So many to finish! Not even sure what to do with the tumbling creek up above – needs a bit more, buuuuut not much!
And then there are these landscapes in various stages of unrest! One thing is certain – I will NEVER have nothing to do!


text:
Picnic site celebration
Mayor Kate Allsop officially opened the new access path to the picnic area at Mansfield's Quarry Lane Nature Reserve. The route is part of the Maun Conservation Group's £25,000 improvement project, which will enable wheelchair users, people with limited mobility and users of pushchairs and prams to reach the picnic site. Funding for the project came from the Veolia Environmental Trust, who awarded a grant of £23,234 through the Landfill Communities Fund.The money was also used to build a path around the picnic benches and provide steps to the mill pond.Kate Allsop said: "I would like to congratulate the Maun Conservation Group for the fantastic work they do in conserving our local nature reserves for the benefit of our community. They are without doubt one of the best community groups we have in Mansfield."These access improvements will mean that more people will be able to enjoy the picnic site and this popular local nature reserve."Six Year 3 children from Sutton Road Primary School, Mansfield, helped at the opening and had a picnic with the mayor.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Academic Quality Assessment of AIUB: An Inductive Research Approach.
The public tertiary institutions in Bangladesh have not been enough to meet the increasing demand of higher education. Identifying this as a window of opportunity, a number of private universities has been coming up day by day in Bangladesh. The number of private universities has increased to 52 with some more in the pipeline. Seemingly, the private universities offer a bundle of better facilities such as safe and attractive campus location, library & computer labs, terrorism free campus, full time teacher counseling, etc. Private universities working in Bangladesh vary in size, faculty, location and sponsors. However, most of them have the same objective of providing quality higher education at affordable price. Some of these government-approved universities have become renowned and their contribution to the education sector cannot be overlooked. Since the number of private universities is growing at a remarkable rate, the operational position of the existing universities is becoming tight and customers are going to be in a better position to choose among many options. In line with this, this study aims to conduct an empirical observation on the quality deployment state of private universities of Bangladesh taking a suitable case, namely, American International University – Bangladesh, which has a very fast rate of growth in terms of student enrollments and development activities. The study ends with a SWOT analysis which can be considered as a lesson for the entire private university community in fixing their strategy to compete in the near future. Finally, the generalized form of the concluding comments and recommendations for the entire private university community drawn in connection with AIUB proves the inductive nature of the study.
The purpose of this study was to identify topics, courses, and academic programs that could be offered to college students enrolled in a business program that would enable them to be prepared for and to take advantage of contingent work as a viable employment option. The study findings were presented to the School of Business faculty for consideration in the curriculum and course revision process.
"Does Finance Make a Difference ...?"
In this paper, we examine if there exists any causal correlation between financial market development, economic growth and socio economic welfare. Referring to historically established hypotheses regarding the finance-growth nexus, we adopt a less generalized methodology of comparing real financial market and economic indicators of five developing countries over a sample period of 1996-2001. We find a strong observed positive correlation for two countries, observed negative correlation for one country and no observable correlation for two others. We conclude that the causal correlation between financial development and growth cannot be characterized by a generalized rule, and hence varies across cases.
In India, corporate governance codes are recently promulgated. Using sixteen corporate governance attributes, an Index is constructed and its relationship with capital market performance is investigated. Several statistical measures are used in the analysis. The results point out a linkage between corporate governance index and the market performance. The average return is high for high corporate governance index portfolios and low for low index portfolios. If an investment strategy is built up exclusively on governance index, i.e., buying high governance index portfolios and selling low governance index portfolios, a substantial return differential would occur. However, predictability of the index could be improved by further addition of attributes and subjecting the governance index to further analysis by using regression and conditional Capital Asset Pricing Model.
A person will be human resource only if he or she can be turned into a productive power by acquiring necessary quality and skill through education and training. Human Development Index (HDI) may be included various variables such as life expectancy, literacy rate and real per capita GDP and status of human freedom etc. The author argues that the country should put emphasize the need and role of professional skill in the present day economy where production and service cost are major factors for any organization or country for its survival. He suggests that human resource development should be directed towards attaining the self-sufficiency, poverty alleviation, illiteracy reduction, raising the standard of living of the people.
Management information system, in a bank, acts as a supportive and decision making factor for all levels of management i.e., frontline management, middle management and top management by providing routine reports of different branches, departments/divisions of the banks. The study has been undertaken to formulate the possible policies so that proper management information system can be developed in a branch of a bank and as such software is developed. To make the transaction process of the bank faster and easier this study can be regarded as a problem solving technique. The branch server will be set up in the branch where the main database will be stored. In the analysis, all sections of the branch banking activities including cash section are considered under a Local Area Network (LAN). The authors suggest that management information system in branches of the bank can be designed in such a manner that proper branch management, development of the banking activities and branch marketing can be improved. It is observed that with the advancement of modern technology, despite budgetary constraints of local Bangladeshi banks, management information system should be developed for decision making and planning as well as monitoring of successful implementation of business strategy. As such computerization of branches is required and management information system can be used as a supportive tool.
A major constraint on economic growth and development in Bangladesh has been the low level of domestic resource mobilization resulting in heavy dependence on external assistance to finance development expenditure and consumption needs. The major instrument for mobilizing public resources, as may be found in most small open economies, has been the tax system. There is some structural rigidity inherent in the tax system, which continues to depress the tax revenue-GDP ratio in Bangladesh. The structural adjustment program, carried out in mid eighties for the first phase, and then in late nineties for the second phase, had put strong emphasis on enhancing domestic resources through enhancing the tax effort, subsidy reductions and public sector pricing policies. It played a vital role to mobilize domestic resources through increase in tax revenue collection. Our study examines the major problems of tax structure in Bangladesh and role of taxation in domestic resource mobilization. It also shows various reform measures taken in tax structure and its implication in the economy.
Because of globalization, international trade and commerce have received a tremendous boost in the present day world. As a result, world trade is flourishing like anything. This has opened a horizon of new possibilities of jobs and business for a business student. A today's student of business school from Bangladesh may become an internationally reputed businessman or a business executive in some other part of the world tomorrow. Since English has become the lingua franca of the today's world, the need for learning English is beyond question. Because the success of a businessman or business executive mainly depends on his success of effective communication. Keeping this in mind all the higher institutes of our country have made English a compulsory subject. As grammatical knowledge of English is essential for writing correctly, our students of business have to study grammar at the initial level. But we have never questioned the validity of many of the grammatical terms. In recent years many new grammars and dictionaries have come up challenging many definitions and examples used in the traditional grammars. In the present article an effort has been made to find out some shortcomings of the traditional grammar so that our classroom teachers of business school will rethink about those shortcomings of the English grammar and it is expected that they will take special care while teaching grammar to our future leaders in the field of business. Since teaching learning of grammar is of great importance in Bangladesh context, the findings of the author are relevant to both business English and general English classes.


text:
Where Is the Ticker-Tape Parade?
By Lawrence F. Kaplan
Our failure to welcome home the U.S. troops who've served in Iraq.
From Iraq, I boarded an "Angel Flight"—a cargo plane that ferried the dead—back to Kuwait in 2006. As the C-130 taxied away into the night, there was the consolation that the bodies of the American soldiers would be washed, well-tended, buried with honors, and, eventually, memorialized along parade routes. The living, too, would surely be greeted with floats and hurrahs when they left behind Iraq's rotten, sand-blown landscape.
But, in fact, the parade routes have stayed quiet. Iraq veterans, apparently, merit neither bunting nor ticker tape. This is not as it should be. When the marching bands finally began playing for Vietnam veterans in the 1980s, it was said that never again would we deny a proper homecoming to American soldiers, misbegotten war or not. Love the soldier, went the never-persuasive refrain, hate the war. So why is it that nothing has been learned and nothing remembered? It is past time to celebrate Iraq's veterans with a welcome-home parade.
Taking the lessons of Vietnam to heart, Americans in 1991 feted the veterans of a 100 hour war with a full-on ticker-tape parade in lower Manhattan's Canyon of Heroes. The ostentatious homecomings given Operation Desert Storm veterans were as much shows of self-congratulatory bravado as anything else—as if parades offered proof of a heightened sense of moral awareness—but, for the soldiers, they were well-deserved tributes.
Twenty years on, their fellow soldiers (and, in many cases, children) deserve nothing less. And, quite possibly, more: Iraq has gutted the ranks, killing nearly 5,000 men and women in uniform and wounding over 30,000 more. Walking on lower Broadway last week, however, all that I saw etched into the sidewalk were commemorations of ticker-tape parades from a distant past, feting baseball teams, astronauts, and veterans of ancient wars. The Iraq War has been memorialized, but only in makeshift shrines and plaques that, in the case of the brigade combat team (from the First Armored Division) I know best, were erected and paid for by the very soldiers dispatched to fight the war to begin with.
A proper homecoming would respond to multiple needs unrelated to glory as such. It would, first and last, do something to bridge the gap between soldier and civilian that not even the distance between Iraq and the United States could measure. The observation that American soldiers inhabited a different world from the Iraqis around them became a numbing cliché, but it was their remove from our own society that really should have unnerved us. In Iraq, the U.S. mission required sacrifice and killing. At home, the U.S. mission required easy certainties and narrative simplicity. A skewed image of the American soldier was the result, in the popular imagination either a hapless victim, or a brutal predator, or the custodian of everything virtuous about this nation (a reading with which the officer corps tends, worrisomely, to concur). Addressing the corps of cadets at West Point last week, the nation's highest-ranking officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, said of his fellow countrymen, "I fear they do not know us. I fear they do no not comprehend the full weight of the burden we carry or the price we pay when we return from battle."
If what Mullen says is true, if civilians really have been assigned the role of spectators, wouldn't a parade simply highlight this tragic distinction with a display of militarism? Quite the reverse: This would be a homecoming, a communal celebration and an expression of solidarity, not a Cromwellian procession of some New Model Army. "Nobody was able to absent himself from the festival, for no one was a mere spectator," Jules Michelet wrote of a French Revolutionary jamboree. "All were actors." And so it should be when the returned march up Broadway, with maneuver battalions and high school bands each taking their turns, the crowds entertaining and being entertained, soldiers finally within reach of the civilians for whom they sacrificed so much in Iraq. All of the garbage of the past decade—the reluctance to abide any measure that might constrain personal autonomy, the subordination of the public good to private wants, the war itself—ought , if even for a moment, to give way to a modest display of civic vigor.
And what better spot? The Statue of Liberty in 1886, General John Pershing in 1919, Winston Churchill in 1946, and the returning armies, always the returning armies—all were feted in lower Broadway's Canyon of Heroes. With more than 200 such parades over the centuries, the latest in praise of wealthy athletes, is it really necessary to point out how wicked it would be to omit the million-plus Americans who have fought in Iraq over the past decade? With the bulk of the 48,000 troops still in Iraq set to be redeployed by the end of the year, why not begin planning now?
Thus far, and aside from the laudable exertions of New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, a Democrat, and U.S. Representative Peter King, a Republican, the idea has gotten no traction at all. Exactly why this should be seems obvious. Yet never mind for a minute the wisdom of the war. Never mind, too, whether you insist it has been won or lost. The only question we should be asking is: Where do we find ticker tape in 2011?
Lawrence F. Kaplan is a contributing editor for The New Republic.
Follow @tnr on Twitter.
Crossings, Iraq, Kuwait, United States, Angel Flight, Mike Mullen, Vietnam veterans


Typical overview of the Mezzanine floor lifter: The lift will be constructed using a single mast which must be bolted to the building block-work to provide additional support to the load legs. The lift platform will measure approximately 2140mm wide by 1540mm deep and will close down over the legs. The platform will feature 1100mm high rails on all sides and a double outwards opening gate. The gates will be spring loaded and will lock with a gravity system but will also be sensed to prevent platform movement if the gate is open. For more information on this range of products please contact us or call 01553 811977.
The lift will be constructed using a single mast which must be bolted down to the ground floor as well as the block work wall to the left of the mezzanine. Brackets will be supplied to support the mast rigidly away from the structural building brace.
The overall plan size of the lift will be approx 2200mm wide x 1850mm deep The platform will feature 1100mm high rails on all sides with twin outwards opening gates opposite the mast (Side B) and to the left of the mast (Side A) The gates will lock with a gravity system but will also be sensed to prevent platform movement if the gate is open.
The hydraulic power pack will be mounted to the mast and electrical system will be housed in a separate box, mounted on the enclosure at ground level.
5660mm high mesh panels on 3 exposed sides incorporating twin outward opening gates 2000mm high opposite the mast (Side B) at ground level and twin outward opening gates 2000mm high to the left of the mast (Side A). The gates will be fitted with an electrical interlock to prevent opening when the lift is not parked.


text:
Q: BlackJack window program wont show up I have assigned to write a basic BlackJack Window Program using JFrame and card images provided by my teacher. I wrote everything out from what I think should work however it doesn't show up at all when I compile it. Is am I missing something?
When I compile the program it successfully compiles, however, after I execute the file in my library BlackJack.java, nothing executes and my program does not show up. In the command prompt, it shows it executed but no BlackJack/JFrame shows up on the screen.
I have tried adjusting the BlackJack Classes and MyJFrame classes so the JFrame executes right away, however it doesn't seem to be working.
And in a previous assignment, we were required to write a JFrame for this BlackJack class, mine worked just fine. So I feel like the BlackJack implements are causing issues.
Note:We are given a java file called DeckOfCards and gif files for card images to use
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.util.Iterator;
import java.util.Scanner;
import java.util.Vector;
public class BlackJack extends JFrame implements ActionListener
{
private JLabel[] lblPlayer = new JLabel[8];
private JLabel[] lblDealer = new JLabel[8];

private JPanel pnlPlayDeal = new JPanel(new GridLayout(2,8));

private DeckOfCards deck = new DeckOfCards();

private Vector <String> playerCardNames = new Vector<String>();
private Vector <String> dealerCardNames = new Vector<String>();

private ImageIcon[] icoPlayerHand = new ImageIcon[8];
private ImageIcon[] icoDealerHand = new ImageIcon[8];

private JButton btnDeal = new JButton("Deal");
private JButton btnPlayer = new JButton("Player");
private JButton btnDealer = new JButton("Dealer");
private JButton btnNew = new JButton("New");
private JButton btnAuthor = new JButton("Author");

private JPanel pnlButtons = new JPanel(new FlowLayout());

private int count = 1;
private int playerval = 0;
private int dealerval = 0;

public void MyJFrame()
{
    for(int i=0;i<8;i++)
    {
        lblPlayer[i] = new JLabel("Player");
        lblDealer[i] = new JLabel("Dealer");
    }
    this.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
    this.setSize(800, 350);
    this.setVisible(true);
    add(pnlPlayDeal,BorderLayout.CENTER);
    add(pnlButtons,BorderLayout.SOUTH);
    this.addLabels();
    this.addButtons();
    registerListeners();
    this.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
}
public void addLabels()
{
    for(int i= 0;i<8;i++)
    {
        pnlPlayDeal.add(lblPlayer[i]);
    }
    for(int i= 0;i<8;i++)
    pnlPlayDeal.add(lblDealer[i]);
}
public void addButtons()
{
    pnlButtons.add(btnDeal);
    pnlButtons.add(btnPlayer);
    btnPlayer.setEnabled(false);
    pnlButtons.add(btnDealer);
    btnDealer.setEnabled(false);
    pnlButtons.add(btnNew);
    btnNew.setEnabled(false);
    pnlButtons.add(btnAuthor);
}
public void registerListeners()
{
    btnDeal.addActionListener(this);
    btnPlayer.addActionListener(this);
    btnDealer.addActionListener(this);
    btnNew.addActionListener(this);
    btnAuthor.addActionListener(this);
}
public int findRank(String x)
{
    int result=0;
    if(x.startsWith("Two"))
       result=2;
    else if(x.startsWith("Three"))
       result=3;
    else if(x.startsWith("Four"))
        result=4;
    else if(x.startsWith("Five"))
        result=5;
    else if(x.startsWith("Six"))
        result=6;
    else if(x.startsWith("Seven"))
        result=7;
    else if(x.startsWith("Eight"))
        result=8;
    else if(x.startsWith("Nine"))
        result=9;
    else if(x.startsWith("Ten"))
        result=10;
    else if(x.startsWith("Jack"))
        result=10;
    else if(x.startsWith("Queen"))
        result=10;
    else if(x.startsWith("King"))
        result=10;
    else if(x.startsWith("Ace"))
        result=11;
    return result;
}
public int getVal (Vector<String> v)
{
    int total=0;
    Iterator <String> iter = v.iterator();
    while(iter.hasNext())
    {
        total+= findRank(iter.next());
    }
    return total;
}
public void deal()
{
    deck.shuffle();
    playerCardNames.add(deck.deal());
    playerCardNames.add(deck.deal());
    dealerCardNames.add(deck.deal());
    dealerCardNames.add(deck.deal());

    icoPlayerHand[0] = new ImageIcon("cardImages/"
            +playerCardNames.get(0)+".gif");
    icoPlayerHand[1] = new ImageIcon("cardImages/"
            +playerCardNames.get(1)+".gif");
    lblPlayer[0].setIcon(icoPlayerHand[0]);
    lblPlayer[1].setIcon(icoPlayerHand[1]);

    icoDealerHand[0] = new ImageIcon("cardImages/"+
            dealerCardNames.get(0)+".gif");
    icoDealerHand[1] = new ImageIcon("cardImages/card.gif");
    lblDealer[0].setIcon(icoDealerHand[0]);
    lblDealer[1].setIcon(new ImageIcon("cardImages/card.gif"));

    btnDeal.setEnabled(false);
    btnPlayer.setEnabled(true);
    count ++;
}
public void player()
{
    while(getVal(playerCardNames)<22)
    {
        String choice = JOptionPane.showInputDialog(null, "you have "
                +getVal(playerCardNames)+" h/s",null);
        if(choice.equalsIgnoreCase("h"))
        {
            playerCardNames.add(deck.deal());
            icoPlayerHand[count] = new ImageIcon("cardImages/"
                    +playerCardNames.lastElement()+".gif");
            lblPlayer[count].setIcon(icoPlayerHand[count]);
            count++;
        }
        else
        break;
    }
    if(getVal(playerCardNames)>21)
    {
        JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(this, "You Busted");
        btnPlayer.setEnabled(false);
        btnNew.setEnabled(true);
    }
    else
    {
        btnPlayer.setEnabled(false);
        btnDealer.setEnabled(true);
    }
}
public void dealer()
{
    btnDealer.setEnabled(false);
    count=1;
    icoDealerHand[count] = new ImageIcon("cardImages/"
             +dealerCardNames.lastElement()+".gif");
    lblDealer[1].setIcon(icoDealerHand[count]);
    count ++;
    while(getVal(dealerCardNames)<17)
    {
        dealerCardNames.add(deck.deal());
        icoDealerHand[count] = new ImageIcon("cardImages/"
                +dealerCardNames.lastElement()+".gif");
        lblDealer[count].setIcon(icoDealerHand[count]);
        count ++;
    }
    if(getVal(dealerCardNames)>21)
        JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(this, "Dealer bust you won");
    else
    whoWon();
    btnNew.setEnabled(true);
}
public void whoWon()
{
    if(getVal(playerCardNames)>getVal(dealerCardNames))
        JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(this,"You won");
    else
        JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(this,"You lost");
}
public void newGame()
{
    this.setVisible(false);
    BlackJack game = new BlackJack();
}
public static void main(String[]args)
{
    MyJFrame table= new MyJFrame();
    BlackJack first = new BlackJack();
}
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
{
    if(e.getSource()==btnAuthor)
        ((JButton)e.getSource()).setText("Conner M");
    if(e.getSource()==btnDeal)
        deal();
    if(e.getSource()==btnPlayer)
        player();
    if(e.getSource()==btnDealer)
        dealer();
    if(e.getSource()==btnNew)
    {
        newGame();
    }
}
}

A: A. Analysis:
Lets start executing your code manually, your code's starting point is static void main where I can see MyFrame's object is being initialized. Then BlackJack's object is being initialized.
B. The problem:

*

*There is no MyFrame class you have declared in your code.

*Blackjack extends JFrame, so you need to set its reference visible via setVisible() method that is done in the MyJFrame() method (and not in BlackJack's constructor).

*The method, newGame() is again creating a new BlackJack object, but you have not created your own constructor for that. I believe the method MyJFrame should be converted to BlackJack constructor.

C. Probable Solution:

*

*Remove  MyJFrame table= new MyJFrame();from static void main()

*Convert method void MyJFrame() to BlackJack's constructor

*Instead of creating a local BlackJack variable 'first' in your main() method, make it a class member (declare it outside of main()) and initialize it in main().

*As BlackJack's variable is a class member now, in the method newGame(), instead of creating a new local variable 'first', do this instead: first = new BlackJack();
Note: Your code may have more bugs. The above solution may solve your problem for why it was not displaying the frame. There are more than 1 ways of correcting it, I have only provided the best way possible for now.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


We were delighted to welcome the pupils and staff of Ashfield School along with their parents and carers to the Bridge Church on Thursday 17th December for their Christingle Service. It was lovely to see the Church so full and hope that everone had a wonderful sfternoon.
Below are some photographs from the afternoon.


text:
package com.danielkueffer.filehosting.persistence.dao.impl;

import java.util.List;

import javax.ejb.Stateless;
import javax.persistence.Query;

import com.danielkueffer.filehosting.persistence.dao.AbstractDao;
import com.danielkueffer.filehosting.persistence.dao.FileDao;
import com.danielkueffer.filehosting.persistence.model.UploadFile;
import com.danielkueffer.filehosting.persistence.model.User;

/**
 * The file DAO implementation
 *
 * @author dkueffer
 *
 */
@Stateless
public class FileDaoImpl extends AbstractDao<UploadFile> implements FileDao {

	/**
	 * Get files by user
	 */
	@SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
	@Override
	public List<UploadFile> getFilesByUser(User user) {
		Query q = this.getEm().createQuery(
				"SELECT u FROM UploadFile u WHERE u.user = :qUser");

		q.setParameter("qUser", user);

		return q.getResultList();
	}

	/**
	 * Get files by user under the parent directory
	 */
	@SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
	@Override
	public List<UploadFile> getFilesByUser(User user, int parent) {
		Query q = this
				.getEm()
				.createQuery(
						"SELECT u FROM UploadFile u WHERE u.user = :qUser AND u.parent = :qParent");

		q.setParameter("qUser", user);
		q.setParameter("qParent", parent);

		return q.getResultList();
	}

	/**
	 * Get a single file by user
	 */
	@SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
	@Override
	public List<UploadFile> getSingleFileByUser(String filePath, User user) {
		Query q = this
				.getEm()
				.createQuery(
						"SELECT u FROM UploadFile u WHERE u.user = :qUser AND u.path = :qPath");

		q.setParameter("qUser", user);
		q.setParameter("qPath", filePath);

		return q.getResultList();
	}

	/**
	 * Get a single file by user and parent
	 */
	@SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
	@Override
	public List<UploadFile> getSingleFileByUserAndParent(String filePath,
			User user, int parent) {

		Query q = this
				.getEm()
				.createQuery(
						"SELECT u FROM UploadFile u WHERE u.user = :qUser AND u.path = :qPath AND u.parent = :qParent");

		q.setParameter("qUser", user);
		q.setParameter("qPath", filePath);
		q.setParameter("qParent", parent);

		return q.getResultList();
	}

	/**
	 * Get files by parent folder
	 */
	@SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
	@Override
	public List<UploadFile> getFilesByParent(int parent) {
		Query q = this.getEm().createQuery(
				"SELECT u FROM UploadFile u WHERE u.parent = :qParent");

		q.setParameter("qParent", parent);

		return q.getResultList();
	}
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
UF veterinary students honored with scholarships
Several University of Florida veterinary students were among those honored recently with scholarships from Zoetis and the American Veterinary Medical Foundation. The scholarship recipients were named during the 42nd annual 2013 Student American Veterinary Medical Association (SAVMA) symposium in Baton Rouge.
A total of $576,000 was distributed for 288 scholarships to sophomore and junior veterinary students from all over the United States and the Caribbean. Each student scholarship was for $2,000. More than 1,500 applicants were evaluated based on several criteria, including academic excellence, professional interests, financial need, diversity, leadership and potential for contribution to the veterinary profession, according to a press release from Zoetis.
"We hope to continue this scholarship in the future and look forward to our continued success in providing educational opportunities for students and support to their future veterinary careers," said Dr. Harvey Crumm, the company's academic liaison for the United States.
UF's veterinary student winners included:
Brooke Butler
Jacquelyn Buonasera
Stephanie Kirchman
Landau Geoffrey
Jason Pearsall
Courtney Payne
Kelsey Vallario
Mark Belyeu
Kelly Cuthbert
Retired professor gives $1 million to UF for scholarships
A retired veterinary medicine professor has donated $1 million to UF for student scholarships.
Superior Accomplishment Award winners honored
Several employees of the college recently were honored with Superior Accomplishment Awards.
Embryo transfer in water buffalo put college in limelight 30 years ago
Thirty years ago last month, two emeritus professors put the UF CVM on the global scientific map.
Surgery resident honored at national meeting
Open House coming up on April 13
Free service dog eye and heart exams to be held May 10
Students and residents win awards for research
CVM in the news
Faculty acknowledged for research accomplishments
Graduate students honored for research efforts


[Stark] shows us what larp is, from the inside — playing long-term boffer larps, staging her own theatrical larp, and journeying to the Nordic countries– to show us the compelling theater/game hybrids that the intellectual and even scholarly communities have created. Her purpose, at which she succeeds, is to convince us that far from being the preserve of the socially crippled, larping is the hobby of kings — and, in careful hands, a strangely powerful new artform all its own.
This entry was posted in Blog, Larp and tagged Endorsements, Greg Costikyan, Larp, Leaving Mundania by Lizzie Stark. Bookmark the permalink.


This 2016 Ford Edge Titanium has a 2.0L 4 cyls. Standard features include: Leather seats, Bluetooth, Power door locks, Power windows with 2 one-touch, Heated drivers seat, Automatic Transmission, 4-wheel ABS brakes, Compressor - Intercooled turbo, Air conditioning with dual zone climate control, Audio controls on steering wheel, Universal remote transmitter, Traction control - ABS and driveline, Driver memory seats, Memory settings for 2 drivers, 2 liter inline 4 cylinder DOHC engine, 8-way power adjustable drivers seat, Head airbags - Curtain 1st and 2nd row, Heated passenger seat, Multi-function remote - Windows, Passenger Airbag, Power heated mirrors, Tilt and telescopic steering wheel, 4 Doors, Front-wheel drive, Fuel economy EPA highway (mpg): 30 and EPA city (mpg): 21, Remote window operation, Compass, External temperature display, Tachometer, Clock - In-dash, Interior air filtration, Knee airbags - Driver and passenger, Overhead console - Mini with storage, Power Activated Trunk/Hatch - Power liftgate, Rear spoiler - Lip, Stability control - With Anti-Roll, Transmission controls on steering wheel - Gear shift controls, Transmission hill holder, Trip computer.
Hello, I would like more information about the 2016 Ford Edge, stock# 910150A.
Hello, I would like to see more pictures of the 2016 Ford Edge, stock# 910150A.


The Cleveland Municipal School District currently faces a large deficit of approximately $65 million, according to the Mayor. Because of poor economic conditions and the demographics of the district, Cleveland schools receives a majority of its money from the state, but as we have highlighted many, many times - state aid to public schools was slashed by the Governor to the tune of almost $2 billion. According to projections, for fiscal year 2012 this results in a net loss of $31.7 million for Cleveland and another $19.3 million in FY2013.
"I think what's going to happen in Cleveland (if the legislation doesn't pass), I've been told the business community is walking away," Mr. Kasich said. "They're not going to support levies; they're done; they're finished with what's happening there."
If business support for Cleveland Schools is to be judged by the passage of levies, the Cleveland business community walked away decades ago. Cleveland has passed only 1 levy since 1983, and that was in 1996. 30 years. One levy.
Cleveland has also undergone many "transformations" to turn around its financial and academic performance. In the 1990's vouchers were introduced, but the majority of recipients never attended public schools, charter schools were also introduced in the late 1990's, and continue to have a very mixed record. Some perform well, but are able to select their students, while most (including White Hat ran schools) produce abysmal results and serve only to extract valuable dollars from the traditional public schools. Administration of the schools has undergone many transformation, including a 1997 decision to make Cleveland the first, and only, district under mayoral control.
Judge Krupansky's decision came after more than twenty years of state and federal intervention aimed at desegregating Cleveland's schools, the aftermath of a 1976 court decision which found the system plagued by de jure and de facto segregation.
Reading the history of Cleveland public schools is like listening to a record, broken and stuck on failed leadership, failed administration, lack of state support and a community financially in decline with serious socioeconomic problems.
Case Western Reserve University and Western Reserve Historical Society have an excellent article on the history of Cleveland schools, which we hope they won't object to use excerpting at length.
In 1963 the Program for Action by Citizens in Education (the PACE ASSN.), organized with the support of the Cleveland Associated Foundation, and advocated a variety of school reforms: early reading assistance, libraries in elementary schools, a human-relations curriculum, black teacher recruitment, a tutor corps, interdistrict vocational training and summer schools, and the establishment of an agency to promote its recommendations, which became a foundation-supported organization developing a wide variety of programs improving public education, before its demise in 1974. ALTERNATIVE SCHOOLS such as the Cleveland Urban Learning Community of St. Ignatius High School, the United Independent Schools of E. Cleveland, and the Urban League's Street Academy, provided non-traditional options in the 1970s and demonstrated the need for reform. In 1964 PAUL BRIGGS†, head of the PARMA schools, became superintendent and the board ended the "dual system" of administration that existed since 1904 by making the Business Dept. report to him. Briggs announced that the schools would have "a new look" through federal assistance that would expand preschool education and a new center for adult education. The enrollment of adults in literacy classes almost doubled. Antipoverty programs and the Elementary & Secondary Education Act of 1965 funded many new programs. Assisted by PACE, 105 elementary libraries opened in 1966. Briggs launched an ambitious building program in 1968 that included a downtown Supplementary Education Ctr. for students throughout the city and an extensive school-building program. The public passed another bond issue to build schools for the over 150,000 students.
After a survey demonstrated that two-thirds of high school dropouts were unemployed, the federal government established a Student Neighborhood Youth Corps, providing after-school jobs. In 1965 the government's Manpower & Training Ctr. was established, including basic or remedial courses and vocational education. Programs in cooperative and distributive education in high schools provided students with on-the-job work experience. A vocational Occupational Program was to reduce the number of dropouts without marketable skills. In addition, the school cooperated with the Bureau of Vocational Rehabilitation to provide workstudy programs for boys who qualified. An Occupational Work Experience Program, including a work laboratory with wood- and metal-working equipment, began for below-average high school students. Under contract with the U.S. Dept. of Labor, the Woodland Job Training Ctr. enrolled over 1,000 in a factory school in 1968, training hard-core, unemployed city residents.
Briggs recruited black teachers and administrators, appointed Jas. B. Tanner, a black educator, as his assistant superintendent, and helping organize a Master of Arts in Teaching at JOHN CARROLL UNIVERSITY He declared that the federal government's Aid to Dependent Children would provide over $1 million in the first 6 months of 1968 to finance 11 new programs for 29,289 disadvantaged learners in 81 schools. But in 1973, the NAACP filed a suit claiming that quality education was not legal or possible in a segregated environment. On 6 Feb. 1978, Federal Judge FRANK J. BATTISTI† issued a remedial order as a result of his finding the previous year that the Cleveland school system and State Board of Education were guilty of de facto and de jure segregation of black students in Cleveland. Briggs and the school board, headed by Arnold Pinkney, a black businessman, defended neighborhood schools and claimed that segregation was the result of residential housing patterns they were not obligated to correct. The desegregation case demonstrated that the board's actions, which included busing, constructing schools, and reassigning students for the purposes of segregation, had racially isolated and violated the 14th Amendment rights of the city's black children. Briggs predicted the court order would increase both white flight from the city and the dual system of public education that left schools in central cities with predominantly disadvantaged minority children. His problems were increased when the public rejected by an almost 2-to-1 margin a request for a school levy to remedy the school system's deficits, and he resigned his position. In Sept. 1978 the system obtained a $20 million loan from Ohio's Emergency School Assistance Fund. The state also found Cleveland's public schools below minimum standards and made compliance and the appointment of a financial administrator the basis of a second loan in 1981.
The federal court established a Dept. of School Desegregation Relations to eliminate the effects of prior desegregation and to provide an integrated educational environment. The Office of School Monitoring & Community Relations was established to foster the public's understanding of desegregation and to report on its progress. Chas. Leftwich, the court-appointed deputy superintendent, had the school department report directly to him. After Leftwich resigned, the court approved the board's appointment of Margaret Fleming in Nov. 1978. The Monitoring Commission reported to the court that the school system had resegregated black students transported from the Addison Jr. High district and should be held in contempt for obstructing the court's desegregation plan. The court removed Fleming from her position and appointed Donald Waldrip to head the Dept. of Desegregation in 1980. The court order led to crosstown busing, massive teacher transfers, a mandatory reading program, and other measures to equalize the schools.
Superintendent Peter Carlin, Briggs' successor, described his efforts as "Working Together for Excellence." He and the school board addressed the teachers' needs after Cleveland's United Fed. of Teachers, organized in 1933, struck in 1978 and 1979. Carlin reported that the schools made progress toward integration by daily transporting over 30,000 students in 550 vehicles. The schools now served over 12 million free or reduced meals, had a computerized scheduling program, School Community Councils and Parent Awareness Project, human-relations training for staff and teachers, improvement in elementary reading scores, compliance with the state's minimum standards except for facilities, repayment of both state loans, and a Code of Rights, Responsibilities & Discipline for students. But conflicts among school board members, school closings and program reductions, layoffs, the continuing poor performance of students, and declining enrollment diminished the public's confidence. In 1982 Carlin left the system, suing for its failure to evaluate him before his non-reappointment. Two years later, Waldrip departed under a dark cloud for both his inability to obtain funding for the expansion of magnet schools and his purchase of a million reading programs from a firm he had represented.
The cost per pupil, up more than 100% between 1971-80, ranked the expenditures of the Cleveland public schools in the top 10% of districts in Ohio. The percentage of the system's budget spent on educational programs and teachers declined, but the expense of maintenance, administration, and non-teaching personnel increased as enrollment dropped. In 1980 Judge Battisti ordered the State of Ohio as a co-defendant in the desegregation case to bear half the cost of the court order. Faced with resistance from the school board, Battisti had to issue 4,000 orders between 1976 and 1984 to implement desegregation of the public schools. Strikes by teachers and other employees further complicated matters. But the desegregation order was not met with the mob violence that had occurred in other cities. In 1983 an accounting firm's study estimated that the board expected to spend $1.3 million for custodial employee overtime. A coalition to reform the school board budget continually criticized the board's spending priorities.
The debate about the role and performance of the public schools revolves around the larger question of how America can live up to its commitment to human rights and equality. The court's desegregation order reaffirmed the importance of the schools as part of the nation's democratic heritage. But their poor performance eroded the belief that schools can cure the problems of American society. Cleveland's public schools freed themselves of political control and the image of being a charity organization before the Civil War but were, by the 1980s, reverting to these conditions. The continued crisis of public education in Cleveland prompted proposals for its takeover by either the state or the mayor. After Carlin's departure, Superintendent Frederick Holliday committed suicide, and his successor was forced to resign. Alfred Tutela, who came from Boston as a member of the court's desegregation team in 1978, was appointed superintendent in 1986. He announced that the system needed over $50 million to repair facilities. With diminishing federal support and local taxes, prospects for such massive rehabilitation looked remote. Diminishing resources jeopardized the school system's ability to survive its escalating problems.
The Cleveland voters approved a bond issue to repair the schools but refused to pass a tax levy for their operation, despite the fact that the district had to borrow money from the state on 3 occasions between 1977 and 1983. Some school leaders and citizens saw the busing program for racial integration as an unwanted financial burden that had to be removed before the passage of a new levy. Due to conflicts with the school board over the use of the newly acquired bond money, Tutela left the system after the school board bought out his contract for more than $300,000. In 1991 Superintendent Frank Huml predicted a $30 million deficit, but the board refused to put a levy on the ballot. Cleveland's per pupil expenditures were still higher than most districts in its region. The Plain Dealer and educational summits under the sponsorship of Mayor Michael White's office, the business community, and community leaders pointed to the deficiencies of the educational system. The majority of students were not able to pass Ohio's new proficiency test for 9th grade students. Many graduates couldn't qualify for entry level jobs. Governor Voinovich called for a state take-over. The majority of Cleveland's residents gave the school system a D or F grade in a poll taken by the Citizen League's Research Institute.
In 1991 Mayor White successfully campaigned for a reform slate to become the majority of the school board. John Sanders, the new state superintendent, endorsed the proposal for a state take-over. Governor Voinovich also proposed a plan to appoint the state school board rather then allow the public to elect its members. Faced with the threat of a court suit to equalize school funding in Ohio, the governor advocated taking funds from wealthy school districts for redistribution to poorer areas and to allow parents to use school vouchers to attend schools of their choice.
Despite the loss of tax revenue from tax abatements for downtown projects, the Cleveland School Board refused to close schools and to make necessary financial cuts to balance the budget. The state superintendent predicted a school deficit of $55 million by 1993 and $114 million by the following year. The state controlling board approved a $75 million emergency loan without state receivership of the schools. The school board promised to ask the public for additional funds.
Supported by the new school board, Superintendent Sammie Campbell Parrish proposed "Vision 21" as a plan to renew the educational system during the summer of 1993. It made crosstown busing voluntary so parents could choose either magnet or community-based schools. Special reading and conflict resolution programs were also emphasized. Cleveland's NAACP praised the plan and advocated greater emphasis on the educational program than on busing, since the overwhelming majority of students were African American. But fears and conflicts arose over the high cost of more than $90 million per year to finance the plan and its possible negative impact on desegregating students. Critics also argued that Superintendent Parrish was too distant from the financial and administrative operation of the school system. Parents and teachers also felt that they were not consulted about what was needed to improve the schools. After the failure of another school levy in May 1994, the school board angered parents by threatening to eliminate 300 to 400 employees to prevent a $51 million dollar deficit. Despite the threat of severe cuts, the public refused to pass another levy in Nov. 1994.
With a budget of $500 million, the district's debt was 25% higher than other large school systems in the state. Another levy was cancelled after Parrish resigned in Feb. 1995, as a result of conflicts with Mayor White and the school board and the imminent state takeover. After the death of Judge Battisti in Oct. 1994, Judge Robert Krupansky was appointed to oversee the desegregation case. In May 1994 Judge Battisti had announced that the schools would be self-governing by the year 2000 and accepted "Vision 21" as the blueprint for the future. Judge Krupansky initially gave the impression that the district would be gradually relieved from busing, but in Feb. 1995 he ordered a state take-over in the face of the financial woes and administrative chaos that had subverted the court's remedial orders for desegregation of the school system. The state superintendent was empowered to seek a $29 million loan and to appoint a new superintendent of the Cleveland schools. The court cited the school district's inability to account for the use of previous state funds as evidence of its financial mismanagement. It was ordered to close 14 schools to help remedy the deficit.
The second half of the 1990s witnessed several new initiatives aimed at helping the struggling schools. The state allocated $5.5 million to provide vouchers of up to $2,250 to allow district students to attend private independent or religious schools beginning in the fall of 1996, but the voucher program stirred heated opposition from the Cleveland Teachers Union and civil libertarian organizations, facing repeated judicial challenges ultimately leading to a Supreme Court hearing, slated for June of 2002. By April of 1999, the district had established 10 charter schools. In November 1996, voters passed a 13.5-mill operating levy, the first since 1983. In the summer of 1997, the Ohio state government approved House Bill 239, vesting the Cleveland mayor with control of the city schools, a move opposed by the teachers union and the NAACP. In March of 1998, Judge White declared that U.S. federal court oversight of the school district would end in July 2000. Barbara Byrd-Bennett, a respected New York City educator, was appointed CEO of the Cleveland schools in November 1998.
But the problems of the schools were deeply rooted in the challenging social and economic conditions of the central city. More than 70% of Cleveland's school children now receive some form of public assistance as single-headed, impoverished families became the norm for many inner-city children by the mid-1990s. Integration became more elusive as the percentage of minority enrollment increased from 58% in 1976 to 71% in 1994. Almost 50% of the system's students were failing to graduate from high school, while employers increasingly require secondary and post-secondary degrees. For those remaining, their performance on reading-comprehension tests became poorer the longer they stayed in school. Attendance in the junior and senior divisions was the second-worst in the state. Only 37% of the city's adults had a secondary education in 1986. Nancy Oakley, director of Project Learn, a volunteer tutorial program, estimated that 47,000 illiterate persons lived in Cleveland. Poverty and the culturally different learner had been inextricably bound with illiteracy and student failure throughout the history of public education. The consequences of the shortcomings of the schools were a direct result of confused priorities resulting in public reluctance to bear the responsibility for providing a system of universal education that included those who have the greatest needs but the least resources. The condition of public education reveals society's values and priorities. What supported schools in the past was the belief that they were more important than any other institution outside the family and could meet the needs of different learners; this belief/priority seemed sadly lacking in the 1990s.
Cleveland has tried many things, but few ideas seem to have involved true democratic control, with full state support.


text:
Victor A. Denaro Home
Contact Victor A. Denaro
There is a Way Out
COVID-19 UPDATE: If you have any questions regarding a way forward in light of the Corona Virus crisis, please feel free to call our office. We are offering a free one hour consultation via telephone, so that we can comply with the current social distancing procedures outlined by the CDC. Click here to read our articles regarding Corona Virus & Bankruptcy.
The New Federal Tax Laws and Alimony
On December 22nd 2017, the new tax laws provided by Congress to the President were signed into law. Prior to the enactment of this new law the treatment of alimony payments over the last 75 years was described in IRS Publication, Topic Number:452-Alimony. The "Amounts paid to a spouse or a former spouse under a divorce or separation instrument (including a divorce decree, a separate maintenance decree, or a written separation agreement) may be alimony for federal tax purposes. Alimony is deductible by the payer spouse, and the recipient spouse must include it in income." The IRS Publication goes on to define and describe what is, and is not alimony. For purposes of the new law the same definitions of alimony are expected to hold.
Under the new tax laws the rule for the tax treatment of alimony has dramatically changed. The rules now state that the payer of alimony is no longer able to take a deduction for the amounts paid. Further, the recipient no longer has to include the alimony as income, and therefore, is no longer required to pay Federal income tax on the alimony received. The new law does not change the current treatment for alimony currently being paid. Moreover, the new tax treatment of alimony does not change the treatment of alimony for anyone who signs a separation agreement or who divorces before January 1, 2019. In those cases the old long established tax treatment will apply.
In general only a very small percentage of individuals pay or receive alimony. The Internal Revenue Service reports that only 361,000 tax payers claimed that they paid any alimony in 2015. For the same reporting period only 178,000 reported that they received it. The discrepancy in reporting continues to be a thorn in the side of the IRS. The rational provided by the House Ways and Means Committee for changing the tax treatment of alimony was that the alimony deduction was a "divorce Subsidy" in which "a divorced couple can often achieve a better tax result for payment between them than a married couple can." An additional more realistic effect of the new tax treatment of alimony is that it will result in more tax revenue than the existing treatment thereby helping to pay for other tax cuts contained in the new law.
In effect the new tax treatment is expected to cost divorced families more income tax as the party usually paying the alimony is earning more money and subject to higher income tax treatment and the party receiving it is usually earning less money and in a lower tax bracket.
The issue that may now develop for divorcing parties where the imposition of alimony is expected is how quickly they will proceed. A payer spouse may want to proceed as fast as possible to have the alimony begin before the new tax treatment on January 1, 2019, thereby preserving its deductibility. The receiving spouse may want to proceed very slowly, so that the new tax treatment happens before the alimony begins , so that there is no income tax on the alimony received.
This once again seems to define the "law of unintended consequences"! It may lead counsel to proceed in ways they would not ordinarily proceed, so that they can obtain the most beneficial results for their clients. Based on nothing more than timing of the proceedings. It will be interesting to see how the bench will enforce the rate of proceedings.
945 Concord St
We serve the following localities: Middlesex County including Ashland, Framingham, Holliston, Hopkinton, Hudson, Marlborough, Natick, Sudbury, and Wayland; Norfolk County including Bellingham, Dedham, Dover, Franklin, Medfield, Medway, and Wellesley; and Worcester County including Westborough. View More
The New Federal Tax Laws and Alimony | Framingham Divorce Lawyer
Copyright © 2021, Victor A. Denaro


Created in 2008 by the California Hospital Association, CHPSO is a federally designated Patient Safety Organization (PSO) dedicated to the elimination of preventable patient harm and improving the quality of health care delivery. With over 400 members in the United States, CHPSO is one of the largest PSOs in the nation and is a trusted leader in the analysis, dissemination and archiving of patient safety information. CHPSO collects safety event reports and other reports of patient safety issues in a legally protected manner.


This week's theme in I Should Be Folding Laundry's You Capture is Kitchen. It was very easy to shoot photos for this since that's where we are a good part of our day.
I tried to save a buck and made my own stencil with one of my favorite quotes. It came out a little ghetto but considering what it says, it's kind of suiting that it's not perfect. Someday, I'll paint over it and put up vinyl letters.
When deciding on paint color for the kitchen, I was debating between several shades of blue. I picked this one because of the name, "Quiet Moment" in the hopes of quiet moments during meals. The boys get a little boisterous during dinnertime so I tell them about the wall paint. They just laugh at me and keep on their jabbering.
Some times the kitchen looks like this.
Oh, yeah, and once in a while there's this.
Your kitchen is so inviting! I love it.
I love the jar light over your sink! Your kitchen looks cozy and inviting and well used and loved, just as a kitchen should be!
I love your kitchen! It's so homey.
I l-o-v-e your kitchen table and the chairs! It is so comfy-looking and I could just sit right down and have a glass of wine and chat while the boys run around and around....I am a pre-k teacher and kids run around and around me all day! Thanks for sharing and have a wonderful few days of fun! We have been in school since the 3rd....what happened to school starting the day after Labor Day?????
Oh, I LOVE that quote. That one caught my eye in the "expensive sticky letters" catalog and it fits our family well too. I have two rambunctious little boys and a tornado of a tiny little girl. Fun stuff, isn't it!? One day I'll miss it.
I'm drooling over your kitchen....I've always wanted one like that and I really like the chalkboard, thanks for sharing!
If I can't have your kitchen (read- HOME) then I need the recipe for the brussel sprouts...thanks!! The noodles look good too!!
Enjoy your weekend…I'm back at school tomorrow. New adventures awaiting in the wings.
what a great post love the pictures!
I love the color of your kitchen and the bell jar light fixture!
Your quote is so true for most of us! Some days I think I am doing pretty well and others show that I just failed!!! But that is okay! Tomorrow is another day!
It always looks like so much fun at your place!
I love your kitchen! It is so put together and homey. Of course, your adorable boys make it even better.
Well I think we actually have the same flooring! Your kitchen is just what I hope mine will grow up to be one day, and the boys are sooooo cute!
Beautiful kitchen and every detail of it.You are very creative and talented in everything you do. Congratulations!!
Soooooo cute and adorable your 3SKB as always.
I love how bright and airy your kitchen is... love the colors, too!
That table rocks! I also wants to know what that yummness is. What a fun set of pictures!
I love the white kitchen. And the wood floor. How beautiful and family friendly.
Thank for stopping by Weezer's Haven.
Oh. I like the way the stencil came out. I've always liked the idea of doing something like that.
Thanks for stopping by my blog! Love your kitchen, especially the quote. I want to put something like that in our kitchen but my husband doesn't like it. I'll wear him down soon. :-) What are the boys standing in front of in the 5th picture? Is it a wall push out? And the meal in the last picture looks delicious! Being pregnant, having a glass of wine with dinner is one of the things I miss most.
You have a gorgeous kitchen! Just a little jealous over here. ;) And I love the color you picked, both for the color itself and the name! Sweet boys...hope the start of the school year goes well!
I too love your kitchen. I almost went white but living in the desert, I felt it would not hide my enviroment. Your pictures are awesome. Such a sunny, happy family you have. Thanks for stopping by.
I love your kitchen, similar colors to mine we just painted our kitchen blue, I call it Martha Stewart Blue thanks for stopping by.
Your kitchen is awesome! (especially with the little guys runnin' around.) I'm lovin' your blog. The food looks so delicious!
I adore the way you moved your pictures along to make the statements and I must say your dinner looks tasty!
I adore the stenciling. And the ball jar light fixture -- fabulous. Did you do that yourself?


Restoration Services Costa Mesa Ca CA–(Marketwired – August 29, 2016) – uBreakiFix opened in Costa Mesa on August 10 at 126 E. 17th Street, next door to Floyd's 99 Barbershop. The growing technology repair company has more than 230 st… Photo of OC Home Restoration – Costa Mesa, CA, United States Newport beach bathroom remodel by Oc Home Restoration C.
Service Canada and the City of Hamilton have partnered to bring additional services to the Ancaster, Dundas, Flamborough and Hamilton City Hall Municipal Service Centres.
The California Department of Transportation, District 3 is responsible for maintaining and operating 1,491 center-line miles and 4,385 lane miles in 11 Sacramento Valley and Northern Sierra counties.
Emerald Pointe RV Resort. News & Notes . This page may contain notices from our BOD, committee chairs, members or the webmaster.The intention is for you to find short, current, important and/or interesting information pertaining to EP here.
24/7 Assistance is at Your Fingertips . 1-800 WATER DAMAGE is proud to offer residential and commercial services in your area! Please give us a call directly to schedule a service with our team.


text:
November 29, 2004: 4:45 pm: IkeUncategorized
Homespun advice.
Note to "self appointed public relations representatives": Don't skimp on the purple tee-shirts.
Seriously, we wish nothing but the best for Marengo County Junior Miss Contestant Elizabeth Hamilton (That's her on the left, by the way. If you know her, apologize on my behalf for singling her out.) Though a little long, this article does carry some valuable lessons.
Puff pieces do get ink.
When you see something like Special to the Times, that usually means someone at the paper took a press release that was lying around, and dumped it into the word processor. When you see a newspaper that has a lot of "specials," you know where you can find an outlet for easy publicity.
Don't laugh at the tee-shirts.
It's not the most sophisticated thing a marketer could use, and it certainly doesn't always qualify as cost efficient. But then again, these pageants are highly political, and there's nothing wrong with a little campaigning. When you have a limited target audience (a panel of judges), a little bit of well-placed advertising can help. Judges like to be popular, too.
Mom and dad are right.
Pageant people don't get enough credit for their training:
One of the unnerving parts of the competition is the personal appearances. The girls have been warned they could be photographed at any time, and Beth already got a taste of what she is in for.
"They stuck cameras in our faces during orientation."
To help her poise, she has spoken to the Demopolis Pilot Club and will speak at Kiwanis. She will be using a line from the poet e.e. cummings as part of her 15-second self-expression statement.
She also is boning up on current events.
"Mom kind of walks around the house and says 'Beth, what do you think of…'." laughed Beth.
She doesn't even get a reprieve from her father. "I thought he was on my side," she said in jest.
Yeah, 15 seconds doesn't sound like much. But how many of you aspiring and current spokespeople can nail a perfect 15 seconds at a moment's notice? With the camera in your face? On a random topic?
Sounds like a winning training exercise to me.
Trackback URL for this post: http://positiveposition.com/blog/2004/11/29/homespun-advice/trackback/
November 24, 2004: 11:22 pm: IkeUncategorized
Enjoy the L-Tryptophan high…
Have a safe Thanksgiving weekend, everyone.
And don't count on the turkey to knock you out.
Trackback URL for this post: http://positiveposition.com/blog/2004/11/24/enjoy-the-l-tryptophan-high/trackback/
: 1:35 am: IkeUncategorized
BasketBrawl, FantasyLand, and a River called Denial…
Seriously — someone please step in and help Ron Artest
"I have been trying to make a big effort to change the image of the league. That's not the image that David Stern wants to put forth. I have this album coming out. It's positive. It's about love. It's not rap or hard core. I am trying to do nice things."
Yep. You changed it, alright.
"I think that I never harmed anybody. That's really important. You don't want to harm anybody. And all of these suspensions, I am glad that nobody was hurt."
…other than the guy that was clocked by the chair.
It's one thing to lose your credibility by being silly. It's another to lose it by being so factually wrong as to appear to live in an alternate reality.
Matt Lauer: "At any point during this melee in the stands and back on the floor fighting with another fan, did it pop into your mind: I have crossed the line here? I am way over the line?"
Ron Artest: "I think the tape speaks for itself. I think if you watch everything on the tape, you will be able to answer that. All I can say is I am trying to stay positive. That's all I can do."
…until Ticketmaster starts selling out my world tour.
Artest needs a PR intervention. Badly.
The guy who threw the cup (John Green) also needs a little help. It's clear he's got a lawyer crafting his statements:
"The cup got hurled from the general vicinity of where I was sitting. He [Artest] looked up. We were shocked that the cup hit him. … He looked up at us and started charging up there. It was pretty shocking. I didn't know what to think."
Gee, "the general vicinity of where I was sitting." His hand just happened to also be in that general vicinity. Purely circumstantial.
His attorney (Shawn Patrick Smith) is really building a credible defense:
"The video is clear about what happens. I suggest anybody who wants to look at the video, there's questions involved in what the intent was. John is saying, look at the video. The video speaks for itself."
…and that video says — GUILTY! So why not own up to it? Be a standup guy. The entire Western Hemisphere saw you do it.
Trackback URL for this post: http://positiveposition.com/blog/2004/11/24/basketbrawl-fantasyland-and-a-river-called-denial/trackback/
…courtesy of BenMac.com:
The FDA is throwing a cold shower on the "Wild Thing" Viagra ad. Even though the dude and the "blue horns" are still prominent on the website.
Now that Viagra is feeling blue, and Bowflex is getting all bent out of shape, what's a guy to do to feel better about himself?
"Ah may be floppy, and ah may be fat, but I gots my hair."
Trackback URL for this post: http://positiveposition.com/blog/2004/11/16/this-just-in/trackback/
: 2:50 pm: IkeUncategorized
The toughest job in the world…
… is being Anna Nicole Smith's publicist.
How do you explain that behavior?
You lie.
Which is easy, if you happen to also be her lawyer. (Not to imply that lawyers, and only lawyers, are allowed to lie. No siree.)
Ultimately, those in the media will have to figure out how much of it is real, and how much of it is self-aware self-promotion by the formerly-plump one. We'll just have to keep an eye on the fortunes of Trimspa, the company that for the time being is standing by its pitchwoman.
Seriously… somebody help this woman.
Trackback URL for this post: http://positiveposition.com/blog/2004/11/16/the-toughest-job-in-the-world/trackback/
Weekend off…
For both of you who read this… no updates this weekend.
Seriously. Go outside and enjoy yourselves.
Trackback URL for this post: http://positiveposition.com/blog/2004/11/12/weekend-off/trackback/
For Brits, it's Snouts on the Outs. For US, we're stuck with…
According to the London Daily Telegraph:
A Commons official resigned as the Speaker's spin doctor after he was caught trying to generate anti-Labour publicity, it emerged yesterday.
Wow — must have been something pretty inflammatory…
John Stonborough had to hand in his notice after an e-mail he wrote to a Tory friend was sent by accident to a researcher working for a Labour MP.
In the e-mail, Mr Stonborough urged the Tories to attack the Labour 'snouts in the trough' disclosed in the list showing the expenses claimed by MPs.
"Snouts in the trough," eh? Kind of pales next to Cheney's F-bomb, where the Washington Post had to defend running the word in question.
Trackback URL for this post: http://positiveposition.com/blog/2004/11/10/for-brits-its-snouts-on-the-outs-for-us-were-stuck-with/trackback/
: 5:01 pm: IkeBig Blunders, Rants
AtP2: Spree chokes on words instead of his coach.
Latrell Sprewell, who once lost most of a season for choking coach P.J. Carlesimo, recently learned a valuable lesson in math:
One pithy comment, plus two reporters, equals infinite fan heckling and taunts.
It seems the former All-NBA guard was a little peeved that Minnesota Timberwolves management wanted to restructure his $14,000,000/year deal down to $9,000,000 — and that "a guy's got to feed his family."
And exactly why would anyone take offense to that?
Update (5/19/05): Wolves owner Glen Taylor recently called the pairing of Sprewell and Sam Cassell a "failed experiement," and said neither was coming back to the team. Well, now he's backtracking, and Cassell is back — and so is Spree (if he can live on less than $14M)
Trackback URL for this post: http://positiveposition.com/blog/2004/11/10/spree-chokes-on-words-instead-of-his-coach/trackback/
Dream Job: Political Consultant
Michael Goldman has some very pertinent things to say about the importance of crafting a message.
He is known primarily for work with political candidates, even though most of his clientele is in the business world. I agree with this philosophy whole-heartedly: "People don't know what to say. We help them clarify their message."
Trackback URL for this post: http://positiveposition.com/blog/2004/11/10/dream-job-political-consultant/trackback/
Tweaking "Mr. Wendy"
Being a spokesman can be daunting enough, but just imagine being a spokesman forced to fire your "unofficial spokesman."
Face it — the "Mr. Wendy" ad campaign was awful. But cheesy rebound lines like this one only tend to make reporters laugh (and damage your credibility.): "While decisions are still being made about new creative, food has always been the hero at Wendy's, and we're going to make sure that comes through loud and clear," Wendy's marketing executive Don Calhoon said.
Give me a break. I can swallow a triple with cheese easier than I can that statement. It needs to be more conversational. Yeah, you can make the case that the "bite" made it into print… but I can also make the case that today's politically-savvy reader/investor will recognize it as spin, and reject the cheese.
"Food has always been the hero at Wendy's". I thought you had to go to Subway or Quiznos to get a hero.
Folks — it is possible to craft a statement that is too cute to be effective. Don't outcute yourself.
Late in the piece, the CEO gets it right.
Asked during a recent conference call by one analyst whether the company was rethinking its advertising in light of sales slippage, chief executive Jack Schuessler replied, "Any campaign you tend to tweak it from time to time … and I suspect we'll tweak Mr. Wendy."
He ought to tweak Calhoon while he's at it.
Trackback URL for this post: http://positiveposition.com/blog/2004/11/10/tweaking-mr-wendy/trackback/
You are currently browsing the Accentuate the Positive, 3.0 weblog archives for November, 2004.


A "deer in the headlights" look was the response I got? What was the question?
I asked an employee, who was about to go into his annual performance review, how he expected it to go.
Funny thing, I understood the response because I felt the same way many times in my career.
Gallup Employee Engagement Q11- In the last six months, someone at the company has talked to me about my progress – suggests that reviews should be a formality. If you hold frequent conversations on progress, any review will be just a summation of all those conversations.
Here's a video to reinforce the need for tying progress to strengths. And check out my suggestions on how to work this into your team.
At your next team meeting, have each person write his/her name on a sheet. Then pass the sheets around and have everyone lists the strengths of each person. When everyone has their sheet back, read aloud the strengths.
Then ask the team, "How can we utilize our strengths better as a team?" You'll be glad you started this conversation!
This entry was posted in Change management, leadership, People and Productivity and tagged Employee Engagement, Performance Reviews, team building. Bookmark the permalink.


text:
package org.guvnor.common.services.project.backend.server;

import javax.enterprise.inject.Alternative;
import javax.enterprise.inject.Produces;
import javax.inject.Named;
import javax.inject.Singleton;
import javax.servlet.ServletContext;

import org.guvnor.m2repo.service.M2RepoService;
import org.uberfire.io.IOService;
import org.uberfire.io.impl.IOServiceDotFileImpl;
import org.uberfire.rpc.SessionInfo;
import org.uberfire.security.authz.AuthorizationManager;
import org.uberfire.security.impl.authz.RuntimeAuthorizationManager;

import static org.mockito.Mockito.*;

@Singleton
@Alternative
public class TestAppSetup {

    @Produces
    @Alternative
    public M2RepoService m2RepoService() {
        return mock( M2RepoService.class );
    }

    @Produces
    @Alternative
    @Named("uf")
    public ServletContext servletContext() {
        return mock( ServletContext.class );
    }

}