some utility tax and a handful of skilled jobs unlikely to go to residents of south Vallejo.
Meanwhile the air quality and traffic impacts would fall heavily on south Vallejo residents already suffering the health effects from local refinery and other heavy industry emissions. Environmental justice analysis is a technique used by regulatory agencies nationwide to combat the longstanding pattern of locating heavy polluting industry near minority and low income neighborhoods. Under public pressure, the City produced an EJ analysis, but one that falls well short of the mark.
Instead of comparing the residents of south Vallejo who would live with the negative impacts to the residents of Solano county who would get the lion’s share of property taxes and other economic benefits, the analysis inexplicably compares Vallejo with Vallejo. Since most of Vallejo can be considered low income and predominantly minority the report finds no unequal treatment. Meanwhile statistics included in the Economic Study show significant differences relative to Solano county residents. Both the Fiscal Economic Impact Study and the EJ analysis can be accessed from the City web site here.
The Public Planning Process: A River and Bay City
A city’s General Plan serves as a guiding document for its future development. Vallejo’s plan is decades old, and showing its age. Back in early 2014 the city made a show of engaging residents under the banner “Propel Vallejo" to develop an updated vision for the future of our city. The city characterized the General Plan update process as ”an opportunity for us to create a vision for the kind of city we want and to take concrete steps toward making it a reality.”
That sense of community empowerment and partnership was encouraged throughout the lengthy and intensive process that followed by city staff and professional planning consultants. According to the city web site: “A General Plan Working Group, composed of appointees from different segments of the community, represents the people of Vallejo by guiding the planning process and advising the Planning Commission and City Council when there are key decisions that need to be made. This ensures that the General Plan will remain rooted in the vision and values of the community.”
The waterfront planning effort culminated on November 23 of last year when the General Plan Working Group, the Economic Vitality Commission, and the Planning Commission voted together to approve their agreed upon Preferred Scenario. The overwhelming favorite among participants was the final River and Bay City scenario, which envisions a connected and accessible waterfront extending from Brinkman’s boat launch to Sandy Beach Road and allows foot and bike traffic between the Maritime Academy campus and downtown. There is no place in that vision for a heavy industry project like VMT/Orcem at the Sperry site that shuts out the public and breaks that desired connectivity.
In this public vision our waterfront serves as a unique environmental asset to focus development. The vision reinforces the Guiding Principles agreed on by the community in 2014 to guide the General Plan update process. Among those principles:
Iconic Waterfront:
“Vallejo treasures its waterfront as a centerpiece of the community, with a promenade, multi-use trails, natural open space, and access to water activities. It is a place for community gathering, exercising, socializing, shopping, dining out and having fun.”
Environmental Stewardship:
“Vallejo pursues and promotes environmental education; protects and manages its watersheds, wetlands, and wildlife habitats; and embraces businesses and industries that are sensitive to the environment. It is a community where environmental stewardship is an asset that attracts people and businesses.”
That has been the public face of land use planning in Vallejo over the past couple years. At the same time there were players at various levels of local government pushing a very different development agenda behind the scenes. In this alternate universe the Mare Island Strait serves as a marine superhighway and our waterfront becomes suitable for locating marine-based heavy industry. If that picture becomes reality our iconic waterfront will look more like Stockton or west Oakland than those pleasant images evoked in the guiding principles or the Bay and River City preferred scenario.
The Shadow Government
While the public process played out, another group began meeting behind closed doors to share their own values and vision for the future of our city, out of the public eye and without the knowledge of some of our elected officials. This shadowy group included the JumpStart Councilmembers, members of City staff, county level political operatives, and private big money interests. Their vision for the future of Vallejo looks very different from the vision developed with public input through the general plan process.
The entire City Council voted to authorize a Mare Island Economic Development Committee in the spring of 2014, which would have included Vice Mayor Sampayan as a member. As with other Council initiatives, there was no follow through and the authorized committee never met. Many months later a passing reference to a similar sounding committee name came to the attention of a Voices of Vallejo citizen watchdog. Mr. Sampayan confirmed that he knew nothing about such an organization. A startling picture began to emerge with the release of documents by the City to comply with public records requests.
The Mare Island Straits Economic Development Committee (MISEDC) was formed in April of 2014, and organized by Councilmember Jesus Malgapo who served as its chair. MISEDC explicitly stated it was not a formal City Commission but rather defined itself as “an ad hoc Citizens Committee of the City of Vallejo.” It was nothing of the sort. Mr. Malgapo cautions members in meeting announcements that participation was by invitation only. A look at the committee roster confirms that these are not the kind of ordinary city residents and business owners that participated in the public planning process:
A major thrust of the committee’s effort was an extensive lobbying effort to entice the Army Corps of Engineers to resume deep dredging of the length of the Mare Island Strait and allow access to large international cargo vessels. Just like building a freeway, once that infrastructure is in place a predictable pattern of development will follow, and that development would not look much like the Propel Vallejo vision. The MISEDC worked in secret for months, often using City employees, as the Economic Development Director repeatedly alerted the City Manager to the improper use of scarce public resources and need for approval by the entire Council. Instead, the consent calendar portion of a packed Council meeting agenda was used to hide the result of the extensive communication and lobbying with the Army Corps from the full Council and the public.
The Great Divide
The revelation that the three JumpStart Councilmembers with the knowledge of Mayor Davis were participating on a secret committee with the VMT/Orcem applicants well before the draft EIR was even released to the public did not sit well with residents. The involvement of all the county level political operatives was disturbing, given that the region stands to benefit economically at the expense of local citizens.
Equally revealing is who was not involved. Councilmembers Sampayan and McConnell, who will both be on the ballot in November, were intentionally kept in the dark, as was Councilmember Meissner.
The participation of marine industries that stand to save some money on their maintenance costs if the Army resumed deep dredging in the channel makes perfect sense. The interest of all those political operatives at the county and regional level is understandable as well, given that it’s all economic upside so long as the heavy industry isn’t in your own backyard. Same for the county level labor interests who want those construction phase jobs for union members and don’t care much about the people who would have to live with the results of their handiwork.
What moves some of the other political actors to play supporting roles in the push to re-establish heavy industry on our waterfront would be more difficult to understand if you just walked in. The members of both the United Democrats of Southern Solano County and the Stonewall Democratic club have voted to go on record opposing VMT/Orcem. In sharp contrast, the new Community Democratic Club members are being told by their leadership that they support the project. Given the Democratic Party advocacy for environmental and social justice issues, that makes little sense unless you understand the Jon Riley connection with the CDC.
The VMT/Orcem applicants aren’t among the local dominionist “marketplace ministers" trying to gain economic influence, or members of any of the African-American community networks. Why then are local leaders who talk the talk of black lives matter publicly supporting a project that would damage the health and quality of life of the people in their own community for the benefit of outsiders? For one thing, Riley and the Labor Council want it, and these leaders hope that an alliance will be their ticket to increased political influence. During the recent unsuccessful campaign to ship coal through the port of Oakland, corporate interests bought off some of the local church pastors with contributions to their youth programs and the like. There is concern that these tactics may be used in Vallejo to blunt local opposition.
The role of the City Manager and some of our City staff in the MISEDC activity also makes little sense on the face of it. Before he resigned, the Economic Development Director repeatedly complained to superiors that Councilmember Malgapo was grabbing City staff and assigning them tasks for his private committee as though they work directly for him. Mr. Keen was well aware of the improper and illegal nature of Mr. Malgapo’s actions under the City Charter, but did nothing to attempt to correct the situation or inform the rest of the Council. Apparently it was easier to just humor Mr. Malgapo and play along, and any concern about the waste of scarce City resources or subversion of representative democracy took a back seat to convenience.
What would motivate these few City Councilmembers to put a process in motion that could shape the future character of Vallejo with no public input? Mr. Malgapo apparently dreams about going back to a faded version of the glory days of his Navy career, when it was all Federal dollars, big ships, and heavy industry. Ms. Dew-Costa and Verder-Aliga were likely thrilled just to be included in a conspiracy with all those important people. The JumpStart Councilmembers Malgapo, Dew-Costa, and Verder-Aliga owe their seats to Jon Riley’s organization, and Verder-Aliga and Sunga will be counting on that money and manpower again for the November races. Orcem’s consultants also tipped their hand with a political contribution to JumpStart.
On the other side of the divide, opposition to the proposed port/cement plant mobilized quickly among local environmental and progressive activists in response to the draft Environmental Impact Report. A true ad hoc citizen’s committee came together under the name Fresh Air Vallejo to flood the City with public comments to the draft EIR, and join with environmental groups like Baykeepers and the Sierra Club to prepare for a legal challenge in the event the project is approved. They have been joined by local groups like Friends of the Sperry Mill and Voices of Vallejo, as well as regional activist groups from Napa, Richmond, and Benicia to voice their opposition.
Where the good old boy network will ultimately come down on the Orcem/VMT project is not so clear cut. The major property owners are accustomed to contributing and identifying with the JumpStart faction, but the MISEDC push to bring heavy industry back to the waterfront is really not in their interest. The Propel Vallejo planning vision would revive the downtown and bring in tourist dollars that would lift property values. Bringing in a new round of heavy polluting industry with trains and trucks tying up traffic across town would have the opposite effect. Whether the good old boys will realize where their true interest lies or act out of habit is an open question.
Measure C and Regulation of the Cannabis Industry
Introduction:
The second flashpoint economic development issue soon to come to a head in Vallejo involves local regulation of the cannabis industry. California led the way in providing legal patient access to medical marijuana with Proposition 215, the Compassionate Use Act, way back in 1998.
Since that time public opinion has shifted markedly as regulatory regimes continue to replace prohibition in a number of states, and the dire predictions of opponents fail to materialize. Now that peer-reviewed scientific research is finally possible, it’s becoming apparent that cannabis in various forms has a great many medical applications. Here in Vallejo, the opposition of a vocal minority with outsized political influence has blocked the development of a rational approach to regulation for the past five years.
After eighty years of relentless propaganda in support of prohibition it’s likely there will be readers who still have serious reservations, although this plant has been valued for thousands of years. The often expressed concerns about neighborhood crime or sending a wrong message that might encourage young people to use cannabis have proved groundless with actual real life experience. For example, an exhaustive study published last year in a major psychiatric journal used 24 years of data from more than a million teenagers in 48 states and found no evidence that teenagers used cannabis more when medical cannabis dispensaries are present.
Prohibition was enacted so long ago few even remember the original justification. Readers may notice that I prefer to use the scientific name ‘cannabis’ instead of ‘marijuana.’ The Spanish term itself was used and popularized during the prohibition campaign. Before about 1910 cannabis was a common ingredient in medicines, and the term marijuana was not known in American culture. Over the next decade an influx of legal refugees from the Mexican civil war brought the practice of smoking the plant material with them.
The economic upheaval of the Great Depression in the 1930s had many people looking for someone to blame for their troubles. Attention focused on ethnic minorities like blacks and Mexican immigrants, the main users of cannabis at that time. Stories about the corrupting influence of ’loco weed’ and ‘marijuana’ were popularized by politicians and public officials who made their careers with this issue.
The one individual most responsible for creating the stigma that we are still struggling to shake off today was Harry Anslinger, the first director of the newly created Federal Bureau of Narcotics. Anslinger waged a relentless and overtly racist campaign against marijuana for the three decades he held the office. In testimony before Congress he declared: "Marijuana is the most violence-causing drug in the history of mankind… Most marijuana smokers are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos and entertainers. Their satanic music, jazz and swing, result from marijuana usage.” I take it Harry wasn’t much of a music lover.
For fact-based study results documenting the lack of connection between the presence of medical cannabis dispensaries and increased crime - Read Here. There most certainly are legitimate public safety concerns, but these can only be addressed through a sensible regulatory framework. Prohibition has not only failed to limit cannabis availability or encourage responsible production and use, it created a whole host of additional problems with an extensive underground black market economy. It’s time to turn the page.
A Legal Twilight Zone
By 2011 medical cannabis dispensaries were popping up in Vallejo, but there were no local rules in place for locating, licensing, or taxing these businesses. Progressives on the City Council put Measure C on the ballot that November, which would impose an additional tax on gross dispensary sales of up to ten percent in addition to regular sales tax. The initiative passed overwhelmingly with more than 76% of the vote. It was left to the Council to do their job under the City Charter
to develop an ordinance to collect the taxes mandated by voters. That didn’t happen.
The Mayor and his supporters opposed any move to regulate the industry. Meanwhile, entrepreneurs who had noticed the level of public support expressed by local voters continued to open new dispensaries. The City conducted a series of raids that were later declared illegal by the court, which ordered the return of the confiscated money and inventory. The continued absence of an ordinance to locate and guide development of the industry caused friction in the community, while responsible managers who paid Measure C taxes were forced to compete with those who ignored their obligation. When the new JumpStart majority was elected in 2013, Mayor Davis declared in news interviews that he now had the votes on the Council to run the industry out of town entirely.
Taxpayers who voted for Measure C in order to help a bankrupt City finance basic services joined the medical cannabis patient community to erupt in anger. As residents packed Council meetings and lined up to denounce the move to ban dispensaries, the Council majority backtracked to allow two dispensaries, and finally passed an ordinance that would have restricted the number to four. The cannabis patient community responded by mobilizing the first successful referendum petition drive in Vallejo history, gathering valid signatures of more than ten percent of the voters in less than a month. That petition nullified the ordinance, leaving the Council with the option to put it before voters, or pass a different ordinance in its place.
The replacement ordinance the Council passed in 2015 still falls far short of a permanent solution. It created a special nonsense category of “limited immunity from civil prosecution," while the City continues to insist that dispensaries are illegal in all zones of the City. The ordinance restricted applicants to those dispensaries that opened before a toothless 2013 moratorium and paid taxes every month since, and required ridiculously expensive abatements for imaginary nuisances. The ten clubs that managed to jump through all the hoops now occupy a legal twilight zone that will only last until the state begins its new licensing regime.
Starting in January of 2018 the state of California will finally have a standardized licensing framework in place for the cannabis industry. The deal-making in Sacramento has been a classic exercise in legislative sausage-making, which is to be expected with so much new money in need of management and distribution. While some details are still being hammered out, it’s been clear for some time that this will be a two-tier system under which local governments will still have the option to ban the industry entirely.
Local government authorization will be required for Vallejo dispensaries to even apply for a state license. Limited immunity from prosecution just won’t cut it. That means Vallejo needs a real ordinance with approved zoning districts for the various cannabis industry businesses and operating standards, in other words what should have happened five years ago after the voters approved Measure C by more than three to one. The stage is set for another round of political confrontation, while the political landscape continues to shift with public opinion.
The Vallejo Breakdown
The opportunity cost resulting from the willful failure to implement Measure C has been nothing short of tragic in a City where the financial needs are so great. Voters gave Vallejo a big head start on neighboring communities like Sacramento and Oakland, who are now scrambling to set up regulatory frameworks designed to encourage the cannabis industry to
As mentioned in the Intro, this section was written in advance of the 2016 election. Both issues remain relevant this cycle, although the cement plant project was defeated last year and some improvements made in regulating the legal cannabis industry.
The City's attempt to regulate the cannabis industry is also still a mess. While councilmembers pat themselves on the back for allowing recreational as well as medical use, they failed to lower the local tax rate in response to the State's imposition of a fifteen percent, and still have not assigned our dispensaries zoning districts like every normal jurisdiction. A major economic development opportunity provided through the foresight of voters who overwhelmingly approved Measure C in 2011 has been squandered over the years by legislators who thought they knew better. They didn't know much of anything and showed little interest in learning.
The following sections were written prior to November 2016 and give some historical context to two issues still current. Links to articles written since on both topics can be found on the Home page of this site. Note that we have a new Mayor since 2016. Mr. Sampayan served on the Council at the time but was elected Mayor in the last cycle.
A couple flash point issues highlight the pivotal nature of this election for the future of our City. Like every election season, we’re going to hear a lot of talk from candidates about the importance of economic development and attracting new business. This year, those obligatory generic pronouncements only serve to obscure the fork we’ve arrived at in the road ahead. Economic development is not something uniform in quality and desirability, or in the nature of its economic and environmental impacts. The nature of the economic development that we decide to allow and encourage will shape the character of Vallejo for decades to come. We need to talk about what kind of economic development we want, how it will affect our quality of life, and how the costs and benefits are distributed.
Vallejo Marine Terminal/Orcem Project and the Shadow Government
Introduction
The controversy surrounding this pending project application exposed major fault lines in the community with regard to land use planning issues. In the context of our previous discussion of the currently active political players in Vallejo, we can better appreciate the interplay and motivations of the various actors in this drama. In light of the response to the VMT/Orcem proposal, we can see that various stakeholders in the community have started off down diverging development paths that lead to very different futures for the City and its residents.
Background
The industrial use of the historic Sperry Mills site on the south Vallejo waterfront dates back to the mid-nineteenth century. In those days the much smaller town was well off at a distance, and the rail line laid out in 1869 to serve the mill by-passed the residential area. The plant was operated by General Mills for many years and served critical roles in the military effort during both World Wars. In 2004 General Mills walked away from its lease with the City and abandoned the facility.
Instead of terminating the ground lease slated to run through 2014, the City Council continued to amend and transfer the lease to a series of new owners. (See Zombie Lease here) A development firm bought the 38 acre site in 2006 with the intention to build a mixed use project including hundreds of housing units, a restaurant, and a waterfront park. That project never got off the ground, and they lost the property to foreclosure.
A former City Manager from neighboring Pinole with two Bay Area partners purchased the site dirt cheap in 2012, with the intention to establish a private international port terminal. The Vallejo Marine Terminal LLC (VMT) somehow managed to get City staff to assign a newly resurrected version of the General Mills lease to them. VMT subsequently recruited Orcem, an Irish cement company, to serve as an anchor tenant and submitted a project application for both operations to the City in 2014. Following the required environmental review process currently underway, the project will go before the Planning Commission. Ultimately the Vallejo City Council will decide whether to approve the project in spite of the identified significant unavoidable environmental impacts, or deny the application.
The draft Environmental Impact Report released for public review and comment last fall revealed that the project would bring a multitude of old crony county network unavoidable environmental impacts. Vallejo has grown dramatically since heavy industry first established in that location and now the site is surrounded by residential neighborhoods and schools. The rail line that would be reactivated runs right across the middle of town. While the environmental reports required under state law are often highly technical and difficult to wade through, the Executive Summary section at the beginning of the draft EIR posted on the city web site contains a rundown of potential environmental impacts that is readable and worth a look through.
Takes some time to load so be prepared to wait.
Orcem has taken the lead in selling the combined project to the public. They hired Zell and Associates, a public relations firm that represents corporate interests like the Chevron refinery in Richmond. After a round of polling, Zell has been pushing a jobs and the economy argument while engaging in what critics call an obvious 'green-washing’ campaign based on the anticipated capacity to import slag waste from the iron and steel industry. The slag would come from Asia in huge cargo ships for storage on site in forty foot open piles, then ground to a fine powder which can be substituted for the limestone clinker normally milled for portland cement.
Orcem’s green sales pitch starts with the unchallenged fact that mining and baking limestone for ordinary portland cement clinker in high temperature kilns releases a whole lot of greenhouse gases and other pollutants. Substituting a waste product that is ready to grind sounds like a pretty green idea at first glance. Critics point out that since the slag would be transported across the Pacific in huge cargo ships burning dirty bunker grade fuel, that green recycled sheen will have faded by the time it’s offloaded and piled on our waterfront. The actual operation of the plant and its impacts on neighborhoods across Vallejo would be anything but green, as the EIR reveals.
Orcem also hired consultants to prepare a “Fiscal Economic Impact Study” to put the best possible face on what is clearly an unbalanced distribution of costs and benefits to ordinary residents of Vallejo. The report inflates the jobs numbers well beyond the original application forecast, using speculative categories like “indirect” and “induced” jobs. We keep hearing about all these fictional jobs in the Orcem campaign talking points. The 'study’ ignores the terms of the lease with the City that would allow applicants to write off project construction costs against lease payments in an amount equal to more than the projected rent over the entire 65 year lease agreement. Nearly all the property taxes go to the County, and the City is left with some utility tax and a handful of skilled jobs unlikely to go to residents of south Vallejo.
Meanwhile the air quality and traffic impacts would fall heavily on south Vallejo residents already suffering the health effects from local refinery and other heavy industry emissions. Environmental justice analysis is a technique used by regulatory agencies nationwide to combat the longstanding pattern of locating heavy polluting industry near minority and low income neighborhoods. Under public pressure, the City produced an EJ analysis, but one that falls well short of the mark.
Instead of comparing the residents of south Vallejo who would live with the negative impacts to the residents of Solano county who would get the lion’s share of property taxes and other economic benefits, the analysis inexplicably compares Vallejo with Vallejo. Since most of Vallejo can be considered low income and predominantly minority the report finds no unequal treatment. Meanwhile statistics included in the Economic Study show significant differences relative to Solano county residents. Both the Fiscal Economic Impact Study and the EJ analysis can be accessed from the City web site here.
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One Direction 'This Is Us' U.S. premiere
One Direction 'This Is Us' U.S. movie premiere
Photo: Getty Images
One Direction at their U.S. movie premiere
Photo: Getty Images
One Direction arrives at the U.S. premiere of their movie 'This Is Us'
Photo: Getty Images
One Direction movie premiere at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York City
Photo: Getty Images
The boys seem pretty excited for their new movie
Photo: Getty Images
One Direction movie premiere at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York City
Photo: Getty Images
Harry Styes at the One Direction movie premiere
Photo: Getty Images
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How much time should you spend on each step of your skin care routine?
Skin care can be a very lengthy process if you want it to be. Some people even employ 12 steps from start to finish to get their skin looking perfect. Do you ever wonder if you’re spending enough time on each step in your routine? We outlined how much time you should allocate to your routine and each step along the way. You should have a better sense of where to invest or conserve time doing after reading this.
Morning Routine – 5 To 8 Minutes
In the morning you are probably very busy and don’t have a ton of time to devote to your skin care routine. There are still some basics you should cover to ensure that your skin is clean and ready for make up application.
Step #1 Cleanse (3-5 Minutes)
After a night’s worth of sleep there is sweat, oil and build-up on your face that has to be removed. Use a gentle cleanser to lift dirt and impurities from your skin and refresh it. If you have dry or sensitive skin use a cream-based product formulated with ceramides or humectants to help it feel supple rather than tight. Garnier SkinActive’s Clean+ Makeup Removing Lotion is free of fragrance, alcohol and dye. The formula, infused with plant extract, leaves skin feeling moisturized and protected. You can give your skin a quick and easy cleanse in the AM leaving it feeling soft and conditioned.
For oilier skin types cleansing with a product formulated specifically for this skin type and includes glycolic or salicylic acid can help regulate oil production throughout the day and provide you with a clean and smooth-looking complexion. Also look for formulas with active ingredients that can help deep clean your pores before you embark on your day. We recommend Garnier SkinActive’ Shine Control Gel formulated with both charcoal and salicylic acid to purify pores. It draws out impurities like a magnet. Your skin will feel soft and clean after using this product.
Step #2 Antioxidants + SPF (2-3 Minutes)
A good way to get your skin ready for the day and help protect it for any environmental aggressors such as pollution and the sun’s damaging ultraviolet rays is by using a product formulated with antioxidants and SPF. You can get both in one place with an antioxidant SPF moisturizer such as Garnier SkinActive’s Clearly Brighter Brightening & Smoothing Moisturizer SPF15. It is formulated with an antioxidant complex of Vitamin C and E, pine bark essence and gently exfoliating lipo-hydroxyl acid (LHA). The light fluid protects your skin from the sun’s rays and also helps protect your skin from free radicals, which can damage skin. Apply to clean skin and make sure you cover your entire face.
Evening Routine – 9-15 Minutes
Step #1 Micellar Water (3-5 Minutes)
Micellar water is an easy and effective way to remove make up, grease, sweat and dirt from you’re your face. The transparent liquid attracts and lifts dirt, oil and make up off your skin like a magnet. This one step wonder effectively cleanses skin and will ensure you get ready for bed super quickly especially on days when you’re tired.
Step #2 Antioxidants For Dark Spots (3-5 Minutes)
Nighttime is the perfect time to apply products that help even skin tone and reduce the appearance of dark spots. Dark spots won’t go away overnight, but with the right formulas they can fade over time. Antioxidant skin care, particularly products formulated with Vitamin C can really help in this instance. Try Garnier SkinActive’s Clearly Brighter Overnight Leave-On Peel. It’s a gentle, yet powerful leave-on peel with glycolic alpha hydroxyl acid (AHA) and Vitamin C. It effectively evens skin tone and reduces the look of dark spots while you sleep.
Step #3 Moisturize (3-5 Minutes)
Cap off your nightly skin care efforts by moisturizing your skin. All skin types need hydration, you just need to find the right product to suit your needs. If you’re looking for something refreshing try Garnier SkinActive’s Moisture Rescue Refreshing Gel Cream. It’s oil-free and locks in moisture for 24 hours. Your skin will look and feel hydrated. Gently massage this moisturizer into your skin with an upward motion to let it truly seep onto skin. This step will help you wake up with fresh-looking skin.
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Navigation
Bolt Prospects' 2013-2014 Midterm Rankings
Is the party starting to wind down? With the Lightning transitioning to a more youthful team and injuries forcing more call-ups than originally anticipated, our Bolt Prospects Midterm Rankings will take on a decidedly different feel. With the likes of Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat, and Radko Gudas becoming full-time NHLers, the list seems a little thinner this time around. Still, this year's Midterm list is still top-heavy with some of the finest NHL prospects you'll find anywhere in the land. With several other prospects very close to graduating from prospect status on the site, though, and the next wave of prospects struggling a bit in Syracuse, now is an excellent time for readers to reflect on what an amazing past couple of years the Lightning pipeline has had. From Norfolk's record-breaking winning streak and Calder Cup championship to the Syracuse Crunch's Eastern Conference crown and Tyler Johnson's emergence as a Calder Trophy candidate in the NHL, these were good days the likes of which don't come around often. Appreciate them.
Before we jump into the rankings, just a reminder of the rules. To be eligible for the rankings a player must be under the age of 24 on opening night of the Tampa Bay Lightning's NHL season. Any skater who has played 41 games in a single NHL season or 82 career NHL games is considered graduated from prospect status. For that reason, Palat and Johnson along with Brett Connolly are not eligible for inclusion. Goaltenders who have 30 or more NHL decisions in a single season or 41 career NHL decisions will also be considered from prospect status. NCAA-based prospects are eligible for inclusion on the list even if they are 24 or older for the duration of their time with their college program.
That's legalese we hope former attorney Jon Cooper would be proud of. We hope you were taking notes, because there might be a pop quiz. With that out of the way, let's begin…
1.) LW/C Jonathan Drouin, Halifax (QMJHL) [Preliminary rank from October: 1]
Few should be surprised that Jonathan Drouin continues to hold down the top spot in our rankings. For the second straight season, Drouin has continued to make a name as the most dominant and dynamic player in the Canadian junior ranks. Since being returned to Halifax after Lightning training camp, Drouin has averaged more than two points per game and at the U20 World Junior Championships Drouin finished tied for 7th in the tournament in scoring. He narrowly missed making the Lightning this season, but you can pretty much ink his name onto the Lightning next season. The Lightning's patience should yield a couple of key benefits, too. First, Drouin will be a year stronger, both physically and mentally. Second, Tampa Bay, Halifax, and Team Canada have all made it a point to cross-train Drouin at the center position, which should add flexibility to his game and make him an even more formidable weapon in the NHL.
2.) G Andrey Vasilevskiy. Ufa (RUS) [2]
This season has been a successful one thus far for Andrey Vasilevskiy as he attempts to transition from a junior phenom to professional level goaltender. After splitting last season between the MHL and a backup role for Ufa in the KHL, Vasilevskiy has carried approximately half the workload with Ufa this season. He's been solid in that time, with a winning percentage well above .500, a GAA around 2.30, and a save percentage over .920. He's getting used to playing a professional level schedule against many shooters who used to play in the AHL and NHL. That experience, coupled with a successful Bronze Medal winning run at the U20 World Junior Championships, should only ease Vasilevskiy's transition into North American professional hockey next season.
3.) RW Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay (NHL) [3]
One of the real movers so far this season has been right winger Nikita Kucherov. After barely missing making the Lightning out of training camp, Kucherov proceeded to dominate in the AHL, scoring well over a point a game for Syracuse before being recalled to the Lightning to try to help fill the scoring void left when Steven Stamkos broke his leg. The results since Kucherov joined the big club have been breathtaking, with Kucherov quickly gaining a reputation as one of the Lightning's most dangerous offensive players. Kucherov's quick release and top level hockey sense, combined with his slick puck handling abilities, have made him one of Jon Cooper's go-to players in situations where the team needs a goal and in shootouts. Perhaps just as importantly, Kucherov's earned Cooper's trust by exhibiting good work habits in the defensive end of the rink as well, making it very likely Kucherov is in the NHL to stay for a very, very long time.
4.) D Slater Koekkoek, Windsor (OHL) [9]
After missing major portions of the past two seasons with shoulder injuries, we're getting to see the real Slater Koekkoek in 2013-2014 with the Windsor Spitfires. To date, Koekkoek has already set career highs in goals, assists, and points and his plus-minus, at well above +30, is beginning to make his defensive struggles in the past with Peterborough a fading memory. Koekkoek has elite level size and skating ability from the backline, and as his game matures he's begun to get a better sense of when to attack and when to fall back and cover up defensively. He's likely, given the number of games he missed over the past couple of seasons and the nature of the position he plays, to need a season or two of time in Syracuse to get ready for the NHL. But, once he gets that experience, the Lightning expect they'll get a two-way defenseman with the mobility and strength to gobble up huge minutes with Tampa Bay.
5.) C Vladislav Namestnikov, Syracuse (AHL) [8]
Had he not broken his hand earlier this season, Vladislav Namestnikov might be up with Tampa Bay right now in Nikita Kucherov's place. After being sent down to Syracuse due to a quiet training camp with Tampa Bay, Namestnikov teamed up with Kucherov to form a dynamic duo that was arguably the AHL's most unstoppable force. Namestnikov was the playmaker and Kucherov was the finisher. Unfortunately, Vladislav broke his hand just before Kucherov was recalled to the Lightning, leaving him over a month of rehab work while his former linemate was breaking in with the Lightning. Now that he's back healthy, though, Namestnikov has already surpassed his statistics from a season ago despite playing in roughly half the number of games. He's still at over a point a game with Syracuse and that points toward Namestnikov being a serious threat to make the NHL next season. In the long run, look for Namestnikov to assume the Lightning's second or third line center position and possibly reunite with Kucherov for many seasons to come.
6.) D Andrej Sustr, Syracuse (AHL) [10]
Despite his recent demotion to Syracuse of the AHL, Lightning fans should be absolutely thrilled about the future of defenseman Andrej Sustr. The rookie defenseman, fresh out of the University of Nebraska-Omaha in the NCAA, parlayed a strong Lightning camp into a roster spot with the team. From there, he displayed poise and skill beyond his years. Sustr simply understands positioning, in all three zones, is a pinpoint breakout passer, and doesn't seem to panic under duress. His lack of first step speed was revealed to be less of an issue because of his condor-like wingspan and, if last season's playoffs with Syracuse are an indication, he has even more to give offensively. Sustr, who was used to playing 35-40 games a season with UNO, may well have been suffering from fatigue as he adjusted to the workload of a professional season. Once he finishes grinding out this campaign and has another offseason to train, he'll be better ready to log bigger minutes. When he does, you'll see a defenseman who breaks all stereotypes about tall, Eastern Europeans who play the position. He's Dan Boyle trapped in Zdeno Chara's body, and it'll be fun to see how that finally pans out in the NHL.
7.) RW Richard Panik, Syracuse (AHL) [4]
Despite earning a spot on Slovakia's Olympics roster, 2013-2014 has been a rough year for rookie Richard Panik. The talented forward looked lost with the Lightning after making the team out of camp en route to being dropped from a line with fellow rookies Ondrej Palat and Tyler Johnson and, eventually, routinely finding himself a healthy scratch. Put simply, after looking like a dominant player in the AHL playoffs last season, Panik has been a shadow of himself this season. He's been uncharacteristically weak on the puck and his defensive play has reverted to the form that led to him sliding to the second round in his draft season. The Lightning still have high hopes for Panik and his Marian Hossa-esque skill set, and they hope that increased ice time with the Crunch and the opportunity to perform for his homeland at the Olympics can help him to get refocused. After all, throughout his career, Panik has shown a propensity for playing his best hockey under the brightest lights, and the lights don't get much brighter than at the Olympics.
8.) RW/C Adam Erne, Quebec (QMJHL) [11]
American-born power forward Adam Erne made quite the splash in the preseason with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Erne had the rare distinction of scoring two goals, the shootout winner, and getting himself suspended all in the span of a single game. Erne was returned to the QMJHL after that performance and has done well, scoring at well over a point a game for the first time in his career. However, it hasn't been all roses and plaudits for Erne. He was embroiled in a controversy after a hit on fellow Lightning prospect Jonathan Drouin that led to Drouin suffering a mild concussion just before the U20 World Junior Championships. Erne went on to struggle mightily to find the scoresheet for Team USA at the tournament, all of which points toward a longer developmental timetable. Expect Erne to play another season of junior hockey next year before advancing to the professional ranks where his game, as a north-south power forward, should translate well.
9.) RW J.T. Brown, Tampa Bay (NHL) [12]
Things haven't gone exactly to plan for J.T. Brown, who signed with the Lightning a couple of seasons ago out of University of Minnesota-Duluth. But, in the end, what he's learned from the journey may help him extend his NHL career. After suffering an injury last season, Brown re-emerged in Syracuse in more of a checking line role, playing alongside veterans like Mike Angelidis. After starting this season with the Crunch, Brown got to ride shotgun with Kucherov and Namestnikov on the team's top line acting in a complimentary role using his speed and strength to be the first man in on the puck. With injuries mounting in Tampa Bay, Brown was recalled with Kucherov to the Lightning and he's played a hybrid of the two roles still playing with Kucherov and being centered by the likes of Nate Thompson. Jon Cooper has further added to Brown's portfolio by using him regularly on the penalty kill with Tampa Bay, helping to make J.T. one of the Lightning's most versatile pieces. Will that lead to longevity with the organization? Or, does Brown need to find himself a more neatly defined niche with the team moving forward? Time will tell.
10.) D Mark Barberio, Tampa Bay (NHL) [13]
There's no more wildly difficult a player to peg in the Lightning organization than defenseman Mark Barberio. As the AHL's top defenseman two seasons ago, Tampa Bay has invested a lot of hope that Barberio will develop along the lines of Pittsburgh's Kris Letang. In the offensive third, the comparison is apt. Barberio's offensive hockey sense is off the charts, showing an amazing propensity to get prime looks from the middle point and keep plays alive on the attack. It's the other two zones where Barberio's play is sometimes eminently cringe-worthy. His defensive positioning has not matured to the same level as his offensive game, and his lack of upper and lower body strength has led him to lose the vast majority of 50/50 puck battles he's been involved in. When you couple that with Barberio's propensity to panic and throw the puck away under duress, it's quite the witch’s brew. Barberio has managed to assemble an excellent plus-minus by a combination of excellent matchup management from Associate Coach Rick Bowness and an ability to move pucks quickly enough to avoid too many duress situations, but there are limits to how much ice time the Lightning can reasonably give Barberio so long as the holes in his game still exist. He'll have another season and a half to fill those holes, after which it will become clear whether Mark Barberio is the next Kris Letang or the next Andy Delmore. Things have been looking up recently.
11.) G Kristers Gudlevskis, Syracuse (AHL) [24]
The biggest mover of all in our Midterm Rankings is Latvian-born goaltender Kristers Gudlevskis. The late-round gem was drafted out of the Dinamo Riga organization in the KHL and signed by the Lightning, but with Cedrick Desjardins and Riku Helenius already under contract, they ended up placing him in Florida of the ECHL. His play with the Everblades was outstanding, posting two shutouts, a 1.83 GAA and a .925 sv% in 11 games. When a minor injury to Helenius opened the door for Gudlevskis, he proceeded to kick it down, replicating his strong play with Syracuse and eventually pushing Helenius out of his job and Desjardins onto the bench. Gudlevskis' game is similar to Vasilevskiy's and now that he's seized the starting job in Syracuse, Kristers might well be seen as the pathfinder for Vasilevskiy's development. The fact he's a legitimate NHL prospect in his own right only makes that arrangement all the sweeter.
12.) W/C Matthew Peca, Quinnipiac (ECAC) [14]
Continuing the tradition of dynamic, diminutive Lightning forwards like Martin St. Louis, Cory Conacher, and Tyler Johnson before him is late-round steal Matthew Peca of the Quinnipiac Bobcats. Selected out of Pembroke of the CCHL, the junior is one of the most dangerous players off the rush in the whole of the NCAA. Drawing more opposition attention after having exploded into the national conscience during last year's run to the National Championship game and pressed into more of a two-way role with his team after several key graduations, Peca's numbers are slightly down this season. But, Peca's game is still undeniable. He has outstanding hands, speed, and is a strong worker with leadership intangibles. Given the number of contracts the Lightning have on the books, they may choose to let Peca finish up his degree with Quinnipiac, but sooner or later he'll start his road to Tampa Bay.
13.) C Cedric Paquette, Syracuse (AHL) [19]
With Syracuse beset by recalls and injuries, opportunities opened up for several new players with the Crunch. Answering the call was former Blainville-Boisbriand centerman Cedric Paquette, the man we affectionately call, "Dump Truck." With Namestnikov out with a broken hand, Paquette performed admirably as the Crunch's first line center with over a half a point a game in his first pro regular season. Paquette has good hands in tight, good strength, and above all, nobody works harder. It's what helps him overcome his subpar skating and makes him a legitimate NHL prospect. Will he be a scoring liner in the NHL? Probably not. But, it's not a stretch to think Paquette can eventually assume a checking line role similar to current Lightning forward Nate Thompson once he reaches the NHL.
14.) LW Brian Hart, Harvard (ECAC) [16]
Matthew Peca isn't the only promising prospect the Lightning have out of the ECAC ranks. Sophomore Brian Hart out of Harvard, a second round pick, offers size, strength, and a heavy shot to Tampa Bay's inventory of young forwards. The big knock on Hart is his skating, and his numbers are down appreciably this year compared to his rookie campaign. However, there's time for Hart with two and a half more seasons in the NCAA left to play. If he can begin to play to his potential, the Lightning may have a Bill Guerin-type forward to add to the mix.
15.) LW Henri Ikonen, Kingston (OHL) [21]
Golden boy Henri Ikonen has had quite the year, going from undrafted overage prospect to drafted by the Lightning to being a member of Finland's winning team at the U20 World Junior Championships. Hard work is the recipe Ikonen has employed for success, to go along with good skating ability and decent hands. He surprised many by staying in the OHL this year rather than returning to play in the Finnish SM-liiga and the decision seems to have paid off with Ikonen already nearly matching his scoring output from a season ago in one-third fewer games. Look for him to get the J.T. Brown treatment in the Lightning organization starting next season as his versatility will allow him to fill a multitude of roles with the Syracuse Crunch.
16.) C Tanner Richard, Syracuse (OHL) [15]
Unlike Cedric Paquette, one of the real disappointments of the season thus far has been the inability of Tanner Richard to step up. The Swiss-born forward scored at over a point a game pace the past two seasons with Guelph in the OHL. With all the injuries and callups altering Syracuse's roster, there was ample opportunity for Richard to fill the void. But, to date, he simply hasn't shown the consistency to make a difference. Richard has good speed and skill, having drawn comparisons to Valtteri Filppula in his draft season. But, until Richard matures as a professional, he'll struggle to meet those lofty expectations. Vladislav Namestnikov had a similar slow adjustment to pro hockey. The second half of the season will be telling.
17.) G Adam Wilcox, Minnesota (BIG10) [18]
Sophomore netminder Adam Wilcox has followed up his outstanding freshman season with a campaign to remember. Wilcox has managed to bump his save percentage up 10 points en route to losing just two games in regulation all season to date. It's no exaggeration to say Wilcox is one of the best goaltenders in the fledgling Big 10 conference. With the emergence of Ben Bishop and Gudlevskis, and Vasilevskiy on the way, there's no need for the Lightning to rush Wilcox to the pros. He'll get two more seasons playing in one of the finest NCAA programs in the land before moving on to the professional ranks.
18.) D Dylan Blujus, North Bay (OHL) [20]
Dog's luck plagued Dylan Blujus at the start of his 2013-2014 campaign. The Team USA junior hopeful had to have minor knee surgery coming out of Lightning camp, which helped derail his bid to make that team and raise his profile. The good news is that, since regaining his health, the Battalion defenseman is showing modest improvement in his numbers in the OHL. That's probably enough to earn Blujus an NHL contract, given his size, mobility, and heavy righty shot. The Lightning simply don't have a lot of depth at the defenseman position, and Blujus does have the athleticism to be an NHL defenseman. Look for him to find his way to Syracuse next season.
19.) D Nikita Nesterov, Syracuse (AHL) [17]
Nikita Nesterov's rookie pro campaign with the Syracuse Crunch got off to a bang. The Russian-born blueliner racked up points in bunches early in the year on a nearly unstoppable power play unit with countrymen Kucherov and Namestnikov. However, when they left, Nesterov's numbers took a nosedive. There are things to like in Nesterov's game: he's a hard worker who isn't afraid to get his nose dirty and he has above average offensive instincts and ability to run a power play. Our concern is with Nesterov's lateral agility and lack of upper body strength. He can get outquicked by speedier forwards and overpowered by stronger ones. Time will tell if he overcomes those liabilities. In fact, we wouldn't be overly shocked if he occupies the same boat Mark Barberio currently occupies in 3-4 year's time if he hasn’t chosen to return home.
20.) D Luke Witkowski, Syracuse (AHL) [22]
Closing out the top-20 of the rankings is longtime Bolt Prospects mainstay, 23-year-old defenseman Luke Witkowski. The former Western Michigan Bronco has unsurprisingly settled into a stay-at-home defenseman's role in his first pro season with Syracuse of the AHL. He has good size, decent mobility, is willing to get his nose dirty as evidenced by the fact he's likely to top 100 penalty minutes this season, and he has great leadership intangibles. He might get lost in the shuffle with sexier prospects like Nesterov and Koekkoek, but if J.P. Cote is any indication, there's a place in the NHL for guys like Witkowski who know their role and play it in a consistent, understated fashion. The fact he can play the right side certainly doesn't hurt either.
21.) G Jaroslav Janus, Bratislava (RUS) [23]
23-year-old goaltender Jaroslav Janus' numbers have suffered this season behind a subpar Slovan Bratislava team in the KHL, but he remains a quality project. A season ago, behind a deeper Bratislava squad, he posted a sparkling 2.17 GAA and .928 sv%. This season, with former NHLers like Miroslav Satan largely absent from the roster the first half of the year, his GAA has ballooned to near 3 and his save percentage has languished below the magic .900 mark. Still, he's got elite athleticism and has proven he can play at a high level in both the AHL and KHL. He remains a decent option for the Lightning if they choose to bring him back to North America as added depth.
22.) D Jake Dotchin, Barrie (OHL) [Not ranked]
It's a contract year for defenseman Jake Dotchin, and the Barrie Colt has responded with career highs in goals, assists, points, and penalty minutes, along with a drastically improved plus-minus. That's called good timing, and it's put him in line to possibly get signed and placed with Syracuse next season. Dotchin's got good size and snarl and underrated offensive ability, but lasted to the sixth round in his draft season because of his funky skating stride. Lucky for him the Lightning have a quality skating coach and a deep wellspring of patience.
23.) D Artem Sergeev, Syracuse (AHL) [25]
It's been a quiet, underwhelming AHL rookie campaign for Artem Sergeev of Syracuse. Sergeev came out of Val-d'Or of the QMJHL with a deserved reputation as a mobile power play quarterback, but has yet to make much of a scoring dent in his rookie pro season. His best feature is certainly his skating and he has better size than countryman Nesterov. Again, it doesn't hurt that he is a righty shot like Witkowski and Dotchin, either. Look for him to take an expanded role as he gets more comfortable in the pro ranks. He has more to give.
24.) RW Joel Vermin, Bern (SUI) [28]
Winger Joel Vermin on Bern in the Swiss NLA played so well last season, with 13 goals and 35 points in 47 games, that he earned NHL draft selection by the Lightning and an NHL contract. Tampa Bay returned Vermin to the NLA this season to continue his development and the bottom dropped out. Vermin's scoring pace is less than half it was a season ago, sadly. Vermin fits the profile of several NLA-based players: he's speedy, plays a north-south oriented game, and has above average hands. Expect the Lightning to bring him over to Syracuse of the AHL next season.
25.) LW Danick Gauthier, Florida (ECHL) [30]
Holding down the final spot in the rankings is Danick Gauthier, a man who just can't seem to break through at the AHL level. Gauthier has shown decent ability to score in each of his first two pro campaigns splitting time between Florida and Syracuse, but he hasn't been able to show enough consistency in all three zones to stick with the Crunch, even when the team was ravaged by injuries and call-ups. He's got decent size and above average hands, but nothing about his game has wowed anybody enough to date. That's bad news and his time could be running out.
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della Q Edict Cotton Pouch (Style 118-2) - Tangled String - Purple
These cute and clever project bags keep your yarn contained and even labeled! The catchy phrases printed down the side allow you to organize your projects efficiently by type. Choose from: "Random Project", "Tangled String" or "Paws off". These drawstring bags are available in several fun colors! 11" h X 12" w. Cotton.
della Q has agreed to contribute a minimum of 5% of their gross profits from the sale of their Stitch Red product (Editct Cotton Pouch) to the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health in support of The Heart Truth® and women's heart health education and research
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My Coastal Garden
These are gardens I began from scratch about five years ago. After putting in a perennial garden around our patio, I began tackling the hill behind the house. It's still a work in progress (what garden isn't!) mostly because I'm waiting for many of my favorite plants to get big enough to divide. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!
Elsabeth, the blue flower in picture 3 is "Blue Hill" salvia, and the one in picture 12 is a campanula. Both of the flowers in pictures 15 and 26 are coreopsis. The one in 15 is called "Zagreb" and the paler yellow one in 26 is "Moonbeam."
Hallo, you have a nice garden.nCan you please tell me the name ofnblue flower in picture 3 and 12nYellow flower in picture 15nyellow flower in picture 26 right and left of the tall grassnThank youn
Lark 6 years ago
Hi Ellie, Thank you for walking through my gardens. It is so nice to have people that are interested in the same things you are. The dark daylilly is American Revolution, it is a favorite of mine. I never was interested in daylillies, but my Mom got me hooked. I don't like collecting any one plant, that can get you to going crazy and not having something blooming ALL THE TIME. My main objective was to have constant bloom in EVERY garden from April to October. Thank you for putting the names by a
Ellie, did you know that you can cut Ladies Mantle down to a couple of inches and that it will come back quickly and form a nice new clump. I heard this on one of the gardening shows. Sometimes the clumps start looking ratty and dry, so I tried it and in about 10 days it was forming nice new foliage.
Thank You Ellie for the nice comments on my yard. I have a lot of work to do on my gardens. I can't wait till spring so I can get started. Besides that I've had it with winter. LOL I love the way your beds are coming along.
Your work in progress looks beautiful. I love what your doing with the hill. thanks for sharing
Bill 6 years ago
Ellie, I found your site. Thanks for the tips. I like the peony. I had them in a yard when I was a kid. I did start a little curve away from patio, but as I see your photos I understand what you mean. I can't wait for this cold weather to leave Myrtle Beach, so I can start work on the garden.
Hi Ellie, I would probably terrace the hill with some natural looking stone. Your other gardens look very mature so this Spring I would do some major dividing. Maybe go on Craigs List in your area and see if there are some people that would swap plants with you. Your gardens are beautiful! Lucky you being in zone 6. Keep in touch and good luck with keeping that mulch in place. LOL
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NWOBRS Match Results – July 12, 2015
It was a gloomy, rainy, ugly day at the Black Swamp Rifle & Pistol Club, but the Northwest Ohio Bench Rest Shooters didn’t let that keep them from coming out for this months match. Six shooters participated in the 100-yard group match which consisted of five relays of shooting a 5-shot group for record.
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Guys I can't wait to show you how the ceiling in my camper has turned out!!!
I partnered with Milton & King on this project which was awesome because from the start I knew I wanted to wallpaper the ceiling of this camper. They have so many great options and I wanted this place to be a bit wild. The biggest surface area to do it on is the ceiling. Liz Kamarul's RV was an initial source of inspiration.
It wasn't my intention to do tropical like she did. At first I was thinking about something a little more geometric and subtle like the one on the left. Then one day on the way to school, my 4 year old daughter says, "Mommy, I think we should do palm trees on the ceiling in the camper." I don't even know if she knew I was doing something on the ceiling. I'm don't know where that came from, but I did have the Jungle Palm wallpaper on the right in the back of my mind and asked, "How about banana trees?" She screamed, "BANANAS!" which I took to mean "Hell yes." and so the decision was made. The wild factor in this camper multiplied by 100 thanks to my design assistant.
Then the doubt set in. I'm about to install banana wallpaper on a ceiling. In a camper. I've never installed real wallpaper, only peel and stick. And did I mention in a CAMPER. Also did I mention that I am alone in this renovation? I've been determined to do most of this camper reno myself bc honestly I need a long LONG break from contractors. But, anyway, I realized that I cannot in fact install wallpaper on a ceiling by myself. So, I enlisted the help of my husband. My husband geeks out as a system's engineer and programmer wallpapering is not in his list of repertoires. This should be interesting. At the time I wanted the wallpaper go up, he was preparing for a very important upcoming conference. I had to wait. I wanted the wallpaper to go up first thing after painting in case any goop dropped down from the ceiling or something of that nature. Why go and put new floors, cushions and kitchen stuff in if the ceiling was going to rain goop? You see how this is becoming dramatic?
Let me paint a picture for you about how this was to go down. The camper is parked at a storage lot. No water. No electricity. No one to install wallpaper for you. My daughter and her friend were also with us. Let me remind you they are 4. So, when the day came I was at anxiety threat level: MIDNIGHT.
Luckily, inside the camper we had two very long benches to prep everything on and I didn't quite care if I scored right through the paper to the bench. It would be covered with paint and a cushion eventually. Here are the materials we used including this glue from Home Depot. Believe it or not it is not that easy to find wallpaper materials these days even though wallpaper is all the rage.
So, we finally got started after weeks and weeks of self imposed stress. Would it be falling down everywhere? Would we be able to match up the seems? Would we kill each other? So many questions. And guess what....
IT WAS EASY.
The most difficult part about this process was thinking about it.
I mean why WHY did I let this get so built up in my head? All we did was paint the glue on the ceiling with a paint brush. Then we lifted up a sheet together and got it lined up. We didn't fight! I mean we aren't really fighters but you know when frustration is high, barking ensues. But, no need for that because this was EASY.
We worked in small sections so we didn't have to hold up a really long piece and try to work around too many obstacles at once. In the camper there are a ton of obstacles like curved walls, cabinetry, more cabinetry, appliances and doors all within a foot or inches of each other. So, small pieces it was.
We were even able to match up the pattern pretty well considering the non-straightness of....um everything. We layered up the paper in spots so that it matched and honestly you can see the layered areas but you can't. I mean who will be inspecting the ceiling except us at this very moment?
It easily could've taken us 3-4 hours to complete but we instead stopped after 2 hours because 4 year olds. We came back the next day and finished up within an hour or so. I think Dusty was probably getting sick of me saying "OMG OMG OMG I FREAKING LOVE THIS!" and "DUSTY, I'M SO HAPPY WE DID THIS AND WE DIDN'T WANT TO KILL EACH OTHER."
It really was so easy. I encourage anyone to give it a try. If you know how to work a paint brush and a have a buddy to help out, you'll golden. Check out Milton & King's full inventory of wallpaper! They have so many options!
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Inside the Presidential Innovation Fellows program: A Q&A with the White House
Faster and improved disaster response can save lives. A streamlined
buying process can save the government hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Better technology can give the public access to important data in minutes instead
of hours.
Over the past two years, 61 talented and diverse individuals from the private
sector teamed up with federal agencies to develop solutions like these to some of
the nation's toughest challenges.
After marked success in the first two rounds, the Presidential
Innovation Fellows program is now accepting
applications for Round 3 until April 7, 2014. Round 1 of the program launched in
August 2012 with five projects. Round 2 launched in June 2013 with 10 projects
and is currently ongoing.
Jennifer Pahlka, the deputy chief technology officer in the White House Office of
Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), helps oversee and run the Presidential
Innovation Fellows program along with others in OSTP and the General Services
Administration. In an exclusive interview with Federal News Radio, Pahlka explains
how the fellows program was born and what impact the projects are making.
Listen to Pahlka's full interview with Federal News Radio or read excerpts below.
Jennifer Pahlka: A Presidential Innovation Fellow is someone who wants to
serve his or
her country and has the
skills that we need to bring government along to be truly a 21st century
government. They come and partner
together with some amazing leaders and forward thinking folks in government to
work on projects that have
had a fantastic track record of success.
FNR: How did the idea for the program come up and why does it exist?
JP: My boss, Federal Chief Technology Officer Todd Park, really saw there
was an opportunity to
bring folks in who could look at problems in a bit of a different way and say,
"Let's solve this in months
instead of years." He saw folks doing this in other programs around the country,
and he saw the impact that
people could have when they came in for short periods of time.
FNR: A misconception out there is that the fellows program is similar to an
internship, or these fellows are just out of college — but that's not true.
Who are the fellows and where do they come from?
JP: They come from very diverse backgrounds. The youngest fellow has been
in his 20s and the
oldest in his 70s. They are an incredibly diverse bunch — men, women from
all over the country who
really just want to come to government for a year and make an enormous difference.
They generally have a fair amount of experience. They're also really coming to
this from the perspective of
what they've achieved in life, rather than the positions they've held. A fair
number of them come from what
Todd Park likes to call "metaphysical Silicon Valley," which doesn't mean they are
actually from Silicon Valley,
but that they are working in a way that is consistent with the very generative
kinds of platforms that have had
such an impact on the world in the past 20 years.
FNR: Do you have fellows coming from both the public and private sector?
JP: A larger number of fellows come from the private sector, but we
certainly do have a number of
them who have been in public service for some time.
FNR: Is there any opportunity for people living internationally to
participate in the fellows
program?
JP: We do accept applications, so as long as you're legally applicable to
work in the United States,
we'd love to have you work as a fellow.
(What is a Presidential Innovation Fellow? GSA's Lena Trudeau, who helps
oversee the program, and three fellows explain it in their own words. Interview
with Pahlka continues below video.)
FNR: You mentioned RFP-EZ as one of the great successes of this program.
Could you mention a
few other success stories of programs and fellows?
JP: The Blue Button Initiative is a way that Americans have secure,
electronic access to their own
health information. That was kicked off in the first round, and now it reaches
millions of Americans. It started
out as a project for veterans, for whom access to health information is so
critical. But now it reaches so many
more people and will be, I think, the standard in the United States pretty soon.
Following on the heels of that, the Green Button Initiative provides electric
utility customers with easy and
secure access to their energy usage. This helps people understand what they're
spending, and how they
might reduce their spending using third party apps. There's an enormous ecosystem
of companies and jobs
that are created when you release this data. People can do things with it that
help you change behavior and
change, really, the course of the country.
Another great example is a current project at the Food and Drug Administration.
The fellow there was able to
make an enormous amount of data about the adverse effects of drugs available in
digital format and available
through an API, such that you can actually look at this data now and see trends in
it in mere seconds rather
than months. The FDA is actually going to be able to use this data to much more
effectively save lives. This
is something that can be very, very hard to do, but the fellow, Sean Herron,
worked with his partners in the
FDA. Together they were able to get this done in so much less time, and it's
really going to have an impact on
people's lives.
FNR: Once the projects are completed, how do different agencies adopt and
begin to use them?
Are the projects targeted to one agency, many agencies, or do they directly impact
the public?
JP: Many of the projects do directly impact the public, and usually that's
after they've had their
impact within government. This is the wonderful thing for someone really wanting
to make an enormous
difference with their work, because they're working inside federal government,
where you can have that
impact. The projects that the fellows work on have a home. They have
sustainability because they're
developed in conjunction with the institution that will maintain them.
FNR: How is each round similar or different from one another? Do the rounds
build off of each
other?
JP: They absolutely do build off of each other. One of the points of
consistency you'll see is in one
of the three categories of fellows for Round 3, which is data
innovation. That is
building off two years of
successful outcomes with open data fellows who work to make data available and the
MyData
Initiative, like the Green Button, Blue Button and Gold Button Initiative.
Each project is different and each fellow has a different experience. But there
is also a lot in common across
the fellows experience and around the kinds of things that fellows tend to do in
these programs.
From left to right: Sarah Allen, Diego Mayer-Cantu, and Jason Shen - the three fellows working on open data initiatives at the Smithsonian Institution. Click the picture above to view a photo gallery of all of the Round 2 fellows.
We have some fellows working with the Smithsonian Institution this year. One of
the things they were able to
do was have an amazing hackathon using the release of some of the data from one of
the really beautiful
collections in the Smithsonian. And people came together and built beautiful apps
with this data that allow
you to see the collection in gorgeous digital format.
This is something that many fellows do — they make the data open and then
they bring the community
in to make more out of it than just the government could or just the fellows
program could. That's just one
example of the way the fellows use the same kinds of tactics and same kinds of
outreach mechanisms.
FNR: You recently announced applications are open for Round 3 of the fellows
program.
How does the
application and selection process work?
JP: The application process is open to anybody who feels
drawn to this kind of work
and is very excited about the chance to have a great impact and to serve our
country. We are accepting
applications right now through April 7. You can see our information about all of
the projects at
WhiteHouse.gov/InnovationFellows. And I really, really
encourage anybody who's ever
thought about serving
our country in this particular way to check it out and fill out an
application.
It's certainly a big crew of
people who want to help. We
have a wonderful panel of subject matter experts who will help select Round 3
along with agency partners. We
always meet such amazing people through it.
FNR: Are there plans to continue the program into Round 4?
JP: I certainly hope that we continue this program for many, many years to
come.
|
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From the Pages of Labor History
For May Day, Remembering Vincent St. John
by Bob Mattingly
Not far from where I live is a cemetery that I visit on May Day. I go
there to place some flowers, red of course, alongside the marker that identifies
a grave as the final resting place of Vincent St. John (1876–1929), once a General Secretary of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), a rugged union
whose militant influence still lingers in the American labor movement, awaiting
its time to flare up once more, though certainly in a new form.
It was only a few years ago that I read that some “Bay Area labor
history buffs” recently had put the gravestone in place. For most of my life
then, the “Saint”, as he was called when he headed the revolutionary
industrial union, had occupied an unmarked grave beneath the sod of a slightly
sloping rise in a pleasantly landscaped graveyard, not far from Oakland’s busy
streets.
Vincent St. John isn’t remembered as often as Mother Jones, Big Bill
Haywood, Eugene V. Debs, and Lucy Parsons, widow of one of the Haymarket
victims, but they all knew each other on a first name basis and shared a
profound vision of humankind’s eventual liberation from ignorance, poverty,
and war. But none of them believed that progress could be won without a fight.
Not yet thirty years old, St. John was elected president of a Western
Federation of Miners (WFM) local union and led bitter strikes in Colorado. In
1905, St. John help to organize the IWW and the next year was elected to
represent the WFM on the IWW’s general executive board. During his years as
General Secretary of the IWW (1909–1915), the organization made front-page news
as its organizers led some hugely popular strikes (popular with workers, that
is) such as the Lawrence, Massachusetts, strike of 1912 supported by nearly
30,000 textile workers.
It’s been said that the IWW restored Americans’ First Amendment
rights to assemble peacefully and address public gatherings as it fought time
and again against free speech restrictions. St. John was dead by the time of the
great 1930s industrial organizing victories, but it was the Wobblies (as IWW
members were called) who pioneered many of the tactics that were so important in
the 1930s organizing struggles, such as sit-in strikes and roving pickets.
I read that the Saint’s family was too poor to pay for a headstone.
Still, it’s not clear why the Saint’s grave remained unmarked for so long,
especially in a region with a distinct radical labor past. In 1946, at least
100,000 workers hit the bricks in a general strike provoked by attempted union
busting. Earlier, in 1934, there was the “Big Strike” of San Francisco’s
longshore workers headed by Harry Bridges. And, of course, Oakland is the
hometown of Jack London, the famed author of The Iron Heel, and my
favorite, The Apostate.
I’ve joked to myself that perhaps the Bay Area’s radicals took too
literally the dictum, “Don’t mourn, organize!’ That battle cry, often
repeated still today, was given the world’s workers by one of the Saint’s
fellow Wobblies, Joe Hill, who in 1915 was legally murdered by a Utah firing
squad. Hill’s ashes were divided into small packets and sent to many countries
where they were scattered by fellow workers on May Day, 1916.
Truth to tell, I wouldn’t have given the press account about St.
John’s marker more than a passing notice, if years before I hadn’t read a
short commentary on the IWW by James P. Cannon, a one-time Wobbly himself, but
mostly remembered as a founder of the Communist Party in the U.S., a leading
founder of American Trotskyism, and a Smith Act victim who, as did many Wobblies
before and after him, paid the price for his dedication to the workers’
movement in a federal prison.
What I remember about Cannon’s remarks was his affectionate appraisal
of St. John, unusually personal I thought. Cannon was a native of Kansas, raised
in a family that backed the Knights of Labor, then the Populists, and finally
the Socialists. So it was that on the seemingly boundless American prairie the
youthful Cannon found inspiring aims and goals that lasted him a lifetime.
Cannon not only was imbued with socialist fervor, he also came by a lifetime
admiration and respect for working class fighters. I don’t remember where I
read it, but I recall Cannon’s admiration for a bunch of IWW loggers. They
were Wobblies for sure, and most of them had seen the inside of jail cells, he
said. Naturally then, they were Cannon’s kind of people — on both counts.
Cannon’s respect and admiration for the Saint was well developed before
St. John’s arrest during the World War I roundup of radicalized workers and
activists by the administration of the Democratic Party’s Woodrow Wilson, who
proclaimed that “the world must be made safe for Democracy,” even as cell
doors closed behind his working class political opponents. St. John was sent to
Leavenworth for several years, obviously a frame-up, since he had left the IWW
two years before and was trying his hand at mining and prospecting in Arizona
and New Mexico.
Eventually, he wound up in San Francisco, poor in health and in the
pocket. If he died in San Francisco, it’s not clear why he was buried in an
unmarked grave in Oakland, then a ferry ride away. Nor is it clear why he
wasn’t buried in a pauper’s plot, but was buried in a cemetery that
reportedly “is famous as the final resting place of millionaires like Charles
Crocker, Henry J. Kaiser, and ‘Borax’ Smith.” What the press account left
out is more interesting, by far. The cemetery land that once had an unobstructed
view of the bay was part of a Mexican Land Grant and earlier, for 2000 years,
had been the homeland of tribes that feasted on the bay’s shellfish, and
bested the bay’s bone-chilling fogs inside Temescals, or sweat lodges.
As I say, on May Day I’ll visit the Saint’s grave.
Further Reading:
“IWW: The Great Anticipation,” by James P. Cannon, in First
Ten Years of American Communism (New York: Pathfinder, 1973), pp. 277–310.
We Shall Be All: A History of the Industrial
Workers of the World by Melvyn Dubofsky (New York: Quadrangle, 1969). (See
esp. pp. 142–144 on St. John’s life.)
|
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News Hits
The Milwuakee Park Lofts are among a dozen Detroit rental buildings where federal investigators are looking into possible violations of the Fair Housing Act.
Controversial Detroit landlord Dennis Kefallinos is in hot water again as federal investigators look into whether families with children were discriminated from renting units at a dozen of his residential properties.
The same Kefallinos-owned properties are, separately, the subject of an ongoing 2014 class action suit on behalf of tenants who say they were rented units in substandard condition. A Freedom of Information Act cited in that legal filing showed nearly all of the loft-style properties weren’t up to code and did not have city-issued certificates of occupancy at the time suit was filed. Kefallinos made headlines last winter when city officials attempted to shut down his Russell Industrial Center complex because of hazardous conditions at the site.
The federal housing discrimination investigation comes as a black mother sues Kefallinos and his Boydell Development Company for alleged race- and family status-based discrimination. According to the complaint, filed last year, Dar'sha Hardy was trying to rent a unit at the River Park Lofts when an agent told her there was a "no kids in this building policy," and that her 6-year-old son was a "little bit too young." As a result, Hardy alleges she lost her job downtown because she couldn’t find nearby housing.
Two testers deployed by the nonprofit Fair Housing Center of Metropolitan Detroit to follow up on an initial report by Hardy were also told kids couldn’t live at the building, the complaint says. The group was also separately contacted by a single white mother who said she was told, more specifically, that it was kids under the age of 6 who weren’t allowed to live at River Park.
Children under the age of 6 are at the highest risk for lead exposure and related health problems. Many of Detroit’s older buildings have been painted with lead-based paint, and passing a lead check is required for a building to obtain a certificate of occupancy.
Boydell General Manager Chris Mihailovich declined to comment on the case and federal investigation but said, “It is not true that we deny rent to families, no.”
Kefallinos’ lawyer, Ben Goneck, said he was unaware of the housing discrimination investigation. While the probe looks at an issue similar to the one brought by would-be River Park Lofts tenant Hardy, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said the investigation is separate.
A tenant at the Kefallinos-owned Lafayette Lofts, who asked to remain anonymous, said she recalled having seen three child under 6 in the building, but noted that the loft building is comprised of mostly one-bedroom units.
In addition to his loft buildings, Kefallinos owns dozens of non-residential properties in Detroit and Hamtramck, many of which are vacant. In August, Crain’s reported he had marketed most of those properties for sale amid ongoing criticism over delayed renovations or improvements. One of the properties, the Harvard Square Centre building on Broadway in downtown Detroit, was recently scooped up by Dan Gilbert.
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BRASILIA,
August
12,
2004
(LifeSiteNews.com)
-
The
Brazilian
government
is
planning
to
distribute
three
billion
free
condoms
per
year
in
an
effort
to
stem
the
country's
skyrocketing
HIV
infection
rate.
Experts
have
warned
that
condoms
are
in
no
way
a
reliable
method
for
preventing
the
spread
of
HIV.
The
availability
of
condoms
statistically
increases
promiscuity
and
risk
of
contracting
HIV
according
to
medical
experts
who
presented
their
findings
on
the
HIV
Pandemic
in
Washington,
DC
in
January.
Dr.
Norman
Hearst
of
the
University
of
California
-
San
Francisco,
for
example,
reported
on
statistics
from
Kenya,
Botswana,
and
other
countries,
which
showed
an
increasingly
alarming
pattern
of
increased
condom
sale
correlation
with
rising
HIV
prevalence
by
year.
Unfortunately,
Hearst
stated,
we
are
"raising
a
generation
of
young
people
in
Africa
that
believe
that
condoms
will
prevent
HIV."
This
is
concerning
because
condoms
are
not
100%
effective,
even
when
used
properly.
According
to
Hearst,
"the
most
recent
Met-analysis
came
up
with
80%,
but
even
if
it
is
90%,
over
time
it's
the
question
of
when,
not
if."
Also,
Edward
C.
Green,
a
senior
research
scientist
at
the
Harvard
School
of
Public
Health,
told
the
Boston
Globe
that
the
United
Nations
finding
of
a
one
in
ten
failure
rate
of
condoms
protection
from
AIDS
is
"not
good
enough
for
a
fatal
disease.
The
way
condoms
are
marketed
in
Africa
and
other
developing
parts
of
the
world
is
as
if
they
were
100
percent
safe,"
he
warned.
"Condoms
have
brand
names
like
Shield
and
Protector
that
gives
the
impression
that
they
are
100
percent
safe."
Authorities
from
Brazil's
Roman
Catholic
Church
--
in
the
world's
most
Catholic
country
--
warn
that
free
condoms
will
only
encourage
greater
levels
of
promiscuity.
Brazil
has
600,000
suspected
and
200,000
known
HIV-infected
individuals.
Three
billion
condoms
works
out
to
35
condoms
for
each
of
the
85
million
citizens
per
year.
|
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Of course, Google Earth allows you to make this sort of mash-up yourself by creating an image overlay. As easy as that is to do, if you’re working with images that were shot at any sort of an oblique angle (rather than orthophotos – shot directly overhead) you’ll quickly find that it’s impossible to get every feature to register (line up properly) if you’re working in an area with any significant topographic relief. To illustrate this, check out the Google Earth placemark/overlays of the Goosenecks region that I made with the high res image Doc references. Because the high res image is not exactly orthogonal, I was unable to make it register perfectly, so I made two overlays – one that attempts to register the river (more satisfying when using the tilt function in Google Earth) and one the attempts to register the plateau (more satisfying for overhead satellite/map views where the roads register better). I threw in the placemark for the Goosenecks cubic QTVR above, for good measure.
Makes you really appreciate the spectacular job the Google Earth folks did to get the high resolution imagery to register properly in the Grand Canyon.
|
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Welcome to the Nintendo Fan Forum community, the forum where Nintendo fans gather. Your source for the latest and greatest Nintendo news, strategies, discussions and resources. Join many other Nintendo like-minded members from around the world to chat about your interests in our community.
You are currently viewing the forums as a guest user, which limits your access to certain content, contests, downloads, and more. By joining our free community, you will be able to respond in discussions/articles, contact members privately (PM), share Wii friend codes participate in contests and tournaments, play video games in the Arcade, and have access to many other features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free, so what are you waiting for join our community today!
Jay Baruchel. He's my favourite young actor in general. I'm pretty sure he's not been involved in any animé though... I don't speak Japanese, so I either watch them in German or just read the subtitles. Either way they could completely lack personality and I still wouldn't notice, so meh.
|
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EARTHJOY ADVENTURES TREE CLIMBING
Different playgrounds with different species of trees, tree climbing classes offered, children must be at least 4 years old, 18 and under accompanied by parent or guardian, most climbs rated moderate to strenuous
AMENITIES
Rentals Available
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Northern Kentucky's first recreational tree climbing park invites visitors to rejuvenate themselves and their purpose. A truly unique adventure opportunity, Earthjoy Adventure Tree Climbing has been providing outdoor enthusiasts and nature lovers a chance to explore some of Kentucky's most precious resources up close and personal. Safety is issue number one and only the best equipment is used, and all instructors are certified to ensure that everyone has the best time possible. There are numerous species of trees for visitors to climb, and it is an activity that can be enjoyed by people of all ages. Perfect for a group trip, contact Earthjoy Adventures Tree Climbing Today to find out more and schedule your adventure.
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Kodak DCS 720x SLR Review
By
Movable Type Admin
The Kodak Professional DCS 720x camera stores its raw images in a proprietary, lossless
compressed format that averages about 2.5MB depending on the image content.
These raw .DCR files contain an embedded JPEG thumbnail image that is displayed on the
camera's LCD when reviewing images. Once these raw files have been transferred to the
host computer they must be processed with the Photo Desk software.
The DCS 720x can also process the image data in-camera and generate finished JPEGs.
Because this image data is raw, you can select and apply many enhancements
or modifications to the images before saving them in a more portable format.
Photo Desk can open a directory folder of images as a
"contact sheet" with each image shown as a large thumbnail. Above the thumbnail
are icons that represent the color balance, white balance, image "look" (product,
portrait, etc) and exposure compensation at the time of capture.
These are the available Image Tools - You click and select
a thumbnail image and then apply these options as desired on the
image. You then double-click the thumbnail to display a full screen version of the
image with the corrections applied. You can change any option desired and it will be
re-processed and displayed on the enlarged image.
As mentioned above, the raw image data can be manipulated post-capture with the
Photo Desk software. Never again worry about an entire shoot being ruined
because the white balance was incorrectly set. You can vary
the exposure compensation +/- 2.0EV, select RGB or grayscale mode, rotate portrait
mode shots, pick the desired white balance or use the one-click eyedropper, apply
noise reduction (low, medium or moire) and the amount of sharpening necessary to
overcome the softness caused by the IR or AA filter.
The embedded exposure information can be displayed whenever you want to reference
the original settings used to capture an image.
The histogram can be used to see the overall distribution of luminance, you can
toggle the Red, Green and Blue channels on and off as desired.
When you have modified your image to your satisfaction it can be saved back to the
lossless compressed and proprietary Kodak DCR format or you can use the "Save As" option
and save the image as a TIFF or JPEG format image. Shown above are
the TIFF save options, the JPEG options are below.
The following text is courtesy of Rob Galbraith, be sure to read his entire
Kodak DCS 760 review, it's from the pro photojournalist's point of view.
DCS Photo Desk, released last December, is the first in a suite of free and
extra-cost standalone Mac/Windows applications designed to replace and
ultimately surpass the functionality of the Import plug-in/TWAIN driver.
Kodak promises that by year's end, their strategy for the DCS 760 will be
more fully realized; for the next several months, however, DCS Photo Desk
will be the only Kodak application to convert RAW .DCR files from the DCS
760 into finished JPEGs or TIFFs.
DCS Photo Desk
Available now, the application in its current form is a
serviceable first crack at a standalone RAW file browser. It's strengths are
in two areas: the speed with which it processes out to JPEG or TIFF the
DCS 760's hefty .DCR files, and the simple but effective control it offers
over the colour and brightness adjustments made during that processing.
In fact, DCS Photo Desk's software exposure compensation function works
even better with the DCS 760 than with other Kodak digital SLR's, thanks
to some tweaks to the extreme compensation settings. In testing, I was
able to fully recover ISO 80 daylight images overexposed 2 stops. The
same extreme test with a DCS 520 or 620x at their lowest ISO, for
example, results in a strong colour shift in highlights.
In short, Kodak software remains the best I've used at converting RAW
data to finished files in an efficient and quality-focused manner. It also
includes keyboard shortcuts for numerous functions, and uses a clever
scheme of icons across the top of image thumbnails to indicate the
processing parameters (white balance, noise reduction, etc.) that have
been stored within that file.
But it lacks keyboard shortcuts for image zooming (out of necessity, I
added my own using OneClick for Mac), offers no colour management
support, file renaming of .DCR files isn't possible without copying them
elsewhere and, most egregiously, it offers only minimal integration with
Photoshop. And finally, screen real estate would be better managed if the
Info palette could be shrunk in a manner similar to the Tools palette.
So, in it's current form it does enable work to get done, and even the beta
version used to prep DCS 760 photos for this article has been stable. But it
has some distance to go before it surpasses the ease of use of even the
v5.9.3 driver, let alone 3rd party applications like Photo Mechanic 2 Pro.
Kodak plans to begin bridging that distance over the course of this year
through "feature creep," the steady addition of new capabilities to DCS
Photo Desk. Improvements are said to include better integration with
Photoshop, enabling photos to be opened directly into Adobe's pro image
editor without having to save them out of DCS Photo Desk first, the
inclusion of a profile picker interface that will enable the selection of
different film emulation types, or Looks in Kodak-speak, as well as the
ability to perform pedestrian tasks like file renaming on a window of
thumbnails. Updates to the program are expected to be free downloads
from Kodak's web site. DCS Photo Desk 1.0 is available on the Web as I
write this; v1.1 will be available for download soon, but the primary change
will be the addition of DCS 760 support, not new features.
DCS Camera Manager
A new application designed to capture or copy images from the DCS 7xx (and other
FireWire-capable DCS cameras) and set various camera properties. DCS Camera Manager
brings much-needed automatic image transfer from camera to computer, and it does so at
just over 5MB/second to my antique Mac G3/400, courtesy of the DCS 7xx's new FireWire
controller hardware. It integrates nicely with DCS Photo Desk, which can be set up to
automatically monitor a folder for arriving photos and immediately display their
thumbnails.
DCS Camera Manager should prove to be a solid, reliable utility for moving photos out of
the camera quickly, even while the photographer continues to shoot.
Visitors of Steves can visit the stores below for real-time pricing and availability. You can also find hot, soon to expire online offers on a variety of cameras and accessories at our very own Camera Deals page.
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ARK has an immediate need for the following building materials in order to finish construction on flight cages to house our native birds of prey. Please consider sponsoring the items listed below, or, you can call our hotline to drop off an item listed below. It is because of the generosity of supporters like you that we are able to carte for the sick, injured, and orphaned animals in our care!
|
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I'm planning a backpacking trip from Central America down to South America. Does anyone have a recommended way of getting around the Darién Gap? I read that you can fly, or you can take a boat but the information seems extremely limited. How much does it cost? Can I book alternative routes ahead of time?
Which to me look simply stunning! I'd seen several of their pictures, and if I wasn't hopping across to Florida for the shuttle launch (which didn't happen, sigh) I'd have done this too - it sounds like the perfect stress-free break and fun way to get around 'the Gap'.
Several people already mentioned the sail boat option, but as none of them has done it themselves, I will add my experience from May 2009:
As said elsewhere the hostels in Panama city act as intermediaries between travelers and the boats. They have a list of boats leaving on certain dates with prices which ranging from 250 to 350 US dollars.
While some of the boats seem to do the trip from San Blas to Cartagena (usually five days) in Colombia all the time and you can find out about them online, others (like mine) didn’t bring up any results on Google. So you never know what you get.
There are bigger boats for up to 30 passengers, they have a proper crew and you are just a passenger.
In my case we had a single Australian boat owner and a beautiful mid 1960s yacht. We were six passenger turned crew members as we had to do all kinds of work on the boat. From cooking and cleaning to setting sails and navigating, this added to the experience though and we all loved it. If you don’t want to do any work, make sure you take a bigger boat and check in advance. The hostels can answer your questions by talking to the boat owners.
The hostel in Panama city usually organises transport to the East coast in 4 wheel drives and also take a good cut of your full price. We left at 5 in the morning in Panama city and the last part of the drive was on muddy roads through the jungle. We then transferred to a river boat for an hour and then onto another boat bringing us to one of the San Blas islands where you get on your sail boat.
As with any tour, whether you really enjoy it depends a lot of your fellow travelers, so until you have a group already, you never know what you get.
You usually spend the first three days cruising around the small islands. Some have little villages on them which you can visit for shopping and you also get your Panama exit stamp at some immigration hut. However we spent more time snorkeling and swimming to some uninhabited islands including some tiny ones with a single palm tree.
Photo credit: Peter Hahndorf
Local people come alongside the boat to offer freshly caught fish and other food. You can then have a barbecue on an island. This is all pretty close to paradise.
During the last two days you are actually getting out to the open sea to cross over to Colombia. Cartagena is a big city but the old town is very beautiful.
Even if it may actually be more expensive than a flight, I strongly recommend the sailing trip if you have enough time. It was such a nice break from using buses all the time.
I would say both San Blas and Cartagena are worth visiting on their own anyways, so why not connect the two with a nice cruise?
The boats also sail back from Cartagena to San Blas, so this works in both directions.
When I was in Panama City about 4 or 5 years ago all the hostels had ads posted by private people, sometimes families, that sailed back and forth in their yachts and wanted travellers to come along to help with costs. There was a waiting list for each yacht.
At the time the price to sail was pretty much the same as a flight which was in the region of $300 USD.
Some people insist that you can cross easily on foot if you stick to the Caribbean coast, but all of the printed travel guides warn at length against even this option, and some of them go into some detail about why it's a bad idea.
I've heard several reports that the Darien Gap is quite dangerous due to drug trafficking. Personally, I would fly although I understand it's possible to cross by hopping on small boats on the Caribbean side. One of the Lonely Planet books (sorry I forgot which one) has more details, but they also don't recommend it.
It's not only the drug trafficking. There are also two separate guerilla groups, the FARC and the ELN. Even the indigenous villages in the jungle may not be friendly since the guerilla groups punished them severely for helping perceived enemies. Also it is not unusual for your hired guides to disappear. There is a very good episode of the reality travel show "Banged Up Abroad" aka "Locked Up Abroad" with a reenactment of one group's misadventure trying to cross the Darien.
–
hippietrailJun 24 '11 at 0:44
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Main menu
Category Archives: getting a job
If you’re a college senior and are nearing the time when you’re going to walk across the stage, you’re probably filled with a lot of excitement. And maybe even some panic, especially if you don’t have your next step lined up.
According to the Accenture Strategy 2016 U.S. College Graduate Employment study, four out of five graduates thought about how many jobs were available in the industry they were considering before choosing their major. But even with that foresight, only 21% of the class of 2016 had accepted a job before graduating.
So if you’re about ready to throw your cap in the air and don’t have your first job lined up yet, here are 50 things you can do to help make that happen.
1. Remember, It’s Your First Job
Yes, you have the education, but now you need real-world experience. The first job you get right out of school probably won’t be your dream job, so adjust your view and think of it as another step in getting you there.
2. Start With an Internship
It may seem like something you stop doing after graduation, but having an internship means you’ll “have something on [your] resume, learn some real-world work skills and possibly have another reference for [your] ongoing job hunt,” Dr. Crystal I. Lee, a licensed psychologist and owner of LA Concierge Psychologist, said. And this role could ultimately land you a full-time, permanent position.
3. Fill in the Gaps
Take a look at your industry and see what skills you may need that you didn’t gain in your formal education. “There are lots of relatively short programs, many of them at universities themselves, to teach these kind of ‘last-mile’ skills,” Andrew Overby of Yonderwork, an international community experience for remote workers, said. “It can only help.”
Free Credit Consultation - Call 844-346-3296
4. Expand Your Network
“Go out there and get coffee meetings with people you respect and look up to,” said Phi Pham, co-founder of Building Beats, an education startup in New York City. “Find a way to provide value to them and the dividends will pay off in job connections.”
5. Volunteer
“Reach out to a local nonprofit and see how you can put your skills to work [during] your job search,” Pham said. Plus, the people you meet when doing this can build up your network.
6. Start a Side Project
Having something you’re doing while you’re looking for full-time work “shows that you spend your time learning and figuring out how to make something meaningful for the world,” Pham said.
7. Adjust Your View
Try not to limit your applications based on pre-conceived notions about the working world. “You may think you want to work for a large corporation, bu find yourself interning or working for a small business and you feel satisfaction in knowing you are part of a team and making a valuable contribution,” Candace Dennig, director of student services at the Art Institute of Washington, said.
8. Ask for Advice
“Talk to instructors, friends and fellow students and ask for advice — are there any companies that they suggest reaching out to in hopes of securing employment?” Dennig said.
9. Take a Look at Your Credit Reports
It may seem strange, but knowing what’s showing up on your credit reports may be insightful. After all, many employers review a version of these reports as part of the vetting process. You can see a free snapshot of your credit reports on Credit.com.
10. Think About Relocating
“You sometimes do need to be living in the city in which you want to work before getting a job because it makes it easier for you to get in for interviews on short notice and network in the community,” Erin Lowry, millennial finance expert and author, said. Not sure which city may be the place to go? Check out this list of the best (and worst) cities for new graduates seeking work.
11. Visit Your Childhood Bedroom …
Going home to stay with your parents may not be feasible for everyone, but if it’s an option, it could save you some rent money until you land a job. See if your parents will offer you a discount on rent in exchange for doing work around the house. This will offer you some flexibility in terms of not having to worry about breaking a lease if you get a job out of town, plus you won’t be racking up as many bills while you look for work.
12. … But Don’t Get Too Comfortable
Yes, there are many perks that can come with staying with your parents, but don’t let that put you in a rut. Use this time to your advantage — put money in savings for all the things you’ll need when a job comes your way. This includes things like paying rent, student loans and all your other bills.
13. Set Aside Time to Apply
From finals to social events, your schedule is probably pretty packed. But it’s important to set aside blocks of time to research jobs and apply for the ones that fit your skillset. This will help make sure you aren’t rushing and making mistakes on the applications.
14. Polish Your Resume …
You may not have a robust resume, but padding it won’t help get your foot in the door. Marc Cenedella, the founder and CEO of Ladders, a career site, offers these tips: “Keep to a one-page resume, remove references to high school and focus on highlighting your education, leadership skills and accolades achieved while in college.”
15. … & Then Have a Professional Review It
Once you feel you have your resume in a good place, it’s time to get a second opinion. “Having all your documents updated and formatted professionally is key when you go to networking events or start applying to positions,” said Valerie Streif, senior adviser with The Mentat, a San Francisco-based career service.
16. Customize Your Resume to the Role
Once you have a basic template for your resume, consider fine tuning it to each application. Sure, it may take a little more time but this way you can highlight to each employer what makes you right for that particular role. (And make sure you’re avoiding these big resume mistakes.)
17. Show You Can Do More Than One Thing
If you’re looking to join a startup, they’re likely looking for people who can take on more than one role. Show them they’ll be getting a jack of all trades (or at least someone with multiple skills) when hiring you.
18. Don’t Forget About the Cover Letter
Yes, that resume is important but so is your cover letter. This is the chance you have to say things about yourself your resume doesn’t. Make sure what you write is clear, targeted to the job and proofread for spelling errors and grammar mistakes.
19. Visit Your Career Center
Most colleges and universities offer career services. They may not have all the answers, but they have insights and may even have a listing of jobs, internships, freelance work and other opportunities.
20. Attend Career Fairs
“It can be easy to delete emails with notifications of upcoming job fairs on campus and instead go to the bars or spend time with their college friends — but making the effort to actually go to these events can bring incredible opportunities,” Streif said.
21. Attend Conferences
This is a great way to network with professionals in your given industry. Many of these are free or may offer a discounted rate for students.
22. Join a Professional Association
Do some research and find a professional organization in your industry that you find interesting. Participate in their meetings and other events and build that network.
23. Get Business Cards
You likely won’t always have a resume on hand and you never know who you may meet. Include contact information and a link to your website or portfolio on your cards.
24. Find a Mentor
Find someone you admire and who has a similar career to one you’d like and pick their brain. They can give you insights into what you may need to do and think about as you search for your first post-grad job.
25. Meet With Alumni
Your alumni network may be a good place to start when searching for a mentor. But beyond that, there’s partial truth when people say, “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know” and you already have a tie with this group of people. They may even be able to open some doors for you. Check with your school to see if they have alumni events or a database of alumni you can talk with.
26. Ask Younger Students
It may seem like it’s backwards to ask students younger than you about jobs, but they may know about companies you haven’t even heard of yet. Ask around and see where they’re interning or working for the summer for more ideas of where to apply. And maybe see if they can pass along your resume if you find an opportunity you’re interested in.
28. Get a Professional Email
If you don’t already have one, it’s time to get an email address you can use specifically for professional reasons.
29. Create Your Website
A website with your resume and examples of your work can act like a digital portfolio. Plus, if you start it now, you can build on it as you advance in your career. If you already have one, make sure it’s up to date with your graduation date.
30. Branch Out on Application Methods
“Taking many different approaches to the job hunt is the best way to ensure quick success,” Streif said.
31. Contact a Recruiting Firm
These agencies can help get you placed in an entry-level position, some of which don’t have public listings online.
32. See What Others Did
Take a look at people who are a step or two ahead of you in your industry and see what they’ve done to get ideas for where your path could start. Browse their websites or LinkedIn profiles to get started.
33. Pick Up a Book
Odds are, leaders in your industry have written a book about how they got to be where they are today. Reading these books may not land you a job, but they could give you ideas. And, if nothing else, they can give you some talking points for any interviews you go on.
34. Post Your Resume Online
While you’re out there searching for jobs, know that employers are searching for candidates. Many job boards allow you to post your resume for potential employers to review and doing this may be to your advantage.
35. Go Where Others Won’t
Maybe you’re dreaming of working in a big city but so are countless other people. Starting in a smaller market may increase your chances so don’t cut these locales off your list.
36. Take Initiative
Is there a company you really like but no job openings that you qualify for? Take some initiative and call their recruiter and HR department and pitch them on hiring you. The answer may still be no, but the opportunity won’t be there if you don’t at least try. (Also, see point two — perhaps there’s an internship available to help you get your foot in the door.)
37. Remember: Odds Are in Numbers
You probably didn’t apply to one college so why apply to just one job? According to Adecco, an online staffing agency, recent graduates apply to an average of 12 jobs before getting offered their first job.
38. Think About What’s Important to You
Yes, you want a paycheck and benefits. Yes, you want to build up your resume. But there are other things involved in a job, so think about what you want. Perhaps a place you can advance or a job with a flexible schedule is important to you? Whatever it is, make note of these things so you can include them in your search (and ask about them in interviews).
39. Find a Way to Stand Out
Whether that’s bringing a hard copy of your portfolio or showing your design skills on your resume, whatever you can do to make yourself a bit different from the rest of the applicants, do it. (Just don’t go overboard. You don’t want to end up using tactics that get your application noticed for the wrong reasons..)
40. Try Your Hand at Freelancing
“Getting a freelance job could supplement your income and allow you to take a lower wage job to get your feet in the door,” said Linda Murray Bullard, a business strategist at LSMB Business Solutions LLC. Check out these 15 best companies for freelancers this year.
41. Start as a Temp
Temporary agencies may be a good way to break into your chosen industry, offering you some income while you wait for a full-time job. Some of these jobs might have the potential to turn into a permanent role.
42. Consider Teaching Opportunities
Irnande Altema, founder of FirstGenRise, suggests graduates “look into their public school systems and check the requirements to become a substitute teacher in middle or high school. … Also, another option is working for a summer camp where you are teaching a subject like science, math or history.”
43. Research the Company …
Once you get a face-to-face interview, it’s important to know details about the company and what they do. It will help you make a good impression.
44. … & Maybe Even the Interviewer
Whether you read their bio on the company website or read over their LinkedIn profile, finding common interests or details to break the ice can be helpful. Plus, it can give you more insights into what to prepare for.
45. Think About Interview Questions
Going into an interview without preparation can make it harder to think on your feet. After all, your nerves will probably be on overdrive while you’re there. Having someone do a mock interview with you — like people from your career center — ahead of time may really help you be on your “A” game. (Feel like the interview went well? Check out these five signs you may be getting hired.)
46. Follow up After Interviews
You’ll be surprised at what a difference this can make. Write a thank you note to everyone who took part in your interview process, and reiterate your interest in the position. It not only underlines your interest, it shows you have good manners and appreciate the time the interviewer(s) gave you.
47. Have References Ready
Be prepared by asking three or four people if you can list them as references. This way, when you get an interview and they ask for references, you’ll be ahead of the curve.
48. Find Out What You’re Worth
You’re just starting out, so you probably won’t be raking in the top salaries out there, but what’s fair? Take a look at sites like Glassdoor to find out what people in your industry, at your level and in the area you’re living are making. Information is power, after all.
49. Learn How to Negotiate
Once that job offer finally comes in, taking the seemingly big salary without thinking about it may be tempting. Find out what the job will entail and make sure you’re being paid fairly and negotiate accordingly. It’s highly unlikely they’re going to rescind your offer if you ask for more money. Don’t forget to factor in benefits, too. Just a week of vacation offered? If they won’t offer you more money, they may be willing to give you more vacation.
50. Consider Starting Your Own Business
Sure, it may be costly, but if you’ve always wanted to execute an idea you had for a company, now may be the time. Just make sure you crunch the numbers to see if this is feasible — after all, those student loan payments will kick in soon.
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9 Rescued From Boat That Sank East Of Ocean City
OCEAN CITY, Md. (AP) — Nine people have been rescued from a boat that sank east of Ocean City.
The Coast Guard says it received a call at about 10:30 a.m. Saturday from a 38-foot boat that was taking on water about 46 miles from Ocean City. The Coast Guard says the boat sank about half an hour later and that all nine people on the vessel were rescued.
The Coast Guard says multiple people who were rescued were showing signs of medical distress. The group was being transported to shore.
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Register now to receive these FREE recordings and to be notified about our next
#MeToo Dialogues summit:
Welcome Message from series host Tonya Pinkins
The #MeToo Movement Begins with Tarana Burke
How to Build a Successful Social Movement from the Bottom Up with Eve Ensler
Featured Speakers: (click photo to learn more)
Tarana Burke
Eve Ensler
Rosanna Arquette
Marisa Tomei
Michael Bernard Beckwith
MJ Rodriguez
Sara Ramirez
Alicia Garza
Lili Bernard
Elayne Kalila Doughty
Mark Matousek
Cathy Curtin
Sara J. Kruzan
Dr. Astrid Heger
Frances Fisher
Amissa Miller
Lenora M. Lapidus
Rachael Denhollander
Kasia Urbaniak
James Lecesne
Melinda Maxwell-Smith
Lisa Gelobter
Dr. Geoffry White
Sister MorningStar
Cait Unkovic
Ianne Fields Stewart
Kim Sykes
Lauren White
Monique Wilson
Rudy A. Mazzocchi
Staci K. Haines
Diva Carla
Jim Andralis
Anonymous Childhood Victim of Sex Trafficking
Jessica Neuwirth
Michelle Etlin
With Host:
Tonya Pinkins™
Tony Award-Winning Actress, Director & Author
The #MeToo movement has ignited a revolution…
Starting with Tarana Burke’s powerful call for survivor-sisterhood in 2006, to Alyssa Milano’s tweet that sparked a global conversation, to a continuing wave of women and men standing up, speaking out, and unifying their voices to say #MeToo, #EnoughIsEnough, #TimesUp, #EndSexualViolence, and more…
It is critical that we continue to step forward and to share our stories.
Yet, we’re also ready to move beyond a message and a movement — to lasting social change.
As we continue to co-create safe spaces where we can express ourselves, and as we continue to heal, we are called to take action and advocate on behalf of those still suffering in silence.
The future of our shared humanity requires that we dismantle the structures that have allowed oppression, bias, and inequality to persist — not to mention the predatory behavior, sexual violence, and rape culture that continue.
We are urged to march, to write our representatives, to campaign for change, and to raise awareness in every area of our lives.
We are invited into deeper community with each other and our global family...
To take the next step toward BEING the change, we at The Shift Network have created an incredible event for you — powerful dialogues with deeply inspiring people — who reveal how they moved from surviving to thriving to taking inspired action and more.
Here are just a few of the highlights from our #MeToo Dialogues:
Tarana Burke, who authored the #MeToo hashtag, talks with Tonya about how the movement began and how you can get involved... and take empowered action against sexual violence.
Eve Ensler, creatrix of The Vagina Monologues, discusses the growing movement of women reclaiming their bodies and their lives. Eve suggests ways for you to help make the world safer for women and girls.
Rosanna Arquette and Dr. Astrid Heger take a deep look into into issues transgender people face, and how the Alexis Arquette Family Foundation — co-founded by Rosanna and Dr. Heger — are helping the most vulnerable and sex-trafficked children.
Marisa Tomei, who’s been immersed in the entertainment industry for decades, offers an insider’s perspective on the #TimesUp and #TimesUpNow movement. She and Tonya address sexual coercion in the industry and how it affects women’s ability to work in entertainment.
Michael Bernard Beckwith speaks to the obligation we each have to discover our gifts and use them to serve the world — and he illuminates how the #MeToo movement is teaching men to be protectors, and addressing the need to heal the perpetrator.
MJ Rodriguez brings her experience as a transgender woman to a lively conversation about the shape transgender issues have taken in our world today.
Lili Bernard shares her experience of sexual violence at the hands of Bill Cosby while working on the Cosby Show, and how she continues to heal, make art, and encourage other women to speak out against perpetrators.
Our incredible lineup includes sessions that address stories of child abuse, sexual violence, and human trafficking, as well as how YOU can take inspired action through innovative solutions, the arts, and grassroots activism.
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This privacy statement discloses the privacy practices of The Shift Network, Inc. and all websites owned or operated by or on behalf of The Shift Network, Inc., including, without limitation, theshiftnetwork.com (collectively referred to as “our websites”).
Contact Details
Legal Entity: The Shift Network Inc
Email Address: [email protected]
Postal Address: 625 2nd St, Petaluma, CA 94952
It is very important that the information we hold about you is accurate and up to date. Please let us know if at any time your personal information changes by emailing us at [email protected]
What Information We Collect
The types of information that we collect fall under two general categories: Personally identifiable information (PII) and non-personally identifiable information (non-PII). PII consists of any information which can be used to specifically identify you as an individual and may include.
Identity Data may include your first name, maiden name, last name, username, marital status, title, date of birth and gender.
Transaction Data may include details about payments between us and other details of purchases made by you.
Technical Data may include your login data, internet protocol addresses, browser type and version, browser plug-in types and versions, time zone setting and location, operating system and platform and other technology on the devices you use to access this site.
Usage Data may include information about how you use our website, products and services.
Marketing and Communications Data may include your preferences in receiving marketing communications from us and our third parties and your communication preferences.
Non-PII consists of aggregate information or any information that does not reveal your identity. The following sections describe how your PII and non-PII are collected by us, and how we use such information.
Sensitive Data
We do not collect any Sensitive Data about you. Sensitive data refers to data that includes details about your race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, information about your health and genetic and biometric data. We do not collect any information about criminal convictions and offences.
How We Collect and Use Information
Log Files. Any time you visit any of our websites, our servers automatically gather information from your browser (such as your IP addresses, browser type, Internet service provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, platform type, date/time stamp, and number of clicks) to analyze trends, administer the site, prevent fraud, track visitor movement in the aggregate, and gather broad demographic information. For example, we may log your IP address for system administration purposes. IP addresses are logged to track a user’s session. This gives us an idea of which parts of the site users are visiting. We do not share the log files externally.
Cookies. We use “cookies” to keep track of some types of information while you are visiting our website or using our services. Cookies are very small files placed on your computer, and they allow us to count the number of visitors to our website and distinguish repeat visitors from new visitors. They also allow us to save user preferences and track user trends. We rely on cookies for the proper operation of our website; therefore if your browser is set to reject all cookies, the website will not function properly. Users who refuse cookies assume all responsibility for any resulting loss of functionality. We do not link the cookies to any PII.
Web Beacons. “Web beacons” (also known as “clear gifs” and “pixel tags”) are small transparent graphic images that are often used in conjunction with cookies in order to further personalize our website for our users and to collect a limited set of information about our visitors. We may also use web beacons in email communications in order to understand the behavior of our customers. We do not link the web beacons to any PII.
Information About You. When you register, enroll or place an order for any products or services, we collect information about you. For interactive content and community services where you may choose to have a public profile, we may display your non-PII information to other community members and visitors. You may choose to provide us with your photo(s) or video(s) and by providing us such content, you agree that we may make them available to other members and visitors. Except as otherwise stated in this privacy statement, we do not disclose your PII to you or other users of our services.
Purchase Information. To process purchases, we may require your name, address, phone number, email address and credit card information. Such information is used primarily to process your order or as otherwise described herein. Credit card transactions are processed using industry standard Secure Socket Layer (SSL) and/or strong encryption (3DES) by a third party, which only uses your information for that purpose.
Emails and Telephone Calls. We require an email address from you when you register for our services. We use your email address for both transactional (e.g., order confirmation and renewal processing) and promotional (e.g., newsletters, new product offerings, special discounts, event notifications, special third-party offers) purposes. Email messages we send you may contain code that enables our database to track your usage of the emails, including whether the email was opened and what links (if any) were clicked. If you would rather not receive promotional emails from us, please see the section below labeled “Choice/Opt-Out.” We reserve the right to send you certain communications relating to our services, such as service announcements and administrative messages, without offering you the opportunity to opt out of receiving them. We may also contact you by telephone or text message (including to any wireless number you may provide to us) in connection with our services. If you would rather not receive telephone calls or text messages from us, you may ask to be removed from our contact list if you receive a call or text message from us. We fully comply with the requirements of the U.S. CAN-SPAM Act.
Demographic Data. Demographic data is also collected at our site. We may use this data to tailor our visitors’ experience at our site, showing them content that we think they might be interested in, and displaying the content according to their preferences. Some of this information may be shared with advertisers on a non-personally identifiable basis.
Online Survey Data. We may periodically conduct voluntary member surveys. We encourage our members to participate in such surveys because they provide us with important information regarding the improvement of our services. You may also volunteer for certain surveys that we may offer to our users, and any additional rules regarding the conduct of such surveys will be disclosed to you prior to your participation. We do not link the survey responses to any PII, and all responses are anonymous.
Public Forums. We may make discussion boards available to our users and visitors. Any information that is disclosed in these areas becomes public information and you should exercise caution when deciding to disclose any PII. Please consult the community guidelines for each discussion board for other specific information.
Purposes for processing your personal data
Set out below is a description of the ways we intend to use your personal data and the legal grounds on which we process such data. We have also explained what our legitimate interests are where relevant.
We may process your personal data for more than one lawful ground, depending on the specific purpose for which we are using your data. Please email us at [email protected] if you need details about the specific legal ground we are relying on to process your personal data where more than one ground has been set out in the table below.
Purpose/Activity
Type of data
Lawful basis for processing
To register you as a new customer
(a) Identity
(b) Contact
Performance of a contract with you
To process and deliver your order including:
(a) Manage payments, fees and charges
(b) Collect and recover money owed to us
(a) Identity
(b) Contact
(c) Financial
(d) Transaction
(e) Marketing and Communications
(a) Performance of a contract with you
(b) Necessary for our legitimate interests to recover debts owed to us
To manage our relationship with you which will include:
(a) Notifying you about changes to our terms or privacy policy
(b) Asking you to provide feedback, leave a review or take a survey
(a) Identity
(b) Contact
(c) Profile
(d) Marketing and Communications
(a) Performance of a contract with you
(b) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation
(c) Necessary for our legitimate interests to keep our records updated and to study how customers use our products/services
To enable you to partake in a prize draw, competition or complete a survey
(a) Identity
(b) Contact
(c) Profile
(d) Usage
(e) Marketing and Communications
(a) Performance of a contract with you
(b) Necessary for our legitimate interests to study how customers use our products/services, to develop them and grow our business
To administer and protect our business and website (including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, system maintenance, support, reporting and hosting of data)
(a) Identity
(b) Contact
(c) Technical
(a) Necessary for our legitimate interests for running our business, provision of administration and IT services, network security, to prevent fraud and in the context of a business reorganisation or group restructuring exercise
(b) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation
To deliver relevant content and advertisements to you and measure and understand the effectiveness of our advertising
(a) Identity
(b) Contact
(c) Profile
(d) Usage
(e) Marketing and Communications
(f) Technical
Necessary for our legitimate interests to study how customers use our products/services, to develop them, to grow our business and to inform our marketing strategy
Necessary for our legitimate interests to define types of customers for our products and services, to keep our site updated and relevant, to develop our business and to inform our marketing strategy
To make suggestions and recommendations to you about goods or services that may be of interest to you
(a) Identity
(b) Contact
(c) Technical
(d) Usage
(e) Profile
Necessary for our legitimate interests to develop our products/services and grow our business
Marketing communications
You will receive marketing communications from us if you have:
(i) requested information from us or purchased goods or services from us; or
(ii) if you provided us with your details and ticked the box at the point of entry (if applicable for your region) of your details for us to send you marketing communications; and
(iii) in each case, you have not opted out of receiving that marketing.
We will get your express opt-in consent before we share your personal data with any third party for marketing purposes.
You can ask us or third parties to stop sending you marketing messages at any time by following the opt-out links on any marketing message sent or by emailing us at [email protected] or by using our subscription management tool.
Where you opt out of receiving our marketing communications, this will not apply to personal data provided to us as a result of a product/service purchase, warranty registration, product/service experience or other transactions.
Change of purpose
We will only use your personal data for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose.
If we need to use your personal data for a purpose unrelated to the purpose for which we collected the data, we will notify you and we will explain the legal ground of processing.
We may process your personal data without your knowledge or consent where this is required or permitted by law.
Disclosure of Your Information to Third Parties
Disclosure By Law. You acknowledge and agree that we may disclose information you provide if required to do so by law, at the request of a third party, or if we, in our sole discretion, believe that disclosure is reasonable to comply with the law, requests or orders from law enforcement or any legal process, protect or defend our rights or property, or protect someone’s health or safety.
Disclosure to Trusted Third Parties By Us. We may share your non-PII with third parties, but not in a manner that would reveal your identity. We may share your PII, sometimes in conjunction with your non-PII with service providers that may be associated with us to perform functions on our behalf. For example, outsourced customer care agents or technology assistants may need access to your information to perform services for you. Your information will be treated as private and confidential by such service providers and not used for any other purpose than we authorize. In addition, from time to time, we may share PII (such as email or mailing address) about our user base with carefully selected third parties, so they can offer goods and services that we believe may be of interest to our users. If you do not wish to receive offers from our trusted partners, you can change your email preferences at any time by following the steps outlined in the “Choice/Opt-Out” section below.
Disclosure to Trusted Third Parties at Your Request. When purchasing products or services or while visiting our websites, we may provide you with advertisements, promotions, sweepstakes and offers from third party providers. If you choose to accept any such offers, you may either (depending on the situation) directly provide your information in connection with the offer to such third party provider, or we will provide your information, including billing information, to the third party provider by pre-populating the offer registration forms. Your information will not be transferred until you actually accept the offer. You may opt-out of the offer at any time up until this point. Please refer to the third party provider’s own privacy policy (provided on the offer pages) if you have any questions regarding how your information is used by such providers. Please be aware that these offers may be presented on pages framed by our website. We do this to provide a seamless experience. Although these offer pages have the look and feel of our websites, you will be submitting your information directly to the third-party advertiser. You agree that we will not be responsible or liable for any loss or damage of any sort incurred as the result of any such dealings, including the sharing of the information you supply to us with third party providers described here, or as the result of the presence of such providers on our website.
Information Transferred As a Result of Sale of Business. As we develop our business, we may buy or sell assets and, depending on the transaction, your PII may be one of the transferred assets. In the event that we are acquired by another company, your PII may be part of the assets transferred to the acquiring party. If this occurs, you will be notified if there are any material changes to the way your PII is collected or used.
We require all third parties to whom we transfer your data to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We only allow such third parties to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.
Third-Party Advertising
We may partner with third-party advertising agencies or other service providers to serve ads on our website on behalf of The Shift Network or third-party advertisers (e.g., retailers of goods or services). These companies may employ cookies and web beacons to measure advertising effectiveness. Any information that these third parties collect via cookies and web beacons is completely anonymous. Some of these third-party advertising agencies may be members of the Network Advertising Initiative, which offers you the option to opt out of ad targeting from its member agencies by following the procedures listed here.
We will only share your information with third parties in the ways defined in this privacy statement.
Age Restrictions
Our age restrictions for different services are set forth in each website’s applicable Terms and Conditions of Service. We do not target any of our sites or services to children under the age of 13, and in compliance with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, any information we may receive from users we believe to be under the age of 13 will be purged from our database.
Security
We have security measures in place to protect against the loss, misuse and alteration of information stored in our databases. These measures include use of Secure Socket Layer (SSL) and/or strong encryption (3DES) technology during credit card transactions and administrator sessions, as well as other security measures which are applied to all data at rest and in transit. We will exercise reasonable care in providing for the secure transmission of information between your computer and our servers, but we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information transmitted to us over the Internet and accept no liability for any unintentional disclosure.
We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.
DATA RETENTION
We will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.
To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements.
By law we have to keep basic information about our customers (including Contact, Identity, Financial and Transaction Data) for seven years after they cease being customers for tax purposes.
In some circumstances you can ask us to delete your data: see below for further information.
In some circumstances we may anonymise your personal data (so that it can no longer be associated with you) for research or statistical purposes in which case we may use this information indefinitely without further notice to you.
YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS
Under certain circumstances, you have rights under data protection laws to include but not limited to privacy laws in the United States and General Data Protection Regulation in the European Union in relation to your personal data. These include the right to:
Request access to your personal data.
Request correction of your personal data.
Request erasure of your personal data.
Object to processing of your personal data.
Request restriction of processing your personal data.
Request transfer of your personal data.
Right to withdraw consent.
If you wish to exercise any of the rights set out above, please email us at [email protected].
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I am so sorry for your loss. What a wonderful lady she was. We were blessed to have known her and I will forever remember our talks and the laughs we had on Freedom Valley. She was someone to emulate.
Mark and Carol Beck.
So many memories with Marion. I think one of the sweetest is that whenever we came to an event Marion was such a sweet hostess. She made it her mission to make sure everyone was properly welcomed and fed. Conversation was always fun with Marion. She was compassionate and loving to all. She will be missed.
You will be miss by many of us at Sunny Hill but most Is me, because you are such a loving person. Marion always got that smile and the wave of her hand whenever she sees me, as if she’s always excited to see me...I will never forget you Marion, you will always in my heart
R.I.P
Marion
You will be missed Mrs. Burnett. Many found memories of you as we were growing up. Loved living across the street from you and your beautiful family.You did a great job raising all of your children. They turned out to be wonderful adults. When I think of you I think of your sense of humor,patience & kind heart and how you kept such a clean home while working full time always amazed me.May God continue to bless your family helping them through this difficult time in their lives.
Love,
Belinda-Pepich-Polan
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Thursday, April 30, 2009
Keeping Your Compressor Quiet
Air compressors are noisy machines. The two most commonly used ways to quiet them down are to locate the air intake outside (not good for the neighbors) or to build some type of enclosure with sound deadening material inside; that usually causes overheating problems due to poor circulation.
The best solution is to construct a silencer that uses the same principles as a gun silencer. But isn't that illegal? Only if you use it on a gun. We're using it on an air compressor. Still, this topic seems to be controversial, mostly by people who have a bury-your-head-in-the-sand approach to security and safety.
Here are the materials:
Pipe the same size the air compressor port will use, 16"-18" long.
Some exhaust pipe, the same length as the other pipe.
Some washers you have to make with a hole saw, enough to put one on each end and one every 1-1/2" that will fit around the air compressor intake port pipe and fit inside the exhaust pipe.
Steel wool to fit between the washers.
A drill and a 1/4" drill bit to drill holes in the smaller pipe between the washers.
A welding machine to weld the washers to the small pipe and to the large pipe at the ends.
Since the silencer will be heavy, use a 90-degree fitting and mount it vertically.
Some links to sites that describe how silencers work and how to constructsilencers can help you understand how the Air Compressor Silencer is constructed. If you Google for "gun silencers", you'll find lots of sites, so we're not divulging secret, hard-to-find information and, unless you're dumb enough to build one for a gun, not breaking any laws. If you think so, the terrorists have already won and you are not thinking of the children.
It’s hard to overstate just how useful an air compressor can be in a woodshop. Compressors not only power a wide range of tools -- everything from nail guns to spray guns and sanders -- but they also clean off dusty tools and people. You can find out the Best Small Air Compressors for your purposes.
Very efficiently written information. It will be beneficial to anybody who utilizes it, including me. Keep up the good work. For sure i will check out more Click here I like the way you describe the post with us. Many thanks
Good website! I truly love how it is easy on my eyes it is. I am wondering how I might be notified whenever a new post has been made. I have subscribed to your RSS which may do the trick? Have a great day! www.csacservices.com
About Route 60 Garage
was established in August, 2006 to build all-new '32 Ford roadsters. Of course, things happened and that didn't pan out. There are several projects going on at any time and I have turned up some useful web sites for information. This blog is a place to keep them handy and to share them with others.
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COUNTRY CLUB BANK SHAWNEE MISSION LOCATION MAP
SHAWNEE MISSION OFFICE INFORMATION
Country Club Bank Shawnee Mission branch is one of the 24 offices of the bank and has been serving the financial needs of their customers in Shawnee Mission, Johnson county, Kansas for over 63 years. Shawnee Mission office is located at 9400 Mission Road, Shawnee Mission. You can also contact the bank by calling the branch phone number at 816-931-4060
Country Club Bank Shawnee Mission branch operates as a full service brick and mortar office. For lobby hours, drive-up hours and online banking services please visit the official website of the bank at www.countryclubbank.com
Branch information was last updated on 6 May 2016. You can edit branch details by clicking here if you believe the information is incomplete, incorrect, out of date or misleading.
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Boat and trailer stolen in Eureka
The Eureka Police Department is seeking the public’s help with the recovery of a stolen ski boat and trailer. It is a 2006 Centurion ski boat, white with red flames, CF number 7362RC.
The boat was on a trailer that had been purchased with it. The trailer’s license plate number is 4HA7683. The boat had been parked inside a locked gate in the 3400 block of Jacobs Avenue. It was taken sometime between Wednesday, Aug. 1 at 5:30 p.m. and Thursday, Aug. 2 at 8 a.m.
Anyone with information concerning the whereabouts of the boat and trailer, or the identity of the suspect(s), is encouraged to call the Eureka Police Department at (707) 441-4060 (front counter) or (707) 441-4044 (non-emergency dispatch line).
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(Audio) Enzoeyeris – 10 YEAH!s in the making (EP) (FREE D/L)
I’ve been following enzoeyeris for quite some time since listening to him on the STBB on Soundcloud and has been one of my favorites on there. I’m really digging this album he just put out which features vocals from some other known SC community members. Real nice one, thoroughly enjoyed! Enjoy, support, & 1love!
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I heard the song on the radio that has this phrase and it reminded me that I needed to write about a recent shoot I had with Anna. I met Anna through another photographer friend of mine, Lou. They're both from the same country, Madagascar. Anna came to a meetup style shoot a few years ago where you have a bunch of photographers, models, and make-up-artists get together for the sole purpose of everyone working on their portfolio. Once in a while, I like to pull together a really simple shoot to accomplish the same goals...keep the portfolio fresh with new material.
Anna has - uh - a few things going for her here. First, she's super nice, speaks French, which is always fun to listen to, she's easy on the eyes (stating the obvious), and she's totally professional; show's up on time, no drama, respectful, etc. She mentioned she was able to be an extra in an upcoming feature film. I'm hoping she'll remember our work when she's famous :-) Oh, and I forgot to mention that she makes my job super easy because she just magically falls into these great poses without me needing to guide much at all. Love it! This particular shoot was pretty short (setup to breakdown was probably 60 minutes). There were less than 100 photos taken. Enjoy a few of my favorites.
Working with a longtime friend of mine as he prepares his fitness YouTube channel. A few headshots to get started. #headshots #fitness #intensional #youtube
From the wayback machine at this point. Jewelry Advertising Shoot. From concept to delivery. Working with a great team of people to help put it all together. #jewelry #advertising #nyc #fashion #AdvertisingAgency #product Model: Stephanie Damiano
Stylist: Brittany Rendon
MUA: Lyndsey Ariel
Assistant: Tom Spota
Retouching: Olya Bro
Spent two days shooting cars! This was from the first day where I grabbed this shot with the flags flying proud from the back of the trailer. #porscheracing #porsche911 #porsche997 #supercar #racing #sportscar #porscheclub @blacktacho #wing
Hired by @blacktacho to shoot this lovely 2006 Porsche 997S which is a part of the Porsche Racing Club of NJ. Beautiful sunset left us with a lot to look forward to on the next day (race day). More details to come. #Luxury #porscheracingclub #performance #power #speed #racetrack #63 #cars
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Gear Ball
The “Gear Ball” is the latest addition of the gear puzzle line by oskar van Deventer. Again a remarkable piece of puzzle ‘art’. A combination of amazing construction and high playing value.
1. Hold the ball with both hands and twist in opposite directions. 2. As the gears move, the colors change on each facing as well as the black frame. 3. Solve by framing 6 sides, each with a solid color.
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THE BOD Pro - Original Edition
Regular price
$89.95
Sale price
$89.95
Sale
Quantity must be 1 or more
Type
Quantity
Defy Odds and Challenge Your Body.
PRO BOD Clients have the know-how when it comes to nutrition and training but only want to improve! For pro fitness lovers, the gym workouts and home workouts in PRO BOD are both designed to propel your body into significant change.
PRO BOD is the final, most challenging level of our female fitness program.
Programmed for the more experienced athlete or trainer who is already following an exercise and/or nutrition plan but wants to see even more progress and advancement.
PRO BOD is designed to build muscle and increase strength and fitness while lowering your body fat levels.
This level contains an exact macro-calculated, balanced meal plan that works in conjunction with the training programs prescribed.
Please note:
Shipping and handling within Australia can take between 3-7+ business days.
eBooks are sent digitally to the email address registered with the purchase.If you do not receive your eBook, please check your junk folder and add The Bod as a trusted recipient.
Level choices and sales are final due to the high amount of orders and to keep shipping time at a minimum.
12 Week Progressive Training Program for AT HOME and AT THE GYM
Warm Ups – to reduce the risk of injury and maximise the benefits of your workout
Functional Workout Sessions
Core Sessions
Stretching Guide
Rest, Recovery & Muscle Fatigue Guide
Full Exercise Glossary of Over 80 Exercises
A Guide on How To Track Your Results
12-Week Macro-Balanced Nutrition Plan – designed in conjunction with the caloric output of the program level selected
Additional Vegetarian Meal Pan
Over 70 Recipes
Supplements, Vitamins & Minerals Information
Plenty of Hints, Tips & Meal Preparation Guidelines
An extensive FAQs section, for those commonly asked additional questions you may have!
Constant support newsletters to keep you motivated and on track!
Installments by Afterpay allows you to purchase in four equal installments, due every 2 weeks. Learn more at Afterpay.com
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Premier League
The French central is one of the obsessions of the coach to strengthen the defense of Manchester United for the next season.
Varane has become one of Mourinho’s obsessions for his Manchester United. Seeks to form a defensive block of maximum guarantees and apart from getting the continuity of De Gea wants the signing of Real Madrid Varane. So far has been with the refusal of Real Madrid and today the Daily Mirror ensures that the English will try to convince the leaders of Madrid with an offer of 55 million euros for the request of the coach.
However, it seems that it will remain a complicated possibility. Varane is very grateful to Zidane, who has given him ownership and remains convinced that now at Real Madrid there is a spectacular template in which you can achieve great sports success.
Championship leaders Wolverhampton Wanderers turned down the chance to sign Aleksandar Mitrovic from Newcastle United but West Brom need him.
Two clubs in the Midlands have considered making a move for Newcastle United’s out-of-favour striker Aleksandar Mitrovic. But while it might not exactly look good on paper, should West Brom go ahead and sign a player that their local rivals Wolves turned their noses up at?
According to The Chronicle, Championship league leaders Wolves were thinking about offering Mitrovic an escape route out of his Newcastle nightmare with Rafa Benitez keen to cash in on the Serbian striker.
But the report adds that Nuno Espirito Santo’s runaway promotion favourites have now turned their attention to alternative targets.
This, then, should give West Brom an opportunity. As reported by the Mirror, Newcastle are looking for £12 million for Mitrovic, who has made just six substitute appearances in the Premier League this season amounting to just 89 minutes of action.
And the former Anderlecht striker admitted to Serbian publication Zurnal that he has ran out of patience on Tyneside – giving a boost to a West Brom team who are keen to offer him a Premier League lifeline, so say The Mail.
The Baggies are the second lowest scorers in the top flight this season with just 16 to their name and, as a result, are only off the bottom of the table on goal difference after failing to win in their last 20 league games.
Mitrovic showed back in his debut Newcastle season in 2015/16 that he can score goals in England’s top flight while his aggressive aerial prowess and penalty box presence could give West Brom a potent attacking weapon that Salomon Rondon and Hal Robson-Kanu simply have not become.
According to reports from Sky Sports, Liverpool’s Emre Can has chosen Juventus to be his next club.
With the German international’s contract set to expire this summer, Juventus will be eager to lock him down to a pre-contract agreement before the end of the current season. Getting a midfielder of his caliber on a free transfer is a major coup for the Bianconeri.
Representatives for the player met with ones from the club late into the night on Thursday. The discussions seem to have yielded a positive result as Juve hopes that official confirmation of the future transfer will come as soon as Friday morning.
Emre Can seems determined to wear the famed Bianconeri shirt, even though Liverpool will not agree to sell him in January. The arrival of Can, therefore, is scheduled for June when the player will be free to leave Anfield Road on a free transfer, saving Juventus millions in transfer fees.
Inter coach Luciano Spalletti claims he is not concerned about losing key players during the transfer window.
The Nerazzurri enjoyed a strong first half of 2017-18, although a run of four league matches without a win in December saw them enter the mid-season break third in Serie A, seven points behind leaders Napoli.
Captain and star striker Mauro Icardi has been linked with a move away from San Siro, while midfielder Joao Mario, who has found himself out of the starting XI under Spalletti, is potentially set to leave.
Manchester United could also choose to renew their rumoured interest in forward Ivan Perisic.
Questioned by Premium Sport on possible departures, the coach said: “We’ll act in perfect harmony with what the needs of Inter are. The players under contract here are our players.
“The Chinese ownership has the results of the team at the heart of things, they’re bringing consistency to the history of Inter because they have the expertise and the will to contribute to improving everything at the club.”
Financial constraints may prevent Inter from reinforcing significantly without selling first, and Spalletti is not counting on new players being made available to him.
“I’m certainly not waiting for anything from the transfer market,” he said.
“The team and club are strong and those who are responsible for our campaign in the market will know how to benefit from any possible opportunities to improve our squad. Numerically, if someone then comes in to fill up the squad it’s even better still.”
Having thrashed Chievo 5-0 on December 3, Inter then scored just once in a 3-1 loss at home to Udinese, as they also suffered a 1-0 defeat at Sassuolo and were held to 0-0 draws by Juventus and Lazio.
Spalletti, though, rejected concerns about his team’s misfiring attack.
“We have a specialist in Mauro Icardi… I don’t believe that it’s a big problem,” he said.
Inter remain on track to challenge for Champions League qualification, a tournament they have not appeared in since 2011-12.
Nevertheless, Spalletti is adamant there is more to come from the team in the second half of the campaign.
“I’m not happy with my work because you always need to aim for better,” he said.
“We need to all work in a way which is worthy of Inter, this is what makes the difference. We’ve done very well so far, we’ve picked up a lot of points but I don’t think that we’ve still shown the very best of what we can do.”
Read more at https://www.fourfourtwo.com/news/spalletti-doesnt-fear-losing-inter-stars#0cyEDzRSvweQy5tS.99
A man who worked with the Portuguese at Real Madrid says no stone is left unturned by a coach determined to have all bases covered
Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho is a perfectionist, says Aitor Karanka, with all bases covered by a coach fuelled by a desire to be the best.
The Portuguese is renowned for throwing himself into any position he fills, with no stone left unturned in the pursuit of success and silverware.
He is currently undertaking that job at United, with the Red Devils having charged him with the task of bringing the good times back to Old Trafford.
Karanka, who formed part of Mourinho’s coaching team in a previous role at Real Madrid, expects a proven winner to have everything under control in Manchester, with his obsessive nature witnessed firsthand in the Spanish capital.
“Jose has everything imaginable under control,” the Spaniard told The Times.
“From the grass on the training pitch to the shoes the players wore.
“We were trying the suit of the team to travel in, and the shoes. Real Madrid had a brand of shoe but it wasn’t a top brand.
“Jose looked at the person at the club (on the commercial side) and said, ‘Oh, the players use this brand of shoe in their normal life? ‘No, I don’t think so’. ‘Ah, so they have to use this brand before the game when they’re used to other (better) brands?’
“Jose was thinking about the shoe, so the players would be comfortable before the game. He thinks of everything. Even for me, an assistant, I had to put every single cone in the right position and every single bib out at the right time.
“He’s always demanding of the goalkeeper coach, the fitness coach, myself, the players. He wants everybody around the team to be fully concentrated in the work.”
While Karanka concedes that Mourinho lives for his work, he also claims that the 54-year-old is often unfairly portrayed as a moody character who rarely lets his guard drop.
“Ninety-five per cent of the day Jose is fun,” added the former Middlesbrough boss.
AC Milan came out on top in the Coppa Italia quarter-final clash against Inter thanks to a goal in the 104th minute by Rossoneri wonderkid Patrick Cutrone.
After both teams failed to score over 90 minutes despite both sides having enough chances to seal the victory, in the end, AC Milan finally broke the deadlock when Patrick Cutrone took advantage of a mistake in the Nerazzurri defence. Given how the match played out, it was a deserved victory for Gattuso’s Milan who looked like they wanted to win more, whilst Inter looked tired and were on the back-foot but the Nerazzurri had their chances, with Joao Mario squandering an absolute sitter.
AC Milan:
Antonio Donnarumma – 7,5: What a debut by the AC Milan third-keeper whose performance was anything but that of a third-keeper. Shaky start but grew into the match and in the end gave a Man of The Match performance.
Ignazio Abate – 6: Did his duties well both offensively as well as defensively, especially in the first half. Had to be brought off early in the second half due to an injury.
Leonardo Bonucci – 5.5: The weakest link in the Rossoneri defence, missing simple passes, as well as being caught out of position time after time. Former AC Milan coach Fabio Capello said about him that “he is a good passer of the ball, but he does not how to defend.”
Alessio Romagnoli – 7: Was Milan’s defensive pillar and cleaned up behind Bonucci time and time again. Kept Icardi quiet for the entire match, which says it all.
Ricardo Rodriguez – 6,5: A solid performance by the Swiss international. Missed one or two crosses where he should have done better, but overall did well.
Franck Kessie – 7: Lungs of steel. Ran tirelessly throughout the entire match illustrating why Milan broke the bank to sign him from Atalanta. Best performance since signing for Milan.
Manuel Locatelli – 5.5: Did not have a great evening, losing a lot of balls in midfield as well as being too rash in challenges which forced him to concede unnecessary free-kicks. Brought off in 73rd minute.
Lucas Biglia – 7: Starting to look like the player Milan thought they had signed from Lazio. Hardly put a foot wrong, dictated the tempo of the Rossoneri’s midfield and demonstrated the intelligence he has. Gave his best performance in a Milan shirt.
Suso – 6,5: AC Milan’s own Mr. Derby lived up to the expectations in a derby yet again. Although not as dominant as is previous derbies he oozes class, brilliance and possesses the ability to do the unexpected.
Nikola Kalinic– 6: Had a decent first half where he forced Handanovic to make a couple of good saves. As the match wore on, he grew more and more tired resulting in him being more and more anonymous. Brought off in the 76th minute for Cutrone.
Giacomo Bonaventura – 6: Played 1-1 vs Joao Mario in missing an absolute sitter. Is an irrational player, but struggled offensively so instead he put in a decent shift to help the team.
Samir Handanovic – 6: Did what he needed to do but like rest of Inter looked tired causing him to make simple mistakes. No chance on the goal.
Joao Cancelo – 6.5: Inter’s best player on the night. Starting to show his qualities offensively as well as defensively. Form is on the rise.
Andrea Ranocchia – 6: The former Inter captain did well, keeping things simple as well as keeping a cool head. Solid performance.
Milan Skriniar – 5,5: Given the high level of performances he has spoilt Inter fans with this season, last night was a step in the wrong direction.
Yuto Nagatomo – 6: Matched Suso preventing the Spaniard from giving a stellar performance in yet another derby. Has been Inter’s best and most consistent left full-back so far this season.
Roberto Gagliardini – 5,5: Not at all the type of performance Inter needed to see from the former Atalanta player. Brought off in 75th minute for Marcelo Brozovic.
Matias Vecino – 6: Such an important player for Inter, linking up defence with attack and despite not having the best of nights he never stops trying.
Antonio Candreva – 5: Usually Inter’s Mr. Derby, but was completely out of form throughout the night. The fact that he wasn’t the worst Inter player of the night speaks volumes as to the Nerazzurri’s performance.
Joao Mario – 4: Absolute shocker. Painful to watch. Had his chance to prove why he should play more but probably played himself out of the starting line-up for a long time, if not forever, if transfer rumours are to be believed. Replaced in 67th minute by Borja Valero.
Ivan Perisic– 4.5: Probably his worst performance since joining Inter. Unable to do anything of consequence despite playing 120 minutes. Should be benched until he regains his form, but unlikely given the lack of squad depth.
Mauro Icardi – 5: See above re Perisic. Inter need their captain during the most critical part of the season, who instead looks tired and out of form.
Leeds United are said to be chasing yet another right-back in the January transfer window.
According to a report on TMW, Leeds United are hunting Genoa defender Aleandro Rosi, ahead of the January transfer window.
Leeds are expected to invest in the new year, and Rosi is said to be on the Whites’ wishlist.
Rosi has caught Victor Orta’s and Thomas Christiansen’s eyes, with his performances in Seria A this season.
But it is not exactly clear why Leeds would need to add another right-back to their squad.
Although Rosi does possess a lot of experience and a high amount of pedigree, it is hard not to believe his signing would be completely pointless for Leeds.
Christiansen already has Luke Ayling and Gaetano Berardi in his squad at Elland Road, and the pair are exceptional right-backs at Championship level.
Leeds also have enviable options on the right hand side of their defence in reserve, with Lewie Coyle an exciting prospect for future years.
And, as a result, Christiansen would surely be better off looking elsewhere, rather than bringing Rosi to Elland Road in January.
Tottenham Hotspur host Southampton in the Premier League on Boxing Day, and there is no shortage of connections between the two clubs.
For instance, Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino previously managed Southampton, while players such as Victor Wanyama and Toby Alderweireld have joined the north London club from the Saints in recent years.
This meeting between Tottenham and Southampton at Wembley is set to be an interesting encounter, and here’s a look back at some of the recent games between them.
March 19 2017 – Tottenham 2 Southampton 1
In the final meeting between these teams at White Hart Lane, Tottenham took the lead through Christian Eriksen and then doubled their advantage when Dele Alli found the net from the penalty spot.
Although Southampton reduced the deficit when James Ward-Prowse found the net, Tottenham held on for victory.
December 28 2016 – Southampton 1 Tottenham 4
Southampton went ahead after just two minutes courtesy of Virgil Van Dijk, but Tottenham seized control thereafter.
Alli hit a brace, with Son Heung-min and Harry Kane also getting on the scoresheet in a comprehensive win for Pochettino’s team.
May 8 2016 – Tottenham 1 Southampton 2
Tottenham, whose hopes of winning the Premier League title were already over, fell to a disappointing defeat at home to Southampton on this occasion.
Son had put Tottenham in front but a Steven Davis brace proved to be the difference for Southampton.
December 19 2015 – Southampton 0 Tottenham 2
Tottenham were too strong for Southampton in this game.
Kane and Alli were the scorers as Tottenham took all three points with an impressive display.
April 25 2015 – Southampton 2 Tottenham 2
An entertaining meeting between the two teams saw Southampton take the lead through Graziano Pelle, with Erik Lamela levelling for Tottenham.
Pelle struck again to give Southampton hope of a victory but Nacer Chadli’s effort ensured that the game ended even.
Overall
Tottenham have had the upper hand against Southampton of late, winning three of the past five meetings, and will be determined to prevail again on this occasion.
Former Leeds United manager David O’Leary was present at Elland Road once more at the weekend a year after his revealing interview with the Telegraph in which he suggested he was open to the idea of returning to football.
O’Leary, who has been without a job now for six years now, was interviewed by Leeds after watching the 1-0 win over Norwich City on Saturday from the Legends Lounge.
It was not the first time he has attended a fixture this season having been invited back to his former club for lunch and a match previously by owner Andrea Radrizzani, who is aiming to bring all elements of the club closer together, as shown by his decision to further integrate the Ladies team yesterday.
He admitted that Leeds fans have continually asked him about his plans for the future and whether or not he will ever return to the Elland Road dugout.
“When are you coming back! It’s embarrassing really”.
“I’m so privileged that they still remember me.
“It’s just so nice and I always knew that I had their support, and I appreciate their support even more now. Twenty years and they still remember me – I can’t believe that!”
BURNLEY Development squad boss Michael Duff was disappointed to see his side’s clash with Hull City abandoned on Monday night as the wait for an Under-23 game goes on.
Burnley were leading 1-0 thanks to a Rahis Nabi goal when fog enveloped Curzon Ashton’s Tameside Stadium causing referee Leigh Doughty to abandon the game after just 34 minutes.
Duff’s side do not play again until the new year having last completed a game on November 20.
“The referee’s given it a chance,” the Clarets U23 boss said of Monday’s postponement. “He’s given it a go. From what you could see the lads did okay, winning the game 1-0.
“It’s just disappointing because we’ve waited a long time for a game. It’s been almost a month since we’ve played and you get that and then it’s another two or three weeks before the next game.
“But there’s not a lot you can do about the weather.”
Burnley return to action away at Leeds United on January 5 with a new date for the Hull game yet to be announced.
Burnley: Stone, Birch, Flowers, Clarke, Mpofu, Bayode, Nabi, N’Guessan, Chakwana, McNeil, Wood. Subs: King, Metz, Cropper, Younger, Limb.
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You wake up, refreshed, as your phone alarm goes off at 7:06am, having analysed your previous night’s sleep to work out the best point to interrupt your sleep cycle.2 You ask your voice assistant for an overview of the news, and it reads out a curated selection based on your interests.3 Your local MP is defending herself—a video has emerged which seems to show her privately attacking her party leader. The MP claims her face has been copied into the footage, and experts argue over the authenticity of the footage.4 As you leave, your daughter is practising for an upcoming exam with the help of an AI education app on her smartphone, which provides her with personalised content based on her strengths and weaknesses in previous lessons.5
On your way to work, your car dashboard displays the latest traffic information, and estimates the length of your journey to the office, based on current traffic conditions and data from previous journeys.6 On arrival, you check your emails, which have been automatically sifted into relevant categories for you.7 A colleague has sent you several dense legal documents, and software automatically highlights and summarises the points most relevant to a meeting you have later.8 You read another email, sent by your partner, asking if he can borrow your bank login details to quickly check something. On closer inspection you decide it is probably a fake, but still, you hesitate before deleting it, wondering briefly how the spammers captured his writing style so unerringly.9
You have other things to worry about though, as you head to a hospital appointment. However, after a chest x-ray, you are surprised when the doctor sits you down immediately afterwards, explaining that you look to have a mild lung infection—you had expected it to take weeks before the results came back.10
Your relief is short lived—a notification on your phone warns you of suspicious activity detected on your bank account, which has been automatically stopped as a result.11 You call the bank, and someone called Sarah picks up, and helps you order a replacement card. Except, you soon realise, Sarah is not human at all, just a piece of software which sounds just like a real person.12 You are a little unnerved you did not realise more quickly, but still, it got the job done, so you do not particularly mind.
After a quick detour to the local supermarket, where the products on the shelves have all been selected automatically based on previous customer demand, current shopping trends and the likely weather that day, you drive home.13 On your way back, your car detects signs that you are feeling slightly agitated, and chooses some music you have previously found relaxing.14 After dinner, you and your partner watch a film suggested by your TV, which somehow strikes just the right note for both of your normally divergent tastes.15 After dozing off, your house, predicting you are asleep by now, turns off the bathroom light and turns on the washing machine, ready for another day.16
2 A range of smartphone apps exist which can track sleep cycles by monitoring bed movements or snoring, and use machine learning to attempt to wake you up during lighter periods of sleep. See for example, Brenda Stolyar, ‘Sleep Cycle app for Android will soon allow users to track sleep using sound’, Digital trends (14 February 2018): https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/sleep-cycle-app-android-update/ [accessed 8 March 2018]
3 The Amazon Echo and Google Home devices are just two of the many home AI assistants currently on the market with this feature.
4 Lyrbird.ai, a US-based start-up, has used an AI voice emulation system to replicate the voices of former US President Barack Obama and current President Donald Trump. Other AI software is allowing users to swap faces into pre-existing video footage with relatively little technical skill necessary.
5 Software known as ‘Intelligent Tutor Systems’, such as Tabtor, Carnegie Learning and Front Row, is increasingly being used to track a learner’s progress and provide them with lessons and personalised content based on this.
6 Most digital map services in use today use machine learning to predict traffic flow speeds and provide an estimated time until arrival.
7 Many email services in use today, including Google’s Inbox and Microsoft Outlook, use AI to categorise emails by type and priority.
8 A range of ‘lawtech’ businesses have begun offering software which examines legal documents for relevant information, and can assist with the preparation of legal contracts.
9 A recent report from 26 academic and industry experts warned of the malicious applications of AI, including mass ‘spear phishing’ attacks. Current spear phishing attacks, whereby fraudulent emails are personalised to an individual target, usually in a bid to steal sensitive information, currently require significant human labour, but by automating this process, these attacks could be scaled-up in the near future. See Future of Humanity Institute, University of Oxford, Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, University of Cambridge, Center for a New American Security, Electronic Frontier Foundation and OpenAI, The Malicious Use of Artificial Intelligence: Forecasting, Prevention, and Mitigation (February 2018): https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/3d82daa4-97fe-4096-9c6b-376b92c619de/downloads/1c6q2kc4v_50335.pdf [accessed 1 March 2018]
10 AI-powered radiology software is beginning to enter limited usage, which can automate aspects of x-ray analysis, and significantly reduce the amount of time needed to get useful results from scans.
11 Companies like MasterCard and Visa have been using machine learning algorithms to detect fraudulent patterns of spending in debit and credit cards, and automatically freeze cards in response.
12 A number of companies are using AI-powered chatbots, which can handle routine interactions with customers, and recently NatWest began experimenting with ‘Cora’, an in-branch AI personality, which can help with basic customer queries.
13 A number of UK supermarket chains are now using machine learning algorithms to better predict customer demand for particular products, cutting down on unnecessary waste and missed sales.
14 Emotion recognition is currently a significant area of growth in AI development, and a number of facial recognition companies have claimed that their systems have achieved human or near-human levels of emotion recognition.
15 Online film and TV streaming services, such as Netflix and BBC iPlayer have used machine learning algorithms to suggest what to watch based on previous viewing preferences and a range of other factors.
16 Smart home hubs, which can control a range of different smart systems such as lighting and home appliances, are becoming increasingly commonplace, and are using machine learning to detect and automate household functions based on personal habits and behaviour.
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When I finished "Epitaph (Infected, #8)," I was crying. It wasn’t that the ending was sad. On the contrary, it was hopeful. In fact, it was as happy aWhen I finished "Epitaph (Infected, #8)," I was crying. It wasn’t that the ending was sad. On the contrary, it was hopeful. In fact, it was as happy an ending as I could hope for with this series. So, what made me cry? Relief. As I was finishing the book, I was filled with such an intense feeling of relief, I couldn’t express it any other way but tears.
If you’re as big of a fan of the "Infected" series and as invested in it as I am, you might understand why I was emotionally overwhelmed.
It’s been a hard, long road for Roan. All his life, he’s been told he’s a “dead man walking,” that he’s a freak, that he shouldn’t have survived for very long after his birth, and he certainly shouldn’t have made it into adulthood. Roan is the oldest known virus child in the "Infected" world. He defies all odds and expectations. He’s a pill-popping, self-proclaimed “sarcastic asshole.” If you put Roan through a trial by fire, he might come out a little singed, but he’ll also be stronger—and he’ll be giving you the finger and asking if that’s all you got.
Needless to say, I love him. From the very first book, I’ve been invested in Roan’s story like he was someone I knew in real life. So, when Andrea Speed—who knows what a big fangirl I am—offered me an ARC of "Epitaph" in exchange for an honest review, well, hell, no one could possibly have expected me to refuse, right?
Here we are at book eight. The official end to Roan’s story arc, not counting the prequel coming out in February. These books definitely need to be read in order. I don’t think they can stand alone. There are too many different threads and characters and too much backstory. If you jump into the middle of the story, you might be able to follow along since each book features a new mystery—usually several—but for maximum enjoyment, I’d suggest starting with book one.
How to review this without giving away spoilers, for both this book and the preceding ones, which are currently being rereleased by DSPP? I’m not sure, but I’ll do my best.
In this world, a werecat virus has changed everything. When you’re infected, you’ll turn into whatever big cat strain you were infected with (lion, tiger, cougar, panther, etc). These aren’t your ordinary shifters. They have a monthly cycle, but when they turn, well, they basically become animals. There is no rational thought, no empathy, no humanity. They become hunters, and as such, they need to lock themselves away whenever they enter their cycles so as not to go on a killing spree. Naturally, for a variety of reasons, the infecteds often get loose and start wreaking havoc—and that’s where Roan comes in. He’s strong, a veritable superhero in his own right. He makes other infecteds look like wee, helpless kittens—because he was born with the virus and something happened in utero to make him special. But, see, no one really understands what Roan is or how strong he might become. He’s literally the first of his kind, and so he’s writing the “how-to” guide as he goes along.
Roan is a former cop, current private detective. His sidekick is a former prostitute named Holden, his best friends are a mix of cops, hockey players, and EMTs, and he’s married to an artist/bartender. Over the last few books, Roan’s health has been getting worse and worse, even as he’s gotten freakishly stronger and stronger—even by his own standards. It doesn’t look like it’ll end well. Really, everyone keeps expecting that one day he’s going to either drop dead out of nowhere or go out in a hail of bullets. Because Roan can’t help himself. As sarcastic and cynical as he might be, as shitty of a childhood as he might have had, he still wants to save the world—or at least his part of it.
When tiger strain infections start showing up and killing people around Seattle, Roan is both horrified and furious. Followers of the series will know why. He needs to find out who is intentionally infecting people, in addition to a couple of other cases, but in the meantime, new symptoms are showing up every time Roan shifts, and he can almost hear his own death knell ringing. He knows if something doesn’t give—and soon—he’ll probably die horribly, leaving behind a hell of a lot of grief and anger. But how can he give up what feels like such an intrinsic part of his nature? What will he do with himself if he’s not investigating? But on the flipside, what’ll happen if the extent of his powers become known to the public? Nothing good. So Roan has to figure it out and make some decisions about his future and the life he wants to lead before it’s too late. But as with just about everything in Roan’s life, it won’t be that easy. Good thing Roan is such a stubborn bastard. ;)
I recommend this book for fans of the series, and to those readers who haven’t read it, if you’re a fan of shows like Supernatural or urban fantasy books, I’d suggest trying it out. There are romantic relationships, but these books are predominantly action/adventure mysteries. So, if you like your romance to be an undercurrent, not the primary focus, these might be for you. As always, this book was masterfully written, with Andrea Speed’s signature humor, emotion, and compelling characters. These books pack a punch, but if you’re anything like me, you’ll be captivated right from the start, and you’ll fall in love with Roan the way so many of the other characters do. He’s magnetic, even just on the page, and a character who will stick with me for a long time to come....more
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Archive | April, 2013
Voters Injured at Work (VIAW) is a non-profit, grass-roots organization that represents injured workers throughout the state of California. VIAW has a network of more than 10,000 working people in California who have suffered injuries at work, as well as their families. VIAW’s primary goal is to ensure that the Comp system provides sufficient treatment and resources to injured workers. Our economy and our families depend upon critical medical treatment and vocational services to return to the workforce. When the system disproportionally harms the injured worker we all lose.
VIAW is proud to sponsor Senate Bill 36 (Hueso), which would require that the Department of Insurance publish the annual and quarterly financial statements filed by workers’ compensation insurers on its website. This will increase transparency in the workers’ compensation system in California, an increase that is greatly needed. The solvency of some insurers has become a concern, and publishing these financial statements will help improve the public’s awareness of which, if any, insurers are in financial trouble.
Newest state senator Ben Hueso (D-San Diego), a strong labor ally, is already making an impact for workers and Californians hurt on the job in his first weeks of service in the upper chamber. Fresh from his March 12 special-election victory, Hueso on April 8 hit the ground running with SB 36 to ensure that quarterly and annual disclosure reports filed by companies providing workers compensation insurance in California get posted on the Web site of the state Department of Insurance. The bill is set for a hearing on April 24 in the Senate Insurance Committee.
California lawmakers and workers compensation regulators want to curb prescription opioid abuse, and they are turning to Washington state for inspiration in the fight against narcotic addiction and deaths.
Last fall, prescription drug abuse provisions were left out of a California workers compensation reform bill to help the legislation win passage, experts say.
Now that those reforms are being implemented, California is attacking opioid painkillers on several fronts, including new workers comp medical regulations and a push to boost funding for the state’s prescription drug monitoring program.
“There’s a lot of interest in the opioid abuse issue, which was not addressed in” the recently passed law, said Marjorie Berte, Western region vice president at the American Insurance Association.
California’s Division of Workers’ Compensation is devising new medical treatment guidelines similar to those used by Washington, sources say.
Dr. Gary Franklin, a neurologist and medical director for the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries, is advising the California workers comp division, but he declined to discuss details.
Dr. Franklin’s research and recommendations helped spur development of the Washington state medical treatment guidelines adopted in 2007.
After adoption, Washington saw a 23% drop in prescription painkiller-related deaths between 2008 and 2011, the latest data available. That compared with an eightfold increase in such deaths during the previous 10 years, according to a statement the Washington State Department of Health released in January.
Among other recommendations, Dr. Franklin says opioid prescriptions should be provided for a maximum of six weeks after an acute injury or surgery, and that nonopioid pain relievers should be used as a first line of pain management for nonacute cases.
“Give people the comfort they need, but make sure that they’re improving from what you’re doing,” Dr. Franklin said. “And maybe think about using opioids intermittently instead of increasing doses every day.”
Also, Dr. Franklin said states should require doctors to keep opioid doses at less than a morphine equivalent of 120 milligrams per day, a threshold dosage that could lead to opioid overdose if exceeded.
“There’s no way to stop this public health emergency unless you do something” about dosage, he said.
Dr. Franklin shared his thoughts last month during a joint hearing of the California Senate Labor Committee and the Assembly Insurance Committee.
During the three-hour hearing that focused on opioids in workers comp, California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones said California has no guidelines for the use or prescription of opioids. He said Washington state could serve as a model for guidelines being developed by California.
California could consider adopting a prescription drug formulary that limits the use of certain medications, if the pending guidelines aren’t effective, he said.
“This may be an acceptable approach in the case of some of the most powerful and risky types of opioids,” Mr. Jones said in a video of the hearing.
William Zachry, vice president of risk management at supermarket operator Safeway Inc. in Pleasanton, Calif., said he’s hopeful the Washington medical treatment guidelines will become the standard for opioid regulation in California and other states.
“I strongly believe that if California and the other states adopt the treatment guidelines that have already been established in the state of Washington, it will be easier for implementation throughout the United States to have just one set of guidelines instead of having (varying) sets of guidelines trying to control opioids,” Mr. Zachry said.
In addition to workers compensation regulatory efforts, a bill introduced in the California Senate in February aims to bolster the state’s prescription drug monitoring program and help identify problematic opioid prescriptions.
Another Senate bill on the table could go further to help curb opioid abuse in workers comp and California’s overall health care system.
Introduced in January, this legislation would require coroners to file a report when they think a death is caused by prescription drug use.
The measure the Senate unveiled in February would establish a state fund to pay for the Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System, known as CURES.
The database, operated by the California Department of Justice, allows physicians, pharmacists and other providers to see whether a patient already has prescriptions for controlled substances, before they issue a new prescription for such medications. The state’s pharmacists and clinics are required to submit prescription information into the database but doctors that dispense prescriptions from their offices do not.
However, the controlled substance review system may be taken down in July because it does not have an operational budget, according to a January report from the Oakland-based California Workers’ Compensation Institute.
That report estimated that California’s workers comp system could save $57.2 million in prescription drug costs by keeping the controlled substance review database running and allowing third-party payers to access it.
Institute President Alex Swedlow said the database could be a critical component of the state’s efforts to curb prescription drug abuse.
“Payers in workers comp have a very limited view about the total medications that are being delivered to the injured workers under their review,” Mr. Swedlow said.
Mark Sektnan, president of the Sacramento-based Association of California Insurance Cos., said the industry group hopes that the state will renew funding for the database and make the program mandatory for medical providers.
“Right now, it’s a voluntary program, so it tends not to be very robust,” Mr. Sektnan said. “So the information’s not very good. We need everybody to participate, and everybody needs to use the system.”
During last month’s legislative hearing, Mr. Jones said insurers have offered to help pay for the prescription drug database, if physicians are required to report when they dispense prescriptions through their offices, rather than through a pharmacy.
“I think that’s fair,” Mr. Jones said. “If employers are going to pay through their insurance premiums for CURES, we need to make sure that CURES is complete and robust and provides full information.”
WE PETITION THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO:Keep Knives Off the Plane.
Before the morning of September 11, 2001, the threat of using commercial aircraft as a weapon was unknown. At great cost, we know better today. The TSA was created because blades on airplanes were used to cause this deadly attack on U.S. soil.
There’s no excuse for reversal on the policy to ban knives from the aircraft cabin. Multi-layered security, including prohibition of items that could pose a threat, ensures U.S. aviation is the safest in the world. The ban on dangerous objects is an integral layer in aviation security.
Flight Attendants serve as the last line of defense in aviation security – responsible for ensuring the safety, health and security of the passengers in our care. Join us in keeping our aircraft cabin safe. TELL THE TSA TO KEEP KNIVES OUT OF THE CABIN.
Oakland, CA – The Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) and Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board (WCAB) have revised their Policy and Procedural Manual (PPM) and posted it on the WCAB website.
The PPM is an internal employee guide, prepared under the authority of the administrative director of DWC and the chair of the WCAB. The manual is designed to promote uniformity and provide direction to judges and other employees in the day-to-day operation of DWC’s district offices and the Appeals Board. It is also a resource for attorneys, claims administrators and other parties wanting information on the rules of court. Because it an internal document, the PPM is not subject to regulations, which require formal rulemaking procedures and public hearings.
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REVIEWS: 2010 Nissan Sentra SE-R
Nissan's Sentra SE-R is a bit of an anomaly as a bridge between the compact and sport compact segments. At 177 hp and 172 lb-ft of torque, it's at least 23 hp shy of being considered a true sport compact. Rather than a Honda Civic Si, the SE-R compares more closely to cars like the Mazda 3 and Kia Forte with their optional engines.
But it's not the relatively low power output that's most out of place here; the continuously variable transmission is what gives the SE-R a strange character. Revs climb quite slowly at full throttle, and if you keep your foot in the hole long enough, you'll experience the bizarre sensation of accelerating with the needle pegged at redline. There is a manual-shift mode that attempts to mimic a six-speed automatic transmission with steering-wheel-mounted paddles, but it's rather unconvincing. It appears that there aren't really six fixed ratios, but that an upshift will land in different rpm ranges based on throttle input. At times, for instance, moving from second to third at a decent speed moves the needle only 200 rpm. The ride isn't punishing, but the tuning is rather rudimentary. Bumps are damped linearly with quite a bit of suspension travel, making the car feel rather unsophisticated.
Nissan does offer the more appealing Sentra SE-R Spec V with a six-speed transmission and 200 hp, but even that car falls short of the 230 to 260 hp that is now the norm for cars like the Mazdaspeed 3, Subaru Impreza WRX, Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart, and Chevrolet Cobalt SS. Equipped with satellite radio, a small navigation system, and a back-up camera and priced at $22,600, our Sentra was an impressive value. Still, you can't help but notice that the SE-R Spec V starts at just $500 more than a base SE-R.
Eric Tingwall, Associate Editor
Eric described the Sentra SE-R pretty accurately, particularly his note that the CVT lends the car a very strange character. I must admit, though, that it was refreshing to drive such a peppy CVT-equipped car. But surely the SE-R would be much more enjoyable to drive with a manual transmission, whether with our test car's 177 hp or the Spec V, stick-shift-only edition's extra 23 horses. Unless your daily commute is darkened by constant gridlock, the Spec V's extra $500 would be money very well spent.
I also wasn't impressed with the SE-R's ride, which was quite rough on some of Michigan's worst frost-heaved roadways. The seventeen-inch SE-R wheels that contribute to the harsh ride are quite attractive, though. Otherwise, the SE-R doesn't look different enough to cosmetically stand up to the more serious sport compact players on the market.
Inside the car, the SE-R-specific cloth seats are attractive and comfortable, particularly after a long day of walking around the Detroit auto show in old dress shoes. Rear-seat and trunk space are deceptively large, too, making the Sentra a good small-family hauler.
Rusty Blackwell, Copy Editor
Enthusiasts will undoubtedly prefer the more powerful SE-R Spec V (especially since it adds a proper manual transmission), but for those who want some sporty flair in a daily driver, this may be your Sentra. The monochromatic exterior is attractive, the 2.0-liter plenty peppy, and although odd, the CVT does allow those who haven't mastered three pedals a crack behind the wheel. Better yet? Those in colder climates won't immediately have to spring for a new set of tires (the Spec V comes standard with summer performance rubber).
As Eric noted, our test car came relatively well equipped for $22,000 -- Nissan's iPod controls worked well, and I was very impressed with the display and interface on the company's new "budget" navigation system. An extra $3000 may buy a Volkswagen GTI -- and an extra heaping of power and sophistication along with it -- but those features will help push the price tag into the $30,000 realm. So long as you're not looking for a compact sedan that'll double as a track toy, the SE-R remains an interesting -- and relatively affordable -- option.
Evan McCausland, Web Producer
I agree with previous comments about the Sentra SE-R's somewhat strange powertrain, what with its CVT. When I drive this car, I am reminded that it is no early-1990s Nissan Sentra SE-R, a car that helped define the pocket-rocket segment in America and that was an absolute standout in its class both for its performance and its value. In fact, that car was so good, it was an Automobile Magazine All-Star for several years in a row. The current SE-R? Not so much.
I will say, though, that the Sentra SE-R has a well-tuned chassis, with a good balance of handling and ride and steering that provides decent feel and feedback. And it is indeed a bargain. And I completely understand why Nissan chose to equip it with a CVT transmission rather than a manual: the fact is, the vast majority of Americans under the age of 30 do not know how to drive a manual.
Joe DeMatio, Executive Editor
I find it a bit disconcerting that Nissan, a brand that staked its revival on building powerful, passionate vehicles, offers a sport compact so far behind the rest of the pack. As Eric notes, the 177-hp SE-R more closely matches the output of the non-Speed Mazda 3 and Kia Forte. This would be OK if the SE-R traded on refinement and value. It doesn't. True, there's a high level of feature content, but I don't see anything here that I couldn't get on a similarly priced 3, Forte, or Corolla, all of which leave the aging Sentra behind in terms of refinement. The CVT doesn't help here, as it highlights the big four-cylinder's buzziness at high RPM.
At least the SE-R drives pretty well. Steering is suitably quick and responsive, and the suspension maintains its composure under hard cornering. But once again, this is nothing that similarly priced, more recently updated competitors don't offer. I'm aware that Nissan now has a relatively fresh stable of small cars with the Cube and Versa, but the C-segment remains too important to ignore. I hope at some point soon we'll see a class-leading Sentra and along with it, a truly tasty SE-R.
David Zenlea, Assistant Editor
CVT transmissions are just fine, but not in a vehicle with any kind of sporting pretensions, like the Sentra SE-R. It does nothing for enthusiasts in terms of driving involvement. Sure, the paddle shifters help, but not enough. The SE-R can be a fun car with a manual transmission, but the CVT just numbs the entire experience.
As others have mentioned, engine power is lacking, interior quality and amenities need upgrading, and the exterior style is getting stale compared with its sport-compact competitors. However, steering is pretty tight and turn-in is quick and precise.
Overall the Sentra SE-R falls short in the pocket rocket category, though surprisingly, the price doesn't make up for that shortage. This particular test unit costs $22,600; that is $400 more than a base Honda Civic SI sedan and only $1000 less than a base Volkswagen GTI. It's also on par with a fully loaded Scion tC, a much more entertaining, if slightly smaller, car.
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Everyone who has owned a cellphone over the last 10 years should at some point pour one out in thanks to Cliff Kushler, one of the inventors of the T9 text entry system that knows you mean "DONKEY" when you type 366539 in an SMS. Now Cliff is smartly shifting his focus on touchscreens with Swype-a way to type…
»9/10/08 9:45am 9/10/08 9:45am
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But there were two talks in particular that I thought Nieman Lab readers might be interested in seeing, from America’s two top newspapers, The New York Times and The Washington Post. Both Andrew Phelps, an editor on the Times’ Story[X] newsroom R&D team, and Joey Marburger, the Post’s director of product, spoke about how they were using bots in their news operations.
Today, we’re publishing transcripts (lightly edited for clarity) of their two talks. Below is Joey’s talk; Andrew’s is over here.
Where basically, like, robots aren’t supposed to kill you — until they try to kill you. Hopefully, a conversational journalism won’t ever try to kill you.
So I developed basically three quick laws. But they’re they’re pretty spot on to the Laws of Robotics, which is: We don’t want to spread false information. It should follow what a human journalist tells it to do, unless the human tells it to spread false information.
We’ve done a lot of experiments on bots. And we’re very excited about it, because it’s this great, simple experience, and the technology is getting so much better for it: AI’s getting better. big data’s more accessible. So we knew we wanted to try a bunch of things and see what’s out there, because it’s kind of hard to have a ton of successes when you’re on the bleeding edge.
I’m going to go over three bots, which are kind of our favorites, but we actually have almost 100 bots actually. Like 99 percent of them are internal, though.
So this is our most successful reader-facing bot: It’s called the Feels Bot. About 30 days prior to the U.S. presidential election, if you opted into it on our politics Facebook page, we would message you in the evening and ask you how you felt about the election. And it was just five emoji responses, from super angry to happy — and we would curate all that. Then in the morning, we would show you a graph of how people were feeling.
We knew that we had to have a cadence in alerting people but not annoying people, because we had already built a bot for that. It was just a general news bot which didn’t do very well — which we figured would happen. Even though there are a billion people on Facebook Messenger, I don’t think anyone’s built a bot that has that many users.
So this was really fun to work on — and it was curated by a human. It had a low user account — like less than 10,000 people. But the engagement — meaning people actually answered the question every day for 30 days — was greater than 65 percent, because it’s simple. It asks you a simple question; it was a very charged election. And, you know, if you ask people how they feel, turns out they’ll tell you, which is great.
So we’d generate these social cards from it and highlight a few. Some of the best responses we’d share on Twitter, put them up on our site. We generated these little graphics out of it were really fun, and we did this every day for 30 days, which is a great exercise. Empathy is a powerful driver in conversation.
Another thing we call our Virality Oracle is a Slack bot in a Slack channel — a public channel inside the Post — that is powered by a really amazing algorithm from our data science team. From the second that a story is published, it starts monitoring it and it knows within the first 30 minutes of publishing if it’s basically going to be viral. (It’s really “popular” — “viral” is kind of a loaded word.) And it notifies the channel, so we can maybe go in and add something of the story, or start writing off of it a little bit. We get about three to five stories like this in a day. And then it also models out a 24-hour traffic window, and then the bot also emails us to digest, so we can see like the lifecycle of stories. This is really a bot as a tool — so it’s like a service bot or utility bot. It’s very handy.
So this is actually the data behind the bot, which I’m not going to go into in super detail. Our prediction model is taking in all these data points — this bot is just eating and gobbling up. We ran it for a long time, almost a year, for the machine learning to get really accurate. And we ran it on every story published — about 300 stories a day.
And we found we’d add in a new metric and it would get a little better. And now we’re at about 80 percent competency.
This is everyone’s favorite — the MartyBot. So Marty Baron is our editor, and this is tied into our publishing scheduling system called WebSked.
Whenever a reporter starts a story, they actually put in when they plan to publish it. So what is the deadline — which can always be changed. So if you’re behind, it will tell you: Hey, you’re either really close to deadline or you missed your deadline. It personally messages you — it doesn’t, like, shame in a channel or anything. And it’s really funny when it messages Marty — which I think has maybe happened once.
So this is a pretty cool thing too, called Heliograf, which is another way to think of a bot. It’s not a conversational bot, but it takes in data points from a feed and can basically craft stories very simple short stories, based on templates. Anybody every play Mad Libs? You know, put in a noun, pick an adjective, whatever? This is kind of what that does.
So we used this for the Olympics and for elections. We published a story on every single Olympic event, because of Heliograf. And then for elections, we posted a story on every single race in the U.S. on Election Night, and generated newsletters, generated tweets. We did all sorts of fun stuff from it. So it was a bot that was helping us do better journalism.
Audio bots are super, super huge right now. Amazon doesn’t call Alexa a bot, even though pieces of it inside are a bot. They like to refer to it as like it’s an operating system, as audio AI.
Our politics Flash Briefing was one of our fastest-growing products last year. We caught the wave just right — there’s a reason that the Echo is out of stock on Amazon all the time. They’re actually outselling a lot of their other hardware. Jeff Bezos, our owner, is personally driving this road map, which also gives you an indicator of how successful it is. And it’s super fun.
But what we’re thinking about bots and how it plays into your day-to-day life and your habit is: Bots can do very simple tasks. It shouldn’t do everything, because then you’ve got a lot of cognitive overhead, it’s a lot of work. Sometimes you don’t know what to ask a bot, other than, like, “What’s the news?” So we’re thinking about — the future’s here. You can build these things — and actually now there are a lot of tools, you can build them pretty easily. Amazon has a tool called Lex, which — point-and-click, you can build a pretty robust bot without any code. So the future is here, it’s just not evenly distributed — which is a quote from William Gibson, another science fiction writer. And I think this is super true for bots. Bots aren’t totally new — they’re just getting more accessible. It’s almost becoming a household name.
So we think bots can fill all these spaces between platforms — like, on different platforms, but also they fill in these gaps a little bit between things. A bot could notify you to catch you up on where you left off in a story while you were listening to it on the train into work. You sit down your desktop, and it’s like: “Hey buddy, here’s where you were in that story.” It like fills that space a little bit. This is what we’re starting to work on a lot right now; we’re calling it a handoff bot.
I remember bringing this up in the newsroom — nobody really understood it. “Why would we do this?” Especially when you do the first one and it gets like five people that use it — you’re like, “We got to keep doing it!” And it turns out that you learn a lot from experimenting. When things are really simple and really hard, it’s very attractive to a designer and a product person. So we’ll be we’ll be iterating on bots for a long time to come.
Photo illustration based on robot photo by Michael Dain used under a Creative Commons license.
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You shouldn't be able to stack multiple copies of BO abilities, even on separate officers. There's a few good reasons for this:
1) Many abilities that are totally fine and balanced when you have 1 copy become insane with multiple copies. Feedback pulse and reverse shield polarity come to mind. RSP has a huge cooldown, which makes it feel pretty balanced when you have one copy. You can get out of tight spots, but it's not always gonna be there for you. Multiple copies make you invincible to beam weapons. And if you're fighting a PUG, it's god mode.
2) It makes no sense from the standpoint of the ship doing something. All the officers are controlling the same ship. If the ship can only overload a torpedo once every 60s, I cannot fathom how telling the officer next to you to push the same button on the console would expedite that process.
3) Some abilities are just flat-out worse than other abilities. Aux to structural integrity field is worse than engineering team in pretty much every way. Right now, this is dumb. I can stack engineering team, so getting aux to structural is useless. If I can't stack abilities, those abilities that are flat-out worse just become a diminishing return system for stacking similar abilities.
4) There's no need for it. It homogenizes gameplay, and there's never a situation where you NEED to stack an ability.
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Stanford's Folding@home project, run by Vijay Pande, has tapped the processing power of 200,000 computers to simulate the structure of a protein that allows cancer cells to run amok. The work could assist the design of new drugs that specifically target this protein, thereby minimizing the side effects of cancer treatment.
By Bjorn Carey
L.A. Cicero
Vijay Pande and colleagues have tapped the idle processing time of 200,000 personal computers to simulate activation of a key cancer protein.
Once again, computer screensavers have flexed their muscles and solved a great mystery of biology.
For the first time, Folding@home, the Stanford-run program that taps the idle processing time of 200,000 personal computers to elucidate the three-dimensional shape of proteins, has simulated a protein transitioning between its inactive and active configurations.
The particular protein simulated by the research group, Src kinase, plays an important role in many cancers, and this work provides a novel opportunity for designing future drugs to combat its role in disease.
The study, which was led by senior authors Vijay Pande, founder of Folding@home and a professor of chemistry, structural biology and computer science at Stanford, and Benoît Roux, a professor of biochemistry and molecular biophysics at the University of Chicago, was recently published in the journal Nature Communications.
The general role of kinases is to act as an intracellular "molecular switch" that activates other proteins, enabling the cell to carry out its normal duties. Kinases play a particularly important role in regulating cellular growth. Cancer cells corrupt this process and rev up kinase production and activation, causing the cancer to grow and spread unchecked.
To date, there have been relatively few cancer drugs that have successfully targeted and inhibited kinases. The trick is to hit the disrupted kinase at the root of the cancer and to turn it off, without affecting many other similar kinases that are critical, for instance, to heart or kidney cells.
The Src kinase has a specific three-dimensional structure and, like many proteins, its entire structure reconfigures as the protein transforms between its inactive and active states. Scientists can determine the exact structure of these two states using a technique called x-ray crystallography.
These images provide the blueprints for researchers to design drugs that interfere with the protein when it is running out of control. Unfortunately, these two states are fairly similar across the kinase family, making it difficult to target only the kinases being exploited by the cancer.
On the other hand, while the various configurations that Src kinase takes during its conformational transition between active and inactive could prove useful, those short-lived states are nearly impossible to detect experimentally. But unlike x-ray crystallography, the simulations are able to provide a view of these intermediate conformations. These could prove useful.
"The intermediate states could be differentiable from other kinases," said Pande, a co-principal investigator at the Simbios Center for Biomedical Computation at Stanford. "We haven't proven it yet, but these intermediate targets might present the opportunity to design more selective drugs."
The program predicts these states by combining elegant algorithms with the brute force of the graphics processing units of 200,000 computers, providing more than 33 petaflops of processing power.
The algorithm knows only the protein's start and end configurations – the active and inactive states – and discovers the various ways the protein could rearrange itself to get from one end-state to the other. As it runs, certain transitions occur more frequently, increasing the likelihood that they are on the actual path the protein follows in real life. Once the simulation has run enough times, the scientists can identify, with statistical certainty, the most likely order and shape of the transition.
The next step, Pande said, is to conduct experiments that will confirm the existence of these intermediate states.
"If this is really correct, it's a piece of the puzzle that nobody had before," Roux said. "This is one of the first times that computation can give you something that you can almost not get from pure experiment. It would certainly shake things up from a drug development standpoint."
Pande thinks that this work indicates that Folding@home has become robust enough to move beyond just identifying protein structures, toward simulating how all sorts of molecular interactions occur. A strength of the program, he said, is the length of the calculations it can carry out.
Typically, a supercomputer can crunch out 100 nanoseconds, or maybe a microsecond, of continuous data simulations. By splitting the same work over hundreds of thousands of computers, though, Folding@home can compute a few hundred microseconds, as was the case with Src Kinase.
"If you row a boat from Europe to America, and you can only go a mile, you're never going to discover anything," Pande said. "But if you can get a few thousand miles off shore, you'll see something exciting and different from what you've seen before."
In addition to Pande and Roux, the study was co-authored by Diwakar Shukla, a postdoctoral scholar in Pande's lab and a Simbios fellow, and Yilin Meng, a postdoctoral scholar in Roux’s lab at the University of Chicago.
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Categories
New Product
ABOUT LOUIS VUITTON
Rich in paradox, contrasts and seeming opposites, Louis Vuitton continues to astonish us a century and a half after the company’s founding.
Traditional is a word that characterizes our company because of our long and proud history. At the same time we have also proved extremely innovative, modern and creative, updating our emblematic Monogram canvas with graffiti, for example, Creative turmoil is underpinned by professionalism.
Industrial methods let us make luxury products for the entire world, thanks to the skills of exacting professionals who retain the time-honored values and savoir-faire of true artisans.
French in our origins, we quickly became an international enterprise, opening our first store in England over a century ago. Today, we are the leading luxury brand in the world.
In 1987 Louis Vuitton became a subsidiary of LVMH, the world’s leading luxury goods group. Our company has taken full advantage of the many synergies generated within the group while retaining our identity and remaining faithful to our distinctive difference.
Our Businesses
Right from our origins as a trunkmaker, Louis Vuitton has always been a trendsetter, progressively developing a range of luxury products consistent with the brand’s values. This creativity entered an exciting new realm in 1998 when Marc Jacobs joined the firm as Artistic Director.
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In September, acclaimed poet Elizabeth Acevedo gave an inspiring performance at St. Joseph’s College.
A great poet named Elizabeth Acevedo came to St. Joseph’s College and did a great performance of her poems. Students and some of the staff were in the auditorium to watch the performance. We all grabbed some food and sat on the chairs that were organized for us in the auditorium. According to Elizabeth, she was the first person to go to college from her family, and all her poems reflected her feelings because they were based on her real life experiences and situations. Also, she shared a little bit about her personal life, she fell in love with a Black-American during her senior year of college. She told her mom about the guy and how he was getting an education at a business school and how he was smart and he would make her happy. At last, she gets married to him.
Acevedo discussed how her mom did not like the way her hair looked. Her mother used to tell her to straighten her hair and to look like an ordinary person, just like everyone else in the Dominican Republic. The last thing she said to her mother, when she kept on bothering her to fix her hair, was “You can’t fix what was never broken”. Her use of accurate and powerful words inspired me because she possessed a great self confidence. Moreover, she wrote a poem about her mom not liking her hair and posted it on Youtube, which one day her mother ended up seeing. Another poem was about her getting caught by her mom kissing on the train with the guy she was in love with. She then was ordered to nail rice as a punishment. Then there was the “Rat” poem, in which she described her fear of rats and the reason for this poem was her college professor. Another poem was called “Bittersweet love”, dedicated to the love of her life. The last poem was about the 2017 Presidential election in which she described and emphasized how she felt after the election. Overall, because I love poetry, I could totally tell how she put effort into writing her poems and that it was amazing to listen to with the dedication she had to herself.
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Six actors portray six personas of music legend Bob Dylan in scenes depicting various stages of his life, chronicling his rise from unknown folksinger to international icon and revealing how Dylan constantly reinvented himself.
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English: In South Africa, sheep enterprises play an important role as a source of livelihood for many farmers, especially smallholder farmers. The productivity of sheep farmers in South Africa is very low. The lack of ...
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2014 Oscars: Behind The Scenes With Our Styling Team
Rachel Zoe Studio’s whirlwind awards season culminated last night with the ultra-glam Academy Awards. How does our styling team prep for such a big occasion? The answer: spreadsheets, interns, pizza and enough gowns, bags and shoes to fill any Los Angeles boutique. Follow the team through their last-minute preparations for a glimpse at what goes on behind the scenes of this historic Hollywood event.
Photos: Jessie Webster
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1 of
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“During the week leading up to the Oscars our studio is filled with amazing gowns. We style our clients for the actual awards show as well as for the Vanity Fair after-party, which even more people go to."
1 of 19
“In addition to pulling gowns from the showrooms and having them shipped to us from abroad, designers will also create custom dresses for our clients. We love this process because it allows us to put them in something truly special that’s never been seen, let alone worn before.”
2 of 19
“Every client gets their own pre-packed styling kit, filled with everything from heel inserts and double-sided tape to fuzzy slippers for hair and makeup. We bring these kits with us so that we’re prepared for any last-minute fashion disaster and also to make sure our clients are as comfortable as possible on the red carpet.”
3 of 19
“It all started with just Rachel and now we’re a team of five, which is still relatively small considering how many jobs we have every week! While we usually divide and conquer, the Oscars is an all-hands-on-deck situation – we even hire extra interns to help us during this time. There’s just so much to do.”
4 of 19
“Alyssa and Lindsay, the two assistant stylists on our team, do everything from requesting and pulling accessories to organizing and assisting for client fittings. Both girls started working with Rachel as interns before joining the team full-time.”
5 of 19
“We literally pull over one hundred pairs of shoes in anticipation of the Oscars, and divide them into sections of at least two dozen pairs for every client. We keep every heel height, color and style on hand because we often won’t know which pair works until the very last minute.”
6 of 19
“While most of our clients will end up carrying a clutch or minaudiere in black or a metallic shade, we keep a range of bright colors in the studio for the occasional break from tradition and for the after-party looks as well. There are so many fun choices, it’s impossible to part with them.”
7 of 19
“What would we do without our interns! Our swat team of girls help us with everything from unpacking boxes and checking in items to organizing the styling kits for each client. They keep spreadsheets of everything coming in and going out of the studio so that every last earring and stiletto is accounted for. They’re the best.”
8 of 19
“While prepping for the Oscars involves lots of running around, there’s plenty of office work too. Gathering research and inspiration for a client’s look, collaborating with designers and brands over email and responding to requests from everyone under the sun keeps us pretty much glued to our computer and phone during the day.”
9 of 19
“During Oscars week (okay, month) we’ll order a lot of take out at the studio. From fresh salads and cold-pressed juices to fresh pasta and pizza, there are so many delicious options in West Hollywood. It’s the fuel we need to power through the long days and nights leading up to the big event.”
10 of 19
“Our team is all business but we also happen to get along really well, too. Since we’re a small team and we travel and work late together, it kind of has to be that way. This is not a 9-to-5, cubicle-style work environment where you can put on your headphones and be in your own world all day long.”
11 of 19
“When it comes to jewelry at the Oscars, our clients wear the best of the best. These pieces are so unbelievably stunning in person; it makes everyday jewelry seem so plain! We keep our options organized by style on trays so that we can look at likeminded pieces at one time.”
12 of 19
“When it comes to accessories, even though we make sure we have options, we also have a good sense of what our clients like and look good in, which helps with the pull. Knowing what dress she’ll be wearing also helps narrow down the options, but that’s a luxury we don’t always have!”
13 of 19
“We’ve been in our Melrose Avenue space for almost two years now. It’s very open with tons of light, which is important for being able to see color properly and organize the racks and stacks of accessories in any configuration. We also have black and white curtains for privacy and so that we can use our space for the occasional photo shoot.”
14 of 19
“It’s great when two people can go on an appointment together so that you can bounce ideas off each other and try on pieces together. We’ve learned to be fast on appointments; sometimes it will literally only take ten minutes to find what we need and we’re onto the next thing.”
15 of 19
“Jewelry can add so much to a red carpet look and there are endless combinations. We’ll photograph or memorize a few different ideas that we like in advance but just as often you’ll come up with something new at the client’s hotel room or house, about 10 minutes before she walks out of the door.”
Pictured: David Webb Jewelry
16 of 19
“While being a stylist isn’t always as glamorous as it seems, the job has its perks. During Oscars season we are treated to facials, champagne and other nice things. We don’t always have time for full-on spa sessions but it’s nice to relax and rejuvenate so that you look and feel on-point for your client during the chaotic days and hours leading up to the show.”
17 of 19
“Collaboration is super-important to what we do. We’re always talking to Rachel online if she’s not in the office and filling her in on the latest details and finds we’ve come across. She’ll give us notes before we meet up with the client for a fitting and come down for a run-through when we’ve pulled a lot of new pieces.”
18 of 19
“By the time you’re reading this, these gorgeous gowns will probably be packed up and sent off to the designers who loaned them to us! While nothing compares to the glamour that Oscars night brings, there’s always another campaign, editorial or event for us to get excited about and inspired by at the studio. Until next season!”
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Series:
The reception of Mediterranean Antiquity heritage is one of the dominant research areas in contemporary classical studies. This issue has constituted the scope of the conference Reception of Ancient Myths in Ancient, Modern and Postmodern Culture, which took place at the University of Łódź (Poland) in November 2013. The volume consists of the selected articles based on the conference papers. They are divided into the main chapters: Literature, Visual and Performing Arts and Philosophy as well as Anthropology. The authors consider different methods of reception of ancient myths focusing on various cultural phenomena: literature, fine arts, theatre, cinema and pop culture.
Chapter
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Extract
The origins of the ancient Homeric criticism are found in the era of the flourishing of archaic Greek lyric. The archaic poets perceived mythological tradition through the prism of the works of Homer and the authors of the Epic Cycle; while expressing admiration of the art of epic poetry, they also formulated two objections. They questioned the ethics of the portrayal of the Homeric gods as burdened by many moral flaws (Xenophanes), and voiced early doubts about the trustworthiness of the poetic message (Solon, Pindar). The beginnings of historiography brought the development of the Homeric criticism which concentrated on factual content. As historians rationally evaluating the reliability of their sources, Herodotus and Thucydides expressed doubts about the accuracy of the Homeric narrative. Around the middle of the third century B.C., works started to appear that ‘corrected’ Homer. While varied in form and content, such works all belong in the rather substantial category of ancient Schwindelliteratur. A specific tradition of Homer-correction on the subject of the Trojan war grew out of the early ‘Trojan monographs’ by Hellanicus of Lesbos and others, and evolved into entirely pseudepigraphic renditions; the first one was Troika, authored by Hegesianax of Alexandria under the name of Kephalon of Gergis. The Second Sophistic writers broadened ]Homeric criticism by introducing elements of parody, rhetorical flourish, and intellectual games, seen in such works as Trojan Oration (Or. XI) by Dio Chrysostom, the dialog Oneiros ē alektryōn by Lucian of Samosata, and Herōikós by Philostratus. A...
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We noticed that you're using an unsupported browser. The TripAdvisor website may not display properly.We support the following browsers:Windows: Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome. Mac: Safari.
Excellent location, best bed ever, perfect pillows, SUPER clean, friendly staff, large rooms, and a great breakfast. For less than the cost of a single room downtown, we had a two bedroom suite with a kitchenette. We fixed some of our meals in our room, and saved enough to pay for the nicer room. its worth it! We love Best Western in general- we will definitely be back to this one!
Room Tip: no Restaurant, Three televisions, free WIFI and it does have an office with computer and printer, as...
Stayed: December 2012, travelled with family
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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
It is a good location for us, because it is the closest Name Brand hotel near our relatives that we go to visit that live in La Vernia, Tx. The hotel had a few minor cleaning problems, but then we were there for a holiday weekend, so the regular crew may not have been there. We did have a very nice stay, even though we were put in a accessible room, which was smaller than other rooms (because the bathroom is much bigger than the other rooms, although we did not request one. There logic was we were staying for an extended period of time (5 days), so that was the best place to put us.
Stayed: November 2012, travelled with family
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Rupesh P, General Manager at Best Western Plus San Antonio East Inn & Suites, responded to this reviewResponded 6 December 2012
Thank you for your review and for choosing to stay with us! We hope you enjoyed your visit with your family. Cleanliness and guest satisfaction are two of our main priorities so I am sorry to hear that you came across a few minor cleaning problems. Front Desk staff are always happy to help with any issues and we always aim to correct these as soon as we are made aware of them. You may have been given the accessible room if that was the only room available in that type. If another regular room of that type had become available, we would have been able to let you know at your request. We will always do our best to accommodate your needs! I am glad that you had a very nice stay overall. We look forward to seeing you again!
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Excellent location, best bed ever, perfect pillows, SUPER clean, friendly staff, large rooms, and a great breakfast. We stayed in a king suite-dish out the extra money-its worth it! We love Best Western in general- we will definitely be back to this one!
Room Tip: Pay extra for the king suite!
Stayed: November 2012, travelled with family
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Ask liz_tridelta about Best Western Plus San Antonio East Inn & Suites
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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
Rupesh P, General Manager at Best Western Plus San Antonio East Inn & Suites, responded to this reviewResponded 27 November 2012
Thank you for taking the time to leave a review! It is so pleasing for the whole team to hear that you feel we are the “best indeed!”. We are so glad you enjoyed everything from the location to the breakfast. It sounds like you had a peaceful rest in our comfortable, clean, spacious rooms, which is what we want for all of our guests! Every staff member here has a part to play in making sure that your stay truly is the best! Thank you for staying with us and for your loyalty to our brand. We look forward to seeing you when you return!
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The hotel is not in the touristy areas of town, but is on I10 and to Loop 1604, so it's easy to get to those areas. The beds were very comfortable and they have a complimentary breakfast, so it fit all of my needs.
Stayed: August 2012, travelled on business
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Rupesh P, General Manager at Best Western Plus San Antonio East Inn & Suites, responded to this reviewResponded 27 August 2012
Thank you for your review! I am glad that you found the beds very comfortable and hope that you have a relaxing stay knowing that you can wake up to a free hot breakfast! Yes we are only over a mile away from the intersection of Interstate-10 and Anderson Loop 1604 on the East side, so you have easy access to many places. Downtown is just over 10 minutes drive, SeaWorld is around 25 minutes drive and Six Flags is about 30 minutes drive. I am pleased that Best Western Plus San Antonio East Inn and Suites meets your needs. Thank you for choosing us and see you again soon!
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Have stayed here many times and although the rate may seem a little high the value is there. Rupesh and all his staff are super friendly, accomodating and efficient! Immaculate, well appointed rooms, with super comfortable beds, flat screens tvs, comfortable chairs, ottoman, desk, and quiet A/C. There is a shuttle to take you to all the sights, $15 each way p/person and worth it! Oversize parking, guest laundry, small but super clean pool. Breakfast room has lots of seating. We will be back!
Stayed: July 2012
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Rupesh P, General Manager at Best Western Plus San Antonio East Inn & Suites, responded to this reviewResponded 27 August 2012
Thank you for your continued loyalty and for taking the time to share your experiences. All the staff here work to achieve a friendly and accommodating atmosphere, so that each guest can feel at home. The shuttle is available on request if booked ahead and within shuttle operating hours, currently for $15 each way to downtown contact the hotel for further information on 210-661-8669. We look forward to seeing you again soon!
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We've stayed here at least 4 times now when visiting San Antonio, the first time it had just opened, still looks the same. The lady @the front desk was very nice and helpful. The rooms have always been clean, the beds are comfortable. Love the pool and the back door is great. It's a little way out but no big deal and the breakfast is always good.
Stayed: August 2012
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Rupesh P, General Manager at Best Western Plus San Antonio East Inn & Suites, responded to this reviewResponded 27 August 2012
Thank you so much for your review and for your continued business. Our passion is to continually provide fantastic service and a clean and comfortable environment. I’m glad you were able to relax and enjoy the pool and breakfast. I hope you got to use the hot tub too! Getting to the local shops and restaurants is easy as there are plenty of places within 3 miles, and downtown is just over 10 minutes drive with immediate access to the highway! We look forward to seeing you again.
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I am a road guy , and was working in the San Antonio and Austin area, ,Family was with me in a room I thought was on points , (DID NOT WORK THAT WAY)
What is needed to know ,Price hotel , certainly one you do not need to walk around in the local area as its in a area that has very poor area. A few hotels and close to a industrial area.
What was good, close to the downtown area, Price is better than most, breakfast was ok. Lobby looks good , fenced area in the back for cars, not to sure of the securty , View ? depends on yout own thoughts ?
What was bad , not to clean in the upper floors , Rooms need cleaning , ac in my room was off and on in spite of my desire to have it run all night .
Would I stay here again , myself maybe, with the family no.
It is what it is.
Room Tip: San Antonio in the winter is good and you can stay well, summer you are going to pay big,
Stayed: July 2012, travelled with family
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* These guilds are no longer on the leaderboard. The score shown is the last recorded score when they were on the leaderboard and a scan was performed. It does not reflect their current value, and may not even be close!
* These guilds are no longer on the leaderboard. The score shown is the last recorded score when they were on the leaderboard and a scan was performed. It does not reflect their current value, and may not even be close!
* These guilds are no longer on the leaderboard. The score shown is the last recorded score when they were on the leaderboard and a scan was performed. It does not reflect their current value, and may not even be close!
* These guilds are no longer on the leaderboard. The score shown is the last recorded score when they were on the leaderboard and a scan was performed. It does not reflect their current value, and may not even be close!
* These guilds are no longer on the leaderboard. The score shown is the last recorded score when they were on the leaderboard and a scan was performed. It does not reflect their current value, and may not even be close!
* These guilds are no longer on the leaderboard. The score shown is the last recorded score when they were on the leaderboard and a scan was performed. It does not reflect their current value, and may not even be close!
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superant
formulated to represent knowledge updating and language production. The line of research taken in this paper is limited to a set of questions restricted to concepts and actions that can be used in modeling human language behavior. The Congruent Interaction Matrix model introduced here proposes virtual structures represented as matrices. The theoretical and practical value of developing this framework and set of algorithms is discussed, in order to create tools useful for modeling human communication interactions. Possible future research studies and applications are suggested. The development of these tools could have future implications for human and machine communication analysis and production.
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Results
Sources Experts & Spokespersons
Fame & Fortune, published by Sources, features awards, fellowships and scholarships available to Canadian journalists. For each award, information is provided about the eligibility requirements, the deadline for application...
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Ibrahimovic wins MLS Goal of the Year award
CARSON, CA - MARCH 31: Zlatan Ibrahimovic #9 of Los Angeles Galaxy celebrates after scoring a goal in the second half of the game against the Los Angeles FC at StubHub Center on March 31, 2018 in Carson, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images)
Zlatan Ibrahimovic won the Major League Soccer’s Goal of the Year prize on Tuesday for his debut LA Galaxy goal in March
The Swedish striker came on as a 71st-minute substitute for his Galaxy debut on March 31 against Los Angeles FC.
It took Ibrahimovic just six minutes to get on the scoresheet with a remarkable strike from 40 yards – his first-ever strike for the club.
The former Manchester United star then capped off a brilliant debut at the StubHub Center by heading in a stoppage-time winner to complete a comeback 4-3 win for Galaxy.
Ibrahimovic said after the game: “I heard the crowd saying ‘We want Zlatan, we want Zlatan,’
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Bengali in Kashmir
If areas around Indian railway tracks (at least in the north) are the dominion of Shahi Dawakhana and Hakeem Sahib, then area around Indian roadways are the dominion of Dr. Bengali. Why the roads? Is it the truckers and the soldiers? Maybe. More baffling is the question why the areas around railway tracks? Is it the coach driver? Anyway…
In Jammu city you are more likely to see ads for and expect help from Dr. Malhotra. But, the area along the highway to Kashmir is again under the monopoly of Dr. Bengali. Advertisements offering guaranteed cure for unmentionable diseases and unlimited power over unforgivable weaknesses appear all along the road to Kashmir. All along the road their limp message, effective design, snazzy coloring and generous appointment hours(actually a whole day) with the "Dr" hardly change. The frequency of their occurrence is rather high around Udhampur district as here you can't look away from them as almost every third shop has these ads painted on their walls.
What I didn't expect was to see these ads in Kashmir valley. However, I came across them even along the way to Gulmarg.
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Popular posts from this blog
Some people recall the faces and some people recall the names. Here are images of some of the famous readers and presenters of Doordarshan down the years. If you recognize any of them, leave a comment.
[Update 1: Most of the faces now have names thanks to helpful comments by olio-gallimaufry]
[Update 2: Included image of one of the earliest presenters, Gopal Kaul. Send in generously from personal collection by son, Ashutosh Kaul. Sept, 2010.]
[Major Update 3: Got a tip-off about a documentary about the famous faces of Doordarshan from the makersof“The Golden Trail , DD@50 :Special feature on Golden Jubilee of Doordarshan” from which these caps were taken. I managed to catch the incredible documentary and am adding some more faces/name and part of the docu here. New ones can be found after the image of Narotam Puri. 30th Oct, 2010]
He put a cigarette in his mouth and, as a matter of silent routine, offered one to Gwyn, who said ‘No thanks.”Richard looked at him.”I packed it in.”"You what?”"I stopped. Three days ago. Cold. That’s it. You just make the life choice.”
Richard looked up and inhaled needfully. He gazed at his cigarette. He didn’t really want to smoke it. He wanted to eat it. Almost the only thing that he still liked about Gwyn was that he still smoked…Paradoxically, he no longer wanted to give up smoking: what he wanted to do was take up smoking. Not so much to fill the little gaps between cigarettes with cigarettes (there wouldn’t be time, anyway) or to smoke two cigarettes at once. It was more that he felt the desire to smoke a cigarette even when he was smoking a cigarette. The need was and wasn’t being met…
While it would always be true and fair to say that Richard felt like a cigarette, it would now be doubly true and fair to say it. He felt like a cigarette. And he felt like a cigaret…
*Updated with corrections pointed out by Bart Plantenga, author of some incredible book on Yodeling including Yodel-Ay-Ee-Oooo: The Secret History of Yodeling Around the World.
-0-
Kishore Kumar's brother Anoop Kumar, who we basically know for the line 'O manu tera toh hua ab mera kya hoga', used to own lots of Austrian music records. And from these records, Kishore Kumar picked up the art of Yodel singing, an art perfected in bathroom and then introduced by him to the world of Hindi film music. According to his biography 'Kishore Kumar: method in madness ' by Derek Bose, "Kishore was a fan of the Swiss singer Tex Norton [* Tex Morton, an Australian cowboy born in New Zealand who sang in the gene autry / Jimmie Rodgers style] and the Australian Jimmy Rogers [*Jimmie Rodgers, perhaps the most American and one of the most famous yodelers in the world, famous for his blue yodels] as well."
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Keep Learning
Selected clips of CVM TV programs have also been uploaded on the company's YouTube channel. News@Noon has a live stream at 12 noon Mondays through Thursdays. News Watch is aired Sundays through Fridays at 8 p.m. On Saturday nights, the network airs News & Sports.
CVM TV was incorporated in Kingston, Jamaica in July, 1990. It was named after the major shareholders Community Television Systems Limited, Videomax Limited and Mediamix Limited. It broadcasts 24 hours of scheduled programming each day of the week.
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They welcome the opportunity to meet with you in their office to go over your plans or ideas. If you prefer they can come to your home or place of business. All estimates are free of charge.
They will assist you in the planning and design of your new home, remodel or addition. You are not limited to using their plans or designs. A number of their homes and additions have been designed by others.
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Protecting the honey producing industry in Wisconsin
Improving marketing for Wisconsin honey and bee products
Supporting educational programs and promoting awareness
Providing resources for Wisconsin's beekeeper community
Whether you’re a beekeeper, thinking of becoming one, looking to buy local honey,
or just curious about the importance of bees in our ecosystem, the Wisconsin Honey Producers Association is here for you!
Latest News
Ian Steppler is a 3rd generation farmer in Miami, Manitoba Canada. Nearly 10 years ago his brothers, parents and family restructured the family farm into a company and have since expanded into large grain, cattle and beekeeping operation. Ian bought his first 4 hives...
WHPA issues a Best Management Practices for Varroa mite control in Wisconsin. Beekeepers from hobbyist to commercial scale are challenged by controlling Varroa mite infestations in their colonies. This document is intended to educate Wisconsin beekeepers on factors to be considered when choosing methods to control mites as well as give a brief biological sketch of the mite.
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Walter, What's A Pederast: Today In New Jersey High School Sports
In the lovely burgh of Belmar, New Jersey, St. Rose High School Baseball Coach Bartholomew McInerney is in a bit of hot water. Seems the ol' ballcoach has been encouraging his players to choke up. On their privates. Then text him about it. Shudder.
The Spring Lake Heights resident is accused of offering to pay male students, ranging in age from 15 to 17, for performing sexual acts on themselves and encouraging them to send him text messages describing the act.
"In some the cases the boys were actually paid on numerous occasions for their messages,'' Gerhardt said.
Oh, come on. There's gotta be an explanation for this. Since when have coaches ever taken advantage of the boys and girls they're charged with leading? They're upstanding beacons of heterosexuality. Right attorney, Charles Uliano?
"There are health teachers who do that every day in school where they talk about various forms of sexuality,'' he said.
But he said his client did not break the law.
"Bart McInerney is a good man,'' Uliano said after court. "He did not violate the law and he's not guilty of these charges."
Oh, of course. He just wanted to talk to them about their health. These kids are lucky to have someone that cares so much. To me the more pressing question is how did someone named Bartholomew McInerney build a time machine to escape from the Wild West and commit these crimes here in 2008?
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Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Albanian imam: "We would die for America!"
I was riding around today in the front seat of an Albanian friend's Yugo when he stopped outside village mosque to get out and greet his uncle, the imam. The imam wanted a ride into town, so he folded his tall frame into the back seat of the Yugo. He was older than me and at least as tall as me, so of course I offered to get in the back, but I knew full well that their code of hospitality would never allow such a thing.
The imam was carrying a two liter Coke bottle full of fresh milk, which he had obtained for his family's iftar (the evening meal to break the daily fast during Ramadan). "My nephew tells me your American," he said. "I'm going to give you this milk. Make sure to boil it well. We Albanians love America. We would die for America!"
I laughed and said, "I'shallah (God willing) it never comes to that!"
We had a good time on our ride into town. He hardly let me get a word in edgewise, but I enjoyed listening to him as he told me stories of suffering for his faith during the Communist years and his five years of study in Saudi Arabia. Of course I had to endure a bit of a lecture about the superiority of Islam, but that was ok too. He mentioned that the Koran endorses the Inxhil (Gospel), Tevrati (Pentateuch), and Zeburi (Psalms), so I asked him if he had ever read the Gospel, and he admitted that he hadn't. I pulled a New Testament out of my book bag, and he graciously accepted the gift.
I woke up in the middle of the night thinking about his words, "We would die for America." He probably didn't mean to be taken literally, but I do believe that behind the boast was a deep and sincere gratitude for the help American has given to the Albanian people for the last hundred years or so. As an American citizen I can't help but be touched by the love and respect that most Albanians feel toward my country.* On the other hand, I'm aware that my home country like every human institution is fallen and therefore deeply flawed.
What about me? Would I die for America? Of course nobody knows what he would do in the moment of decision, but believe that I would be honored to die for the Gospel. I'm pretty sure that I would be willing to die for a member of my family. I hope that if it came down to it I would even be prepared to give my life for a stranger -- American, Albanian, Serb, Iraqi or whatever. But there's no way that I would willingly give my life for any nation-state.
*This is true of the vast majority, but not of everyone. I heard an Albanian radio station here claiming that it was the Jews who brought down the Twin Towers.
2 comments:
Greater love hath no man than this, that he should lay his life down for his friends. -- John 15:13
The only reason I'm serving in the military (the only reason that outlasted boot camp, that is) is that God gave me the opportunity to do so. In that case, I trust God not to let me die without it giving Him glory, and if I were captured, would make a bigger deal of being a Christian than an American.
Wow Mark, you have grate stories to tell, and I know that one can learn a lot from them. I hope that not only you but no one will ever come to that point were he/she has to give their lives for someone or for some matter. If it came to give life for Christ, I will never say that I would or wouldn't give my life. One of the reasons is because I am from flash, the other one is if ever come to that point and I don't stay true to my word than I would be a sinner. But I admire your attitude, I pray that God will bless you and your family. You have been a grate shepherd, brother, pastor, father to me. Even though, you are not my father, I've always considered you as my father. God bless you.
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Thursday, October 14
That's life
Oct-14-2010
Waiting at the petrol station for my turn, i was sitting in my car and listening to the radio. Suddenly a Beamer stopped along side me and i started day dreaming. How much i loathed sitting in a car that costs almost 1/10 of a beamer. Then, an old man arrived on his scooter. He had a perenial smile on his face, highlighting that he still brushes his teeth regularly {i wonder those were real or artificial}.
It was a long line and the staff at petrol station was working slowly, cars moved at an infinitesimally slow speed. My eyes kept on ping ponging from Beamer to scooter. Old man was pushing his scooter everytime a car in front of him moved out and the beamer was just gliding smoothly. I could see sweat dropping from old man's forehead while cool air from my car's AC kept the temp. under control. I turned to have another look at the beamer and saw the guy sitting inside. He was wearing a collar on his neck {i believe he had spondilytis}, had wrinkles on his face and the lines on his forehead deepened as he shouted on the phone.
Automatically, my mind started comparing old man to this guy. The guy in beamer would have been around 35 yrs old but looked paler in comparison to the old man. Then at three parallel pumps, staff started filling fuel in my car, the beamer and old man's scooter. I paid the bill by card and watched the old man search his pockets for every possible sign of money. He fondled his pockets until he took out every note, he counted the money twice and grinned before paying his bill. Then he started kicking his scooter{no push start }, cars behind him started honking and he had to manually push his scooter few feets ahead.
The beamer sped off, the guy in car still shouting on his mobile phone. I moved forward and parked my car to observe the old man. He must have kicked his scooter 30 times but no luck, every now and then he would manually push his scooter few feets ahead {i wonder whether that was to give way to others or because he was embarassed}. I wanted to get out of my car and help him but could not get out of my car. I am a mechanical engineer but i don't know shit about scooters. I requested god to help him but i think god also failed in automobile engineering ;) {no pun intended..god i am sorry...i love u..}.
Then the old man started pushing his scooter towards a mechanic who was sitting in a small shop outside the petrol station. The smile from old man's face faded and mechanic's face started beaming....i got to know that smile is infectious....
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Jarrell Miller’s promoter says Anthony Joshua has the “ball in his court” as the American heavyweight remains interested in a New York fight in 2019. Britain’s unified champion continues to assess options for his next title defence, with a Wembley rematch against Dillian Whyte in April on his shortlist, while ‘Big Baby’ Miller is another potential opponent for a US debut at Madison Square Garden in May.
Miller is also yet to announce his next fight, despite talk of an appearance at the same venue on a January 18 bill, which is topped by Demetrius Andrade’s WBO title defence, and his co-promoter Dmitry Salita expects to hold further talks with Matchroom Boxing boss Eddie Hearn about the Brooklyn man’s next career move.
“Jarrell is the best American heavyweight, and has always expressed his interest to fight Joshua, so the ball is in his court,” Salita told Sky Sports. “This is one of the biggest possible fights in boxing for 2019. If it happens at Madison Square Garden, it would bring back the heavyweight memories of Mike Tyson and Riddick Bowe, the boxing greats from Brooklyn, New York.
One of the biggest heavyweight fights in Madison Square Garden, literally and figuratively. “Jarrell grew up in Brooklyn, it would be a huge event in New York. One of the biggest heavyweight fights in Madison Square Garden, literally and figuratively.”
Miller recently attended Dillian Whyte’s rematch win over Derek Chisora at The O2, and Salita believes the outspoken 30-year-old is building his profile on these shores. “I know that Jarrell loves the UK fans and the rich culture of boxing there,” he said.
“There are some great heavyweights, a lot of big fight possibilities across the pond for him. He is forming a great relationship with British fans and media. Every time he is there, the relationship gets warmer and stronger, so yes it was a great trip.”
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Monthly Archives: February 2016
Guide to Calculating Child Support in Maryland If you are in the midst of disputing a child custody case in Maryland, it is more than likely that the court will determine child support as well. As experienced attorneys, one of the most common questions we encounter from clients is how Maryland child support is calculated in such matters.
How Does Divorce Affect Retirement Accounts for Federal Government Employees? If your spouse is a federal government employee, you may be entitled to division of the marital portion of your spouse’s retirement benefits. Generally, federal government employees have both a Thrift Savings Plan and Federal Employee Retirement System Pension (FERS).
How Does the Division of Retirement Accounts in Maryland Divorce Work? When couples separate, there is often an issue regarding how retirement will be distributed. Generally, in Maryland, retirement assets which have accrued during the course of the marriage are marital property. At your final divorce trial, the court has the authority to equitably divide retirement assets, regardless how such assets are titled. So how are retirement assets in Maryland distributed?
Understanding Maryland Mutual Consent Divorce Requirements On October 1st, 2015 a new law went into effect that allows some parties going through a divorce to potentially avoid proving fault grounds or establishing the twelve month separation period. The new Maryland “mutual consent” grounds require that the parties have an agreement that resolves all issues arising out of their marriage, that the parties have no minor children in common, that neither party moves to set aside the agreement, and that both parties appear at the final divorce hearing.
Disclaimer: Submitting a contact form to request a free consultation does not establish a lawyer/client relationship. Further, visitors to this website acknowledge that information presented here is not to be construed as formal legal advice.
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From the 70es of the 19th century to the first years of the 20th century, Gottlob Frege defined a logic with first and second order concepts (now called "predicates") that would become the archetype of predicate logic as it is known today. In 1901, Betrand Russell defined in Frege's logic a second-order predicate "applying of itself" and expressing a property that cannot exist. This definition is now known as "Russell's Paradox". Russel's and Frege's view was that the existence of such a paradoxical definition ruined Frege's logic. Russell proposed his Theory of Types that, by requiring a predicate of order n to apply only of predicates of orders strictly smaller than n, preclude predicates that "apply of themselves" and therefore prevents paradoxes like Russell's paradox.
This talk first observes that predicates that "apply of themselves" are widespread in computing from relational databases to meta-programming to knowledge representation. An adaptation of the syntax and Herbrand model theory of Ambivalent Logic is introduced, a logic tolerating predicates that "apply of themselves", proposed by Jiang and Kalsbeek in 1994.
Observing that in Ambivalent Logic, paradoxical definitions like that of Russell's paradox are possible, this talk then stresses that this is the notion of a model theory, introduced by Kurt Gödel in 1930 with his doctoral thesis, that makes it possible for us to accept inconsistent definitions like that of Russell's paradox that for Russells and Frege were unacceptable.
Finally, this talk briefly describes a research agenda towards designing and implementing a logic programming language based on Ambivalent Logic.
François Bry, born 1956, works since 1994 as professor with the Institute for Informatics of Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich, Germany. His current interests include declarative programming, human computation, computing in finances and economics, technology enhanced learning, and ethics of computing. Before joining the University of Munich, he worked from 1985 to 1993 on deductive databases, logic programming, and automated reasoning at ECRC (European Computer-Industry Research Centre), Munich, from 1982 to 1983 on statistic databases at the research center IRT (now INRETS) in Paris, France, and he contributed from 1979 to 1981 to the development of a text processing system at Transac-Alcatel (now Alcatel) in Paris, France. He received a doctoral degree in mathematics in 1981 from the University Paris 6 Pierre et Marie Curie, France.
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In case you haven't heard, NXT held a four man tournament to see who would performer with WWE stars at Wrestlemania in the Andre the Giant memorial battle royal. In the first round, Finn Balor defeated Tyler Breeze, while Hideo Itami defeated Adrian Neville, a strong favorite to win. Itami then defeated Balor in the tournament final. Unfortunately for him, though, the front office moved the battle royal off the main card.
It was long rumored that WWE was going to use NXT performers at Wrestlemania before the front office decided to load up the Andre the Giant memorial battle royal with known wrestlers on the main roster. Well, it has now been revealed that one of the spots will be given to a developmental wrestler. During Axxess, a tournament will be held with Adrian Neville, Finn Balor, Hideo Itami and Tyler Breeze to determine the spot filler.
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Top 100 for local food promoter Locavore
Nuala Naughton
Social enterprise Locavore is celebrating two landmarks with its inclusion in the Small Biz 100 and being awarded Living Wage Employer status by the Living Wage Foundation.
The organic store in Strathbungo joins small business from around the UK as part of the Small Business Saturday initiative launched in Scotland last week, encouraging people to shop locally with independent businesses.
Reuben Chesters, managing director, said: “It’s fantastic to have been selected. As a social enterprise all about buying locally and supporting a sustainable local food economy, Small Business Saturday is a great fit. I think small businesses and social enterprises in particular deserve more support.
“We’re delighted also to have been award the Living Wage Employer Mark which recognises that we now pay all our staff at least the living wage of £7.85 per hour.”
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Just back from Bozava where we spent 10 fantastic days in apartment 3. To paraphrase Agnes the view from the balcony is beautiful, away from the buzz of the harbour and you will spend hours staring at the stars looking for shooting stars. The hosts are great, very friendly and always happy to help. Thank you Nicola and Luka for a very tasty good bye fishy treat. Bog! 🙂
Nathalie & Pawel
Having spent four nights last week in apt number 2, can only recommend.
Very nice place, with gorgeously peaceful view from balcony where one wonders what a pleasure it is to live in Europe..
Wonderful beaches around without masses of tourists!
Extremely nice hosts, well done the brothers, keep up the nice job!
Agnes and Thomas 😉
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F Controllers
F60
AN EVOLUTION OF ENGINEERING EXCELLENCE
Kawasaki has incorporated its 50 years of experience as a robot industry leader into the development of the most technically advanced controller available. The E Controller combines high performance, unprecedented reliability, a host of integrated features and simple operation all in a compact design.
DATA DOWNLOAD
Features
Industry's Most Compact, Lightweight Design
Component integration and size and weight reductions, as well as component layout optimization, have resulted in an approximate 77% reduction in size and 72% reduction in weight for a much more compact overall design. This enables installation in 19-inch racks, stacked installation and other such arrangements,
greatly reducing the space required for controller installation. Furthermore, the low 8.3 kg weight makes it easier for a single employee to carry the unit around.
(The above figures are comparisons between the new F60 and the previous E7X series of controllers.)
Energy Savings
Regenerative energy produced via robot operations is reused to cut down on energy loss, and redesign of components and control reduce electricity consumption by the control circuit. These improvements and others result in a total energy reduction of approx. 10% *1 and contribute toward greater overall energy savings and lower CO2 emissions.
*1 : in our standard motion pattern using the RS010N robot
Universal Support
Formerly, there were different controller specifications to support the respective standards of Japan/Asia, Europe, and the U.S. Now, functional safety technology has been employed to adopt a common safety circuit. The new controllers have common global specifications that support the standards of every country.
Excellent Extensibility
・ The optional Bluetooth interface enables connection using tablets without the need for additional settings/customization
・ Possible to connect to a maximum of four 32-channel I/O units for remote I/O
・ Possible to include external motor control amplifiers for up to two axes and Cubic-S safety monitoring function * 2 inside the compact cabinet
*2 : The cabinet will be partially expanded for Cubic-S.
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China Electric Heating Exhibition 2013 which organized by Winner Exhibition Services Co.,Ltd and supported by industry departments will be held in Shanghaimart from Mar 15 to Mar 17, 2013.
Prepared 550 booths with 10,000 sq.m, ChinaEHE2013 will be a comprehensive platform for electric heating industry at home and abroad showing, cooperating, trading and developing. The organizing committee elaborately builds industry trade fair with strong support from the industry leading departments, positive response from the industry, a high degree of recognition from the market and a wide participation of the masses, who aims to inject new vitality and create new opportunities for prosperity and development of the electric heating industry.
ChinaEHE2013 will become a multiple stage for global industry professionals that there will be a wide range of exhibits including Flexible heaters, electric heating tube, hot runner, explosion-proof electric heater and complete heating equipment for the oilfield chemical base, covering civil use electrothermal tube, industrial electric heating equipment and all alloy electric heating material. You can share your technology and experience, carry out trade talks and explore forefront technology here. ChinaEHE2013 aims to be NO.1 exhibition in global electric heating industry with inviting 500 Global Buying Groups, 2200 Counterparts Buyers and high quality professional buyers.
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Papers shed light on huge fraud case
Feds have no hope of getting money back
OTTAWA -- The federal government has quietly abandoned any hope of getting back millions of dollars misappropriated by a former public servant, newly released documents show.
A Public Works employee stationed in the German city of Koblenz transferred $3.3 million of government money into three personal bank accounts. The employee made 18 transfers to banks in the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium between April and June 2004.
Details of the multimillion-dollar fraud from nearly a decade ago are only now coming to light after The Canadian Press obtained briefing notes, memos and other documents under the Access to Information Act.
Public Works identifies its former employee as Sean Banks, who was the senior accounts payable clerk in Koblenz. He turned himself in to German police in June 2004 and spent part of a six-year prison sentence there before being deported to the United States in 2007.
"It was discovered that payments were processed without authorization and that the mandatory financial procedures had been bypassed," Public Works spokesman Pierre-Alain Bujold stated in an email.
'Taking costly collection measures in the U.S. against such low-value assets is not justified'
An accomplice, Manfred Josef Hendriks, spent two years in a German jail, the documents say. Claus Burg, a suspected third accomplice, was never found.
Public Works opened an office in Koblenz, which serves as its European headquarters, in 1957. The office mostly deals with military procurement for National Defence. Each year, it issues some 900 contract documents and does about $170 million in business.
Since Banks was caught, Public Works has made changes to the Koblenz office.
"To prevent such frauds, the department has since implemented administrative changes such as moving payroll functions from the Koblenz office to Canada," Bujold wrote.
The documents do not describe how Banks managed to transfer millions of dollars into European bank accounts over a three-month span, nor do they explain the role of any accomplices.
Public Works says Banks used a false identity to open bank accounts.
"The judgment in Mr. Banks' criminal trial indicated the identification used to open accounts in the name of Claus Burg was fictitious," Bujold said in an email.
Banks was deported to the U.S. and flown to New York in November 2007, the chief public prosecutor in Koblenz said.
The Canadian government launched civil suits against Banks in 2004 and Hendriks in 2007. So far, the government has managed to recover only $358,000 -- or around 10 per cent -- of the misappropriated money.
Public Works hired a debt-collection agency in January 2011 to track down Banks in the United States. After more than a year, the collection agency found him but determined Banks had few assets.
The collection agency told Public Works that Banks lived with his partner in a home valued at US$43,000.
Searches failed to turn up any money stashed in domestic and offshore bank accounts, nor did the agency find any cash in places such as Germany, Switzerland, the Cayman Islands and Saudi Arabia. Banks did not appear to have a valid driver's licence or a job, the documents say. Based on Banks' meagre assets, Public Works stopped trying to collect money from him.
"The department has also taken all necessary measures to inquire about the financial situation of Mr. Banks and about the possible collection measures that could be taken against his assets," says a memo to the deputy minister.
"The department has been informed that the total value of Mr. Banks' personal assets is very small (i.e. less than US$45,000). Taking costly collection measures in the U.S. against such low-value assets is not justified.
"For all of these reasons, we submit that due process has been followed by the department for this file. No further actions will be taken."
You can comment on most stories on winnipegfreepress.com. You can also agree or disagree with other comments.
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You can comment on most stories on winnipegfreepress.com. You can also agree or disagree with other comments.
All you need to do is be a Winnipeg Free Press print or e-edition subscriber to join the conversation and give your feedback.
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Sunday, 16 July 2017
Roger Federer became the first man to win Wimbledon eight times and extended his record to 19 Grand Slam titles with victory over Croatia’s Marin Cilic.
The Swiss third seed won 6-3 6-1 6-4 as seventh seed Cilic struggled with blisters on his left foot and broke down in tears during the second set.
The 35-year-old finished the contest in one hour and 41 minutes to claim his first Wimbledon title since 2012, thus cementing his place in the very fabric of the All England Club by becoming the only man to win an eighth Gentlemen’s Singles title.
With the victory, Federer now move past both Pete Sampras and William Renshaw, who each won seven titles at the grass-court major, for the most men’s titles in the history of the event first held in 1877.
“I always believed that I could maybe come back and do it again. And if you believe, you can go really, really far in your life, and I did that,” Federer said. “And I’m happy I kept on believing and dreaming, and here I am today for the eighth. It’s fantastic.”
“It is cruel sometimes,” Federer said of Cilic’s physical difficulties.
“But Marin fought well and is a hero, so congratulations on a wonderful tournament.”
With 19 major titles, he extends his lead over Rafael Nadal in the men’s game to four, and now stands joint-fourth on the all-time list with Helen Wills Moody, five behind Margaret Court on 24.
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WEBVTT APPEAR IN JUST HOURS.SERA?SERA: ANTOINETTE, THE WOMAN SUFFERED MULTIPLE STAB WOUNDS AND THEN DROVE HERSELF FOR ABOUTA MILE BEFORE SHE WAS FOUND OUTSIDE A CHURCH IN HANSON.TODAY HER EX-BOYFRIEND, MARIO FACHINNI, WILL FACE A JUDGE FOR ALLEGEDLY STABBING THE VICTIM SATURDAY MORNING.POLICE SAY IT HAPPENED AT THE PLYMOUTH STREET BEACH IN PEMBROKE, BUT THE WOMAN WAS FOUND IN AN S.U.V. OUTSIDE THE CALVARY BAPTIST CHURCH IN HANSON.SHE DROVE HERSELF AND CALLED 9-1-1.THE VICTIM WAS FLOWN TO A BOSTONHOSPITAL WITH SERIOUS INJURIES.FACHINNI IS SET TO BE ARRAIGNED TODAY FOR ASSAULT TO MURDER AS WELL AS ASSAULT AND BATTERY WITH
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I suddenly seem to be on a bit of an emotional rollercoaster right now, and on reflection it’s largely to do with the imminent restructure at the library. An awful lot of the stresses and insecurities from the last period of job upheaval have bubbled up to the surface, which is a pain, and it’s prompting all kinds of fears that I’m struggling to keep under control.
Every little thing that normally isn’t an issue is suddenly prompting a catastrophising cascade of fear and panic and self-recrimination and so needs a hefty WHACK of reality check to put it to one side. Frankly, it’s exhausting.
It’s fair to say that it is making me a bit grumpy at the moment. I came a hair’s breath from cancelling last night’s game because I was feeling stressed from a crappy day and feeling I didn’t have enough material prepared.
I didn’t cancel, and we had a good session that has set up a good recurring villain that may become something of a thorn in the group’s side.
So, to anyone who knows me personally, in whatever capacity or emotional context, thank you for bearing with me. Please tell me if I’m being unreasonable, a pain, or taking something completely the wrong way (I will especially appreciate the latter)
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Top Trump adviser arrives for talks in Israel
Ahead of a joint dinner at Netanyahu’s Jerusalem residence, John Bolton said that “the Iran nuclear weapons programme, the ballistic missile programmes are right at the top of the list” of global challenges. “I’m delighted to be here, and look forward to our discussions,” he told Netanyahu in a video released by the Israeli premier’s office.
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Welcome to Delilah's Black Book of Poems. This is Draco's war story. And it is as sad and complicated as his character. It is set in this grand magical world created by the brilliant J. K. Rowling. All inspirational credit to her. All gratitude to Jay, creator of this site, where lowly writer's dreams become reality. To those who have nominated this story for the Dobby Awards, yes, the tables have turned. It is you that have made me cry.
Dark Whisper
A very tired and bored Draco Malfoy sat in the cold luxurious Malfoy Manor on Christmas Eve alone, except for the house elves that stayed in their quarters, of course.
Draco’s mother had left him a note saying how deeply sorry she and his father were to be absent on Christmas Eve.
He learned early in life not to question or ask for reasons why they left to go about doing who knows what. And even though she mentioned his father being sorry, no doubt, Lucius Malfoy couldn't care less about Christmas.
He had ruined Christmas for them long ago after what he did when Draco was seven years old. Nine years later, Draco glanced at the enormous Christmas tree, absent of any gifts. But then he quickly turned away from it, blocking the memory before it could rear its ugly head.
He sighed as he sprawled out onto the sofa in front of the warm fireplace, his long body taking up the entire length of it. His eyes looked up to a beautiful and exquisitely painted mural high above him on the ceiling.
It was a depiction of a gorgeous witch wearing a dark green flowing gown and a banner that read, Purus Cruor, the Latin translation for Pure-Blood. Her white-blonde hair flared out in all directions as she held a single crystal prophecy ball. Her large black pet, a majestic Norwegian Ridgeback Dragon, surrounded her, protecting her family’s pure-blood future.
He had always admired it for its meticulous detail and stunning beauty. But he slowly grew tired of the mural’s message as a certain mudblood female with fiery wit entered his mind and refused to leave.
He had been pondering her for months and it was no mystery to him as to why he wanted her. She was forbidden. That fact alone enticed him the most. That and her long hair and the way she would run her fingers through it in an attempt to tame it on windy days. He imagined running his own fingers through it someday, or rather pulling it in playful frustration.
Draco had come to discover that if someone is accustomed to having his way and is refused one thing, eventually it’s that one thing that he will crave most. And in spite of the exceptional consequences, this undeniable craving of his came in the form of Hermione Granger.
He recalled the countless times when he was caught staring at her. Her sensing of stares from a distance was as sharp as blade. So when her eyes would meet his, he wasn’t like most, as he never looked away. If there ever was a staring contest master champion, it was Draco Malfoy.
His eyes would lock to hers sending her nonverbal messages. But judging her expressions, he was only confusing her.
He recalled the time when she spoke in boldness, which had him confessing a truth to her.
“Honestly, snake, I can't tell if you loathe my very existance or if you want to kiss me," she had glared, full of confidence.
“I most certainly loathe your very existance and I want to kiss you," he teased with a deep sinister laugh as if he were only joking.
“With your forked tongue? Ugh,” she reacted as if she were only half disgusted.
“I find you cute, Granger,” he had admitted. “Is that a crime?”
“It is in your family,” she replied hotly as her cheeks flushed four shades of red.
Mudblood or not, Hermione had become adorable in his eyes and he couldn’t help but think of her, especially at times like this when he was mindlessly bored... and lonely.
As he continued his stare into the mural on the ceiling, he abruptly noticed something different about the witch hovering above him. She was now glaring at him in disgust as if she were fully aware of the tempting betrayal crossing his mind.
“I make a promise to you now, witch. When I gain full control of this place, your Purus Cruor banner will change,” he voiced with disdain.
“Something on your mind, Draco?" a voice above him asked with intrigue.
It was the enchanted portrait of Draco’s grandfather, Abraxas Malfoy, that hung above the fireplace.
“Have it your way then.” The white-haired old man reacted with seeming indifference as he closed his eyes. “And sweet dreams, Grandson,” he added.
Draco’s thoughts quickly went back to Granger’s smile and how she had giggled almost uncontrollably at a bit of revenge he had taken on a fellow Slytherin student, Cole Devlin, secretly on her behalf.
The kid had it coming. Normally Draco didn’t care when bullies were doing their thing; knocking people’s books out of their hands on the way to class, scattering papers everywhere. He knew they would never have the audacity to mess with him, so in general, he didn’t care.
But when he witnessed Granger fall victim to Devlin’s antics, Draco performed as expected. He laughed cruelly at her discombobulated circumstance and stepped over her, not bothering to help. But he quickly decided that he couldn’t very well let Devlin get away with messing with his Granger.
So in the quiet of that same night, Draco secretly brewed a potion that ate the glue clean from the bindings of all of Devlin’s books. So when every page mysteriously fanned to the floor uncontrollably as he opened them in class, it was Devlin’s turn to be humiliated. And because there were too many of his victims to count, not a soul felt sorry for him.
Draco recalled how Hermione had giggled with delight in seeing the Slytherin crawling on the floor in embarrassment trying to pick up the mess. Her sweet laughter had caused her eyes to squint and she actually placed her forearms across her belly and doubled over in hysterical giggling.
When she finally was able to gain some control, she spoke breathlessly.
“Seeing that, just made my day. It serves you right. Someone finally got you, Devlin. And if I ever find out who did it, I shall thank them properly.” She dabbed at her eyes, catching her happy tears caused by the hilarious spectacle.
Seeing the smile on her face and the sparkle in her squinted eyes made it well worth it, even if it meant going against a Slytherin comrade. Draco didn’t do it to rid the school of the menace. He did it for her and he found great satisfaction in performing his gooddeed.
He thought of how cute she looked at the end of the last school year as she tripped over her trunk trying to get it onto the train’s baggage car. Her face was flushed in frustration and he was considering stepping out of his Slytherin character in chivalry, but before he could, she whipped out her wand and levitated it into place instead.
Draco imagined what it was like at her Muggle house at Christmas. Probably a tree spilling over with gifts, perfectly straight, whitened teethy grins, and the place reeking of peppermint candy canes.
He wondered what it would be like if she were there with him. It wouldn’t be so lonely. He thought of how fun it would be to argue with her over something petty and then spend the remainder of the evening making up. Oh, the unlimited ways he could make her blood heat to a boil.
He thought of what he might give her for Christmas, if she were his. The thought was preposterous, of course, and not to mention a complete waste of time. But he already knew what it would be. The Malfoy family library had a rare out of print book called Delilah’s Black Book of Poems that he knew she had wanted since they were Third Years. The ancient magical book hid dangerous curses within the text, which caused the Ministry of Magic to ban it.
Short of beginning to hallucinate her presence, he finally grew tired enough to fall into a deep sleep.
But it was short lived as the Malfoy Manor’s over-sized grandfather clock began loudly chiming its solemn midnight song. It abruptly woke him and he was about to stupefy it to silence, when he noticed a familiar shadowy figure standing beside him.
“Grandfather!” Draco abruptly sprang from the sofa, alarmed. “Did I die in my sleep or did you figure out a way to step out of your portrait?”
Draco didn’t speak. Instead, he stood and poked at his grandfather’s upper arm to see if he was really there or if he was ghostlike. When it was solid, he took a step back.
“Relax, Grandson. I’m here to show you a few things is all.”
“What things exactly?” Draco questioned cautiously.
“Things that were, things that are, and things that could be.”
“You mean like that stupid Christmas Carol story? You can’t be bloody serious. I must be dreaming... or I fell off the couch and bumped my head.” He started toward the stairs to escape the illusion, but his grandfather had other ideas.
The old man’s wand came out and a spell went flying. Instantly, Draco’s body involuntarily froze like a statue. After a moment, Abraxas walked up to Draco slowly, his cane tapping rhythmically on the floor.
“Have you forgotten who you are talking to?”
It came out as a slight warning as Draco realized, indeed, that he’d forgotten who this man was. He wasn’t just an old man in a portrait. This was Lucius’s father, a man fully capable of being just as cruel. Draco had a good relationship with him when he was alive and they always had lively conversations. But as good as their relationship had been, the old man Malfoy demanded respect from the younger.
He released the spell and let Draco respond.
“My apologies, Grandfather,” Draco sulked, knowing he was stuck; stuck with whatever the old man wanted to do. “Show me what you must.”
The house grew warmer then and the place lit up with color as it use to when Draco was a child. He looked then at a tow-head blond child sneaking under the huge Christmas tree to shake and rattle his presents in an attempt to find out what he was getting. Like all children, he couldn’t help but be curious.
Draco stood there in disbelief. He was looking at himself as a seven year-old boy. His favorite pet, Stella was beside him. The dog was always his shadow and Draco adored her.
She was a jet black stray mutt that had roamed the manor grounds looking for food and at their first chance meeting, she’d given Draco more affection, attention, and love than any human ever had. With much begging, it was finally his mother, Narcissa who convinced Lucius to go ahead and allow Draco to keep her.
Stella kept him warm in his cold room by sleeping beside him every night. She had to sneak in of course, because Lucius would forbid his son to sleep with a mangy dog. But somehow she managed to always get away with it and Draco loved the pitiful looking thing for going against his father’s wishes and cuddling with him anyway.
Draco started wearing all black clothing then, because Lucius would complain about all the black dog hair all over his clothes. He figured if he wore all black, then his father wouldn’t notice Stella’s shedding so much. And it actually worked.
They were inseparable friends and Stella didn’t seem to mind when he would pretend that she was a fierce and firey dragon. He would take out his toy wand and cast imaginary spells and she would play dead like a good slain dragon.
But Stella wasn’t just his furry companion and friend, she was also his protector.
“No. Not this. Why of all things would you show me this blasted dark memory?” Draco protested.
By now, Draco’s adorable little seven year-old bare feet were sticking out under the tree, revealing what he was up to.
“Draco, get out of there now!” Lucius shrieked at the boy from a foot away.
He tried to escape his father by crawling further into the tree and against the wall, but it was too late.
With one hand he grabbed the child’s ankle and viciously yanked him from under the tree, holding him upside down. The other hand was raised high and about to come down hard on Draco. But Stella leaped up and grabbed hold of his arm, sinking her canine teeth into Lucius’s flesh as deep as she could whilst twisting her head violently and growling ferociously.
Little Draco was abruptly dropped with a thud as his father winced and cursed loudly in pain as the dog tore into his forearm; streams of deep red blood dripping...
“Stella. No!" young Draco ordered.
The dog reluctantly followed her master’s orders and released her hold.
But as she did, Lucius’s wand came out and a second later, Stella was dead.
Seven year-old Draco went into shock witnessing the horrific scene that was now forever engraved into his mind. His beloved dog had been pushed back by the deadly curse’s blow and was now dead, lying under the Christmas tree amongst the very presents that he was trying to get a peek at just a moment earlier.
His mother ran in to see what was going on then gasped in horrified disbelief.
"Lucius, how could you do such a thing?” she yelled at him as young Draco stared at his dead dog.
“Do you not see my blood running down my arm and onto the rug?" he spat at her. “I should’ve done the deed months ago when it began growling at me. Worthless mutt.”
When his parents left to tend to the wound, little Draco noticed his father had left his wand on the floor. Without thinking too much, he picked it up, even though he knew he was never permitted to do so. He was only allowed to have toy wands.
He bent down and crawled under the Christmas tree, shoving dozens of presents out of the way. He held the wand over the dog and calmly but firmly repeated every healing spell he could remember his mother saying.
He tried the one she used when he fell down the stairs and bruised his pointy chin and his little ribs.
When that didn’t work, he tried the one that healed him when he fell from one of the apple trees on the manor grounds, slicing open his knee. He tried a couple more spells, but nothing worked.
Desperate, he tried the Reparo spell that could fix his broken toys, but that didn’t work either.
When Draco couldn’t think of any other healing charms, tears welled up so much that he could no longer see through his watery eyes. He began to cry as quietly as possible, afraid his father would hear.
Giving up on healing spells, little Draco carefully, lovingly, snuggled up close beside his beloved dog and buried his tearful face into her soft black fur.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I’m sorry,” he sobbed into her with his little boy voice. “I just wanted to look at the presents.” His tiny body shook with grief as his little seven year-old heart broke on that fateful Christmas Eve.
Draco cried himself to sleep under the tree with her by his side, but awoke in his bed the next morning. When he realized Stella wasn’t there, he remembered the sad reality. His father really had killed her and she really was dead and that it hadn’t been a nightmare. It had really happened.
He felt his tiny heart sink inside of his little boy chest where an aching pain had started. He noticed a strange feeling deep inside as his stomach did flip flops. His body shook uncontrollably and he thought he was going to get sick, but he didn’t.
And for the first time, little Draco didn’t run down the stairs to tear into his gifts on Christmas morning. Instead, he stayed in his room and grieved over the loss of his best friend.
Narcissa went up to his room to coax him out. The only thing that worked was her telling him that the house elves had taken care to make his favorite breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes and hot cocoa, both topped with whipped cream. Thinking of the elves working so much, he finally made his way down the stairs and into the kitchen, avoiding the Christmas tree and its deadly memory.
Every gift went unopened that year. He told his father the only thing he wanted was his dog back.
“The Avada curse is not reversible, son. It’s a good lesson to learn now while you’re young. I can’t bring her back, even if I wanted to. But I’ll get you another dog if you want. A pure-blood this time. One that’s smart enough not to turn on its owner.”
“I don’t want another dog. I want Stella!” he had yelled back through tearful eyes.
And when they filled the manor with gifts the following year, they couldn’t get him to open a single one that year either. They ended up opening them for him and showing him all the wonderful things that other kids would die for. But he wasn’t the least bit interested.
“Alright, Draco, I apologize. Is that what you want me to do? Beg you for forgiveness?” Lucius quipped uneasily. “That dog attacked me.”
“She was only defending me,” Draco replied quietly.
“My arm still hurts occasionally and I have permanent scars from her vicious teeth puncturing my skin. Have you no concern for your own father?”
Draco hoped his father’s arm would hurt for the rest of his life.
When Draco said nothing, Lucius remarked, “You ungrateful brat. Do you even know what we had to go through to get you all of this?”
But Draco didn’t care. He responded with the shoulder shrug of indifference. He felt no happiness in any of those material things. He felt only bitterness... and guilt. After all, it was his own curiosity of those very gifts that got his dog killed. And now he wouldn’t be remotely interested in any Christmas gift ever again. So much so, that they eventually gave up on him and stopped buying Christmas gifts altogether.
That’s why there were none under the tree now, nine years later.
“Why did you show me this?” Draco's voice choked with emotion. “Do you think I’d forgotten about it?” he snapped.
“Draco, I show you this because it is time to forgive yourself and your father for what happened that night.”
“He killed her because he was in pain. She attacked him. You must forgive him. He didn’t mean to emotionally scar you in the process.”
“But he did, didn’t he? The man is malicious in everything he does.”
“That’s not true. He sincerely apologized to you and was remorseful.”
“He half-heartedly apologized and then turned around and justified the killing, just as you did.”
“And you’ve been punishing him and your mother by ruining nearly a decade of Christmases with your stubbornness ever since.”
“Deservedly so,” he scowled.
“I may be an old man living in a portrait now, but don’t think I don’t know that a dark war looms. I want you to think about that for a moment and ponder the thought that this might very well be your last Christmas with them.”
“And that’s supposed to make a difference to me now?” Draco replied, his voice dripping of utter contempt.
“Come with me, Grandson. I’ve somewhere else to show you. A place that also has no presents under their tree as well, but for an entirely different reason.”
With a sigh, Draco plopped his hand on the old man’s forearm.
“Any place but here,” he agreed rather sadly as they apparated away to a certain Burrow and into a house full of nine red heads amongst some brunettes and a blonde or so.
Author's Note:Poor little seven year-old bare-foot Draco lost his best friend on Christmas Eve. ;(Thank you to so many for giving this story a chance. The dream sequence is only the first 3 chapters of this sad, heartfelt story.Thank you for reading.Dark WhisperCredit: "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens ~1843.
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Getting an integer with only using getchar()
This is a discussion on Getting an integer with only using getchar() within the C Programming forums, part of the General Programming Boards category; I need to get an integer number with only using getchar() and without pre knowing the number of digits in ...
Read in a character. if it's a digit, process it; if it's not, you're done.
Presumably you know how, if you already have 6, and then you see a 4, how to (numerically, not in terms of strings) turn that into 64, and then turn that into 644 when another 4 comes in, etc. (If not, look up "place value".)
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It’s hard to convey the pain of a migraine to those who are fortunate enough not to suffer them. Compounding things, many sufferers get no relief from, or cannot tolerate, commonly prescribed or over-the-counter pain medications. Now researchers have shown that applying a mild electrical current to the brain via electrodes attached to the scalp can prevent migraines from occurring and reduce the severity and duration of those that do occur.
According to the Migraine Research Foundation, thirty-six million Americans suffer from migraine, with 14 million of them experiencing chronic daily headaches. Although existing brain stimulation technologies can help relieve a migraine that is already underway, the fact that chronic migraine sufferers can have over 15 attacks a month and the equipment is heavy and unwieldy makes treatment difficult.
While some techniques that stimulate deep brain regions require brain surgery for the implantation of electrodes, the new approach relies on transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), which only requires a strong connection between the skin and the electrodes. It is currently used to treat some psychological disorders, in the motor rehabilitation in stroke patients, and is safe, portable and easy to use. It might also improve your mathematical skills for up to six months.
A team, including Dr. Marom Bikson, associate professor of biomedical engineering in CCNY’s Grove School of Engineering, Dr. Alexandre DaSilva at the University of Michigan School of Dentistry and Dr. Felipe Fregni at Harvard Medical School, found that repeated tDCS sessions reduced the duration and pain intensity of migraines that did occur by an average of around 37 percent.
“We developed this technology and methodology in order to get the currents deep into the brain,” said Bikson. “If it’s possible to help some people get just 30 percent better, that’s a very meaningful improvement in quality of life.”
According to the team’s computational models, tDCS delivers a therapeutic current along the brain’s pain network, a collection of interconnected brain regions involved in perceiving and regulating pain. The team says the technology seems to reverse ingrained changes in the brain caused by chronic migraine, such as greater sensitivity to headache triggers.
The improvements accumulated over the four weeks of treatment, with the effects lasting for months. The only side effect reported by the test subjects was a mild tingling sensation experienced when receiving the treatment. Professor Bikson says a patient could potentially use the system every day to ward off attacks, or periodically, like a booster shot.
“You can walk around with it and keep it in your desk drawer or purse. This is definitely the first technology that operates on just a 9-volt battery and can be applied at home,” said Bikson, who envisions the future development of units as small as an iPod.
The team now plans to scale up clinical trials to a larger study population on the path to hopefully developing a market-ready version of the tDCS in a few years.
The team has published the results of their recent study in the journal Headache.
Darren's love of technology started in primary school with a Nintendo Game & Watch Donkey Kong (still functioning) and a Commodore VIC 20 computer (not still functioning). In high school he upgraded to a 286 PC, and he's been following Moore's law ever since. This love of technology continued through a number of university courses and crappy jobs until 2008, when his interests found a home at Gizmag. All articles by Darren Quick
I have used tDCS for the treatment of chronic pain for the last 4 years. Beside reducing the severity and frequency of migraines, tDCS is effective for the relief of chronic daily headaches. In addition, cathodal tDCS can relieve acute migraine. This mechanism is probably similiar to the effect of tDCS to reduce epileptic seizures.
tDCS is especially effective for treatment resistant depression and complex regional pain syndrome. Because of the safety, ease of use and low cost of the tDCS device, home use is a viable option. Also, this facilitates longer and more effective protocols.
James Fugedy 1st May, 2012 @ 07:41 am PDT
The migraines I suffer are as minimal as anything that can be called a migraine but that said. Were do I go to get this!
Slowburn 1st May, 2012 @ 09:13 am PDT
This would be a great device. My migranes incapacitate me for up to three days, which consists of sleeping upright and walking the house for all hours of the night. If I had one of these I know I could become more productive on a daily basis. I'm glad they finally invented a device to stop the pain.
Tom Crombie 1st May, 2012 @ 12:52 pm PDT
i have used the transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulator for more than a decade using the technique described by dr. julian kenyon of uk for more than 91 disorders. it works for me and also with others. is this the same as tdcs? thank you
automotive concerns 1st May, 2012 @ 09:08 pm PDT
The website www.transcranialbrainstimulation.com provides information about tDCS and its clinical applications, as well as, links to other pertinent sites.
tDCS utilizes direct current to produce effects. TENS (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation) uses alternating current. Only 2 frequencies are really effective for producing pain relief with TENS, 2 Hz and 100 Hz which affect the opioid receptors. Any other frequency merely provides a distraction. TENS is not recommended for use above neck, but recent studies have used TENS devices to stimulate the vagus and trigeminal nerves (of the head and face) to relieve anxiety and epilepsy.
James Fugedy 2nd May, 2012 @ 09:55 am PDT
James,
Is this being used in the U.S.? Are you currently getting treatment at a doctor's office, outpatient facility, or hospital? From the material I've found, it seems the portable unit is not in use. Are they officially using tDCS for treatment of migraines or just chronic pain?
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HEARTBROKEN friends and family have paid tribute to a popular student killed in a road crash in Birmingham describing him as a “handsome, polite, funny, kind and caring person”.
HEARTBROKEN friends and family have paid tribute to a popular student killed in a road crash in Birmingham describing him as a “handsome, polite, funny, kind and caring person”.
Pedestrian Ashley Ebanks was fatally injured in a collision with a black cab on Smallbrook Queensway, near the junction of Hurst Street, in Birmingham city centre, in the early hours of Sunday.
Police officers fought to save the 22-year-old West Bromwich man after coming across the scene while on routine foot patrol.
Paramedics took him to hospital where he later died of his injuries.
The student had been enjoying a night out with friends and was making his way to the nearby Oceana club when the tragedy happened shortly before 1am.
Hundreds of friends have paid tribute to Mr Ebanks on social networking site Facebook.
Kiran Kaur wrote: “You were always there for me and always made me laugh. I never got the chance to say thank you. So thank you Ashley for making me a part of your life and being a true friend. I feel truly blessed.”
Priya Dharni wrote: “You were the sweetest guy I knew! I was blessed to know you and will cherish every moment we spent together.”
PC Chris Blount, from the force’s Collision Investigation Unit, said: “This was a serious collision in which a young man lost his life.
“It’s important we find out exactly what happened by piecing together the moments before the collision and immediately after. To do this, we would like to hear from anyone who was in the area at the time.”
The road was closed for almost six hours to allow specialist collision reconstruction staff to examine the area.
The taxi was taken away from the area for examination. The 35-year-old driver was questioned over the tragedy. Police said he had not been arrested.
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Natalie West
Transit
2013
Natalie West's Jupiter Transit 2013 horoscope
There will be a strong influence from others to help Natalie West create more personal security in having Natalie West's material needs met. Money will definitely be coming Natalie West's way and will greatly influence Natalie West's personal beliefs, dreams and philosophies. Natalie West will get recognition of Natalie West's merits by the government and higher authorities. Natalie West have a friendly nature, and feel very comfortable enjoying the group dynamics of different social scenes; Natalie West may get disturb a bit due to health ailment. Personal transformation is far more appealing than outer changes.
Natalie West's Saturn Transit 2013 horoscope
The period opens with a difficult phase in career. A dip in activity & opportunity will be experienced, although there could be rise in irrelevant activity in career. New investments or risky deals should be avoided as there could be chances of losses. It will not be advisable to commence new project or make new investments. Natalie West should avoid getting aggressive with Natalie West's superiors. It would be better to use Natalie West's own skill and caliber other than thinking of taking help from others. Possiblity of theft or loss of money due to some other means is also there. Take proper care of yourself and Natalie West's family members. Natalie West may also receive bad news regarding some one’s demise.
Natalie West's Rahu Transit 2013 horoscope
New investments & risks should be totally avoided. There could be hurdles & hassles during this period. If working as a professional, the year will see progress, but only if Natalie West work hard and keep a long term & stoic attitude. There would not be no shortcut to success. Natalie West should work on keeping a stable and steady nature for better results. Work environment could be stressed and erratic as the year opens. Natalie West should avoid new progress or high activity during the period. Health problems may not permit Natalie West to keep Natalie West's promises on the positive side of this period. Health needs a check and problems due to fever is most likely.
Natalie West's Ketu Transit 2013 horoscope
If in a job, the year will begin very aggressively .There will be dynamism & growth. However work environment will remain stressed and there could be controversy & issues with superiors. In general this period is not very good as very close associates, friends and family members may appear distant. Not much change is expected or recommended. Natalie West's attitude and habit of using foul language may create tensions with Natalie West's near and dear ones. Therefore, try to control Natalie West's words.
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{
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
}
|
This release is a fully free Ubuntu 9.10 derivative that includes extra software, better multimedia support, more translations and a faster configuration. For this release we used Ext4 for the root filesystem and XFS for the home one, to have a balance between speed and usability. Some important features include a much faster boot process and the ability to encrypt the home directory. All packages were updated, including:
Linux-libre kernel 2.6.31
Xorg 7.4
GNOME 2.28
OpenOffice.org 3.1.1
Mozilla based Web Browser 3.5
You can find the 32 and 64 bit installable Live CD images in the download section, along with the source code and torrent files -which you can use to help us by seeding the isos-. Talking about help, you might like to lend a hand in our wiki, hunt and fix some bugs or start hacking with us on our next release, the second in the LTS branch, and the most promising ever!
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{
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
}
|
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