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Modding News
The Wrench – October Edition
Hello squaddies,
Welcome to the October edition of The Wrench, if you are just joining us since we launched Squad then you should know that The Wrench is a highlight of just some of the amazing work that modders are creating using the Squad SDK.
If perhaps you're interested in getting involved with modding within Squad, you may want to join the Squad Modding Discord, and if you are already working on a new mod and want the community to learn more about it, consider submitting it through this form so we can showcase it in a future Wrench article.
Without further ado, let's get into showcasing these fantastic modifications:
Springbok – South African Border War: Operation Savannah
Some more progress on Springbok's Buffel for the South African Border War: Operation Savannah mod. This asset will also be re-used for the African Union faction mod being developed simultaneously by Springbok as many assets between the two are interchangeable.
The South African Defence Force Buffel entered service in the SADF in 1978 as a countermeasure to SWAPO's mine warfare. This was one of the first effective mine-protected vehicles to enter the service of the South African Army during the Border War. It can fit 11 troops inside including the driver.
The Buffel was often armed with a single M1919 pintle-mounted machinegun or an FN MAG facing forwards. There was also the option to have a second machinegun mounted facing the rear. The African Union Buffel will be painted white with AU inscribed in black on the sides and rear. It will also have a DSHK mounted instead of an M1919. The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) the post-Apartheid SA Army will not have the Buffel as it was phased out in the early 90's to be replaced with the Mamba mine-protected vehicle which is a vast improvement over the Buffel.
The low poly textured Buffel model is missing the OM352 Mercedes engine, spare tire, and more. The high polygon model has them included but I have not yet made the low polygon versions of them in time to be included in this Wrench.
TheColdEye – Topographical/Contour Maps are Here!
Do you want to place the perfect TOW fob on a mountain peak in Kohat Toi, and rain hell across the map, but you can't find a peak on the map? Or perhaps you want to place a sneaky radio & HAB in a small ditch near the objective but don't know where to drive to?
* Queue "Billy Mays Here!" *
If this sounds like you, then these detailed contour maps will solve your planning problems instantly.
These contour maps provide elevation data in an easily readable format. Each map contains contour lines (aka: elevation lines) that show the height differences of the map in 1-meter increments. The dark brown lines have the elevation readings of the line inside them; while, the lighter lines depict the 1-meter increments between the dark-colored lines. For easier and faster designation, the elevations are color-coded as well. And if you zoom in quite a lot, you will also notice that the terrain is shaded, so that you may easily see the small peaks and dips of every sand dune on Al Basrah. But the shaded terrain also allows you to quickly identify the steep mountainsides of Lashkar Valley.
For an added tip, the elevation readings on the dark contour lines, point their "hats" in the direction of the increasing slope. Download the maps with the links below. They are .png format so you'll be able to open them up in any photo viewing software.
Psssst, the images take a few seconds to clear up when zoomed in so make sure you have them open and ready in the background before the start of the match. Happy planning!
Download links with grid
Download links without grid
Tactical Collective Modding – French Foreign Legion Mod
For those who haven't seen it, here are two videos on the French Foreign Legion Mod made by Typex on the French side & MoiDawg for the English side of it.
We speak about the current state of the mod and what we plan in the future.
Our level design team is currently focusing on the French map's flora as well as the urban areas as you can see.
FRF2 Sniper rifle is now ready to see some action.
Our discord with the FAQ
Swiss Modding Team – Swiss Armed Forces Faction
A new faction, a rare faction, a neutral faction! The Swiss are putting together what little manpower they have to try and provide Squad with yet another faction. We are few and lack experience, hoping The Wrench would attract some people to help, however, we have some people with experience with the real deal, along with access to the official manuals for reference. As you can see by the screenshots things are very crude at the moment, but we have set ourselves some sort of roadmap and a list of things to do. Anybody is welcome to help with this huge project. I'll likely post in the recruitment channel once The Wrench has been published. Name and logo subject to change.
LaughingJack – Squad_JO
Squad_JO is a Gameplay modification for Squad – "western democratic" coalition forces versus "rebellious anti-western" allies.
It retains Squads' structure & communications but removes much of the harder-core role-playing elements required by players, allowing for a more accessible playing style that highlights 'playing the objective'
The Mod includes Multi-faction teams, modified Gamemodes for AAS, PAAS & TKOTH, and many new assets. Changes to numerous gameplay mechanics; all changes can be found in the latest changelog on Steam. It also includes numerous gameplay layers for a bunch of Squad-vanilla maps as well as two classic Joint Operations maps; Black Rock Beach and Dormant Volcano Isle.
We are currently at the testing stage and mostly finished but with a little more work to do: More layers for vanilla maps and more factions, when available, and hopefully, fixes for some UI things, still to come. Development videos can be found by going to my YouTube, via the Workshop page video.
Workshop Link
Squad: Vietnam
Set deep within the jungles and paddies of the Vietnam war. Squad: Vietnam will bring you the immersion of being amongst the ranks of proud US soldiers in the year 1969, or arms with communist North Vietnam with entirely new models, animations, and gameplay.
Squad VN will include some of the most famous weapons and vehicles from the 1960s. You can expect to see anything, ranging from fully functional and drivable M113 APC, M35 logistic vehicles and guns trucks, UH-1 "Hueys," and many more (mind, realism is our goal, but the gameplay is our priority).
Our project will include new mechanics added to Squad; that being, dismemberment and gore, scout helicopters, and so on. More information and leaks will come along with those currently provided.
We hope to get V1 to you by the early months of this upcoming year, along with playtesting before the end of 2020! But I digress, this mod may be our main project, but many of the developers still must handle school and outside jobs, sadly hindering our progress.
Discord link
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXZfk8HwYFqTiVikJXMD1dg
Picture Details:
M16A1/XM177: By Hoover
M29-Props: By MangoOrPapaya
US-Riflemen: By Simcardo
Squad Modding Hub Management Team Out.
Please note: Offworld Industries is not responsible for mod content. Please contact the creator for assistance.


LEWES, DEL. – October 2, 2017 (MEDIAWIRE) – Sound FX, award-winning retailer of advanced-technology entertainment, safety and information solutions for the car and home, announced that Matt Schaeffer, 2016 Mobile Electronics magazine Installer of the Year, has joined the company as Lead Vehicle Fabricator at its retail location in Lewes, Delaware. Schaeffer now heads the store's vehicle customization division and will be instrumental in expanding its service model to draw customers from other states. The high-profile addition to the Sound FX staff enables the store to significantly grow its capabilities and offer a wider range of services.
Matt Schaeffer is an accomplished and recognized custom installation professional, carrying ASE and MECP Master certifications. He specializes in designing and building premium in-vehicle entertainment systems that meld with the factory-installed style and function while improving the driving experience with the latest technology. His work encompasses daily drivers and exotic vehicles alike, and has been featured in magazines around the world. Videos of the vehicles he's transformed have been viewed more than half a million times on YouTube.
Sound FX was voted Retailer of the Year by Mobile Electronics magazine in 2014. Co-owners Layton and Wright revamped the store's service offerings and marketing approach in 2013 to address a savvier and information-hungry customer base. Its website, sound-fx.net, which features more than 50 pages of in-depth product and technology content, is indicative of the store's continued evolution to provide the highest level of service and capability in its market.


text:
Martin Pettinati
Genome analysis powered by Crystal
unconventional, crystal, healthcare, genome analysis
Diploid is a company based in Leuven, Belgium, who provides services and software to hospitals and labs for diagnosing rare diseases using clinical genome analysis.
What makes Diploid so interesting is that they developed Moon, the first software package to autonomously diagnose rare diseases, using artificial intelligence. Moon is currently being used by hospitals worldwide to diagnose patients with severe genetic conditions.
Why is that relevant and interesting? Because, before Moon, geneticists had to do the filtering and ranking of mutations manually, using special software, in order to reach a diagnosis. This software simply requires to input the patient's symptoms, as well as his/her genome data, to come up with the most likely mutation that explains the patient's condition. This process usually took from several hours up to several days. Moon does the filtering and ranking automatically and proposes a diagnosis within 3 minutes.
So, you might be wondering how can it do this so fast. The answer is Crystal: Moon was written mostly in Ruby, but while this language is fast enough for most parts of Moon, it can get slow for the most performance-critical areas of the codebase. That's why Diploid decided to develop the software using Crystal, because this language combines excellent performance with a very Ruby-like syntax, which is very expressive and allows developers to code faster.
For this particular project, Crystal turned out to be between 4 and 6 times faster than Ruby, which makes a big difference in terms of user experience. It means that for small data sets, Moon can present results in near real time (about 540 ms), which feels instantaneous to the user.
Peter Schols, Diploid's CEO, was very satisfied with these results, and said that "Crystal [...] combines this still excellent performance with a very Ruby-like syntax. Given that the rest of our code base has been written in Ruby, it's a great match. Moreover, Crystal has a Go-like concurrency model, so it basically takes the best from the Ruby world (expressive syntax, full OOP) and combines it with the best of Go (concurrency model, performance)".
Peter Schols, CEO, Diploid
People are talking about this story:
https://crystal-lang.org/2017/10/27/diploid-and-crystal.html
http://www.diploid.com/moon
https://researchstash.com/2017/06/14/a-european-startup-is-revolutionizing-the-genome-diagnostics-through-artificial-intelligence/
https://www.bio-itworld.com/2018/05/16/2018-best-of-show-winners.aspx
https://www.genomeweb.com/informatics/moon-software-launch-diploid-aims-accelerate-diagnosis-rare-genetic-diseases
https://datanews.knack.be/ict/nieuws/leuvense-software-helpt-met-wereldrecord-genoomanalyse/article-normal-965499.html
Decentralized expensing system
What is a Career Garden and why you need one

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The City of San José has kicked off a year-long effort to update our bike plan. We need your help to create a San José where people of all ages and abilities can bike for transportation, recreation, or just plain fun!
Learn more about the plan and provide your input on our interactive map.
Join us at Veggielution on December 1, from 11am-1pm at Emma Prusch Farm Park to learn more about the bike plan update, and make sure your voice is heard.
We implement projects that support bicycling as a viable means of transportation.
Work with the Parks, Recreation, and Neighborhood Services Department's Trail Program to complete a 100-mile off-street bikeways network.
As of spring 2017, the City has completed approximately 285 miles of on-street bikeways and 57 miles of off-street trails.
We actively seek grant funds to support implementation of bikeways and related programs. The Department also seeks opportunities to maximize resources, such as coordinating our citywide bikeway implementation with our pavement maintenance program.
This map shows the location of bike racks that we own and maintain. Icons in blue are bike racks and icons in yellow are electronic bike lockers (for more information on bike lockers, visit www.bikelink.org). Bike racks at other facilities like VTA Transit Stations or San Jose State University are not shown on this map.
The City of San José installs bicycle parking at no cost. We will evaluate requests for installation on both public and private property. Private property requests require the landowner's consent. Send us your request.
What are these electric scooters I see on streets and sidewalks in San Jose?
Who owns and operates these motorized scooters? Are they part of a City program?


In Week 4, I was in Springfield, Massachusetts on Thursday. Luckily, there was a game being played in the northern suburbs. The South Hadley Tigers faced the Amherst Regional Hurricanes in a rare Thursday night league game. Neither team had a victory yet this year, and both had matching 0-2 records.
Now, the field in South Hadley can best be described as a field. There is a semblance of a track around the field, however it is just small gravel and not very well maintained or wide. The field sits behind the high school and baseball/softball fields. A large white barn sits behind the stands and butts into the trees behind the stands. The stands sit on only the east side of the field. An elevated pressbox/coaches booth sits to the west side with nothing in front of it. The home stands are modern aluminium risers, but start at ground level and only go eight rows high.
The total crowd for the night was somewhere around 300 to 400. There wasn't much of a divider between the fans and the field, other than where the gravel ended for most of the field. A small concession booth stands to the north endzone. The openess provided great opportunities for photos of the field before and during the game.
Now, based on my standards, Massachusetts football ranks rather low. These two teams were winless, sure. However, this was a large school, that had what amounted to an OHSAA Division VI or VII/PIAA small Class A field and fan base. The offenses were both vanilla and predictable. No major athletic individuals with either team, and the offenses were run, run, run. But neither were that affective. Kicking, at least for South Hadley, was impossible, and showed in their three touchdowns with no conversions.
The other game of note, was the following week on Saturday in Olean, New York. Olean has traditionally played Saturday night games. In Western New York, they're the only school I can find that does so. Most that don't play on Friday will play on Saturday afternoon at 2pm, of which there are many.
I had planned on attending a game here in 2013, but the schedule never worked out well. However, the stars aligned this year. There wasn't another major non-regular game on Saturday night this week. And it was a great matchup. Bradford (PA) at Olean (NY). It was the 116th matchup between these cross-border rivals, and I would finally get to watch a high school game at one of the more unique stadiums.
Bradner Stadium in Olean may not rank up there with the likes of Paul Brown Tiger Stadium, the Pit at Elder, Ratliff Stadium, the Wolvarena, or any other parthenon of high school football. However, it is definitely worth the visit.
Sitting on the main drag heading east out of town, the home stand sits right along the street. However, the field is sunken, and the top row of sits sit level with the sidewalk behind the wrought iron fence. The primary parking lot is by the park across the street. The entrance is through a walkway under the street. Now, what makes this place so interesting, is that it's also a baseball field. The homeside is the third base line, and the stands wrap around the eastern endzone for the visitors. The left outfield sits deep across the field with nothing more behind the visitors side.
The homeside has the large pressbox and coaches box near the top of the stadium, and has the dugout next to the field. At this point, the home side only has four rows of seats crammed within this small area. The stadium itself seats upwards of 4,000 if the endzone curve were to be completely filled in. Because of the baseball cross-over, it includes large black poles every so many feet from near the dugout down to the east endzone and around to hold the netting to stop errant baseballs from the crowd and roadway. The stadium has just recently underwent a renovation, to bring in a college wood-bat league team.
The game itself, between the Olean Huskies and Bradford Owls was a battle between the favored Huskies and the undermanned and underperforming Owls. Bradford made it a decent game, but Olean ran away with it.
The rest of the season consisted of Ohio and Pennsylvania games.
Friday nights were typically Greenville Trojans games, up until Week 10. Given that the game with Sharpsville would amount to nothing more than a scrimmage, I chose instead to attend the Neshannock-Greensburg Central Catholic game in suburban New Castle. Though this game was projected to be one-sided, I opted for this game because it was my girlfriend's alma mater. It's a small school in a well-off community. The field and stadium does not scream '1A' school. It has turf. Manicured landscaping near the entrance depicting NHS. And, for Halloween, they were giving out free foam swords (they're the Lancers) and cupcakes.
Thursday games, in the past, consisted of WPIAL televised games. Because Root Sports Pittsburgh chose to air Friday Night games again, it left quite a bit of the schedule open. Luckily, there were several non-traditional Thursday games to fill it out. Aside from the South Hadley (MA) game, I also got to see games at Keystone (PA) vs. Clarion (PA), Chagrin Falls (OH) v. Wickliffe (OH), Geneva (OH) v. Madison (OH), and Hudson (OH) v. Mentor (OH).
First, the Keystone Panthers have a typical, small rural stadium. Short stands, wooden, and unbelievable packed for a game against Clarion that was destined to be a blowout. Chagrin Falls' C.S. Harris Stadium is an absolute treasure of a stadium. It sits slightly offset from the field, but the roof, high seating, and concrete with no benches is definitely a unique throwback to stadiums that are falling by the wayside.
Geneva's game against Madison is a local rivalry. As it was last year in Madison, it was on Thursday in 2014. Geneva plays their games at the SPIRE Stadium at the SPIRE Institute. Most in District 10 are well aware of this facility now. It is a world class facility with many indoor and outdoor fields and training facilities. This game was schedule from the beginning at the outdoor facility. It doesn't 'feel' like a high school stadium. Especially when the concession stand and bathrooms are inside at the indoor soccer field. Which turns out to not be regulation size for the PIAA.
And lastly, was the game in Hudson (OH) v. Mentor (OH). This game was schedule for Thursday for television. And what a game they chose. Both teams came into this week 9 matchup at 8-0. Hudson was looking to finally clear the hurdle and be taken as a 'major' team in Ohio. A packed stadium, and a lot of turnovers by Mentor, and Hudson won it 41-27 en route to their 10-0 season and #1 seed in the OHSAA Division I Region 1 playoff.
Also on Thursday, were 'city games' at Parma's Byers Field, Pittsburgh's Cupples Stadium, and Cleveland's Roye Kidd Field. Byers Field is a large, albeit featureless stadium. It's not that redeeming in any manner other than that it adequately fits whatever game is going to be played in it. It's massive. Has turf. Parking is somewhat suspect, but was sufficient for the Valley Forge-Revere game I attended. The two Pittsburgh games were Allderdice-Westinghouse and Carrick-Brashear. Neither game had much to them as Westinghouse and Carrick were especially bad this year. And lastly was the Week 10 matchup in Cleveland. I had planned to attend two games in Cleveland. The first was the Whitney Young-East Tech game at Roye Kidd Field at 3pm, and then the night game at Collinwood Athletic Complex at 7pm for Collinwood-Lincoln West. However, as I'll mention later, Cleveland Heights was also hosting East Cleveland Shaw on Thursday night. I had been to this stadium three times in the past, but wasn't really planning for a fourth. I hadn't known of the Willoughby South-Eastlake North game taking place. Else, I would've traveled there. However, all three Cleveland and Cleveland Heights games are in the same vacinity, so I could easily go from the afternoon game to whichever evening game I chose. I chose poorly. Cleveland Heights demolished Shaw, 42-6. Collinwood, on the other hand, won 28-22 over Lincoln West in Overtime just up the road. As for the early game? It was interesting. Whitney Young is a Division VII school, and not good. But, neither was East Tech.
The stadium is nice, but not well cared for, and the attendance was sparce. It was the officially the smallest crowd I've ever watched a game with. The most I counted in the stands, not counting the band, was 44 fans. Then you realize it was a matchup between an 0-9 and 1-8 team on a Thursday at 3pm in a city with high unemployment and poverty. I was hoping Whitney Young could pull the improbable upset, and had a beautiful long pass that setup the first touchdown. However, that lone touchdown would be the peak of their power. East Tech ran away with it. Starting with the last play of the first quarter. The final was less impressive: East Tech 42, Whitney Young 6.
Now, for Saturday games. I always was able to find two games each week from Week 3 through Week 10. Also, Week 7 featured a delayed game due to insufficient lightning that I got to watch the ending.
Now, some venues I've seen in the past. For the first time, I've traveled twice now to the Johnstown (PA) area for games. Last year, I really enjoyed trips to Sheffield (PA) followed by a night game at St. Marys (PA) for the Elk County Catholic games. Also, games at Shaker Heights (OH) or Cleveland Heights (OH) were repeats. Schools that regularly play on Saturday aren't going to be reference, unless it was a place I had never been before. Such as the aforementioned Johnstown games.
I recapped this game earlier this year. It's definitely a relic sitting in an old river town south of Pittsburgh. Quaker Valley, though, ran away with this game. A stadium that all fans sit on one side, and also look right into the sun through the game.
This stadium sits on top of a hill in Pittsburgh's southern suburbs. The home field of Keystone Oaks Golden Eagles. It features turf, and all new stands. A very nice stadium. However, it gets windy. Of personal note, I lived just a few blocks away from this stadium during my two years in Pittsburgh. Though I never attended a game there because I actually lived across the border in Mt. Lebanon and attended their games.
One of my favorite places to watch a game. This field sits atop a hill behind the stadium. Surrounded by rolling green mountains, it's aptly named.
A great stadium, one of my favorites. Even if Shaker Heights was horrible this year, I enjoyed coming over to a game. An interesting note, Roy Kidd Field, Shaker Heights' Rupp Field, and Cleveland Heights' Hosford Stadium are all just off Lee Road on Cleveland's East side within a few miles of eachother.
As mentioned above. This is another favorite of mine. The old school towers over the field's visitor section. Which frames the field and gives a great backdrop. It also was renovated and now has metal bleachers with a turf field.
This was schedule for Saturday due to the long travel for Port Clinton. The stadium was renovated recently, and it's clear the home field didn't always used to be the home side. The scoreboard faces the visitor side at an angle. This is a nice venue, though. Don't be fooled into parking near the southeast entrance. There is no entrance there. The entrance is actually at the northwest corner. The game itself started out great. However, the 29-29 halftime score devolved into a 58-29 beatdown by Port Clinton.
Nothing much different this week other than Heights came through with the win.
Ambridge regularly plays their homecoming game on a Saturday afternoon. This is another favorite of mine. Given the name, the school incorporates a bridge into their school. From the upper corner of the stadium to the second floor of the high school, there's a painted steel bridge. The home side is modern aluminium, while the visitor side is old concrete that's deteriorating. However, it provides the best views if you ever attend a game here.
Surprisingly, wooden benches in an otherwise nice stadium. Turf, a band shell, huge seating capacity. I sat the second half on the visitor side, and the wooden benches are deteriorating badly. Many warping or crumbling. It didn't help that Niles McKinley also was horrible and Ross wasn't bad. Despite the more pedestrian 41-20 finish, there was something going on back in Beaver, PA.
Based on recent history, Ambridge and Beaver both play their homecoming games on the same weekend. Ambridge on Saturday afternoon and Beaver on Saturday night. In the past, I would attend both games. However, this year I really anticipated attending a game at Niles. The Niles game was my first in the venerable stadium, and I opted to forego my regular attendance at Beaver. However, there was a power issue to some of the light standards, and the game was delayed until after 8:30pm. With an hour drive, I arrived during the third quarter to watch the end of what was, at the time, a close game. However, Beaver ran away with it at the end, 40-7.
This was my first trip to the Johnstown (PA) area for games. Several teams play Saturday afternoon games: Westmont Hilltop, Ferndale, and Conemaugh Township. Also, Bishop McCort (Johnstown) and Bishop Guilfoyle (Altoona) play on Saturday night. I had not known of Bishop McCort playing on Saturday, because of calpreps and WesternPAFootball.net erroneously listing them as Friday. However, I had another Saturday night game to attend which drew me down to Westmont. This is a great venue in a great neighborhood. It reminds me of a smaller Shaker Heights in setup. The school sits strategically near the center of town, and sits without lights for afternoon games. The crowd was small in the rain, and the team wasn't the greatest. But, it was a great atmosphere. Westy, as they're called, never stood a chance in this game. After the game, it was on to a great place to eat, called Asiago, which is located on the mountain side near the Johnstown Inclined Plane. Great food. Especially the wild mushroom ravioli with steak tips.
This was the draw to drive down here in the first place. Mercer County small school power, West Middlesex, was playing an inter-district game just south of Indiana, PA. This stadium, too, has some charm. Located away from the high school, it's been recently renovated with new bathrooms to the north end of the field. Heavy rain, though, made the field wet, and a little rain throughout the game made it a nuisance. Homer-Center wears all black with a little white, which makes for some unique high school uniforms.
Again, I enjoyed the venue so much, I decided to attend another game here. It was either here, or see the Sheffield/Elk County Catholic schedule I had originally planned. Without rain, it was a great day for football. Westy jumped out to a 19-0 lead, and it looked like they may be on their way to a win. Then Bishop Carroll stormed back with 35 unanswered, to win 35-19. After the game, it was another local game. But, it was an early dinner at Asiago's again.
This was the draw for coming down two straight weeks. I've been in Johnstown many times. I've been to the Cambria County War Memorial Arena. So, I've driven by this stadium several times. Situated on the northwest corner of downtown at the confluence of the Little Conemaugh and Stoneycreek to form the Conemaugh River. It's actually a baseball field, that has housed numerous minor league teams. The stadium is crammed into its location, which gives it an odd shape. After a recent renovation, Pitt-Johnstown plays their baseball games here. Also, Bishop McCort plays their football games here. In week 8, they hosted Bishop Guifoyle, which they lost badly. However, there was the Homer-Center v. West Middlesex game to attend. This week, it was the marquee. They also were hosting Central Cambria of Ebensburg. I've liked Ebensburg and have been to the town twice in the past. So, I was cheering for them. Just as it was at Olean, this is primarily a baseball stadium with a football field fitted in.
The home plate sits to the northwest corner, and the field comes down from the right field foul territory to inside the right field line. The seating, therefore, is just as bizarre as it is in Olean. A large light standard blocks a lot of seats, and the south side of the 50 has very few rows as they're pushed back for the right field line. The visitor side of the field is short, as there's a tall fence to catch home runs from reaching the car dealership across the street. Which is quite possibly the worst place to locate a new car dealership. It's also between the field and where we parked. The only open gate is in the right field corner. You then walk down the right field line either by climbing the switchback steps or following down the concrete corridor near the river's edge to reach a portal to the seating area. It also features chair back seats around the home plate, but which sit far away from the sideline of the football field. The home band sits in the right field outfield stands, while the visiting band sits in the right field stands as they jut out to the left endzone.
The field is also turf, and shows the four dirt patches where the bases and home plate were. The pitchers mound is lowered and covered, but shows the signs of loose dirt spread around the regular turf. In the end, it was a great makeshift venue and has a unique approach. Also, Central Cambria held on for the win, 33-21.
I had seen the end of a game here last year. However, this was my first full game. It also wasn't a game. I had driven past United's high school on my way to Johnstown, and had read about their coaching problems. Farrell managed a kickoff return to open the game, a punt return, an interception return and a safety. To say this was one-sided would be an understatement.
I chose the Farrell game because it was a unique location. I had seen games at Bedford and Massillon. And there wasn't a lot of other options. There was no option, then, for a night game. Given the Browns game on Sunday, I decided on a more local game. Lakewood St. Edward-Cleveland St. Ignatius was a decent option, as well. Though that turned one-sided as well. This game, though, was all Gilmour Academy. They ran at will until this chose to call off the dogs. Then, as the game progressed, YCS scored twice to make a showing. A female kicker, #92, for YCS tried both extra points, and was successful on her second attempt. It was the final points of the game.
Later this year, I plan on writing a recap of the whole season as I've done in the past. I also plan on updating the playoffs as I will be traveling extensively.
So far this year, I've attended 58 games in person. My girlfriend has accompanied me to 50 of them. I had originally planned to see the six NYSPHSAA Section 6 Championships at Ralph Wilson Stadium on Thursday and Friday and return back on Saturday for the Greenville-Northwestern game at Wilmington and then see Youngstown Liberty-Gilmour Academy at night. However, that was prior to me checking out the rest of the New York schedule. Two of the four Section 5 Championships and the Class D-DD playoff are being played at Sahlen's Stadium in Rochester on Saturday. And then there's four Section 3 Championships at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse on Sunday. The reason for Sunday is the Syracuse game on Saturday delays it. Because the Browns play on Thursday, I'll attend the four games on Sunday as well.
New York is consistent in wanting their later round playoff games all played at one site. So, it makes for easy scheduling. It also gives the best venue for the teams.
In Week 13 and 14, I will be Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Missouri (possibly), and Illinois for games. I've planned a similar trip for years, but it never worked out. The Browns are on the road for two straight weeks. Iowa plays three of their six championships on Thursday in Week 13 at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls, and Minnesota plays their seven championships on Friday and Saturday in Minneapolis at TCF Bank Stadium. On Monday and Tuesday, Nebraska plays their six championships at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln. If Webster Groves (MO) and Kirkwood (MO) are out of the playoffs by Thanksgiving, they play a varsity game on Thanksgiving at noon. If either team is still in the playoffs, then it will be a Junior Varsity game. There are seven games on Friday and Saturday total at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis. However, I've seen games in Missouri several times (one of my favorites being at Crystal City), and have never seen a high school game in the state of Illinois yet. Though, their eight title games will be played on Friday and Saturday at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Illinois.
Week 15 will be a trip to New Jersey for either six or eight games at MetLife Stadium and/or Rutgers Stadium. I've decided to forego seeing the OHSAA Championships at Columbus. In Week 16, it will be four championship games in Hershey, PA. And Week 17 and 18 will be another trip. This time a drive down to Arlington, TX for the UIL Championships over three days. And then it's a drive east to Fort Lauderdale, Florida for the three televised "State Championship Bowl Series" games. Hopefully they're still on. However, I'm going to Florida for Christmas with my girlfriend before driving back home to finish out the year.


The next 4 years are going to be a long, dragging, depressing haul. So when you need a pick me up or reminder of why we are fighting, check out my Resistance Happy Place! I'll be adding to this as I find things to inspire us, cheer us up, and remind us what's at stake!
Please feel free to comment below and share links and information that makes you happy right now and I'll add some of them to the page. Also, as this page grows, check the comments for stories and information not shared on the page.
Visit It's Time to Fight for scripts, info and more. It's a great resource for keeping up your resistance and laser focusing on the most important and time sensitive issues!
Read this lovely post Reading a Wrinkle in Time for the First Time in Trump's America by Ashley Bowen-Murphy on BookRiot for a refreshing look at how to fight and why we must keep at it.
You can purchase the Abrams book WHY I MARCHED with gorgeous and inspiring pictures of marchers all around the world at Barnes and Noble just use the link below. All proceeds will be donated to nonprofits affiliated with the March!
Build a longer table . . .
Fourth straight weekend of protests!
Hamdia Ahmed organized her first rally! You can too!
Here's a tweet thread from @Claribel_Ortega to get you Fired Up! Ready To Go!
Hey followers, I rarely ask you to pay attention but I am now.
You need to see it Gifs and all!
The Resist banner Greenpeace hung behind the White House!


LuvFree.com is a 100% free online dating and personal ads site. There are a lot of Blue Ash singles searching romance, friendship, fun and more dates. Join our Blue Ash dating site, view free personal ads of single people and talk with them in chat rooms in a real time. Seeking and finding love isn't hard with our Blue Ash personals.
I am seeking a relationship. I am honest. I am loyal. I am trustworthy. I am fun. I am independent. I am down to earth. I believe in monogamy. I am real.
Just want to see what this is all about. Not sure if it is what I am hoping for......... I will make a determination after I see what kind of people really are on here.


Here's a convincing April Fools' gag if there ever was one. Enter someone's Twitter handle into the form at Tweetforger.com, create a crazy tweet, send your victim a link to the resulting page and watch the hilarity ensue.
Even though the graphic the site creates looks like a real tweet, it's nothing of the sort. Once you enter a Twitter handle, TweetForger simply scrapes up your victim's twitter background and then re-creates it almost perfectly with your chosen text inserted within.
"TweetForger is a fun way to make it appear as if a Twitter user has tweeted something. You can pick any user you want, enter some text, and TweetForger will create an individual, look-alike tweet. Nothing you do here will appear in anyone's Twitter stream, even your own. TweetForger is just for fun. Please don't be a jerk."
There's still a few hours left of April Fools' Day, so if it appeals to you, go ahead and make fools out of all your friends.


Features 1/8" neoprene with a nylon lining (N2) for ongoing therapeutic heat. Plush outer covering allows hook-type fastening straps to vary attachment points for a customized and comfortable fit. Pocket on underside of support holds lightweight aluminum cockup spoon in position. Available in black only, specify right or left hand.


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Home WarZone A UK Divided, a European Union Contested
A UK Divided, a European Union Contested
On June 23rd Britain voted to leave the European Union by 52% to 48% in a national referendum. The outcome of the Brexit referendum has caused strong reaction at home and worldwide. Brexit was supported by the popular majority of Britain and a significant portion of the UK national elite. Even the use of lobbying clout by Cameron's cabinet did not allow EU supporters to attain victory.
Indeed, leaving the EU would allow the UK to control immigration more efficiently, save billions of pounds in membership fees and advocate its own trade deals while leaving all trade conditions between the UK and the EU relatively unchanged – all while getting rid of restrictive EU regulations, bloated Brussels bureaucracy and run down Eastern and South European economies. In fact, Cameron's government has simply jilted continental Europe. After all, it was Britain that was an active supporter of many decisions that have had a negative impact on the current situation of refugees in the EU and the economic issues of the Member States.
As to the trade cooperation and conditions, the EU could hardly proceed without British industry, technologies and investments. At the same time Britain acquires the first chance to jump in the US-backed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership freely without intra-European debates. The real question is what strategy the US chooses to apply. This hinges on whether the US makes a bid for the EU, as their primary key partner in Europe or provides equal support to the EU and UK project, which will be figuratively competing with Berlin and Paris.
All involved parties to the ongoing contention are well aware of the past behavior of the Brussels bureaucracy and EU lobbyists. Last weekends events have clearly demonstrated that they are not going to give up without a fight. In the worst-case scenario they are not going to leave British behavior unpunished.
As soon as the results of the referendum were known, Brussels bureaucrats joined by Angela Merkel in Germany and some other EU countries leaders launched a fierce anti-British information campaign. The concerted diplomatic pressure was increased dramatically, in order to prevent the ratification of the referendum results by the Parliament. The effort entails ignoring it, or re-negotiating another deal and putting that to another referendum, thus, repeating the process until voters eventually vote the 'right' way. In the case that Britain's decision to leave the EU is not to be changed, they threaten the UK with numerous fearful scenarios, including dissolution of the state, the separation of Scotland, Northern Ireland and even London, and other far-fetched possibilities that literally verge on madness.
However, EU lobbyists now have moved beyond just the information campaign and diplomatic pressure. They have started to use well-known "color revolutions" technologies, previously field-tested in Eastern Europe and the Arab countries, to attempt to rip the referendum results to shreds.
Media and social networks spread claims that "the majority of the British public didn't fully understand the significance of the vote and its possible consequences" splitting the society into the thinking less of the results and labeling the citizenry as foolish lemmings. Turmoil and surprisingly rapid civil protest's actions have started. A significant part of the protesters are from Eastern Europe. Many protesters and commenters appear under the socialist slogans, despite the fact that they simply seek to protect the interests of the European oligarchy that has conducted severe austerity that has crippled the European populations wages and working conditions.
Simultaneously, there are alarming reports of hate crimes and racial abuse in the wake of Britain's Brexit vote. The situation has the potential to spiral out of control, as a consequence of the failure of the state policy of multiculturalism. Stored up anger, based on a strong cultural differences between indigenous British citizens and newly arrived immigrants is poised to break loose. This appears to be another opportunity for the Neoliberal media establishment to demonize the Leave supporters even more, by accusing them of racism.
Meanwhile the campaign for the second referendum is gaining momentum. The speed in which the public has flocked to sign the parliament petition has been staggering. Created in the immediate aftermath of Britain's decision to vote to leave the EU it has acquired approximately three million votes in the first 48 hours. Surprisingly there are a huge amount of fakes among them, as claimed by the Petitions Committee of the Parliament. A large portion of these votes may be from people within the EU, and thus, will most likely be disregarded.
However, all these steps have already led to the intended result. British politicians, including strong advocates of the Leave campaign, say there's no rush in starting the process to exit the EU and David Cameron has exonerated himself from responsibility to implement the referendum's decision, or moreover, that they do not have to do this and can stop this through a vote in Parliament. There are many options to stop the exit that are discussed behind closed doors in the political sphere, for example, that Scotland and Northern Ireland may have the option to veto the exit.
As a result, the probability of the UK exit from the EU seems insignificant. Perhaps this may be the best way for the economy of the United Europe. But alas, the questions remain "What does it mean for democracy in the UK, the EU, and throughout the world, if the will of the people can be overturned to placate the losing side in such an important plebiscite?" "And where will all of these social technologies, political manipulation, financial and austerity measures lead to in regards to the newly contested European democracy and the interests of the people.
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CONIFER, Colo.: Investigators on Tuesday were trying to determine whether a routine controlled burn last week, designed to minimize wildfire risk, reignited and became a stubborn mountain wildfire that forced hundreds of residents to flee their homes, destroyed at least 23 structures and may have caused the deaths of two people.
Federal agencies dispatched hundreds of firefighters and two large air tankers to tackle the 7-square-mile blaze that forced mandatory evacuations of 900 homes south of the commuter town of Conifer, about 8,200 feet up in the Rockies foothills and 25 miles southwest of downtown Denver.
Some 450 firefighters from Colorado, Idaho, Nevada and Utah were sent to assist 250 firefighters on the ground.
The fire mostly consumed grass, brush and some Ponderosa Pine tree canopies. Winds were 20 mph to 30 mph and blowing in all directions.
Denver�s tightly populated southwestern suburbs were not threatened.
County sheriff�s spokeswoman Traci Kelley said the wildfire may have sprung from a controlled burn. The Colorado State Forest Service did conduct a 35-acre burn in the region on Thursday � on land belonging to Denver�s water authority � in an ongoing effort to reduce wood fuels for fire, said forest service spokesman Ryan Lockwood.
Crews finished the effort on Friday and patrolled the 35-acre perimeter daily to ensure it was out, Lockwood said. It was during Monday�s patrol that a state forest service crew spotted the wildfire � also on Denver Water property � alerted authorities, and began fighting it, Lockwood said. It wasn�t clear if the wildfire was inside the controlled burn zone.
The Jefferson County Sheriff�s Office will determine the cause of the blaze, while the Colorado State Forest Service was conducting its own review, Lockwood said.
Stacy Chesney, a spokeswoman for Denver Water, said the agency was �trying to be proactive� to protect water supplies from soil runoff caused by deforestation.
The area has several watersheds that feed metropolitan Denver and is several miles from the location of the 2002 Hayden Fire, one of Colorado�s worst.
Protocols for controlled fires include having a certain number of people monitoring it until it is determined to be cold � meaning nothing is at risk for reigniting, said Roberta D�Amico, spokeswoman for the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho.
Officials found a woman�s body outside a destroyed home Monday and a man�s body inside the home Tuesday, said Daniel Hatlestad of the Jefferson County Incident Management Team. A third person was missing in the fire zone, authorities said.


J'ai postulé en ligne. Le processus a pris 3 semaines. J'ai passé une entrevue à Wells Fargo en janvier 2014.
Applied online and was contacted a few weeks later by a manager directly. Scheduled a brief phone interview -- tell me about yourself, your resume, and why you're interested. Light technical questions about financial statements.
A week later a second phone interview was held. This one was longer and with three senior managers. Questions were designed to have you recall a particular event (tell me about a time you used...). They requested I respond in the "STAR" format (situation, task, action, result). Light common sense technical questions.
Next, a series of written responses were requested via email. They basically ask the same type of general questions. This is mainly to test your written communication skills.
The final round was held in the office. Group interview with the team managers. Again, all generic interview questions. No technical, all fit.


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Could John Carpenter Adapt a DEAD SPACE Movie?
Joel Silver Reboots John Carpenter's ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK
THE THING Restricted Trailer Debuts
The Thing Trailer and 6 New Photos!
Brand New THE THING Poster
Vesna Sunrider
Horror movie legend John Carpenter, the man behind of some of the biggest cult classics of all time including The Thing, They Live and Halloween, has expressed interest in bringing the Dead Space game series to the big screen. The Dead Space franchise which extends beyond the Dead Space Trilogy into novels, comic books and animated feature films is seemingly ripe with movie making potential. Carpenter even went as far as comparing it to the Alien franchise but for a more contemporary audience:
"You know it's great," he explained. "The first game was more – I guess it was like Alien – but not quite. It was a little different than that." "I maintain that Dead Space would just make a great movie because you have these people coming onto an abandoned, shut-down space ship and they have to start it up and something's on board. It's just great stuff." "I would love to make Dead Space [into a film], I'll tell you that right now. That one is ready-made."
Would you be interested in Dead Space film with Carpenter at the helm? Sound off in the comments! Source: IGN
Related Topics:Dead Space, John Carpenter
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James Clyde Fry (December 25, 1897 – October 27, 1982) was a Major General in the United States Army who served as an infantry regiment and division commander during World War II and the Korean War. Fry was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for extraordinary heroism during World War II.

Early life
A native of Idaho, Fry grew up on his parents' farm several miles from Sandpoint, Idaho where Fry and his brothers and sisters attended school. Fry quit high school and went to work in the nearby Talache silver mines for a few years. Then one day when walking past a local country store Fry observed two men loafing on the  store porch spitting tobacco juice and it was at that moment Fry decided he would return to school as such a life was not for him.  Fry graduated from high school in 1919 and was appointed to the United States Military Academy at West Point that same year.

Military career

Early career
Fry graduated from West Point in 1922 and was commissioned a second lieutenant of infantry in the United States Army. Prior to World War II Fry's assignments included Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, the Army General Staff, Washington D.C., and the Philippines under General Douglas MacArthur.

World War II
In 1941 Fry volunteered for and was assigned duty as a U.S. Military Observer with the British 8th Army then engaged in combat operations against German and Italian forces in the western Libyan Desert. Upon returning to the United States in 1942 he was assigned to the War Department General Staff in Washington D.C., training duties as commander, 69th Armored Regiment, in the California desert, and subsequently to staff duties as assistant G3 Headquarters Armored Command, Fort Knox, Kentucky. After months of frustrated efforts to obtain a combat assignment Fry was finally given the opportunity to command an infantry regiment in Italy. During U.S. combat operations in Italy from 1943 to the end of the war in 1945 Fry commanded the 350th Infantry Regiment, 88th "Blue Devil" Infantry Division, and was ultimately promoted to assistant division commander. Fry's extraordinary bravery and reputation for personally leading attacks at the front of the forward platoon with no riflemen in front of him earned Fry the nickname "Fearless Fosdick" (after the comics character) and endeared him to his subordinates.

Korean War
During the Korean War Fry commanded the 2nd Infantry Division during combat operations against Communist Chinese and North Korean forces from May 4, 1952 to May 17, 1953.

Military awards and decorations
Fry's United States Military awards and decorations include the Distinguished Service Cross, Distinguished Service Medal, Silver Star, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, Purple Heart with three oak leaf clusters, and the Combat Infantry Badge. His foreign decorations include the Legion of Honor from France, the Order of the Crown of Italy, the Order of Orange Nassau with Swords from the Netherlands, and the Most Exalted Order of the White Elephant from Thailand.

Retirement
Following his retirement from the United States Army in 1957 Fry became an advocate for military readiness and was a founder, lifetime member, board chairman, and president of the National Association of the Uniformed Services. He was a leading figure in the evolution of Civil War reenactments into their modern form and was the driving force behind the Centennial re-enactment of the First Battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1961.

Fry also wrote the book Combat Soldier, which is a documentary of the U.S. Army World War II Italian Campaign and a tribute to the American "doughboys" who fought there. The book is based on personal notes written by Fry during the war and was published in 1968.

In 1973 Fry served as a member of President Nixon's Executive Board of the National Citizens Committee for Fairness to the President. During the Cold War Fry was one of 170 prominent retired generals and admirals who were signatories of a public letter to President Jimmy Carter published in The New York Times urging the president to reinforce Israel's military capability, restore the global military balance between the United States and the Soviet Union and reestablish America's credibility as a leader of the free world, and desist from any arms control agreements with the Soviet Union that would reinforce permanent Soviet strategic superiority. Fry was also one of the original organizers of the 88th Infantry Division Association.

Personal life

Fry was married to the former Marjorie Holloway of Teaneck, New Jersey in February 1924. Fry and Marjorie had one son, James C. Fry Jr., who was also a United States Military Academy graduate (1948) and served in the United States Army as an infantry officer until 1951. Their son died at age 31 in a boating accident on the Potomac River in 1956, leaving a wife, Patricia Knotts, with five children; three of the children were still in diapers. In August 1970 after a long illness Marjorie died. Fry was subsequently married to Catherine Kiel of College Station, Pennsylvania from 1971 until her death in June 1974. Then in 1975, at the suggestion of his sister Ruby Fry, he contacted his high school sweetheart Helen Ramsey, who was then a widow living in Ellensburg, Washington. The two were soon married in June 1975.

Death and burial
Fry is buried in Arlington National Cemetery along with his first wife, Marjorie Fry (1902–1970) and his second wife, Catherine Fry (1899–1974).

Distinguished Service Cross citation
The official United States Army citation for Fry's World War II Distinguished Service Cross reads:

Works
Assault Battle Drill (Harrisburg, Pa., Military Service Pub. Co., 1955)
Combat Soldier (The Washington Press, 1968)

References

External links
Generals of World War II

1897 births
1982 deaths
United States Army personnel of the Korean War
Recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross (United States)
Recipients of the Distinguished Service Medal (US Army)
Recipients of the Silver Star
Recipients of the Legion of Merit
Recipients of the Legion of Honour
Recipients of the Czechoslovak War Cross
United States Military Academy alumni
United States Army Command and General Staff College alumni
United States Army War College alumni
People from Sandpoint, Idaho
Military personnel from Idaho
Burials at Arlington National Cemetery
United States Army generals of World War II
United States Army generals

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Jang Woo Hyuk And Kangta Write To Fans In Posts Shared Before H.O.T.'s Performance
by L. Kim
Before their concert, H.O.T. members Jang Woo Hyuk and Kangta uploaded posts expressing their anticipation about their performance as a complete group of five.
For the first time since their disbandment in 2001, H.O.T. reunited and held their long-awaited performance at the Olympic Hall in Seoul on February 15 at 7 p.m. KST.
Prior to their performance on February 15, Jang Woo Hyuk posted an old photo of himself along with the hashtags "1996," "I'm going to temporarily return to myself back then," and "I've missed all of you."
#1996 #그때의 #나로 #잠시나마 #돌아가보려합니다 #여러분 #보고싶었습니다
A post shared by jang woohyuk (@woohyukjang) on Feb 14, 2018 at 7:01am PST
A little past midnight KST on the same day, Kangta had uploaded a photo on Instagram along with the words, "Preparations complete!" He included the hashtags, "We'll do our best as if it's our first stage 22 years ago," "See you tomorrow," and "I love you."
준비완료! #22년전#첫무대처럼#잘할게요우리#내일봐요#사랑합니다
A post shared by 강타 (@an_chil_hyun) on Feb 14, 2018 at 7:18am PST
Their practice sessions and performance will air through an "Infinite Challenge" special, "ToToGa 3: Return of the Kings H.O.T." The first two episodes will air on February 17 at 10:25 p.m. KST and the remaining episodes on February 24 at 10:40 p.m. KST.
Watch the latest episode of "Infinite Challenge" below!
Kangta
H.O.T.
Infinite Challenge


This story was originally published on Feb. 23, 2012, and is brought to you today as part of our Best of ECT News series.
I have a lot of fun writing about CRM -- the ideas, the tools and how they're brought together as a coherent strategy . CRM is a foundation on which to build relationships, layer on additional sales and support tools, and create a customer-centric business.
But this foundation needs a foundation. After all, businesses thrived even before CRM technology was invented, and they flourished long before the acronym was coined. While we in the CRM space like to say that you need a solid CRM foundation in place before you can grow to the next level (which, these days, is most often defined as social CRM), we tend to forget that CRM itself needs to rest on a solid foundation.
What is that foundation built on? A bunch of things that are, in general, never considered when we talk about CRM, but which can heavily influence CRM's effectiveness for good and for ill, based on how well the business executes on them.
There are many foundational things that every business should strive to master even before they have a CRM application in place, but here are five that serve as underpinnings for successful businesses, and thus as underpinnings of successful CRM efforts.
Businesses exist to create customers, wrote Peter Drucker, but customers exist because they have needs. The bottom-line question for your customers is this: Do the things I buy from this business satisfy my needs?
The real issues here are quality and value. If your products are faulty or second-rate compared to the competitors, or if they're priced wrong, it doesn't matter what kind of CRM magic you work -- your sales funnel will be more like a conveyor belt, with prospects proceeding down the pipeline to customers and then, rapidly, to ex-customers. And over time, quality and pricing issues (and their unpleasant cousin, delivery issues) will erode your customer base and create poor word of mouth. Unless you remedy this issue, your business is doomed to failure.
Even with a good product or a well-delivered service, issues happen. A smart business understands this and has a plan in place to deal with these exceptions, and to do so in a way that assumes that customers are intelligent and, within reason, understanding.
Excuses that sound phony or inauthentic multiply the negative impact of a problem. Explanations that are sincere and candid, however, can have the exact opposite effect. For example, a very small business run by a friend took a serious delivery and production hit when its one employee was stricken by a nasty stomach flu just as a new product was supposed to ship. Rather than ignore the problem, he dragged himself to email and social media and explained the problem honestly. This brought a few angry customers but many more who sympathized and were understanding -- and, when he was able to return to work, almost no complaints about the delay.
I like to say that a CRM strategy should start with hiring. Employees with a customer-focused attitude are an asset whether or not you've invested in CRM software. Conversely, employees who lack that attitude can take a CRM investment of any amount and effectively reduce its value to zero.
Your management takes the data you collect in CRM and translates it into directives for actions and interactions that mean something to the customers; your employees carry out those directives. Without the proper focus on the customer, management and employees are unlikely to connect the dots between data and dealings with the people who keep your business in business.
CRM also helps automate many of the sales, marketing and support tasks that dominate most customer relationships. That allows your business to scale in terms of the number of customers each employee can care for. To do that, however, means that all employees who need to interface with CRM do so. That starts with the sales team and carries through to the rest of the organization; adhering to the process of using CRM is as important as adhering to any other company process.
There is an exception to this, however: When an employee sees an area where process is preventing customer satisfaction, he or she should be able to take action to override or modify the policy. Process and productivity mean nothing to individual customers, and employees need to be empowered to step out of process when necessary.
Too many businesses stop paying attention to their customers after the sale closes and only begin paying attention again when it's time to sell again. Smart businesses know that an ongoing relationship is the best route to ongoing sales, and a natural place for contact in that relationship comes in customer support.
Companies that have a commitment to support do a good job of meeting customers' needs regardless of whether they are a one-person shop with a single telephone line or a large corporation with several call centers -- the technology simply lets bigger businesses scale up more effectively. Sadly, when the emphasis is all on sales, support is seen as a cost center and doesn't get the care and feeding it deserves. That's why so many service calls leave customers more agitated at the end of the call than they were at the beginning, even if the problem that triggered the call is resolved.
When a business fails in any of these areas, the customer relationships that were the goal of its CRM investments are ruined -- which raises the question: Why did you invest in CRM if you weren't willing to build a foundation on which it could rest?
Tropical Storm Beryl making landfall in NE Fla.
Tropical Storm Beryl is making landfall in northeastern Florida, bringing heavy rains and strong winds to the southeastern U.S. coast.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami reported late Sunday that Beryl was making landfall along the northeastern coast of Florida, over Duval and northern St. John's counties.
Tropical storm warnings were in effect for the entire Georgia coastline, as well as parts of Florida and South Carolina.
Beryl is expected to bring 4 to 8 inches of rain to parts, with some areas getting as much as 12 inches. Forecasters predict the storm surge and tide will cause some coastal flooding in northeastern Florida, Georgia and southern South Carolina.
The weather system is expected to continue dumping rain over parts of Florida and Georgia on Monday before heading north and then out to sea. It is expected to weaken to a tropical depression by Monday night.
TALLAHASSE, Fla. (AP) Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi is celebrating her wedding in the Cayman Island this weekend.
Sen. Paula Dockery posted pictures on Facebook of the wedding party on their flight to the islands and later posted a picture of Bondi serving punch to friends. Bondi's wedding to Tampa ophthalmologist Greg Henderson was a small ceremony with close friends and family.
Gov. Rick Scott and his wife were also in attendance.
Bondi was a Hillsborough County assistant state before being elected attorney general in 2010.
The Republican is a tea party favorite and has been a popular commentator of Fox News over the years. She told the Tampa Tribune that she and Henderson would be legally married once back in the United States in a private ceremony.
CHICAGO (AP) The parents of slain Florida teenager Trayvon Martin say there must be an end to "senseless gun violence."
The Chicago Sun-Times reports that they spoke publicly Saturday in Chicago with the Rev. Jesse Jackson and family members of murder victims in the Chicago area.
Martin's mother Sybrina Fulton says since Martin can't speak for himself, she has to help the community and other parents. She has spoken recently at a Maryland church and has started the Justice for Trayvon Foundation.
The February shooting of the unarmed 17-year-old old sparked a national outcry.
Neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman has been charged with second-degree murder and was released on bond. He says he shot Martin in self-defense.
RENO, Nev. (AP) A descendant of Al and Ralph Capone says in a new book that the two gangsters paved the way for Nevada's gambling empire.
Deirdre Marie Capone says they lobbied the Nevada Legislature to legalize gambling in Prohibition's waning days, and opened the first "upscale" casino in Las Vegas long before Bugsy Siegel's Flamingo resort opened there in 1946.
The 72-year-old author says she gained that information from her grandfather, Ralph Capone, who was the older brother of the infamous Al Capone.
The Chicago native says her grandfather opened The Pair-O-Dice-Club on what is now the Las Vegas Strip about the time Nevada lawmakers legalized gambling in 1931.
Historians say they've found no documentation to back up claims in her book, "Uncle Al Capone: The Untold Story From Inside His Family."
NEW ORLEANS (AP) Tulane University's School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine is getting $18.7 million for two multiyear environmental health projects designed to help Gulf Coast residents affected by the 2010 BP oil spill.
Using $15 million from BP PLC's settlement of class-action medical claims, the school plans a five-year effort to set up a network of environmental health experts to help primary-care doctors in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. Dr. Maureen Lichtveld (LICHT-felt) says the school also will train health workers in environmental health and disaster preparedness.
The Baton Rouge Area Foundation awarded Lichtveld $3.7 million for a three-year project to learn how much seafood people in different Louisiana communities eat. That will give them a risk baseline to assesse dangers after environmental disasters.
WINTER HAVEN, Fla. (AP) Polk County deputies say a man shot an intruder who broke into his home and tried to start a fight.
A woman called 911 Sunday morning to say a man had broken into her screened in porch and was lying on the table. Authorities also received a call from her neighbor who said a man was banging on his door, screaming and cursing. Thirty-three year-old William Cromwell told the man to go away, but the suspect ran into Cromwells' home. Cromwell accidentally fired a shot into the ground.
The suspect allegedly took off his shirt, yelled, "You wanna fight?" and charged Cromwell.
His young children were upstairs sleeping.
Cromwell is a security guard with Winter Haven Hospital and a U.S. Navy veteran.
A 42-year-old woman has been arrested by police investigating phone hacking on suspicion of money-laundering offences.
The woman was arrested by appointment at a south-west London police station on Monday morning by Metropolitan police detectives from Operation Weeting.
Police said the woman was being questioned in a statement shortly after 1pm on Monday.
Scotland Yard said: "A 42-year-old woman [W] was arrested this morning, Monday 28 May 2012 by officers from Operation Weeting, the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) investigation into the hacking of voicemail boxes.
She was arrested after attending a south-west London police station by appointment at approximately 11:00hrs on suspicion of money laundering offences, contrary to section 327 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and is currently being questioned."
Scotland Yard confirmed that the woman is the first to be held on suspicion of money laundering offences as part of its Operation Weeting probe.
The force could not confirm whether the woman is a journalist or public official. She is the 25th person to be arrested as part of the investigation into phone hacking.
A mining giant will not comment on rumours it is considering locking out striking workers amid a bitter industrial dispute in central Queensland.
Mining magnate Gina Rinehart is believed to have lifted her stake in Fairfax Media and questioned the abilities of the company's chairman Roger Corbett in the process.
The administrator of troubled engineering group Hastie Group hopes that many of the 2,700 employees who have been stood down may be able to return to work.
Australians spent more than $11 billion buying goods online in the 12 months to April.
Jetstar is being taken to court for allegedly allowing cabin crew recruited from Thailand to be paid about half the rate of the budget airline's Australian staff.
The competition watchdog is set to approve an $800 million deal in which Optus will move some of it customers onto the national broadband network (NBN).
Woodside Petroleum says its recently commissioned $15 billion Pluto project is operating at almost two thirds capacity, creating opportunities for spot sales to Japan.
LONDON — European stocks rose for a third straight session on Monday and the euro edged up, as Greek polls showed growing support for pro-bailout parties, yet Spain's debt yields hit a record high as the government worked on plan to fund troubled lender Bankia.
Global share markets, commodities and the euro were all recovering from sharp falls last week, when investors fled to the safety of the U.S. dollar on mounting concerns about Greece, Spain's banking sector, and a lack of immediate policy responses from European leaders.
"Anything that allays fears over Greece is a positive. People are just looking for a bit of respite," said Bastion Capital's head of equities Adrian Slack.
The five Greek polls published in weekend press showed the conservative New Democracy party, which supports the bailout, with a lead of between 0.5 and 5.7 points over the anti-bailout leftist SYRIZA party, with analysts saying the race was still too close to call.
The FTSE Eurofirst index of top European shares extended its gains of last week, rising 0.6% to 990.84 points, but was still on track for its biggest monthly loss since the August selloff last year.
The easing speculation of disorderly exit by Greece from the eurozone also helped the MSCI world equity index gain 0.4% to 301.43.
The euro edged up just 0.1% to $1.2580, pulling away from Friday's level of $1.2495, its lowest since July 2010 and is on track for its worst month since last September.
However, any recovery in the single currency looked vulnerable with traders in the foreign exchange markets bolstering their euro bearish bets to record highs in the week ended May 22, according to the latest data from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
"Heading into the Greek elections we'll fluctuate a lot. Because the market is very, very short euro, reactions to any positive news may be bigger than those to negative news," said Mitul Kotecha of Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank.
Just as speculation rose that Greece can stay part of the single currency zone, Spain's prospects of getting to grips with its ailing banking sector took a dive.
A government source told Reuters on Sunday Spain may recapitalise its fourth-largest lender Bankia, which last week asked for rescue funding of 19 billion euros ($24 billion), using new government bonds in return for shares.
The report sent the premium investors require to hold Spanish government bonds over their German counterparts up 8 basis points on Monday to 505 bp, the highest since the euro was launched.
Spanish 10-year government bond yields also jumped 16 bp to 6.5%, their highest since November, while equivalent Italian government bond yields followed suit, gaining 6.7 bp to 5.87%.
The highly unorthodox plan to recapitalise Bankia without having to raise money on capital markets by issuing debt – that the stricken lender could the use as collateral to get cash from the European Central Bank – has served to highlight the challenges facing Spain as it trys to fix its banking system.
Bankia shares fell 26.8% as trading resumed after being suspended on Friday, before the bank asked for a 23.5 billion euros bailout.
Commodity markets were also generally firmer on prospcts pro-bailout parties may succeed in the June 17 Greek elections, and the resultant easier tone in the U.S. dollar.
Brent crude edged above $107 per barrel, although prospects of supply constraints stemming from a lack of progress in talks over Iran's nuclear programme also buoyed prices.
Spot gold rose 0.4% to $1,580.42 per ounce, its highest level in nearly a week, in tandem with other risk assets.
But trading volumes should remain muted on Monday, with U.S. markets closed for Memorial Day, while markets in a number of European countries, including Switzerland, were closed for a bank holiday. Monday is also a bank holiday in France and Germany, although their equity markets were open.
Investors were also looking ahead to major economic data due from the United States this week which includes consumer confidence, gross domestic product and, on Friday, the May non-farm payrolls report, which could provide clues on whether the economy is running out of steam or has simply hit a soft patch.
"Data this week will reveal further contrasts between the U.S. and eurozone," said Mitul Kotecha of Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank.
The notices will also have to state whether banking licences are shared with another brand, as in this case customers who have money in both are still subject to an overall compensation limit of £85,000.
For example, Halifax and Bank of Scotland – which also own BM Savings – count as one group, whereas NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland are treated as separate entities by the FSCS.
Andrew Bailey, the FSA's director of UK banks and building societies, said: "Customers need to feel confident about their money and to do this they need to know what the compensation limits are and which scheme would provide cover in the event of a bank, building society or credit union failure.
"Too many people assume that because their branch is located on a local high street in the UK, they are covered by the FSCS. This is not true for UK branches of EEA [European Economic Area ] banks where the home country's deposit guarantee scheme applies."
He added: "Banks, building societies and credit unions will have to display these compensation stickers or posters in the branch window along with a sticker at the cashier's window or desk and a further poster in a prominent position inside."
Similar stickers must also be displayed on websites. The rules will take effect on August 31.
Emerging-market stocks rose for a third day as opinion polls of Greek voters eased concern the country will exit the euro area and speculation mounted that China will take steps to boost its economy.
The MSCI Emerging Markets Index (MXEF) rose 0.7 percent to 908.28 as of 10:24 a.m. in London. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index (HSCEI) of Chinese companies listed in Hong Kong climbed 1.1 percent. Anhui Conch Cement Co. (914) climbed 3.9 percent after Credit Suisse Group AG said China's government is accelerating investment approvals. The Micex Index jumped 1.2 percent in Moscow and the FTSE/JSE Africa All Share Index (JALSH) gained 0.8 percent as oil and metal prices advanced.
China is speeding up investment approvals to support growth, with the size of stimulus estimated at between 1 trillion yuan ($157.7 billion) and 2 trillion yuan, Dong Tao, an economist at Credit Suisse, wrote in a note today. Greece's New Democracy, which supports the European Union's bailout plan, was placed first in all six opinion polls published on May 26 as campaigning continued for a general election next month.
The MSCI gauge has fallen 11 percent in May, poised for the biggest monthly drop since September, as concern grew that Europe's debt crisis will worsen and China's economic slowdown will deepen.
OAO Lukoil, Russia's second-largest oil producer, added 2 percent after first-quarter profit increased 7.7 percent. OAO Mobile TeleSystems, the country's biggest mobile operator, rose 2.3 percent as its weighting was lifted in the MSCI Russia 10/40 Index, according to Troika Dialog.
The ISE National 100 Index (XU100) slipped 0.2 percent in Istanbul. Akbank TAS (AKBNK) dropped 1.5 percent, falling for a sixth day after Citigroup Inc. reduced its stake by more than half last week.
The WIG20 Index (WIG20) jumped 0.8 percent in Warsaw, led by a 1.4 percent rise in KGHM Polska Miedz SA (KGH), the copper producer with the biggest European mine output.
The rand appreciated 1 percent against the dollar and the ruble gained 0.3 percent. The zloty strengthened 0.5 percent against the euro.
Russia's dollar Eurobond due in 2022 rose for the first day in four, cutting the yield four basis points, or 0.04 percentage point, to 4.27 percent. Turkey's 2022 dollar yield fell five basis points to 5.26 percent.
Esprit Holdings Ltd. (330), a clothier that counts Europe as its biggest market, advanced 2 percent in Hong Kong. Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. (2317) and Simplo Technology Co. (6121) gained in Taipei, leading technology stocks higher after Deutsche Bank AG said the two companies may deliver "healthy" earnings growth in the second half of the year.
Simplo jumped 4 percent. The maker of battery packs for laptops is a preferred component stock and is expected to outperform its peers because of tablet computer demand, analysts at Deutsche Bank wrote in a note dated May 25. Hon Hai, which gained 1.6 percent, is among the bank's top picks in the post- personal computer era, according to the report.
Gome Electrical Appliances Holding Ltd. (493), China's second- biggest electronics retailer, sank 4.6 percent in Hong Kong after the company reported an 88 percent slump in first-quarter profit.
Chinese industrial companies' profits declined 2.2 percent from a year earlier in April, the statistics bureau reported yesterday. That compared with a 4.5 percent gain in March.
The BSE India Sensitive Index (SENSEX), or Sensex, rose 1 percent. South Korean markets were closed for a holiday.
The extra yield investors demand to own emerging-market debt over U.S. Treasuries was unchanged at 410 basis points, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s EMBI Global Index.
The Markit iTraxx SovX CEEMEA Index of eastern European, Middle East and Africa credit-default swaps fell three basis points to 337.
To contact the reporters on this story: Weiyi Lim in Singapore at wlim26@bloomberg.net; Jason Webb in London at jwebb25@bloomberg.net.


Driven by an entrepreneurial, enthusiastic and energetic spirit, Warren Hershkowitz joined the team to launch WeWork Space Services bringing over two decades of experience and leadership in marketing, technology, and operations functions in some of the most successful real estate and mortgage companies throughout the country. Warren has been involved in a wide range of complex MarTech implementations within the largest brokerage firms in the country. As an industry leader, he has acted in many roles to foster innovation, growth, professional development, and excitement to all areas of an organization.
Prior to launching WeWork Space Services, Warren was the Chief Relationship Officer of Square Foot Advisors. In this role, Warren set out to help real estate firms experience growth and productivity through decades of experience in Sales, Marketing, Operations, Finance, IT, and HR. Because of his involvement with the project management and development of many technology solutions, Warren has amassed a broad resume of technology projects to speak of. Some of his projects include enterprise wide Project Management Systems, Contact Relationship Management Systems, Complex Database Integrations, and General Websites ranging from individual to large scale with data feeds and advance image management. He has sat on tech advisory councils and many strategy groups. His clients include companies in the Real Estate, Mortgage, Title, Property Management, and Concierge industries. Warren has tech development skills too, which has proved invaluable, when managing the cost and time-to-market for most technology projects.