text:
Lyme Disease Expected to Surge
Marlene Cimons X November 9, 2018
Published In: Popular Science • EcoWatch
Rising temperatures are creating new habitats for ticks.
A tick. Source: Pixabay
German physician Alfred Buchwald had no clue that the chronic skin inflammation he described in 1883 was the first recorded case of a serious tick-carrying disease, one that would take hold in a small Connecticut town almost a century later and go on to afflict people across the United States.
Today we know a lot more than Buchwald did about Lyme disease — that it is caused by a bacterium, Borrelia burgdorferi, and it is transmitted to humans by blacklegged ticks, and that it can cause untold misery for those infected. U.S. scientists first recognized the disease in the 1970s in Old Lyme, Connecticut — hence the name. The condition starts with fever, headache, fatigue and a characteristic bullseye rash. Untreated, it can spread to the joints, the heart and nervous system producing long-lasting, debilitating symptoms. Early use of antibiotics is crucial.
About 300,000 Americans are diagnosed annually with Lyme, with cases concentrated in the Northeast and upper Midwest, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The incidence of the disease has doubled in the United States since 1991, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. And it's about to get much worse, thanks to climate change.
A blacklegged tick. Source: Pixabay
"Warmer temperatures are making cold places suitable habitats for ticks, so new places are having Lyme disease cases, and endemic areas are having more cases than the average," said Edson Severnini, assistant professor of economics and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz College, and co-author of a new study that predicts the incidence of Lyme disease will rise around 21 percent by mid-century.
Climate change already has amplified the range of invasive insects that devour crops, destroy homes and spread disease. "Tick-borne diseases are an important public health concern and the incidence of these infections is increasing in the Unites States and worldwide," said Igor Dumic, the study's lead author and a researcher at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science who has treated numerous Lyme patients. "Lyme disease is a classic example of the link between environmental factors and the occurrence and spread of disease."
Ticks typically reside in wooded areas. Source: Pixabay
Ticks spend most of their lives in environments where temperature and humidity directly affect their survival. For this reason, the EPA uses Lyme disease as an indicator of climate change. Higher temperatures spur ticks to venture farther in search of hosts, such as deer, which are more plentiful after warmer winters. "The Lyme disease vector tick needs deer to complete its life cycle, so this means that more ticks will be completing their life cycle, and consequently the tick population will increase," Severnini said. "Also, as temperature rises, people may engage in more outdoor activities, increasing exposure to ticks."
The research, which appears in the Canadian Journal of Infectious Diseases and Medical Microbiology, examined the relationship between weather conditions and Lyme disease in 15 U.S. states. These states, located primarily in the Northeast and Upper Midwest, which make up 95 percent of all U.S. reported cases. The scientists used epidemiological data from the CDC and at meteorological data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Warmer winters mean more deer, which host ticks. Source: Pixabay
Assuming the temperature will increase by 2 degrees Celsius by mid-century — the forecast of the U.S. National Climate Assessment —the United States will see 8.6 more cases of Lyme disease per 100,000 people annually. That is bad news, but governments can take steps to keep the disease in check, Severnini said.
"We need to educate people about how to look for ticks after going to wooded areas where ticks are abundant," he said. "Secondly, people and clinicians should be aware that just because ticks are not present is certain areas it doesn't mean that people aren't traveling to areas where ticks are present. For example, a resident of Arizona, where Lyme disease is rare, can acquire it while camping in Wisconsin and get symptoms upon returning to [his or her] home state of Arizona."
It's not just education, Severnini said. "We can also invest in the development of a Lyme vaccine, use insecticide and acaricidal to decrease the tick population," he added. "Finally, we can prevent severe global warming."
Marlene Cimons writes for Nexus Media, a syndicated newswire covering climate, energy, policy, art and culture
The Seafloor is Disappearing
Oceans Are Losing a Football Field of Seagrass Every Half-Hour


The Lady Warriors moved to 11-6 in game 2 matchups this season.
That closes out the 2018-2019 campaign for the LWW Freshman Girls Basketball Team. It was quite an amazing year from a special class- one that will do great things over the next 3 years. Good luck in your spring sports, ladies! And thank you for all of your time, effort, and devotion to making our program outstanding!


text:
Mário da Silveira Meireles Reis (31 December 1907 – 5 October 1981 in Rio de Janeiro), also known as Bacharel do Samba was a popular Brazilian samba singer, active between 1928 and 1971. He collaborated with artists such as Francisco Alves, Carmen Miranda, Aracy de Almeida and Noel Rosa and was particularly successful as a radio singer.

Biography
He graduated in Law and Social Sciences in the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro Faculty of Law, attending the same classes of Ary Barroso (LLB, 1929).

He recorded many hits with Carmen Miranda and Francisco Alves, with whom also performed frequently in the 1930s, all of which are regarded as amongst the finest Brazilian singers of this period. He toured in Brazil and also Argentina.

As a singer, he was known for his gentle tone, which compensated for the lack of vocal power. His singing style even today sounds modern and he is considered one of the pioneers of bossa nova. Many believe his singing influenced João Gilberto.

He spent many years away from singing career and returned years later to make records. In 1965 and 1971 he recorded two albums, this being his last.

In 1995, Julio Bressane made a film called The Mandarin about the Brazilian popular music of the 20th century, focusing especially on the life and work of Mário Reis. The singer was played by actor Fernando Eiras.

Recordings

 Agora é cinza, Bide e Marçal (1933)
 Alô, alô, André Filho, com Carmen Miranda (1933)
 A razão dá-se a quem tem, Francisco Alves, Ismael Silva e Noel Rosa (1932)
 A tua vida é um segredo, Lamartine Babo (1932)
 Cadê Mimi?, Alberto Ribeiro e João de Barro (1935)
 Chegou a hora da fogueira, Lamartine Babo, com Carmen Miranda (1933).
 Dorinha, meu amor, Freitinhas (1928)
 Eva querida, Benedito Lacerda e Luiz Vassalo (1934)
 Filosofia, André Filho e Noel Rosa (1933)
 Fita amarela, Noel Rosa, com Francisco Alves (1932)
 Formosa, J. Rui e Nássara (1932)
 Gosto que me enrosco, Sinhô (1929)
 Isto é lá com Santo Antônio, Lamartine Babo, com Carmen Miranda (1934)
 Joujoux e balangandãs, Lamartine Babo, com Mariah (1939)
 Jura, Sinhô (1928)
 Linda morena, Lamartine Babo (1932)
 Mulato bamba, Noel Rosa (1932)
 Nem é bom falar, Francisco Alves, Ismael Silva e Nilton Bastos (1931)
 O que será de mim?, Francisco Alves, Ismael Silva e Nilton Bastos, com Francisco Alves (1931)
 Quando o samba acabou, Noel Rosa (1933)
 Rasguei a minha fantasia, Lamartine Babo (1934)
 Ride, palhaço, Lamartine Babo (1933)
 Se você jurar, Francisco Alves, Ismael Silva e Nilton Bastos, com Francisco Alves (1931)
 Sofrer é da vida, Francisco Alves, Ismael Silva e Nilton Bastos (1932)
 Uma andorinha não faz verão, João de Barro e Lamartine Babo (1933)

References

Literature
 ALBIN, Ricardo Cravo (Criação e Supervisão Geral). Dicionário Houaiss Ilustrado da Música Popular Brasileira. Rio de Janeiro: Paracatu, 2006.
 MORAIS JUNIOR, Luis Carlos de. O Sol nasceu pra todos:a História Secreta do Samba. Rio de Janeiro: Litteris, 2011.

1907 births
1981 deaths
Musicians from Rio de Janeiro (city)
Samba musicians
20th-century Brazilian male singers
20th-century Brazilian singers

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Home Business Ghermezian Family to Build Huge New Mall in Miami
Ghermezian Family to Build Huge New Mall in Miami
Vered Weiss
At a time when many malls are closing their doors because consumers are choosing ecommerce alternatives, Triple Five Group, owned by the Jewish Iranian Canadian Ghermezian family, is going to open up what is expected to be the biggest mall in the U.S.; The American Dream Miami mall, as reported by Newsmaine.net.
This project is expected to be even bigger than Triple Five's 100 acre Mall of America in Minnesota, the largest North American mall owned by the company, which also owns the West Edmonton Mall in Edmonton, Alberta. Triple Five Group also owns the American Dream Meadowlands project in New Jersey.
The proposed project is predicted to be double the size of Mall of America, and will be 200 acres located in Miami Dade county. It is expected to cost $4 billion. In an effort to attract shoppers back to the mall, the American Dream mall will include gaming areas, a ski slope with artificial powder snow, a skating rink, an indoor lake, condominiums and a sea park. The aim is to attract tourists from abroad and luxury travelers.
American Dream Meadowlands
ecommerce alternatives
Ghermezian family
Hennepin County Minnesota
Hospitality/Recreation
Minneapolis–Saint Paul
Newsmaine.net
Shopping malls in New Jersey
The American Dream Miami mall
Triple Five Group
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: Refactoring a Component ReactJS I am quite new in React and i'm trying to make a simple clicker game. For now everything is working well (in my opinion) but i think the code it very repetitive (I use a lot of setState). Can someone tell me how to make it more clean and deal with state? I don't ask you to refactor this code for me just for advice how to do it. Thanks for any advices.
Here's my code:
import React, { Component } from 'react';

class Enemy extends Component {
  constructor(props) {
    super(props);

    this.state = {
      hp: 10,
      nextHp: 12,
      clickDamage: 1,
      gold: 0,
      dps: 0.1,
      num: 1,
      tapCount: 0,
      itemCount: 0,
      tapCost: 10,
      itemCost: 50
    };

    this.handleClick = this.handleClick.bind(this);
    this.buyTap = this.buyTap.bind(this);
    this.buyItem = this.buyItem.bind(this);
  }

  componentDidMount() {
    const interval = setInterval(() => {
      this.setState({ hp: this.state.hp -= this.state.dps });
      if(this.state.hp <= 0) {
        this.setState({ hp: this.state.hp = this.state.nextHp });
        this.setState({ nextHp: Math.floor(this.state.nextHp * 1.2) })
        this.setState({ gold: this.state.gold + 10});
        this.setState({ num: Math.floor(Math.random() * 4 + 1)});
      }
    }, 100);
  }

  handleClick() {
    this.setState({ hp: this.state.hp - this.state.clickDamage });

    if(this.state.hp <= 0) {
      this.setState({ hp: this.state.hp = this.state.nextHp });
      this.setState({ nextHp: Math.floor(this.state.nextHp * 1.2) })
      this.setState({ gold: this.state.gold + 10});
      this.setState({ num: Math.floor(Math.random() * 4 + 1)});
    }
  }

  buyTap() {
    if (this.state.gold >= this.state.tapCost) {
      this.setState({ gold: this.state.gold -= this.state.tapCost });
      this.setState({ tapCount: this.state.tapCount += 1 });
      this.setState({ clickDamage: this.state.clickDamage += 1 })
    }
  }

  buyItem() {
    if (this.state.gold >= this.state.itemCost) {
      this.setState({ gold: this.state.gold -= this.state.itemCost });
      this.setState({ itemCount: this.state.itemCount += 1 });
      this.setState({ dps: this.state.dps += 0.1 });
    }
  }

  render() {
    return (

Enemy hp: {Math.round(this.state.hp)}

Gold: {this.state.gold}

Click damage: {this.state.clickDamage}

Damage per second: {Math.round(this.state.dps * 10)}

Count: {this.state.tapCount}

Cost: {this.state.tapCost}

Count: {this.state.itemCount}

Cost: {this.state.itemCost}

    );
  }
}

export default Enemy;

A: Not much to factor. But I can say that all your state updates can be merged. You can update multiple state values at once.
this.setState({ hp: this.state.hp = this.state.nextHp });
this.setState({ nextHp: Math.floor(this.state.nextHp * 1.2) })
this.setState({ gold: this.state.gold + 10});
this.setState({ num: Math.floor(Math.random() * 4 + 1)});

to
this.setState({
  hp: this.state.nextHp,
  nextHp: Math.floor(this.state.nextHp * 1.2),
  gold: this.state.gold + 10,
  num: Math.floor(Math.random() * 4 + 1)
});

Side Note: State mutations like this.state.hp = this.state.nextHp are a react anti-pattern and can lead to bugs.
Second Side Note: For state updates that depend on current state values it is better to use a functional state update so state updates are correctly queued up and processed in the case that more than one update is triggered in a render cycle.
this.setState(prevState => ({
  hp: prevState.nextHp,
  nextHp: Math.floor(prevState.nextHp * 1.2),
  gold: prevState.gold + 10,
  num: Math.floor(Math.random() * 4 + 1)
}));

Here's a codesandbox demo of mine that illustrates why this functional updating can be important.

A: In addition to combining the setStates into one as in @Drew Reese's answer, you can also avoid having to bind the methods (i.e. this.handleClick = this.handleClick.bind(this);) by defining them as arrow functions in the class:
  handleClick = () => {
    // ...
  }

  buyTap = () => {
    // ...
  }

  buyItem = () => {
    // ...
  }

With that, you can also remove the constructor from
  constructor(props) {
    super(props);

    this.state = {
      hp: 10,
      nextHp: 12,
      clickDamage: 1,
      gold: 0,
      dps: 0.1,
      num: 1,
      tapCount: 0,
      itemCount: 0,
      tapCost: 10,
      itemCost: 50
    };

    this.handleClick = this.handleClick.bind(this);
    this.buyTap = this.buyTap.bind(this);
    this.buyItem = this.buyItem.bind(this);
  }

to just
// (state is defined without a constructor as an instance variable)
state = {
    hp: 10,
    nextHp: 12,
    clickDamage: 1,
    gold: 0,
    dps: 0.1,
    num: 1,
    tapCount: 0,
    itemCount: 0,
    tapCost: 10,
    itemCost: 50
};

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Russian Radio Stations Offer Infinite Resources Of Fun & Music
By Danu Radio
Russian radio online is the new competitor to impress people with the quality of entertainment and plentiful musical programs. Online radio has provided a new way to the masses with numerous musical tracks that work like balm to sooth the tensions and help to get rid of stress buildups. The incredible quality of being a stress buster has undoubtedly proclaimed Russkoe radio as most popular means of entertainment that is loved by the public. Advancement in science and technology has been combined to create new mode of radio that is live radio. This online form of radio is operational anywhere anytime.
Russkoe radio online is available on 87.7 FM enabling you to listen to latest news from Russia and America with musical hits of the century and interesting gossips on political and social topics. Russian culture comprises of core values and rich communities. The Russian radio stations strive to assemble the best of the cultural diversity and share it out with the people all over the world.
Spreading cheer and good mood is the prime motive of online radio station. They reflect the enriching multiplicity and provide full coverage of current events. DanuRadio.com and mobile applications are broadcasted round the clock for the listeners. The shows range from unusual recipes, fashion of New York Street to recent music releases.
Amongst the most loyal radio listeners are the pensioners and pioneers who maneuvered to create the talented programs over the years. The patrons of online community consist of multi ethic Russian community in the age of 20 to 70 years. They are thousands of men and women with great sense of humor, daring values and bold outlook.
You will find several online radio channels launched by various companies but the most fascinating for people across the nations of the world is the Russkoe radio online channel. Patriotic people of Russia love to listen to their language regardless of their location in the world. Students, corporate, businessmen, travelers and refugees admire the Russian radio as it helps them to refrain from the feelings of homesickness. The online radio has provided this great opportunity to the enthusiasts. Additionally the listeners have a choice of selecting the entertaining channel and find a chance to relax in their private time.


You can get Home Insurance only if you own a property. This is because home Insurance covers the building insurance for which one need to own the property. However, if you stay in any home that you have rented, you can go in for renters' Insurance which will cover the contents or your belongings.
In case there is no mortgage on the property, insuring it is voluntary and not mandatory. However, it is desirable to have Homeowners insurance as it provides financial protection against loss or damage to the property.
A Homeowners Insurance can be purchased from the insurance company after receiving a quote for it. It can also be purchased online. Even after buying the insurance, there is a lookup period of 30 days when the policy can be returned, after which it becomes applicable.
Home insurance policy covers not only the damage to the house and loss of personal belongings; but also covers the liability for damages and injuries caused to others. There are perils that are named, which are covered in the policy; whereas other perils not included can also be added by paying the additional premiums covered for these.
Homeowners insurance also covers Additional Living Expenses or ALE, which means that in the event of the property being damaged or destroyed and the owners have to stay elsewhere during the repairs; insurance company will pay for the stay expenses including meals. In fact, it also covers the loss of income in case it is rented out and the tenant had moved due to it requiring repairs.
You can buy your Homeowners Policy from the insurance companies through their sales representatives, who are captive agents or independent insurance agents who can sell insurance of different companies.
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Use the Savvy Shopper discount codes we found above… Our deals and vouchers work for top products like the Vaporesso Target mini kit, Vaporesso Target Pro 75W TC Starter Kit, Vaporesso Estoc Tank Mega, Vaporesso TAROT PRO Vape Mod, Aspire Nautilus X, Wismec Reuleaux RX200S, Vaporesso Target 75 VTC and more. Promo codes sometimes end without notice, please check site for validity during time of purchase. Coupons were validated at the time of posting. Happy shopping!


text:
Home > Take Me Fishing Blog > May 2012 > Huge Potential
Huge Potential
Andy Whitcomb
Bassmaster Elite Pro Gerald Swindle might call them "peanuts." Pro Casey Ashley just calls them "babies." But personally, "Dink" has always been in my vocabulary. Whatever you call them, little fish are worth appreciating too.
For example, from thousands of eggs, only a few bass, will survive and grow large enough to earn the title of "whopper." Despite the lack of photographic evidence and the stories anglers may tell, small fish are sometimes caught. Too many little fish could mean a stunted population, but a "peanut" every now and then indicates balance.
Although I no longer have access to the fisheries research sampling equipment that fisheries managers use, I still gather rough information regarding a fish population while using my preferred sampling gear: the fishing pole. However, as with all sampling, there is gear bias. By using the fishing pole to, as I tell my wife, "collect data," my sampling favors landing the big fish. Hook and lure size, for example, may exclude many little fish. Plus, anglers rarely target little fish, instead always casting where we think "the big one" may lurk.
But a body of water cannot sustain just big ones; smaller sizes need to be represented to replace old fish and utilize a diverse forage base.
So when, despite our efforts to exclude them, an ambitious, diminutive fish, barely larger than the lure dangles on the end of the line, think of it as hope for the future. It is nothing to be embarrassed about. In fact, you can tell anyone who snickers that these occasional wee fish are "difficult to effectively sample due to gear bias."
At least that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
White Sturgeon Fishing is OK, Beluga Fishing is Not
The Fishery Conservation and Management Act
Andy is an outdoor writer (http://www.justkeepreeling.com/) and stressed-out Dad has contributed over 380 blogs to takemefishing.org since 2011. Born in Florida, but raised on banks of Oklahoma farm ponds, he now chases pike, smallmouth bass, and steelhead in Pennsylvania. After earning a B.S. in Zoology from OSU, he worked in fish hatcheries and as a fisheries research technician at OSU, Iowa State, and Michigan State.


The "global" protest action for "just Russian elections" set for December 10 by its coordinators has started to encompass the European capitals and, as should be expected, the major US cities. I'm writing these lines from Boston. I can see here the "Fair vote" pages on the Facebook full of things like: "Anybody we have in Holland?…Will have to go there myself". .."What about San Francisco?…Great! You really can get one hundred men joining there? Superb!" All remarks saying the same thing. And these people, who get their knowledge about Russia from Internet, rush to join "the fight against injustice".
The cosmopolitan opposition has launched a determined attack these days hoping to get back the 1990s. The notorious RTVI of Gusinsky, the most powerful US Russian language TV outlet spreading the propaganda of the "Echo of Moscow" radio station and the Russophobia ideologists of Washington's establishment, already declared its victory on December 9. Vladmir Kara-Murza, junior, US Congress RTVI permanent correspondent, reported from the American Enterprise Institute (a major Republican strategic center) imposing the idea of the "beginning of the Putin's time end". The news anchor reported smiling that "As the leading US experts see it the Putin's epoch is coming to the end". One could see the serious expressions on the faces of Andrew Kuchins, Leon Aron, Anders Aslund predicting in various ways the 'end of dictator" and strongly suggesting the idea of the end of patience for the dictator's rule. The prime time news presented a big show of "the leaders of thousands of protesters" presenting their ultimatum like programs. Michael Schneider, one of such leaders representing "the Solidarity", made public the programme of the "protesters": cancellation of the December 4 election results, new elections in March, registration of the opposition parties, setting free the political prisoners, resignation of Vladimir Churov, head of Central Election Committee, no power to "the party of crooks and thieves".
The liberal opposition has no chance to play any significant role in the Russia's political life without strong Washington's financial support. So it laid open its marks and crap cards. The present hysteria concerning the Russian Duma elections is a test or a way to prepare ground for banning Putin from the presidential elections. The aim is to destabilize the situation in the country and make it impossible for the elections to take place.
Many US outlets had the editorials headlines presenting the Putin's rebuff to Mrs. Clinton's words in straight negative light. December 8 Putin met the all-Russian National Front representatives. Talking about the Russian post elections situation he stated that "the internal process is influenced on orders from someone abroad. And the US State Secretary has already given a signal to those in Russia who is supposed to hear it. The country must defend its sovereignty". Putin suggested "to toughen responsibility of those who carry out the orders coming from other states".
The New York Times has recently published an interview with the old man Gene Sharp, father of "colour revolutions", who described in each and every detail his ways to implement state coups d'etat in the countries of the post Soviet space.
A "colour revolution" is a separate case of geopolitical world redivision where an inside putsch masked under a democratic movement is the key component.
The pattern is not easy to defend from – it must be cramped in a tough, uncompromised way!
The Fox news channel gets people scared of growing Russian protests showing them the pictures of Greek anarchists armed with Molotov cocktails.
The same way information distortions have already taken place in Libya. Now it takes place in Syria – is Russia a part of the scenario?
The contemporary political jargon calls such imitations "cognitive political technologies", a "memetic weapon". There are many books devoted to the subject in the West, the whole schools function to teach it. The gist of the phenomenon is psychic contagion, spreading the "virus" information in a special way. The memes – units of such information are introduced into certain environment (the very same social net) and get activated according to the principle of self-induction, instilling certain state of mind – anger, enthusiasm, breakdown etc.
"The cognitive capture" is a thing in focus in the USA. Cass Sunstein, the Administrator of the White House office of Information and Regulatory affairs in the Obama administration has a reputation of being a convinced advocate of cognitivism. New terminology – old ideas.
In the USA they thoroughly study the Russian Internet segment in the cognitive context, analyzing the views of potential friends or foes. The very same Cass Sunstein even wrote a research work about the necessity of overt and covert intervention into the social nets discussions to achieve the "cognitive dissonance" defined goals.
Political scholar Valery Korovin explained what "cognitive dissonance" is in plain language using "Navalny project" as an example. (1) Navalny introduces his Internet audience to a simple formula: "United Russia is a party of crooks and thieves". It's repeated by thousands of Internet social nets users. A man distant from politics encounters this formula everywhere on Internet pages, comics, caricatures – step by step he gets convinced its everyone's view. A person gets accustomed to it, sees it as an obvious thing, common perception. There may be really serious consequences of such conviction. When someone sees this kind of Memes in thousands of blogs, – it becomes a factor influencing the powers that be. Making election results public brings population into "cognitive dissonance" condition. All are convinced that "the party of crooks and thieves" is seen as such be everyone and it just cannot get so many votes. Korovin says it's a dissonance, "As the memes authors see it, the population is provoked to get to the streets in protest. Afterward the scenario is well known and runs smoothly, it's a technical matter".
One should take notice the technique gets ample financial support rendered to the memes human rights defenders by the West. Valery Korovin is right saying their activities are coordinated by "specially trained people". It's not a fact they all belong to the State Department though no doubt that's where the leading "moderators" come from. The social nets of the Russian Federation as well as other countries get engaged from afar and are literally bought (by providing grants for instance).
Here is an example. The protests are in the focus of the "International network" website of a youth human rights movement (2). The money comes from US and European funds. The website offers detailed information on "global geography" of the ongoing meme-protest action. There is an instruction describing ways to defend oneself from police, a reference to the Garry Kasparov's website. One can get lost in networks but they will inevitably lead you to "The Other Russia" scum and ubiquitous "memorials" hidden by ominous signs like "strategic control" or giving reference to faraway places like headquarters in Voronezh, for instance. No wonder, the Washington's "regional committee" sends hundreds of thousands of dollars exactly to Voronezh through the MacArthur Foundation. It's in this city where "the falsification" of the elections is especially widely spread. Provocations, conspiracies, "false flag operations" to discredit the opponent – these are routine activities of the US employers of the human rights defenders.
The International network website says there is a number of structures created destined to provide information and resource support of the network users. There is an impression that the number of this humanoid like network members is a legion and the mission of the legion is of outstanding importance. One of these human rights defending structures is the Committee Against Torture. It's head is a well known person who has recently received an award in one of world capitals. The topic of "Russian torture chambers" will be purposefully kept in focus in connection with the planned protests against elections fraud. The other network member is also one of those who receive US grants – the website "Caucasian Knot", the one that describes horrible things taking place in the Russian "torture chambers".
It's long ago the scenarios of the "unthinkable" have become normal practice of the "Western reforms". As one of "justice supporters" told some time ago the Gusinsky TV a "peaceful opposition" that hasn't broken a single window, will be joined by a sniper when the time is propitious. The sniper will kill someone, better be it a child or a juvenile (this way the protest will follow the pattern), – and an extremely destabilizing chain of events will be self-induced.
No way one can enumerate the whole plethora of meme – non state actors, expert entities, "independent" publications, radio stations, religious issues, human rights champions, innumerous network outlets in just one article. But what unites them all is getting wide financial support for going to great length to undermine Russia's sovereignty.
Thank you Irina for this well informed piece. These vultures want to destroy Russia. Whether they will succeed or fail in their cynical enterprise depends on the collective effort of the Russian people. If the Russians fail to realize how determined these vulture are then, the enemies of the country will succeed. If the Russian people work hard by exposing the lies and spins these foreign backed socalled opposition group are making in order t discrete Putin and United Russia then the regime change in Russia will fail.. Peace to you and to the Russian people!


We shot a "mini" engagement session at Gwynn Oak Park just one week prior to the wedding. O'Neil had literally just stepped off an airplane from Jamaica. We had fun and the images turned out nice… Stay tuned for highlights of the wedding, which took place on Wednesday, yes Wednesday, August 8th at the luxurious Hotel Monaco in downtown Baltimore.


If you've never used Facebook Ads for your business or for any type of marketing or promotion, then you are missing out on an incredible platform which can do wonders for your business. Social media is nothing new. It's been around for a few years now and many people use it for engaging with their customers and promoting their products and services. Companies all over the world use social media regularly with many more companies getting on board.
What makes Facebook Ads stand out from its competitors is its incredible Ad Pixel tracking code. When you place the code on your site, the code gathers data on your users. From there, it assists you in optimizing your Facebook ads, tracking your conversions from your Facebook Ads, and remarkets to people who had visited your site but had not made a purchase or taken any action. It's a fact that not everyone will sign-up or purchase something on the first visit. Many times it happens on a second, third, fourth or even fifth visit. In this 9 part video course, you will get a step by step instruction on exactly how to install your Facebook Ad Pixel code to get a full on analysis of your visitors and how to remarket to them so you can maximize profits by making them into customers. What new marketers need to be wary of is losing money on Facebook Ads when not realizing how the system works. Many people throw money out there with no idea what they're doing. They tend to just throw the same code throughout their web pages and have hardly an idea of who is visiting, when they're visiting, which ads they're visiting from, etc. They don't track people who become leads either.
These are big mistakes which need to be addressed if any marketer truly wants to engage and understand their customers and grow their business. This course goes into detail on how to ensure you set everything up with the Facebook Ad Pixel the right way. You want to optimize your ads so that they target the right people and make them take action. Across these 9 videos, you will learn about the philosophy of Facebook Ads and what you need to know, how to utilize the business manager in Facebook to centralize access to everything, how to create a Facebook pixel or several so you can track your entire site, real life examples to help you build your funnel, building opt-in landing pages and tracking how many people are visiting, who is signing up, who isn't signing up, etc. From there you will learn about shopping cart abandonment which is when people are ready to make a purchase but then exit out at the last minute. The tracking code will ensure you get a handle of what is happening and how to minimize it. Following that, you'll learn about retargeting those customers who didn't go through with their purchase and those who did by optimizing and placing ads targeting both groups.
You'll be then introduced to lead form funnels if you're wanting to schedule people for appointments or sell to them later. To round it off, you'll be shown the steps to ensure that your ad pixels are fully working throughout your site. This is the premium level educational course of Facebook ad tracking and if you're really wanting to learn how to make the absolute best use of Facebook Ads, you need this course. Get it now.


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New Jersey Drivers May Soon Get $5,000 Rebates for Electric Cars
Natalia Kniazhevich
Bloomberg January 14, 2020
(Bloomberg) -- New Jersey is on the cusp of taking its biggest step yet to promote electric vehicles.
The state's Senate and Assembly passed a bill late Monday calling for 2 million plug-in electric vehicles by 2035. That's nearly 20 times the number in the state today. It would mean about 70% of all light-duty vehicles in New Jersey would be electric, based on the number of automobiles on the road now.
To do it, the legislation would offer consumers rebates of as much as $5,000.
The move is part of an effort to fight climate change in New Jersey, where transportation accounts for about half of greenhouse gas emissions. If Democratic Governor Phil Murphy signs the measure, the state will join about a dozen others with electric-vehicle targets. New York is pushing to have 2 million on the road by 2030. California wants 5 million by then.
Murphy's spokeswoman, Alyana Alfaro Post, declined to say whether the governor would sign it but added that he's supported the initiative in the past. Assemblyman Daniel Benson, a Democrat who sponsored the legislation, said his team worked closely with Murphy's staff on the bill's language and expects him to sign it.
(Adds vehicle statistic in second paragraph)
To contact the reporter on this story: Natalia Kniazhevich in New York at nkniazhevic2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lynn Doan at ldoan6@bloomberg.net, Joe Ryan, Christine Buurma


I photograph the landscape around me, the landscape I see in my day-to-day travels and activities. This includes the picturesque as well as the discarded. These images have been collected into a series of monthly or bi-monthly journals that I have self-published thru Blurb.
The images can be arranged in a few broad categories: memorials, commercial properties (closed and thriving), intersections (urban and rural), pastoral (urban and rural). When put together they build a portrait of my activity in my environment/community.
It was the closed commercial properties that I started with in 2010. I was driving about 200 miles a day for my job, taking the same route each day for about five months. One starts to see things after a while that one may not normally see. I would pass through many small towns between Naples and Rochester as well as parts of Rochester, urban and suburban that were vacant, for rent/sale/or lease — evidence of a shift in the economy.
I often use the panorama format because I am interested in the context of the thing/place I am photographing. I do not want to isolate. I want to show where it is and what is around it.
When my job changed, my route became more varied, almost random. Other elements/subjects start to appear. The memorials I am finding very interesting at this point. Some mourn, some celebrate. They are everyplace — sometimes conspicuous sometimes hidden.
In my journals you can see the annual cycle, winter, giving way to spring and summer. Then the very gradual coming of fall before the snows and the sky turns gray. You can also see signs of a multinational corporate presence in our rural areas, industrial farming, an economy that is in a tail-spin. You can see the evidence of national and global conflict and the players in that game as well as occasional signs of hope.


Due to recent negative events with XM Radio's customer service, I no longer have an XM subscription in any of my vehicles. In the truck there is an auxiliary input jack, so feeding music from an iPod is a no-brainer. But in the Corvette, there was no such option. GM never really provided a great solution for it, but luckily the aftermarket came to the rescue.
One of the better options is a device called the Lockpick that intelligently interfaces with the various radio interfaces in GM vehicles. The Corvette Lockpick they provide interfaces directly with the navigation radio in all 6th generation Corvettes so I ordered it to try it out.
Installation turned out to be incredibly simple. The unit ties into the wiring harness that feeds the XM Radio brain. In the convertible model, the brain is hidden behind the waterfall, located between the seats. Removing the waterfall is straight-forward, and then you are left with a simple wire routing problem.
In the end, I decided to locate the Lockpick unit itself on the carpeted area behind the waterfall. I used sticky-tape velcro to keep the unit attached to the carpet, and then ran the wiring harness to the XM Radio unit in order to attach the Y-connector that feeds into the Lockpick itself. The wiring harness that connects to the iPod also has to be routed, and I decided in the end to locate the iPod in the glove box rather than the center console. Access to the center console would require some cutting for a clean installtion look, and plus it tends to get rather hot inside so I was worried about shortening the life of the iPod a bit too much to locate it there.
Luckily the glove box had a space for a switch that wasn't installed with my option packages, so it made a perfect place to feed the wiring harness. From there, I routed the wiring harness into the dash and then underneath the center console and feed it directly to the waterfall area. The final result is a perfectly clean and hidden installation with no permanent modifications needed to the car.
The Lockpick unit itself works great, although the control system is a quirky. The lower right-hand button in the XM Radio menu activates the iPod. Once activated, the Category up and down buttons control your playlist selection, and then seek forward and back buttons control the current song playing within the playlist. The info button displays the song information as you would expect. It's quirky, but works extremely well.
Where are the pictures of all the spare parts? 🙂 Seems like a great solution – clean install and works well – sounds great!


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1966: Just before her 5th birthday, got caught at Beach Haven, NJ (Long Beach Island) in the remnants of Hurricane Alma, which had once been a rare early-season Category 3 storm. Never forgot her terror, standing in the wind and driving rain, watching waves wash up almost to her family's car as they loaded to escape the storm. Credits this as the beginning of her weather obsession.
1968: Moved to a Milwaukee, Wisconsin suburb in the tornado-prone Midwest. Remembers the vague fear of going to bed on hot, humid summer nights while a tornado watch was in effect.
1980-81: Attended University of Wisconsin campuses at Stout and Milwaukee; holds Associate of Science degree in Commercial Art and Communications from Milwaukee Area Technical College. Minored in history and English composition.
Mid-1980s: Began freelancing as reviewer of films, books and B&Bs for alternative publications.
1990-91: Art director for NorthWord Press book publisher in Minocqua, WI
Sept. 15, 1991: Woke from uneasy sleep to the screaming wind of a tornado as two twisters passed on either side of her northern Wisconsin property – the most frightening night of her life.
1991: Went back to freelancing. Researched and wrote her first historical nonfiction book, Wisconsin: The Way We Were; published August 1993 by Heartland Press.
1993: Returned to Milwaukee. Resumed freelance writing and design work.
1994-1996: Taught commercial art and copywriting at her alma mater, MATC.
1995: Second book, Rural America: A Pictorial Folk Memory, released in July by Willow Creek Press. Won Best Book Award from Mid-America Publishers Assn.
1997: Returned to home state of Pennsylvania and continued freelancing.
1998: Her work appeared in the anthology A Place To Which We Belong, published by 1000 Friends of Wisconsin to commemorate state's sesquicentenary.
1998: Her essay "A Reluctant Maturity" garnered an Honorable Mention in the Potomac Review's Annual Short Story/Essay Contest.
2001: Begins pursuing writing full time, running The Word Forge, a full-service communications firm in Ferndale, Pennsylvania. Specializes in: history; weather; emergency management/disaster preparedness; light construction & related fields. Has edited more than 30 trade books, mostly nonfiction and nature titles.
1999-Present: Teaches adult evening classes in writing at the Community Schools of New Hope-Solebury and the Palisades School District.
2002: Certified by the Sterling Institute as a Skywarn Weather Spotter.
2003: Joins Nockamixon Township Emergency Management Agency as Weather & Communications Coordinator.
Latest book, Devastation on the Delaware: Stories and Images of the Deadly Flood of 1955 is the first comprehensive documentary of the record-setting flood in the Delaware Valley.
October 7, 2005: The book was published by Word Forge Books, and sold out its entire first printing of 2,500 copies within 42 days.
Mary is a member of:
Publishers Marketing Association
Small Publishers Association of North America
The Writers Guild
Pennsylvania Heritage Society
Civil War Preservation Trust
National World War II Museum
National Women's History Museum
National Museum of Women in the Arts
Bucks County Historical Society
WeatherMatrix


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Under-pressure Lampard not seeking reassurances over future
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND (AP) – Under-pressure Everton manager Frank Lampard said he did not discuss his future during conversations with the club's hierarchy after a chastening loss to Brighton this week.
There was a febrile atmosphere inside Goodison Park after Everton conceded three goals in seven second-half minutes to slump to a dispiriting 4-1 defeat on Tuesday.
Lampard's team has since dropped into the Premier League's relegation zone and has won just one of its last 11 games in all competitions.
Speaking on Thursday ahead of an FA Cup match against Manchester United, Lampard said the nature of conversations he had with the club's hierarchy after the Brighton game would remain private. But he said he did not need to ask about his own position despite the perhaps itchy finger of club owner Farhad Moshiri, who has fired five managers in less than seven years.
"I will never and would never seek reassurances," Lampard said. "It's part of my job to focus on the job in hand, day to day, game to game. I don't need reassurances. I come to work to try to improve a bit every day – myself, the team, the squad and everything.
"I'm not hunting around for any reassurances."
Lampard, who was hired in January and kept Everton up last season following a tense relegation battle, said the club's league position was not his immediate concern, insisting he was focussed on a longer-term process.
"If we win the next league games, we'll be out of the bottom three probably," he said. "It's part of the process. I'm very aware of what I came in to do in this job. I want to be a success at this club."
Everton's head coach Frank Lampard arrives to take his seat on the bench. PHOTO: AP


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Talent StrategyCareer GrowthWorkplace CultureCornerstone NewsSkills BuildingTrends at Work
Articles and PostsEvents and WebinarsProduct InformationResearch and GuidesTools and TipsVideo and PodcastsCustomer Stories
Jason Averbook On Why the Workplace of Tomorrow Puts People First
Cornerstone Editors
New technologies and younger talent demand that companies change how they manage and engage employees to focus less on the processes and more on people. As work and personal life blend, companies are putting employees first by creating an environment where employees are excited to come to work and they feel stimulated to innovate.
Jason Averbook, chief business information officer at information technology consulting firm Appirio, argues that talent isn't just something companies should understand, but something they should prioritize. In his recently published book "HR From Now to Next," Averbook encourages companies to kick their employee engagement into high gear to prepare for the workplace of tomorrow. Here are three trends that will play a key role in the future workplace:
Employees expect a consumer-like experience. As consumer technology advances at a faster rate than enterprise technology, employees expect the technology they use at work to be just as simple, real-time and on-demand as it is in their personal lives. Companies must treat employees better than they treat customers, and that starts with equipping them with apps and devices that are comparable or superior to consumer versions.
The workforce is only part of the workplace. Averbook agrees with Josh Bersin, principal at Bersin by Deloitte, when Bersin said, "The war for talent is over, and the talent has won. Essentially people are looking for a different experience at work." Employees are looking for a strong company culture with online and offline experiences.
Talent management requires continuous improvement. Once a company implements a new HR technology or adds a new process, the team can't turn a blind eye once it's live. HR must analyze the data about how it's being used and collect feedback from employees.
As the demand for top talent increases, employees are guiding the conversation around how companies should manage. By 2020, the workplace will be redefined, and Averbook is sheds some light on how companies can prepare.
Watch Averbook's interview with Bill Kutik, veteran technology columnist for Human Resource Executive, below.


All the cockpit conversation tape segments below were recorded by Captain Don Peterson, a Dolphin pilot who wired a cassette recorder input cord into his Dolphin's intercommunication system (ICS) control box. All of these segments are extracts of conversations on 5 March 1971, and Captain Peterson has captured both the chaos and the courage exhibited by American helicopter crews in Laos during Operation Lam Son 719. Most helicopter pilots monitored several radio frequencies at the same time on their VHF, UHF, and FM radios. There was definitely a learned skill to listening to these multiple, overlapping conversations, but most pilots were able to listen to all of them at the same time and pull out what was important and relevant from what was not. This is the way it was!
You will hear the actual Mayday call from First Lieutenant Butch Elliott after he was shot down and crashed in the trees, and of the reaction to his call by "Boats 6" Major Dale Spratt, the 174th AHC Company Commander, and others. The Dolphins were assigned the callsign "Boats" for the Lam Son 719 operation. "Witchdoctor" was the callsign of the 174th's maintenance officer. This shootdown was just west of LZ Aloui on 5 March 1971. Major Spratt tried to land and rescue Lieutenant Elliott and his crew but was driven off by AAA fire. See the 1971 page for a detailed account of Elliott's shoot down and his three days on the ground in LAOS. On this tape you'll also hear the criticism Major Spratt received from the Air Mission Commander (AMC) for attempting to rescue Lieutenant Elliott.
By early March, the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) had rolled in a lot of 23 and 37 millimeter AAA (automatic antiaircraft) guns in the area and brought in more .51 caliber machineguns for triangular ambush sites of the American helicopters. Additionally, the NVA had brought in an enormous amount of signals intelligence gear which put them on the American radio frequencies. An example of this signals intelligence can be read in John Bishop's story of his shootdown on 3 March 1971 while enroute to LZ Lolo. (That story is on the 174th's 1971 history page.) The amount of AAA fire forced an awkward approach into the LZ, referred to in other tapes as a "buttonhole" approach. As can be heard, because of the extremely heavy antiaircraft fire, UH-1Hs were falling out of the sky this day.
You'll hear Dolphin 29's radio call when he was shot down in flames, "Two-nine's on fire! Two-nine's on fire and going down!" Another Dolphin was shot down just after him when he tried to go in after him. A third helicopter (Dolphin 17) did manage to get in under heavy fire and get out Dolphin 29's crew. With all the antiaircraft fire, the hits, and the shoot-downs taking place, the courage of these helicopter crews is personified in the radio transmission you hear when a crewman on Dolphin 17, knowing full well the intensity of the fire and the general situation, and after they'd safely cleared the area, asks his AC if they can go back to see if Dolphin 29's crew is OK. They did, and they rescued three of the four Dolphin crewmen. The forth crewman (Dolphin 29's copilot), and the crew of the other Dolphin that was shot down beside 29, were eventually extracted later. All eight crewmen survived.
Auction Lead, C/158, is also on these tapes. Auction lead is Captain David L. Nelson (a second-tour former Warrant Officer pilot from flight school class WORWAC 67-3). Captain Nelson took heavy fire while going into LZ Lolo. His gunner, SP4 Mike King, was hit in the head. Several of the ARVN (South Vietnamese) soldiers were also hit. His copilot was WO1 Ralph Moreira, and the crewchief was SP4 Joel Hatley. You will hear Captain Nelson's calmness and sense his courage in what must have been an extraordinarily stressful situation, as he reports on his condition when he breaks off his approach into the LZ. His aircraft took multiple hits, his gunner was shot in the head, he had other wounded troops onboard, he was losing fuel from where the bullets penetrated the fuel cells and his cargo floor, and he was attempting to climb out and take his injured bird back for "Kilo Serria" (Khe Sanh) where he could land. Soon after that transmission, his last, his Huey just blew up in midair, at altitude. There were no survivors. It would take over 19 years, until October 1990, before the remains of Captain Nelson and his crew were recovered from Loas and interred in a common grave at Arlington National Cemetary. For additional information on the recovery of the Phoenix crew, and their burial at Arlington, as well as details on the loss of "Music One Six," a Cobra helicopter and crew, visit Mike Sloniker's article about these two losses.
These men were heros all.
Right after Captain Nelson's radio call, you'll hear the short "Get 'em out of that LZ..." segment that is on the Website's front page. The voice is the commander of the 174th AHC, Major Dale Spratt, as he very succinctly tells the aircraft in LZ Sophia to quickly clear the LZ because the trailing slicks were jammed up behind each other and were taking heavy fire from 23 millimeter antiaircraft guns (Major Spratt crammed a lot of information and meaning into this short transmission). The Dolphin slicks were really hanging it out with low airspeed at low altitude. LZ Sophia is about 7 miles east of Tchepone, Laos. (This LZ is marked on the Loas map on the Website's Maps page.) Note: The photo of the CA on the Website's front page is not the actual CA from Lam Son 719 in which this radio transmission was made. The front page photo is representative of CA's, but is from a CA in the Americal Division area between Chu Lai and Duc Pho.
While the Dolphin crews are still struggling with the rescue of Dolphin 29 and trying to account for the missing copilot, you'll hear the reports of the Dolphin crewmen who witnessed a nearby Cobra helicopter gunship that took antiaircraft hits and blew up in flight while on a gun run. Both pilots were killed.
Listen to the calmness and the control in the voices of all of these crews. Think of the fear they were experiencing. Appreciate the courage they exhibited.
While all the tape segments on this page consist of excerpts, the actual time interval from the beginning to the end of these segments is only a matter of a few hours. Most of the conversations about the Witchdoctor's shootdown, Dolphin 29's shootdown, and the Cobra's shootdown occured within probably five minutes. Other "miscellaneous" conversations are also included below during the same flights.
...And Gets Chewed-Out For It!


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We care about our loyal customers and want to be able to provide the opportunity to make life a bit easier. It is certainly easy to let things go for too long – especially when it comes to taking care of our vehicles. The road salt during the winter can be brutal on your exterior finish and if not kept clean, can start to corrosion and rust. We don't want that.
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Here is Pat's pattern for Block Eight: Paris!
What world travel spree would be complete without the City of Love, Paris, France? This month Pat relives her youth in Europe and the times she visited the city of lights with a wonderful block. So stroll along with us as we add this next-to-last piece to the great puzzle, and be sure to share your blocks in the Flickr group! But first, feel free to download the pattern and if you missed it, the materials list: (see the download link to the side).


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Q: Rounding number: if number is closer to 100, round down to the nearest 250, else round up to the nearest 250 I'm doing a rounding code for a whole integer. It is already working to round to the nearest 250.
Math.round(FormatNumber(CType(txt_input.Text, Decimal), 0) / 250) * 250

However that's not what I need. Instead, I need to round up/down accordingly:
If number is less than 100, I need to round down to the nearest 250 else round up to the nearest 250.
Example:
17541 = 17500
2101  = 2250
7499  = 7500
7099  = 7000

How should I make the application use Math.Floor() or Math.Ceiling() accordingly?

A: You could check whether N Mod 250 is < 100.
If it is, subtract the remainder, otherwise  add 250 minus the remainder:
Dim n1 As Integer = 17541
Dim roundToValue As Integer = 250

Dim n1Remainder As Integer = n1 Mod roundToValue
Dim n2 As Integer = If(n1Remainder < 100, n1 - n1Remainder, n1 - n1Remainder + roundToValue)
'Or
'Dim n2 As Integer = (n1 - n1Remainder) + If(n1Remainder < 100, 0, roundToValue)

2101  -> 2250
7499  -> 7500
17541 -> 17500


news with greater news values as the number one lead. Several freedom fighters made use of newspapers as a platform to criticise excesses by britsh government and to put forth their demands. Humans have exchanged a similar mix of news throughout history and across cultures, historian Mitchell Stephens has written. Thus media can direct people to both constructive and destructive purposes. Immanuel Kant Looking at the current scenario of education in our country, the above stated thought of Immanuel Kant echoes the reality of how far we have drifted away from the actual philosophy and aim of education. In the 1800s psychology used two major approaches known as structuralism and functionalism.
The Influence of the Media on Todays Teens. Radio, Television, Internet or Cable Net, Cable TV Networks and. Status Conferral- Newspapers have the capacity to make a person famous overnight. One gets one-sided and uneven perspectives through this media and no one can depend of truth. We can call it the Awareness Instinct. According to the Glasgow Media Group (1980) The language of news seems research paper on legalization of prostitution to be in a form, which would allow of a fairly simple test of its truth or falsity. Bleyer, in his textbook (Newspaper writing and Editing, page 30, Houghton Mifflin., Boston, 1932) News is anything timely that interests a number of persons, and the best news is that which has the greatest interest for the greatest number. This will again reflect its stand on major issues. Women are represented in the media in many different ways, depending on which item of media you look. More often than not it is the news value of a particular event that slots it into the number one position but perceptions as regards news values can differ.
With television entering the drawing rooms of Indian households in 1990s, a new segment of electronic media emerged. Children ought to be educated, not for the present, but for a possibly improved condition of man in the future; that is, in a manner which is adapted to the idea of humanity and the whole destiny of man.


jumblecipher is a python library and a set of command line tools for encoding and assisting with the decoding of jumbled Caesar ciphers of the letters of the alphabet to the numbers 1-26.
You will be prompted to enter parameters once you run the command.
This will return both a key and a string of encoded text. The key is a list of letters, in the order that they are numbered in the key, the first one numbered 1, the last one numbered 26. The encoded text is the jumbleciphered version of the text you entered. Any non-letter characters be the same as their 'keyed' counterparts.
You can not use numbers or '|' signs in your text to encode.
'jcsplit' to split encoded numbers the best it can.
This will return a string of numbers, split by | signs and brackets. Things split by | are definitely seperate, while things in brackets are not necessarily seperate.
'jchelp' to display this text..
This will return a dictionary, which contains both an encryption key (under the key 'key') and a string of encoded text (under the key 'output'). The key is an array of strings, each letters, in the order that they are numbered in the key, the first one numbered 1, the last one numbered 26. The encoded text is a string, the jumbleciphered version of the text you gave as input. Any non-letter characters be the same as their 'keyed' counterparts.
'jumblecipher.splitEncodedNumbers(string_of_encoded_text_to_split)' to split encoded numbers the best it can.
'jumblecipher.jchelp()' to display this text.


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The Air Force We Need
387 ESPTS sustains busiest aerial port in AFCENT
Tech. Sgt. Renne Montilla, the 387th Expeditionary Support Squadron Water and Fuel Systems Maintenance NCO in charge, unclogs the main sewer pipe to a restroom facility at an undisclosed location in Southwest Asia, June 22, 2017. Montilla is solely responsible for maintaining all the 387th Air Expeditionary Group's water and fuel systems ensuring everything functions properly at the geographically separated location. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Jonathan Hehnly)
Photo Details / Download Hi-Res
Tech. Sgt. James Nedd, the 387th Expeditionary Support Squadron installation emergency manager, conducts an inspection of a shelter-in-place kit at an undisclosed location in Southwest Asia, June 22, 2017. Nedd serves as the single emergency manager in charge of the installation emergency management program, which includes the post attack response program, the shelter-in-place program and other contingency response plans. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Jonathan Hehnly)
Tech. Sgt. David Yuen (right), a 387th Expeditionary Support Squadron Force Protection Flight member, and other force protection and fire fighter members conduct a dignified transfer ceremony practice at an undisclosed location in Southwest Asia, June 22, 2017. The force protection flight is responsible for providing dignified transfers to a theater mortuary evacuation point ran by the Army. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Jonathan Hehnly)
Staff Sgt. Toni Burnett, the 387th Expeditionary Support Squadron Material Management NCO in charge, conducts an inventory of aircraft parts at an undisclosed location in Southwest Asia, June 22, 2017. Burnett and Tech. Sgt. John Razz are responsible for the material management activities and systems involved in requirements determination, inventory control, storage and issue of supplies and equipment for the 387th Air Expeditionary Group. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Jonathan Hehnly)
387th ESPTS sustains busiest aerial port in AFCENT
By Tech. Sgt. Jonathan Hehnly
386th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFNS) -- As one of the busiest aerial ports of debarkation in the U.S. Air Forces Central Command area of responsibility, the 387th Air Expeditionary Group is no stranger to service members and cargo transiting downrange, but it is the 387th Expeditionary Support Squadron that is charged with sustaining that aerial port.
"The men and women of the 387th ESPTS are tasked with a very diverse mission set," said Master Sgt. Daniel J. Durkee, the 387th ESPTS superintendent. "Just as our squadron emblem states 'Aerum Portam Sustentant,' which loosely translates to 'sustaining the aerial port', we are here for that and so much more. Our role is to ensure the aerial port has what it needs, providing Air Mobility Command a transition point for the approximately 16,000 passengers, 2,500 pounds of cargo and 350 wide-body aircraft per month."
The mission of the 387th ESPTS is very diverse. Each flight has its own unique mission, yet they all support each other. The squadron completes big missions with the relatively small amount of personnel that make up its four flights, including the civil engineer, the force protection, the emergency management and material management flights.
Working round-the-clock, the civil engineer flight maintains more than 100 facilities valued at $4.9 million dollars. They work hand-in-hand with other service branches, coalition forces and host nation partners to plan, design and complete major construction projects. The CE flight has a small group of specialists each trained in a unique skill set, to include utilities system maintenance, electrical, power production, structures, heavy equipment operation, engineering assistance and heating, ventilation and air conditioning.
What one person does here, a wing would have three to four people doing. We are small, but we stay busy working 24 hours a day. We all help out since we are so small, said Master Sgt. Cesar Vega, the 387th ESPTS Civil Engineering Flight superintendent.
Due to the CE flight's size and the overwhelming workload, the team works largely in cooperation with the 387th ESPTS Force Protection Flight and the contractors they oversee.
The force protection flight is the largest of the four flights and the most diverse. The flight, made up of personnel from 29 different Air Force specialty codes, maintains oversight over the large amount of other country nationals that provide support services to the installation. A priority of the force protection flight is the round-the-clock honor guard services they provide in support of Operation Inherent Resolve's primary dignified transfer point.
"It gives me great pleasure to have been hand-selected to do this mission and continue the honor guard legacy," said Airman 1st Class Nathaniel Cardiel, a 387th ESPTS Force Protection Flight member. "Participating in the dignified transfer honor guard team has impacted my life. It makes me want to do better, fight the good fight. To send someone home is sad, but it is an honor to carry them."
As part of the installation's emergency management plan, every member of the FP flight is also trained to augment the 387th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron in times of crisis.
Tech. Sgt. James Nedd makes up the emergency management flight and serves as the single emergency manager in charge of the installation's emergency management program, which includes the post attack response program, the shelter-in-place program and other contingency response plans. Nedd collaborates with four squadrons and coalition partners ensuring base personnel are properly prepared to respond in cases of emergency.
The fourth and final piece of the ESPTS, the two-man material management flight, also collaborates with the entire group, tenant units and other geographically separated units. The material management flight, which would typically fall under a logistics readiness squadron, supports the installation by handling the responsibilities associated with log plans, traffic management office, supply and vehicle operations. One of the biggest missions for Staff Sgt. Toni Burnett and Tech. Sgt. John Razz is the intra-command shipments for forward deployed units, which involves shipping more than $9 million in assets this rotation alone.
Though the mission of the 387th ESPTS is very diverse, ultimately the four flights' individual mission sets integrate as one to fulfill the 'Aerum Portam Sustentant' charge.
Air Mobility Command AMC AFCENT U.S. Air Forces Central Command Aerial Port AOR area or responsibility 387th Air Expeditionary Group 387th AEG 387th Expeditionary Support Squadron 387th ESPTS
CSAF signs Agile Combat Employment doctrine note
Department of the Air Force announces 2021 Presidential Rank Award recipients
ACC concludes ACE C3 operations rehearsal
AMC approves 4th KC-46A Pegasus ICR milestone
Workshop unites digital-first experts on transformation


The iPad mini was put through the same rigorous testing afforded the iPad and conforms to RTCA DO-160F Rapid Decompression. Jeppesen has tested its product line on the full range of iPad products and has been approved for use with all of them. The decompression testing that was done ensures that the electronic device won't explode or that the lithium ion battery won't cause a fire should there be a rapid decompression event. The devices were tested at the maximum operational altitude at which they will be used. The tests also verified that the devices would remain functional after sudden loss of cabin pressure and that should such an event occur, crews would not be forced to use alternate means to access information normally viewed on the electronic devices.
Authorization from the FAA is required for carriers that want to move to EFB solutions and with the recent letter of operational suitability Jeppesen received from the FAA, interested customers will be able to include this letter in their request for FAA authorization. Jeppesen will share the letter to those who wish to use the Jeppesen apps. In approving the Jeppesen Apps, the FAA also took into consideration feedback received from operators who tested the apps.
Air cargo carriers will benefit from Jeppesen's full suite of electronic services that allow cost-effective transition from paper-based information to electronic services that can be fully integrated into the flight deck.
Jeppesen's Mobile FliteDeck was used to test the iPad mini and came through with flying colors. It was used during the decompression testing to access aviation data and operators found that it was easy to use, and the charts and maps offered excellent detail. Current Jeppesen digital data subscribers can download the Mobile FliteDeck free of charge through the iPad app store or from iTunes.


text:
TIMOTHY DALTON PUTS CLASS BACK IN JAMES BOND
By CANDICE RUSSELL and Film Writer
Hail, the new James Bond! Timothy Dalton is the classiest heir to the mantle of England's sexy secret agent since Sean Connery really said never again. He's serious, rather than tongue-in-cheek like Roger Moore, instinctive and appealingly heroic.
Before the opening credit sequence, Bond parachutes into Gibraltar, foils a lethal KGB operative, escapes from an airborne jeep loaded with explosives, and lands on a yacht where a bored, bikini-clad beauty has just complained, "If only I could find a real man."
Yes, that's the James Bond we've come to know and adore for the last 25 years.
A great beginning isn't the only good news from The Living Daylights, No. 16 in one of the screen's most durable series. The action just doesn't stop, including a climactic shoot-out at a Soviet military base that is close to being an embarrassment of riches, such as in the ending of Raiders of the Lost Ark.
During the past 10 years, Bond films were devalued into formulaic outings. They tend to blend together in memory.
The Living Daylights stands alone. It has a convoluted, but not gratuitous, plot that is timely in its references to East-West detente, international weapons dealers, and peculiar trades of opium for arms. And it's clever, as Bond and Czech cellist girlfriend Kara (Maryam d'Abo) flee the bad guys in the snowy mountains by using a cello case as a toboggan.
A high-placed Soviet general named Koskov (played with a conniving glee by Jeroen Krabbe) defects to the West, with Bond's help. Then the Soviets spirit him out of bucolic Great Britain and the search is on. Koskov, who's trying to start an endless shooting match between Soviet and Western spies, is actually in cahoots with an amoral Tangier-based arms dealer named Whitaker (Joe Don Baker).
Ironically, Dalton turned down the part of Bond when Connery first left the series because, "I considered myself too young and Connery too good." Smart enough not to copy the originator and also to eschew the hamminess of Moore that sent 007 into a weird orbit, Dalton makes the part his own. If anything, he underplays, but is never overshadowed by gadgets, gorgeous women or awesome stunt work.
Much has been made about the monogamous taste of Bond this time. He only kisses one woman, d'Abo -- an intriguing blond cross between Isabella Rossellini and Audrey Hepburn -- and they never appear in bed. The sexual implication suffices.
Screen writers Richard Maibaum and Michael G. Wilson put Bond back in his beloved Aston-Martin, give gadget-pusher Q (Desmond Llewelyn) one good scene, and derive a chilling couple of scenes in which Bond goes hand-to-hand with villains, including the blond behemoth Necros (Andreas Wisniewski). Credit director John Glen with the estimable pacing and a sparing but lively sense of humor.
Colorful, vibrant, exotic, The Living Daylights more than delivers an eyeful of entertainment. At a running length just over two hours, the most thrill- seeking Bond fans will get their money's worth.


These welcome "breakfasts" are in their 2nd edition and we are repeating the experience following last year's success. Last year we met over 40 parents and some of the points and suggestions made during these events helped us shape the agenda of our monthly meetings with the school leadership.
We aim to visit to all Park-IS campuses and try to make 2 sessions in each (one in the morning and another one in the afternoon) so we can meet as many parents as possible.
The meetings will have an approximate duration of 1h and will take place close to the schools. They are open to ALL parents and guardians and will have the presence of at least 2 elements of the PPA so we can address as many points as possible in 1h.
Please fill this form if you plan to attend (it takes 2 mins we promise) so we can plan ahead properly depending on the number of expected attendees.


text:
M4 — первый мини-альбом канадской инди-рок группы Faunts, выпущенный 22 сентября 2006 года в жанре электроник-рок. Альбом известен тем, что одна из его композиций — «M4 (Part II)» — была включена в саундтрек ролевой видеоигры Mass Effect и прозвучала в её финальных титрах, что принесло группе всемирную известность.

Музыка создавалась в качестве саундтрека для трёх короткометражных фильмов, один из которых дал название альбому. Переработав записанный материал, Faunts выпустила пластинку в 2006 году и переиздала в 2007. Обработанные композиции из M4 вошли в сборник Faunts Remixed. Райан Босварт в Эдмонтоне снял видеоклип на композицию «M4 (Part II)».

Альбом получил положительные отзывы как от критиков, так и от слушателей. Композиция «M4 (Part II)» вошла в список лучших песен в титрах видеоигр. Критики отмечали, что песня обладает грустным текстом и из-за этого не подходит Mass Effect. Однако, по мнению нескольких рецензентов, из-за специфичного звучания композиция звучит футуристично и придаёт игре грандиозное завершение.

История

Создание
Faunts начала работу над новым мини-альбомом в 2005 году. Первоначально музыка предназначалась для трёх короткометражных фильмов, снятых канадской организацией Film and Video Arts Society. На основе наработок к этим фильмам группа начала подготовку материала к мини-альбому. Один из фильмов назывался M4, для него были записаны две композиции: «M4 (Part I)» и «M4 (Part II)». Работая над новой пластинкой, группа сократила уже записанный материал, переписала сочинённую музыку и добавила в композиции вокал. Также в процессе записи Faunts решили активнее использовать клавишные, драм-машины и гитары, а барабанам, напротив, дать меньше места. В отличие от High Expectations/Low Results, при создании которого авторы стремились сделать его как можно более разнообразным, данный альбом был выполнен в одном жанре.

Основную работу по созданию M4 выполнял Джоэль Хичкок. Во время создания альбома к группе присоединилось несколько человек. Клавишник Роб Батке присоединился к группе весной 2006 года, чтобы подготовиться к туру по Америке. А басист Скотт Галлант — осенью, прямо перед выходом мини-альбома, что окончательно сформировало состав группы. Обложку для альбома нарисовали Тим и Линсдей Батке. Дэйв Свенсон и Натан Ситтлер помогали в написании текста песен. Мини-альбом был выпущен в цифровом формате 22 сентября 2006 года. По словам Роба Батке это было сделано из-за дороговизны печати обложек. Альбом был выпущен 11 декабря 2007 года на лэйбле Friendly Fire Recordings с тиражом в 500 экземпляров. Однако до выхода Mass Effect альбом так и не стал популярным за переделами Эдмонтона.

Приход популярности

В саундтрек Mass Effect «M4 (Part II)» попала случайно. Группа Faunts располагалась в том же городе, что и компания BioWare, создавшая Mass Effect. Среди разработчиков этой студии были друзья Роба Бакте. , руководивший разработкой игры, для финальных титров искал музыку в стиле восьмидесятых. Работавший в Bioware друг Роба показал Хадсону только что вышедший мини-альбом. Пластинка понравилась Хадсону, и композиция «M4 (Part II)» была включена в саундтрек видеоигры.

Это принесло группе рост популярности, страница группы на Myspace постоянно была заполнена сообщениями людей со всего мира. Скотт Галлант заявил, что они не ожидали такого успеха и не думали, что Mass Effect станет популярной игрой. На 7 января 2008 года количество просмотров превысило 100 тысяч (для сравнения, за два года до выхода M4 Faunts набрали лишь треть от этого числа). В феврале Джек Уолл, композитор ролевой игры, пытался убедить группу выступить на концерте с «M4 (Part II)», но они отказались. Чуть позже Уолл лично звонил одному из артистов с той же просьбой. Несмотря на ажиотаж, группа решила не останавливаться и не жить за счёт Mass Effect, а развиваться и писать новые композиции.

После выхода
После записи M4 клавишник Джоэль Хичкок ушёл из группы и уехал на остров Ванкувер в город Виктория, чтобы продолжить обучение в области гомеопатии. По словам одного из членов группы, альбом был «чем-то вроде прощания с ним». После выхода альбома группа пообещала на предстоящем концерте показать короткометражные фильмы, с которых началось его создание.

В 2008 году был выпущен сборник ремиксов Faunts Remixed, в в который вошли песни из High Expectations/Low Results и M4. Идея сборника у группы возникла давно, но они думали, что часто такие альбомы звучат «поспешно и неинтересно». Поучаствовать в создании ремиксов музыканты предложили своим друзьям, а лейбл Friendly Fire Recordings помог им подобрать музыкантов. В результате были приглашены друзья актёров  и Грэм Лессард. Также в создании композиций поучаствовали ,  и . Помимо них музыканты из Faunts создавали свои ремиксы. При создании ремиксов приглашённые музыканты выбирали то, что им нравилось, а группа следила за тем, чтобы они не создавали много ремиксов одной и той же песни. Faunts была очень впечатлена проделанной ими работой. Гитарист Роб Батке заявил, что больше всего им понравилась «M4 (Part I)» от DVAS. В результате было создано 14 композиций общей длиной 80 минут. Данный сборник был выпущен в цифровом формате. Роб Батке в интервью заявил, что на создание их следующего альбома Feel.Love.Thinking.Of повлияли High Expectations/Low Results и M4, так как на первую оказал значительное влияние пост-рок, а у мини-альбома было «электронное настроение».

Об альбоме

Продолжительность M4 составляет 40 минут, но так как в нём всего пять песен, то он является мини-альбомом, что очень веселило создателей пластинки. Большинство композиций в мини-альбоме размеренные и спокойные, в них используются синтезаторы и клавишные инструменты. Критики нашли примечательным то, что в пластинке задействованы гитары, что для произведений в жанре шугейз нехарактерно. Само звучание композиций напоминает творчество разных групп в жанре электронной музыки, таких как New Order или Ульриха Шнауса. Музыка в данной пластинке, по сравнению с предыдущим творением Faunts, более походит на эмбиент. Тем не менее, они различаются по настроению и ритму, например, «M4 (Part II)» звучит как рок-баллада из 80-х, а «Sleepwalker» () представляет собой слегка гипнотизирующую песню в духе . Некоторые композиции могут начинаться тихо, а затем постоянно нарастать темп. Однако при этом песни дополняют друг друга, не нарушая целостности пластинки. По сравнению с High Expectations/Low Results пластинка имеет более определённое звучание, непосредственно относящееся к электронной музыке. В некоторых песнях присутствует тихий вокал Тима Батке и Стивена Батке.

Видеоклип

Музыкальный клип «M4 (Part II)» был снят в 2008 году Райаном Босвортом. Режиссёр продолжил сотрудничество с Faunts, сняв второй клип со следующего альбома группы — Feel.Love.Thinking.Of. «M4 (Part II)» был снят небольшой командой на складе в Эдмонтоне. При съёмке активно использовался зелёный экран, на котором выступали музыканты по отдельности. При монтаже Босворт совместил отснятый материал, чтобы казалось, что они пели вместе. Сандра Спероунс из Edmonton Journal назвала видеоклип поразительным, а события, происходящие в нём, «мучительными». По сюжету клипа краб, взобравшийся на песчаный замок, убивает своих сородичей, чтобы те не заняли его место. После того, как тот осознал содеянное, его, одинокого и беспомощного, съедают чайки. Музыканты Faunts присутствуют в клипе, исполняя песню в пещере.

Восприятие

Мини-альбом был хорошо принят критиками и слушателями. Майкл Шмидт на сайте SoundCheck заявил, что второй студийный альбом группы, Feel.Love.Thinking.Of является продолжением M4. По мнению рецензента с сайта XLR8R M4 установил высокую планку для будущих релизов Faunts. После выхода пластинки группа приобрела мировую известность, а композиция «M4 (Part II)» стала ассоциироваться с игрой. Мэтт Слайбо в журнале The Agit Reader положительно отозвался о Faunts Remixed. Он заявил, что это хороший пример сборника ремиксов.

Доминик Умиле из Popmatters отметил, что музыка в альбоме M4 довольно разнообразная и пригодна для того, чтобы стать саундтреком фильма, хоть и её потенциал до конца не раскрыт. По его мнению, и вокал, и сама музыка выполнены очень хорошо, поэтому альбом звучит убедительно. Также критик отметил, что Faunts хорошо передали меланхоличное настроение в своих песнях. По мнению критика из Tiny Mix Tapes, звучание некоторых произведений похоже на New Order, а настроение песен разнообразное. Критик похвалил плавные переходы между композициями и отметил, что группа улучшила качество своей музыки после High Respectations/Low Results. Также он заявил, что в творчестве Faunts есть много композиций, похожих на песни из M4, поэтому люди, ставшие фанатами группы благодаря Mass Effect не останутся разочарованными.

«M4 (Part II)»
Больше всего внимания было привлечено композицией «M4 (Part II)». Критиками отмечалось, что грустный текст песни практически не соответствует сути игры. Несмотря на это, некоторые люди говорили, что первая песня в альбоме обладает «космической тематикой», поэтому она является если не идеальным, то подходящим выбором для титров Mass Effect и придаёт этой игре грандиозное завершение. На сайте Paste Magasine песня заняла 18 место из 20 в топе лучших песен в видеоиграх. Рецензент Натан Спайсер отметил, что благодаря изменённому вокалу и быстрым гитарным риффам в песне возникает футуристичная атмосфера. К тому же команда BioWare лестно отзывалась о данной композиции, благодаря этому она и попала в игру.

Однако Зак Звайзен с портала Kotaku решил, что «M4 (Part II)» звучит неуместно в титрах игры, так как вместо ожидаемой оркестровой с хором или приглушённой и задумчивой музыки начинает играть песня, напоминающая рингтон. Он предположил, что такое решение BioWare приняла, так как Mass Effect была причудливой по сравнению с другими научно-фантастическими вселенными. Также Звайзен был крайне удивлён, что песня прозвучала и в переиздании космической оперы — Mass Effect: Legendary Edition.

Список композиций

Участники записи

Faunts
 Стивен Батке — вокал, гитара
 Тим Батке — вокал, гитара, клавишные
 Джоэль Хичкок — клавишные
 Пол Арнуш — барабаны
Другой персонал
 Грэхем Лессард — сведение
 Фил Деметро — мастеринг
 Линсдей Батке, Тим Батке — дизайн

Примечания

Ссылки
 M4 на Discogs

Мини-альбомы 2006 года
Альбомы инди-рока
Альбомы построка
Альбомы Канады
Mass Effect


text:
Observations from Thanksgiving '09
My grandma's getting wilier in her old age.
My brother Greg wasn't feeling well, so Nana made him tea.....and spiked it with whiskey. She had no plans to tell him, so I didn't either.
The sides are better than the turkey.
And it's not even close. I think people only say they like turkey better because they're afraid Sarah Palin will find out, and accuse them of not being real Americans.
If this were 20 years ago, Lindsey's family would have a fresh batch of home movies.
We were at her parents' house a while back, and her mom played all her home movies for me. Every one of them was from Thanksgiving. I think it's the only day they remembered to tape. Still, it's more than I can say for my brother Robby. I think we have his first birthday, and that's it.
When speaking to senior citizens, it doesn't matter how loud you say it, you still have to say it twice.
Our family beagle, Ricky, CAN'T go 12 straight hours trying to get everyone's food.
He took a half-hour nap.
Thanksgiving is still the best holiday. Period.
Including Robby's team's thrilling 30-28 win over Greenwich, I watched 12 hours of football yesterday.
Bring it on, Christmas.
Posted by Matt at 11:15 AM
Then Along Came David
Once upon a time, Thanksgiving was challenging. Aunt Sandy and Uncle Dan would come with my three cousins, Katherine, Sarah, and Patty. The three of us boys loved football. The three of them didn't. Uncle Dan liked football, but he didn't like us.
It was football vs. family. Not a choice anyone should have to make, especially on the greatest of holidays.
Then along came David.
Six years ago, David took a liking to Katherine. Soon after that, they started dating. And soon after that, he started showing up at Thanksgiving. (They're now married.) David loved football, just like we did. And he was a Lions fan, one of the two NFL teams that play every Thanksgiving.
Suddenly, it wasn't football vs. family anymore. David wanted to watch with the boys. Katherine wanted to be with David. Sarah and Patty wanted to be with Katherine. Everyone wanted to be with the veggie dip.
And so we all sat together in the family room. The girls braided each other's hair, and the boys watched football until their eyes hurt. And Uncle Dan was happy, because he liked football, and he liked David, too.
We lived happily ever after.
Thanksgiving Weekend Picks
Illinois (+21) @ Cincinnati (Fri, 12:00 ET). I like Ron Zook in the spoiler role here. He might not win, but he'll cover the number.
Alabama (-10) @ Auburn (Fri, 2:30 ET). These are the lines Bama's been covering all year (and I've mostly been on the wrong end of).
Pittsburgh (-1) @ West Virginia (Fri, 7:00 ET). Two straight picks for the two worst Dolphins' coaches ever? I'm not happy about it, but I don't think the Backyard Brawl will be much of a fight.
Boise State (-12) vs. Nevada (Fri, 10:00 ET). I'll take the team trying to score BCS style points to cover a big spread.
Florida State (+25) @ Florida (Sat, 3:30 ET). Tebow's last home game, blah blah blah. This is still Florida State, not Florida International. 25 points is too much.
Georgia Tech (-7) vs. Georgia (Sat, 8:00 ET). This doesn't mean I'm not sad about UGA VII, though. He was a good dawg.
UCLA (+13) @ USC (Sat, 10:00 ET). Why fight it? USC now 2-8 ATS...
Last Week: 4-1
Record to Date: 24-24-3
Robert Pattinson: The Worst Basketball Player I've Ever Seen
On Friday Night, Twilight: The New Moon, starring Robert Pattinson, opens in theaters nationwide. Six gazillion teenage girls will go see it. Most will shriek the entire time. If your girlfriend's under the age of 50, she's probably heard of him. If she's under the age of 25, she's probably in love with him.
And if she's under the age of 90, she can probably beat him in basketball.
Pattinson was on my street a few months ago, filming a scene for an upcoming movie with Emilie de Ravin (from Lost). It's a carnival scene, and he was with de Ravin at the basketball shoot, perhaps trying to win her a stuffed animal. And when the movie opens next year, if any of his shots go in, it'll be thanks to some Oscar-worthy editing.
Because in real life, he wasn't even close.
I know, I know. It's a movie. It's not like he's trying. Well it doesn't matter. It was embarrassing. One of his shots hit the top of the carnival booth. He kept bouncing the ball off his foot. He dropped a three-foot, underhand pass from a production assistant. Three feet!
And he didn't care at all! Nobody did. All anyone could talk about was how hot and dreamy he was.
Hello?? Am I the only one seeing this? He just hit the top of the carnival booth!!!
So, when your girlfriend drops everything to see Twilight this weekend (hopefully on Saturday or Sunday!), or drools over pictures of him in US Weekly, or says she's too mature for that nonsense but then secretly drools over pictures of him in US Weekly, take solace in knowing he's the worst basketball player I've ever seen.
Well, except maybe Jordan Hill.
Thanks Donnie.
Saturday Picks
Big weekends in the Big 10 and Pac-10, but that's about it.
Ohio State (-10.5) @ Michigan (12:00 ET). This really isn't much of a rivalry these days. Michigan stinks.
UConn (+6.5) @ Notre Dame (2:30 ET). Did anyone know the boys from my home state are 8-1 ATS this year? I didn't either.
Penn State (-3) @ Michigan State (3:30 ET). MSU's had this game circled since they blew the Iowa game. I think they blow this one, too.
Stanford (-7) vs. Cal (7:30 ET). Stanford's surging, and Cal's without their best player, whose last name is Best.
Arizona (+6) vs. Oregon (8:00 ET). HUGE game for both teams, as the winner stays alive for the Rose Bowl. Gimme the home 'dog in a game like that.
Last Week: 2-3 (again)
Question from an Imaginary Reader
Until I start getting actual questions from readers, I'm just gonna make them up.
Billy (Pittsburgh, PA): Tonight my girlfriend and I had the perfect QTN. We ate delicious Italian, bought low-fat ice cream on the way home, talked with her roommates for a while, and watched The Hills. Now she's asleep. Can I turn on SportsCenter?
FVG: Thanks for the question, Billy. We know what you're going through. It's hard to go to sleep without checking in. Guys need to say goodnight to sports.
But tread lightly, my imaginary friend. Consider the ramifications if she wakes up. How would it make her feel? You spent the whole night proving she's the center of your universe, not sports. Might this blow the whole thing?
Here's a suggestion: Leave the TV off, and check scores on your phone. Then if she wakes up and sees you, you can say you were writing a work email, or sexting with another girl.
OK, maybe that's not a good idea either.
But whatever, it's not like you're real anyway.
Duke (+13) vs. Georgia Tech (12:00 ET). Yes, I know this isn't basketball. But I also know Duke's better than usual this year.
Stanford (+10.5) @ USC (3:30 ET). I'm in San Francisco this weekend, and will be watching this game at a Stanford bar. And USC's now 2-7 ATS.
Alabama (-12) @ Mississippi St (7:00 ET). I'll roll with the Tide here for a change. I'm not happy about it, though.
Pittsburgh (-6.5) vs. Notre Dame (8:00 ET). Mark May took Pitt, Lou Holtz took ND. Lou Holtz is dumber than Mark May.
Arizona St. (+18) @ Oregon (10:25 ET/7:25 PT). Freakin' Pacific Time. Football's over by 11...
Don't Be a Part of Your Girlfriend's Costume
In an earlier post, I talked about how my favorite Bravo show of Lindsey's is The Rachel Zoe Project, which got a very respectable FVG grade of B-. So when Lindsey asked if I wanted to join her and Maria to be the show's three main characters for Halloween, I said, 'Sure. Great idea.'
But it wasn't a great idea. And not because that meant I'd be Brad, the gay intern, but because now I'd have to be NEAR her all night. And being near her most likely meant NOT being near a TV playing USC-Oregon or Texas-Oklahoma St.
If, at any point, I were to leave them to find the games, their costume would fall apart, and they couldn't take funny pictures to put on Facebook. And then I'd get yelled at. (Which, come to think of it, is what her character does to my character on the show anyway. So we'd really just be acting the part.)
Anyway, it didn't turn out as bad as I'd worried it would.
But it could have.
And next Halloween, that's not a risk you, or I, should be willing to take.
I'm a 'dog lover....
Virginia (+14) @ Miami (12:00 ET). I want to believe in The U, but they've struggled lately, with A LOT of injuries on defense.
Ohio State (+5) @ Penn State (3:30 ET). My roommate Ramsey will be at this game with his girlfriend, another Penn State alum. So I'll root for the Lions to pull out a squeaker, because I think this line is too high.
LSU (+7.5) @ Alabama (3:30 ET). In the game of the week, I think this spread is just about where it should be, which means I shouldn't be betting it. Riiiiight.
Arizona State (+10) vs. USC (8:00 ET). USC's just not a good bet this year. 2-6 ATS.
Idaho (+8) vs. Fresno State (10:30 ET). Go Vandals!
Robert Pattinson: The Worst Basketball Player I've...