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Recovery at Risk
Stimulus on the cheap
Ben Rooney @CNNMoney July 8, 2011: 3:12 PM ET
President Obama said after the dismal jobs report that Americans expect Washington "to act on every single good idea that's out there" to try to help the economy.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The nation's anemic job market was thrust back into the spotlight Friday after a surprisingly weak report on U.S. payrolls.
But there is little political appetite to enact bold stimulus measures.
The government has already spent billions in the past two years to try to lift the economy out of recession.
And the focus in Washington today is on cutting spending and raising revenue as the debate over raising the nation's $14.3 trillion debt ceiling comes to a head.
In response to the jobs report on Friday, President Obama called for Congress to act on several pieces of existing legislation.
Obama said rebuilding the nation's infrastructure could provide work for unemployed construction workers. He also called on lawmakers to encourage entrepreneurs by streamline the patent approval process.
The president said Congress should pass several free-trade agreements and extend the current payroll tax break, which he said put $1,000 in the pockets of American consumers.
10 slowest growing states
"The American people expect us to act on every single good idea that's out there," Obama said at a press conference at the White House.
But the measures Obama outlined pale in comparison to the administration's past efforts to stimulate the economy.
In December, Obama negotiated an $860 billion tax cut deal with Republicans to extend unemployment benefits and provide a payroll tax holiday for consumers, among other things.
That came on top of the 2009 Recovery Act, which pumped some $787 billion into the economy during the recession.
Obama's critics pounced on Friday's jobs report as proof that these policies have failed to create jobs and put the nation deeper in debt.
"Washington's failed stimulus has produced more spending, more debt and more taxes, but not more paychecks," said David Camp, the Republican chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.
0:00 / 02:42 Political ping-pong with jobs report
But the administration maintains that the job market would be in much worse shape if stimulus had not been enacted.
The Recovery Act helped lift employment levels from where they would otherwise be by between 2.4 and 3.6 million jobs, according to a recent report from Obama's Council of Economic Advisers.
Wages fall in sagging jobs market
The political reality is that the chances of Congress enacting more stimulus now is exceedingly remote.
"I think Obama has backed himself into a corner," he said Dean Baker, co-director at the Center for Economic and Policy Research. "It will be difficult for him to push stimulus given his debt reduction rhetoric."
The steps Obama outlined Friday should help the economy, but Baker said any large-scale government support for the job market is more or less off the table.
"That would be the reasonable thing to do, but doesn't seem to be in the cards," he said.
First Published: July 8, 2011: 3:09 PM ET
June jobs report: Hiring slows, unemployment rises
Debt ceiling delay would be 'chaotic'


Water supply - a public service?
While water is vital for life, this basic need is denied to millions of consumers worldwide. One in six of the world's population (1.1 billion people) lacks an adequate supply of safe water. Two-fifths of the world's population (2.4 billion people) lack access to proper sanitation. Most of these people live in Africa and Asia with 1.3 billion in China and India. In Asia, less than half the population has access to improved sanitation.
Water supply in most nations is still primarily a public service controlled by the government, including in such developed countries as the United States, Japan, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands.
However, since the 1980s, the public sector has been vilified and governments have moved towards greater reliance on market forces for allocation and delivery of services. This approach has been promoted by the Bretton Woods institutions (the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund) and welcomed by the transnational water corporations.
By the late 1970s when public enterprises fell into difficult times, many developing countries had to grovel before the Bretton Woods institutions. These institutions demanded "public sector reform" the privatisation of state-owned companies as a condition for getting loans.
The IMF and the World Bank have forced some of the poorest countries in the world, including Mozambique, Benin, Niger, Rwanda, Honduras, Yemen, Tanzania, Cameroon and Kenya to privatise their water supply. Ironically, most of these countries privatised as a condition for receiving credit from the IMF's new Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility.
Privatisation has continued unabated. What these institutions have achieved is the greatest ever transfer of public wealth into private hands. The transnational corporations had found the perfect means for market access in the developing world. But there has been much opposition to water being regarded as an economic commodity to be surrendered to transnational corporations.
This is because water is big business and controlled by a few big corporations. The value of the global water and wastewater industry is estimated to be as much as US$800 billion annually and is growing rapidly.
The world of privatised water is overwhelmingly dominated by two French multinationals - Suez (formerly Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux) and Vivendi Universal, with US$9 billion and US$12.2 billion of water revenue in 2001 respectively. The Global Fortune 500 ranks both among the 100 largest corporations in the world. Between them, they own or have controlling interests in water companies in over 100 countries and distribute water to more than 100 million people around the world.
Other major corporate actors include German water giant RWE and its British subsidiary Thames Water, and the US-based Bechtel. Before its collapse, Enron was also a major player. Nine of the ten largest water corporations in the world are located in Europe. Europe therefore currently has a comparative advantage.
Providing sufficient water of good quality calls for new investments for water harvesting, processing and distribution. Transnational water corporations assert that they can provide the answer. They will do so only by raising charges and the rise in prices is often to levels that preclude access to the poor. Some of these corporations have been accused of mismanagement of funds, fraudulent accounting and face corruption charges. This is of grave concern.
Since transnational water corporations see water as a commodity, only the greater use of it will ensure profitability. Privatised companies want control of river basins and aquifers and seek pollution abatement of these because it will reduce production costs, but they invariably show a lack of enthusiasm for any scheme that results in conservation by users. Transnational corporations seek to protect their commercial interests. They do not take a holistic view of the nation's resources and the need to conserve and manage these resources in a sustainable manner.
In most countries, water corporations source underground water for their bottled water industry without prior determination of the right to harvest from such sources and an assessment of the adverse impacts that such harvesting will have on the environment, farms and households that are also reliant on the same source for water. They seek formalisation of water rights that will enable them to acquire monopoly rights. The formalisation they promote is one that seeks to exclude communal ownership and penalise indigenous and farming communities.
Villagers from Wada Taluka in Thane district, India are forced to trek long distances in search of water as the water table has gone down due to off-take from wells by the multinational company, Coca Cola. Coca Cola is fast expanding through out the world by buying up smaller bottled water producing companies. It already has done so in 17 countries including Japan, Indonesia, India, Mexico and China.
In Malaysia, the failure of the water privatisation venture between Thames Water and the Kelantan State Government resulted in the payoff of US$13.2 million to the British multinational. The Sabah State government reportedly owes three concessionaires a total of US$137.9 million. The Selangor State government is similarly reported to be in debt to the tune of US$218.6 million to it concessionaire. The consequence is not better service but a drained treasury. It is vital to ensure that the terms of the privatisation contract are balanced and will not pose a liability to the government or consumers.
In Philippines, water concession by two private companies initially showed much improvement in comparison to the previous Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS). Six years later, worse problems than which existed prior to privatisation emerged. Water losses that prompted MWSS to privatise remained high and even worsened in the western half of the Metropolis and water prices went up. In December 2002, one of the concessionaires, Maynilad Water announced that it was abandoning a concession serving 6.5 million people in the western part of Metro Manila. The failed privatisation has proven costly for the government. Maynilad has demanded a refund of the US$303 million capital that it had invested.
Privatisation evokes different responses in different countries and amongst different population segments. Much depends on the experience that a country has had with public enterprises. Where the experience has been an undemocratic, inefficient and inequitable state economic management, there is understandably much enthusiasm for privatisation. There is also much anticipation of the efficiency that privatisation promises amongst segments of the population wealthy enough to afford better goods and services. Others are less enthusiastic or even antagonistic. They resent the transfer of public assets to private ownership and fear that the move will result in losses to both workers and consumers.
Privatisation of a nation's water supply system involves critical issues uncommon to other privatisation exercises. A decision to privatise, especially when it involves a transfer of ownership, is a momentous decision. How much does the rain cost? How much does the aquifer cost? What price the river basin? Yet, many water utility privatisations are undertaken on terms that involve the permanent alienation of these to particular private interests. Should not a nation's leaders consult with its citizens before they decide to privatise national assets and should not implementation of privatisation be conducted in a transparent manner? Unfortunately, this is hardly the experience and the terms of privatisation agreements are seldom in the public domain. Company law may require contractual terms to be revealed to shareholders but there apparently is no such equivalent in constitutional law for citizens to obtain copies of agreements that involve the sale of assets of which they are part owners.
Also at stake are citizen's rights over water resources and catchment areas. Of special concern is the threat to water security posed by developments at the World Trade Organisation and the dominance of the transnational water corporations.
It is clear that there is grave concern in not only about the manner in which privatisation is being undertaken but also about the whole concept of privatising a basic national resource. At threat is the nation's water security.
Water is an even more precious commodity than oil. In the logic of bombs, regime change and Iraq, oil played a significant part. Fortune (May 2000) magazine asserts, "Water promises to be to the 21st century what oil was to the 20th century". The Turks have a saying "Iraq has oil, we have water. Let them drink their oil."
The challenge facing many developing countries, therefore, is how to supply sufficient water of good quality at a reasonable price.
Dr Sothi Rachagan is Regional Director of Consumers' International, for Asia and the Pacific.


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December 02, 1978 (vol. 89, iss. 71)
Current Search Year 1978 Remove constraint Year: 1978 Issue 12/02/1978 Remove constraint Issue: mdp.39015071754365-1978-12-02-1
December 02, 1978 (vol. 89, iss. 71) • Page Image 1
…i DECLINING BLACK ENROLLMENT See Editorial Page I Sic iau 1E~ai1F ENCORE High-mid 20s Low-upper teens See Today for details Vol. LXXXIX, No. 71 Ann Arbor, Michigan-Saturday, December 2, 1978 Ten Cents Ten Pages Student gets 'D' in class -sues 'U'for $885,000 By JOHN SINKEVICS Claiming he received "shabby treatment" from University officials and faculty members, a former University student is suing the University Regents for $885,...…
…. Page 2-Saturday, December 2, 1978-The Michigan Daily e r Church Worship S ervices CARTER PLAN WORKING? Dollar makes comeback 7R1 11 OR LORD OF LIGHT LUTHERAN CHURCH (The Campus Ministry of the ALC-LCA) Gordon Ward, Pastor 801 S. Forest at Hill St. Sunday Worship at 11:00 a.m. Thursday-7:30 p.m.-A study group on Medical ethics. Sunday Bible Study: Love and Jus- tice-9:30 a.m. Sunday Supper-6:00 p.m.-Special surprise program following th...…
…The Michigan Daily-Saturday, December 2, 1978--Page 3 Fs1OU SEE NE6WIEN CALL.DAJY Counting votes When justices from the LSA academic judiciary met in closed session Thursday night to recount the votes from last week's LSA-SG elections, they were surprised to find 12 more votes than were counted originally. LSA-SG officials had no idea where the 12 votes came from. They did announce, however, that the election was certified, and the results we...…
…Page 4-Saturday, December 2, 1978-The Michigan Daily 0 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Eighty-Nin e Years of Editorial Freedom America'sexpanding third world youth By Askia Muhammad "It's real simple," a 28-year- Vol. LXXXIX, NO. 71 ( News Phone: 764-0552 Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan Decling black enrollment O N DECEMBER 415 when the University submits its enrollment figures to the Department of H...…
…The Michigan Daily-Saturday, December 2, 1978-P(ge 5 Dahl still yukking it up in Chicago By LARRY BAKER Zany Steve Dahl is back in the news. No, he didn't try to hang himself on a microphone cord in Chicago. But the ex-Detroit disc jockey is now apart of the Michael Collins morning show on WRIF-FM. It might be for only a few minutes a day, but his bizarre brand of humor can be heard at 6:40 and 4:40 every weekday morning. Dahl; as you'll re...…
…Page 6-Saturday, December 2, 1978-The Michigan Daily. ,~ ________ UNCONTRACTED CLASSIFIED RATES Words 0O14 15-21 22=28 29-35 36-42 43-49 S, . 1.70 2.55 3.40 4.25 5.10 6.80 2 3.40 5.10 6.80 8.50 10.20 11.90 3 4.60 6.90 9.20 11.50 13.80 16.10 4 5.80 8.70 11.60 14.50 17.40 20.30 5 ado. 7.00 10.50 14.00 17.50 21.00 24.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50 3.00 3.50 DAILY LINE CONTRACT Number of Weeks lne/week 13 26 39 1,2 18 24 30 36, 42 48 54. 60 ...…
…The Michigan Daily-Saturday, December 2, 197--Poge 7 ire code needed for day care to stay (Continued from Page 1) through the local Child Care Referral Service, and have been working through the state legislature and com- mittees to accelerate the promulgation of inspectionlaws. ACCORDING TO Smiley, the problems began when the state took over the local inspections. Smiley said the nine-year-old CCAC had not been' cited for fire code violation...…
…Page 8-L firday, December 2, 1978-The Michigan Daily WOLVERINES, CRIMSON TIDE CLASfH AT CRISLER _ BlueY JAMIE TURNER Improved defense, fewer n mistakes leaig to turnovers an ter rebounding is what Michigan will lead the Wolverines past Ala today at Crislter Arena. The game which is sold out, fe two teams -tat closely resembl other in size, -speed and style o Michigan, 1-0 after defeating C Michigan Thursday night, willf self fast-breaking ag...…
…The Michigan Daily-Saturday,- December 2 1978-Page 9 Ailing Wolverine dekers battle veteran, fifth ranked Gophers By BRIAN MILLER Special to the Daily MINNEAPOLIS-The Wolverines' hockey season has been less than a cakewalk so far and it doesn't appear as if things will get any easier. Sporting a respectable 5-7 record thus far (3-7 in the WCHA) after playing 12 straight games against teams ranked in hockey's top ten, Michigan will get no re...…
December 02, 1978 (vol. 89, iss. 71) • Page Image 10
…'GIANT FLASH CUBE' Swoosh! Meteoi By United Press International A meteor that etched its flight in the. night sky over the Midwest Thursday evening with streaks of blue, green and red light apparently was reduced to lit- tle more than a large cinder by its suicide plunge through the heavens. The meteor went to its death in the Earth's atmosphere Thursday ight in a kaleidoscopic display of light that left police departments, broadcast station...…

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Art. 110 RCD - Transitional provision
Home > Designs > Art. 110 RCD - Transitional provision
1. Until such time as amendments to this Regulation enter into force on a proposal from the
Commission on this subject, protection as a Community design shall not exist for a design which
constitutes a component part of a complex product used within the meaning of Article 19(1) for
the purpose of the repair of that complex product so as to restore its original appearance.
2. The proposal from the Commission referred to in paragraph 1 shall be submitted together
with, and take into consideration, any changes which the Commission shall propose on the same
subject pursuant to Article 18 of Directive 98/71/EC.
1 preliminary ruling
Judgment of 20 Dec 2017, C-397/16 (Acacia)
Article 110(1) of Council Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 of 12 December 2001 on Community designs must be interpreted as meaning that the 'repair' clause in it does not make the exclusion of protection as a Community design for a design which constitutes a component part of a complex product which is used for the purpose of the repair of that complex product so as to restore its original appearance subject to the condition that the protected design is dependent upon the appearance of the complex product.
Article 110(1) of Regulation No 6/2002 must be interpreted as meaning that the 'repair' clause in it makes the exclusion of protection as a Community design for a design which constitutes a component part of a complex product which is used for the purpose of the repair of that complex product so as to restore its original appearance subject to the condition that the replacement part must have an identical visual appearance to that of the part which was originally incorporated into the complex product when it was placed on the market.
Article 110(1) of Regulation No 6/2002 must be interpreted as meaning that, in order to rely on the 'repair' clause contained in that provision, the manufacturer or seller of a component part of a complex product are under a duty of diligence as regards compliance by downstream users with the conditions laid down in that provision.


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Cliff Robinson Going Into Pot Business As "Uncle Spliffy"
By Ty Duffy
Longtime NBA veteran Cliff Robinson is going into the marijuana business in Oregon. He will be using the name "Uncle Spliffy," a riff off his nickname "Uncle Cliffy. He already has a website.
Robinson wants to "distill the stigma around cannabis" and promote its therapeutic use for athletes.
" "It's an opportunity for me to get out there and tell people a little bit about myself outside of basketball," Robinson said. "People in Oregon know me as a basketball player, but I want to distill the stigma around cannabis, the misperception that athletes and cannabis are incompatible." In at least one sense, that's spot on: Robinson agrees that football players or others who engage in contact sports might do well to treat themselves with cannabis as opposed to prescription painkillers. "Cannabis is definitely a more positive alternative to pharmaceuticals at the end of the day," he said. "Those are synthetics. I'm talking about something that's natural that can bring the outcomes you're looking for, be it for muscle tension or relaxation or preparedness. There are a whole lot of different things that are beneficial." "
Robinson was arrested in 2001 for marijuana possession and DUI. He was also suspended in 2006 for violating the league's drug policy.
Here's hoping his career as an entrepreneur goes better than his brief spell as a diplomat.


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Back to browse110 related documents
Division 7A - Distributions to entities connected with a private company
Div 7A inserted by No 47 of 1998.
Subdivision B - Private company payments, loans and debt forgiveness are treated as dividends
SECTION 109D LOANS TREATED AS DIVIDENDS
109D(1) Loans treated as dividends in year of making.
A private company is taken to pay a dividend to an entity at the end of one of the private company ' s years of income (the current year ) if:
(a) the private company makes a loan to the entity during the current year; and
(b) the loan is not fully repaid before the lodgment day for the current year; and
(c) Subdivision D does not prevent the private company from being taken to pay a dividend because of the loan at the end of the current year; and
(d) either:
(i) the entity is a shareholder in the private company, or an associate of such a shareholder, when the loan is made; or
(ii) a reasonable person would conclude (having regard to all the circumstances) that the loan is made because the entity has been such a shareholder or associate at some time.
Some repayments cannot be counted for the purpose of this subsection. See section 109R .
A private company is treated as making a loan to a shareholder or shareholder ' s associate if an interposed entity makes a loan to the shareholder or associate. See Subdivision E.
S 109D(1) amended by No 41 of 2005.
109D(1AA) Amount of dividend.
The amount of the dividend taken under subsection (1) to have been paid is the amount of the loan that has not been repaid before the lodgment day for the current year, subject to section 109Y .
Section 109Y limits the total amount of dividends taken to have been paid by a private company under this Division to the company's distributable surplus.
S 109D(1AA) inserted by No 41 of 2005.
109D(1A) Loans treated as dividends in year following that of making.
A private company is taken to pay a dividend to an entity at the end of the private company ' s year of income (the current year ) if:
(a) the private company made a loan to the entity during the previous year of income; and
(b) it made the loan in the course of a winding-up of the private company by a liquidator; and
(c) the loan is not fully repaid by the end of the current year; and
Subdivision D (other than section 109R ) does not apply to loans covered by this subsection.
109D(2) Amount of dividend.
The amount of the dividend taken under subsection (1A) to have been paid is the amount of the loan that has not been repaid at the end of the current year, subject to section 109Y .
109D(3) What is a loan?
In this Division, loan includes:
(a) an advance of money; and
(b) a provision of credit or any other form of financial accommodation; and
(c) a payment of an amount for, on account of, on behalf of or at the request of, an entity, if there is an express or implied obligation to repay the amount; and
(d) a transaction (whatever its terms or form) which in substance effects a loan of money.
109D(4) In which year of income is a loan made?
For the purposes of this Division, a loan is made to an entity at the time the amount of the loan is paid to the entity by way of loan or anything described in subsection (3) is done in relation to the entity.
109D(4A) Payment converted to loan before lodgment day.
(a) a private company makes a payment to an entity at a time in a year of income; and
(b) the payment is converted to a loan before the end of the private company ' s lodgment day for the year of income;
for the purposes of this Division, treat the events mentioned in paragraphs (a) and (b) as the private company making a loan to the entity at the time mentioned in paragraph (a).
S 109D(4A) inserted by No 79 of 2007 , s 3 and Sch 1 item 3, applicable to assessments for the income year in which 1 July 2006 occurred and later income years.
109D(5) Loans made before 4 December 1997.
If the terms of a loan made before 4 December 1997 are varied on or after that day by extending the term of the loan or increasing its amount, this Division applies to the loan as if it were made on the new terms when the variation occurred.
109D(6) When is the lodgment day?
In this Division, the lodgment day for a private company ' s year of income is the earlier of:
(a) the due date for lodgment of the private company ' s return of income for the year of income; and
(b) the date of lodgment of the private company ' s return of income for the year of income.
For the lodgment day for a private company that is a non-resident, see section 109BC .
S 109D(6) amended by No 75 of 2010 , s 3 and Sch 1 item 14, by inserting the note at the end, applicable in relation to: (a) payments made; and (b) loans made; and (c) debts forgiven; on or after 1 July 2009.
S 109D(6) inserted by No 41 of 2005.
S 109D inserted by No 47 of 1998.


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Quinnipiac Bobcats vs Canisius Golden Griffins: Don Best Odds & Insights for 2/13/2021
The Quinnipiac Bobcats (4-8) are at home in MAAC play against the Canisius Golden Griffins (2-1) on Saturday, February 13, 2021 at 1:00 PM ET. The Bobcats are 2.5-point favorites in the game, the second matchup between the squads this season. The point total for the matchup is 140.5.
Quinnipiac vs Canisius Betting Information
Quinnipiac -2.5 -110 -110 140.5 -110 -110 -145 125
ATS Records for Quinnipiac and Canisius
Quinnipiac and Canisius Betting Information
Quinnipiac Leaders
The Bobcats points and rebounds leader is Jacob Rigoni. He contributes 12.6 points per game and adds 6.2 rebounds.
The team is led in assists by Savion Lewis' 3.2 per game.
Rigoni hits a team-high 2.5 three-pointers per game for the Bobcats.
Quinnipiac's blocks leader is Seth Pinkney, who records 2.6 per game. Lewis leads the team averaging 0.8 steals a contest.
Canisius Leaders
The Golden Griffins leader in scoring is Majesty Brandon with 11.9 points per game. He also adds 3.1 rebounds per game and 1.0 assist per game.
Malek Green's 7.3 rebounds per game and Jacco Fritz's 3.0 assists per game put them in the top spots on the Golden Griffins rebounds and assists leaderboards.
The Golden Griffins are led by Brandon from beyond the arc -- he makes 1.9 shots from downtown per game.
Brandon is the steals leader for the Canisius with 1.6 steals per game and Fritz leads the squad in blocks with 1.1 per game.
Quinnipiac vs Canisius: Last 3 Meetings
The Bobcats are 2-1 against the Golden Griffins over the last three meetings between the two teams. Neither team holds an advantage against the spread in those head-to-head meetings. The Bobcats and the Golden Griffins have a 1-1-1 ATS record.
Quinnipiac vs Canisius (Last 3 Games)
Quinnipiac -5 140.5 -227 +182 Regular Season 74-67 CANS
Quinnipiac -2 147 -136 +112 Regular Season 66-64 QUIN
Canisius -4 147 -187 +152 Regular Season 90-73 QUIN
Quinnipiac has combined with its opponents to score over Saturday's total, 140.5, in 50% of its 12 games this season.
Two Canisius games this season featured a total above Saturday's set over/under of 140.5 (66.7%).
Saturday's total is 5.8 points higher than the combined 134.7 PPG average of the two teams.
This contest's over/under is 8.1 points more than the 132.4 these two squads combine to allow per game this season.
The Bobcats and their opponents score an average of 133.1 points per game, 7.4 fewer than Saturday's total.
The 134 PPG average total in Golden Griffins games this season is 6.5 points fewer than this game's over/under.


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Use The National Map Viewer and Download Platform to visualize, inspect, and download the USGS most current topographic base map data and products for free.
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CUGIR provides geospatial data and metadata for New York State, with special emphasis on those natural features relevant to agriculture, ecology, natural resources, and human-environment interactions.
New York's Open Data Portal, bringing together local, state and federal data in one place.
The mission of the New York State GIS Association is to assist, educate, coordinate and guide the implementation, development and maintenance of GIS (Geographic Information Systems) technology in the State of New York.
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Home Celebrity Bam Margera Might Be Legally Required To Attend Rehab
Bam Margera Might Be Legally Required To Attend Rehab
June 17, 2021 | H Jenkins
Bam Margera will not be a part of Jackass 4. He was fired from the production due to substance abuse issues and Bam has since received a restraining order from director Jeff Tremaine. Steve-O said he last talked to Bam a couple of weeks ago, and his friend needs some help.
While talking to Howie Mandel's podcast, Steve-O opened up about his old friend Bam. He said the last he spoke to him was "a week or two ago," and Steve-O admitted that Bam's life has been very colorful since then.
Steve-O also gave some hope that Bam Margera is getting the help he needs as of this writing.
"I think there has been some activity as we speak getting him into a treatment center. I can't confirm this, the last time I spoke with Bam was via text message a week or two ago and the last couple of weeks have been particularly colorful for him."
Steve-O spoke about the interventions that Bam Margera has had and he alluded to the fact that rehab might be required in some sort of legal sense. He did not expand on that, but Steve-O did touch on enablers in Bam's life.
"I think that things have come to a head and the latest concerted effort to intervene has been sort of focused on creating a sort of legal layer to it which would require a certain amount of treatment."
"I mean there's been a great deal of enabling that has gone one. You know I've been in super close contact with his family, his wife, and his mom. I have to say after years of feeling like I want to shake them and say, 'you're contributing to the problem!' Really, actually, I feel like they've come to a place where they're kind of understanding."
It will be hard to see Jackass 4 without Bam Margera on screen, especially since we understand the situation surrounding his absence. Hopefully, Bam can get the help he needs and start making healthier decisions.
Jackass 4 is bound of rack in a ton of cash from fans all around the world. Sadly, Bam Margera was in no place to participate this time around.
What's your take on this situation with Bam Margera? Sound off in the comments!
Transcription by Thirsty
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While in the creek this past weekend (that'd be crick locally), I was having a hard time with what I believe to be green side darters and johnny darters, both of which are quite common here. Unfortunately photos weren't possible as I didn't have a net really capable of catching them (they were all about an 1-1.5 inches long) and the creek was fairly vigorous. But even looking online it seems to difficult to spot differences between the two until they get larger or at least in the spring. Anyone have tips? I know the green darters feature that v or w shape marking but I've seen what are claimed to be johnny darters with basically the same markings, particularly when small.
As for distinguishing those two darters, at any age, there are several distinctive traits. First, very young specimens of the Johnny will be MUCH more slender than young Greensides. The body, especially toward the tail, will be very thin and slight in Johnny, and relatively much deeper and thicker in Greenside. But again, really, the pigmentation will be diagnostic. Johnnies have fine black markings as though drawn with a sharp, pointed pen tip. Yes there are W-like markings on the Johnny. The W's on a Greenside are thicker, so they look like they were drawn with a felt tip marker, wide marks. Johnnies never have green pigment. Not even slightly. Greensides of any age have at least a slight, olive, greenish, or brownish tint. Finally, the markings on the "face" are distinctive. Johnnies basically have one distinct, dark line along the snout, toward the mouth. Greensides have a few fine lines on the "face" curving downwards. Come over to Ohio sometime and we'll take your kids and my kids out to the crick!
Yes I do need that, hahaha. Purchasing aquarium supplies and working towards setting it up and scouting our local creeks have been our first stop. Hoping to get the tank finished in the next week or so. A circk trip sounds like fun! Where are you in relation to Columbus?
Nice! It's been a while but we do get out that way on occasion. I'll get in touch with you next time we head out that way.
Perhaps sometime you both can come up to Delaware. The Olentangy River is *great* for darter catching. I have banded, a fantail and rainbows in my tank. The river is crawling with darters.
Awesome! Let me know when you want to get out.
Sounds good! Easy access to the river and must be a billion darters along with other fish. I suppose sometime in the spring once the water warms up again.


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Kevin Hart Suffers Major Injuries in His Plymouth Barracuda!!!
News	by T. Gittens September 1, 2019 September 1, 2019
Kevin Hart suffers major injuries in his Plymouth Barracuda. Along with his driver, Hart was seriously hurt when one of his muscle cars ended up in a ditch.
Kevin Hart's Plymouth Barracuda Totaled
Shortly before 1:00 a.m. on Sunday morning, Hart was riding in his Plymouth Barracuda in Malibu Hills. Gifting the vehicle to himself, Kevin bought the car in July to celebrate his 40th birthday.
After swerving on Mulholland Highway, a winding road described as treacherous, the vehicle crashed. Ending up in a ditch, 10 feet off the road, the comedian and two others were trapped inside. Kevin Hart was not driving.
Crash scene photos obtained by TMZ show the car lay upside down. Smashing through wooden fencing along the road, the roof was completely crushed on impact, as reported by TMZ.
Hart and Driver Both Suffer "Major Back Injuries"
As confirmed by the cops, Kevin Hart and the driver both were suffering from "major back injuries". A third person, a female, did not require hospital treatment. As far as the driver is concerned, alcohol did not appear to be a factor.
Picked up by a member of his security team in an SUV, Hart was initially taken to his home nearby. However, he ended up having to be treated at a nearby hospital.
Just Saturday, Kevin Hart shared a video on social media of himself inside his vintage ride. As someone was yelling at him for spinning out his tires and burning rubber on the street.
Luckily everyone survived this serious accident, it could have been a lot worse.
Bobby Brown Lawsuit Against Whitney Houston Documentary Dismissed!!!
Nicki Minaj Offers Candid Advice On Toxic Relationships!!!


Today I'n happy to be sharing a post that has been highly requested by you all over on my instagram. A selection of spring/summer capsule wardrobe pieces.
I put together pieces that I feel can take you to various places from work, to brunch, to a weekend at the beach etc. I also wanted to make sure to share items that came in various styles and that would fit very pretty on women of all shapes and sizes. I also wanted the pieces to be classic so that these can be mixed and matched to pull outfits together quickly and easily. These are capsule wardrobe pieces you can wear all through the upcoming warmer months and that will go well with jackets/cardigans and shoes/accessories you will already own in your closet.
Check out the below look book and I hope you find some pieces that you love!


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StimulStat Project | Lexical database for Russian language
The project is funded by the grant 14-04-12034 from the Russian Foundation for Humanities
Get word info
Select words
StimulStat is a lexical database for Russian language which allows selecting words and word forms based on different parameters and finding values of various parameters for a list of words or word forms. The resource was created primarily for experimental studies of Russian. In such studies, it is often necessary to select stimuli for which some target property varies (e.g. accent), while many other properties (e.g. length, frequency, part of speech) either coincide or are carefully balanced. However, the database can also be used for many other purposes: for example, for selecting words with certain characteristics in teaching Russian, in all sorts of tests and assignments, and also for scientific papers.
The database includes parameters associated with lemma and form frequency, orthographic representation, ideal and real phonemic representation, prosodic features, grammatical features of word forms and lemmas, polysemy, homonymy, homography, orthographic and phonological neighbourhoods (groups of words with similar spelling and pronunciation), as well as subjective age of acquisition and imageability. All parameters can be found on search pages, and a complete list of them with necessary comments is included in the instruction. Values of some parameters were taken from various sources (see the list below), in this case, the advantage of this database is the possibility to take them into account simultaneously. Some parameters were calculated specifically for the database.
On the page "Additional Resources" we present a separate project in which the frequencies of various grammatical characteristics and inflectional affixes were obtained for Russian nouns on the basis of the Russian National Corpus.
At this stage the main part of the project is completed, but we continue correcting errors and optimizing the interface. We will be grateful for comments or suggestions. In addition, we plan to add a few more parameters to the database.
The project is being developed at the Laboratory for Cognitive Studies, St. Petersburg State University.
Svetlana Alexeeva mail@s-alexeeva.ru
Natalia Slioussar
Daria Chernova
Database sources:
Lyashevskaya, O., Sharov, S. (2009). Chastotnyj slovar' sovremennogo russkogo jazyka (na materialakh Nacional'nogo korpusa russkogo jazyka) [The frequency dictionary of modern Russian language based on Russian National Corpus]. Moscow: Azbukovnik. [In Russian]. (electronic version is available here).
The project Frequency grammar of Russian.
Lyashevskaya, O. (2013). Chastotnyj leksiko-grammaticheskij slovar': prospect proekta [Lexico-grammatical frequency dictionary: A preliminary design]. In V. P. Selegey (Ed.), Computational Linguistics and Intellectual Technologies. Vol. 12. 2013. Pp. 478-489.
Zaliznjak, A. A. (1987). Grammaticheskij slovar' russkogo jazyka [Grammatical dictionary of Russian Language]. 3rd ed. Moscow: Russkij jazyk. [In Russian].
Efremova, T. (2000). Novyj slovar' russkogo jazyka. Tolkovo-slovoobrazovatel'nyj [The new explanatory dictionary of Russian language]. Moscow: Russkij jazyk. [In Russian].
OpenCorpora (version 05.10.2015) via the morphological parser pymorphy2.
Bocharov V. V., Alexeeva S. V., Granovsky D. V., Protopopova E. V., Stepanova M. E., Surikov A. V. Crowdsourcing morphological annotation // Computational Linguistics and Intellectual Technologies. Vol. 12. 2013. Pp. 109–114.
Korobov M. Morphological analyzer and generator for Russian and Ukrainian languages // Analysis of Images, Social Networks and Texts. Berlin: Springer, 2015. Pp. 320-332.
The list of word forms annotated with the stress, created by A. Usachev based on the Grammatical Dictionary of the Russian Language.
Database "Verb and action".
Akinina, Y., Malyutina, S., Ivanova, M., Iskra, E., Mannova, E., Dragoy, O. Russian normative data for 375 action pictures and verbs // Behavior Research Methods. Vol. 47. 2015. Pp. 691-707.
the CORPRES dictionary of phonological variants created at the Laboratory for Experimental Phonetics of St. Petersburg State University.
Skrelin, Pavel A., Nina B. Volskaya, Daniil Kocharov, Karina Evgrafova, Olga Glotova, and Vera Evdokimova. "A Fully Annotated Corpus of Russian Speech." In LREC. 2010.
Research report "Variability of Phonetic Units in view of Interaction between the Levels of the Language System in Standard Russian", P.A.Skrelin, Saint Petersburg State University, 2010-2014.
Frequency values are drawn from Lyashevskaya and Sharov' dictionary (for lemmas), the project "Frequency grammar of Russian" (for word forms), the CORPRES database (for phonemic representations of forms)
The following parameters were calculated by the authors based on the sources mentioned above:
Ln-transformed and lg-transformed frequency;
various parameters related to the orthographic representation: word length in letters, the first and last letter, reversed spelling (e.g., okolom <- moloko 'milk'), sorted representation with and without letter repetition (e.g., klmooo and klmo <- moloko), uniqueness point;
various parameters associated with syllable boundaries and stress: the number of syllables (based on the number of vowels), syllable boundaries according to the model of L.V. Bondarko, CV notation, the main and additional stress position (in letters and in syllables), the presence of stress shift in the inflectional paradigm;
homonyms and homographs of different types;
orthographic and phonological neighbors of different types.
How to refer to the project:
Only the initial stage of the project is described in publications so far. If you use the database, please refer to this website and to the following article:
Alexeeva, S., Slioussar, N. & Chernova, D. (2017). StimulStat: a lexical database for Russian. Behavior Research Methods, doi: 10.3758/s13428-017-0994-3, URL: https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/s13428-017-0994-3
download Alexeeva S.V., Slioussar N.A., Chernova D.A. (2016). Stimulstat: a database for linguistic and psychological studies on russian language. Abstracts of The Seventh International Conference on Cognitive Science (June 20–24, 2016, Svetlogorsk, Russia), pp. 23-24. [In English]
download Alexeeva S.V., Slioussar N.A., Chernova D.A. (2015). StimulStat: baza dannykh, okhvatyvajushchaja razlichnye kharakteristiki slov russkogo jazyka, vazhnye dlja lingvisticheskikh i psikhologicheskikh issledovanij [StimulStat: A lexical database for linguistic and psychological research on Russian language]. Materialy 21-oj Mezhdunarodnoj konferencii po komp'juternoj lingvistike «Dialog» [Proceeding of the 21st International conference on computer science "Dialogue"]. 2015, URL: http://www.dialog-21.ru/digests/dialog2015/materials/pdf/AlexeevaSVSlioussarNAChernovaDA.pdf [In Russian]
If you use the information on frequency from the page "Additional Resources", please refer to the site and to this article:
download Slioussar N. A., Samoilova M. V. Chastotnosti razlichnykh grammaticheskikh kharakteristik i okonchanij u sushchestvitel'nykh russkogo jazyka [Frequencies of different grammatical features and inflectional affixes in Russian nouns [Materialy 21-oj Mezhdunarodnoj konferencii po komp'juternoj lingvistike «Dialog» [Proceeding of the 21st International conference on computer science "Dialogue"]. 2015, URL: http://www.dialog-21.ru/digests/dialog2015/materials/pdf/SlioussarNASamoilovaMV.pdf. [In Russian]
We would be grateful if you write us about the studies, where these resources are used, this is important and interesting for us.
Please note that in certain cases it is necessary to refer to the source of information that was found with the help of our database as well (e.g. to the "Frequency dictionary of modern Russian language" when it comes to frequencies of lemmas etc).
Students who helped us
Pavel Prokopiev (State University of Aerospace Instrumentation)
Vladislav Meletyagin (State University of Aerospace Instrumentation)
Nikita Narchuk (State University of Aerospace Instrumentation)


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Dodie Clark & Hazel Hayes Star in Snow White-Themed Photoshoot
By Clare Fitzgerald
Dodie CLark and Hazel Hayes were photographed as part of fine arts photographer Linda Blacker's latest photo series.
The series comes on the heels of a handful of YouTuber collaborations Linda has hosted over the past two months, including a fairy-themed shoot with Carrie Hope Fletcher, and a Snow Queen-inspired series with Louise Pentland. With her latest shoot, Linda has decided to continue the tale of Snow White, with Dodie Clark playing the title character and Hazel Hayes as the Evil Queen.
"Through my work, I try to create or retell stories by combining imagery and narrative," explains Linda, speaking with TenEighty. "In this photoshoot, I wanted to work with characters [that] resonated with Dodie and Hazel: the delicate, yet strong-willed Snow White and the beautiful, determined Evil Queen."
The photoshoot was the first time either Hazel and Dodie have worked with Linda. When asked how the experience was, Dodie says: "Linda is incredibly talented and just lovely. She's professional, but you barely notice it. It definitely doesn't feel like work at all!"
"It was an absolute pleasure working with Linda," adds Hazel. "It was great to finally see the master at work! I've adored and admired her photography for a long time, so to be a part of one of her shoots was such an honour."
The photos in the series were published in four parts, with the first being uploaded on 24 January and the final on 3 February. In order to bring both Snow White and the Evil Queen to life, Linda teamed up with UK make-up artist, Ashleigh Bunce.
When asked how it felt to be turned into Snow White, Dodie explains that it felt a little bizarre:
"Linda kept reminding me that I was in character. I was, at first, a bit self-conscious, feeling nothing like myself in a very feminine costume. But after about half an hour, I was prancing around, pretending to sing to birds, whilst Hazel was working a fierce pout!"
"I think we all know Linda cast this shoot pretty well," says Hazel. "Me as an Evil Queen and Dodie as the beautiful naïve princess? Perfect! I mean, I've been compared to Cersei [of Game of Thrones] and President Coin [of The Hunger Games] by TenEighty before, so I know you get it. And, of course, I felt very comfortable as that character."
The images within the photo series tell a sequel to the original Snow White fairytale. An original idea from Linda, the story picks up with Snow White being queen of the kingdom she relinquished from her evil stepmother. While she is initially able to live in peace within the castle and its gardens, the photos show what happens when the Evil Queen decides to take revenge upon Snow White and her kingdom.
"Linda has a wonderful way of taking a classic tale and making it her own," Hazel explains. "She wanted to convey that moment when Snow White is lured in by the Evil Queen with an apple, takes a bite and is cursed. In this version, instead of dying as a result of biting the apple, Snow White is trapped inside the mirror and the Evil Queen is released."
As with a lot of Linda's previous photography, the Snow White photo series delves into the world of fairytales and fantasy. When asked why she chose to focus her work in this genre, she replies:
"To me, there is not greater joy than escapism, which has no rawer form than fairytale and fantasy. A world created in your mind isn't constrained by the difficulties and troubles we experience in this world. This means my photoshoots can be whatever I want them to be, when inspired by a fairytale."
Those interested in viewing the photos in full quality can do so by visiting Linda's Instagram page. Those looking to view Ashleigh's work can do so by visiting her Facebook page.
Melanie Murphy recently spoke to TenEighty about becoming the host of Culture Chic! Alternatively, you could read about The RH Experience's upcoming improv workshops.
For updates follow @TenEightyUK on Twitter or like TenEighty UK on Facebook.
Dodie, Hazel Hayes
Published 4 February 2016.
About Clare Fitzgerald
Aspiring journalist whose life revolves around Pokémon Go and YouTube. | @JournoClare
Melanie Murphy to Host New Chat Show
UK YouTubers Nominated for Kids' Choice Awards
Alex Clark & Zach Craley Discuss 'Sugar Heist' Kickstarter
Mais Violet Discusses New Single
'The StudyTube Project' Creators Discuss Channel Success
Weekly Round-Up: 17 – 23 November 2014
Comedy Panel at Summer in the City 2016
Weekly Round-Up: 8 – 14 May 2017
The Style Slice: 7 – 14 November 2014


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Church was the
Paradigm of the artist who becomes the public voice of a culture,
summerising its beliefs, embodying its ideas and confirming its assumptions.
Nature and Culture, Barbara Novak
'Nothing is accidental; he has meditated his thought, breathed his inspiration, lived in the spirit of his subject, so that every stroke of his pencil is guided by the unerring instinct of faith in that which he beholds.' Russell's Magazine 5th August 1859.
There are three representations of The Trinity within Rocky Forest Pool '57. A trilogy or Trinity of Trinities.
To activate the inter-active analysis of the Christian symbolism and find the Trinity of Trinities, please go to: Explore the Painting.
This small oil sketch was originally known and sold as Sunset by Sotheby's Parke Burnet in 1978.
Dr. Gerald Carr was the first to identify it correctly as The Evening Star 1858.
According to The Cosmopolitan Art Journal "this exquisite picture representing the setting of a single star upon a placid lake" was painted as a memorial to a recently deceased child of Erastus Dow Palmer who had been named after Church.
Dr. F. Kelly, p.p. 106. 107: Frederic Edwin Church and the National Landscape.
'More immediate was the growing threat of civil strife between the North and the South over the question of whether slavery should be extended into the newly acquired western territories.' Tim Barringer, American Sublime Catalogue, p.130. Assistant Professor in the History of Art, Yale University.
Twilight in the Wilderness 1860 is an epic painting which also resonates with Christian meaning and is the technical pinnacle of his American wilderness paintings.
"Solitude reigns over the scene and as the eye ever turns away from the wilderness below to gaze upon the brilliant canopy of the sky, the imagination whispers that He who was once 'led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted' must often at the twilight hour have turned His gaze from the gloom and loneliness of the forest to the brightness and beauty of those heavens to which His vision of faith were ever opened, revealing the 'Father of Lights.' Art Matters in Baltimore, Boston Evening Transcript, 4th March 1861' from Dr. Gerald L.Carr 1980, p.16.
In 1855 when Durand painted In the Woods to widespread acclaim, Church was aware of Durand's reputation as the most influential painter of the day and had previously been inspired to follow his lead in his attempts to challenge him.
Durand's An Old Man's Reminiscences 1845* influenced Mt Ktaadn 1853. His unlocated Shipwreck, Clearing up after a Storm probably inspired Church to the theme of the wreck in his mediocre painting The Wreck 1852*, etc,.
Andreas Achenbach's stormy seascape Clearing up, Coast of Sicily '47* was eclipsed by Church in Coast Scene, Mount Desert 1863.*
Equally, Durand's In the Woods 1855 was quite probably the inspiration for Rocky Forest Pool '57 (in which Church surpasses Durand - technically, imaginatively, spiritually and intellectually).
* To view these, go to: References.
'From this point on, Church and Winthrop became thoroughly immersed in the wilderness experience and began a "new life" sanctified by a "baptism" in the Penobscot River. Theodore Winthrop, p.67: Life in the Open Air and Dr. F. Kelly, p.89: Frederic Edwin Church and the National Landscape.
'Mr. Church has condensed the condensation of nature' said Theodore Winthrop in A Companion to The Heart of the Andes 1859.
Church had already started condensing nature in 1855 when he painted The Andes of Ecuador.
He continued with Rocky Forest Pool '57 and then with all his major work.
'The concentration of reality and the shorthand of sensation' was the famous 20th Century painter, Francis Bacon's definition of good Art.
Paul Klee's definition was; 'Art is not there just to reproduce the visible, but to render visible what lies hidden behind the visual world.'
Using both criteria,
Church was, is, and will remain, the eternal genius.
In Rocky Forest Pool 1857, the American Elm 'the noblest arch beneath the sky' with its 'sacred roof of green' (Henry Ward Beecher) is emerging and has now discretely taken over the left foreground of the painting.
The vision of Paradise Regained takes shape for the first time without the presence of Man. The Way ahead is 'a new babtism', a reaffirmation of Faith.
'The Lesson' therefore is to follow the Way of Christ and The Light on the Water. The river leads towards three trees in the luminous evanescent distance representing the Trinity and the very presence of the Omnipresent God of Creation within His perfect and sublime wilderness (which is God's Gift -Theodoros- inscribed in Greek on the stretcher). The Creation and Art of God.
Rocky Forest Pool 1857 predates The Evening Star 1858 and like this small sketch, is important because for the very first time in his paintings of the 50's it portrays a pure untouched wilderness without a trace of Man, his works or his animals. It represents the first step with Niagara 1857 (after Sunset 1856 - with its sheep & Twilight 1856-58 - with its trapper's hut) where all references to man are excluded. The Evening Star 1858 follows a year later with Twilight in the Wilderness in 1860. Twilight in the Wilderness 1860 however, has a different message of foreboding to do with the fears, political uncertainties and turmoil of the impending Civil War.
With Rocky Forest Pool 1857 Church has no need as yet to hint at the struggle ahead and it may thus be seen as an inspired, more lyrical and technically more proficient answer to Durand's much acclaimed In the Woods 1855. He would have been aware also of Durand's 'Letters on Landscape Painting' published in The Crayon that year which invoked 'go not abroad then, in search of the exercise of your pencil, while the virgin charms of our native land have claims upon your deepest affections.' Church certainly endorsed this recommendation when in the summer of 1856 he went on a trip into New England and Maine with Theodore Winthrop who recalled 'we both need to be at the heart of New England's wildest wilderness.' It was 'a new life' - 'there, perhaps up in the strong wilderness, we might be recreated to a more sensitive vitality.' It showed them new ways of seeing and feeling through another 'Baptism.'
For the first time in his Art, Church was confirming his complete Faith in the spiritually regenerative and benevolent influences of pristine nature. Interestingly, a page from Milton's Paradise Regained and a print of Christ's Baptism is glued to the old stretcher with the inscription (meaning God's Gift) or Theodore in English.
Rocky Forest Pool 1857 is part of the creative and spiritual bounty from that trip. Paying particular attention to the luminous evanescent atmosphere and Light on the Water, here is a perfect Humboldtian painting of a sublime North American 'sylvan Scene', painted with Ruskinian precision and with all the technical genius that Church had by then learnt from Turner and through his own diligent enquiry and practice.
Rocky Forest Pool 1857 technically pre-empts and prepares us for his epic paintings.
In Heart of the Andes 1859, Church employs similar techniques to convey his 'grand pictorial poem' through mountains and woodlands, plants and river.
For Icebergs 1861 he conjures the three basic elements of the Arctic - ice, water and sky in order to express a desolate frozen landscape.
In Twilight in the Wilderness 1860 and Rocky Forest Pool 1857 Church uses, water, trees and particularly the setting sky in Twilight and on the luminous evanescent light in Rocky Forest Pool 1857 - to define the elemental character of the North American Landscape and to impart his 'Lessons' through his Art.


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A Powerful Voice Blitz
Contemporary Christian Romance/ Women's Fiction
Date Published: Jun 10th (digital) / Aug. 9th (print/POD)
Publisher: Anaiah Romance
Gloria Fielder is trying her best to live with sincere faith, but regret for a past decision makes it difficult to live with herself.
Justin Case knows first-hand the consequences of bad choices, but he doesn't believe in burying past mistakes. He openly shares his testimony with the purpose of showing there is hope and freedom for those who come to Christ.
Justin is the new worship leader for the church service Gloria attends, and he also leads a new Bible study she knows will help her. To complicate matters, once Justin becomes aware of Gloria's struggle, he seems intent on drawing her out of her self-imposed shell of guilt and regret. If she trusts him with her secret and her heart, will their friendship evolve into something more, or will it simply be her undoing?
© 2016 Penelope Powell
Time heals all wounds…unless you deserve to suffer.
When the thought from her internal mantra struck, Gloria Fielder froze mid-step. As if punctuating the accusation, an icy wind howled, the force of it wrenching the glass door from her grasp and slamming it against the stopper.
"A few more minutes and you would've missed us entirely."
Gloria looked up into the unsmiling face of a rail-thin woman standing sentinel over a group of children. Gloria assumed she was the children's director, as they were all dressed in the festive colors of Christmas, their bright reds and deep greens reminding her of the candlelight service in progress.
She hesitated, her gaze shifting to the plaster nativity figures less than ten feet away, the babe in particular so…lifelike. Would it be better to leave and apologize later for having missed the program?
"Could you shut the door please? It's hard to keep everyone's attention while a draft is blowing through, and it's almost time for us to begin." Seeming to barely hang on to her patience, the director's smile was as tight as her collar.
Being late was bad enough, but being made to feel like she was an annoying interruption was well…worse. Gloria shifted to close the door.
After an inquisitive glance toward Gloria, a chubby boy with flushed cheeks pulled on the director's sleeve. "Mrs. Parker, when do we get our candles?"
"Patience, Tommy. We need to wait for the lady to go inside the auditorium, don't we?"
Glancing from the boy to Mrs. Parker, Gloria apologized.
"That's all right. We're happy to wait for you to get settled." Mrs. Parker's smile stretched.
Gloria glanced back toward the woman, wondering if she meant what she said. She'd grown up in a house where a smile often held duplicity. Committed to stay, she hurried toward the partition crammed with winter coats. She unfurled the red scarf from her neck, then squished it and her coat into the mix.
Hushed giggles drew her gaze back to the director, who was busy giving each child a candle with detailed instructions. Everything about them seemed to contrast her. Was it just last year she wore red, putting on a good front? She wasn't interested in being that person anymore. The clingy dress and all it represented was exiled to the corner of her closet. Proof she was different.
The past few weeks had been particularly hard. When something like seeing the babe in the manger shook her confidence instead of giving her hope, she questioned her faith as a believer in Christ. The possibility of seeing someone at this service she'd rather avoid tightened her chest with further worry.
"Ma'am, they're waiting for us to start." Apparently losing her patience, Mrs. Parker nodded toward the doors going into the auditorium.
Gloria tamped down her misgivings, straightened her shoulders, and walked toward the sanctuary. As she edged around the children to reach for one of the doors, a little girl dressed in an evergreen velvet dress took a candle from a basket and offered it to her.
"Thank you." Gloria smiled.
The girl's pink lips curved in reply.
Suddenly, blinking back the unwelcome pressure of tears, she turned and eased through the doors. Assailed by the scent of melting wax and pine, she waited for her eyesight to adjust to the soft glow of dimmed lighting, giving her a chance to scan the room for empty seats.
Soon an usher stood next to her, his face brightening when he smiled. "Is anyone joining you?" His generous teeth gleamed in the darkness.
Just me. She shook her head.
He motioned for her to follow him, then pointed to some empty chairs. As she made a beeline for them, his parting greeting followed. "Merry Christmas."
Gloria glanced over her shoulder and forced a smile. She wanted to be merry. Wanted to simply feel peace. Wanted a reprieve from the recording in her head. Some days, the indictment playing over and over—tightening the tendrils of regret—putting her back on the treadmill of if-only. Making forgetting impossible.
If time was linear, and the passing of it promised things would get easier, then why hadn't the grip of shame and sorrow weakened?
She settled into a chair as the children from the lobby entered and dispersed down the center aisle, the sound of their voices rising as they moved toward the front, their song offering her a distraction from her turmoil. With a deep breath, she closed her eyes and tried to escape into the words.
Joy to the World. A feeling she had yet to muster.
After several carols and a reenactment of the birth of Christ, the pastor walked up on the stage.
Bobby Jordan had thinning gray hair, a solid middle-aged build, and the demeanor and voice of an authoritative grandfather. But that was her opinion now that she knew him. Their first meeting was at her office. His friendly and forthright manner reminded her of the old Southern gentlemen at home. He explained he was a pastor hoping to refer church members who were house hunting, said a friend had recommended her.
Her peace of mind wavered at the memory. Fortunately, the uncomfortable connection led to providential results. If she had not been going through such a rough time, and if Bobby had not sought her out, she might never have begun a relationship with Christ. If only she could find a way to reconcile how the two connected without all the bad stuff. She rubbed her forehead.
"Thank you children, you may join your parents," Bobby said.
Gloria glanced up as Bobby laid a hand on the shoulder of a little boy after dismissing the others to finds their seats.
"This is Johnny, one of our shepherds in tonight's program. He's seven. I asked Johnny a question earlier, and I wanted you to hear his response." Bobby crouched down. "Johnny, what's Christmas all about?" He tilted a microphone toward Johnny.
"Pweth-sents." The boy turned toward the audience and smiled, the gap in his front teeth sparking chuckles from the crowd.
"What's so great about presents?"
"They'we fwee."
Bobby ruffled Johnny's hair and told him to join his parents. When the laughter trickling through the congregation died down, Bobby stood at the edge of the platform. "Each Christmas, we decorate our homes with nativity scenes and our Christmas trees with lights."
Gloria swallowed, the nativity from the lobby edging back into her thoughts.
"We send cards, sing carols, and we exchange gifts." Eyes down, Bobby paused. "I agree with Johnny. Big or small, presents are special, but are they truly free? Certainly, they're free to the recipients, but to the giver there is always a cost." Bobby raised his arms. "But to each one of us, grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. Paul wrote this to the Ephesians. God's gift of grace. Undeserved favor for us."
Undeserved. That was certainly her. She'd never measured up to expectations, which was one of the reasons why she worked so hard at her job.
"As recipients, God's gift of grace costs us nothing because Jesus paid for it. He gave his life, so we might receive forgiveness. Receive life. In this season of giving, in addition to the wrapped packages we place under our trees, let's give grace to one another. Offer forgiveness when needed, even underserved." Then Bobby prayed.
As before, the children assembled across the front. Once their candles were lit, they disbursed down each aisle, lighting the candles of people sitting on the end as they went. Music played in the background.
Eyes closed, Gloria focused on Bobby's words. She prayed the message would wash over her. Because there was hope in knowing Christ had already forgiven her. And she could do the same.
Startled from someone's touch, Gloria slapped a hand to her chest.
A man barely visible, given the darkness and shadows cast by candlelight, leaned closer. "Sorry to disturb you, but I thought you might want to light your candle." Highlighting his explanation, he lifted his candle. For one brief moment, a striking, masculine face with eyes so dark they glittered like pools in moonlight stared back at her.
She swallowed, her heart still pounding from having been disturbed. "Sorry." She fumbled for the candle amongst her things. Finding it, she held it toward him and tilted her wick toward his flame. A cool, woodsy scent wafted toward her, reminiscent of an autumn breeze. She inhaled the refreshing smell and relaxed a bit.
When her candle was lit, the flare illuminated his face once more. He looked up and caught her staring. Embarrassed, she turned away. "Thanks."
When the lights came up, she hit the aisle, determined to get through the lobby then home. The last thing she wanted to do was linger. Not that she didn't enjoy talking with people afterward, but tonight she felt fragile.
Though her roots are buried deep in the hills of Middle Tennessee, she now lives in Indiana with her family and serves in her local church. She loves to entertain, give life to old things, antiquing, reading and of course writing.
Like the things we experience, I believe good Christian fiction can inspire and change someone's perspective, and hopefully point them to Christ.
2016 A powerful voice August books Penelope Powell reading
Remembrance of Blue Roses Promo Blitz
A Thousand Shattered Moments Blitz
Precious Bones Promo Blitz
The Devil's Analyst Promo Blitz
Love To Win Promo Blitz
Celebrate The Small Things: August 19, 2016
The Villain Review
Hidden Deception Release Blitz
Currently: August 10, 2016
Reading Addiction Back to School Blast Promotion F...
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Shelter Me Promo Blitz
Celebrate The Small Things: August 5, 2016
Shadows May Fall Promo Blitz
Never A Choice Promo Blitz
Vampire Creed Spotlight
Blogging Update


text:
Q: What's the term 'batch' exactly means in 3D computer science (3D engine)? I'm developping a 3D application using OpenGL.
I have a misconception about a part of the following post: OpenGL VAO best practices
I'm not sure about the meaning of the term 'batch' in this post.
Does it means for each object of the scene ?
So does it suggest to create a VAO for each object of the scene or several objects ?
Does a batch refers to several objects sharing the same materials, transformations and shading ?

A: A batch is simply a, well, "batch" (=bunch) of primitives, i.e. points, lines or triangles drawn by making a single glDraw… call. There's no deeper maging behind this.

Does it means for each object of the scene?

No. OpenGL doesn't know what a "model" is. This concept goes totally beyond what OpenGL does. OpenGL merely draws points, lines or triangles to the screen, and that's it.

So does it suggest to create a VAO for each object of the scene or several objects?

No, it suggests that you create VAOs and VBOs in such a way, that you can coalesce the maximum number of primitives (= triangle | line | point) that can be drawn with a minimum number of glDraw… calls into a single VAO/VBO.
For example say you'd render a warehouse full of cardboard boxes, where each box has a (slightly) different shape (think of the self service section in an IKEA store; I'm pretty sure those look about the same in every store around the world): Despite being of different shape the boxes have a lot in common: Their color, the texture, etc. So what you would do is put all those boxes into a single VAO/VBO and draw them all together using the same texture and shader through a single, or a handfull of glDraw… calls.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Group Order Groups & Parties Catering Sign Up For Deals!
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text:
Secrets of Success
Alumni return to college to speak at Magner Center panel about how to create a winning career.
/web/new_2016news/Glass_94x84.jpeg
From left: Raphael Miranda '06, Marge Magner '69, and Daniel Greenberg '66 answer student questions.
The Magner Career Center and The Honors Academy recently held a speaker panel called Secrets of the Highly Successful, featuring four alumni with notable careers. The panel was one of many speaker series the center holds throughout the year to help students improve their career skills and raise awareness about the professional landscape.
The Magner Center helps provide students--through partnerships with employers, alumni, and faculty and staff—the skills and opportunities essential to fulfilling their career aspirations. They have awarded more than $1.7 million in internship stipends to more than 400 students.
The panel included Mary Coyle '91, a media relations executive who has worked on strategic marketing and media exposure initiatives in the healthcare industry; Daniel Glass '77, a music industry impresario who has worked with a variety of artists from Billy Idol to Erykah Badu, and who founded his own entertainment group that includes a award-winning indie label, Glassnote; Daniel Greenberg '66, an attorney specializing in landlord-tenant law who served as the co-lead counsel on a class-action lawsuit for victims of hurricane Katrina; Marge Magner '69, a banking executive and one of the most powerful women in the New York finance world; and Raphael Miranda '06, a meteorologist at WNBC.
"If you don't know what you want to do, it's not terrible," said Magner, who told the students she came to Brooklyn College with no plans other than to not do what her parents wanted her to do. "Sometimes you know it's in your heart and you go for it, and sometimes you have to listen to the external voices."
Magner is the benefactor of the college's career center and a founding member and general partner of Brysam Global Partners, a private-equity firm that invests in consumer financial services in emerging markets. She has been named to Fortune's list of Most Powerful Women in Business, Forbes' list of the World's Most Powerful Women, and U.S. Banker's list of the Most Powerful Women in Banking. She has also previously served as chair of the Brooklyn College Foundation.
"Our goal is to one day see many of you on this panel," Natalia Guarin-Klein, director of the Magner Center, told the students.
The students said they felt lucky to have such a distinguished panel on campus.
"There was a nice mix of professionals on the panel. I thought they all gave very good advice," said junior Audrey Bleier, an earth and environmental sciences major. "I especially appreciated when they spoke about the need to challenge your comfort zone and being open about opportunities that arise."
Glass told the students that the three most important qualities they'd need were the ability to work hard, the curiosity to constantly seek more information, and lot of hustle.
"If you're from Brooklyn, you already have the hustle gene," he said.
Back to BC News
Back to News & Media


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Harbans' Engineering and Construction Contracts Management - Pre Contract Award Practice -2nd Edition
The second edition not only takes into consideration the development of law to date but also the new methods of contract procurement and implementation that have reached our shores as of recent.
Publisher: LexisNexis
Published: 08 November, 2012
Published: 11 February, 2016
Harbans' Engineering & Construction Contracts Management: Pre- Contract Practice (2nd ed.) is the second title in the series of 4 books on Engineering & Construction Contacts Management; the other being Law & Principles, Commencement & Administration and Post-Commencement Practice. The first editionpublished in 2002 received overwhelming response from the local engineering & construction industry.
This second title covers all activities involved in a typical engineering & construction contract from its very inception up to the award of the tender or signing ofthe contract. Topics include inter alia, the principal stages of project implementation, methods of contract procurement, commencement & designdevelopment, the tender process, contract award and contract documentation. These topics are supplemented by a digest of local cases relevant to the topics and a glossary of legal terms to make the book complete and sufficient.
The second edition not only takes into consideration the development of law to date but also the new methods of contract procurement and implementation that have reached our shores as of recent. It addresses and amplifies on such methods that are being implemented by the Government of Malaysia in its Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) such as Partnering, Privatisation, Private Finance Initiative (PFI), Project Delivery Partner (PDP) system, the 'Swiss Challenge' system, etc. Furthermore, the book also deals with the One Stop Centre (OSC) system being currently adopted by Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur (DBKL) and other local authorities for the submission and approval of plans.
In addition to the above, the previous chapters have been revised and updated to keep them in tandem with contemporary developments, whilst the digest of relevant local cases has also been expanded. In line with the format of the first edition that was so well received by readers, charts and diagrammes have been maintained but revised. Other new features such as paragraphing has been introduced in tandem with the 2nd edition of Book 1 to ease cross-referencing and navigating through the contents of the book.
ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTS MANAGEMENT : POST-COMMENCEMENT PRACTICE
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Strata Title in Singapore and Malaysia, Sixth Edition
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text:
Tennis Center Receiving Major Improvements
This past June, Westwood Tennis Center received funding from the Norman Forward account of $1,000,000. The project includes two new lighted outdoor courts which will be located east of court 1 making the new courts feel like a bank of three courts similar to courts 10-12. New shade structures for the players will be installed in between these three courts along with spectator seating east of the two new courts next to the play ground equipment. In addition, the existing spectator patio for the youth courts will serve as a shaded viewing opportunity for the two courts. Merritt Courts, Inc has been awarded this project and construction will begin this September weather permitting.
In addition to the two outdoor courts, courts 6-7 will be converted into climate controlled indoor courts. The building type will feature a new state of the art pvc material similar to the Oklahoma City Tennis Center building. If budget allows, we will also have a viewing deck. These new indoor courts will allow the public to continue play during the winter and rainy days. It will also allow tennis instruction to be year-around. Construction is hoping to begin early 2017.
augue quis, bibendum mauris, elit, ipsum dolor, tempor


dconf is a simple key/value storage system that is heavily optimised for reading. This makes it an ideal system for storing user preferences (which are often read but rarely changed). It was created with this use case in mind.


text:
Watch 85-Year-Old Ruth Bader Ginsburg Power Through an Impressive Workout
The country's oldest Supreme Court justice credits her longevity to her workout routine.
by Jason Serafino
Michael Kovac / Getty
Next time you're thinking about going easy on the planks or skipping the gym altogether for a couple days, just remember that somewhere in Washington, D.C., 85-year-old Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is ripping through sets of medicine ball pushups, wall squats, and pulldowns with ease alongside her personal trainer, Bryant Johnson.
The two-time cancer survivor is an octogenarian workhorse, implementing aerobics, weight training, and TRX bands in order to stay in shape and prolong her career "at least five more years." Stories of her workouts have piqued the curiosity of both the media and the public over the years, prompting political writers and celebrities like Stephen Colbert to try the routine out for themselves (spoiler alert: they couldn't hang).
In 2017, Johnson—whom Ginsburg has said is the "most important person" in her life—penned a book about his experience working out with the justice, titled The RBG Workout: How She Stays Strong . . . and You Can Too!. Now you can see Ginsburg in action in the video below, courtesy of a clip from the upcoming CNN documentary RBG.
Written by Jason Serafino
The Top 10 Fat Burners For 2021
Looking back on the career of bodybuilding's greatest journalists.
The former 'Flex' editor-in-chief inspired many in the industry.
The fan favorite confirmed in an Instagram post that he has Covid-19.


text:
Brian Boyer
For media inquiries, please contact [email protected]
Brian Boyer grew up on a small farm in rural northeast Ohio. While studying at Miami University (OH), he developed an interest in business, politics, and technology and how the three interact and shape each other. He has spent a number of years in the IT industry, including managing a digital marketing firm, and is currently the Director of Marketing for a web start-up called Cureo. Brian lives with his beautiful wife, Olivia, in Wooster, Ohio on a small rural plot with a collection of animals including chickens, guinea pigs, and a large, goofy Newfoundland dog named Lucy.
WRITTEN BY Brian Boyer
The Missing "How Not to Act" Instructions for Airline Passengers
"Safety Instructions" for our mental health.
By Brian Boyer, 2016-12-22T21:35:06
The Missing 'How Not to Act' Instructions for Airline Passengers
Why Hillary Wouldn't Have Won Under the Popular Vote System, Either
Trump may be onto something.
Make Sure You Adopt Your New Best Friend From an Ethical Rescue
Just because they use the word "rescue" doesn't mean they are helping dogs.
3 Unconventional and Affordable Winter Getaways
Think outside the beach resort box.
By Brian Boyer,
9 Couple Costumes That Are Just the Worst
The strange, offensive, awkward, and downright weird.
MIT's Online Test Lets You Decide Who Lives or Dies in Simulated Self-Driving Car
"Moral Machine" puts you in the driver's seat.
Who knew your inbox could be this informative?


Argyrosomus regius (also known as meagre, croaker, jewfish, shade-fish, corvina, salmon-bass or stone bass) is a fish of the family Sciaenidae. It has a similar form to a European seabass, with a pearly-silver coloration and a yellow-coloured mouth.
The gilt-head (sea) bream (Sparus aurata) is a fish of the bream family Sparidae found in the Mediterranean Sea and the eastern coastal regions of the North Atlantic Ocean. The gilt-head bream is generally considered the best-tasting of the breams.
The European bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) is a primarily ocean-going fish native to the waters off of Europe's western and southern and Africa's northern coasts, though it can also be found in shallow coastal waters and river mouths during the summer months. It is one of only six species in its family, Moronidae, collectively called the temperate basses. It is both fished and raised commercially, and is considered to be the most important fish currently cultured in the Mediterranean.


Justin is representing the Kamine Development Corporation (KDC) investment into California Safe Soil. Justin currently works for KDC Solar a company that was founded by KDC and is responsible for financing, building, owning and operating large scale solar projects throughout the Eastern United States and the Caribbean. KDC also founded KMC Telecom, a large regional CLEC with 38 networks and $600 million per year in sales as well as KDC Cogeneration which financed, built, owned and operated 600 megawatts of gas fired cogeneration facilities. Other significant investments of KDC include Fast Track, a platform enabling enhanced return to work programs and H2M a national beverage company. Justin received a BA from Lafayette College in Environmental Business and Public Policy and is currently pursuing his MBA.


text:
Mondelēz makes recycling impact
Mondelēz International has been mentioned in The UK Plastics Pact Impact 2020 report for its effort in its first year of membership. Mondelēz joined the UK Plastics Pact at the start of the year, in partnership with the entire value chain alongside business,...
UK Plastics Pact highlights Mondelēz progress
Mondelēz International has been highlighted in the UK Plastics Pact report launched this week for its progress in packaging reduction, use of recycled material and its seasonal recycling labelling campaigns in partnership with (On-Pack Recycling Label) OPRL. The...
Mondelēz International supports global harmonisation on plastics recycling
Mondelēz International is supporting global efforts designed to increase recycling rates for plastic waste, including flexible films, and has called for greater collaboration across the industry to develop and implement effective Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)...
Nestle partners with Plastic Energy in first steps for recycling facility in the UK
Nestlé UK and Ireland has joined forces with Plastic Energy, a major chemical recycling company, with the aim of developing a plant in the UK. The two companies will come together to explore the scope for the first commercial large-scale facility of its kind in the...
Huhtamaki donation helps clean plastics from Indian river
Global sustainable food packaging leader Huhtamaki is donating €600,000 to fund a project that aims to stop the flow of plastic into the Indian Ocean from the Mithi River in Mumbai, India. The project is one of three initiatives that Huhtamaki has funded as part of...


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During the duration of your giveaway, WeddingVibe promotes your business & giveaway to our couples.
Your sponsorship includes an email blast on your draw date to over 30,000 engaged couples, social media posts about your giveaway and your business, and exposure to WeddingVibe.com's active users.
We promote your product or service in a fun and engaging way!
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© 2018 Wedding Vibe Sponsors. All Rights Reserved.


RALEIGH – The N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services is sending out letters next week to manufacturers and retailers who sell products containing CBD oil, detailing what is legal to sell in North Carolina.
The product can also not make health claims, including statements that the product may prevent, treat or cure any disease. Failure to comply could result in embargo or seizure of products.
"We are taking an educate before regulate stance with industry," Reardon said. "We know they may not be aware of the state laws regarding the addition of a drug to a food product. However, we reserve the right to be more assertive, as other states have been, if we need to be in the future. Our main concern is consumer health and safety with any product that falls under our regulatory authority.
"We also urge consumers to be smart shoppers and ask questions before choosing to purchase any tincture that contains CBD or hemp extract. Find out how the product is manufactured, if the company has purity standards and what the potency may be," he said.
Industry with questions about the regulation of CBD can call the Food and Drug Protection Division, 919-733-7366.
Governor Roy Cooper announced 40 new appointments to various North Carolina boards and commissions.


text:
An Explanation for the Boutique Hotel Boom
by Ruth Samuelson November 10th, 2009 September 29th, 2020
The Peebles Corp. wants to build a hotel at the site of the old Stevens School.
A while back, I wrote about the proliferation of boutique hotels—both recently-opened and in the works—in Washington D.C. and drew up a list of all the new options flooding downtown with their sleek leather furniture and funky lighting (and annoying websites with intolerable ambient music).
At my latest count, there are eight—EIGHT!—sites to consider in the District. For the whole list, check below the jump.
National Public Radio has an explanation for this madness in a recent story. At one point before the recession, customers were willing to pay about $80 more to stay in these special hotels rather than generic chain places. Boutique brand managers just expect that one day, it will all turn around again.:
[Reed Woodworth, a hotel industry analyst for PKF Consulting] says investing in new locations during a downturn can keep customers loyal and interested. But it's risky.
"It's still pretty much the wisdom in the hospitality world that this is going to be a rather slow climb out of this hole," he says. "So while they are riding the upswing as it were, it still looks to be a very gradual upswing over the next few years."
That means it could be a long time before these hotels make money. After all, people have gotten used to paying low rates for high-end hotels.
There are several proposed hotels in the works:
In Adams Morgan, there's a hotel planned the corner of Champlain and Euclid Streets.
On U Street, there's a hotel planned for the corner of U and 13th Streets.
The Franklin School building downtown could go hotel.
The neighbors in the West End are dying for a boutique hotel in the old Stevens School.
One finalist to redevelop Hine Junior High School pitched a Kimpton Hotel for the Eastern Marketarea (…but they didn't win the site, after all).
The Me by Melia chain is expecting to open a location in Mount Vernon Square, as a commenter pointed out.
Plus several new additions:
Starwood Hotels' W brand just opened up a hotel, next to the White House, and the CEO envisions more Washington D.C. hotels, according to the Washington Business Journal.
Plus, Thompson Hotels opened up the Donovan House by Thomas Circle in early 2008.
The Jefferson Hotel on 16th Street just reopened.
Image by Peebles Corporation


The singer was spotted earlier today having a grand old time aboard a yacht off the coast of Saint Tropez with some of her girlfriends and she looked like she was really enjoying herself.
Avril Lavigne shows off her body in a bikini while spending time with friends aboard a boat on Wednesday (June 22) in St. Tropez, France.
I have never really thought of Avril Lavigne as being all that attractive, but I may have misjudged her looking at these bikini shots. She is looking pretty good, despite looking vaguely ferret like and needing a tan in a pretty bad way. Not sure I'd quite put Avril in the "Fergie" category, but her body is definitely outshining her face.
The group of girls were photographed having a dance party on the boat before taking the fête into the water. (Check out the photo of Lavigne's leap into the sea, below.) The 26-year-old Canadian swung her shirt around her head as she and her pals laughed and danced the day away.


text:
Q: problem in uploading image from iPhone? i am trying to upload image from iPhone. when i have an image in my resources then i can easily upload image on ftp with the help of apple documentation http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#samplecode/SimpleFTPSample/Introduction/Intro.html
now i am getting image from my library and when upload image then it takes unlimited time and even do not crash. well i am sharing my code here
So can any one help me that how to upload that image?
thanks in advance
this is Action for getting image from library in PhotoViewController.m
- (IBAction)sendAction:(UIView *)sender
{
    assert( [sender isKindOfClass:[UIView class]] );

    if ( ! self.isSending ) {
        NSString *  filePath;
        int a;
        a = [currentUserID intValue];
        NSLog(@"%@   %i", currentUserID, a);
        filePath = [[iFeelAppDelegate sharedAppDelegate] pathForTestImage:a];
        assert(filePath != nil);

        [self _startSend:filePath];
    }
}

now this code is in my appDelegate
- (NSString *)pathForTestImage:(NSUInteger)imageNumber
{
    NSUInteger          power;
    NSUInteger          expansionFactor;
    NSString *          originalFilePath;
    NSString *          bigFilePath;
    NSFileManager *     fileManager;
    NSDictionary *      attrs;
    unsigned long long  originalFileSize;
    unsigned long long  bigFileSize;
 power = imageNumber - 1;
#if TARGET_IPHONE_SIMULATOR
    power += 1;
#endif
    expansionFactor = (NSUInteger) pow(10, power);

    fileManager = [NSFileManager defaultManager];
    assert(fileManager != nil);

    // Calculate paths to both the original file and the expanded file.

 /*   originalFilePath = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"Image%zu", (size_t) imageNumber] ofType:@"png"];

    assert(originalFilePath != nil);
   */
    bigFilePath = [NSTemporaryDirectory() stringByAppendingPathComponent:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"Image%zu.png", (size_t) imageNumber]];
    assert(bigFilePath != nil);

    // Get the sizes of each.

  /*  attrs = [fileManager attributesOfItemAtPath:originalFilePath error:NULL];
    assert(attrs != nil);

    originalFileSize = [[attrs objectForKey:NSFileSize] unsignedLongLongValue];*/

    attrs = [fileManager attributesOfItemAtPath:bigFilePath error:NULL];
    if (attrs == NULL) {
        bigFileSize = 0;
    } else {
        bigFileSize = [[attrs objectForKey:NSFileSize] unsignedLongLongValue];
    }

    // If the expanded file is missing, or the wrong size, create it from scratch.

    if (bigFileSize != (originalFileSize * expansionFactor)) {
        NSOutputStream *    bigFileStream;
        NSData *            data;
        const uint8_t *     dataBuffer;
        NSUInteger          dataLength;
        NSUInteger          dataOffset;
        NSUInteger          counter;

        NSLog(@"%5u - %@", (size_t) expansionFactor, bigFilePath);

//        data = [NSData dataWithContentsOfMappedFile:originalFilePath];
        data = [NSData dataWithContentsOfMappedFile:bigFilePath];
        assert(data != nil);

        dataBuffer = [data bytes];
        dataLength = [data length];

        bigFileStream = [NSOutputStream outputStreamToFileAtPath:bigFilePath append:NO];
        assert(bigFileStream != NULL);

        [bigFileStream open];

        for (counter = 0; counter < expansionFactor; counter++) {
            dataOffset = 0;
            while (dataOffset != dataLength) {
                NSInteger       bytesWritten;

                bytesWritten = [bigFileStream write:&dataBuffer[dataOffset] maxLength:dataLength - dataOffset];
                assert(bytesWritten > 0);

                dataOffset += bytesWritten;
            }
        }

        [bigFileStream close];
    }

    return bigFilePath;
}

- (NSString *)pathForTemporaryFileWithPrefix:(NSString *)prefix
{
    NSString *  result;
    CFUUIDRef   uuid;
    CFStringRef uuidStr;

    uuid = CFUUIDCreate(NULL);
    assert(uuid != NULL);

    uuidStr = CFUUIDCreateString(NULL, uuid);
    assert(uuidStr != NULL);

    result = [NSTemporaryDirectory() stringByAppendingPathComponent:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@-%@", prefix, uuidStr]];
    assert(result != nil);

    CFRelease(uuidStr);
    CFRelease(uuid);

    return result;
}

- (NSURL *)smartURLForString:(NSString *)str
{
    NSURL *     result;
    NSString *  trimmedStr;
    NSRange     schemeMarkerRange;
    NSString *  scheme;

    assert(str != nil);

    result = nil;

    trimmedStr = [str stringByTrimmingCharactersInSet:[NSCharacterSet whitespaceCharacterSet]];
    if ( (trimmedStr != nil) && (trimmedStr.length != 0) ) {
        schemeMarkerRange = [trimmedStr rangeOfString:@"://"];

        if (schemeMarkerRange.location == NSNotFound) {
            result = [NSURL URLWithString:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"ftp://%@", trimmedStr]];
        } else {
            scheme = [trimmedStr substringWithRange:NSMakeRange(0, schemeMarkerRange.location)];
            assert(scheme != nil);

            if ( ([scheme compare:@"ftp"  options:NSCaseInsensitiveSearch] == NSOrderedSame) ) {
                result = [NSURL URLWithString:trimmedStr];
            } else {
                // It looks like this is some unsupported URL scheme.
            }
        }
    }

    return result;
}

- (BOOL)isImageURL:(NSURL *)url
{
    BOOL        result;
    NSString *  path;
    NSString *  extension;

    assert(url != nil);

    path = [url path];
    result = NO;
    if (path != nil) {
        extension = [path pathExtension];
        if (extension != nil) {
            result = ([extension caseInsensitiveCompare:@"gif"] == NSOrderedSame)
            || ([extension caseInsensitiveCompare:@"png"] == NSOrderedSame)
            || ([extension caseInsensitiveCompare:@"jpg"] == NSOrderedSame);
        }
    }
    return result;
}

- (void)didStartNetworking
{
    self.networkingCount += 1;
    [UIApplication sharedApplication].networkActivityIndicatorVisible = YES;
}

- (void)didStopNetworking
{
  //  assert(self.networkingCount > 0);
    if (self.networkingCount <= 0) {
            self.networkingCount -= 1;
    }

    [UIApplication sharedApplication].networkActivityIndicatorVisible = (self.networkingCount != 0);
}