compensation awards of any amount for pain and suffering and for expenses incurred or to be incurred due to injury or death; for loss of care, guidance and companionship under the Family Law Act; non-economic loss under the Workplace Safety And Insurance Act, 1997 or the Workers' Compensation Act.
The directive pertains to both the income and the asset exemptions for compensation awards.
The directive describes the factors to be considered when applying the income and asset exemptions to amounts received for compensation or damages.
The directive provides examples of the types of awards considered compensation or damages for pain and suffering.
The directive describes the options available to recipients regarding the application of the income exemption to payments from a structured settlement.
To guide decision-making when applying the income and asset exemptions to amounts received for compensation or damages listed in the Summary of Policy section of this directive.
an Assignment, Authorization and Direction form.
The Agreement to Reimburse and the Assignment and Direction are required as a condition of eligibility. Completed forms must be forwarded to Legal Services Branch.
A Ministry claim under an Assignment and Direction and Agreement to Reimburse can only be recovered from amounts that are not exempt and that are considered income under ODSP.
The ODSP general regulation exempts payments from specific compensation awards, such as the Helpline Reconciliation Model Agreement, The Multi-Provincial/Territorial Assistance Program Agreement, the Grandview Agreement, the Ontario Hepatitis C Assistance Plan, the Walkerton Compensation Plan, and payments made by a local Disaster Relief Committee established pursuant to the Ontario Disaster Relief Assistance Program. These awards are exempt as both income and assets.
A list of income exemptions for specific government compensation awards can be found in sections 41, 42 and 43 of the ODSP general regulation. The list of asset exemptions can be found in section 28 of the general regulation.
non-economic loss under section 46 of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997 or section 42 of the Workers' Compensation Act.
Income and assets exempted under this policy are payments made as an award or in settlement of a claim by a recipient, and are therefore not voluntary payments. As a result, the gifts and voluntary payments limit does not apply.
Interest earned on exempt compensation awards is considered income and an asset, subject to other applicable exemptions.
However, prejudgment interest awarded as compensation for the delay in receiving damages on pain and suffering awards is considered part of the actual award for pain and suffering. Therefore, the exemption can include the pain and suffering award as well as amounts awarded for prejudgment interest. Other kinds of prejudgment interest, such as prejudgment interest on awards for lost wages, are still considered as income and as an asset for ODSP purposes.
For these awards the recipient must provide an annual report that documents all income and expense transactions relating to that award.
If a recipient uses these exempt funds to purchase an asset, that asset is not automatically exempt simply because it was purchased with funds from the award.
If the funds are used to purchase: a principal residence; any other approved asset that is necessary for health and welfare; or an exempt asset such as a primary motor vehicle that asset remains exempt as an asset and will have no impact on the recipient's income support.
However, if an ODSP recipient purchases a non-exempt asset such as a second home or a second vehicle that is not required for a member of the benefit unit to maintain employment outside the home, that asset is not exempt and will count toward the benefit unit's asset limit.
Amounts awarded for compensation or damages are often used to purchase structured settlements which provide an injured person with an income stream. Structured settlements can only be purchased by the casualty insurer from a federally-registered Canadian life insurer. The life insurer guarantees to provide periodic payments for a specified period (in most cases, over the lifetime of the beneficiary).
Structured settlements are not considered assets.
With respect to the treatment of structured settlement payments, the recipient has the option of applying the exemptions either up front or pro-rating the exemption over the number of months until the beneficiary (recipient, spouse or dependent) turns 65 years of age.
Please note that the amount payable to a recipient from a structured settlement that will be exempted is equal to the exempt amount of capital invested into it. For example, if $150,000 was the exempt capital amount invested into the structured settlement, then the recipient is only entitled to receive $150,000 in payments from the structure before the income exemption is exhausted.
The prorated exemption calculation is based on the assumption that the recipient will no longer be eligible for income support when he/she reaches 65 years of age due to Old Age Security (OAS) income.
If, at the time the compensation award is received, it is determined that the recipient will not be eligible to receive OAS when he/she reaches 65 years of age, ODSP staff should attempt to determine when the recipient will be eligible for OAS and pro-rate the exemption over the number of months from the month the award is received to the month the recipient will be eligible to receive OAS.
The recipient receives $150,000 which is fully exempt as income and an asset.
The $150,000 award is placed in a structured settlement that provides a monthly payment of $900 to the recipient. Â At that rate, the exemption will be exhausted in 166.67 months.
Current date is October 15, 2011; the date of the first payment is December 1, 2011.
166 months from December 1, 2011 is October 1, 2025.
The recipient's date of birth is June 1, 1965; the recipient will be 65 years of age on June 1, 2030.
The number of months from December 2011 to June 2030 is 224 (rounded up).
From December 2011 to October 2025, 100% of the $900 monthly payment is exempt.
For the month of October 2025, $600 of the $900 monthly payment is exempt; the remaining $300 is charged as income.
Commencing November 2025, 100% of the $900 monthly payment is charged as income.
Amount of exemption is pro-rated over the number of months from December 2011 to June 2030.
From December 2011 to June 2030, the monthly income deduction is $230.36.
Cases where structured settlements are being considered or where payments are received from a structured settlement must be referred to the Legal Services Branch of the Ministry of Community and Social Services.


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EP 5.1: The "Metanovel"
by Noah Wardrip-Fruin · , 6:25 am
In the fall of 1974, James Meehan was a graduate student at Yale University. He had an idea in mind for his dissertation topic, but didn't know how to pursue it. The topic had been suggested to him by Alan Perlis — one of the most famous figures in U.S. computer science, who had become chair of Yale's department a few years before — on the first day they met. But Perlis didn't know how to move forward with the idea, either. In the preface to his dissertation, Meehan describes the idea this way:
A metanovel is a computer program that tells stories that only a computer could tell, stories of such complexity of detail that only a computer could handle, stories with more flexibility — even reversibility — of events and characters than a human could manage. A metanovel time-sharing system tells a story to many people at once, no two of whom read the same thing, because they have each expressed different interests in the events and characters they want to hear about, and because they may each desire a different style of storytelling. And yet, among all these readers, there is but one story — the Metanovel itself — and each reader is only following those threads of the story that interest him. (1976, ii)
Meehan's dissertation didn't set out to create a metanovel, but rather to make progress toward the possibility. As he notes, "If I've been successful, we're a little closer than we were." In the decades since, his work has become a landmark — the first project cited in nearly every discussion of story generation.
Computer systems had certainly produced stories as output before. The most famous of these was the "automatic novel writer" produced by Sheldon Klein (1971) and his collaborators at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. But the field has generally followed Meehan's critique of Klein's system — it was made up of explicit chunks of action, with a path through these chunks selected randomly.1 So, for example, Klein's system includes a "rule for people arriving at Georges [sic] living room" (27). Meehan's system, on the other hand, contains general rules for character movement (and reasons for movement) that operate no matter which spaces are available — living rooms, bed rooms, caves, or meadows.
More broadly, this points to the two main types of systems for creating variable fictions. Klein's system, like quest flags, like Choose Your Own Adventure books, is composed of explicit chunks of story content. If one of these is changed, or removed, not much else changes. At most, if some story chunks are only accessible by passing through others, when a chunk is removed other chunks may become impossible to reach. Meehan's system, on the other hand, models story as a relatively fine-grained set of processes and data that are used to generate story events. In the case of Tale-Spin, this is accomplished by creating a simulated world, processes for behavior in and of the world, and characters and objects that populate the world. As a result, changing one aspect of the simulation (such as a rule for character movement or the existence of a particular object) can lead to wildly different Tale-Spin fictions. This kind of flexible model has become a defining characteristic for the pursuit of story generation.
Basis for the model
The breakthrough that allowed Meehan to see a path forward toward the metanovel was exposure to the "scruffy" artificial intelligence ideas of Roger Schank and Robert Abelson. Schank had just arrived at Yale in the fall of 1974, and Meehan enrolled in his Natural Language Processing Seminar — which Meehan described as "a weekly battle of ideas" featuring favorite "guest speaker/victims" such as Abelson (iv).
Many of Schank's theories were developed in the field of computational linguistics, where he argued that previous work was fundamentally flawed in its approach. For example, in the area of computer translation from one language to another, projects based on syntactic parsing and dictionary-style substitution had largely failed. Schank, instead, proposed a language-independent representation of semantic meaning, which he called "conceptual dependency" expressions. As Schank describes them in Conceptual Information Processing (1975a), such semantic representations could serve as an interlingua, so that the translation of a statement from any one language to another could be accomplished by translating that statement to and from the semantic representation. Such a representation could also serve as an internal meaning representation — or data format — for AI projects, helping in processes such as paraphrasing and inference-making, as demonstrated in systems built by Schank and his students. Tale-Spin followed this lead, operating in terms of conceptual dependency (CD) expressions.
But understanding the meaning of sentences, rather than simply their structure, requires understanding their context. "Mary hit John" probably means different things if John is Mary's sparring partner or, on the other hand, if John is sitting at Mary's blackjack table. This fact motivated a series of projects, directed by Schank, that attempted to bring together theorizing about how humans understand stories with the building of computer systems for the same task. The systems were viewed as experiments that would help refine and validate the theories, and a primary goal was developing theories for understanding the causal relationships between elements. The first step was a theory of "scripts" — that human knowledge for certain routine situations (e.g., going to a restaurant, catching a bus) exists as stereotyped sequences of common events. Computer systems were built that succeeded in interpreting simple stories (e.g., of auto accidents) by determining relationships between the sentences of the stories and elements of an internal script.
But Tale-Spin largely avoids scripts. As Meehan puts it, scripts are "so developed that they're uninteresting: not great story material" (213). Scripts only allowed for theorizing, and system building, about the least novel elements of human life. The next step was to build systems around Abelson and Schank's developing versions of the central AI concepts of plans and goals. This was taking place just as Schank arrived at Yale, and to Meehan the results looked like much better story material.2
The Tale-Spin system produces stories by changing the status of Schank and Abelson's theories about planning behavior. In story understanding systems, these theories were data. They were used by the system processes as patterns to compare against the behavior described in stories being interpreted. But in Tale-Spin they become processes, used to create a world in which characters behave according to the theories. As Meehan puts it:
Tale-Spin includes a simulator of the real world: Turn it on and watch all the people. The purpose of the simulator is to model rational behavior; the people are supposed to act like real people. (107)
However, most Tale-Spin stories don't feature "people" that are human characters. Instead, the people are largely birds, bears, bees, foxes, and so on. This was Schank's suggestion, inspired by, as he puts it, "the fact that I had little kids at the time so I was making up [stories] and trying to see how [I] did it" (2006). It also served to compensate, as Meehan puts it, for the fact that "we weren't going to get very sophisticated or elaborate output from this program" (2006). In other words, the decision to tell animal stories is an example of the common AI approach of defining a microworld in which the program will operate. Just as some AI researchers demonstrated programs that could understand the physics of a toy "blocks world" (allowing them to ignore issues such as relative strength of materials) Tale-Spin operated in a simplified animal world resembling the settings for Aesop's fables (shaving complexity both from the possibilities of the world and from the potential motivations of the characters).
Tale-Spin today
Today Tale-Spin is one of the most widely-discussed digital fictions ever produced. It is not only a touchstone for computer science accounts of story generation, but also broadly cited in writing about digital literature and the future of fiction. At the same time, Tale-Spin, itself, seems permanently lost.
Ongoing discussion of this lost software is made possible by two facts. First, many examples of fictions produced by Tale-Spin are in circulation. These form the basis of most humanistic discussions of Tale-Spin, which tend to be dismissive. Second, Meehan's dissertation gives detailed accounts of the operations of Tale-Spin's processes, along with significant information about its data. This serves as the basis for most computer science discussions of Tale-Spin, which tend to treat the system as worthy of serious engagement.
For many years I was only exposed to examples of Tale-Spin fictions, which I found so uninteresting that I never learned more about the system. But once I began to learn about Tale-Spin's processes I became fascinated — both with the system itself and with the differing attitudes between those who understood the system and those who only saw its output.
After reading Meehan's dissertation I began to look for even more detailed sources of information and, especially, for a copy of the software itself. I had previously seen Micro Tale-Spin (1981), a smaller, pedagogical version. But this was so simplified that it lacked most of what interested me about Tale-Spin. Through Walt Scacchi, a former student of Meehan's from his time at UC Irvine, I got an email introduction. I had a pleasant correspondence with Meehan, now at Google, who looked through his garage on my behalf — seeking traces of Tale-Spin — but his search came up empty.
However, I learned from Meehan about another iteration of the system, more complex than the "micro" version, created for the 1987 "Smart Machines" exhibit at the Boston Computer Museum. Unfortunately, the Computer Museum had since shut down, but most of their archives went to the Computer History Museum in California. Unfortunately, as Al Kossow (software curator for the museum) discovered, the archives only contained a record of the exhibition, not the software itself. Kossow also contacted Oliver Strimpel, who was in charge of the original "Smart Machines" exhibit, and confirmed that this version of Tale-Spin had probably never been archived.
In the field of digital media, such losses are unfortunately common. Even for the most influential projects, we depend on the authors to archive them. Only once libraries and museums get serious about preservation of software systems — rather than just the paper that comes with them or documents them — will this situation change.3
As a result, today I believe we will never again learn from Tale-Spin through direct interaction, as we can with Eliza/Doctor. But I still believe we can learn important lessons from looking at Tale-Spin's processes and output, as recorded in Meehan's dissertation, and the responses of those who have previously written about them. Some of the most interesting lessons emerge from an inversion of the Eliza effect.
Rather than a surface illusion of process complexity and intelligence, Tale-Spin creates a surface illusion of process simplicity and arbitrary action. It is far from alone in this. As a result, I believe understanding the more general "Tale-Spin effect" can provide insights for both authors and interpreters of digital fictions, as well as those who seek to understand computational systems broadly.
1This is one aspect of Meehan's critique, other aspects of which focus on the mismatch between the behavior of Klein's system and theories of the behavior of human storytellers.
2Schank echoes Meehan's evaluation of the relative interest value of stories about scripts versus those about plans in Inside Computer Understanding (1981):
Many stories (particularly the more interesting ones) are about entirely new situations for which we have no available script. When we hear such stories we rely on our knowledge of how to plan out an action that will lead to the attainment of a goal. (33)
Schank and Meehan are not alone in linking art to the unscripted, the unexpected, and even the disorienting. Among fiction writers interested in link-based hypertext its potential for such effects has been cited as one of its potential benefits, though in more technically-oriented circles disorientation was seen as one of hypertext's large potential problems. George Landow, in Hypertext 3.0 (2005), explores this difference through the work of writers such as Morse Peckham (author of Man's Rage for Chaos).
3In the meantime, Nick Montfort and I have written a pamphlet for the Electronic Literature Organization, titled Acid-Free Bits, outlining some things that authors can do to make their work more likely to survive (Montfort and Wardrip-Fruin, 2004).

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Tech Addicts: Micromax Canvas A1 : The Nexus between performance and price.
Micromax Canvas A1 : The Nexus between performance and price.
During the Google I/O this year Sundar Pichai, the senior vice president at Google said "I am used to cutting edge phones and I have been using this one for a while and its really good". Android one is Google's mega strategy to take over the world of information.To achieve this they had to target the 'mass market' and the take on the biggest challege of combining 'affordability' with 'latest technology'.
Micromax Canvas A1 was one among the new breed of smartphones created to achieve this purpose.
Since this phone is more about how Google intended to combine hardware and software, my review is divided into hardware and software and find out how much they were successful.
It seems that Google and Micromax have drawn a lot of inspiration from the current Nexus 5 while designing this phone. The phone is well built with a rubberised type back which feels really good while holding the phone. The front bears the FWGA IPS 4.5 inch screen with a resolution of 480 x 854 pixels. The lower resolution with a larger screen size gives it a decent pixel density of about 217 ppi which is decent. Color reproduction is not the best with darks more like greys but the ambient light sensor makes sure that you don't struggle when under direct sunlight.One thing worth mentioning about is the excellent sensitivity of the screen. The lack of Gorilla Glass means that you have to be extra careful about the Canvas A1.
Under the hood, the Canvas A1 is powered by a Mediatek MT6582 which is a Quad-core Cortex-A7 CPU clocked at 1.3 GHz. Coupled with 1 GB RAM and Mali-400 GPU, performance in one word can be described as 'snappy and fluid'. Launching apps to minor and somewhat major multitasking everything just works pleasantly in harmony with vanilla Android. Heavy games like Asphat 8, GTA3,GTA vice city and sanandreas ran without any lag or frame drop. Which is very impressive considering the price .Out of the 4GB of onboard storage you have access to about 2.1 GB with storage expandable upto 32GB via a micro SD card.
,EDGE ,3G(21Mbps up /5.7Mbps dwn) to GPS except NFC and LTE. Sensors include gyro, proximity, light and magnetic .The battery being a 1700mAh and powering a quad core CPU will last you just about a day's use under heavy usage.
'Always on the latest version of Android' is the catch phrase that is linked to everthing associated with Android One. So it's just like the Nexus and Play edition devices, where you are sure to have your phone running the latest version of Android. Out of the box, the phone runs 4.4.4 with Google Now (aka Google experience) launcher and all Google apps and few bloatware.
The Stock OS ensures smooth and fast performance. Stock Android is the best in terms of aesthetics and is prettier and more intuitive to use than the Android skins that are created by most of the Chinese and Indian smartphone manufacturers .There are also region specific features in softwares like Search and translate. Some app settings are frustrating it requires you insert a memory card to just start clicking pictures. Also, the phone doesn't allow you to receive .apk file another phones.But there are ways around this and the phone will not let you down in any manner.
Micromax and Google will surely achieve the traction necessary to reach the next five billion people with the first generation of Android One devices. The promised 5.0-Lollipop update should bring a host of new features and make the Canvas 1 more interesting. With Google recomended hardware and timely and updates Android one at an affordable price, this phone is for those want the 'Nexus' experience at an affordable price.


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Sonali Kulkarni Movies
Listing of the best Sonali Kulkarni Movies available to stream online. Komparify helps you discover enjoy the top, legal Sonali Kulkarni Movies trending Indian entertainment legally streaming free online in HD.
The endeavor of a family to attain its freedom and the effort taken by the small boy to keep his family together as promised to his father in Independent India is the essence of the movie.
A drama film directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, starring Farhan Akhtar in the lead role.
Three inseparable childhood friends are just out of college. Nothing comes between them - until they each fall in love, and their wildly different approaches to relationships creates tension.
A truly honest police officer is transferred to a town controlled by a gangster he has humiliated. The gangster believes he can use good power to bring down this officer who made him look foolish and weak.
This is the story of Armaan Ali, a driver working for a senior executive in Mumbai. He takes a month's...
A cabbie (Patekar) and businessman (Abraham) both in need of big money partake in a two-hour adventure together.
A father obsessed with an old school copying machine wreaks havoc on the family, causing a change in their relationships. Explores the life of each family member and how their lives are intertwined with each other.
A police officer adopts the son and sole survivor of a family he has massacred while pursuing a terrorist. After some time the foster son finds out what the stepfather did.
Life of three men comes in trouble when their photos appear on advertisement for sterilization.
A relationship drama based on the lives of two creative people and their work. A tribute to 1950s Hindi cinema, it is heavily inspired by the life of filmmaker Guru Dutt, his singer-wife Geeta Dutt and their tumultuous marriage.
Mumbai-based Sonali Mante along with bus driver, Jarnail Singh, and an assistant, Bhagwanlal, pick up several children for a camping trip near Karjat. After a misadventure with a live snake on board the bus, the group is instructed to turn over their
Born in Maharashtra, British India, on November 4, 1845, Vasudev grows up in a farming community of Shirdhon near Kalyan. After completing his education, he goes to work for the Finance Ministry but is enraged when he is refused permission to visit hi
1:1.6 An Ode To Lost Love is an English drama starring Rati Agnihotri, Gulshan Grover, Atul Kulkarni, Sonali Kulkarni and directed by Madhu Ambat. On the first day of the shooting of his film, Pramod introduces the cinematographer 'M' to young Sushmit
Five children take shelter from the rain, inside a spooky bungalow. Encountering an old woman, they follow her upstairs where she proceeds to tell them six scary stories.
Story revolves Human Trafficking in Rural Areas of India Done by the Name of God invoking Dev Dasi. Rupa Sonali Kulkarni is a Teenage Girl Who's Superstitious Father pushes her to become A "DEVDASI" which is a religious practice, whereby parents marry
A obsessive woman determines to do what it takes to get her lover - at any cost.
Dr. Shivani Dutt lives a wealthy lifestyle in London, England, along with her widowed mom, and a dog named Kaali...
Two young Indians, a male named Jatin, and a woman named Karishma, meet on an airplane, who is on it's way to India...
This is the story of wronged and misunderstood Arvasu (Milind Soman), a brahman by caste, who has become a performing actor. He loves Nittilai (Sonali Kulkarni), who reciprocates his love, but ks approval of her father and her village's elders before


What occupational fields do you think of when you hear the words "data visualization" and "analytics"? Finance? Marketing? IT? Sales?
What about Distribution? HR? Operations? Fundraising? Education?
One spring when I was in elementary school, my teacher passed out sheets of colored construction paper and instructed us to cut them into strips. We then stapled the strips of paper together to make several chains that were each five links long, one chain that was only four links long, and two chains with three links. She then hung them in a row along the back wall corkboard and explained that each link represented a school day and each of the chains represented a school week. The four-link chain was for the week we had Monday off for Memorial Day and the two three-link chains represented our short weeks for teacher in-service and make up snow days. Each school day, one of us would get to rip off a link and watch as, one by one, the days and weeks tore away to summer vacation.
That, my friends, is data visualization: expressing information through imagery. My teacher took a predetermined set of data (days and weeks left in the school year) and presented it in a visual way that helped us better comprehend the amount of time until summer break. Sure, we could count the links if we wanted to know exactly how many days were left in the school year, but one glance at the corkboard gave us enough information to get the big picture.
Finance, IT, and marketing have done a great job at utilizing data visualization, but they don't own the technique. If a teacher can use data visualization with a group of elementary kids, so can you. Let's look at some less-than-conventional ways you can use data visualization throughout your company.
Workload: Bottlenecks can signify uneven workloads. Does anyone have too much on their plate? Are valuable resources being underutilized?
Timing: Timing is everything, or so the saying goes, and time is one of our most valuable resources. Are you using your time wisely? Are all of the steps in sync throughout the process? Is there a way to capitalize on unavoidable lag time?
Physical layout of machinery and supplies: It's about more than feng shui. Visualizing movement within the factory or warehouse highlights the most frequently used routes and resources. Are there physical obstacles hindering process flow or highly trafficked areas? Can the most frequently used and requested items be made more accessible?
Distribution routes: Wandering and overlapping routes waste time and fuel. Map out and assign deliveries by location to provide drivers with the most efficient routes. Update your maps regularly to help your drivers steer clear of road closures and construction zones.
Project management and recruiting tools allow HR to collect so much information it can be easy to lose the forest for the trees. Don't get lost in the minutiae. Human resources data visualization can help you to step back to see the bigger picture. Identify trends in employee satisfaction, engagement, and career progression. New employee drop off or confusion may signal a snag in the onboarding process. Training and certification data can uncover potential issues for succession planning or coverage. Organizational charts can expose over-burdened branches that might benefit from pruning or reorganization. Watch industry trends to ensure your company attracts and keeps quality employees with competitive salaries and benefits.
Okay, okay, I know I said marketing is already accustomed to data visualization, but I also said we were going to look at unconventional methods. Sales and marketing teams have been using charts and graphs to measure progress and success basically since the dawn of sales and marketing. Pie charts show who's got the biggest market share, line graphs follow sales trends, bar graphs help us compare year over year, and many sales and marketing tools like CRMs and marketing automation software provide simple data visualizations.
What if, instead of using data visualization to analyze what has been done, we used it to flesh out what can be done. I'm not just talking about forecasting trends. Scatter maps are great for seeing geographical location and impact, and lack thereof. Everyone wants to focus on analyzing the data represented. Don't forget to examine the white space. Are there missed sales opportunities outside of or between spheres? Can you use this information to literally add in new sales while moving between markets? Scatter graph spheres also make excellent Venn Diagrams, showing overlapping areas, where marketers may be overspending or inundating their customers with messaging. The list goes on.
The truth is, data is information, and every field works with some sort of information. You don't have to be an accountant or scientist to work with data and you certainly don't have to be a pivot-table whiz to benefit from data utilization. It's all around. That thermometer you colored in as your club raised money for the big trip? Data visualization. The fuel gauge on your car's dashboard that's always a little too close to "E"? Data visualization. Pro-Con list? March Madness Bracket? Paper chain-link countdown? I think you can see where I'm going, but the real question is: can you see where you're going?
Melissa Reinke is a writer for TechnologyAdvice.com. She is a storyteller, editor, writer, and all-around word nerd extraordinaire. She spends her days managing web content and her nights unwinding in myriad creative ways, including writing for herself and others. From personal memoirs to professional solutions, when writing and editing for others Melissa's singular goal is to sculpt each piece into its best, most successful form while maintaining the integrity of the original voice and vision. Based in Music City, USA, Melissa can often be found enjoying great live tunes with even better friends. Then again, she's just as likely to be found curled up with a good book and a tasty beverage.


A Le Creuset skillet has been on my radar (and wish-list) for years. So long, in fact, that I never thought I would actually own one.
Kismet must have been on my side because I won this regal blue deity in a giveaway hosted by Averie, of Averie Cooks! (I highly recommend a visit to Averie's blog. One look at her photos will have your stomach pleading to make one of her delectable recipes.) Thank you so much, Averie!
prior to anything else, I had to introduce the skillet to my oven. A truculent stove is only the third love of my life, right after my stand mixer (battling the oven for first place; Tom Hiddleston, of course).
I made this cake a few years ago when I was a member of Tuesdays with Dorie, but I had to use a cake pan instead of a skillet. I've been dying to revisit the recipe ever since. Naturally it was the first thing that popped into my head when I saw Moody Blue (my skillet's name!).
This cake is beautifully simple. Aside from a skillet, or cake pan, all you will need is one mixing bowl, a whisk and a spatula. But please don't let its breezy lack of complexity fool you - the flavour is strikingly similar to marzipan and its crumb is moist and tight and ambrosial.
This afternoon I saw a few flakes of snow. *hmm* This cake was thoroughly enjoyed along with a cup of strong creamy coffee, a soft nubby blanket, some Nouvelle Vague playing in the background, and one of my favourite read-again novels, The Great Gatsby. Revisiting two old friends in the course of one day is the perfect way to ease into a candidly-chilly November.
In a large mixing bowl, combine 1 cup of sugar and lemon zest. Use your fingertips to work the zest into the sugar until it becomes moist and fragrant. Whisk in the eggs one at a time, whisking for about 1 minute per egg. Whisk in the salt and extracts. Use a rubber spatula to fold in the flour. Once the flour has been incorporated, fold in the melted butter. Try not to over mix.
You lucky girl! I can't believe you won this! Congrats! I actually have the same exact skillet and it is my most favorite used kitchen equipment! So glad you made this cake in this too - it looks to die for!
I just got a plain, black cast iron pan to bake in and thought I was really cool. Now I want to throw it away! :) Congratulations, Valerie, the pan is beautiful! Your day sounded wonderful too, all cuddled up with your book, coffee and this incredible cake!
I'm totally jealous of Moody Blue! I can soooo totally relate about the Le Creuset happy-land you were in, because I went through the same! It was like being in love with the most popular guy in high school, and he liking you back! Oh, the butterflies in my tummy, the racing of my heart, that extra skip in my steps...I stared at my Le Creuset pot when I first got it back in May. How I wish I had the same skillet so I can make beautiful cakes like this! I want to dig in to that pan this moment! I need something sweet...quick, I need a hit!!!
I love the Great Gatsby! I've read it at least 10 times! This cake looks like the perfect accompaniment to a cozy afternoon of reading!
That's some awesome luck you have Val. It's such a pretty little skillet. And I love the cake you made, though I've been making it without a skillet too.
Looks delicious! I have a wishlist too, sadly mine is much longer and the skillet is about mid way down. If i was to attempt this with a cake pan - which would you recommend for the best finish?
First of all, that is such an amazing win! Congrats on that giveaway. I would carry that skillet around the house for an hour too! And that cake looks like the perfect complement to my morning latte. I love the addition of lemon zest. It makes everything better.
Congrats on your win! It's a beautiful skillet and you put it to great use. Love the light in your pictures, too.
You made me smile at your comment about using the same blog accessories. I find myself doing the same these days. :) Love the cake.
I am mostly Norwegian, but there is no way I would turn down a piece of Swedish Visiting Cake! :) Looks absolutely delightful!
What a lovely gift to recieve and I can understand why you were so excited to make something wonderful. Being half swedish, this cake intriques me. It sounds tasty!!!
I'm so glad to see this recipe reviewed. It has such an unusual title, and every time I flip through that cookbook, I wonder about it. Sounds like a perfect antidote to a chilly fall day.
I love the idea of you walking around carrying your prize. How lucky are you! This cake looks so easy and tasty.
The cake and skillet are both impressive and stunning!
Congratulations! Wow, what a beautiful skillet. I remember when you posted this cake, and I wanted to make it. Thanks for reminding me. I have a cast iron skillet, but it's not as pretty as yours. Enjoy!
I must get my hands on an enameled cast iron skillets. It will change my life. Yours is gorgeous! And this cake sounds amazing.
Love the cake and it's name - perfect for tea time!
Yum a pretty cake for a pretty skillet. Congrats on winning the skillet how fun. Yes, we food bloggers are a different bunch bu not too different from any other hobbyist.
I absolutely love that you named your skillet! Yes, putting linens under it and putting it in different locations is definitely a food blogger thing to do, and I'm not ashamed that I do the same thing, ha! Now this cake, absolutely beautiful!
Hey, I'm Swedish... which means I must make this, right? Looks perfect!
Oh my Gosh, I love your skillet!!! It's so much fun to get something new, isn't it?! It looks great, and so does this delicious cake! I just inherited my first cast iron skilled from my Dad a few weeks ago and I love it. I'm always looking for recipes I can use it for. This cake is now on the top of my list!
I love my cast iron pans and have a few Le Creuset casseroles but your skillet is beautiful indeed.
And the cake, so delicious.
Congrats on Moody Blue, she is absolutely gorgeous! and this cake is just lovely all baked in the skillet, it sounds so wonderfully delicious!
Congrats on winning moody blue. I think you broke it in perfectly. I have that book, but haven't tried this, I need to change that soon. Looking forward to seeing more recipes with that new skillet.
That IS a gorgeous skillet!! I'm so excited for you. Great choice in what to make in it, too!


A Minnesota company has launched a statewide campaign aimed at normalizing and removing the stigma surrounding medical cannabis. The "More Firsts" campaign by LeafLine Labs, a licensed medical cannabis business, is meant to humanize patient stories and represent "firsts" for the company's patients after starting medical cannabis treatment.
Dr. Andrew Bachman, co-founder and CEO of LeafLine, said he hopes the campaign helps others "realize the documented success and safety" of medical cannabis treatments.
The campaign includes advertising in Minneapolis and Saint Paul light rail and bus stations and videos featuring actual LeafLine patients.
Minnesota's medical cannabis program was launched two years ago but so far just 6,000 patients are registered. The company estimates that there are more than 15,000 Minnesotans eligible under the state's qualifying conditions list to participate in the program.


text:
History | Topic Archive
Anti-communist demonstration violently suppressed twenty years ago in Prague, just three weeks before Velvet Revolution
Pavla Horáková
Looking back at the events of 1989 in Czechoslovakia, most people will probably think of the student demonstration on November 17th which kicked off the Velvet Revolution. The November protest was the last in a series of events that took place that year and were violently suppressed by riot police. One of them was an illegal rally to commemorate the 71st anniversary of the foundation of Czechoslovakia on October 28th, 1989 held on Prague's Wenceslas Square.
Symbol of Czech statehood reopens as first museum of modern history
Christian Falvey
Wednesday marks the 91st anniversary of the foundation of Czechoslovakia. In conjunction with that anniversary, the National Memorial on Prague's Vítkov hill has just been officially reopened after extensive renovations. It was built in honour of the Czech legionnaires whose bravery in World War I helped pave the way for the creation of the state, and reflects much of modern Czech history.
Goebbels-Baarová: more than just a German-Czech love story
Chris Johnstone
A play based on the short but stormy love affair between the Third Reich's infamous propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels and a young Czech film star has been causing quite a stir locally. Goebbels-Baarová has sparked controversy ― partly because of its unforgiving treatment of actress Lída Baarová and its message aimed at today's Czechs. We investigate the play's background and talk with its joint author and director.
Renovation of famous landmark dogged by controversy
Jan Velinger
No landmark in Prague is more famous than the 14th century Charles Bridge, which has undergone major renovation over the last two years - a project that has come under unparalleled scrutiny and also criticism. On one side, representatives of the city as well as the firm conducting the repairs say the project is slowly but surely nearing successful completion; on the other, activists - including a newly-founded civic association - say critical mistakes were made, resulting in damages to the historic bridge. One thing is certain: when it comes to
Star-studded concert and re-enactment of November '89 march among events planned for 20th anniversary
Ruth Fraňková
One of the biggest events in Prague after the fall of communism was a now-legendary concert by the Rolling Stones at Strahov Stadium in 1990. They were received afterwards at Prague Castle by President Václav Havel, who became quite friendly with the band. Now 20 years later, the Rolling Stones leader Mick Jagger is coming back to the city – he's one of a number of famous artists playing at a special concert organised by Mr Havel. Another big event marking the anniversary of the Velvet Revolution will be a recreation of the student demonstration
Something was "in the air" ahead of Velvet Revolution, Havel tells world's media
Jan Richter
Václav Havel, who led Czechoslovakia's Velvet Revolution, discussed events at that time and developments since on Thursday, at his only public appearance ahead of the revolution's 20th anniversary. The former president told reporters from around the world that 20 years ago no one knew when change was going to come, but people did sense that "something was in the air".
Czechoslovakia in 1991: What to do with former secret police collaborators?
One of the most passionate debates in Czechoslovakia in the first years after the fall of communism was over what to do with people who had collaborated with the secret police – the StB – or had held prominent functions in the Communist Party. In 1991 the so-called "screening law" was passed, under which former StB collaborators were prevented from holding certain senior posts – for example in academia or in the civil service. At the time Radio Prague invited two Czech politicians into the studio: the left-of-centre member of the Federal Parliament,
Chopin's death mask on show in Prague after leaving Poland for the first time
The 19th century Polish composer Fryderyk Chopin is especially important to two particular countries: his father's homeland of France, where he lived and died, and Poland, where he was born and raised. It is the Czech Republic though that is first to display an item of great importance to Chopin devotees and Poles in general: as a prelude to 2010 as the Year of Chopin, his funeral mask has come to Prague, where it will be on display for the first time outside of Poland.
Twenty years after: central and eastern Europe coping with communist legacy
How are countries of central and Eastern Europe coping with their communist legacies? Have their societies done well in the transition to democracy over the last two decades? And why do so many people in this region feel nostalgic towards the totalitarian past? And in what ways is the Czech Republic different from other ex-communist states countries in the region? These and other issues were the focus of an international conference "20 Years After" that took place in Prague last week.
Foreign capital reaches post-revolution Czechoslovakia
With the fall of communism, it was not long before foreign investors began taking an interest in Czechoslovakia. This ranged from huge industrial multinationals to young college graduates, who arrived in Prague with backpacks in the early 1990s, and happened to spot a business opportunity. Many burned their fingers; some made a quick buck and disappeared, and others settled down and stayed here for good. In 1991, Radio Prague interviewed a few of these pioneering investors.


text:
Flooding threatens US coasts well ahead of Hurricane Matthew
By: By JENNIFER KAY, Associated Press
MIAMI (AP) — The major threat to the Southeast U.S. won't be Hurricane Matthew's pummeling winds, which newer buildings have been constructed to withstand. It will be water — the deadly storm surge churned up by such a massive and powerful hurricane.
That surge could threaten lives and property long before its eye nears shore, so the Miami-based National Hurricane Center has issued experimental storm surge watches and warnings for life-threatening flooding for some 500 miles of coastline from Boca Raton in South Florida all the way up into North Carolina. Matthew already has left more than 100 dead in the Caribbean.
Storm surge and rainfall flooding have combined for three-quarters of U.S. deaths from hurricanes, tropical storms and cyclones over the last half-century — including at least 1,500 deaths during Hurricane Katrina, according to the hurricane center.
These prototype watches and warnings are among forecasting changes made after Superstorm Sandy revealed how often the public failed to understand the flooding risks from tropical storms. Forecasters changed their vocabulary to explain how flooding can occur far from the coastline, and they now publish interactive graphics illustrating risks from the ocean as well as sounds, bays and lakes.
Water levels were rising as far north as Jacksonville on Thursday morning as a strengthening Matthew tore through the Bahamas toward Florida, said Jamie Rhome, leader of the hurricane center's storm surge team.
"The ocean's reaction to the hurricane extends well in front of it, and that catches people off guard," Rhome said.
Rhome said parts of Florida, such as the Cape Canaveral area or communities along the St. Johns River, could see waters rise up to 9 feet above ground — a level well overhead for most adults.
"At those levels it becomes life-threatening because it's not a gentle rising of the water. It comes with waves and currents and floating debris," Rhome said.
When Hurricane Jeanne hit Florida's Space Coast in 2004, it caused storm surge flooding up to 6 feet above normal tides from Melbourne south to Fort Pierce. However, that area still has many older homes built before the National Flood Insurance Program included waves and storm surge in its elevation requirements, said Tim Reinhold, head of research and chief engineer at the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety.
New construction along the densely populated coastline includes support for high-rise buildings even if water pours through their ground floors, Reinhold said.
"Older buildings are at the greatest risk because they weren't built all that well and they were built at lower elevations. They haven't been weeded out in that area," Reinhold said.
In simple terms, storm surge is the abnormal rise of sea water. However, it's so complicated to predict that forecasters removed flooding references in a 2010 revision of the five-category system for describing the damage possible at various hurricane wind speeds.
Earlier this year, Hurricane Hermine was the first time forecasters experimented with storm surge watches and warnings for the public. The advisories, which are separate from watches and warnings about a storm's wind speeds, may become fully operational next year.
The storm surge threat only increased over the last decade, as the coastal population from North Carolina to Texas grew 13 percent to 27 million, according to U.S. Census estimates.
From Maine to Texas, the Census estimates there are 60.1 million housing units and 3.3 million business establishments with 52.3 million paid workers potentially at risk during the six-month Atlantic storm season. Much of that coastline lies less than 10 feet above mean sea level, according to the hurricane center.


text:
package io.github.devbhuwan.apachepoi.itextpdf.exceltopdf;

import com.itextpdf.text.Document;
import com.itextpdf.text.DocumentException;
import com.itextpdf.text.pdf.PdfWriter;
import org.apache.poi.hssf.usermodel.HSSFWorkbook;

import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
import java.io.FileOutputStream;

/**
 * @author Bhuwan Prasad Upadhyay
 * @date 1/22/2017
 */
public class ExportExcelToPdf {

    public static final String EXCEL_LOC = System.getProperty("excelLoc");
    public static final String PDF_LOC = System.getProperty("pdfLoc");

    public static void main(String[] args) throws FileNotFoundException, DocumentException {
        new ExportExcelToPdf().export();
    }

    private void export() throws FileNotFoundException, DocumentException {
        FileInputStream excelFileInputStream = new FileInputStream(new File(EXCEL_LOC));
        HSSFWorkbook workbook = null;
        Document document = new Document();
        PdfWriter.getInstance(document, new FileOutputStream(PDF_LOC));
    }

}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Franchisees Seeking Minimum Wage, Overtime Pay ...
Franchisors Wince as Some Courts Re-Label Franchisees as Employees
By James M. Mulcahy on July 22, 2013
Employee misclassification is a potential issue lurking in all industries.
The franchise community was re-cently shaken up following a series of court decisions that relabeled franchisees as "employees" of the franchisor. Jani-King and Coverall North America, two of the largest com-mercial cleaning franchisors, have been defending themselves from labor law claims brought by franchisees seeking minimum wage, overtime pay, and other employment-related benefits.
In March 2010, a federal district court judge in Massachusetts ruled that Coverall franchisees were employees, irrespective of the "independent contractor" classification in the parties' contracts. More recently, on June 8, 2012, the Massachusetts District Court granted summary judgment in favor of a class of Jani-King fran-chisees, finding that the franchisees were employees of Jani-King.
The Massachusetts litigation has led to similar employee misclassification lawsuit filings across the country. Franchisors operating in California can breathe a sigh of relief after the California District Court in Juarez v. Jam-King granted sum-mary judgment in favor of Jani-King, finding that the franchi-sor did not exercise sufficient control over the plaintiff fran-chisees to render them employees. Franchisors also obtained favorable results in the states of Minnesota and Kentucky.
While California may serve as a safe harbor for franchi-sors from employee misclassification liability, plaintiffs' at-torneys in California are still capitalizing on the court's con-fusion over the franchisor/franchisee relationship to attack franchisors. Since 1992, franchisors operating in California have relied on the protections of the California Appellate Court's ruling in Cislaw v. Southland Corp. It held that fran-chisees are deemed agents only if "the franchisor exercises complete or substantial control over the franchisee."
But recent court decisions appear to be eroding the Cislaw stan-dard. Earlier this year, in the case of Patterson v. Domino's Pizza, LLC, an employee of a Domino's Pizza franchisee named Domi-no's Pizza as a defendant in her lawsuit alleging sexual harassment by another employee of the franchisee. Consistent with Cislaw, the trial court found that the franchisee was an independent contrac-tor, and that the franchisee's employee was "not an employee or agent of ... Domino's for purposes of imposing vicarious liabil-ity," and granted summary judgment in favor of Domino's Pizza.
But on June 27, 2012, the California Court of Appeals, surprisingly, reversed and remanded the case back to the trial court for a jury trial on the sexual harassment claims against Domino's Pizza.
Round Table Pizza is another large pizza restaurant fran-chisor that operates in the western United States. Ted Storey, Gen-eral Counsel and Vice President, Business Development, for Round Table Pizza, was recently questioned about the effect the Domino's Pizza case may have on the franchising industry. According to Mr. Storey, "[w]e are occasionally included as a co-defendant in law-suits against our franchisees in either slip and fall or employment cases. We usually have no trouble getting out of these cases by relying upon the decision in Cislaw to persuade plaintiff's attorney to dismiss us from the case or through summary judgment. But the [Domino's Pizza] case has caused me concern because, at least on its face, it appears to erode the Cislaw decision."
Applying an analysis similar to that in the Domino's Pizza case, on July 31, 2012, the California Court of Appeals found that restaurant franchisor Denny's could be held liable for injuries to a patron of one of its franchisee's restaurants on an agency theory. In Terrelle Ford v. Palmden Rests., the plaintiff brought a negligence action against Denny's and its franchisee after being attacked by members of a street gang who were known to frequent the restaurant. The lower court granted summary judgment in favor of Denny's, finding that it could not be held liable for the franchisee's acts or omissions with respect to instituting appropriate security measures at the restaurant because the franchisee was not its agent. The California Court of Appeal reversed.
In its ruling, the appellate court found that the plain-tiff alleged facts sufficient to show that the franchisee was Denny's "ostensible agent." In a losing effort, Denny's argued that "if the law ultimately holds franchisors routinely liable for the wrongful acts of its franchisees and their em-ployees, franchisors will either quit franchising or, at the very least, charge much higher fees."
The Domino's Pizza and Denny's opinions have served as catalysts for plaintiffs' attorneys to assert agency claims against franchisors previously re-jected by Cislaw. For example, in May of this year, a former employee of a Jack In The Box franchisee filed a lawsuit asserting a panoply of claims arising out of the alleged sexual harassment by one of the franchisee's employees. As in the Domino's Pizza case, the plaintiff included the franchisor as a defen-dant, alleging that the franchisee is, in this case, the agent of Jack In The Box. This case is currently pending before the California Superior Court.
On October 10, 2012, the California Supreme Court agreed to review the Appellate Court's deci-sion in the Domino's Pizza case on the lone issue of whether Domino's Pizza is entitled to summary judgment on plaintiff's claim that Domino's Pizza is vicariously liable for tortious conduct by a su-pervising employee of a franchisee. The California Supreme Court's ruling and analysis will hope-fully provide much needed guidance for the lower courts on the issues of agency and franchising.
How can franchisors avoid liability from their "independent contractor"?
Sandra Trenda, Chief Legal Officer for Great Clips, notes there is "cause for alarm any time courts start to blur the distinction between employee and franchisee." She says that Great Clips, which has more than 3,000 franchise locations, takes action to clarify its position as the franchisor and not employer. "We have to keep these boundaries clear," she says.
In addition to taking affirmative steps to keep the franchisor/employer boundaries clear, franchisors must also spend the time educating the courts on the business of franchising. As Storey, the Round Table Pizza GC and vice president, puts it, "[w]hat I am reminded of when I read the [Domino's Pizza] and Jani-King cases is something that we have all contended with for years in the franchising field — educating the courts on how franchising works.
"We really have to make concerted and focused efforts to educate courts one way or an-other on how franchising works," Storey says. "When you have courts in Massachusetts citing to Jani-King's website to show that Jani-King is in the business of cleaning offices, it makes you question the court's knowledge of franchising."
In application, however, it may be difficult to keep the boundaries clear when control is an innate part of both franchising and respondeat superior relationships. The Federal Trade Commission distinguishes franchising from mere licensing when the putative franchisor has the "authority to exert a significant degree of con-trol over the franchisee's method of operation."
Similarly, the distinction between an employee and independent contractor is decided based on the amount of control exerted by the hiring party in the performance of the job. Defining both franchising and employment/agency relationships on the issue of control is conceptually problematic and appears to be difficult for the courts to decipher.
Instead of relying on the courts to make this distinction, those interested in preserving the franchise business model are already addressing this issue with the state legislatures. The state of Georgia has led the way in recognizing the ben-efits of a franchise model, and has recently en-acted legislation to ensure franchise investments are available to its citizens going forward. In April of this year, the Georgia General Assembly unanimously passed House Bill 548, codifying franchisor-franchisee relationships by providing that "individuals who are parties to a franchise agreement shall not be considered employees."
The enactment of House Bill 548 should al-low franchising in Georgia to continue to thrive as a growing economic force in all business sectors. According to Dean Heyl, the Director of State Government Relations for the International Franchise Association, the IFA is diligently work-ing on similar legislation in the states of Dela-ware, Indiana, Massachusetts and Nebraska.
If these misclassification and agency issues can occur in the franchise context - a business model that is defined by the desire to be one's own boss - it can occur in any industry that relies heavily on independent contractors. This includes non-franchised business models, such as quick service gas stations and minimarts, janitorial services, edi-tors, taxicab drivers, commercial trucking, express mail operators, software developers, grocery store sushi chefs, to name a few. In fact, the IFA believes that the court rulings "could bring into question the legitimacy of every business that relies on contrac-tually related firms as sources of revenue."
Until the court and/or legislatures set more defined boundaries for the franchisor and franchisee relationship, we can reasonably expect more lawsuits by aggressive and creative plaintiffs' attorneys as-serting employment and agency theories of liability, coupled with a studied reluctance by trial courts to summarily dismiss these lawsuits prior to trial.
Jim Mulcahy is the founding and manag-ing partner of Mulcahy LLP, a boutique firm specializing in competi-tion litigation, including antitrust, intellectual property, and fran-chise and distribution law. He has more than 30 years of experience, including as general counsel of American Suzuki. A trial lawyer, he has served as a faculty member at the National Institute for Trial Advocacy and for the College of Trial Advocacy. jmulcahy@mulcahyllp.com
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The Rocket Skates rhythm tone is wonderful, it's warm, heavy, clear and indistinguishable from the original tone.
Both of these tones are incredible and very useful in different genres! I am very happy with them and I highly recommend both of them!


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text:
Contracting company tied to bribery scandal won multimillion-dollar job to build Donald Trump golf course in Bronx
By Greg B. Smith
Sep 23, 2012 | 12:01 AM
Future site of Donald Trump golf course in Bronx. A construction firm tied to bribery scandal won multimillion contract to build course. (Viorel Florescu for New York Daily News)
A contracting firm with ties to a notorious bribery scandal has won a multimillion-dollar job at the Trump golf course at Ferry Point in the Bronx, records show.
In March, the city Parks Department hired MFM Contracting. MFM's partners own a sister company that was at the heart of bribes-for-contracts indictment in 2010, records show.
A month later, the city Department of Investigation recommended the city make MFM hire a watchdog to monitor the company's billing practices at Ferry Point because of the ties to the scandal.
The agency declined to follow DOI's suggestion.
The taxpayers' bill for the Ferry Point golf course is now budgeted at $97 million, up from $60 million in 2008, but records indicate it could climb to $120 million.
BRONX RESIDENTS OUTRAGED AS $97 MILLION GOLF COURSE PLANNED BY DONALD TRUMP IS BELCHING DANGEROUS LEVELS OF METHANE
Trump will lease the city-owned property for 20 years, managing the course at the foot of the Whitestone Bridge. It's supposed to open in 2014.
MFM Contracting of Mamaroneck was hired to truck in clean fill, despite its ties to another troubled company, Felix Associates.
In 2010, Felix Associates President Anselmo Saiz pleaded guilty to bribery charges and cooperated with prosecutors.
Saiz testified that he put his relatives on the payroll (including a no-show job for his wife), kept a safe filled with cash for bribes in the office and bribed Con Edison inspectors with hundreds of thousands of dollars stuffed in envelopes.
In return, Felix Associates was able to inflate its bills to Con Ed, putting in for work it didn't do and workers who didn't exist. The company pocketed more than $2 million this way, Saiz said.
Saiz testified that one Felix partner, John Breslin, participated in the scheme, while a second partner, Vincent Amato, knew what was going on. Saiz said he wasn't sure what the other two partners, Michael and Felix Petrillo, knew about the scheme.
Breslin, Amato and the Petrillo brothers were not charged with a crime, but all remain partners at Felix Associates, records show.
Only the Petrillo partners are listed as owners of MFM, but at a 2010 trial, Saiz testified that Felix and MFM have "similar ownership."
In January, Felix Associates was barred from bidding on city School Construction Authority contracts because of the bribery mess.
The Petrillos distance themselves from Felix Associates. Questioned by The News, MFM touted what it called its "unblemished record" and said its principals "have a passive financial and nonmanagerial interest in Felix Associates."
They noted MFM was cleared by the Mayor's Office of Contracts (VENDEX) and the Department of Investigation, but did not comment on DOI's recommendation for a monitor.
gsmith@nydailynews.com
Latest Bronx
Cabbie in Bronx crushed by own taxi as he tried to catch thief


text:
All collections / Sudden Death - HD...
Sudden Death - HD (iTunes)
Pittsburgh Penguins owner Howard Baldwin was the producer of Sudden Death, and the action is set in his hockey arena, in which the Penguins are playing the Chicago Blackhawks. Pittsburgh fire inspector Darren McCord (Jean-Claude Van Damme) is attending the game with his two children. He's quit fighting fires because of a tragedy a few years earlier involving a child he couldn't save. Also at the game is the vice-president of the United States (Raymond Barry), who is the target of a terrorist plot. The terrorist leader, an insane ex-CIA agent named Joshua Foss (Powers Boothe), has masterminded a scheme to hold the vice-president hostage in his luxury suite while demanding that payments be transferred to his account electronically at the end of each period of the game. If he doesn't get his money, he will kill one member of the vice-president's party at the end of each period, and at game's end he will order ten bombs hidden in the arena to be detonated with all 17,000 fans present. McCord discovers the plot while his daughter Emily (Whittni Wright) is kidnapped by the terrorists too. McCord must dispatch the villains and find the bombs, while saving all the hostages. Luckily, he is adept at martial arts. He fights one henchman dressed in a Penguins mascot outfit in the arena's kitchen, and another terrorist on the arena's retracting dome. At one point, McCord switches identities with a player, is sent into the game, and scores a goal. Director Peter Hyams also directed Van Damme in the blockbuster Timecop. ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi
Rating: R
Must be redeemed in I-Tunes only!


So yesterday was Morton county Agriculture day or AG day and a fun time was had by all! Here's a recap: One of my coworkers Dolly Dakota told me about this event a couple of days ago and I thought it would be pretty interesting to check out. So glad I did, it was a nice little snapshot of North Dakota right there!
Was able to pet the horses, and cow's and even the goats who were running around for a while. Was able to get a nice education on shearing the sheep so if this radio thing doesn't work out maybe I'll be a sheep shearer Ha!
The only thing I didn't see were the silk chickens (The chickens with the crazy hair ) but all in all what a great experience. I came away understanding what grass fed chicken were, and it's going to be really hard to make bacon and eggs tomorrow after holding those baby chicks and seeing those cute piglets. Next stop for me is going up to somebody's farm. Thanks Dolly !


A century after the guns fell silent, the nation will come together today to remember those who lost their lives in the First World War and other conflicts.
And for the families of Scunthorpe and North Lincolnshire, the horrific cost of the Great War was felt right up to its final days.
A digitally generated map reveals the fate of 26 servicemen from North Lincolnshire who lost their lives fighting for freedom in the last month of the war, from October 11, 1918 to November 11, 1918, when the fighting stopped.
It maps out the casualties of the final weeks of four years of carnage which cost our communities a generation of sons, brothers, fathers and grandfathers.
The 26 who died in the month leading up to Armistice Day include men from Scunthorpe, Brigg, Barton-Upon-Humber, Crowle, Kirton in Lindsey, Messingham, South Ferriby, Winteringham, Redbourne, Appleby, Scawby and Grasby.
Using official records from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, the map plots each address of the men who fell during those last days of what at the time was thought to be a war to end all wars. Each is a home where men left loved ones to fight at the front only to never return.
The map reveals the home addresses of men who lost their lives while serving for the British armed services during the final month of fighting in the First World War. Each entry shows a record identity number, followed by the man's surname, forenames, initials, age, date of death, rank, the regiment or ship they served with, the country, their service number, the cemetery they are buried in or the memorial they are commemorated on and a grave reference. Entries also usually reveal the names of the loved ones they left behind.
The map loads below and can take a few seconds to appear. The default setting shows North Lincolnshire. Just use the + and - zoom tools to find specific areas and streets and click on a poppy to find out details of a casualty.
Why is this mapped out?
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission says it keeps and maintains its records to ensure the men and women who gave their lives in the service of their country are never forgotten. It hopes people will use their records to find out more about their families and communities and the role they played in the First World War and other conflicts.
How accurate are the poppies?
The majority of the poppy symbols on the map lie within a few yards of the houses where the men lived. The exact house number or name in the street has been removed but can be found on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's website by searching for the relevant name. In other areas, streets were not recorded and in some cases, the streets have now gone altogether. In those cases, we have placed the poppies in the centre of villages.
How can I find out about the others from Scunthorpe and North Lincolnshire who died during the First World War?
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission's website allows people to search all of its records. Everyone from North Lincolnshire who died in the war is commemorated, although there will also be casualties buried in North Lincolnshire who were originally not from the area and casualties from the area buried or commemorated elsewhere, without reference to location.
To search the records, go to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's website .
Our thanks to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission for their valuable work in compiling the records that make this map possible.


There are so many, many volunteers that have helped throughout the year. We could never identify them all. We are incredibly grateful for all of the helping hands that make the Kinderhaus program a possibility; current families, previous families, and community members.
We have enjoyed volunteers bringing bearded dragons, teaching us dancing, creating wooden toys, singing to us, sewing us project after project, building our willow hut, creating our outdoor classroom, mulching, providing sand, providing dirt, slushie slinging, painting our walls, etc., etc. The list goes on for miles!
Thank you, of course, to Ms. Jean Westby who walks with us on Tuesdays and Thursdays, accompanying us to the river or the playground.
Thank you to Mr. Spilde, our neighbor, who spends countless hours tending the woods next door that we play and run in. And thank you to our other neighbors who let us traverse their yards.
Finally, the many generous people of Good Shepherd have and continue to do so much to provide us with a warm and nurturing space surrounded by fantastic outdoor green space within close proximity to woods, prairie, and river.
If you have a talent, interest, or resource that you'd like to share with our program, please let us know!


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Ascenthium
Belize's Rock Band
Heavy hitting riffs, powerful guitar solos, and a bona fide rock aesthetic; the six piece Belizean hard rock band Ascenthium delivers an explosive performance at every show.
Inspired by The Rock and Metal legends Metallica, Iron Maiden, Dream Theatre, & Avenged sevenfold among others; their sound can be best described as a trilling combination of classic and modern hard rock .With compelling lyrical compositions and intricate instrumentation the band speaks out on a multitude of topics in their music highlighting their struggle with mental health and their personal journey of dedicating themselves to being an independent force in the Metal/Rock community.
Starting out as local cover band in 2009 they played multiple venues around the country. The band entered and won Belize's live show "Be the Next Superstar." Simultaneously Ascenthium was one of 96 bands to compete in the "Yamaha battle of the bands" in Mexico City in the fall of 2012, placing third overall. They later gained a reputation as one of the top live acts in the country through extensive national touring.
Ascenthium defines success as promoting their genre and following their passion for music as self-sustaining, community driven, and independent entity.


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Mistrzostwa Świata Juniorów w Biathlonie 1998 odbyły się w kanadyjskiej miejscowości Valcartier, w dniach 25 lutego - 1 marca 1998 roku. Rozegrane zostały 4 konkurencje: bieg indywidualny, bieg sprinterski, bieg drużynowy i sztafeta. Wszystkie konkurencje zostały rozegrane dla mężczyzn i kobiet. W sumie odbyło się 8 biegów.

Wyniki kobiet

Bieg drużynowy – 7,5 km
 Data: 25 lutego 1998

Bieg indywidualny - 12,5 km
 Data: 26 lutego 1998

Bieg sprinterski - 7,5 km
 Data: 28 lutego 1998

Bieg sztafetowy – 3 × 7,5 km
 Data: 1 marca 1998

Wyniki mężczyzn

Bieg drużynowy – 10 km
 Data: 25 lutego 1998

Bieg indywidualny - 15 km
 Data: 26 lutego 1998

Bieg sprinterski - 10 km
 Data: 28 lutego 1998

Bieg sztafetowy – 4 × 7,5 km
 Data: 1 marca 1998

Tabela Medalowa

Przypisy

1998 w sportach zimowych
Mistrzostwa świata juniorów w biathlonie
1998 w Kanadzie

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Throughout the course of life, Halloween means different things. When you're young it's about dressing up and pretending you're a starving beggar for a night. The next phase is going out to the bar and trying to pick up all sorts of slutty kitties, nurses, nuns and Ninja Turtles.
Next comes sitting at home and handing out candy to a new generation of beggars. Finally, you reach the point where I am: Black out the windows, shut the curtains, leave the front lights off, pretend you're not home while you hide in your back bedroom watching movies and ignoring the outside world while you enjoy your fun-sized candies.
If you're joining me in this phase of life, here's a list of movies I've found to be pretty awesome to ring in All Hallows Eve.
Keep in mind... there are plenty of scary movies out there, I enjoy, but it's not really my go-to. So for my list, I keep things light hearted, some thrills and chills, but for the most part if that's what you need, in my opinion you can't go wrong with the classics like Freddy, Jason, or Mr. Meyers!
HONORABLE MENTION -- "Howard the Duck": Not really scary, except to George Lucas! See the film that damn near bankrupted the "Star Wars" giant!
10. "Gremlins 2: The New Batch": I would say the first one, but I like the humor better in the second. Not to mention the Babe Gremlin is kinda hot when you're drunk!
8. "Idle Hands": The devil possess the laziest kid in the world's hand. Plus The Offspring make an appearance and Jessica Alba in a bra!
7. "Little Shop of Horrors": Singing and man-eating plants! WIN!
6. "BeetleJuice": BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE!!! God, I hope they stick with the plans of a sequel!
5. "Ghostbusters": A Classic! If you need to be told what this film is about, then you should swallow a jawbreaker.
4. "Shaun of the Dead": Zombies and British humor. QUICK, TO THE PUB!
3. "Zombieland": One of the best zombie movies I have ever seen. It has zombies, guns, Twinkies and a big B.M.! What more do you want?
2. "Army of Darkness": Shop Smart ... S-MART!
1. "Murder Party": Mix "Napoleon Dynamite" with "Saw" and there you go.
Did I forget any? I'm sure I did. What's your favorite?


THIS PAGE IS ALMOST ALWAYS IN CONSTRUCTION AS I LOVE TO ADD TO IT HERE AND THERE!
Granted, professional companionship is not "The Dating Game" but I truly enjoy genuine connections and letting you know a bit about me...really does make the experience better as it attracts a like-minded gentleman. I am considered a top companion nationally and have a stellar reputation. Today i get lumped into the "VIP Companion" realm which i think is a grossly overused term but you'll see that my background is quite unique and why i have been called "an anomoly" for this world. Yes, I am educated, yes I am well traveled and yes, i am super low key and low volume BUT you won't see me begging for Christian Louboutin shoes or showing my latest fashion conquest....my dream date would be kayaking out of a bay in Alaska, exploring a new restaurant and I'll take a new mountain bike over luxury shoes anyday! You will find me delightfully approachable and down to Earth. After all, this is all about YOU..and who needs to be on edge?
About 5 or 6 months ago..I mistakenly didn't "back up" my webpage when making adjustments and am now just re-creating. Luckily, I've been established and have a wonderful regular base and have been perfectly fine without one... but i am buckling down and getting back to the tedioius parts of designing (been having too much fun in the meantime!)...so bear with me as this will go through many metamorphoses.
I am 40...(and Loving it!)...as i look youthful as if in my thirties. My big brown/hazel eyes have developed with a slight exoticness that i dind't have when i was a young twerp and with a lifestyle rooted in fitness (yoga, weight training and endurance sports).( I still compete regularly) ..I'm healthy and i show it!. Healthy lifestyle is a huge passion with me. Non smoking, no drugs, light wine drinker and nutrition. No tattoos or piercings either!
36C-28-36 5'5" 132-135# leaner than previous years and i possess not a lithe flat chested runner's build but more of an ample weight training firm booty all around athlete build (with a bit more "wiggles" in my off-season) and soft where a woman should be.
I am professionally employed outside of this realm and have had quite an interesting real life career and adventures to add the proper depth of experience to my repertoire. I've been a staff VP, so I definately know how to play with them (on top of knowing the value of stolen time away). I am a military veteran and have worked in both the medical and legal professions. My travels have taken me to some of the most interesting places on Earth and i did a stint in documentary filmmaking at one point.
I am an accomplished athlete in both the endurance world, team sports and weight training. Health is very important to me..and a huge passion.


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LSMSA Seniors Shine as National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists during COVID-19
September 16, 2020 September 16, 2020 / NPJ
National Merit Scholarship Corporation recognizes nine Louisiana students
LSMSA- Nine Louisiana School for Math, Science, and the Arts (LSMSA) seniors have been named National Merit Semifinalists by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC): Cera Aex, Thibodaux; AnaLaysha Burgess-Collazo, Jeanerette; Paige Delsa, Mandeville; Eve Goodwin, Mandeville; Mary Hutson, Pineville; Allison Johnson, Lake Charles; Victoria McMillan, St. Francisville; Aubrey Prewitt, Mangham; Jalen Xia, Gretna.
"We are beyond thrilled that nearly 10% of our seniors have a chance at earning one of the prestigious 7,600 National Merit Scholarships," said Dr. Steve Horton, Executive Director of LSMSA. "The excellence and resilience that LSMSA students show have always been impressive, and their accomplishments are even that more incredible during a global pandemic, life-changing hurricane, and distance learning."
Finalists will be determined in February, and final winners of 2021 will be announced beginning in April and concluding in July. These scholarship recipients will join more than 353,000 other distinguished young people who have earned the Merit Scholar title.
More than 1.5 million juniors in about 21,000 high schools entered the 2021 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2019 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool of Semifinalists, representing less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state. The number of Semifinalists in a state is proportional to the state's percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.
NMSC, a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance, was established in 1955 specifically to conduct the annual National Merit Scholarship Program. Scholarships are underwritten by NMSC with its own funds and by approximately 400 business organizations and higher education institutions that share NMSC's goals of honoring the nation's scholastic champions and encouraging the pursuit of academic excellence.
About LSMSA
The Louisiana School for Math, Science, and the Arts, a preeminent state-supported residential high school with competitive admissions for high-achieving, highly-motivated students, fosters in young scholars lifelong growth toward reaching individual potentials and finding places of work and service in a global society through the examination and exchange of ideas in a community of learners.
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There are some parties that pretty much scream "DEEEEEE CEEEEEE" and this is one. There's a big party tomorrow night over at Brown Rudnick that will be both job fair and 100-Days celebration, complete with audience-compiled report card.
$20 gets you in, and there's an open bar, which is pretty much the holy grail of DC parties.
But yeah, there's a saying that you can find just about any excuse to throw a good party, but could you think of a more DC-centric party than this one? Come on out tomorrow night and join a few of us who are going.