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Google Mars Google launched a new service for their maps today: Google Mars It offers infared views of a slect portion of the Red planet’s surfface. Kinda cool, allows you to zoom in quite a bit, and, unlike the moon, Mars is not made of cheese. However, if you zoom out all the way, you’ll notice that you’re really only looking at a tiny strip of Mars, probably one photograph just strung togther in a loop. Oh well, its cool either way.

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Q3 15:00: Matt Prater is about to kick off, and Jordan Shipley is deep to receive for the Bengals. Shipley returns it to the 20-yard line. Q3 14:45: Bernard Scott is chased out of bounds by Baraka Atkins, but there are two flags on the play. First, personal foul on the offense for a late hit. Second was a holding penalty on the offense, which was accepted by the Broncos for a 10-yard penalty. On first-and-20, J.T. O’Sullivan finds Shipley for a 5-yard gain before the receiver is brought down by Joe Mays. On second down, O’Sullivan sets up a screen pass to Scott, and the running back gets all the way to the Denver 39-yard line. Darcel McBath and Mays are down after the play. Q3 13:38: Both players walk off the field under their own power, flanked by trainers. On the ensuing first down, the Bengals pick up another first down on an O’Sullivan-to-Jerome Simpson connection for a 21-yard gain. Scott picks up 2 yards on first down, followed by an incomplete pass intended for Andre Caldwell. On third-and-8 at the Denver 16-yard line, O’Sullivan finds Shipley, but Johnny Williams is there for the tackle short of the first-down marker. After the 6-yard gain, Dave Rayner kicks a 27-yard field goal to give Cincinnati the league. CINCINNATI 20, DENVER 17 Q3 11:26: Matthew Willis returns the kickoff to the 22-yard line, and Brady Quinn jogs back to the huddle at quarterback. Of the starters, only Zane Beadles and J.D. Walton remain in the game. The rest of the first-teamers appear to be done for the day. *INJURY UPDATE* McBath has an arm injury and is questionable to return to the game. Mays has a groin injury and is probable to return. Q3 9:45: After a Bruce Hall run for no gain, Quinn connects with Willis for a 30-yard pickup down the middle of the field to the Cincinnati 48-yard line. After a Hall run for a loss of 3, Quinn looks deep once again, this time to Patrick Carter, but the receiver can’t quite haul it in and it falls off his fingertips. On third down, Quinn is sacked to bring out Colquitt for a punt. The Broncos are called for delay of game, giving Colquitt a little more room to work with. He gets the punt off on fourth-and-23, where Shipley fields it inside the 20. The rookie gets out to about the 37-yard line. It was a 44-yard punt and a 21-yard return. Q3 8:41: The defense is on the field, and Tim Tebow is warming up on the sideline. On first down, James Johnson picks up a yard. On second down, O’Sullivan is sacked by Jammie Kirlew to bring up third-and-13. On the next play, O’Sullivan finds Johnson again, but Alphonso Smith takes down the back after a gain of 6. Kevin Huber is back to punt, with Perrish Cox deep to receive. The rookie muffs the punt and there’s a scrum to see who recovered it — it’s Cincinnati’s ball. Q3 6:40: The Bengals will take over at the Denver 12-yard line, but Cox is down after the play. Q3 6:39: After Cox walked off the field flanked by two trainers, O’Sullivan and the Bengals get their drive going again. With no one open downfield, the quarterback takes off before being taken down by Baraka Atkins. It was a gain of 3 yards. On second down, James Johnson is swallowed up after a gain of 2, bringing up third-and-5. On the ensuing play, O’Sullivan is sacked by a diving Atkins for a loss of 6. Dave Rayner is in for a field goal attempt, which is nearly blocked by Tony Carter. The kicker gets it off, however, and drives home the 31-yarder to extend the Cincinnati lead to six. CINCINNATI 23, DENVER 17 **INJURY UPDATE** Cox’s injury is just cramping, and is probable to return. Q3 4:39: After a 28-yard kickoff return by Cassius Vaughn, boos rain down from the crowd as Tim Tebow marches onto the field for his first play as a Bronco. He fakes a handoff before rolling to his right and finding Marquez Branson for a pickup of 5 yards. On second down, he hands off to Bruce Hall for no gain, bringing a large reaction from Bengals defender Michael Johnson. On third down, Tebow lines up in the shotgun. He drops back and fires deep to Willis, who has beaten his man. The receiver has the pass in his hands and drops it, bringing up fourth down. Q3 2:59: Colquitt booms a 52-yard punt, which is downed at the 8-yard line, where the Cincinnati offense takes over. On first down, O’Sullivan fakes a handoff before finding Jerome Simpson for an 18-yard gain. The next play brings a run by Johnson for a gain of 4. Johnson takes another handoff on the next play, picking up 15 yards. Q3 1:15: After an incompletion, it’s second-and-10, and O’Sullivan hands off to Johnson yet again. The back picks up a first down before being tackled by David Bruton. It’s now first-and-10 for Cincinnati at the Denver 43-yard line. After an incompletion on the following play, O’Sullivan appears to fumble the ball on a sack — but the ruling on the field is that it was an incomplete pass, bringing up third-and-10. The third-down play has O’Sullivan in the shotgun. The quarterback drops back and fires toward Daniel Coats, and the tight end hauls it in for a 16-yard gain, bringing the third quarter to a close. Q4 15:00: A new Bengals quarterback has entered the game — Jordan Palmer, Carson’s younger brother. He hands off to Johnson for no gain, and on second down lofts a pass deep toward Simpson that flies out of bounds incomplete — but Tony Carter is called for pass interference, giving Cincinnati a first down at the 4-yard line. Q4 13:32: A 3-yard run by Johnson to the 1-yard line is followed by a run for no gain — the back was tackled by Ben Garland — bringing up third-and-1 at the 1. On the next play, Johnson is drilled in the air short of the goal line, but one ref runs in late with a touchdown call. Rayner’s extra point is good, and the Bengals now lead 30-17. CINCINNATI 30, DENVER 17 Q4 12:47: Cassius Vaughn is back to receive the kickoff for the Broncos. The rookie steps out of bounds at the 26-yard line after fielding it 2-yards deep in his end zone. Tebow is back in at quarterback. On first down, he hands off to Hall, who is brought down for a loss of a yard. Second down brings a pass from Tebow under pressure — a quick dump off to Britt Davis for a gain of 7. The attendance has been announced as 51,278 fans, by the way. On third down, Tebow is in the shotgun. The rookie drops back and fires toward Willis, who can’t haul it in. Colquitt is back in to punt, and he kicks it to about the 18-yard line. The Bengals have another productive punt return, as Quan Cosby gets out to the Denver 39-yard line after the 50-yard punt — it was a 43-yard return. Q4 10:32: After a 5-yard completion, Jordan Palmer drops back and hands off to Johnson. The running back picks up 2 yards, bringing up third-and-3. On third down, Palmer drops back into the shotgun. He takes the snap and takes off when no one is open downfield, running for the first down himself. Q4 8:57: Perrish Cox is in on the tackle on first down — a run for no gain. On second down, Palmer’s pass is tipped and falls incomplete. Third-and-10 brings a bootleg from Palmer after no one is open downfield. He sprints toward the sideline and leaps to dive up and over Alphonso Smith for a first down before giving the cornerback a tap on the helmet. Q4 7:05: Chris Baker was shaken up on a run by Cedric Peerman for no gain, but he is walking off the field under his own power. Second down brings another run by Peerman for a gain of 6 to the Denver 11-yard line, setting up third-and-4. The following play is another run, but Jeff Stehle and Ben Garland are there for the stop short of the first down marker. On fourth down, Rayner is in for another field goal attempt. The 26-yarder is good, extending the Cincinnati lead. CINCINNATI 33, DENVER 17 Q4 5:35: Vaughn is back deep to field the kickoff. He gets it out to the 16-yard line, where Tebow and the offense take over. On first down, Tebow is nearly sacked but he gets the pass off — it falls incomplete. On second down, Tebow drops back and gets a pass off to Hall for a gain of 6. That makes it third-and-4 at the 22-yard line. On the next play, Tebow lines up in the shotgun. The rookie fires to Alric Arnett’s back shoulder, and the fellow first-year player adjusts to make the catch for a 21-yard gain. Q4 4:28: Hall picks up a yard on first down, and Tebow drops back on second down before rolling to his right and being taken down for a loss of two. On third-and-11, Tebow lines up in the shotgun and doesn’t see a blitzer, who hits him and forces a fumble. The Bengals pick it up and run it in for a touchdown — but Head Coach Josh McDaniels and the Broncos are challenging the call on the field of a fumble. Q4 3:37: The refs rule that his arms was going forward, reversing the call and deeming it an incomplete pass. On fourth down, the offense remains on the field, but J.D. Walton seemed to think Tebow was under center when he was in the shotgun. The snap never gets to Tebow, who is forced to dive forward to pick it up and run for a handful of yards before being tackled for a turnover on downs. Q4 2:00: The clock runs down to the two-minute warning after three Bengals running plays that has moved Cincinnati to the Denver 24-yard line — second-and-1. Q4 1:59: The Bengals are called for a false start, making it second-and-6. Jammie Kirlew is there for the stop on the next play, bringing up third-and-3 after a run by Johnson. As the clock continues to wind down, Johnnie Williams sprints into the backfield to put an end to a fullback carry for a loss of 2 on third down, making it fourth-and-5. The Broncos call a timeout. The Bengals elect to go for it on fourth down, firing a pass toward tight end Chase Coffman inside the 10-yard line, but it falls incomplete, and Denver will take over on downs. Q4 1:09: Tebow is back in under center at his own 27-yard line. On first down, he lofts a screen pass to Hall, who is taken down hard at the 44-yard line. On the following play, he dumps off a pass to Hall who picks up 9 yards before the Broncos call their second timeout of the half. Q4 0:40: Tebow finds Branson for a first down as the clock continues to run. On the next play, he rolls to his right and fires deep to Britt Davis, who hauls in the pass and runs out of bounds at the Cincinnati 7-yard line. It’s a 33-yard connection. On the next play — with 12 seconds remaining — Tebow is in the shotgun. He buys time, rolls to his right and fires to Branson in the end zone — but refs rule that the tight end trapped the ball and the pass was incomplete. The booth decides to review the play, however. Q4 0:03: The ruling on the field is confirmed, and the Broncos are left with one last play — second-and-goal — from the 7-yard line. Tebow is in the shotgun with Ball to his left. The rookie drops back before taking off and powering his way past two defenders into the end zone — one of which stays down after the play. Cincinnati is charged a timeout for the injury. Matt Prater kicks the extra point as time expires to give the Broncos 24 points in the game — a 33-24 loss to Cincinnati in Denver’s first preseason game of 2010. It was Cincinnati’s second preseason game. The Broncos will be back in action this Saturday at INVESCO Field at Mile High against the Detroit Lions. Look for more coverage from tonight’s game on DenverBroncos.com in the coming hours. CINCINNATI 33, DENVER 24 -Gray Caldwell, DenverBroncos.com Tags: 2010, Cincinnati Bengals, First Half Live Blog In order for anyone to play Saturday, I would think that they would have to be participating in this week practices, tomorrow through Thursday, if not I don’t see why McD would play them. So my guess is at least we’ll know by Thursday if those guys will play or not. For all the Westbrook fans out here, he just signed with the 49ers. And the Saints signed the one who just turned us down last week, Ladell Betts. We don’t those guys. We have all pro running back lance ball. :/ *need Bruce Hall is my favorite, last night, 5 runs, minus 3 yards, long 1 yard, but the guy caught a bunch, LOL. I think the passes to Bruce Hall are the only ones Quinn could complete, haha. bay – that was my response to the guys re: Hillis but you know how they can be… don’t want to hear any b.s. excuses. (In their minds anyway). At any rate, we now know it’s just a matter of time for Tebow to climb the depth chart to #2. He’s only going to get better. Won’t go there about Quinn, but maybe he’ll have a better outing next game. Orton sure looked great though…no doubt! It was clear on the 2nd TD that he audibled at the line of scrimmage on a called running play! Way to go KO! So I am guessing we practice tomorrow?? I really hope Deck and Thomas are out there or at least them play in our next game vs Detroit!! I love me some Broncos Country!! Here is your answer: Today,. I hear you rbf1, enjoy your first game of the season at Invesco, with at least 9 to follow, football life must be rough for you, LOL. No need to put any stock in the pre-season games. Only thing to pay attention to is how our first team plays against the opponnets first team, and even that doesn’t carry much weight. The coaches aren’t going to show anyone to much out of the play book. Really it is just a chance for the staff to weed out the weeklings, grt the rookies into some game type atmospheres and experience, and get out all the jitters. Now go kick some first team Detriot but. Javis Best should be a good test for our first team D line and LB’s Go Broncos keep in mind folks that McD did state in a press conference before the cincy game that the team was going to work on the things they needed to work on and not worry about the score. evaluating talent and getting to practice against another team is the main focus of preseason. so i dont see anything to worry about! ask me again after 4 weeks of regular season play! Go Broncos “THE BATTLE IS WON IN THE TRENCHES” What’s up my Broncos family? This is a non football question. Does anyone know where I can find the Denver Broncos silicone wristband bracelet? They are like the Lance Armstrong “Live Strong” bracelet excpet says Denver Broncos and are Orange, Blue, and Orange/Blue. I’ve been trying to find these things for the longest of time. I saw a Dolphin fan with some on a few days ago and the chump wouldn’t tell me where he got his from. posting to read I got a question…. How come in all the articles I read about Tim Tebow they are refering to the over turned call of him fumbling and losing the ball as a fumble still? Is it they are trying to highlight something bad that he had done? I relize the guys throwing motion looks exactly the same as it did in college, but if it works…… Don’t fix it. Right? His release could be a little sharper and quicker…. But it hasn’t hurt him yet. I don’t think he is ready to start and yes I am a believer in Titanium Tim, but realisticly we are talking at least next season b4 he starts. Orton looks great and I will stand behind him this year! I believe his numbers can rival Romo…. I hate that guy!!! Well hate is a strong word and I am sure it has more to do with the fact that he is a Cowboy than anything. Romo is a choke artist, hopefully Orton can be better than him, he has a more professional approach to the game and I’ll take that over Hollywood Romo. As for Tebow’s throwing motion I go back to Elway who said the coaching staff is making too big a deal of it, that with the strength and speed that he throws at, that delivery of his is fine. I mention Elway because if I say it it might sound like crap to many, but when Elway talks people should listen, Tebow should throw however he is comfortable is my opinion, but McD so far hasn’t listened. Young man, a lot stubborn and hasn’t learned quite yet that his way is not the only way, he should take advice from Elway on this one. Still can’t believe people are saying that Orton looked great….i saw again the same QB that cannot get the ball down the field, who is inaccurate, and relies on his receivers to make him look good. I saw a first team offense that underwhelmed against non gameplanned defense. I saw us get lucky to end up with 14 because the call on Hall was borderline at best. I saw Tebow, playing against guys that will be playing in the UFL. Also saw a defense, give up yardage like crazy and not even come close to pressuring Palmer. Maybe my tv is messed up…LOL, someone prove me wrong Many experts such as Shanahan have said that the problem with changing someone’s delivery is that when in a tough position the QB will most likely reverse to his old motion, going by instint using his natural motion, so why in the heck would you mess his throwing motion to start with, just confusion is all it can bring to Tebow is the way I see it. Let the man worry about the field as he says himself, not his throwing motion. thanks bay.. we’ll do our best to enjoy and support our Denver Broncos!! And to the question why would articles keep bringing up the point of the Tebow fumble that wasn’t, most of the experts have said Tebow couldn’t make it in the NFL as a QB, they obviously are going to hold on to whatever they can get, just pushing back the inevitable fact that they will all be fools in the end. I think from a football perspective, one of the things youteach is that you don’t put the ball on the ground. That is why they are calling it a “fumble” because that is what he did. The timing of the fumble is what got it overturned, but the fact that he did fumble is not to be diminished. It is just like when someone runs for a touchdown, but it is brought back, no the touchdown does not stand, but he did run for it. I don’t think it is an attack by the media. Ok… Was just strang when it is ruled incomplete that it is called a fumble by everyone… On another note… Tebow had the best QB rating out of all the rookies…. Don’t know if Bradford started or was a back up in his first outing, but either way, it sounds as if Tebow had a fine first outing and showed his determination to win a football game with his last effort in the redzone! granted just a preseason game, but could not help but notice a lack of receiver talent, but then again KO has no long ball so maybe it will not be an issue. I liked what I saw in Tebow, his first NFL (even though it was preseason) game, certainly looked better than Quinn, and I liked the way he just muscled the ball down field looking much like big ben, the lefty thing was weird to watch but I can see how that can develop into a real asset, specially with someone his size, it’s going to be fun to watch. With the Lions coming up this week I don’t expect much but I do hope to see the team solidify as we get closer to the regular season. GO BRONCOS Haha, a lack of receiver talent tends to happen when you trade away one of the best guys in the NFL and then lose your top two WR picks in the draft to injury. Did Royal ever play? I missed the first half. As far as Tebow’s throwing motion goes, I can see the “if it isn’t broke don’t fix it” argument, but it really does need to be a bit quicker. There were two plays that could have been made had Tebow managed to get the ball out just half a second faster. Royal, 1 catch, 1 TD.

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Current Articles | RSS Feed. … — By Anne Bromley To read the first part in this article series, please click here The important things to bridge the differences in the professional nursing practice in the United States are: 1. Develop critical thinking skills. Always ask how, what, when, where, who, and what-if questions. Seek to understand the need for what is not understood. It creates deeper and more meaningful learning when we ask questions and search for answers. It also expands knowledge and leads to future change with less frustration. 2. Be true to ourselves. Stay strong, positive, and use positive energy everyday. Do not fall into the trap of negativity. Keep eyes open, mind clear, and refuse to go into a negative pit. There is no room for negativity. 3. Limit negativity. 4. Plan to bridge the differences in our nursing practices in many steps. Attachment I: Examples of possible solutions and preparation to bridge the differences in changing and adapting our professional nursing practice in the United States. Differences Our Possible Solutions Assess and re-assess our patients Report abnormal finding Learn emergency responses – RRT, Code Blue with education in ACLS and PALS Giving P.O. medications and medication reconciliation Protect patients’ privacy and protect colleagues’ privacies Attachment II - SBAR. This tool has two documents: Both the worksheet and the guidelines use the physician team member as the example; however, they can be adapted for use with all other health professionals. By SBAR Technique for Communication: A Situational Briefing Model Kaiser Permanente of Colorado Evergreen, Colorado, USA Attachment III – Read-Back Read-back is a way to verify of the complete order by the person who receiving the verbal order. The receiving person will repeat the verbal order back to the ordering clinician, who will verbally confirm that the repeated order is correct. The purpose of “Read-back” is to ensure patient safety. Contributors: Mai Tseng -- RN, BSN,MPA,EMBA, NE-BC,CRNI, LNCKaren Cox -- RN, PHD, FAAN,Laurie Ellison -- EMBAXu Hong Fang -- RNHong Guo -- RNSufan Sun -- RN The following is a Diversity Statement written and signed by numerous colleges and universities and taken from the University of Virginia's website for their Office of African American Affairs. It provides good insight into the value that diversity adds in higher education, which almost always applies to professions, like nursing, as well. On the Importance of Diversity in Higher Education America's colleges and universities differ in many ways. Some are public, others are independent; some are large urban universities, some are two-year community colleges, others small rural campuses. Some offer graduate and professional programs, others focus primarily on undergraduate education. Each of our more than 3,000 colleges and universities has its own specific and distinct mission. This collective diversity among institutions is one of the great strengths of America's higher education system, and has helped make it the best in the world. Preserving that diversity is essential if we hope to serve the needs of our democratic society. Similarly, many colleges and universities share a common belief, born of experience, that diversity in their student bodies, faculties, and staff is important for them to fulfill their primary mission: providing a quality education. The public is entitled to know why these institutions believe so strongly that racial and ethnic diversity should be one factor among the many considered in admissions and hiring. The reasons include:. American colleges and universities traditionally have enjoyed significant latitude in fulfilling their missions. Americans have understood that there is no single model of a good college, and that no single standard can predict with certainty the lifetime contribution of a teacher or a student. Yet the freedom to determine who shall teach and be taught has been restricted in a number of places, and come under attack in others. As a result, some schools have experienced precipitous declines in the enrolment of African-American and Hispanic students, reversing decades of progress in the effort to assure that all groups in American society have an equal opportunity for access to higher education. Achieving diversity appropriate for their missions. The success of higher education and the strength of our democracy depend on it. Meg Beturne MSN, RN, CPAN, CAPADenise Colon, RNBaystate Health System, Springfield, MA This article was submitted by Meg Beturne RN, MSN, CPAN, CAPA, Assistant Nurse Manager @ Baystate Orthopedic Surgery Center in Springfield, MA. Meg became a mentor and participated in "Baystate Health’s Diversity Leadership Initiative, Mentoring Across Differences" Program. A Dimensions of Diversity Exercise (copyrighted in 2011 by Washington Orange Wheeler Consulting firm) was offered as part of the Program.. This is the first of a 2-part article and is a follow up to the CAN (Chinese American Nurses) Sisters I published on our blog on August 23, 2011. Click Here to Read the first article in this series. The article is the collaborative work of a team of Chinese American Nurses (CAN) sisters. It speaks as “foreign” nurses who have worked in America for a number of years. Our group is very lucky to have CAN meetings twice a month. We have each other’s support. We share our setbacks and clarify our things that might confuse us. Together we provide opportunities to think things through; to have a better understanding of ourselves, to not let fear paralyze us; and to add strengths to face tomorrow with positive thoughts and energy. Go CAN!! Go!!!Last month, a CAN nurse started to talk about the major differences that we are experiencing in the nursing functions and practices between China and the United States. Everyone joined in the discussion. Assess and Reassess Our Patients In USA:Nurses are expected to know as much as possible about our patients. Nurses have a major responsibility in the assessment and re-assessment of our patients. Most nurses are doing a great job in assessing patients. Nurses are at patients’ bedside 24x7. Physicians are not. We may notice a change first, and take action as the law allows. We can initiate many nursing protocols, especially in an emergency, and then we report the changes to physicians. Physicians come to assess, verify, confirm the changes, and take additional actions. In China:The nurse-to-doctor ratio is nearly 1:1 in China. Doctors are just like nurses, at patients’ bedside 24x7. When new patients arrive, doctors perform the first assessments.Report Abnormal Findings:In USA:Nurses report abnormal findings from our own assessments or from the results we receive from other departments or facilities. Most of our current practice is to report the results to nurses first. Nurses are expected and required to report abnormal findings to physicians. We can take actions that are legally allowed. Many nursing protocols are there for us to utilize, especially in an emergency, and then we turn around and report the results to physicians. Physicians come to assess, verify, confirm the changes, and take additional actions. In China:Doctors on the units get reports first. Nurses may not be aware of the results and reports. Therefore, nurses may not be aware of changes or actions needed.Emergency Responsibilities:In USA:Nurses or anyone who witnesses the need can call a code. A nurse is usually the initial emergency responder, until an organized team comes. Teams, including physicians, take over the emergency situation. Organized teams, such as the Rapid Response Team, Code Blue Team, and Trauma Team, have additional training in things like Advanced Critical Life Support and Pediatric Advanced Life Support. In China:Doctors are at the patient’s bedside or nearby to respond and initiate emergency actions.Administering Medications:In USA:Nurses are responsible to ensure medications which are taken by mouth (P.O. medications) are swallowed every time, with no exceptions. In the Medication Reconciliation process in some facilities, nurses verify medications on an on-going basis. Verbal and telephone orders are seen often in some facilities.In China:In past practice, P.O. medications might be left at the patient’s bedside or with their families, trusting that the patients would take their medications. This is not the right thing to do. It is very dangerous. What if a patient purposely hides his/her medications, and then overdoses on them? China’s nursing practice is changing; now nurses are watching patients take their medication more often. Doctors are there to verify medications in the Medication Reconciliation process. No verbal orders.HIPAA Regulations:In USA:A patient’s health information is very private, personal property. It totally belongs to the patient. If we don’t have a patient’s written consent, or regulatory permissions, then we cannot give personal information to anyone except the patient. Self-imposed “kindness” such as initiating family or community support for a patient without the patient’s permission is no long allowed. For example, let’s say we go to work at the hospital and see our neighbor who is very sick. Our sick neighbor needs help, especially with child care. We cannot tell another neighbor who we think would be happy to help with the sick neighbor’s child. We have to plan ahead, talk about our intent, and ask the sick neighbor’s permission before we talk to the helpful neighbor. We would be violating the sick neighbor’s confidentiality if we talk to another neighbor without the sick neighbor’s permission. In China:Helpfulness and kindness are always welcome as long as it is a sincere act. Sterile TechniquePerforming and maintaining a sterile technique is a big deal in infection control to the nursing practice of both countries. Maintaining sterile technique saves lives, time and money.In USA:In some cases, CAN nurses had the perception that a few of their nurse co-workers’ practices were a bit sloppy. When you notice the lack of sterile technique, you must speak up. Express concern about contamination. This is a time to educate our co-workers in a kind way. Often the nurses who are doing the job may not be aware that contamination has occurred. Mentally, we know that it is difficult for us to point out any possible contaminations or any wrong doing. Culturally we were taught to pretend that we did not see; let others do whatever they want to do; we do what we are supposed to do to keep ourselves clean. “Mind our own business,” is what we learned. But in today’s world we need to prepare a simple and easy phrase or sentence that will help us to gently point out possible contamination. It will save lives. We have a lot to learn about how to be assertive and to be an advocate for our patients.In China:The fear of contamination and the strict self-monitoring of sterile techniques are emphasized more. CAN sisters feel that because of our past strict training, sterile technique is branded into our minds. PIV Insertions:In USA:Many facilities prefer to have IV Teams for Peripheral IV insertions to save nursing time, promote patient satisfaction, and decrease line infections. Therefore, nurses’ experiences in starting PIVs are very different. Some nurses do not have to start an IV at all and they have no skill in PIV insertion. For some nurses who start PIVs occasionally, their skill is hit-and-miss. Very few nurses are good at PIV insertion. In China: CAN nurses discovered in the support group meeting that most of nurses are good at PIV insertions. We found out that CAN nurses are the “go-to person” for performing PIV insertions. Personally, I have never paid much attention to this as a big difference. It was delightful to find out that this is one of our common strengths.Salaries & Bonuses:In USA:We make good salaries as nurses, even after about 40% is withheld in taxes, income taxes, and sale taxes. On the other hand, if we compare our salaries to physicians’ salaries, we find out a real gap. Physician pay is much higher. Of course, there are good reasons. Physician education and training are much longer and more in depth, and more physically and emotional demanding than nurses’ education. The demand for physicians is greater than the supply of physicians. We have many physician assistants and nurse practitioners who work under physicians and support some of our physician functions and responsibilities. In China: Nurses and physicians both have two types of incomes – regular salary and bonus. The nurses’ salaries are much closer to physicians’ salaries in China. Chinese doctors and nurses are equally compensated by the government. It is a perfect system for equal professionals. The differences in their earnings come from their bonuses, which are regulated and paid by the hospital. Currently, no nurse practitioners are working in a hospital or clinic in China.Nurse to Physician Ratio:In USA:The variety of job choices for nurses is huge, including acute hospital care, clinics, nursing homes, home health, insurance, occupational health, schools, law firms, etc. The nursing functions and responsibilities are varied, and it is very different in different health-care and non-health care settings. The physician to nurse ratio ranges from 1:4 to 1:8 or more, depending on the type of facility and the time of day or night. Some nurses function independently.In China:Most of nurses are working in hospitals and clinics, the nurse to physician ratio is nearly 1:1. It is a perfect ratio for an equal professionalism. No nurses are function independently. For us “foreign” nurses, especially those of us who have studied nursing or grown-up abroad, we often find that nursing functions and practices are very similar in some ways and quite different in other ways. This becomes apparent particularly on initial entry into the nursing profession in the USA. Adaptation will ease most barriers. The sooner we can identify the differences, analyze them, and find ways to adjust, the sooner we will adapt to the United States’ way of practice. As we open our hearts and minds to learn new things, we can expand our horizons. Every challenge forces us to learn and to bring out undiscovered talents within us, thereby making us stronger. There is no failure in trying to do the best we can do; the only failure is not trying to change and adapt to a different way of doing things. There are times we have to be brave enough, to have enough self confidence, and to excel on own strengths. We want to keep very strong, solid nursing skills, such as peripheral IV insertion skills. We want to keep the valuable nursing concepts, such as sterile techniques with us. Our skills will be lost if we do not practice constantly. In all, we are excited that we have opportunities to brand ourselves as the best we can be in United States. Please watch for the second half to this article to be published later in December. By Laura RainesPulse presentationsTFe said. from insideWorcester.comBy Dave Greenslit CORRESPONDENT WORCESTER —. © 2013

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Many pastors and other concerned Baptists have contacted me to express their displeasure over this action. Several have suggested that, in the interest of unity and fairness, the Executive Director should mail out material that presents the other side of the issues that Dr. Vines addresses. As the pastor of a cooperating Florida Baptist Convention church, I certainly agree with that suggestion. But as one who has witnessed this kind of misrepresentation from denominational leaders over the last 25 years, I am under no delusions that this will happen. While no cooperative program money was spent to send out Dr. Vines' sermons, Dr. Sullivan reportedly was able to finance the mailing with the help of Eddie McClelland, President of Florida Baptist Financial Services. According to the article linked above, Mr. McClelland said that he was asked to raise money for this project. Dr. Sullivan, he said, asked him for a gift. He was unaware of the exact nature of the project. According to the article, he said, "I did not know it was political. Our agency doesn't get involved in politics. We serve all Florida Baptists." I have been in contact with several Florida Baptist pastors (as well as many Southern Baptist pastors outside the state of Florida) who are very disappointed that those CDs were mailed from our state offices. A similar gaffe was made last year by the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention. Their Executive Director apologized once he realized how inappropriate that action was. At the suggestion of my brother, Bill, I have made a special arrangement with the producers of the Amazing Grace DVD to secure and distribute copies of this tool to the very pastors who received the "Baptist Battles" CDs. Subtitled, "The History and Theology of Calvinism," this two-disk DVD presentation contains more than 4 hours of professionally produced interviews, quotes and explanations of the issues surrounding the doctrines of grace. Among those interviewed are Dr. Tom Nettles, the most prominent historical theologian among Southern Baptists today. Also, Pastors Walt Chantry, Walter Bowie and yours truly contribute to the DVD. For a sample clip, go here. It will only cost $20,000 to get a copy of this powerful presentation into the hands of every Southern Baptist pastor in Florida. A special fund has been established by Founders Ministries for this very purpose. Let me encourage you to contribute to this project, as you are able and are led by the Lord, to help give Florida Baptist pastors the other side of the story--the side that was seriously caricatured by Dr. Vines' sermon. You can send your tax exempt contributions to: Founders Ministries PO Box 150931 Cape Coral, Florida 33915 ATTN: Florida Baptist Truth Project PO Box 150931 Cape Coral, Florida 33915 ATTN: Florida Baptist Truth Project You may also contribute online by using the button below. Riverbend Church of Ormond Beach, Florida, under the leadership of Dr. Roy Hargrave, has offered to match up to $5000 that is given by July 8. That means that your gift can be doubled if you give in the next two weeks. In addition to supporting this effort by giving, I am asking that over the next several weeks you commit to fast and pray that the Lord will use this project to renew and rekindle a deep love for His Word and the Gospel of Jesus Christ not only in the churches of Florida but beyond them throughout the whole Southern Baptist Convention. Specifically, from June 24 through July 31, pray that those who receive this DVD would honestly watch it and open their hearts and minds to the truths from God's Word that it presents. Please encourage or lead your church to join in this prayer effort, as well. Let me reiterate the purpose of this effort. The historic Southern Baptist understanding of salvation was blatantly misrepresented in the sermon sent out to Florida Baptist churches by our state Execuive Director. A growing number of pastors and churches in Florida believe the Bible teaches exactly that historic perspective. Thus, we and our churches were severely and widely misrepresented and the truth that we proclaim was caricatured to our fellow pastors and sister churches by our own state convention leadership. In an attempt to right this wrong, we are asking for all who love the doctrines of God's sovereign grace and are weary of seeing them distorted beyond recognition by Southern Baptist leaders to join with us in making the Amazing Grace DVD available to Florida Baptist pastors and churches. We have no interest in division or in being contentious. We do have an interest in truth. We believe what we believe because we think the Bible teaches it. We understand that not everyone shares our convictions. But we desire of ourselves and ask of others, not to misrepresent the views of their brothers and sisters with whom they disagree on these vitally important issues. For the cause of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, please pray that His truth will prevail and that we will all be humbled before it. 89 comments: Excellent idea! I'm glad someone is thinking. Tom, it was good to see you in San Antonio. Tom, I have recently written a check for a couple thousand dollars to pay for a new motor in my car, so, unfortunately, I cannot contribute financially right now, but I will pray fervently for this. I have also passed it on to the elders of my church. Also, I wanted to let you know that I have not forgotten that project-response from earlier this year. Some protracted health issues have gotten in the way, and it took me a long while to complete my additional reading, which only confirmed the original thesis anyway, but I wanted to do some "text criticism" too, but I believe these issues are close to being resolved. I've completed it and will get it to you after the Founders Conference so you can review it closely. I want you to concentrate on your obligations for the month and not worry about this. Also, since I live in NC, if you and Dr. Akin's folks would like to put together some collated material for an info packet on regenerate church membership/integrity in ch. membership, I'd be willing to man a table and distribute the material @ Ridgecrest. I can even go to SEBTS to help get it together if you want. My email has also changed. Just click on my profile here and you can reach me @ my new email. Blessings, Gene So, if we happen to live in Louisiana, how may we obtain a copy? Dr. Tom: I think this is an excellent idea. Indeed, I do pray that God would move in the hearts of Florida pastors to watch the DVDs and see how biblical the Doctrines truly are. The added part about evangelism is excellent too and I think would go far (God willing) to recover a more God-centered approach to soul winning. May God be glorified in His truth! SDG, dbh Tom, I'm glad to support this effort to proclaim & reclaim the the historical & scriptural foundation on which Southern Baptists stand. Perhaps God will grant us the reformation & revival we so desparately need in our day. Brother Tom, You said, "A similar gaffe was made last year by the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention. Their Executive Director apologized once he realized how inappropriate that action was." Why would anybody in the position of 'Executive Director' of the SBTC...NOT understand how innapropriate that action was. I do not buy that. The damage was done. He would not give equal time to the truly representative portrayal of the D.O.G.(Calvinism). Thus, his 'apology' has a hollow ring to it, and to some degree...one must question the integrity of the man. Don Cass never apologized. That would have meant more to me than Jim Richards stock response (damage control) after the damage was done. I will be praying for you guys in Florida concerning this situation, as I know what it felt like here in Texas last year. Similar to Brother Gene, the money is tight, but I feel like I must supply at least a few of those DVDs to the cause. Please accept my "widows mite", and know that I appreciate men like you, Bill, Roy, etc. who will stand in the face of this. This is an awsome idea!!! For those outside of FL., the makers of the Amazing Grace DVD have the video on sale for 1/2 price ($14.99 until the end of the month: Soli Deo Gloria! Tom, have you requested any financial assistance from your state convention to assist in offsetting the cost? it seems like a fair request to me given the circumstances. can you request an equal amount of funds used to ship the Vines message from wherever that funding came from? being denied such equal funding would be a note worth making, on this blog and others. but let's assume the best of them first...why not request assistance from them to make this happen? Dear Dr. Ascol, I find this post most interesting. Especially your statement struck me: "...no cooperative program money was spent to send out Dr. Vines' sermons..." Are you sure? Did you verify it? Like for example, the verification Timmy Brister assured us in his post "Connellism Versus Calvinism: You Be the Judge." He writes as recommended by you: “Well, Tom Ascol has just verified that Dr. John Sullivan, Executive Director of the Florida Baptist Convention, has indeed mailed Dr. Vines’ messages to every pastor in the state convention - paid for with what? Yes, God’s money! Talk about cooperation!" Further though, Dr. Ascol, you wrote on that same post "Little did I know. Not only has the denominational leadership of my own state convention given Dr. Vines a pass on this sermon, *they have used God's money* to send it to every Southern Baptist in the state!" And, I fear there's more. In the comment thread, you morally indicted Dr. Sullivan: “As I told a reporter today, it is immoral to ask churches to support with their finances activities that blatantly attack what those churches believe and teach.” Now, however, you simply state "...no cooperative program money was spent to send out Dr. Vines' sermons..." I am wondering, given the severity of the indictment offered here and elsewhere pertaining to the misuse of CP monies by Dr. John Sullivan if an official apology will be offered. Is it not appropriate? Would it not be expected if Founders were wrongly accused of misusing funds? Grace today, Dr. Ascol. With that, I am... Peter Your PayPal donation link isn't properly constructed. It doesn't get me to the right place to send a donation by this means. Can you perhaps fix this or simply disclose the email address that is accepting the donations via PayPal? It's good to see that there are still guardians in the church. I would assist in this financially, but PayPal is incapable of taking my money. Thanks for all the encouraging comments. Please pray for this effort. Irreverend: I did actually think about asking the Florida Foundation for assistance, but decided against it. It's not a bad idea, though. Dr. Lumpkins: I am surprised to learn that you think that the only money that qualifies as "God's money" is that which is given through the cooperative program! This must be your position or else you would not have reasoned the way that you do. Dr. Lumpkins, you and I must simply agree to disagree on this point. Let me quickly add that, if I believed as you do--that the only money that belongs to God is CP money--then I would accept your call for an apology as the appropriate thing to do. But, since I do *not* believe that the CP constitutes the sum and substance of all the money that God owns, no apology will be forthcoming for my statement that the state office used "God's money" to send out Dr. Vines' sermons. May you have a grace filled day, Dr. Lumpkins! When a set of CD's is sent out with letterhead from the Florida Baptist Convention with an official letter from the primary executive of the State Convention on that letterhead, promoting, I might add, what has been proposed in said CD's, that involves resources from the Florida Baptist Convention. If on the other hand, the official letterheads can be bought and paid for by an external entity and sent out to Florida Baptist pastors as an official correspondence from the primary executive in the state, then we have a serious problem which is much more severe in nature than was previously thought. And who is Eddie McClelland, President of Florida Baptist Financial Service? Isn't he to be held accountable to Florida Baptist to some extent, seeing that he is the primary CEO of a "trust" agency of the convention? And if, in fact, Dr. Sullivan was not forthright with him about the content of what he was supporting, doesn't Dr. Sullivan owe him an apology? I'm certain that Lumpkin has already made that demand of Dr. Sullivan. And I wonder if Dr. Sullivan asked his secretary (paid for by FBC) to write the official letter encouraging pastors to listen to Vine's sermons. Or did Dr. Sullivan, who's salary is paid for by the FBC, carry all of this out during his time off. What a convoluted argument to suggest that Founders in the FBC owe these men an apology. Sounds like the Democratic parties tactics. That would be akin to my church sending your church a letter opposing your views with Riverbend's official letterhead and asking you to apologiize for blasting us due to the fact that we got a guy off the street to pay for the contents. The point is, if you don't want entities to be accused of the obvious, STOP using our letterhead to promote division! And STOP allowing money given by other entities to utilize our letterhead in promoting division. Oh, I forgot to add, were the copiers used for the mailout paid for by Dr. McClelland's money? Were those in charge of the packaging for the mailout paid for by external money? Was the time of all FBC employees who were utilized for this mailout paid for by external money? Dr. Ascol, Gee, Dr. Ascol, I did not so much as pen one syllable as to my own view of stewardship. Rather I simply quoted your own words back to you. You wrote: "...no cooperative program money was spent to send out Dr. Vines' sermons..." If this is so, then I am unsure what you mean in your little rejoinder to me: "if I believed as you do--that the only money that belongs to God is CP money--then I would accept your call for an apology." Of course, I do not believe that the only money God owns is CP money. I think with you He owns it all. But that isn't what we're talking about here. You wrote: "...no cooperative program money was spent to send out Dr. Vines' sermons..." O.K., if that's so, I am afraid the moral challenge is still before you. Grace, Dr. Ascol. With that, I am... Peter Dr. Lumpkins: Wow. I hold you accountable for your words and logic and you confuse the issue by bringing up the topic of stewardship. I am certainly glad to know that don't believe that God's money is limited to the CP. Given that, why do you still think I should apologize. Perhaps you are operating on the basis of some canons of logic to which I am not privy. It seems rather simple to me: Tom: God's money was used. Tom: No CP money was used. Dr. Lumpkins: Tom is morally obligated to apologize for saying the first because he acknowledges the second. Once again, Dr. Lumpkins, you and I must simply agree to disagree on the congency of your protest. Have a blessed day! Sending the CDs is an excellent idea. Though in Louisiana, I am going to present this matter to our combined Elders & Deacons meeting tomorrow night. I hope we can send over some money to help our sister churches in Florida. BTW, we are planning on sending Dr. Tom Nettles book "Ready for Reformation" to every church in the LBC (1,600+ churches). The total cost will be $14,400. We have $3,500. As you think of this matter, we would apprciate your prayers. No surrender! Earl Dear Dr. Ascol, Bravo! Very clever. I like to be clever (when I can). I like it when others are clever (like you). The problem is, the tone of being clever is a little off-base here. Indeed, I think I know why. Founders possesses a pretty clear record in calling for public apologies, indicting those who "slander" the DoG, publicly taking to task those who "speak evil" against the brethern, etc. Thus, I can appreciate why you wish to sidetrack the point I make by "being clever." For me, I say that's simply peachy. I do not know how Dr. Sullivan feels though since he probably was deeply offended by being accused of something by you but now, according to you, he did not do: "no cooperative program money was spent to send out Dr. Vines' sermons." Oh well. Chalk up one for the old clever, Dr. Ascol, aey? Grace for this afternoon. With that, I am... Peter Dr. Lumpkins: Clever? Me? Hardly. I am simply trying to be honest and encouraging you to be, as well. How have I sidetracked the point? I have tried, as simply as I know how to point out that you have falsely accused me. You accuse me of accusing Dr. Sullivan of misappropriating CP funds. I have never done that and you, despite your many efforts, have not been able to demonstrate that I have. All you have been able to do is repeat my words that "God's money" was used. When I expose the fallacy of your reasoning and encourage you to own your duplicity, you charge me with trying to be "clever" and sidetracking the argument. Dr. Sullivan knows that I have not done what you have accused me of doing. He and I have discussed it. Anyone who reads what I have written knows that I have not done what you have accused me of doing, because my words are not hard to understand. Nevertheless, if you are determined to persist in your false accusation--which you seem bent on doing--I cannot stop you. Having done my best to point out your error and encourage you to correct your false accusation, all I can do now is to stand by and watch your credibility further evaporate with each attempt you make to confuse the issue further while refusing to own your actions. Still, I wish you a grace filled day. Tom, I think you really ought to approach your state convention and let them help you. I think the cooperating churches in that state convention deserve to hear a reason why such a request would be denied...if in fact it would be. And if the request is granted how wonderful would that be? I do strongly encourage you to make the request...the churches in that state would be served well by you making it and knowing about the response. Dr. Ascol, "all I can do now is to stand by and watch your credibility further evaporate with each attempt you make to confuse the issue further while refusing to own your actions." Dr. Ascol, with all due respect, I do not think you are concerned about my "credibility further evaporat[ing]" You're not only clever, but an hilarious hoot as well:^) You wrote three statements of interest about this:..." Contrarily, the issue is not how Dr. Sullivan views it. After all, Dr. Sullivan is an alleged anti-Calvinist sending out anti-Calvinist propaganda. I would not rely too heavily on him as an authority were I you. Rather the issue is whether or not Dr. Sullivan used "[churches] money" (b)--what you call "God's money" (a)--to "blatantly attack what those churches believe and teach." Unless I'm missing something in your posts, Dr. Ascol, God's money" and "[churches] money = CP money. Now, at least the way I read it, Dr. Ascol, (c) seems to be a direct correction to the record of (a) and (b). And, Dr. Ascol, for the record: there is no "many efforts to demonstrate you have [accused Dr. Sullivan]." I simply read your post today and noticed a glaring inconsistency: "no cooperative program money was spent to send out Dr. Vines' sermons", which is directly against you've repeated numerous times and others like Brister, Lollar and Puryear followed your lead. Come to find out--CP monies were not used: "no cooperative program money was spent to send out Dr. Vines' sermons." Peace today, Dr. Ascol. With that, I am... Peter It doesn't take being a Southern Baptist to see how wonderful an opportunity this is to spread the gospel! I look forward to giving what I can. I'm not privy to the polity of the Florida Baptist Convention so I don't exactly understand all the politics involved... yet I have been a calvinistic Christian long enough to have experienced being misrepresented and marginalized! Dear Dr. Lumpkins: We must have used different textbooks in our logic classes! I suspect we probably used different ethics books, as well. :-) You write:..." Then you write: Now, at least the way I read it, Dr. Ascol, (c) seems to be a direct correction to the record of (a) and (b). I will certainly grant that you have the right to read it that way. But I must sadly point out that your reasoning would not convince even a freshman student of logic--unless, perhaps, he or she used whatever textbook you studied. Though I am growing weary of pointing out the obvious, let me try to do so one more time: The only way c would contradict a is if "God's money" is limited to "CP money." You have stated that you do not believe that (which relieves me) and yet you continue to defend a position which requires that untenable view. The only way that c would contradict b is 1) if the only money that ever flows from churches to the state offices is via the CP or 2) if you disallow that which Dr. Hargrave pointed out, that CP monies are used to support the general operating expenses of the state offices. I must assume you must hold both views in order to make your claim. Dr. Lumpkins, it is clear that you and I will never agree on this matter. So, this is my last response to you about it. Thanks for dropping by. Have a grace filled day! Tom, PayPal wants to charge sales tax on this donation (I never got my extra slice of bacon in San Antonio by the way). If we Florida pastors donate in this way, will the 6% have to be sent to the state? Would a mailed check be better for the project? Klay: Sorry about that! We are working on fixing that problem. The additional 6% for "sales tax" in Florida is automatically added, but we hope to take it off asap. I assure you, that 6% of any donations will not be sent to the state government. Thanks for pointing this out. Look for your extra slice of bacon in the mail! :-) ta Mr. Ascol, I'm sure you are familiar with Phil Johnson's blog "Pyromaniacs." Mr. Johnson has just a few rules for his blog, one of which is "Don't feed the trolls." I did not fully appreciate this rule until I made the ill fated attempt to engage in a rational exchange with a certain defender of the SBC party line. That exchange drove home the importance of not feeding trolls. Your points have been made in a clear, rational, evidence supported manner. You have presented the truth for anyone who cares to see it. My unsolicited advice is that you do not need to spend time belaboring the obvious. Keep up the good work! Dr. Ascol, For you to continue to insist on your point in the face of your own words--"no cooperative program money was spent to send out Dr. Vines' sermons" is beginning to embarrass even me, my good Dr. Ascol. I'd hoped you would, for all the times you've called on others to publicly retract, have better evidence than "I don't see it like you do." Oh well, if nothing else, perhaps others will now run the resources they get on the net, doing their own research, before they climb on board the hay wagon. To your defense your usual hit men have gone silent. I recall the last encounter here when I was only wishing well the possible coming of Dr. Nettles to your church and even attempted to offer my compliments to him. Consequently, I fell among theives, was wounded and left for dead. The only one to your rescue now is Farmboy--whom, of course I dare not address since I remain a troll. Of course, I recall the brief exchange I had with him differently than he. From my memory, I was attempting to offer evidence as he piled on the emotive insults. If that is being a troll, then being a troll I shall be. I hope your evening is a peaceful one. With that, I am... Peter I think Bro. Hargrave's comments made it quite clear that CP money did, in fact, pay for this mail-out. CP money paid for the resources - letterhead, ink, envelopes, labels, time spent. Plus, where does Florida Baptist Financial Services get money from? If the money was drawn from their resources (gifts from SBC churches and members), does it not in fact act as a de facto CP. I have to question no only the ethics of Dr.Sullivan from drawing money from FBFS (while also hiding the reason for the request from McClelland)...but also his attempt to disguise this as not taking any CP and FBC resources, when it clearly did. I also view it as unethical to stamp the FBC logo on the CDs to give it credibility, but then when called on using CP funds says the FBC didn't pay for it. If it didn't, then don't pretend it did. (Again, he did use FBC and CP resources, even if it is not line-itemed in the budget.) Highly unethical...if not purposefully misleading. I think Dr.Sullivan needs to be reminded that he works for us...not the other way around. IMO, he's gotten "too big for his britches" the way he has made declarations and pronouncements (and decisions like this) the past few years. This whole thing stinks...I for one am glad that there is a response. I just wish Sullivan would "man up" and address his reasons as well as answer the criticisms. That is what any honest man of God, with nothing to hide or apologize for, would do. At the risk of feeding "trolls" it would seem that the two of you genetlemen (Drs. Lumpkins and Ascol) are using different definitions for the same terms. Originally I has *thought* that CP funds were used for this distribution myself, but I had wrongly equated two things that were not necessarily the same. (logical fallacy of equivocation on my part) Since Dr. Ascol has clarified his meanings, I have been corrected as to my understanding. :) Dr. Lumpkins, I cannot help but think that you are simply not grasping the difference in definitions the two of you are employing. From what I've seen of you on this blog, you have been amiable and have enjoyed the dialogues I've read [usually :D], though here the misunderstanding is growing and appears less than helpful. I'll stop with what I was saying regarding it, especially since Dr. Tom has stopped and I fear I may be out of order continuing to address it. So, I'll end with this last comment: May God move in the hearts of His people to get the funds together for this project and may His truth be known far and wide in the Florida Baptist Convention! SDG, dbh BTW, Pete...maybe no one is rushing to Tom's defense because...he doesn't need defense against your statements. Your logic is flawed. Your perspective is backwards. Your statements are condescending and underhanded. What I don't get is how someone can be shown their error several times but still talk down to someone as if they were right all along. For the most part you are being ignored...now I will join the throngs in overlooking your ramblings. With that I am....back to ignoring you. :) Dear J. Gray, "Your logic is flawed. Your perspective is backwards. Your statements are condescending and underhanded." Why, thank you, J. Gray. How wonderful of you to say so. David, I may be missing the "definition" but my question is, why would we need a technical definition in a question of this type? One recalls the classic Clintonian response: "It depends on what you mean by 'is'." Please. Dr. Ascol himself conceded: "no cooperative program money was spent to send out Dr. Vines' sermons." Splitting hairs over this is simply, well, ur, uh splitting hairs, for heaven's sake. My simple point is, if no CP money was spent, the outrage is misguided. Grace. With that, i am... Peter J. Gray: I understand your frustration. Indeed, in many ways I share it. Let me caution you, however, about getting personal in your critique. Dr. Sullivan is our Christian brother. In many ways and situations I have found him to be a wonderful, respectable Christian leader. Obviously, I disagree with what he did in sending out these CDs. I think it was a mistake and an unwise use of *God's money" (note to anyone who may miss the obvious: God's money is not limited to that which flows through the CP). I have spoken with Dr. Sullivan about this. We had a very cordial, even warm conversation about it. We disagree. Let's keep our comments here focused on the great good that can come out of these events if our Lord is pleased to overrule them in that way. Join me in praying that the Lord will enable us to do what we are planning in this project; and pray that many will be challenged and encouraged in their understanding of and commitment to the truth of God's Word. Maybe no one's coming to Dr. Tom's defense because like Peter and those bloggers he referenced they too read Dr. Tom's words as meaning CP funds not just "God's money." A less prideful person might be able to recognize that since more than just Peter saw Ascol's posts as referring to CP money he should make some attempt at apologizing for having not been clear enough in his rant (if indeed he actually never intended to imply CP money was used since there seems to be a question of ethics). Pray for humility indeed! Praying fervently for you all in this God-honoring endeavor. For the sake of His Truth for HIS glory. Lisa Nunley Gentlemen, I agree whole heartedly with Dr. Hargrave. There's no way that FBC funds were not used in this ordeal. Maybe there's no budgeted line item for this transaction. However, the expense of letterhead, secretarial time, John Sullivan's time, postage, copier usage, and everything else that Dr. Hargrave points out - we paid for. So again, there's no reason to apologize to John Sullivan. And I have a question, why are we so apologetic all the time. As if we have to defend everything we say with an apology for being forthright. Is there no room for zeal in the life of a Christian? Does zeal have to be smothered in the gravy of "please don't take this wrong my Christian brother?" Man, why can't we just say it because the Bible says it? Do we not believe like Spurgeon that calvinism is the gospel? If so, (I certainly do) then why do we have to qualify every little thing we do so that they won't say we're mean calvinists? Frankly, I think it's time we call it like it is and stop wanting to hold hands and sing Cum ba ya. We're not talking about the color of the carpet; we're talking about the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I wish that our Calvinist leaders would start making that the issue because that's the issue worth fighting for. Bro. Tom, Thank you for your careful warning. I want to make sure that my critique doesn't become washed out by a harsh tone. Your warning is well taken. But I think there is a need for Dr. Sullivan to step up and answer the questions that have been brought out by his actions in this regard. (My frustration stems from several years of actions and statements by him.) It is a fine line between making critiques personal and critiquing the actions and attitudes of a person. I truly believe that his actions in this issue (and his vague statements since) are unethical. I think this was a calculated move and it was set up so that he could answer "no CP monies were used". That is purposefully misleading. So, while I (as a lifelong Florida Baptist) am thankful for the work Dr. Sullivan has done over the years, it does not mean that I am willing to overlook unethical actions now. I do however want to make sure that I do not attack him, as I know him to be a faithful brother in Christ. But his actions MUST be critiqued...especially since he is serving us as Florida Baptists. The line between actions and the person are a very thin one. There are certain biblical admonitions that appear to be most applicable in the context of the blogosphere these days. Proverbs 26:4 comes to mind. What kpcalvinist said..... Dr. Hargrave: Indeed, Proverbs 26:4 seems appropriate with many things going on in the blogosphere nowadays. Thank you for bringing it to our attention. SDG, dbh That's funny Cornelius! kpcalvinist, Amen and amen! If we truly believe that the doctrines we hold are truth, then it's time to stand up and say so. If indeed the doctrines of grace ARE the gospel, then why compromise with another one? Nobody likes division...but the truth will divide, there's no getting around it. That is unless one takes the position that truth is all relative. I'm not saying that one should set out with the sole purpose of being divisive, I'm just saying it's time to take a stand and let the chips fall where they may.2 When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the Word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed (Acts 13:48) With this and other countless accounts of God's Grace in Salvation--why does man cling so tightly to "decision theology?" Are we impugned so fervently because we dare to say that God saves sinners and actually mean it? (Actually these questions are rhetorical in nature.) I agree with the brothers who are enouraging us in love to stand...and after that, to stand. Whether in His justice, or in His mercy...He will be Glorified. NativeVermonter says: "--why does man cling so tightly to "decision theology?" Are we impugned so fervently because we dare to say that God saves sinners and actually mean it?" ...and let the misrepresentations begin. Hey Dr. Tom, what happened to your sense of humor? Maybe you could bring up that post about NetFinney cause it sure is funny to mock the other side isn't it? Tom, I absolutely love this idea and will pray with my family about how to be involved financially. Then, when this is done we can figure out how to do the same in Georgia. This is where the battle is and really where it should be. I mean at the local church level, not just in the great state of Georgia. :-) When it comes to government, we have the kind of politicians we have because of the kind of people we are. When it comes to the SBC, in many cases (not all) we have the kind of leadership we have because of the kind of churches we have. When our churches are transformed our convention will be as well. In fact, I believe we need to go farther than this. I think we should have a set of relatively concise but powerful documents in PDF format that can be easily e-mailed. Imagine if our people began e-mailing documents like Tom's "Integrity Resolution" or Roy Hargrave's "An Idol Called Evangelism" to everyone on their e-mail list with a request to pass it on to anyone they think would benefit. We could come up with other very attention getting titles. Let's take this to the streets. What do you think Tom and Roy? Tom, I am not in FL so I had to go to the Woodstock website and find Dr. Vines' sermons on Baptist Battles. I finished the sermon and let the music continue until the end of the sermon. What Dr. Hunt said at the end was even worse than what Dr. Vines said even though he only spoke a few sentences. In essence he said -- You Calvinists need to tell your friends what you really believe . . . tell them that you believe that babies go to hell! The emotional attacks that are w/o basis are what I find most disturbing. Paypal taxes are removed, but now there are S&H charges. BUT, I still managed to give exactly what I intended - though I did try several combinations first! :) I think this is the most I've ever commented on a post before. :) In any case, I wanted to chime in about how people are mentioning the importance of standing up for the truth of the Doctrines of Grace, and it is surely important. However, someone (I think) seemed to express frustration at all of the constant attacks said Doctrines suffer and also seemed to be growing tired of being gentle in communicating our apologetic for the truth. I would caution us to remain ever gentle as we remain ever firm. Failure to do so runs great risk of violating the Scripture's commands regarding gentleness. I wrote this article nearly a year ago that deals with this very thing. It's a bit lengthy, but I think worth the read. There are a couple of quotes from Dr. Tom in there too that I think pertain wonderfully to the matter at hand. May God's people be encouraged, and may our Great God and Savior be glorified. dbh mpaqTom I am a frequent reader to your blog and have never left a comment. I must say that the entire debate seems to hinge on the implied meaning of… “As I told a reporter today, it is immoral to ask churches to support with their finances activities that blatantly attack what those churches believe and teach.” Although you have made it clear that this is not CP money, in the context of a state director and Florida Baptist Churches, one could very easily assume that you are referring to CP money. I believe that Dr. Lumpkins is reading the quote this way and thus ask for an apology only if to clarify the issue. However, the reason I am commenting is concerning the language in which you corrected Mr. Lumpkins. Using phrases such as “freshman logic” and “evaporating credibility” I believe is beneath you. Having said that, I know nothing of your previous discussions with Dr. Lumpkins. Maybe he deserved it, but you still should not go there. In the end, think you for your insight. I enjoy all that you write. David G Dr. Ascol, with all due respect, I do not think you are concerned about my "credibility further evaporat[ing]" You're not only clever, but an hilarious hoot as well:^) One cannot tarnish a rusted blade. Tom is castigated for allegedly saying that CP money was used for the mailing. Peter is the one who equated "God's money" with CP money. And now Peter is allegedly embarrassed for Tom, because Tom says that CP money was not used, and nowhere has Peter found a statement by Tom stating that CP money was used. By Peter's own admission above, Tom has made 3 statements:..." He sees c as a correction of a and b, but what Peter has done is make an assertion minus the argument. How, exactly, is that a correction, except on his own assumptions about a and b? One has to assume the consequent in order to arrive at that conclusion, e..g that "God's money" refers to CP dollars, particularly CP dollars spent on the mailing itself. I would point out that Dr. Sullivan used his *position*, which does involve CP monies, via the general operating expenses of the FBC (a fact that Peter has yet to acknowledge here), to do this. If Peter has a problem with that, then perhaps he should write Dr. Hargrave or just get the FBC to stop using CP dollars to pay the ED of their convention. What we *do* have if Eddie McClelland's admission that FL Baptist Financial Services was asked to raise money for the project, and is dismay that Dr. Sullivan used the monies in the gift for something that Brother Eddie himself says was political. Basically, that's their credit union. They do church funds mgmt, estate planning, charitable gift planning, trust mgmt, personal investing, church lending, and scholarships. That sounds a lot like God's money at work. What we have here, then, is a classic example of turning material into an argument before attempting to refute , ineffectually, an argument of his own making, then castigating Tom for not measuring up. That's called mirror-reading. Peter is castigating Tom for something that is dependent not on what Tom wrote, but what Peter assumed and inferred, and, as we shall see, it was Peter who made the connection. To your defense your usual hit men have gone silent. “Hit men.” Ah, yes, the irenic world of ad homineum invective. So much for Peter's forked tongue rhetoric about irenicism. The reason those "hit men" have "gone silent" has nothing to do with the lack of merit to Tom's response, but the obvious illogic of your own. There is some damage that can only be done by an interlocutor who continues to make the same flawed presentation. So far, they have let you do all the work. Being the agreeable guy you are, you were drawn here like fly to paper, despite your repeated and often self-refuted claims to have no grudge against Founders ministries, Calvinists, or those who post here, and now you've gotten your wings trapped in it. You drew your own negative conclusions and then you proceeded to argue with...yourself. The whole time you called for Tom to make a correction, it was, as we shall see below, nothing more than a correction of your own making, for you drew negative conclusions on your own then proceeded to castigate Tom for negative conclusions that you drew. My simple point is, if no CP money was spent, the outrage is misguided. Since Eddie McClelland himself has made the comment that had he known about the purpose for which the money he was asked to raise was to be used, he would not have done so, since his institution serves "all FL Baptists." However, even if your frame the issue without reference to “CP dollars” Brother Sullivan still used his position as Executive Director of the FBC to do this. Further, the letter does not indicate that he was acting as a “private citizen.” No, he was acting as ED of the FBC and using his access to the churches to do this. Ergo, even if we frame the issue in the terms Peter provides, there is plenty of “outrage” here. I would further point out that, as we shall see, from Peter’s own comments elsewhere, if CP dollars were used there is, in his view, still no outrage. Peter can't seem to keep track of his own thinking, or he's since changed his mind, or he's speaking with a forked tongue. I may be missing the "definition" but my question is, why would we need a technical definition in a question of this type. David did not call for a "technical" definition. This is now your tendentious characterization of the term "God's money" as defined for you by Tom, a definition given to correct an argument of your own making, Please do not chastise others for answering you on your own level. Peter can't keep track of his own argument. Tom merely answered Peter on his own level, since Peter is the one that framed the argument in those terms. Then, when answered on those terms, he complained about the answer. I simply read your post today and noticed a glaring inconsistency: "no cooperative program money was spent to send out Dr. Vines' sermons", which is directly against you've repeated numerous times and others like Brister, Lollar and Puryear followed your lead. Peter is confusing words and concepts. “God’s money” is a set of words. It can mean many things. Rather than actually, you know, ask Tom nicely to clarify, Peter came out with guns blazing. What’s more Brother Peter can't keep track of his own argumentation over time, so it seems somebody will have to do it for him by actually looking at the pertinent material. Peter mentioned Timmy Brister's comments, but where was Peter when Timmy Brister posted that? An entry from Peter is remarkably absent from that thread. If then that was an issue, then he should have said something then. Timmy did make a statement about *cooperation* not "CP dollars." These are not convertible concepts. The first mention of CP dollars in connection with this incident came from one “Davethepastor” in the form of a question in the combox, and it was not answered one way or the other. So, yet again, we have *Peter* making that connection as fact, not the writer, and what did Peter actually say about CP dollars? Peter mentioned Bill Lollar. If this alleged inaccuracy was a concern then, then Peter should have said something then. But here is what he *did* state then on Bill's blog: But know nonCalvinists such as myself could slice that pie too by whinning about Dr. Nettles who teaches at SBTS, offering a point of view that not only does not represent my views, but is far from the overwhelming majority of Southern Baptists. Do I think it is wrong to pay Dr. Nettles with my CP dollars? I do not. (emphasis mine) a. One cannot help but notice that in that thread, Bill Lollar had said nothing about CP dollars. I contacted him personally to verify this after looking for it myself, and for information about any other comments he may have made in unguarded fashion. He replied: "I did not make any reference to CP dollars funding Sullivan's CD project." b. So, Peter made that connection. And, guess, what, brothers, in my original commentary @ Triablogue, I too made that connection (a correction has since been made), but I’ve also been too hopped up on Soma and Vicodin over the past few weeks to fail to notice. At least I have an excuse. Peter’s objections are remarkably absent from that thread too. c. Speaking of which Peter apparently had no problem with the idea that if *CP dollars* were used, they should be used for such a mailing, since his own illustration involved Dr. Nettles @ SBTS, a position paid for by CP dollars with which Peter disagrees, yet he does not find it disagreeable that he teaches at SBTS on CP dollars. d. So, where is the outrage? He says he believes Tom falsely accused Brother Sullivan, but apparently it isn't *by his own words* an accusation with which he has a problem anyway if true, and it is, in reality a conclusion that Peter himself drew, so Peter is castigating Tom for falsely accusing Brother John Sullivan, but why? Peter is the one that actually did that himself in his own mind and in other comments, while believing and publicly stating that, even if true, it isn't objectionable at all. I see this on a regular basis from atheists like John Loftus, who throw up objections to Christianity which they really don’t believe anyway; I expect better from the Brethren. An atheist can’t very well attack the Bible on the grounds it is immoral if s/he doesn’t believe anything is intrinsically good or evil. In the same way, it is irrational to attack Tom, Bill, Timmy, and Les, or anybody else for connecting “CP dollars” to John Sullivan and this incident if one doesn’t believe that using CP dollars for such a project is problematic. That’s schizophrenic. So, what he does is attack Tom on the grounds that he’s called on others to retract misleading and misrepresentational statements in the past, but that’s still irrational since (a) Tom made no such statements; (b) the person making the statements was Peter from negative conclusions he himself made and then proceeded to treat as fact; and (c) John Sullivan is the ED of the FBC, a powerful position that depends on CP dollars. e. Peter stated this not because of something *Bill Lollar* stated, but because of something one *Ubergoober* stated, about "all of us" paying for it (eg. FL Baptists), and he's right, for the FL Baptist Foundation receives money from "all of us,” and John Sullivan represents “all of us” with money paid for by FL Baptist dollars. Peter was the one that made the connection to CP dollars directly, not Tom, not Bill, not even Ubergoober, you Peter, and you appeared to have made the connection not simply to his position and power, which is clearly funded by CP dollars anyway, but, as you state in this combox at this time now, regarding the mailing itself. So, framed in the terms of your own argumentation, “You are the man.” f. Greg Alford made the connection to CP dollars reflecting on the conversation between Ubergoober and Peter. So, it seems that the term "CP dollars" there is one that was invented by Peter. g. The only other reference I can find to CP dollars on this at Founders came from Aaron Turner in the combox of Tom’s first thread. There was no protracted discussion, just a comment. h. Peter mentioned Les Puryear, but Les never said anything about CP dollars being used, and Peter posted one time in that thread and said not a word about CP dollars. I personally checked with Brother Les. He wrote, “I don't have to check my blog archives because I have NEVER said anything about CP dollars other than reporting CP giving percentage from the churches on nominees to various boards and agencies. When I heard about the witch hunt in Florida I did provide a link from my blog to Tom Ascol's. However, I have never personally said anything about anyone's use of CP money, much less the FBC." Peter waited until now to raise this issue it seems, and that strikes me as eminently disingenuous, for you see, he castigates Tom for falsely accusing Brother John Sullivan for an action that, if true, he wouldn't find problematic anyway, so he doesn’t seem to really believe there’s a problem with using CP dollars for such a mailing. Apparently he’s either changed his mind secretly or he can’t keep track of his own argumentation. Ergo, he’s upset about a misrepresentation in which, if true, he does not, following his own comments at his own named sources, really believe is a problem. No, he’s concerned that Tom misrepresented John Sullivan’s actions, but that is patently false, and in fact, is a negative conclusion that Peter drew long ago on his own without any help from anybody he names and, it seems, without emailing Brother Tom, Bill, Timmy, or Les or at least voicing his concern or belief the term needs to be clarified in the combox. Further, in the midst of crying foul and holding Brother Tom accountable for allegedly bearing false witness, he bears false witness against not one, but THREE brothers in the course of a single sentence, and if you add Tom, FOUR. The only persons who have been falsely accused here are those four persons. David G: Thanks for your comment. I think you are correct about the interpretation of that phrase. I was very careful in how I worded things, both to the reporter and on the blog. I did not know if CP money was spent when I originally posted. Given the fact that the head of the Florida Financial Services co-signed the letter, I suspected it wasn't. However, resources that came from Florida Baptists most certainly were used. When Dr. Sullivan criticized the debate on resolution #5 last year at the SBC he wrote that he could not believe that 30 minutes of God's precious time was wasted on that issue. His words were in my mind when I wrote what I did. Regarding your rebuke of how I responded to Peter. I accept it and thank you for it. As you guessed, there is a long history behind our exchange. Take a peek at his blog to get the most recent rounds. I don't want to be personally defensive, for many reasons, not the least of which is that it clouds the issues at hand. So do personal attacks. Where I am guilty of making such, I am without excuse. My intent was to point out the irrationality of Dr. Lumpkins' argument. He and I have often disagreed but usually because of difference of opinion, not because of an inability to draw valid conclusions from known facts. He made assumptions and then charged me with what he assumed. I reject his assumptions and stand by my very carefully selected words--words that are in print and beyond dispute. Someone referenced Proverbs 26:4 earlier in this string. Verse 5 follows immediately after it, thus setting us on the horns of a dilemma at points. By this I do not mean to call anyone a fool, but to recognize the biblical wisdom that comes at times by refusing to engage a disputant on his own terms and at other times doing exactly that. I confess that I do not always see clearly when to do which. Thanks again for caring enough to comment and for your willingness to address me on this. God Bless you Tom. I look forward to attending the meeting in November. David G Tom, I'm not in the SBC but felt led to support the project. There are times when I wish I were part of the SBC, I love to listen to Dr. Mohler, Dr. Dever, Pastor Paul Washer, and to read your daily blog. I will look for a link to listen to your preaching in the near future. I've lived out the fruit that comes from the Anti-Calvinism camp, I come from a Calvary Chapel background, where I was ordained to the ministry and then later told I wouldn't be able to teach because of my beliefs regarding the Doctrines of Grace, specifically my classical reformed view of the Atonement, they had big issues when we got to the fine print of the doctrine and all it entailed. So the issues you are facing are not limited to the SBC. 1 Corinthians 9:24 24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. For His Glory, Mark This has turned pitiful. Tom explains himself. Tells us he has talked to Mr. Sullivan who does not see a false statement. FBC money was used though no CP. Tom never said it had been from a specific fund. Who would have thought that our former graceful visitor would lay in wait to make a poor effort at an ambush. And another visitor who has been treated warmly and for the most part gently is also posting negatively. Peter, you have yet to engage Tom, only your reading, not the actual words and intent. You have been told the supposedly offended party has no problem. Brother you have lost me. Greg Dr. Tom: Your humility is an example to us all, especially how you responded to the rebuke in this post. Again, I have reason to thank God for you, sir! SDG, dbh Dave Hewitt, Brother, please point to me where the Scripture tells us to be gentle when dealing with heresy. We are speaking about heresy, right? The DVD that we are mailing out advertises a statement from Spurgeon that says "calvinism is the gospel." If we agree with what we are mailing out, then those who say the Doctrines of Grace are heresy and a false gospel are actually teaching and believing a false gospel themselves, are they not? When Paul addressed the Galatian church he didn't say Oh foolish Galatians who has bewitched you – Oh I'm sorry I need to be more gentle. Paul didn't say let those who preach this other gospel be accursed – Oh I'm sorry that just slipped out in a moment of fleshliness. Jesus didn't say in Matthew 23 You Pharisees are fools, Oh man - didn't mean to say that. Or in John 8 when Jesus called the Pharisees sons of the devil - He didn't take it back and say that His zeal got carried away. Please show me where gentleness is commanded when dealing with heresy. Jude doesn't say it! Peter doesn't say it! I can't find it. Are we to be gentle in some situations, yes! But we are talking about the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ! I feel that gentle has left the building. I don't mean that we use physical force but I do mean that we draw a line in the sand and say here we stand and we are held captive by the Word of God and we will not move or give in. If God be for us who can be against us? No one can take anything away from us that God does not decree. Dear Gene, Thank you for your wonderful dissertation. And, quite honestly, I am flattered my little post drew such from you, Gene. I only wish the critique I humbly offered toward your flawed research on Sandy Creek could have garnered a quarter of the words, old fellow, you chose to direct toward this lost cause. I'm sure you disagree. But, we both know that's expected. As for others here, I appreciate the criticism directed toward my post. Always, in my view, ideas need--no deserve--questions. Strength builds as a result. More appreciated indeed, and oddly so, I suppose, the criticism toward me personally. I accept it--gladly. If one cannot accept without anger nor malice personal criticism, he need not crawl into the open as did I. Some of you have implied my alleged "irenic" aura is now safely vanished away. That's also acceptable to me. I do not, gentlemen, depend upon your assessments of me to influence one way or another what I will or will not say or believe. I trust similarly the same for you. If my interpretive powers are flawed in the particulars surrounding this entire fiasco, it will not be the only time this has been so. Nor will it be the last, I remain sure. And, contrary to some who believe my noetic view of sin smacks pelagianism, I remain a fallen creature presently even while I stand restored in Jesus Christ. I am a sinner; of course I can be wrong about this. Nonetheless, you are sinners too, and I conclude from that, that, at bare minimum, the possiblity equally exists that you can be wrong as well. That said, Dr. Ascol affirms he's done no wrong, along, of course, with his community here. My view is that innocence lacks--if we take the words as they are given, minus the rationalization process to make them work. I am perfectly comfortable in admitting such divide in our "takes" on the matter. And, I am perfectly at peace with the public statments I've made about it as I am sure Dr. Ascol stands no less at peace with his. Grace, brothers. And mercy for us all. With that, I am... Peter kpcalvinist my brother, You raise some good points. The issue is this, I suppose: Are the people we are seeking to win over with biblical doctrine our brothers, or aren't they? The Doctrines of Grace are important matters of the Gospel, and they are worth defending and fighting for. However, I am quite wary of drawing my sword against a brother in Christ. In Galatians, Paul spoke out critically against the Judaizers because of a critical flaw in what they were saying. Instead justification by faith alone in Christ alone, they had added a human work into the midst. They were insisting that in order to be saved, someone had to be circumcised in addition to the work of Christ in order to be saved. Paul rightly condemned this as a different Gospel, which is no Gospel at all. In fact, I have recently preached on this very thing; let me know if you are interested in it. The important difference is that we do truly believe that (the majority of) those who are currently opposing us in the SBC with regard to the DOG's are in fact our brothers. Jesus identified the Pharisees as hypocrites, which brought His strong rebuke and woes. Paul didn't think that of the Judaizers and those who bought into their lies it would seem: Galatians 5:2. These indeed are strong words. Even our semi-pelagian synergistic brothers to my knowledge accept that justification is by faith alone in Christ alone. Of course, they are completely inconsistent as to how they think this takes place, but that is part of what we seek to do -- educate them and by the grace of God they would embrace a much more biblical soteriology and that Christ would be glorified all the more. I do not doubt for a moment that TULIP is critically important for the Gospel; I believe it wholeheartedly, and will defend it to anyone who denies it, but when I do so I will seek to correct them with gentleness if at all possible. If someone persists in error and does not handle the Scripture properly and with reverence, a strong rebuke is in order. When the error is public, a public response is also in order. My point is that, especially when we are dealing with brothers and sisters in Christ, we should seek to be gentle wherever possible. I do not dispute that the time for a passionate, strong rebuke comes at times (and one can be passionate and gentle simultaneously), but unbridled zeal is rarely productive. SDG, dbh Tom, Gregg Bahnsen gave this sense to Prov 24:5,6. Don't use your opponent's presuppositions in argument or you will wind up with his conclusions. Then use his presuppositions to show he can not live consistently and rationally with his own presuppositions. I don't know how this might apply here, but that has helped me in understanding those verses. Sort of in line with your comments. As a word of encouragement, I worked with the Berean Tape Ministry in sending tapes on the doctrines of grace to the students at the seminaries and Baptist College of Florida. Some of the tapes were thrown in the trash can. Dr Lewis Lamnpley picked a set out and listened to them . He came by the Berean House and from those cast off tapes I was able to teach the doctrines of grace to a class of 7-10 black pastors for over 4 years. So let's do what we can do and trust God to do what He alone can do. By His grace alone, Cap Bro. Dave, I don't want this to turn in to a "you and me" show, so this will be my last. I understand that we want them to come to the truth and we can reach out to them in love, but love doesn't always mean soft voices and apologies. Love can be shaking the dust off your feet. You mentioned that we are dealing with brothers in Christ. Okay, let's say we are, wasn't it Jesus who rebuked Peter and said, 'get behind me Satan.' That's a conversation to an apostle. That was pretty harsch wasn't it? Peter was probably pretty broken after that, which was likely the point. Brokenness needs to come when you oppose the things of God. Luther. Thanks for the exchange Dave. kp: Your point is well taken. I, with Luther, have no desire to shrink back from the exposition of the truth of God, especially since it is under attack in the SBC right now. I will, as God allows, continue to proceed forward with gentleness. If it continually falls on unreceptive ears, a more stern message may indeed be required. My plea is simply that we exhaust gentleness before jumping to forcefulness. :) I've failed to do this on occasion, and it hasn't been a good thing. SDG, dbh Hello: I've been "lurking" for some time but never commented here. In light of several comments in this thread I'm left wondering what it is in general that people think is necessary for the Gospel and so determines who are considered to be brothers & sisters. david b. hewitt said: "My point is that, especially when we are dealing with brothers and sisters in Christ, we should seek to be gentle wherever possible." Without meaning to pass judgment on someone(s) I've never met, should those who hold to Arminian and, as is more often the case today, even Pelagian-like teachings automatically be considered brothers & sisters in Christ? And if so, on what basis? I don't deny it is possible to be trapped in this system and yet be born again (even before the reformation during the dark ages there were glimmers of light). But if a person holds to man's ability to choose God at any time, then they are really practically denying all 5 points of Calvinism in some way even if they don't admit to it (someone else stated above that Spurgeon equated Calvinism with the Gospel). How can a person have been brought to the point of utter helplessness, see that there is nothing they can do to be saved, and so rest completely on the grace of God but yet then say that it was in their ability to come to this point or that others can decide to come to this point as well? The theology would seem to contradict experience if there really is experience. Unless I am mis-reading him, Luther is pretty clear in Bondage of the Will that if one is really holding to free-will in the way that Erasmus seemed to be, then they are denying the very foundation of the Gospel and by implication the Gospel itself. Is Luther right? I'm not denying that believers can unwittingly hold to teachings that they really deny in practice, but is that really the case most of the time today? Perhaps this thread is wearing out for so many questions, but I would still be very interested to see some more dialog about this. a.shroeder, I'll let the academia fill in the details but as I see this whole issue it's like this: every person's whole theology swings on the hinges of how they answer these two questions: 1) Something happened in the garden. What happened and what was it's consequence? 2)Something happened at the cross. What happened and what was it's result? Everything else hinges on those answers. hisbygrace: If I believe that (1) Adam & Even fell in the garden & by consequence all mankind is trapped in sin and then also agree that (2) Jesus died on the cross to save sinners such as me and has propitiated the wrath of God against my sin, should I then conclude that I am a Christian and have been born again? a.shroeder, My point is this: the real issue for me isn't whether I can call someone a brother if their understanding of the gospel is not mine...someone could know the doctrines of grace and be able to argue theological points front to back...but I can't look into that person's heart and know with 100% certainty if he is converted or not. The question for me is, can I truly cooperate with someone who holds to doctrines which are contrary to my understanding of the gospel? ie: going on a mission trip to take the gospel to a people group where one believes in a decisionistic gospel and whose goal in evangelism is to evoke a "decision for Christ" from an individual, and the other is willing to tell that same individual that he is a sinner, dead in trespasses and sin, and helpless to do anything about it? Can two walk together unless they be agreed? The answers to the two questions, for me at least, is a determiner as to whether I can truly cooperate with someone in the gospel. hisbygrace, I just read your comment from earlier agreeing with kpcalvinist and would agree as well. My only point in bringing up the calling of someone a brother was just to ask why we would generally assume someone is a brother who holds to doctrines that are contrary to the very foundation of the gospel? That's not to say that just because someone understands the gospel intellectually that they are converted, though ("you must be born again"). You raise good questions. I would add also: Should we even be calling "Christian" a system of theology that is contrary to the foundations of gospel? I am convinced (rightly or wrongly) as a layperon that the biggest stumbling block we have to the Doctrines of Grace is one word: Calvin. He was just a man and none of us want to go back to a state church with magistrates and Baptising infants. Why even mention his name when discussing or teaching election? If he is credited with 'systemizing' theology, then why not just teach it out of scripture. I hear more about 'Calvin' in reformed circles than I do about Jesus Christ. I believe this is a great failing of a most beautiful truth of scripture. Someone once said that the SBC is many but not much. The Texas and Florida mailouts are too coincidental to not have been carefully discussed and planned. What you are doing Tom in helping make the Amazing Grace DVD available is honorable. Wish Texan pastors had the same oppty to receive. genembridges is correct in that the main objective is the reform within the churches. At a local SBC church, the new pastor upon taking office last year immediately changed the way we received new members. Gone was the three-month waiting period of evaluation. Instead, he reinstated the usual "Walk Forward/Join the Church" process. He did this arbitrarily, without consulting the deacons, without consulting staff. There were not many protests. The mindset of "walk/join" is the macrocosm within the convenetion. The mindset needs changing first and foremost before any serious discussion can take place about church membership. The pessimist would ask whether any serious discussion (theological, ecclesiological) can even take place at large within the SBC, where many leading evanglicals wonder about its theological astuteness. Dr. Ascol, I hope you will reflect on the comments on this thread. Many times you have said that non-Calvinists are too afraid of Calvinists. Maybe you can see here that some of it is not imaginary. There are many Calvinists out there who can scarcely imagine that a non-Calvinist could be saved. Non sometimes meaning 3 or 3.5 points. You have said that you can count non-Calvinists as brothers. There are plenty of Calvinists out there who only see non-Calvinists as embracing a false gospel. Karen: Thanks for your comment. You raise a very important point about how I operate this blog. I have tried to be clear about my views on the issues you raise. And I have acknowledged that some with whom I agree theologically are just as a great a hindrance to reformation and true fellowship through arrogance and lack of love as are some with whom I disagree. In the "guidelines" that are available through the hotlink on the right of the page, I explain why I grant great leeway in what is put in the comments here. It is not because I agree with everything or approve of everything. Rather, this approach allows at least one measure of the kinds of thinking and attitudes that are "out there." Here is part of the rationale: ." Perhaps it is time for me to rethink this policy and tighten the ground rules for commenting. I am open to that. In one sense it would make it easier on me. Thanks again for your comment. Please don't allow those on the radical fringe (which is how I would describe those guilty of the views you mention) define how the majority of those committed to reformed theology think or relate. I sometimes describe myself as a 5-point Calvinist who is not mad about it. I think that is true of most of us. Lin Said, "I am convinced (rightly or wrongly) as a layperon that the biggest stumbling block we have to the Doctrines of Grace is one word: Calvin." Lin, though I understand your thinking, I must respectfully disagree. I think you are oversimplifying the matter. As another layman who has been a member of 3 different Atlanta area SBC mega churches, I can assure you that the vast majority of "Christians" in these churches know nothing of either Calvin or Spurgeon. They are just names that they hear from time to time from the pulpit when certain quotes suit the pastors message. On the other hand you have the gatekeepers of the convention that should be well aware of the difference between Calvin and Spurgeon, the doctrines of grace and Presbyterianism. If they don't, who is responsible for their ignorance?. Lin, we can try to use terms that may be less offensive, but unless the Spirit works on their hearts they won't accept the truth either way. Our only option is to speak the truth in love and let the chips fall where HE wills. ." I know and understand. That is the whole point. Our allegiance should be to the Word ONLY. Election: It is in there, plain as day. "Lin, we can try to use terms that may be less offensive, but unless the Spirit works on their hearts they won't accept the truth either way. Our only option is to speak the truth in love and let the chips fall where HE wills." Friend, I must have not communicated well. It is NOT about being less offensive or politically correct. It is about glorifying God and His Word..not 'mans' words. My goodness, we have enough following of 'man' out there. I have often wondered why the other 'side' does not refer to altar calls as "Finney's" or decisions for Christ, "Grahams". :o) Grace and Peace of our Savior to you, friend. Karen in OK said: "You have said that you can count non-Calvinists as brothers. There are plenty of Calvinists out there who only see non-Calvinists as embracing a false gospel." I'm not sure who in this thread that is directed at, but I'll attempt to bite since my comments might seem to imply something along these lines. First, I would not consider myself a Calvinist. In recent times everyone has their own definition of that term and so using it can be very misleading and generally I've found it's not very helpful. Yes, I believe that (1) man is utterly dead in sin by nature and those who assert that man has some natural ability to do good are really denying the concept of original sin and by extension the very foundation of the gospel. But if I believe this, it follows that (2) salvation is utterly 100% grace and is not caused by anything in man because there is nothing in man to cause it. To believe otherwise is to deny the first point, not to mention a great deal of Scripture. It then follows (logically & Biblically) that if some are saved and others not, that (3) this decision is entirely of God. To deny this is to deny the second point, which is then to also deny the first. From this it follows Biblically that (4) God has not decided to save every single human. To contradict this is to be a universalist. To deny it is to deny one of the previous points and by extension the rest of them. Then, if the cause of salvation totally rests in God and His will, then it follows that (5) those who He wills to save WILL be saved. Again, to deny this is to deny the rest of the points as well. If this is true (and I am open to discussion), then so far we can see that these 5 points (which some call 4 of the 5 points of Calvinism) all stand or fall together. If someone denies God's choice or election, we must attempt to see the motivation for why they are denying it. If it is simply that they have heard bad things about mean Calvinists, then that is understandable. But if the motivation in denying it is clinging to the free-will of man (and so the bound will of God to man) then their view of God and man is contrary to the foundation of the gospel itself. I am not saying that such a person absolutely cannot be a born-again believer, but I am saying that what they believe is contrary to the Gospel. It's not just some minor points or secondary issues. It's the Gospel itself. Now, is the assumption that what I am saying is motivated by a hatred for people and a love of Calvin? Or could it perhaps be motivated by a love for God and a burden for many who are decieved to see the truth of His character? i'm not a five point calvinist. i believe in salvation by grace. i believe that only thru the death of Jesus on the cross is what's gonna get me into heaven. do yall think that i'm saved? i'm not a five pointer...i believe that man is a free moral agent who makes real choices and has responsibility for his choices. do yall think that i'm saved? david Hey VolFan, are you shaking your head with me and thinking these people haven't got a single clue what it is we actually believe and why? volfan007 said: i believe that man is a free moral agent who makes real choices and has responsibility for his choices. All so-called "Calvinists" I know of also believe that man makes real choices and has responsibility for those choices. That is not the issue. The question is, what do you mean by "free moral agent" or what is meant by free-will? Do you mean: 1. Man is free to choose God without God first giving grace. Or, 2. Simply that man always acts according to his will because his will is really his greatest desire and man always acts according to his greatest desire. Apart from God first working grace, man's desire will always be sinful and never for God. If #1, then how can one really claim to hold to a salvation of grace when the "cause" or motivator of the salvation is one's own decision apart from grace? In that scenario, man himself is the root cause of salvation, not the grace of God. #1 leads to a gospel of human ability not grace. #2 is basically what Jonathan Edwards, the reformers and most other "Calvinists" actually believe (perhaps except for a very very small number of historical hyper-calvinists, but I've never actually met one that I know of). a.schroeder, here's the problem - you're taking one part of what you think you know about our "system" and putting it through the filter of your "system" and stating that it's illogical. And the question isn't is it logical but is it scriptural. volfan007: Just another quick point -- just because you believe those things does not mean that you are saved. In fact, just because somebody believes the 5-points of Calvinism does not mean they are saved. True faith does not reside solely in the intellect. The love of God must be in the soul and there must be some spiritual sight of the glory of God (faith). I'm not making any judgment about you -- based on what you just said I would neither assume you are a believer or an un-believer. On the one hand, assurance of salvation is the work of the Spirit. On the other, we can at times say with a good deal of confidence that somebody is NOT a believer, especially if it is clear that they deny the gospel (not just in mis-undertandings of words). David, I am thoroughly reformed. I believe you are truly saved if you are relying on the death of Jesus alone for your redemption. However, as one convinced of the doctrines of grace, I believe your understanding of grace falls short of the Biblical revelation. Sort of like Apollos needing to be explained the way of God more adequately. I mean all of that as humbly as I can. I have simply never found adequate exegesis by a non-reformed theologian on passages such as John 6, Ephesians 1 and 2, and Romans 9; not to mention the way election is portrayed in the Old Testament in persons like Abraham. Mary, "these people" probably isn't the best way to converse with anyone, much less Christians, as it at least flirts with condescension. I, for one, would assume I have quite a clue about non-reformed beliefs. After all, I grew up in them (Arminian/general Baptist principles) for 18 years, fought against the doctrines of grace for a number of years after that, until about 5 years ago it finally clicked for me. I am not alone. I assume many of the brothers here were non-reformed before they were reformed. This does not prove the reformed faith, but it does disprove your notion that we are just plain ignorant of what a non-reformed Christian believes. If you want to speak to the superiority of your views contra the doctrines of grace, I am all ears to see what I could learn. Seriously. I am not beyond convincing there could be better understandings than what I currently have. I will need some convincing after your comment above that you are really interested in things of such substance. Well Brian, by all means sense you know exatly what it is I believe then please make corrections to the multiple errors in this thread. Thank you for the welcome to this blog. Oh and Brian, you didn't just flirt with the condescension you married it. Don't hurt yourself patting yourself on the back for having evolved into a higher form of Christianity than us mere mortals. Thanks Dr. Ascol, I see nothing ever changes here at your blog. Condescension oozes off the computer screen as always along with caricutures and misrepresentations. Mary: What exactly is "your system" that I don't understand? I agree that we must be Biblical, but I also believe that the Bible is logical & if there are contradictions, then the problem is with our interpretation of the scriptures not that the Bible contradicts itself. What the question comes down to is this: What is the final & ultimate motivator of salvation? Is it the grace of God or something in man? Does God choose who He will give grace to or does He simply forsee what man will choose and act accordingly? do you all think that i preach a true Gospel message whenever i'm not a five point calvinist? david Brian, I have a question for you. You have written that you are "throughly" Reformed. Are you sure ? Do you mean that you are Padeobaptist? Are you Amill in your Eschatology ? Let me go on record that I am . Do you let the unbaptized join the visible church ? Do you let them take the Lord's Supper while being unconverted and unbaptized ? I trust that you mean when you say that you are " throughly Reformed " that you mean that Salvation is of the Lord, High view of God and low view of man, You believe in Church Discipline, Regenerate Church membership and so on.... ? It is so important to be clear these days in Baptist circles. The reason why I ask you these things is because I am teaching seven new potential church members that are visting our church on Thursday nights a class on Baptist History, theology . One of the couples who are Baptist said " We are looking for a Reformed Church and my wife and I are " Reformed to the Core". My response was really" Are you Reformed to the Core or are you a Calvinistic Baptist as I am and our church" . As we discussed what the differences were they said " We are Calvinistic Baptist". I mean no harm or aggravation toward you but we need to be clear on this blog that we are Calvinistic Baptist rather than " Throughly Reformed". Volfan007, First, you ought to be ashamed that you are not an Auburn fan. I already forgive you. You could be worse and be like Timmy Brister in being an Alabama fan. Please tell me as UT man that you and I share a major dislike toward Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide of Alabama ? It would help when asking your question if you will tell us what you believe the gospel to be then people could answer your question better. BTW, I got some inside info that it has already been Predestined that Auburn wins the SEC championship this year however you guys are still responsible in showing up and letting Auburn and Georgia " Tear you Boys Up" ! Ha Ha ! volfan, I believe someone who is not a "calvinist" can absolutely preach the true gospel. I think most of us were saved under the ministries of men who were not "calvinists" or in churches that were not. My question is a flip of that: do you believe "calvinists" preach the true gospel? I'm pretty sure YOU would say yes. But if you think it is the position of most non-calvinists that calvinists actually DO preach the true gospel...then why is there such rancor and hatred in the tone that "calvinists" are talked about and talked to? mary, Why such condescension and vitriol in your tone? If you want to discuss these things, I think a much wiser plan of attack would be to ask questions or discuss Scripture passages...rather than coming and 'talking down' to people on here. You mentioned the arrogance of people here, but something tells me you didn't think about how arrogant that accusation was. I think you'll find that if you openly discuss things here, the tone will stay friendly. JG BTW, volfan, I don't think your non-calvinist views distort the gospel...but being a Vol fan certainly does. :) Go Gators! J.Gray, In the introduction to The Bondage of the Will (Packer/Johnston translation) it says the following: "The man who has not practically and experimentally learned the bondage of his will in sin has not yet comprehended any part of the gospel; for this is the hinge on which all turns, the ground on which the gospel rests." (page 45) It's also been said that Luther thought this was his most important theological work. The question becomes, is Luther right? Is a denial of free-will in the way Erasmus presented it that important? If so, I can think of quite a few major implications. If not, then shouldn't we at least admit that we are more in line with Erasmus' side of the argument than Luther's? We have drifted considerably beyond the original purpose of this post. For that reason, and because teh ground being covered now has been sufficiently covered elsewhere (on this blog and other blogs), I am closing out the comments. Thanks for participating. Pray for this project. Press on!

http://blog.founders.org/2007/06/florida-baptist-truth-project-send.html?showComment=1182130020000

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In the last part of FusionCharts XT with ASP.NET series, we will create LinkedCharts using MS SQL Server data and C#. LinkedCharts is a pioneering concept by FusionCharts, which allows you to create unlimited levels of drill-down using a single data source. LinkedCharts is most useful when the user requires to go from a summarized view. Read the rest of this entry »

http://blog.fusioncharts.com/tag/linkedcharts/

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Thursday, February 18, 2010 Impressions from IWEEE 2010 by Luis Falcon The first International Workshop on e-Health for Emerging Economies - IWEEE 2010 - has been a success. In these three days, we have had the oportunity to learn the reality from personalities coming all different parts the world: Uganda, Canada, Belgium, United States, Rwanda, Spain, Argentina, Colombia, Germany and Switzerland. We heard Ans de Jager (War Child) talking about the need of energy for the kids in Northern Uganda; Carlos Travieso (ULPGC) using biometrics to identify aborigins in Costa Rica for Medical purposes; Pedro Herranz (Caritas) explaining the huge gap among the "North and the South"; Dr Caminero discussing the links between poberty and tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS; Cesar Brod and Corinto Meffe (Brazilian Government) talked about how free software is being used in the public sector. Dr. Moses Isyagi explained how they've been doing telepathology in rural areas of Uganda. Dr Carmen Martín (Red Cross) talked about the efforts being made to help the elderly and the people with special needs. On the technical side, Mark Höller and Thomas Karopka (German IT Center) talked about adapting Medical for Nursing and the need for convergence. Norman Young (Clear Canvas) showed us a demo how open source is working in the field of Radiology. Raúl Zambrano (United Nations) talked about the rol of the United Nations Development Program and the importance of free software as a public good. Rayco and Alfonso García (ULPGC - OSL) talked about the COREi project. We had the visit of Dr. Bernardo Agudelo and Juan José Vélez, from the University of Antioquía, Colombia, who demo the use of free software in a red-code protocol. Dr. Etienne Saliez explain the need of having a working group that include multi-disciplinary team of doctors and scientists. Finally I talked about our NGO, GNU Solidario, and the Medical project in Latin America, Africa and Asia. The slogan for this congress was "The Human Factor" , a key concept missing from many of other e-Health events. IWEEE 2010 has been focused on the human factor, considering that health is a human right, and that all the contributing factors - education, access to technology, employment, nutrition, family affection, energy, peace, ... - must be also met in order to have healthy individuals and societies. The round table discussion among the multi-disciplinary representatives (NGOs, government, church and UN) gave all the participants the opportunity not only to expose their realities, but to discuss possible solutions to the most urgent needs. Organizing an event like IWEEE is a great challenge, and, even though we had been working non-stop for a year there where high expectations that we had to deliver. Finally, I must say that those expectations have been met, and that we have been asked to organize IWEEE 2011, again in Canary Islands, which we have already started to do. My gratitude to Fundación La Caixa, the University of Las Palmas (specially to Fernando Real ), Consejería de Sanidad (who provided the Hospital Auditorium) , Colegio de Médicos de Las Palmas, Gran Canaria Turism and Innovation Bureau, Cabildo de Gran Canaria ( specially to Carmelo Ramírez ) and to Juan Montero from UNESCO. My gratitude goes to all of you who have participated and donated your time, experience and knowledge, putting them in the hands who need it most. I'm looking forward to seeing you again in IWEEE 2011. Publicado por Selene Cordara 12:22 PM Etiquetas: free software , fsf , gnu , GNU Health , gnu solidario , iweee Posts (Atom)

http://blog.gnusolidario.org/2010_02_01_archive.html

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Club News, RV News Now Available! NEW Edition of the Digital Highways January 31, 2012 by Good Sam · 5 Comments We’re kicking 2012 off with a NEW edition of your favorite RV magazine – Highways! This edition is packed with excitement from cover to cover, complete with your favorites such as Tech Topics and Chapter Chat and also includes important Good Sam news beneficial for all members. The Club’s recent announcement about the combination of the former President’s Club and the Good Sam Club and the new, money-saving benefits available to all members is broken down to give you even more details on just how you can take advantage of these great new features and in turn, getting the most value from your membership. Additionally, the new Highways provides you with a thrilling guide to the natural wonders of the 49th state, Alaska, and it also highlights the exhilaration that is scheduled to take place in other states for the three 2012 Rallies! As if this weren’t enough, the excitement of this edition climaxes with the announcement of this year’s RVer of the Year (drum roll, please)! So what are you waiting for? Start reading the Digital Highways online now! Highlighted Articles: Your new online issue will not load, it tries but don’t go past 98%. Click on it several times and waited up to 10 minutes. The whole issue with the digital Highways magazine is a poor reflection on Good Sam. The problem Ed Borland described is probably due to the fact they PDF file are huge (45 MB is not needed). The whole concept of the pdf is to provide a smaller file for electronic transmission. The files need to be optimized. A computer screen can only display 72dpi so there is no reason to load up the file with high resolution pictures. If you go back to pre May 2011 and look at the archived files that worked you will find a solution. This is not the first time I have brought up the problem and a suggested solution to no avail. I think we the members have really lost with the new management’s approach. They don’t seem to care about the people who pay their salaries. Get the webmaster to get it right. I just tried to download archived copies and no matter what issue I requested the same on was downloaded so it doesn’t work. Good Sam says: Roger, we apologize for this inconvenience. This issue has now been corrected. Thanks for your patience and for being a Good Sam member. What ever happened to the Android Good Sam app that was due by December? Don – thank you for your interest in this app. We hope to be able to provide the Good Sam app at some point in 2013. The great news is Trailer Life Directory already has produced the RV Park Finder app that shows Good Sam RV Park locations that can be utilized in the meantime. Thanks for your patience and for being a Good Sam member!

http://blog.goodsamclub.com/2012/01/highwaysmagazine/

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Go Green with Grand Geneva during Earth month 2011 11 Apr, 2011 This April, the AAA Four Diamond Grand Geneva Resort & Spa invites travelers to commemorate Earth Month by experiencing the array of eco-friendly amenities and services available across the property. With features ranging from an on-site electric car charging station to native grass preserves located on its award-winning golf courses, Grand Geneva — the only Travel Green Wisconsin-certified resort in Lake Geneva —has made innovative, eco-friendly strides throughout the past two years. Recently, the resort announced impressive findings of its environmentally efficient boiler system, which will allow the Grand Geneva to save 30,000 gallons of water and reduce its CO2 emissions by seven tons per year. “We understand that travelers have an ever-growing interest in green destinations, and were ecstatic to learn the significant conservation results of our efforts,” said Grand Geneva Managing Director Brett Sundstrom. “We are proud of the environmentally friendly business practices that are currently in place, and we are committed to building upon those in an effort to reduce our carbon footprint.” Throughout the month of April, travelers are encouraged to take advantage of the Grand Geneva’s green features, which include: 1. Electric Car Charging Station: Last year, the Grand Geneva became the first resort in the Midwest to offer an on-site charging station for electric, plug-in automobiles. Manufactured by Coulomb Technologies, the ChargePoint Networked Electric Car Charging Station is complimentary to both guests and the general public, meaning that electric car owners living as far away as Chicago can now travel to the Grand Geneva and back without spending a penny on transportation. 2. Natural Herb & Vegetable Garden: Executive Chef Robert Fedorko grows organic, fresh produce on-site that is used in his award-winning cuisine at the resort’s signature, restaurants Geneva ChopHouse and Ristorante Brissago. The garden also serves as an educational tool for the resort’s culinary students, who tend the garden and track its growth. 3. Green Golf: Golfers who hit the links at the Grand Geneva’s Highlands golf course will note the tens of thousands of square feet of the course dedicated to native grass preservation. 4. Local Bottled Water for a Cause: All bottled water served to guests on the Grand Geneva campus is tapped from natural springs in nearby Chippewa Falls and bottled by employees of Goodwill. 5. 100% Smoke-Free Indoor Environments For more information about the Grand Geneva and its eco-friendly offerings, please visit.

http://blog.grandgeneva.com/2011/04/go-green-with-grand-geneva-during-earth-month-2011/

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Ladies, we know how important your makeup is to you. We know how often you splurge on new mascara or brushes to keep your makeup collection in tip-top shape. But we’ve all been there– you suddenly loose your favorite new Lady Gaga limited edition lipstick in your bottomless purse or ruin your brushes in the midst of travel. So, we’ve identified some tips and products to help you keep your makeup collection fresh all year round! KEEP IT OR TOSS IT? We’re always wondering if we should keep our six-month-old eyeshadows and face creams or run to the store to purchase all new beauty products– we’re sure you’re wondering the same. For beauty tips, we’ve looked to Mario Dedivanovic, a celebrity makeup artist whose work has been featured in top magazines (he shares celeb beauty secrets in his tell-all blog). We first asked Mario about mascara. How do you know when it’s expired? Mario says, “Mascara will begin to go bad after about 2-3 months. When the wand comes out looking dry and flaky, it’s time for a new mascara. Another simple way to tell when your mascara is too old is by smelling it. After a few months of use, mascara tends to get a very bitter smell – similar to vinegar in my opinion. If something smells abnormal like that, close it and toss it.” Since we all love luscious lashes, this is definitely a tip worth remembering. Next comes foundation. Especially for liquid foundation, Mario says if it “begins to seperate in the bottle and change colors, please do yourself and your skin a favor and get rid of it. Products that contain oils will eventually go bad and will certainly accumulate all kinds of bacteria.” What else can’t Mario stand? Filthy sponges. Mario tells us “wash your sponge at least once a week. It takes a few seconds to wash with soap and water. Reusing these sponges over time and not washing them will be more harmful to your skin than anything else. If you dont want to wash them, you can use a new sponge every time and toss it when done. Every pharmacy has bags of disposable sponges that are fairly inexpensive.” Washing your sponges will keep your skin and your makeup fresh– good to know! KEEP IT ORGANIZED Most of us have a simple makeup bag that holds absolutely everything we need to keep our faces looking pretty. But, we’re here to tell you that there’s a much better way to store your makeup. A cosmetic travel pouch is lightweight, washable, and has specific compartments for all your makeup essentials. You’ll finally be able to see what you have (or don’t have), and can keep items secure in your purse or while traveling. Another solution? A purse organizer. Instead of taking their entire makeup bag, many women will simply carry a lipstick, mascara and blush for touchups. The problem? We know how many other items you carry in that enormous bag of yours. So try a purse organizer– it fits right into your bag and has exterior pockets to hold anything and everything (including makeup)! A cosmetic pouch or purse organizer will help with Mario’s final tip: “Try keeping liquid and cream products including lipsticks and glosses away from the sunlight. Instead, store them somewhere dark and cool like a drawer or medicine cabinet.” There you have it, ladies. Now go clean up those makeup bags! For more information about products and ordering, visit.

http://blog.greatusefulstuff.com/2011/07/26/fresh-tips-for-beauty-bliss/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=f636fc8316

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For years, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. (GMCR) has awarded grants to improve the quality of life in coffee-growing communities around the world. Now, for the first time in the history of our philanthropic giving, we’ve chosen to fund a supply chain project within the United States related to our growing portfolio of non-coffee products, with a $125,000 grant to the Madison House Youth and Community Center of Yakima, WA. Mad Yakima Valley. “It was a natural fit,” said Rick Peyser, Director of Social Advocacy and Supply Chain Community Outreach for GMCR. “We are pleased to be able to support Madison House because the organization provides much-needed services to the people who pick and process our apples.” This $125,000 grant will fund adult education at Madison House, including scholarships, program materials and supplies, a full-time adult education coordinator, GED testing fees, and childcare. “This partnership represents an exciting opportunity for both organizations to expand efforts to reduce generational poverty,” said Sara Holtzinger, Madison House Development Director. “To change the culture of our communities, we must work to change the culture of our homes. That’s why adult education, and the childcare that’s necessary to support it, are so important.” We were introduced to Madison House by representatives of Tree Top, a grower-owned cooperative that operates eight fruit processing facilities in Washington, Oregon, and California. “Good things happen when people work together to care for communities within the supply chain,” said Sharon Miracle, Corporate Communications Director for Tree Top, Inc. We’re excited to continue our supply-chain outreach through grants to organizations like the Madison House Youth and Community Center. Comments for Reaching Beyond Coffee to Support Yakima, WA Apple Pickers

http://blog.greenmountaincoffee.com/blog/amanda/reaching-beyond-coffee-to-support-yakima-wa-apple-pickers

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Single Shot: Vancouver Drain Cover Many times, pedestrians don’t ever take notice of drain covers, but we love finding new drain cover patterns. Surprisingly, they are great inspiration pieces for denim hardware and patterns. This frog and tadpole patterned drain cover was found in Vancouver, BC. Thanks to Mary Quite Contrary for the find! Read more.. Tuesday, January 24th, 2012

http://blog.habitual.com/tag/drain-covers/

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The. It's a good thing many people not as wise yesterday are much wiser today! Obama's campaign of an uninsured man who lost his wife to cancer. How dare his administration exploit a man's emotions to convince the man to publically blame someone totally unassociated to the situation, imply murder! For one: he neglected to pick up on his wife's symptoms of her illness or that she was ill. For two: insurance doesn't care. It's a piece of paper that never stopped anyone from getting medical attention before obama. For three: no one should use the lack of insurance to hold them back from getting medical care! Health care is only as good as the hands you put it in. 5 people close to me died since Obama's been president. NONE of old age or naturally. The social care as obamacare has been infiltrating private insurance for years. All 5 were insured. All 5 were living independently, self reliant, not tax burdens to society. ALL but one experienced great medical neglect observed by visitors whom also observed horrific manipulation of the conditions enduring, CAUSING their death. To suggest insurance saves lives or cures cancers is misleading and distorted! People save or kill lives and cure or create cancers! Isn't this against the law, oh I forgot Obama doesn't care about the law. IF Big O is paying these folks out of his own pocket, it is NONE of our business. HOWEVER, if they are being paid out of the taxpayers' coffers, THEN it is public information covered by the "Freedom of Information Act." Perhaps there is a way to get this information after all . . . how about we SHUT OFF THE MONEY until the POTHUS and his minions TELL THE TRUTH for a change!!! Are they paid out of a secret checkbook or something? Why can't we just ask for the information and receive it without such a struggle every single time? And lastly, where have the watch dogs been for the past four years that this is only coming to light now and the questions are FINALLY being asked????? The most "transparent presidency" in history, isn't. Obama said that just so he could get elected. He's as transparent as Nixon. barrys rule: it does not matter what you do as long as you win. the laws be damned" Wow! You mean Obama's regime is not the most "transparent" in history? What a surprise! This what happens when the progressive elite run the country. They use our money to promote themselves. The "Word is out" this photographer is being paid twice; once by the white house and again by the obama campaign. and maybe even a third time since:. The only thing I couldn't find is who in the white house he is related to.

http://blog.heritage.org/2012/08/08/white-house-wont-disclose-cost-of-obamas-promotional-videos/

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. They’ll each be signing their latest releases after the lecture; tickets are going fast – get yours here. Last week, Rollins gave us a sneak peak in his own guest blog; this week Berry talks about the upcoming lecture. Fiction into reality? That’s a little backwards for me. What I do is turn reality into fiction. I like to find something from the past—the Amber Room, the lost Romanov children, Charlemagne, the tomb of Alexander the Great—items or artifacts you may not know much about (but, hopefully, would enjoy exploring), then weave a modern day tale around them. The kind of stories I’ve always like to read have a mix of secrets, conspiracies, history, action, adventure and international settings. So it was only natural that I would write that same kind of story. Every novel for me starts as a treasure hunt. I’m searching for bits of reality that somehow can be woven together into a coherent plot. And it’s not easy. In fact, the challenge is to find the most unrelated stuff as possible, then relate them through a twist of the facts. While doing this, I have to always keep in mind that I’m not writing a textbook, it’s a novel, whose primary job is to entertain. But that doesn’t mean the reader can’t learn some stuff along the way. I enjoy that aspect, and I’ve come to learn that my readers do too. I’m careful, though, with my twisting, and I make sure the reader knows where I played with the facts by including a writer’s note at the end of each of my books. In Houston, on January 19th, Jim Rollins and I will be discussing all of this. Jim’s books are a little history and lot of science, mine are the other way around. But we both definitely like to tinker with reality. For me, every book involves around 200 -300 sources obtained from many trips to bookstores; lots of internet browsing; and at least one visit to a locale important to the book. I have, for days, sat in a German Cathedral (The Charlemagne Pursuit); roamed an abbey in Portugal (The Alexandria Link); scoured Paris (The Paris Vendetta); climbed citadels in southern France (The Templar Legacy); boated all over Venice (The Venetian Betrayal); and wandered through the Kremlin (The Romanov Prophecy). But that’s all part of the job. So drop by January 19th to the museum at 6:30 and spend an evening with me and Jim Rollins. Have your questions ready. See you then. An Evening of Thrills: How Science and History Make Great Thrillers will take place on Tuesday, Jan. 19 at 6:30 pm. Both authors will sign copies of their latest works after the lecture; copies will be available for purchase from Murder by the Book. Tickets are available here.

http://blog.hmns.org/tag/james-rollins/

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“Feet don’t fail me now”… thus begins the debut disc from New York native, Lana Del Rey. The title track from Born To Die starts the disc off on the right foot, but clearly she’s walking with two different feet. By the end of 2011, I had heard the name Lana Del Rey as much as I heard the name Adele. Without hearing a single note of music from the girl, she was exploding through the critical stratosphere, propelled by the song “Video Games”. Fast forward some weeks later and my first exposure to Del Rey’s music, much like many others, she appeared on Saturday Night Live. Like watching a deer in the headlights, I thought her appearance was one of the show’s skits. Del Rey injected “Video Games” with the passion of a corpse and appeared more awkward than the freshest of freshmen at their first day of high school. It was uncomfortable at first, and then I decided to stop the pain and go to bed. Clearly she wasn’t prepared for such a national/international stage and it turned me right off the girl. With the backlash that followed, I began to feel sorry for her, starting to chastise her management for throwing her to the wolves like that. Since then, Born To Die came out and while resistant at first (the album sat on my desk for a couple of weeks) Del Rey’s face stared at me, almost daring me to give it a listen. The verdict? Surprisingly good actually, but songs can be split into two teams: one where she applies a more hushed, smokey tone that will appeal to an older demographic; the other. definitely to aim for her own age demographic. Del Rey’s deep voice on “Born To Die” recalls the somber tones of Mazzy Star’s "Hope Sandoval," and was enough to make me instantly rethink my initial dismissal of her. The song’s sweeping strings and muted beats compliment the range of Del Rey’s voice nicely and while it would be easy to tread into adult contemporary territory, the lyrics and production lend it a current and vital vibe. The album is hit and miss from there. The hits “Blue Jeans”, “Video Games,” and “Born To Die” are definitely worth the price of admission alone. These are the songs that wear well with the evening gown. I can almost picture her singing these in place of Isabella Rossellini in Blue Velvet. The misses for me are the tracks where Del Rey sounds like she’s channeling Britney Spears. While this poppier stuff might find a home on the Top 40, ultimately they are forgettable and it will be the slower, almost Florence and the Machine style, that will continue carrying of Del Rey’s torch. The girl is new and I should cut her some slack. She’s new to her feet, but given the dual personalities, she will need to decide which foot fits her best. The following guest blog is written by Indigo's Regional Assortment Analyst, Andrew Rodwell. **** When I was a teenager I learned to play several musical instruments. Of all of them, the guitar was my nemesis. Give me anything brass or with a reed I could play passably well, or at least not terribly, but the guitar required practice and dedication. I just wasn’t that dedicated and my interest waned over the years. A few years ago I finally admitted defeat and sold my acoustic guitar after a decade of disuse. But it would have been great to play the guitar as an adult. I love music and I truly admire musicians in their skill and artistry. Evidently Gary Marcus, as he writes in Guitar Zero, admires their skill and artistry, too. Guitar Zero is a little bit A.J. Jacobs and a little bit Steven Pinker. Gary Marcus wants to learn how to play the guitar before he turns 40, though he has no previous musical training…or obvious talent. Marcus describes his musical adventure in adult learning with establishing the challenges of learning the guitar over, for example, the piano. Marcus explains how learning the guitar is much more difficult than learning the piano due to the many different ways a guitarist can play the same note. Each note on a piano is assigned a unique key, quite unlike the guitar. Examining this difference leads Marcus to explore how the human brain understands music, both as a listener and as a player. Marcus is interested in what makes great musicians great. Physical dexterity is one of the characteristics needed for virtuosity. Great guitar players, he points out, have very fast and dextrous fingers. To me, the most interesting observation Marcus makes, is that virtuoso performances often manipulate timing and tempo to highlight the lead performance. If the lead performer plays just a few milliseconds ahead of their accompaniment, their performance will be noticeably more prominent to the listener. And how the listener hears is as fascinating as the how the musician plays, especially the trained listener, such as a musician or a producer—who can hear things in the music most people do not notice. Musical structures create musical narratives or even jokes - if you know what you are listening for. By the end of the book, Marcus can listen to Miles Davis and understand what he’s doing with his musical choices. This deeper understanding leads to a deeper appreciation of music. Throughout Guitar Zero Marcus asks and attempts to answer many questions: Can a person learn to play a musical instrument later in life? And learn to play it well? Is there a critical period where a person is most apt to pick a new skill? Professional thinkologist Malcolm Gladwell postulates that to be good at something you need to have done that thing for 10,000 hours. That may apply to many activities. Is this true of music as well? Can a person be born with musical talent? Does it give you a leg up if you come from a family of musicians? I found Guitar Zero to be an engaging exploration of the cognitive geography of music and the human mind, and the social aspect of music making. As noted above, Marcus’s most compelling and reverent theme is that of virtuosity; how some musicians can understand music so well—with its mathematical and often bizarre rules—that they can break those rules, improvise, and perform compositions that are greater than the notes from which they are composed. Marcus does not answer the question of where virtuosity comes from, but that is alright, as long as there is beautiful music to listen to and gifted musicians to play it. Steve Martin is a man of multiple talents. Known to many of us as an actor in films like The Three Amigos! and Father of the Bride, Martin has also written the bestselling novels Shopgirl (which he adapted for a film) and An Object of Beauty. He also plays banjo with his bluegrass band, The Steep Canyon Rangers. His newest book, The Ten, Make That Nine, Habits of Very Organized People. Make that Ten. The Tweets of Steve Martin, is a collection of his witty tweets that have gained him 2.3 million followers on Twitter. You can read an except of this very funny book thanks to HBG Canada. Read below, as Steve Martin answers questions on his Grammy wins, the perils of the banjo world "beefs," and his inspiration for The Tweets of Steven Martin: Q: One more Grammy and you’ll catch up Taylor Swift. Is the prospect of winning another still exciting? Steve Martin (SM): I want to win not only for the glory and the pleasure of defeating the other nominees, but also for the glory and the pleasure of defeating the other nominees. Q: Do you have an acceptance speech planned? SM: I don’t, but I do have a copy of Alison Krauss’ acceptance speech for her last 37 wins. Q: Are you friendly with the other nominees in the bluegrass category? SM: I have met all of them and liked all of them until now. Q: Are there banjo “beefs” similar to those in the rap world? SM: Similar, except we use poison. Q: Most indelible banjo moment in pop culture? SM: They are too not-numerable to name. Q: What sort of expectations/hopes/fears do you have about playing [the Stagecoach Festival]? SM: We have played Bonnaroo, the New Orleans Jazz Festival and the Newport Jazz Festival. That said, I didn’t know I should be worried about playing Stagecoach until just now. Q: And then there's the book [out on Feb. 21]. What was your inspiration, in 140 characters or less? SM: I am very excited about my Twitter book, which is released on February 21, because it ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This interview conducted by Lorraine Ali, originally appeard on the Los Angeles Times blog. We'd like to think HBG Canada for allowing us to repost it here. The Tweets of Steve Martin is now available. ISBN - 10:1455512478 9781455512478 An Oral History of Grunge The Nonfiction Blog is pleased to share this piece from Indigo Bookseller (& all around music nerd) Jordan Ferguson. I'm sure everyone thinks the music of their adolescence is superior to everyone else's, so I can admit to a slight level of bias here. I was 14 years-old in an autoworker commuter town when Nirvana's Nevermind dropped 20 years ago. I was primed and ready for a musical revolution. And yes, it's easy to sneer at the dingy flannel shirts and the Doc Martens, and the unspoken competitions to determine whose hair could get the grimiest. There's no legacy to be found in the current musical landscape, but it doesn't change the fact that grunge was a real moment, arguable the last one in the history of rock music. The success of Seattle inspired similar movements in cities across North America, like Halifax and Hamilton. Even in Amherstburg, Ontario where I grew up, it seemed like everyone had started a band. Why wouldn't we? The underdogs were breaking through, and if it could happen in Seattle, it could happen anywhere. But how did it happen? How did this handful of bands, connected only by a shared locale, capture the imaginations of a generation? This is what Mark Yarm's Everyone Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge. What makes the book successful is right there in the title: inspired by the Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain's punk classic Please Kill Me, it's an oral history, the story told by the people who were there. And it's a story that goes back farther than most people might realize. Many of the musicians who would go on to form Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden were jamming around Seattle with each other in the early-to-mid 1980's. The Deep Six compilation album, considered to be the “big bang,” of grunge, came out in in 1986. This is fertile material to wade through, and Yarm, a former editor at Britain's Blender magazine, talks to everybody, not just the members of the most famous bands, but lesser known acts like The Melvins and Tad, as well as bands forgotten by all but the most hardcore of completists like The U-Men and Malfunkshun. It's a fascinating story of egos and drugs, starring a bunch of charming and charismatic musicians, most of whom were woefully unprepared for what the success machine would do to them. For someone who grew up with this music, consuming every magazine article and taping every performance and interview I could find, Yarm's book is a fantastic read. Less concerned with analyzing what it all meant, what the music's success said about the world, Yarm steps into the background and lets these characters, over 200 throughout the book, praise and snipe at each other (Courtney Love is, not surprisingly, heavily demonized throughout). It's sometimes hard to get a bead on where the truth lies, as different people contradict each other multiple times throughout a chapter. But as the saying goes, when the legend becomes fact, print the legend. The benefits of getting older can seem few and far between, friends. But you can always count on the passage of time to bring a nostalgic re-examination of that short moment when the music that mattered to you mattered to everyone, when you wrote bad poetry in spiral-bound notebooks, when it actually felt like you ruled the world. Everybody Loves Our Town comes highly recommended not only for fans who remember the time, but for all fans of musical history. Learn more about the book, and celebrate the music it chronicles, at grungebook.tumblr.com. Those looking to continue their studies can turn to Kurt Cobain's Journals [frequently quoted in Yarm's book], Seattle journalist Charles Cross's Cobain Bio Heavier Than Heaven, the earlier oral history Grunge is Dead, Pearl Jam's recent retrospective Twenty, and the classic documentary The Year Punk Broke, chronicling Nirvana and Sonic Youth's 1991 European tour. Title inspiration, courtesy of Mudhoney: *** Special thanks to Jordan for contributing – and interested readers can see a (long) interview with the author here. This review generously provided by Jordan Ferguson. On August 11, 1973, DJ Clive Campbell played his first gig, a back-to-school party organized by his sister Cindy in the rec room of their building at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx, New York. Campbell, a native Jamaican, incorporated elements of what he saw in the dancehalls of Kingston, including the tradition of “toasting,” where a DJ would talk to the crowd over the music. Campbell had also noticed that the dancers seemed to get more excited by the short instrumental ‘breaks’ found in the bridges of popular funk and soul songs, so he began isolating them and stringing them together in longer sequences. The kids loved the breaks, and the man who became DJ Kool Herc [a riff on his schoolyard nickname of Hercules] christened the dancers break-boys, or b-boys. On August 11, 1973 DJing, MCing and breakdancing combined in one place for the first time, and the culture that became hip-hop was born. So while I might be a little late to the party, I wanted to share with you what I consider a few of the best books on the culture and the music. Total Chaos: The Art and Aesthetics of Hip-Hop, edited by Jeff Chang Chang’s other book, the essential Can't Stop Won't Stop has already been deservedly praised in this space (here) as probably the best book on the history of hip-hop, so I wanted to give this lesser known work some exposure. A collection of essays that acknowledges rap is a music, hip-hop is a culture, and looks to educate and inform on the other arts that fall under that umbrella, including graffiti, literature, photography. Most fascinating to me were the essays on hip-hop dance, which are compelling reading for someone who doesn’t know their top-rocking from their footwork, like me. Lots to love here. Check the Technique: Liner Notes for Hip-Hop Junkies, by Brian Coleman Being a fan of rap in the 1980s and 1990s was a somewhat mysterious practice. The artists still weren’t getting any mainstream press, so it was impossible to learn anything about your favourite acts. The most you could do was squint at the production credits on your cassettes, which usually gave you nothing. Coleman’s book succeeds in filling this gap, collecting oral histories on the creation of both classic and, well, not so classic albums from rap’s golden age. The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop, by Dan Charnas How did hip-hop and rap go from the regional and isolated hobby of a passionate few, to a global and more importantly lucrative cultural movement? On one side you have the artists and musicians, Charnas’s book gives the other side, the story of the radio DJs, club promoters, record labels, artist managers and ad men that recognized ignoring hip-hop was leaving money on the table. From how Sprite used hip-hop to snag an NBA sponsorship away from its own parent company Coca Cola, to why 50 Cent is a more visionary businessman than anyone gave him credit for, every story in this book was new to me, and I can think of no higher compliment to give it. Part memoir, part lyrics book, part director’s commentary, Decoded is many things at once, and succeeds at all of them. For a nerd like me, the highlights are the footnotes sprinkled throughout his rhymes. Many might be obvious to fans, but some provided genuine insight to the inside references and wordplay Jay-Z makes in his rhymes. That alone would probably make the book worth a read, but add in the unusual candidness with which he discusses his hustler’s life in Brooklyn and you have not just a memoir but a love letter to the art by one of the best to practice it. The paperback version of Decoded releases in November 2011. Book of Rhymes, by Alan Bradley The more you read books on hip-hop, the more you come to see how political a lot of the scholarship is. That’s all well and good, since hip-hop has historically been the reaction of an oppressed people to the systems that hold them down. But it’s still poetry, and Bradley’s book actually remembers that language and its manipulation is a key component to hip-hop and rap. Breaking down styles of rhythm, wordplay, style and signifying, Bradley lays out what makes the greats so great, and what makes the art so compelling if you really pay attention to the complexity that goes into its creation. … and finally, a book I don’t have my hands on yet, but will quickly get added to my library. Def Jam Recordings: The First 25 Years of the Last Great Record Label In 1984 a party promoter named Russell Simmons was growing tired of the disco-tinged rap that was starting to cross over onto radio and into the clubs; he didn’t think it accurately reflected what was going on in the streets. He liked more aggressive, beat-driven music. Music like ‘It’s Yours,’ a minimalist, pounding track by rapper T La Rock and co-produced by a 21-year-old NYU student named Rick Rubin. When Rubin met Simmons, Def Jam Records went from a vanity label Rubin ran from his dorm room, to the most influential rap label in music history. From LL Cool J to Public Enemy to Kanye West, Def Jam has been integral to the creation of some of the best music the culture’s ever produced, and this slick hardcover from Rizzoli promises to be as beautiful as it is informative. There are others, of course: the dated but still hysterical and super informative Big Book of Rap Lists from the merry pranksters of Ego Trip magazine; public intellectual Michael Eric Dyson has a few books under his belt, including a celebrated biography on the life of Tupac Shakur, Holler If You Hear Me, and the The Anthology of Rap is an admirable resource for those who want to further investigate the work of the great lyricists. Happily, hip-hop didn’t turn out to be a fad after all. If you’re a 26 year old rocker, pushing 27, you may want to consider slowing down on the partying a little bit—that is, if there’s any truth to this myth—the Forever 27 Club—which seems to indicate a need to chill out on the substance ingestion (outside of Cobain, perhaps) before it goes a little too far. The usual suspects on this list are Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, and Kurt Cobain, and sadly, there’s a new member, Amy Winehouse. My colleague Michael Gallagher posted a great blog about Amy’s passing a couple of days ago, which can be found here—I agree with him; of the ‘club members,’ I’ll probably miss Amy’s artistic output most of all. There’s no shortage of books on these compelling personalities – here is a look at some of the best of them. For a look at the idea of the 27s, short stories about all of them, shared in the context of the concept (idea, urban myth, whatever you want to call it), Eric Segalstad has put together a work that highlights this legend in his book The 27s: The Greatest Myth of Rock and Roll. If you care to read about some of these icons individually, here are some of the best biographies out there: While not a book specifically on Brian Jones, True Adventures of the Rolling Stones by Stanley Booth is, I think, the best book on the Rolling Stones—(I know, it’s a bad cover, but it’s a great book). The book’s structure alternates chapter by chapter; one chapter will describe the genesis of the band, and the next will focus on their 1971 US tour. Brian’s life and contributions are covered in great detail; some of the most memorable sections include Booth interviewing Jones’ grieving parents, who are still wondering where it all went wrong. A reliable work where Jones himself is the focus is Brian Jones: the Untold Life and Mysterious Death of a Rock Legend. For the Hendrix fan, the title to check out is Room Full of Mirrors, a meticulously researched biography that tracks Jimi from birth all the way to the end. Another great Hendrix bio is Becoming Jimi Hendrix: From Southern Crossroads to Psychedelic London, the Untold Story of a Musical Genius. There are two schools of thought on biographies: those by the detached outsider (and often these can go the sordid route of the unauthorized and gossipy type), and those by the insider. One of the best Janis Joplin biographies out there is by her sister, Love, Janis. Jim Morrison was the next unfortunate musician to join the club: Stephen Davis’ Jim Morrison: Life, Death, Legend is a definitive biography. This is by the guy who wrote Hammer of the Gods, so you know he knows how to write a rock and roll book. No One Here Gets Out Alive is the other definitive work on Jim Morrison and the Doors. Charles R. Cross’s Heavier than Heaven has become a go-to work for the fan curious about Nirvana. Somewhat controversial, the book does include fictional aspects that does speculate on events where no research was available. Of course, going directly to the source is always a good idea, and Kurt Cobain’s own Journals are no doubt the best look directly into this subject. Cobain Unseen is another informative work, more visual than text based. And now we come sadly, to the newest member of the club. Currently unavailable, but certain to come back in print soon (as well as new works, no doubt), are two books on Amy Winehouse: Amy Winehouse: The Biography and Amy Amy Amy: The Amy Winehouse Story. A biographical documentary is available on DVD: Amy Winehouse: The Girl Done Good: A Documentary Review. Another DVD is available, Amy Winehouse: I Told You I Was Trouble two live performances and a documentary, released shortly after the release of 2006’s fantastic Back to Black album. The fifth day at the 2011 Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest was sadly my last day. Aside from Day 4’s surprise storm and exodus before The Black Keys came on, the week was filled with great music and the most fun I’ve had in a field packed with other people. My body missed the routine meals and not walking in the heat so much, but overall it was well worth it. Day 5 was clearly the busiest day of the festival to that point, all the beer gardens swollen with the thirsty and lineups testing the patience of a saint. This was little a small obstacle to me in my quest for a couple of beers and a decent viewing area for the enchanting Erykah Badu. Families, boys, girls, you name it, packed the second stage area in time for Ms Badu’s 8 PM set time. However, she did not show up in a timely fashion following the announcer’s introduction. By 8:30, the crowd finally grew restless, as her set had to be finished by 9:30 to make sound room for the headliners on the main stage. All was forgiven as Ms Badu and her very capable band quickly locked in a groove with bass so heavy I’m sure the Parliament buildings shook. Over the course of an hour, Badu touched upon most of her catalogue for her first visit to the nation’s capital. Always a classy performer and in possession of great wit and an uncanny ability to engage a crowd, Badu left after an hour with her band still playing and a crowd that quickly realized they would have to wait until her next visit to get more. The Tragically Hip closed Saturday on the main stage with the biggest crowd I’d seen all week. As the final notes from Erykah’s set rang out beside the main stage, Kingston’s favourite sons were firing up “Blow at High Dough” followed by “Grace, Too”. Possibly too eager to begin the festivities, front man Gord Downie shouted out words almost to the point of strain. We decided to venture around the festival grounds to give Downie some time to settle down. The other stages failed to offer anything worth parking ourselves for, so it was back to the Hip who were tearing through “New Orleans Is Sinking” (featuring “Nautical Disaster” in the middle of it). Downie was still doing his Downie thing, but the shouting had subsided. Mark came out as a closet Hip fan so we stayed until the end, making him happy, joining legions of other happy people. A refreshing cool breeze accompanied the summer evening warmth, making it a great night to enjoy the company of beautiful people enjoying live music on day 3 of the 2011 Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest. You may not have heard of Gregg Gillis, a.k.a. Girl Talk, the Pittsburgh mash-up maestro. Mixing hip hop raps over rock, alternative and pop hits, an hour of the man is pop overload. I’d never seen the man but heard his performances were legendary. I was surprised to run into an old friend, one I would have never have expected to be there, who said “It’s not my thing at all, but Girl Talk was the best time last year”. My friend turned out to be right. I’ve been on the fence about the artistic merit of Girl Talk. Many argue he just pushes buttons, but I don’t think it’s quite that easy. The man obviously has quite the ear for mixing songs you’d never think to put together. The songs Girl Talk combines and his manic energy for what he’s creating make for a euphoric atmosphere. Flanked by an elaborate lighting rig and about 50 fans dancing on stage, Gillis dropped 90 minutes of the most fun to be had at this year’s Bluesfest. We heard snippets of Black Sabbath, Kylie Minogue, Ludacris, Beyonce, Michael Jackson, Pixies, Phoenix ... and I could go on and on. It was impossible to stand still, although my friend, unimpressed, did just that. But when the chorus of Nirvana’s “Lithium” came on, the entire place erupted into complete blessed abandon. Shivers went up my spine as thousands of people threw their arms in the air and exclaimed “Amen” or “Yeeeaaaahhh”. The experience was religious. I guarantee anybody at that show will never forget it. Some may want to, but they won’t. After that, things were a similar anticlimactic experience as Day 2. Steve Miller got underway on the main stage and his sound was pretty muffled from our vantage point. Venturing over to the Subway stage, Stephen Marley was paying homage to his father. The field was packed and we stayed for a few songs until growing restless. David Clayton-Thomas of Blood, Sweat & Tears fame was definitely not our thing at that point in the evening, so it was back over to Steve Miller for a few more songs. The sound had greatly improved and “Take The Money and Run” surprisingly inspired clouds of cigar smoke. But the euphoria from earlier in the day waas not to be matched, so it was time to soldier home. So the recent postal strike had more of an impact on my life than originally thought. On the first day of Bluesfest, those who ordered tickets online were forced to suffer through punishingly long lines to pick them up. Thankfully I picked up my tickets before the park even opened, but my buddy Mark begins what will turn out to be a two-hour wait to get in. If you’re in Ottawa to attend any of the Bluesfest, I highly recommend picking up your tickets at one of the offsite outlets, unless you are built with some strong patience and even stronger shoes. We arrived as Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros were playing. We got to hear them from outside the park and I must say I was impressed with I heard and I’m now inspired to do further research on them. One of the main reasons I’m here is for Oklahoma City’s The Flaming Lips. The Fearless Freaks return this year, relegated to one hour on the second stage. They still bring their full psychedelic carnival presentation, complete with frontman Wayne Coyne, wading through the crowd in a large bubble to start the proceedings. The setlist draws mainly from their most recent albums, other than a detour to the old days via “She Don’t Use Jelly,” the closest the Lips have come to a hit. After a beautiful sunset, loads of balloons, graffiti and a crowd sing-a-long to “Do You Realize?” they’re gone, but have inspired a celebratory start to the 2011 festival. Not exactly continuing this vibe are Seattle boys Soundgarden, who have reformed after 14 years apart. Their tour started last week in Toronto and tonight they close the first day on the main stage, with a solid two hours of heavy hits. I did see them a few times back in the early 90s and tonight I catch the first half of their set (whilst still waiting for Mark to get in). The sound fills the packed field nicely. They seem genuinely enthused about being there, but some spark is missing. I need my celebratory vibe to continue… The party that began with the Flaming Lips concludes in an almost religious form with a funky, frothy and fantastically flashy set courtesy of funk freak Bootsy Collins. Collins slings a mean bass and practically shook the trees from their roots with his frantic funky jams, including revisiting his old days with George Clinton in their Parliament/Funkadelic days. It’s a fantastic way to end Day 1 and even my hips continue to sway long after I’ve departed the park. Spring was like one long episode of Punk’d this year—replaced with a lingering fall. At times I did lose hope summer was coming and we would end up plunged back into the depths of autumn and winter. Fortunately, summer has finally smothered the nation and people are now safe to abandon their extended hibernation. My favourite thing about summer is not the weather. In fact, I’m a pasty Irish guy that wilts in the heat. What I love about summer is the ability to gather outside with a number of like-minded individuals and enjoy some live music. Festivals seem to be popping up out of nowhere, trying to establish their niches and capitalize on the success of Glastonbury, Bonnaroo, Coachella and the like. There are many festivals across Canada over the summer, catering to almost any whim. They’re an inexpensive and fun way to discover new sounds and meet new friends. I’ve made my way to Ottawa for Canada’s biggest music festival, the Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest. For 13 days, Lebreton Flats Park plays amazing host to hundreds of bands spread over several stages. Check out the lineup and performance grid here. If there’s an act you’d like to recommend me seeing, please do! I lived in Ottawa for seven years and watched this event grow slowly and surely into what has become, for me, one of the most anticipated music events of the year. So for the next 5 days, I bring to you the hot and sweat-soaked sounds from the 2011 Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest. Enjoy!

http://blog.indigo.ca/fiction/itemlist/tag/music.html

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Last week, the JibJab staff went a little nuts, playing with the do-it-yourself Obamicon creator over at Paste Magazine. Inspired by the famous ‘Hope’ posters from the Obama campaign, you can get presidential with your own personalized portrait. Needless to say, we had a little fun. Here are a few favorites from around the office. Thanks Paste! - Gregg Spiridellis - Evan Spiridellis - Jeff Gill, Artist - Galen Forad, Accounting - Joey Infortuno, Marketing - Dan Milano, Production - Cullie Laws, Director of QA and Process Management - Lauren Ashley Lloyd, Production

http://blog.jibjab.com/2009/01/26/personalized-obama-images-yes-please/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=27cac980df

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To get the look of our skiing ‘Starring You’ video, we used half licensed footage of a real person skiing and half in studio footage of us playing around on skis in front of a green screen. The last step was creating an avalanche of snow for the ‘Starring You’ skier to escape. So we up and bought 20 pounds of baking soda, got out some black cloth and trash bags and got creative as we tried to recreate the look of moving snow. We built miniature mountains, spun snow with drills attached to paper towel rolls and pushed loads of baking soda all over the ground, requiring a massive cleanup effort! Check out our array of techniques below and the finished video here!

http://blog.jibjab.com/2010/01/25/avalanching/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=b19f116cf4

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Thinking on Drinking: Collecting At last count, which was just a couple of weeks ago, I'd lived in 26 different houses/apartments in seven states (some duplicates) over the past 11 years, not including places where I'd been for just a couple of months. My lifestyle wasn't exactly an ideal pairing for collecting wine, but for half that time I toted around a bottle of 1997 Limerick Lane Zinfandel given to me by a fellow wine-loving friend when I graduated from Sonoma State University. I was supposed to drink the wine when I published my first book of poetry. After a few years and a few states I downgraded that requirement to the publication of my first book, period. I finally opened the bottle in 2006 when I published my first big article in the San Francisco Chronicle; it was on pomegranate cocktails. The wine, a bit rusted at the edges, was just starting to decline, but it had lovely (and appropos) pomegrante fruit notes, plus earthy tones and hints of violet and lavender that were buried beneath the bold fruit upon release. "Do you have a wine you're saving for a particular occasion?" Leave a comment below and tell us what you're saving and what for! Leah Greenstein

http://blog.klwines.com/httpblogklwinescomuncork/tag/tabletopics

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Now for our final post on the Student Satisfaction Survey. In addition to asking about the facility and website, we questioned students on their use of, and satisfaction with, the library’s Access Services and Research Services. Access Services include circulation, course reserves, and Interlibrary Loan/Borrow Direct. Research Services include the reference desk and research consultations. Overall, 50% of respondents use the Circulation Desk from a few times per month to a few times per week. An additional one-third uses the desk a few times per semester. Reference Desk use, of course, is less than that of circulation. 46% of respondents use reference from a few times per semester to a few times per month, while 6% use the desk quite frequently—from a few times per week to daily. Students are more likely to use reference as they progress through their law school careers with 35% of 1Ls never having used the desk, while only 12% of 3Ls report never using the desk. As expected, journal staff members use reference service more frequently than other students. Research consults, which are a more focused and time-intensive service, have been used by 1/3 of respondents. Student satisfaction with Access Services is noteworthy. 90% of those who have used the Circulation Desk are mostly to very satisfied, 42% of users are very satisfied. 73% of those who have used course reserves, and 73% of those who have used Interlibrary Loan/Borrow direct are mostly to very satisfied. While more users of course reserve report being “mostly” satisfied as opposed to “very” satisfied, this is likely due to the availability constraints caused by high demand of certain items. Student satisfaction with Research Services is similarly high. 78% of those who have used the reference desk are mostly to very satisfied with 35% reporting being “very” satisfied. Research consults are a big hit: 54% of students who have had a research consult are mostly satisfied, while an additional 38% are very satisfied. Most research consults were for either a class paper or a journal note the student was writing. Comments on the core services, and the Law Library generally, were plentiful. The library is appreciative of both the very positive comments and the constructive ones. Representative responses to the question “What do you like most about the Law Library?” include: - “The large amount of resources and the helpful staff.” - “The librarians. Seriously, you guys are great.” - “I enjoy interacting with the library staff. They have always been able to assist me with my research and to help me track down a source. Thank you.” We also asked the question “What do you like least about the Law Library?” This yielded numerous constructive comments, which overwhelmingly focused on the physical plant. As noted previously, space and temperature issues featured prominently. Representative comments on service issues include: - “There should be more transparency in the carrel assignment system.” - “Not enough copies of core hornbooks on reserve.” - “You should allow ILL/borrow direct for books which are on course reserve.” The library really appreciates these comments as they flesh out the numerical ratings and help us to prioritize items that need to be addressed. The comments regarding course reserve comport with the numerical ratings. These comments will assist both Access Services and Collection Development personnel in making decisions to improve the student experience. Finally, to gauge interest in additional research services, we asked students “Would you be interested in attending one-hour research workshops presented by the library on a specific topic?” Three out of four indicated that they are somewhat to very interested in such workshops. Related comments were made in response to a question on what else the library should provide. These include: - “More research trainings.” - “I wish the librarians taught more for-credit classes on legal research, especially research for transactional law.” Overall, the survey confirmed that students are quite pleased with the Law Library and the plethora of services the library provides. It also helped confirm that students do have facility-related issues with cold temperatures and limited space, especially group study space. The survey also highlighted areas within the direct control of the library that need to be addressed, specifically the carrel-assignment procedure, availability of course reserve materials, and the policing of noise and food. The Law Library greatly appreciates all of those who took time to complete the survey. The feedback, both positive and constructive, is helpful in assessing what works and what does not, and in charting a course for the future. And congratulations to our prize winners: Joseph Pohlkamp (2L) won the reserved study carrel for next fall, and Lilian Balasanian (3L) won the $25 Cornell Store gift card. Awesome!

http://blog.law.cornell.edu/library/2011/05/09/

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Before Google, search engine builders thought that the way to organize the Internet was like an index, or, to use the term that was popular at the time, a directory — A giant list of every link on the Internet. Librarians saw a place on this wave also, as Steve Coffman wrote recently: Remember those heady early days when we thought we were going to catalog the web? … Almost every library felt the responsibility to stuff its website with long and often elaborately annotated lists of web resources for just about everything. As Matthew Reidsma says, the list-making urge is still much in evidence on library websites: Libraries love links so much that most [library websites] look like spam link farms, designed to trick Google. Every other successful website on the planet gave that up in the late ’90s, but not libraries. We librarians like to see a big list of resources because it makes us seem more relevant. As Reidsma has discussed in other works, the problem with the prevalence of link lists on library websites is that users ignore them, and don’t find the really important things on the website … or they just go to Google. Why do users find library lists so unappealing? Neither of the commentators quoted above, nor anyone else that I’ve seen, has written about it, but the obvious answer, I think, may be … Alphabetical Order — Invariably lists of links on library sites are alphabetical — In the days of PageRank, how boring! The “I’m Feeling Lucky” PageRank Revolution Before Google, the only rational way to organize a long list of links on the same subject was alphabetical order. It’s almost hard to imagine back to those days, and to realize what a revolution Google’s PageRank was. It seemed like magic that Google gave us automatic lists of links, with the best ones at the top of the list. James Gleick wrote about this recently, in a retrospective look at the Age of Google [boldface added]: PageRank is one of those ideas that seem obvious after the fact. But the business of Internet search, young as it was, had fallen into some rigid orthodoxies. …. With this great new invention of PageRank, people soon came to assume that any list of resources worth looking at would, of course, have the best links at the top of the list. If they encountered an alphabetical list, their eyes would glass over. So, with most long link-lists on library sites being in alphabetic order, is it any wonder that they’re not very popular with users? So what can libraries do? As Reidsma has been saying recently, we need to look at our websites like our users do, and change them to fit users’ needs — He says from his work with users surveys that this means greatly simplifying library websites. Link lists should be short, with someone’s idea of the “best” links at the top. As I’ve learned with my work on Hardin MD, no matter how long the list of links is, only the top 2-3 will get many clicks. The emphasis on simplifying our websites, of course, fits very well with the mobile revolution. The small screens of mobile devices beg for small, simple web pages, and trimming our lists is a great place to start. Eric Rumsey is at: eric-rumsey AttSign uiowa dott edu and on Twitter @ericrumsey Don’t know why users find it unappealing but I can guess why it is so popular on websites. From experience one of the reasons why librarians or other people like to order options alphabetically is because it avoids political arguments on who to put on top. Once someone starts to argue positioning based on importance it will open a can of worms. Usage data would be nice but often unavailable, so will be based on gut feel, which is obviously going to be messy. So many just take the safe way out as Alphabetical lists are more defensible…. Aaron, That’s a good point that I hadn’t thought of — No doubt politics is an important part of why alpha lists are popular. As a matter of fact, Matthew Reidsma’s discussion of the role of politics in making library websites fits in well with your observation.

http://blog.lib.uiowa.edu/hardinmd/2012/04/25/google-dethrones-the-alphabetical-list/

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.]]> Hey everyone! By now everyone has at least been through one round of finals this year. So I don't have to mention how stressful they are, but I can give you some tips about what you can do to avoid all that stress you are experiencing. So when you are stress there are a few different routes you can go on, stress eating or stress relieving. If you choose to only read one option, I wont judge, weve all been there before. Stress eating: So for all of you who have walked out of that exam feeling terrible and just thought to yourself, cake would make this all better. I would consider you a stress eater. Now if you choose to solve your stress problems that way, be my guest because it's just another way to deal with your emotions and the frustrations you encounter. So I am going to share my favorite foods to stock up on for finals week. 1. Goldfish Now these don't just have to be cheese flavored, I opt for the chocolate chip and smores flavors most times. But I also like the pretzel ones too! They are just so handy and easy to munch on when you are studying. 2. Chez Mix I love chex mix! It is so easy and it also has so many different flavors and pretzels, wonderful right? 3. Cookies Any cookies will do, but chocolate is my go to. I like to know that after I feel like I cant study any more, there is that little burst of energy waiting for me which tastes good too. 4. Pasta This is one of my favorite dinner type foods to make during finals week. Mainly because it gives you a little time to take a break when you are cooking it. Also those carbs are great for energy and keeping you going during those long nights! 5. Pizza I would choose to have some spare pizzas around mainly because they are so easy to make, and you can just put them in the oven, set a timer, and keep studying! Stress Relieving: So if you are less interested in eating your feelings and more interested in getting rid of that stress the healthy way, here are some tips for you to improve your study habits! 1. Eat breakfast The most important meal of the day, weve all heard that right? Well its true! You need that energy in the morning, especially if you are going to be studying all day! So eat something high in protein to get your body jumpstarted for the day! 2. Exercise I think that it is very important to stay active throughout this stressful week. At times it just gets to be a lot to take on for your body and working out can really help you loosen up and take your mind off of the studying for a little while. 3. Sleep It is so important to make sure that you are sleeping each night. I know that you might be tempted to stay up until midnight to finish that module, but make a realistic cut off time for each night. Trust me, you will be so much more able to study effectively if you give yourself breaks. 4. Go Outside Now that the nice weather is finally back, go outside! It is important to get a little bit of sun, it will make you feel happier too! Also think about all that vitamin D, I'm sure your skin and small intestines will appreciate it! 5. Relax Take a much needed break! Spreading out your study times is really key to remembering information. There is no way that you can retain all that material if you don't take a second to slow down and realize what you are doing. Well, hopefully these tips really help you with finals week! Don't forget about all the food that will be at Usquare! That will help save you some time! Happy Finals! ]]> Courtnee So many of you have seen my journey through my undergraduate education throughout these blogs for the last year and as you have read, its been a fun and long path that I have chosen to take. As many of you pre-med undergraduates know, first comes the MCAT then comes the AMCAS/AACOMAS applications. For those of you just deciding on medical school there are two types of doctors, MD and DO. MD doctors attend allopathic schools and DO doctors attend osteopathic schools. The main differences between these two professions is the focus on the patient. While both professions are focused on curing the patient and accommodating them along the way, there is a significant difference about the views of a DO doctor. A Doctor of Osteopathy (DO) is able to perform many tasks that a MD physician is able to do such as prescribing medications, specializing, performing surgery. However they are specially trained in the musculoskeletal system which is considered manipulative medicine. This is hands on training that teaches students how to examine both the mental and physical body in order to diagnose the patient. If you want to read more I have found this information here:, I have a personal connection with DO programs through the diagnosis of my cousins autism disorder. I have noticed what a difference it makes for people to sit down and listen to the whole story rather than just prescribing medication from one 30 minute appointment. I think that it is important to have a holistic approach to medicine because the patients stories are often a crucial detail that I think can be very easily overlooked. While working in the admissions office at school and volunteering as the receptionist that the Gift of Life Transplant House, I have learned that listening to histories is important. At times there are moments where the people I talk to are nervous and apprehensive about decisions that they will be making, I think that this is an important aspect to consider when determining which path is right for you to go down. Enough about me, and more about the application... So it was supposed to open on May 1st, but then I went to the website and they moved it a week to May 8th. For someone like me who is a strategic planner, this is not a good thing to do at the last minute! Although I am happy that it was moved back because now I can focus more on the essays that I am going to have to complete for the application and I can take my time in receiving my transcripts to use throughout the process. Although I have not seen the application yet, I have been doing my research and there are some significant differences between the MD and DO application services so make sure that you are aware of these when you are getting ready for your year! These applications are open for about a month before you can begin submitting, so I would suggest to do your research and writing before hand in order to get those applications in on time. Most admissions are on a rolling basis so the sooner the better. Also you will have to list each class that you have taken, so you should get some unofficial transcripts for yourself so that you are prepared for when that time comes. I also know that I broke up the application into parts and decided about how many days of the month I would allow myself on a particular section. This is not an application that you want to take lightly people! As for now, this is all the information that I have. Next fall I should have some great insight on the whole application and also maybe some comments about an interview or two (Ill keep my fingers crossed for those). I just have to keep telling myself that I can do it, and you can to! Happy almost last week of classes! Courtnee Ah, it is that time of year again! The sun is high in the sky, shooting photons into the Earth's atmosphere at an alarmingly high rate, the male birds are a hootin' and a hollerin' at the lady birds, and many of the male humans are doing about the same (although it is directed at lady humans, not birds). We are closing out the final weeks of school here at the University of Minnesota Rochester, and things sure are heating up. You would think all of the students are concerned about finals, and you are right. However, there is a good deal of concern about the presentation of our research projects in this upcoming week, especially in my case as I currently have three presentations to work on. However, these are coming along nicely and are great fun to work with. Finals will soon come and go as they always do, but the next event is the great summer. Some people are heading back to their hometowns for this summer, some are heading out to new places (one of my friends is going to Washington D.C. to work in the White House), and some are staying here with me in Rochester. I cannot advise those going to their hometowns and I cannot even hope to imagine what the White House has in store for my friend, but I can advise on summer activities in Rochester. The summer is a lively time here, and is becoming more lively every year. This year there will be the popular and recurring Thursdays on First and Third where vendors come from all over to set up shop in the downtown area every Thursday throughout the summer. This is a wonderful opportunity to see what the community has to offer since the vendors are from every background and come from all over the state while the people attending the event are always great fun to meet and talk to. I, personally, will be spending as much time there as possible. But wait, there's more to Thursdays on First and Third than just vendors! There are also live bands and shows playing in the evening. These can range from an amateur rock band, to a well-known acoustic band, to a performance featuring break-dancing, juggling, and drums. I only got to see a little bit of the last one, but I wish I could have seen the entire performance. Long story short, if you're looking for something to do on a summer Thursday in downtown Rochester, you're not looking anymore.]]> So as you might have seen in previous blogs I was talking about my capstone ideas. For those of you just tuning in, a capstone is like your junior year or senior year at UMR. It is when you take steps to do a program or take courses of interest that will help you prepare for the career you are trying to achieve. For me, my capstone is to take courses at UMR in the fall to finish up my liberal education requirements as well as an internship in a lab and a research project with a faculty member. In the spring I will be doing an internship program in London as well as volunteering at the Ronald McDonald House. Although I did complete all of the required paperwork and additional forms, sadly my capstone was rejected. This was pretty devastating, but once I realized the mistakes that I made, which were minor, it made sense. As a matter of fact, I would like to think of myself as a trailblazer. Through my capstone rejection, I made up a new category that will be used during the review process "conditionally approved" which basically means that I had a small error (I apparently cannot add correctly). This will be used in the future, so it just goes to show that sometimes mistakes are a good thing. It was some easy corrections to make, but it is a very serious issue. So I would suggest taking as much time as possible to review your capstone with everyone before you submit it the first time. I also started my capstone proposal early. I began writing responses to the questions in a word documents in the fall semester of my junior year so that I was ready to complete the proposal. As far as the spring semester goes, it comes up really fast. I would suggest getting your ideas and beginning to answer those questions in the fall so that you don't have to spend so much time cramming in all of the writing and researching at the end. If you have any questions or need any help with making a timeline, let me know! Courtnee Hey everyone! The end of the year is approaching quickly. So I thought it would be good to share with you some of my favorite educational apps that I have on my iPhone. These are also apps that you could probably get on android devices, iPads, or iPods. They come in handy when you are waiting in line for coffee, trying to cram in a few extra study minutes before that exam, or in a situation where you wish you would have brought your notes with you but forgot them. My most used and helpful app is for OneNote. It automatically syncs with my OneNote program on my computer so it is really helpful for me because I use OneNote for basically all my classes since freshman year. I can access all of my notebooks too so it is a great app! Here is the link to get it from the iTunes store, its completely free! I also have an app that is called Evernote. This is a desktop application that you can sync with your device also. You can pull screenshots or sections of webpages into your Evernote on your computer and have access to them at your fingertips. This would be beneficial if you were at the grocery store and wanted to try out a new recipe that you clipped from the web. Here is a link from the iTunes store: Being a UMR student, you all know how much we use the Google applications. So you can get an app for Google Drive. This helps you find your Google Documents easily, I actually used mine the other day when I was buying supplies for the talent show skit that the Rochester Student Association is performing in. (By the way, that event is Tonight 7:30 pm at the Civic Center in the Auditorium, if you don't know the way there follow the balloons in the skyway!) Here is the link to Google Drive: Another app that I use for my personal use and also for my research group that I am involved in is Dropbox. This is an application that you can download from your computer, access on the web, and also access on your personal devices. I keep persona files separate from my research files of course, but for me it functions like an additional portable hard drive. I only keep my current semester files on there, but it automatically syncs when I make changes and goes right on the web. So you don't have to worry if your computer crashes again because that paper will be saved right on the Dropbox and your phone! I also like to use Dropbox to upload the photos that I take with my phone to my computer. Personally I think it is faster than the Photo Stream that my iCloud suggests. The link to that app is: An important app that I use for my classes is Quizlet. This is an online website that allows you to make notecards. You can then access those on your devices and you can sync when you make new notecards. Here is the link to the app: For those of you who follow my blogs, you should remember that I went to Panama last summer. For that trip I found a few medical Spanish and emergency Spanish apps that were really helpful for me. They could also be beneficial in Spanish III here at UMR because it is a course based on healthcare terminology. One was called MediBabble: The other was Emergency Medical Spanish Guide by Mavro: I also used a few apps for my MCAT prep. They were BenchPrep, MCAT Question of the Day, and MCAT Smart Vocab. The last two are self-explanatory, but they are great practice and helpful to keep you on task with studying. I tried to do a few vocab a day and at least one question of the day. They do keep a record of all the previous questions, so you will never run out of practice. As for the BenchPrep, I signed up for a course through the BenchPrep website and then was able to access it from my phone and online. It was really helpful when I wanted to get through a specific topic in a day. Here are the links : BenchPrep- MCAT Question of the Day- MCAT Smart Vocab- One of the most recent apps that I added is called Frommer's. This is the brand of a book that I borrowed from the study abroad coordinator about London. Some great features that I have noticed are the currency converter, a tip calculator, time translator, guide to the city, suggested apps for travelling... and the list goes on! Here is the link to the app (make sure to check to see that the city you are travelling to is included!): Hope these help you as much as they help me! Courtnee ]]> The do-se-do begins here in Rochester. The semester begins to end and everyone realizes they need to figure out where they are living next year. Some students are deciding not to live in this or that house/apartment next year which puts the other roommates in a bind--Do we move, can we afford staying without them and can we find someone else, who should we ask? A series of questions run through our heads as the scrabble to live in the best place for you begins. This will be my third year at UMR. My first year, I lived at 318. I would suggest any new incoming student to consider living here first. One really gets to develop a relationship with those in their class. During your first year at UMR, everyone has the same classes. So, just down the door is another student studying for the same organic chemistry test or if there is a paper due everyone has the paper due at the same time. It's a great environment with helpful RA's for any roommate conflicts. The amenities are wonderful and you don't have to worry about monthly bills and getting them paid on time. This is one thing I really miss. Early in the morning at 318 one can just walk downstairs in pajamas to attend class. Posters and RA's at 318 always keep you updated into what events are happening at UMR. The people that live at 318 are always first to know. The downside is that on campus housing is expensive and at least in my case I was looking to become more independent. I found an apartment called Civic Square that has two bedrooms that worked perfect this year for my roommate and I. It has to be furnished which wasn't a problem for me with my family moving and downsizing. I looked forward to carpet, my own furniture, and a homey feel. The part one doesn't realize is how quiet it can be. My roommate and I have different schedules and work at different times. We stayed here in the summer to take CNA classes at RCTC. It was a great experience as well. The place was very often quiet though. We didn't have random visitors or students knocking on or door for help with homework or just to talk like we had often at 318. The quiet was a blessing, but also kind of lonely at times. It was really nice to get away and work on the hard projects that sophomore year provided. The quiet apartment, gave us a break from campus life. Coming into March though, we decided to pursue other options. With tons of furniture in my name, pots and pans galore, and a closets full of everything I own, I set out to find a different option for my housing for next year. To begin looking is a little bit scary. At first I panicked thinking no one would take me. Then I realized that there were tons of people doing the same thing and trying to fill spots in their own housing situation. Everyone started asking everyone what their plans were. It is amazing to me how much is changing from 2nd to 3rd year in terms of who is living where. I began first by looking people to potentially live in the 2nd bedroom in my apartment. I was really fearful about the move with all the stuff I have. My family is really busy and will not be able to come down to help. But then I had offers to live at other apartments and other homes. A group of four of my friends have a roommate moving out of there five bedroom house. It looks like at this point I am going to go there. Possible negative changes that I will have to face by moving into a new house include sharing a bathroom with two other girls. I also will have a lot longer walk to school and work. Over the summer I will have to help mow the lawn. In the winter, I will have to help clear the snow. There is storage space to myself, but tons that we can share. I may not be able to add my furniture into the house the way I want. There are a lot of opinions in the house that may override my own. Bonuses include the house will not be as quiet and lonely. I will get to live with my friends and build closer friendships. It's cheaper about half the price that I pay to live in the apartment I have now! It's across the street and a block down from more of my friends. I will now have access to cable television. It will feel more homey then an apartment. It has a larger kitchen then I have now. There is a lot of communication between house members. This house in particular makes a point to hear everyone's opinion and talk through any conflicts. There is also one person that will collect and handle the bills which it won't be me anymore. I also will get an experience that I have always wanted. And besides college, when else can I live in one house with four friends? So the adventure continues as people finalize their plans for next year. It is amazing to me how even through this process how much of a family UMR has really become for me. I have had many offers from many people to help me move. They don't care about how long or how much work it will take, they are willing to take a day off to help me get where I need to be. It isn't just a few friend, it includes a list of about 8-10 people that I know that I could possible contact to help me. Some of these people include past roommates, future roommates and good friends. Everyone has been very understanding and trying to help everyone find the best fit for them for next year. Whether it's 318, an apartment or a house, it will all work out and come fall we will be ready to learn. This weekend I went to the Mall of America for the third time in my life. Coming from 3hours the other direction, the Mall is nearly 5 hours away from my home town, making it very difficult for me to go there as a kid. To start this weekend, my aunt and her twin daughters came up to visit me for the whole weekend. Friday night they got up pretty late so we just ate dinner that I made, settled in and got caught up on each other's lives. The next morning we got up early and headed to the mall. It was my third time and the first time for all of them. My twin cousins are 12 so it wasn't abnormal for them not to have been there as they live 5+ hours away, but my aunt is 40, so it was cool to take her to MOA for the first time. They really had no idea how big the mall was, however they did know about Nickelodeon Universe. My aunt bought all day passes to ride rides, but we did go shopping first. When we started, we were overwhelmed and didn't know where to begin. We eventually started walking and found some neat stores. Some of our favorite stores were Garage, Flips, Pac Sun, Harley, and the Peeps Candy Store. After a lot of shopping, we headed to the rides, which were surprisingly quiet and unique. I live fairly close to Great America, so finding unique rides is hard to do. These definitely surprised me. We stayed in Nickelodeon Universe riding rides, shopping and eating until it closed when we went on the adventure to find my car which took significantly longer than expected. Who knew it would be so difficult to locate a car at a mall with parking ramps. We eventually got to my car, then home by 12:30 am, about an hour after expected. The next day we all slept in really late (about time...) then ate breakfast. I gave my family a tour around the skyways and streets of Rochester. It is honestly a pretty unique place and has some pretty cool places, even though Rochester is basically closed on Sundays. After they left, I had to resume the typical college weekend life and clean the apartment, eat some food and avoid homework until the last possible second when I wish I hadn't. Although the weekend flew by, I had so much fun! I have now had my dog Parker for about 3 months. After getting him I kind of had some anxiety about having a dog in college. It turns out, he has not been too much of a nuisance. He only peed and pooped in the house a couple of times! One of the times though, he pooped in his kennel. I got a text from my roommate, Evan, that said, "He s#!+ in his kennel, should I clean it up?" I'm thinking "Yes, yes you should clean it up, how nice of you to even consider doing it." Then he texts me again and says "I only have time to clean one thing, it's either him or the crate." At this point I'm in a full panic. Who cleans one, but not the other? No matter which route he goes, there is still going to be poop in my bedroom. So I took off for home, hoping I could get there before he put the clean dog back in his own feces. When I got there he had given Parker a bath and said that I should watch out when I go into my room because the stink was so awful he was gagging. He also told me that he let Parker out and he wouldn't go to the bathroom so he just took him inside to give him his bath. As he was prepping the tub, Parker proceeded to poop on the floor creating even more of a mess for him to clean up. In the meantime, I went to my room preparing for the worst. I opened the door and a waft of dog crap hit my nostrils. Now it was my turn to keep from puking. Somehow I ended up cleaning it up without any throwing up! Beyond that little episode, Parker has been a really easy dog to care for. He listens well, for the most part, and he doesn't poop inside anymore.]]> If you are one of the students here at UMR that has a passion to help others and give back to the community, then Circle K is the club just for you! I recently found out about Circle K from a friend who told me all of the things that Circle K does. Circle K involves plenty of volunteering opportunities. Circle K meets every other week over at 318 Commons from 7 to 8 PM. Our leader for the club is the one and only Michelle Burgraff. She is an incredible leader and very motivated at getingt the club running. She is dedicated to helping students in the club get as much volunteering experience as possible. Circle K club is also joined by the Kiwanis. They are a bunch of enthusiastic people that have the same outlook as Circle K. This outlook involves giving back to the community and lending a helping hand. The club motto is "Live to Serve, Love to Serve." This is Circle K's first year at UMR and the turnout has been amazing for a club so new to campus! There are about 70 students in the club and a good majority of them are freshman. Anyone can join the club and I guarantee it will be the best choice you ever make! I am so happy that I decided to join the club because it is a life changing, great experience of what it is like to work with others, and a lot of fun. March 14, 2013 was a big day for Circle K because we were inducted into the Rochester Kiwanis Club. Every student in the club got a certificate and made a promise to the Kiwanis's that we will be responsible and great future leaders in the community! Not to be biased, but Circle K is the best club ever and I couldn't be any happier being in a club filled with great people sharing the same passion to help the community. If you have Facebook, head on over, take a look, and don't forget to "Like" it! Coming to college, I expected a lot of things. I had high expectations from the movies or TV shows, making it seem like college would be living the life and having the "college experience." I would make friends and have them for life. Be best friends with my roommate and live happily ever after, be partners in crime and have a maid of honor. We could have Taco Tuesdays and study for tests until all odd hours of the night together. I would finally get away from my annoying little brother and having to walk the dog at the demands of my mom. I can stay up as late as I want and go shopping at my pleasure. However, college isn't a static place where you find one person to be best friends with, or making your schedule completely independent of others. Not everything will work out as planned, but rolling with the punches is what makes the college experience all it's put up to be. I've made a list of six things that have changed this year and how it affected me. Looking back, a lot of this could have brought me down, but finding the positive things has made me enjoy college so much more and appreciate everything that happens. After all, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. 1. Moving to Rochester, MN from Waunakee, WI. This is a pretty obvious change. I gained so much education, many friends, the experience of living in a city. I learned to be independent, saw places of MN I probably would have never seen otherwise and lived in a town that had already changed my life. Although I miss my family, I really do love living here and having such a different experience every single day. The skyways are amazing, the food is different and so readily available, and everything you could possibly need (except my family) is right here. This is nothing like living back home and it's so nice to live something different. I'm not saying it is or isn't something I'll do for the rest of my life, but I'm so glad I got the chance to try it and say I did, and maybe I'll live in the city for part or the rest of my life. 2. Varying my friends. I'm the kind of person who likes to have many friends who like to do a variety of things. Sticking with one group of people may be the best for certain people, but that's just not my thing. I also like to be around positive, active people who treat others respectfully. Surrounding yourself with people like you is the best way to stay happy and motivated in my opinion, so that's what I try to do. When friendships aren't working out, don't force it. Maybe that's just me, but forcing something isn't worth the time, effort or strain. There are plenty of similar people in the world, find them and be yourself. 3. Getting a car. I've always been a fairly do as I please person, especially being as involved as I am. Having as car has allowed me to attend more volunteer events, get groceries easier/on my own and go home when I need to. I wrote a blog about all the benefits of having a car called "Having a Car at School," so check that out for more details. 4. Eating habits. Being able to choose my own food has been super nice for me, as well as made my life generally healthier. I tend to eat things like fruits and vegetables as snacks, rather than pop tarts and rice krispie bars that my mom would buy for my brother. Not that there is anything wrong with occasional junk food, but overall, people really should be eating healthier. And let's be honest, when you go to the doctor, who are you going to trust with your health: the fat doctor who clearly cannot follow their own advice/gives bad advice to begin with, or the fit doctor who knows how to properly maintain themselves? The fit one, obviously. So with that, I want to start being fit and maintaining a healthy life sooner rather than after it is too late and becomes a chore to be healthy. 5. My study habits. In high school, I was the student who showed up to class, paid attention most of the time, did my homework, but that was about the end of school and studying. There was no "studying." When it came to exams, I could work my way through enough of it to pull good grades, especially balanced out with the high homework averages. College completely changed that. Some of the things I do to study at college are completing all of the homework, going to nearly all of the help sessions, going to the necessary JustAsk hours, doing all optional review guides and practice exams, working through problems with friends for complete understanding and re-reading chapters from text books. And when I say I re-read the chapters, that means I read the chapters to begin with, which is more than I did for most classes in high school. Learning how to study in college was rough and a quick learning curve, but definitely is starting to pay off. 6. Careers. I came here determined to be a pediatric neurologist. I was going to go to med school then do 11 years of residency and spend the rest of my life helping kids with neurological disorders. Then I wondered when I could have a family in there, so I changed my path to physician's assistant in neurology. Since then, I've thought about being a surgical first assistant, clinical neurophysiology tech, nurse anesthetist and back to med school. As for now, I'm pretty settled on PA, but I know that can change, and I'm open to the opportunities I'm presented. College isn't easy, and change is always happening, but it is so worth it in the end. I have gained so much here from friends to knowledge to self-understanding. I now know who I am so much better and I think I know more what my priorities are in life. Hope you all had a wonderful and memorable spring break 2013! I was looking forward to this break for quite some time. I bet all of us needed a break from school. Most of us travelled out of the state or stayed in the state but still went places. For me, I had one fun and exciting spring break ever! On early Saturday morning, my family and I headed to the Twin Cities to help my uncle move into his new house. It had just renovated. Now that might not seem fun.... moving boxes and furniture, but for me, if someone needs the help I am more than happy to lend a helping hand. When my family and I got to my uncle's house, there were plenty of people there going in and out of the house already moving things into the truck! We just stepped in and made the process go a bit faster and to take a load off of the movers there. It was such a fun day especially because I had my brother, sister, and cousin there to share a laugh with. We did a lot of moving and we were so happy that the day was warm and sunny! Sunday was the day I was looking forward to the most! We visited the 2013 Auto Show in Minneapolis! I am a huge fan of cars, especially Mercedes Benz, BMW's, Audi's, and the one and only Volkswagen. After a long previous day of moving boxes and furniture, it was a day to relax and not move heavy things. I went to this event with my family and my two baby cousins. We saw many amazing cars like the ones pictured below. When we got tired of looking at cars, we all headed over to Mall of America to do some retail therapy. My spring break was all about catching up on sleep. Best spring break ever! ]]> In yet another example of how the University of Minnesota Rochester is different from any other campus (and there are many examples around), the most competitive sport on campus is Ballroom Dancing. Allow me to re-iterate, the college that I go to has only one sport where students compete against others outside of our University; Ballroom Dancing. While students at other universities are shelling out too much money to go cheer on their division level football, soccer, hockey, or other team, the University of Minnesota Rochester students are sauntering into a cozy ballroom with plush seats to cheer on their friends with countless other friends and fans. I am fortunate enough to be one of the competitors on our team, I have been this fortunate for two years now. I must admit that I enjoy competitive ballroom dancing far more than the football, soccer, hockey, and track that I used to play and watch in high school. In this past month we competed in the annual competition, and we dressed to impress. We donned our flowing gowns, slinky dresses, and gentlemanly tuxedos and paraded onto the dance floor, devoted to the idea of showing our best effort. Let me tell you, we exceeded that effort in almost every dance (I had to learn one of my dances 5 minutes prior to competing). We had couples placing in almost every criteria and even those who did not place did very well. On top of it all, we looked magnificent and had a wonderful time. I had more fun those two days of competition than I had at any of my other sports competitions throughout my entire life. I am a very firm supporter of the UMR Ballroom Team and look forward to the incoming freshmen next year!]]> "You've never truly lived until you have done something for someone who can never repay you." This is a quote that describes my spring break perfectly. Instead of going to lie on a beach or sit at home, I choose to do something with my break; I choose to go on the Students Today Leaders Forever trip. STLF is an organization that was thought up by some UMTC students a few years ago. It is a bus trip that travels through cities volunteering and meets other STLF tours in the destination city. This year the UMR bus traveled through Chicago, IL, Detroit, MI, Canton, OH, Beckley, WV, Knoxville, TN, making our way to Atlanta, GA. We left Friday afternoon making our way to Chicago. There were 38 of us on the bus, not knowing each other very well, but ready to go on the adventure together. In Chicago we slept in a YMCA gym that had lights that didn't shut off. That morning we got up and went to a nature reserve and cleared invasive species. After a few hours of cutting and chopping we got back on the bus to make our way to Detroit. As we traveled through the city you could see that it was a ghost town. Detroit was the most eye opening city we traveled to. We stayed in a church that served us Corn Beef for dinner and breakfast the next morning. We volunteered at a veteran's homeless shelter. That was an amazing experience. Some of us served breakfast and lunch while the rest of us made bags of toiletries and organized some storage areas. One of the men there came up to us and thanked us for going to school and going into the medical field. He told us to keep the nation healthy and keep up our good work. They sent us on our way to Canton, OH with snack bags that had hand written thank you notes. In Canton we got to explore down town which had a really cool art district and an adorable coffee shop that we went to. That night we stayed at another YMCA that had lights that turn off! There, we prepared for our service activity, which was teaching 2nd and 5th graders Junior Achievement. Junior Achievement is about businesses and how they work so being health sciences majors this was a little challenging. When we got there all of the kids were happy to see us and learn about the things we were teaching. I taught a 2nd grade class and it was so fun. I'm glad it was only two hours though! Gained a lot of respect for elementary school teachers! After that we got back on the bus to travel to Beckley, WV! Beckley was the first city we went through that had weather above 40 degrees. It was like summer! We stayed in another church that night. The next morning we did service at a hospice care center doing various tasks. Some worked around the grounds and I worked on a mapping project, mapping the placement of memorial stones. They fed us lunch of Chick-fil-A, macaroni and cheese, and salad. I had never had Chick-fil-A before and it was so good! Then we set off for Knoxville! In Knoxville we got to explore the city and eat dinner. A big group of us ate at Jig and Reel which was a Scottish Pub. It was pretty good! Then went to our housing cite which was a huge church. There was a band practicing there when we got there and they played for us. Then we played Sardines, like reverse hide and seek, in the giant, 4 story church. That morning we were volunteering with Keep America Beautiful cleaning up garbage around the city. In one little area we cleared out 15 bags of garbage! Then we filled on the bus to make our way to Atlanta, GA! In Atlanta we got to stay in hotel which was really nice after sleeping on the ground for a week. The first night we all went to a Waffle House; one of my favorite places ever. The next morning, all 160 of us from the 4 buses went to a park to help there. We all did different jobs, planting trees, building a fence, clearing a pathway, or cutting out invasive species. My friend Erica and I worked on clearing a path to an area that would be used by the local boy scouts. When we were finished we all ate lunch together. That night we had our celebration with the other 3 buses we met in Atlanta. We took the next two days to travel back to Rochester, staying in St. Louis on the way back. Overall, STLF was the greatest experience I have ever had. I have done a lot of volunteering in my day but this has been the best opportunity, by far! This trip helped to open my eyes to many new things and I made 37 new friends out of it! I would totally recommend this trip to anyone that loves to volunteer and wants a little bit of adventure in their spring break! Yeahhhhh buddy!!! ]]> Hi! So as you already know from my previous blog I spent a day over spring break making cookies with my grandma to use for a blog. But what blog is that? Well I can finally reveal the big secret, one of the cookie choices was healthy and the other was a recipe taken from the bag of chocolate chips, a well known Hershey's brand recipe. I set up these two types of cookies in the Admissions Office on Monday March 25th and had everyone that walked through sample one of each cookie and then rank their favorite based on taste. But before I announce the results of the test, lets back up.. So I first found some healthy chocolate chip cookie recipes on Pinterest while browsing one day and thought to myself, that I love cookies and it would be great if I would eat a healthier version so that I wouldn't feel so guilty. So I then proposed the question, do they taste different? In order to answer this question I knew that I would need more than just my opinion, so I decided to make it a test. The healthy recipe was referred to as choice A throughout the testing and the recipe is located here:. Rather than oats I used oat flour, so that it had a smooth texture, and as you can see they didn't look very different after they were baked (which was good because I didn't want people judging based on the ingredients). The Hershey's brand of cookies is located on the back of the bag but also here:. Here is a comparison of the two types of dough, you can definitely tell why one is more yellow (it's a whole extra stick of butter than the first recipe). Then once the cookies were made we froze them to keep them fresh until I would come back to school to have the testing. Then I set them up in the admissions office with some simple instructions: When it was all said and done, the two choices came out dead even. So in conclusion, the healthy cookies do not taste any different than the normally prepared ones, but they are less calories and less content of ingredients. Here is a comparison: Personally I liked the healthier cookies, but that was based on consistency and texture of the cookie as well as the taste. I also like the fact that I would be able to eat about two and not feel terrible about myself! Have any other questions that you would be dying to have tested? Let me know! I'm always up for baking ideas! Courtnee

http://blog.lib.umn.edu/applyumr/myumrstory/atom.xml

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The University of Minnesota has been awarded an $8.6 million contract to help speed the development of novel stem cell- and immune cell-based therapies from the laboratory to clinical trials through the Production Assistance for Cellular Therapies (PACT) program. The award, from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, was given to five academic centers, including centers at the University of Minnesota, Baylor College of Medicine, Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope, Harvard Medical School, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. These sites will serve as national resources for the development of new treatments for patients with various heart, lung, and blood diseases. The University of Minnesota team will continue to work on establishing national best practices for the development of cellular therapies. Investigators here have been at the forefront of research on umbilical cord blood and the development of regulatory T cells and natural killer cell therapies to enhance the effectiveness of blood and marrow transplants and reduce their complications. “Few institutions in the U.S. have the combined expertise and resources in one place to take an idea from the research bench to the patient bedside as we have at the Molecular and Cellular Therapeutics Facility,” says principal investigator John E. Wagner, M.D., who together with David McKenna, M.D., and Jeffrey Miller, M.D., will lead the University program. The PACT award is the second fiveyear contract Wagner has received at the University to help accelerate work on cellular therapies. The University’s first contract, awarded in 2003, fundamentally transformed the pace of new cell-based therapies.

http://blog.lib.umn.edu/mmf/news/initiatives/stemcell/2010/u-awarded-86-million-to-manufacture-stem-cell-therapies.html

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Unless you are a not for profit, your goal as a business owner is to make profit. There are a number of directions you can take to get there and social media marketing is one of them. But as a business owner, are you diving into social media expecting it to instantly become a revenue source? If so, read on and I will share with you how you should be approaching social media first and foremost as a way to build relationships with your audience(s). Nothing Beats Having a Great Community! When it comes to search and social media marketing, your community should be the center of your focus. Your community can act as brand advocates and ultimately help increase your brand awareness. Without that community, it is very difficult to devise a strong, working social media marketing campaign. Come up with a plan and create steps that will help you reach your goal. In this case, your goal is to get a community. How do you Get a Great Community? Building a great community takes time, dedication and patience. Manual outreach, marketing (paid and/or organic), content sharing, networking (face to face helps) and simply seeking out individuals with similar interests are just a few of the many community building actions you should implement. Building a great community isn’t something that happens overnight so if you aren’t committed to the long-haul, you are better off working with a marketing agency to alleviate some of the work. Once you Have the Community, Engage With Them After setting your community based social media goals and reaching them, by no means is this quitting time. You worked hard to get where you are at so after a quick pat on the back, it is time to start engaging with your community. Engage with your community on individual and group levels and be personable. Too many times, when building social media communities, the human factor is overlooked. Your audience wants to interact with humans and they will easily spot automated responses and other automatically generated communications. Be human! Use Your Community to Promote Your Brand Whether it’s giving away something for free or holding an interactive contest for your audience to participate in, generate some sort of buzz around your product or service. At a recent social media conference I attended in Buffalo, NY, Ramon DeLeon of Dominos Pizza shared with the audience that while he cannot make profit selling pizzas for a dollar (which he does) he will make profit with the buzz it generates socially. Word of mouth marketing is still the best form of marketing and when you treat your social audiences right, they will share their positive experiences. No matter what type of business you operate, techniques such as Ramon’s can be easily applied. Treat your customers and community so well with these freebies and contests that they feel guilty not using your brand. This is what a strong community is and why you took the time to build it. What’s Next? Social media marketing and everything that goes into it will never come to rest. It will take ongoing efforts, maintenance, listening and reacting to keep you moving full steam ahead. After building a strong social community and engaging with them to the point where it gets them talking to their social circles, you can more easily measure ROI and put a value on each of your followers, likes, etc. Use social media as a tool to create buzz, share great content and as a way to spark that all so mighty word of mouth marketing. So in conclusion, don’t think of social media as a means of direct revenue. Build a strong community, engage with them, use them as brand advocates and the revenue will follow if you are doing things correctly. Start by figuring out the lifetime value of a customer, create a social media goal and then steps that are going to get you to your end goal. I encourage you to share your thoughts and questions in the comments section below! Post by Craig Kilgore - SEO @mainstreethost (View Original Post Here)

http://blog.mainstreethost.com/social-media-marketing-101-build

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Wow! Check out this stunning embroidered and patchworked upholstery from Fun Makes Good. I have done some upholstery myself, and have a good appreciation for the work it takes! I had never thought of making my own textiles, but will add it to my To Do list. The swallow pouf is also fantastic. (Via Red Jet Whistle.)

http://blog.makezine.com/craft/gorgeous_patchwork_upholstery/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=4b5b0dc21b

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. Steps Step #1:Next - First, you will need a few things: - 1. A gearmotor capable of lifting something about the weight of an AA battery to half the distance you want the blade to fall (explained in more detail later). - 2. One or two wall power supplies (or the equivalent in batteries) which combined produce the maximum voltage your gearmotor can take. Using two supplies will give you a better effect but a single one will work if it produces sufficient voltage. - 3. An adapter to fit your motor. - 4. A small microswitch (N.O./N.C.) that will go alongside your motor. Mine had this built in. - 5. A hunk of cardboard the size you want the guillotine's blade to be. - 6. Aluminum foil. - 7. A dowel rod. Its length should be half the distance you want the blade to move. Step #2:Next - 8. (optional) A metal rod a little over double the length of the dowel. - 9. Fishing line. - 10. Various pieces of mounting hardware. Step #3:Next -. Step #4:Next -. Step #5:Next -. Step #6: - The last steps are to make a blade out of cardboard and aluminum foil (do NOT use sheet metal, as it may actually decapitate someone!). - Then poke a hole in the weight center of the top (where it balances), put the fishing line through, and tie a knot so it doesn't back out. Do not tie it directly to the blade, or the fishing line will not spin freely, and it will tangle. - Add your hook or suction cup a little over twice the length of the spinning arm above the ground. - Run the line from the blade through the hook. Mount the motor where you want it, and turn the motor so the arm faces directly away from the hook. - Extend the line from the blade so that the blade is a few inches below the hook, then run it to the arm and either tie it off, glue it, or tape it. This should leave you with the blade all the way up, and the arm at its farthest. - Remove the arm from the motor and apply power. Wait for it to finish its brief high-speed cycle, and stop it. Then replace the arm so that the blade is all the way in the down position. - If nothing catches on the line, then apply power and you should have a working guillotine.

http://blog.makezine.com/projects/simple-halloween-guillotine/

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In addition to launching an official Transitions Lifestyle System page on Facebook today, we’ve also joined Twitter as well. The Transitions Lifestyle System, a complete weight management system that encompasses low-glycemic eating, body composition and behavior modification is now on Twitter! Please take a moment and follow the Transitions Lifestyle System (@LiveTransitions) on Twitter — a remarkable weight management system from Market America. Pingback: Tweets that mention Transitions Lifestyle System now on Twitter | -- Topsy.com Congratulations!!! thats the reason Im certified Transitions Coach… cus it works.. and I can make a life helping others looking young, healthy and better!

http://blog.marketamerica.com/blog/transitions-lifestyle-system-on-twitter

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Patriots defensive end Markell Carter draws inspiration from sister's battle with lupus FOXBOROUGH – Sometimes Markell Carter feels like he’s playing for two. Whenever he feels like he can’t do another bench press or run another sprint during practice, he pictures his sister, Keyarrie Hudson, and it gives him the strength to push on. “She’s really strong, a lot stronger than me,” the Patriots’ second-year defensive end said. “Lupus probably would have been the end of me. For her, it was just a new chapter in her life. She took it in full force.” The 21-year-old Hudson also has her brother to help absorb some of the blow in her battle with lupus, an autoimmune disease that affects the skin, joints, kidneys, brain and other organs. Carter is in the process of moving his sister from Oklahoma to his home in the Boston area so she has better access to specialists who can help her deal with her condition, but he feels like the biggest beneficiary of the arrangement since his best friend and main source of inspiration will be back under his roof. “It’s always been me and my little sister since I was (young),” Carter said. “Just to see her go through those struggles, see how she had a smile on her face even though I knew it was hurting her. Just how she stayed in her faith, and how she didn’t lose herself. “A lot of people would have been depressed and lost who they were, but she never lost that. She was that same girl as she was before and after.” And right now, any boost Carter can get can only help him. A practice squad player last season, the 22-year-old is looking to carve out a role on the 53-man roster and earn some playing time. He added 10 pounds of muscle to his frame over the offseason, putting him at 275 pounds, up from the 250 he played at as a senior at Central Arkansas, and took part in rookie camp over the weekend to give himself a leg up on the competition. “Whenever coach gives you the opportunity to learn more, you take it,” Carter said. “Just having these extra two days to be in the meeting room, to be back on the field, doing drills, it’s going to give me a head start.” “(During the lockout) I was sitting on my couch. I’d work out in the morning two hours and then after that have the whole day to myself. Now I’m more organized, I’m more of a professional.” Despite not using him last season, something Carter says he feels not bitterness about, the Patriots believe that he can be a valuable member of the team, and expressed that during the offseason by doubling his salary from $150,000 to $306,000. With defensive linemen Andre Carter and Mark Anderson both off of the roster, he may have a shot to prove that he was worth the bump salary at some point this season. “You’ve got a lot of young fresh legs running around out there. You’ve got a lot of eagerness out there. We all want to prove ourselves,” Carter said. “Us being so young, we haven’t established ourselves in this league.” If he manages to do that, it would certainly make his sister proud.

http://blog.masslive.com/patriots/2012/05/patriots_defensive_end_markell.html

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The next system will be more about cold air than winter precipitation. Light rain or snow is again possible Sunday night into Monday, but it will be followed by very cold temperatures for the rest of next week. Precipitation amounts will be light if any with this system. Finally, one mid-range model is showing the possibility of a significant winter storm for the middle of next week. Another, perhaps more reliable, model is not showing that system as of this afternoon. We will continue to monitor the situation and keep you updated! Check the MWN Forecast daily for the latest details. ---- Stay up to date on the latest weather conditions and forecast by checking out MemphisWeather.net on Facebook and Twitter!

http://blog.memphisweather.net/2011/02/more-winter-weather-on-tap-for-mid.html

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Some people still believe that, to be happy, we need to accumulate things. Shopping malls have become the destination of choice for human entertainment, in turn making our regions economically dependent on department stores. Have you ever wondered where so much of what we buy, mostly needlessly, comes from and goes? The system of production and consumption on our planet begins with extraction. You get the necessary natural resources (minerals, water, wood, etc.) from all over the world taken to manufacturing centres. There they are combined with synthetic products, and energy is invested to produce anything from clothing to appliances. So far, so clear. Yet there are two basic problems with this system. First, there are not enough natural resources in the world to meet the current demand of Western consumption. The USA, with only 5 per cent of the global population, uses about 30 per cent of the world’s resources. Clearly, if other countries follow these rates of consumption – and there are several that threaten to do so including India and China – our resources will run out much sooner than we think. Second, the world’s largest corporations have amassed so much power that they’re increasingly difficult to regulate. According to the consultancy Global Trends, of the world’s 150 largest economies only 41 per cent are countries; the rest are corporations. There are various drawbacks to this situation, from the terrible working conditions for employees in developing countries, to the destruction of valuable natural resources without compensation. All this to produce shoes, watches and tablets as quickly and cheaply as possible to satisfy the demand of global consumers. Although consumption trends are high in many countries (Germany leads in Europe, while the growth in some Persian Gulf countries is astounding), the USA has topped the list since the times of Victor Lebow. This analyst theorized that for the large US economy to maintain its robustness, it would need to make consumption a permanent part of the US lifestyle. It is seriously difficult to understand prices in US malls. How can a buyer know how much was earned by the Chinese boy who assembled the product by hand? If he was offered social security and health benefits? How much did the fuel cost to bring it from China to Rotterdam to Florida? If it is an electronic device, where did the Coltan come from? And how much was paid to farmers who extracted it? If this mineral – vital for cell phones and games consoles – came from D.R. Congo, did it come stained with blood? We do not have sufficient space to address the last link in this consumer system: the inevitably gigantic quantities of waste generated. But the message is clear, responsible citizenship requires us, at the very least, to ask ourselves again and again if we really need that new item that we are about to buy. Although modern advertising may suggest the opposite, and those who call us ‘ecocentric’ are everywhere, it is worth pursuing sustainable lifestyles. Ultimately, parks and fellow humans are worth more than shopping malls and corporations. Because our quality of life doesn’t depend on our level of consumption! by Carlos Cadena Gaitán, PhD fellow at Maastricht Graduate School of Governance and UNU-MERIT. First published in El Mundo, 9 April 2012. Translated from the Spanish by Howard Hudson. Image: Flickr / Enoughproject

http://blog.merit.unu.edu/?m=201205

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"We're encouraged she is getting help through the Lord. That's the first step," the Muskegon woman said after watching a judge sentence Laurie Swank to a lengthy prison term. Ottawa County Circuit Judge Ed Post ordered Swank, 49, to an agreed-upon term of 10 to 20 years in prison Monday for the 1979 murder of 22-year-old Hope College student Janet Chandler. Her second-degree murder sentence comes three weeks before Post is to sentence four others -- all former Wackenhut security guards who knew Chandler through her night clerk job at the Blue Mill Inn -- whom Swank helped convict earlier this month through trial testimony. Arthur "Carl" Paiva of Muskegon, James "Bubba" Nelson, Anthony Williams and Freddie Parker face mandatory life prison terms when sentenced Dec. 10 for felony murder. Swank, who calmly unfolded a creased paper on which she penned her thoughts, told Chandler's family she wanted to take responsibility for her part in the murder. "Age, ignorance, coveting and jealousy -- there are no excuses," she said, describing how she has lived in a "self-imposed mental prison that has affected every aspect of my life" since 1979. "I am not and have not been the same person since Janet died," she said. Swank, still handcuffed as she clutched the paper, offered an apology Monday. "I present myself, meekly and humbly, full of God's grace, and ask for forgiveness," she said. In 1979, Swank was Chandler's boss at the Blue Mill Inn as well as her roommate at a house on Holland's north side. Jealous of Chandler's popularity with Wackenhut guards staying at the inn and patrolling a Chemetron Corp. strike, Swank helped instigate a plan to "teach her a lesson" at a party where she would be "(raped) to death." The guards hatched a plan to lure Chandler away from her job under the guise of a surprise party. At the party, she was raped, beaten and ultimately strangled to death with a belt while her arms and legs were bound, and her eyes and mouth taped. Her body was dumped in a snowbank in the I-196 median. Former Wackenhut guard Robert Lynch, who admitted holding the belt when Chandler died, was sentenced to a minimum 25 years in prison in February after pleading guilty to second-degree murder. On Monday, Glenna Chandler asked Post to give Swank the most prison time allowable. "Laurie has chosen her destiny where she let hate and jealousy rule her," she said. Chandler's father, Jim, said Monday's sentence brought another measure of justice to his family for their daughter's killing 28 years ago. "(Justice) will never be served, but the whole thing is coming to closure," he said. "It's encouraging to hear Laurie say she is taking responsibility for what she did and recognizes there has to be a penalty to it." Outside the courtroom, Swank's sister warmly greeted the Chandlers. Some of Swank's family were present for the sentencing, but they declined to comment. Glenna Chandler said she cannot imagine the shock experienced by Swank's family and the other suspects' families upon learning the dark secret that had been kept for so many years.

http://blog.mlive.com/chronicle/2007/11/update_sentence_gives_chandler.html

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While on the internets today I found that Mr. Level-up himself, N'Gai Croal, had finally updated his blog and tackled an issue that has been setting the game blogs ablaze: (note: I refuse to use the word blogosphere it is the most idiotic sounding word ever created) the issue of Mirror's Edge and innovation versus execution in video games. Croal goes on to say. I finished the game last night and since I got close to the end this past weekend I have been trying to figure out how I am going to score it. It is hard to dislike it because when the game does things right, it REALLY does them right, but the flaws cannot be ignored. As someone who appreciates when a game designer does something different I want to laud this game as much as I can. On the other side of the coin, as a critic there is no way I can give Mirror's Edge a perfect score because it is far from perfect. I'm glad that I found this post, it really helped me in my decision. Full review later this week. The rest of N'Gai's post and something completely different after the break. The Idea: Game reviewers and game players get so hung up on minutiae-i.e. game controls and combat systems-that too often, they miss what's important and innovative about games. This in turn creates a culture where gamers are searching for aspects of a game to dislike. Instead, what's needed are more critics and gamers who champion particular developers and games. The Thinkers: Leigh Alexander, Ben Fritz, Keith Stuart The Sources: Sexy Videogameland, The Cut Scene, Games BlogAdvertisement The Quotes:. --Leigh Alexander, Sexy Videogameland [I]n the case of games that are different in some way (like a new IP, or a sequel from a new developer as in the case of "Silent Hill: Homecoming"), a lot of videogame critics obsess about the small stuff because they don't like the big picture...? --Ben Fritz, The Cut Scene [I]f. For example, no-one complains that, say, Pan's Labyrinth or Eraser Head lack the formal, easily recognisable narrative structure of a conventional movie. Their aspirations exempt them from that requirement. So should we really be marking Mirror's Edge down for control issues--a game that aspires to re-interpret the very interface between player, screen and character? Yes, I know, it's a clumsy comparison, but the underlying point is--should reviewers just accept that sometimes incredibly new experiences will lack some of the formal substance we expect from traditional games? That's what innovation is, it's leaping out into the unknown. --Keith Stuart, Games Blog The Reaction:. From where we sit, the core mechanics of Mirror's Edge--the locomotion, or movement, of the main character--are exceedingly well implemented. The same is true for the twinning of the player and the camera. The shooting mechanics, however, are shockingly mediocre for a studio whose history and expertise lie in first-person shooters. As for the hand-to-hand combat, it's certainly well-animated and pleasing to the eye. Yet it's also both perfunctory and unforgiving, which means that it's somewhat satisfying when you get it right and thoroughly irritating when you get it wrong. Stuart and Alexander would have us believe that the fault lies with reviewers and gamers who have disparaged any of the game's mechanics--movement, shooting or hand-to-hand combat--while being insufficiently laudatory of the breathtaking way Mirror's Edge simulates the experience of le parkour. They're wrong and, if we can turn back a phrase from Fritz, they're wrong in a way that misses the big picture. Because while the locomotion in Mirror's Edge is praiseworthy and innovative, the game it's wrapped it not only fails to amplify and focus said innovation, the game by and large works against it. What do we mean by this? Mirror. Imagine if after crashing in a Burnout Paradise race, the developers started you over at a standstill rather than already in motion, and you'll have a sense of how dissatisfying failure feels in Mirror's Edge. Stuart, for his part, says that there's just a "smattering of trial-and-error moments," which we'll graciously chalk up to the superiority of his gaming skills over our own. Still, the effect of this marrying classic try, die and retry failure states to a trickier-than-usual platformer is to create an experience that continuously alternates between elation and frustration, which steadily erodes the sensation that DICE comes so tantalizingly close to imparting. This is why the most satisfying portion by far of Mirror's Edge is the Time Trials. In this mode, you not only expect trial-and-error, you embrace it, because you're trying to improve your time. And by taking manageable portions of each level and isolating them to serve as Time Trials, you get to know each mini-level well enough that you can successfully maintain the unbroken chain of continuous motion that is the best thing about Mirror's Edge. Even within an individual run, there's still exploration, but it's highly focused on looking for an aspect of the environment that you hadn't seen previously, an alternate route that you'd missed, all in hopes of reducing the time that it takes to get from beginning to end. Forget Madden NFL or NBA 2K: this is the first game that we genuinely makes us feel like an athlete when we play it. That's when it's firing on all cylinders, however, and more often than it should, the Mirror's Edge story mode you feels like you're shooting blanks. A number of reviewers have likened Mirror's Edge to Portal. It's an apt comparison: both are first-person games that radically innovate on how players can traverse from Point A to Point B; both games contain movement, platforming, exploration and combat challenges. Yet the differences between the two are ultimately more instructive than their similarities. Portal, at its core, is about solving environmental puzzles in order to get somewhere. Mirror's Edge, by contrast, is about solving environmental puzzles at top speed in order to get somewhere as quickly as possible. (Yes, there are a number of momentum-based obstacles in Portal, but the game is nowhere nearly as dependent on continuous movement for its pleasures as is Mirror's Edge.) The paradox is that while most story-based games rely on forward progression (shuttling you from new environment to new environment) Mirror's Edge is at its most alive in its circular progression (when you replay an environment that you're already familiar with), something which, on your first playthrough, only happens after you fail. That's not an easy tension to resolve, and it hasn't been resolved. The tragedy here is that in the development time allotted, neither DICE nor its masters at Electronic Arts HQ were able to do what Valve did a year ago: figure out how to take the essence of Mirror's Edge and turn it into a game that could be sold for $60. Sure, Valve placed Portal in the tender, nurturing embrace of Half-Life Episode 2: The Orange Box, but it also married the innovative portal gun gameplay mechanics to a narrative structure, enemy placement and level designs that connected its 19 discrete puzzle sequences in a way that felt the whole felt greater than the sum of its parts. Mirror's Edge does not, and that's what is being reflected in its reviews. As Penny Arcade's Tycho put it, "The main problem is that I love what they've done with the art and with the style of play, but when they start hounding me with these snipers and S.W.A.T. motherf---ers it quickly becomes a game I don't want. I guess the idea is to make it more exciting, but I was already having fun." This is, of course, merely one blog's opinion. But. One more point. In response the IGN UK review of Mirror's Edge which states "The ideas are there for a very cool experience, and I truly hope that a sequel is spawned, but this first attempt falls just a bit short," the Guardian's Stuart replies:. I felt the same about Killer 7 and Shenmue and the mobile game, Nom - flawed every one of them, but I don't begrudge the creators a single second of the time I spent toiling with imperfections. Similarly, in a Sexy Videogameland post that went live after the one we cited above, Alexander writes: . While taking issue with Stuart's claim that Mirror's Edge is a masterpiece, Variety's Fritz, in a post that went live as we were penning this screed, goes even further in lambasting the IGN reviewer for even bringing up the prospect that a sequel could solve what ails Mirror's Edge. He states: What I think we both dislike is the cowardly critic, the one who focuses on the details and refuses to engage with the big picture ideas of the game....On the one hand, it's kind of a dismal acceptance of reality--we all know there probably will be a sequel and EA/Dice probably will address specific issues. But that's hardly the most interesting thing about "Mirror's Edge," love it or hate it. This game made some very high level choices and those are what reviewers should be engaging. First, Fritz's complaint doesn't quite square with the review, whichThe Verdict: Red light. Reviewers aren't perfect, but attempting to police the discourse by insisting on the primacy of innovation over execution is not the answer. tackles a big picture idea when the reviewer states that there's a conflict between the openness of the player's abilities and the sectioned off nature of the world. (You can read the review for yourself here.) Second, we hate to drag out our old chestnut of a quote, but we'll do it yet again nonetheless: We see games with our hands. In other words, not only do mechanics matter (why else would there be a minor civil war between those who think the floaty physics-based platforming in LittleBigPlanet is A-OK and those who believe that it renders the game unplayable?) but mechanics are also improvable, both between franchises (the cover system innovated in Kill.Switch but significantly improved in Gears of War) and within the same series (the cover system as built for the original Gears of War and as subsequently enhanced for Gears of War 2). To pretend otherwise is to miss a fundamental aspect of what games are and how sequels, downloadable content and expansion packs can function in this medium. To let the tastes of less knowledgeable gamers dictate the dialogue among those who are more fluent in this burgeoning critical language is to neuter the conversation. Let's avoid doing either. And now for something completely different Warning: This video contains coarse language Stop watching at 1.43 to avoid this vid's jump on the failboat.

http://blog.mlive.com/xbutton/2008/11/innovation_and_mirrors_edge.html

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Bull Blinkers (Dec, 1951). Why does this look like it would a great album cover for a punk band? Heck, “Bull Blinkers” makes a geat band name, too. Joe the Hereford says “censorship in th pasture is a bunch of bull” Love is blind. S&M cow “Bull blinkers!” -Sherman T. Potter

http://blog.modernmechanix.com/bull-blinkers/

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Crooks Cured by Surgeons Knife (Jul, 1930) This is pretty terrifying, though I suppose it is just a much cruder form of how we use psychiatric drugs today. A few things I noticed: 1. obviously being gay is a disorder. 2. they didn’t say if the prisoners were actually given any choice about their operations. 3. what did they do to the kids? 4. This quote “It points also to the more illuminating truth that if the grandparents, or even the parents, of these men had been given proper medical and surgical treatment for their own glandular abnormalities, their children and their grandchildren would not have offended society…” sounds like Lamarckism. Though according to Wikipedia that theory seems to be making a comeback. 5. Apparently you can tell a criminal by their face. From the pictures in the article that seems to mean “Foreign Looking”. Crooks Cured by Surgeons Knife Here for the first time is the amazing story of how criminals in San Quentin prison, California, are made honest by giving them healthy glands. By H. H. DUNN THE surgeon’s knife and the laboratory test tube have entered the campaign against crime. Experimental researches, carried on over a number of years and beginning to show results in control and reform institutions this summer, indicate that criminal tendencies may be eradicated, development of the criminal averted, and the established criminal restored to normal by medical and surgical treatment. Most of the work which has resulted in this astounding discovery has been done in schools for “backward,” or “wayward, children in San Francisco, and among the inmates of San Quentin prison in California. Looking into the causes of criminal behavior, Dr. Ralph A. Reynolds, of San Francisco, has opened a door which apparently leads not only to the prevention of crime, but to the reformation of the adult criminal. Confirmation of the value of the method of treatment of criminal tendency by surgery and medicine awaits the test of time, but in the five years so far devoted to this work results have been achieved which indicate that the surgeon may take the place of the policeman, the physician that of the judge, and that civilization will prevent rather than punish crime. In the course of these experiments, it was found that a very high percentage of the inmates of the prison were suffering from some abnormal condition of the endocrine or “internally secreting” glands, which empty directly into the blood stream. It was learned that perpetrators of crimes of violence showed disturbance of the thyroid, the twin gland in the front of the neck which regulates growth, while forgers and similar criminals against property were found to have abnormal conditions in the pituitary. This is a pear-shaped body about the size of a bean, lying at the base of the brain. Perverts and degenerates hid certain derangements of the sexual glands under apparently normal exteriors. Working with Dr. L. L. Stanley, San Quentin prison physician, Doctor Reynolds found that beneficial results were obtained, both in physical condition and mental outlook, when the glandular derangements of these prisoners were corrected. Approximately sixty were so treated by operation and by administration of gland extracts. Not one failed to respond to the treatment. THESE results with adults in the penitentiary led to two conclusions, the most important that have been made in the scientific study of crime: First, that the so-called “criminal instinct” may be removed from the minds of men, and women, by the study and treatment of the endocrine-gland systems, in childhood or later. Second, that potential criminality may be eliminated by the treatment of these glands in youth, whenever and wherever children are found to be suffering from such abnormal conditions. In other words, it now seems not only possible, but highly probable, that malsecretion (that is, a secretion which is too large or too small, or chemically unbalanced) of some gland is responsible for the greater part of the crime in the world. “We are beginning to accept the fact that the criminal is not essentially ‘bad’,” said Dr. Reynolds, “but that he merely is a person who shows a departure from what society has established as the ‘normal.’ There is a growing belief among scientists that, in dealing with criminals, too much attention is paid to the mind and the emotions, and too little to the sources from, which the mind and the emotions arise, and by which they are controlled. “On the reasonable assumption that these sources exist in the functions of the body itself, and more specifically in the chemical functions of the body, the next logical step is to find the mechanism which controls the body’s chemical activities. “Evidence is that this mechanism exists in the endocrine glands—the glands of internal secretion, also known as the ‘ductless’ glands, because their cells secrete directly into little blood vessels in the glands, without the aid of ducts. In connection with this reasoning, it appears quite obvious than any unbalanced condition of the chemistry of the body will lead to various and varying forms of unbalance in the mental and emotional outlook, and in the conduct (i. e., behavior) of the person involved. THE work at San Quentin, of which more later, leads logically to a study of the field from which all criminals are drawn—our children. It would be tremendously more advantageous to society to prevent the development of the criminal, than to reform him after he is developed. Aside from the saving to humanity, the economic value to civilization of the salvaging of young lives, and the conversion of young minds to useful occupations, cannot be estimated. “My work has taken me into the medical direction if two institutions, involving about 200 children. In virtually every ‘backward’ or ‘wayward’ child, boy or girl, I have been able to see a physical departure from normal. In many that as yet are neither backward nor wayward, I see evidence of the future development of abnormal conditions in the gland system. There is the child of low, often moronic, mind, who can do good work with his hands, but not with his brain. He is mistrained, and, because his mind does not respond to the training given him, he is called a ‘dumb-bell’ or worse. He goes out into the world unprepared to earn what the world calls an ‘honest living.’ He is drawn into a ‘gang.’ He is involved in a hold-up, or a gang-fight. The law gets him, and he— with an antisocial inclination in his subnormal mind—becomes a criminal. “Such a child should be discovered; his ancestry traced; his physical and mental history recorded; the cause of his mental condition found. He may not be—in fact, he often is not—an obvious ‘gland case,’ but in many, many instances he will be found possessed of an abnormal thyroid or pituitary gland, and back of him will lie a history of ancestors similarly affected. “Now, many children who show visible endocrine disturbances have pleasant types of minds, never brilliant, often below normal; but usually best described as ‘fat and good-natured.’ Their obesity or extreme fatness can be reduced by the correction of their glandular disturbances, and with such reduction comes an increase in industry and ambition. The moronic mind cannot be improved, but it can be given a sound body, and it can be given the training for work with the hands which will enable its possessor to win and maintain an honest place in society. “What we must learn about children is why one becomes a criminal and another does not. Then we must treat the subnormal child—by medicine or by surgery—to restore the chemical balance of the body. This done, we must prepare him, or her, to earn an adequate living, so that the economic incentive to crime—as well as the mental receptivity to criminal ideas— may be removed. By so doing, we shall prevent crime. Indeed, we are so preventing it, in the schools mentioned. “It seems to me essential, as the first step in this program, that orphanages and other schools containing numbers of children whose heredity and early environment may have been unsatisfactory should segregate the problem-children for study and treatment. Certainly, children so cared for could not be harmed, while the opportunity for their improvement is tremendous. “THERE can be no question that in the majority of instances, malsecretion of some one or more of the endocrine glands is responsible for the commission of crime. To return to the experimental work at San Quentin prison, we have traced certain criminal activities directly to certain glands. “The treatment of these glands has resulted, in many instances, in marked mental and physical improvement of the criminal, and, moreover, in what bears every evidence of being the elimination of the tendency to commit crime. “THE principle involved is the restoration of normal mentality through establishment of chemical stability in the body by the treatment of the gland, or glands, involved. “Some time ago, with the cooperation of Doctor Stanley, I undertook to carry through to conclusion a series of studies and treatments of prisoners showing gland disorders. Among these were men with enlargement of the thyroid gland, the very fat, the very thin, the very tall, the very short, those having abnormal hair distribution and growth, and some with subnormal sex glands. “The thyroid group was divided into three classes: “First, those having an excessive growth of the normal cells of the thyroid gland, resulting in a highly active, ‘nervous,’ and emotionally unstable mentality. This condition is known as ‘hyper plasia,’ or overgrowth. “The second class consisted of those having tumorous or lumpy growths of foreign tissue within the thyroid gland. This growth secretes a poisonous substance into the blood stream, resulting in great excitability, emotional instability, increased bodily activity, and, frequently, periods of depression. This condition is known as ‘adenoma.’ ” In the third group were gathered those with ‘colloid goiter;’ that is, an abnormal growth of the thyroid gland, caused by a deposit of supposedly inert material in the gland tissue. As a rule, this condition does not present obvious external symptoms, but it does produce a tendency to obesity. “When we referred to the records of the crimes committed by these men, we found that in approximately seventy percent of the cases those in classifications one and two had committed Crimes of violence; that is, murder, assault with intent to kill, manslaughter, or manslaughter from reckless driving. “EVEN more important than this, we learned that many of these men had records of similar, though lesser, crimes running back to boyhood years. One man showed tendencies to this sort of crime at the age of eight. Had he been given the proper medical and surgical care when a child, his life could have been turned to usefulness, and society would have been saved the labor and expense of protecting itself from his criminal tendency. Records of these three groups of prisoners in general showed that each suffers from an abnormal stimulation of some sort. It appears to be certain that this instability of their mental processes is due solely to maloperation of the thyroid gland. “Five of these men, intractable and guilty of frequent attacks on other prisoners, were given treatment by operation. That is, the hyper-plastic or overdeveloped tissue and the adenomas (gland enlargement) were removed. All have shown marked improvement in behavior, their mental stability has increased, their tendency to impulsive action has been reduced, and it is strongly probable that they will leave the prison with minds more in accord with the processes of civilization, and more amenable to its limitations, than they ever have been. “Another group of prisoners—not thyroid abnormals—was made up of men having a disorder of the pituitary gland, commonly diagnosed as being due to undersecretion of the anterior or forward lobe of this gland. It was learned from the records that more than eighty percent of these cases were ‘sent up’ for crimes of irresponsibility, such as forgery, embezzlement, bad-check passing, and petty theft. “IT IS interesting to note that not one in this ‘pituitary group’ had committed any crime of violence. “In daily life, these are the fat, good-natured men; irresponsible, usually living far beyond their means, always in need of money, and so abnormal in endocrinal condition that they follow the paths of least resistance. Yet they are extremely difficult to arouse to a fighting mood, and in their efforts to fulfill their desires, stop far short of violence of any kind. “We found that, generally speaking, it was possible to modify in a marked degree the personalities of these men, giving them greater seriousness, making them more responsible, and fixing in their minds a stronger sense of their proper attitude toward their fellow men. “We did this by administering what we found to be the proper combination of pituitary and other glandular extracts, which seem to act as catalyzers, or reagents in the distribution of the introduced pituitary substance.” Doctor Reynolds and Doctor Stanley also worked with a third group of prisoners, known as the “dys-gonads” (those having badly developed sex glands), involving two divisions, the homosexuals and the undersexed. Most of these are furtive, secretive, unaggressive, harmless men, but here and there arises one who suddenly becomes vicious, without apparent reason. The majority of them are in prison for crimes of perversion, yet there are thousands of persons of similar type in society, hiding their perversions to such an extent that they never have fallen foul of the law. Treatment of this type by glandular extract produced demonstrable, highly beneficial results, and there is little doubt in the mind of Doctor Reynolds that the pervert and degenerate types may be returned a long way toward normalcy by this artificial restoration of the balance of the sex glands. Thus, the three departments of crime—acts of violence, attacks on property, and perversion—have been given tests of five years and proved to have their source in unbalanced mentality, produced by abnormalities in the glands of internal secretion. Yet both Doctor Reynolds and Doctor Stanley, pioneers and leaders in this study of glandular criminology, insist that the results obtained be regarded only as “experimental.” “OF THE prisoners examined, numbering hundreds, eighty-five percent had a definite history of disorder of the endocrine glands in one or both parents,” continued Doctor Reynolds. “Similar abnormal conditions of these glands were found in grandparents, uncles, aunts, sisters, and brothers of these men. “This points clearly to a powerful hereditary factor at work in disorders of the glands of internal secretion. “It points also to the more illuminating truth that if the grandparents, or even the parents, of these men had been given proper medical and surgical treatment for their own glandular abnormalities, their children and their grandchildren would not have offended society, and would not now be in prison, burdens on that civilization whose rules they have broken because of the upsetting of their endocrinal gland balance. “Beyond this somewhat scientific deduction, we are met squarely with the tremendous economic and sociological fact that if we remove the endocrine abnormalities from the children of today, we shall reduce greatly the crimes against the society of tomorrow. If we restore the balance of the thyroid gland in the throat of little Johnny Jones, thereby calming permanently his childish outbursts of temper, we are in a fair way to prevent a murder. If we train wee Billy Smith’s pituitary glands so that he refrains from stealing his neighbor’s apples, we have curbed the malsecretion of the gland which has put other and older men into prison for embezzlement and forgery. “WE ARE becoming more and more certain that behind every ‘ backward’ and wayward’ child there is a physical reason. Something is wrong with the internal mechanism, the glandular chemistry, of that child’s body. If, through a study of the child’s endocrinal history, and a complete examination of its present condition, we can restore the balance of the gland influence on the child’s mentality, then we can remove what we call, for want of a better term, the ‘tendency to crime.’” So much for the prevention of crime, for the averting, in youth, of a predisposition toward wrongdoing in later years. We have seen what Doctor Reynolds and Doctor Stanley have accomplished with the adult criminal in San Quentin prison. The logical path along which this work must go is the one of restoring to these men such mental balance that they will realize their responsibilities to themselves, to society, and to civilization. Doctor Reynolds believes that this can be done in many instances, but his demand is for time to observe the result of experimental surgical and medical work done on these prisoners. Let Doctor Reynolds speak again: “We have with us another and larger group which has been only touched in this study of glandular balance and control. These are the persons who, we say casually, ‘have criminal faces’; scientifically, they are classified as having the stigmata of degeneration. Their facial abnormalities—from the sight of which the layman judges them to be at least potential criminals—are due to disturbances in growth and development. Endocrinologists, specialists in the study and treatment of endocrine glands, have come to look upon them as glandular subjects, inasmuch as virtually always their ancestry reveals a long and involved history of disarrangement of the glands of internal secretion. “IN THE ancestry of such persons also appear insanity, epilepsy, feeble-mindedness, cataracts early in life, harelip, strabismus (commonly known as cross-eye’), and other defections from the normal, scientifically classified as ‘stigmata.’ Their histories often begin with a parent who, for example, had a pituitary abnormality, from which only other pituitary disarrangements will appear in the children for several generations. Then, quite suddenly, in one of these generations, the offspring will begin to show other defects in development, abnormalities of mind as well as of body. “Often these ‘degenerations’ are not accompanied by any of the recognizable symptoms of gland disorders, and it is only from their histories that the true causes of their conditions, their physical, mental, and moral aberrations, may be obtained. For this reason medical science has been slow to accept the close relationship which undoubtedly exists between the ‘ man with the criminal face’ and glandular disarrangements. “If the earlier stages of gland disorder are diagnosed and treated, much can be accomplished, but when the hereditary process has reached the point— several generations later— of pronounced stigmata of degeneration, segregation of these individuals seems to be the only method of eliminating their spread. Low fecundity and early death combine to wipe out this type, if so isolated that new blood cannot be brought in by marriage. “ALL the types in our penal and corrective institutions, these seem to be the ones whose segregation and confinement is necessary until they die out, in spite of all that has been or can be done for them in the way of effort to restore their mental and physical stability by gland treatment. “In the near future, large groups of prisoners at San Quentin and other penal institutions are to be classified as to the type of crime committed, and then studied as to the glandular disturbance which preponderates in each group. On the determination of the extent to which criminal tendencies can be reduced by restoration of the endocrine gland balance rests the greatest hope of modern society for the prevention of crime in future generations, and the reformation—or, better, the ‘remaking’— of the criminal in this generation.” They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, and this doctor obviously had a little knowledge of the endocrine system and the arrogance to run with it. Jesus, this is just as bad as the theory of the four humors. Instead, there are the three glands, which by over- or underactivity define the character of the person. I’m so glad science has found the reason for all of society’s ills. This great research has led to the eradication of our nation’s prisons and led to the total lockstep of today’s peaceful and contented citizens. Look at all the learned doctors that came aboard on this radical research. Thank god I had my Thyroid removed! Who knows how many lives this has saved! One of the most chilling parts of this chilling article: ““We are beginning to accept the fact that the criminal is not essentially ‘bad’,” said Dr. Reynolds, “but that he merely is a person who shows a departure from what society has established as the ‘normal.’ ” If you depart from what’s “normal,” you’ll be medicated and operated on till you conform. If you look at the picture on page 21, second row middle…you can see Adolph Hitler. Check it yourself. Of cousre it figures. I saw the part about male gonads. Just what is the normal size? Are TSA agents at the airports going to be measuring these as a way to spot terrorists? I wouldn’t doubt it. And this sort of baloney is why Alan Turing didn’t live to see “Pac-Man”. (He killed himself after being forced to get estrogen injections to “cure” his homosexuality.) Devak, nah, That mustache was popular mustache at the time. My Grandfather had one until the war. This ranks alongside the Tuskagee experiments, MK Ultra,early radiation experiments for professional arrogance.Sadly it even goes on today look at the over medication of children for a catch all behaviour problem Attention deficit disorder. I wonder if they sterilised a few of these feeble minded inmates in addition. Its like that movie judgement at Nuremberg? They knew the nazi experiments were over the top but they didnt place the same viewpoint to these experiments.

http://blog.modernmechanix.com/crooks-cured-by-surgeons-knife/1/

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Four Culinary Arts program students from Moraine Park Technical College were among the winners of the 2009-10 scholarships presented by the Wisconsin Restaurant Association Education Foundation (WRA EF). The winners were honored during a Celebration of Excellence dinner at the Osthoff Resort in Elkhart Lake on Oct. 18. They are Brian Black of Princeton and Jessica Samphere of Fond du Lac, Bernard and Maureen Schreiner scholarships; Emily Schoofs of West Bend, Aderis DeRosa scholarship; and Tiana Wieck of Sheboygan, Herbert and Nada Mahler Scholarship. “The Wisconsin Restaurant Association Education Foundation's vision is to advance professionalism through education, scholarships and community involvement to ensure the future success of the food service industry,” said Linda Wilke, Moraine Park economic and workforce development instructor and member of the WRA EF board and scholarship committee. “The WRA EF and the Wisconsin Technical College System have a long-term partnership with this goal in mind. The scholarship winners are the future leaders of the industry.” The WRA EF awards scholarships based on future plans in the foodservice and hospitality industry, academic records, essays and recommendations from employers and instructors. Scholarships are made possible by generous contributions of individuals in the foodservice industry. To learn more about Moraine Park’s Culinary Arts program, go to and click on Academics. Moraine Park Technical College’s 29-year-old peer-tutoring program infuses grant dollars to... “London was one of the most memorable times of my life. I enjoyed every minute of it. It&rs...

http://blog.morainepark.edu/press-releases/post/2009/11/08/moraine-park-culinary-arts-students-receive-wra-ef-scholarships.aspx

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1st, 2012 You’ve been waiting. We’ve been waiting. The waiting is ovah. Done. Finished. Buh bye. Info on the 2012 MMVA wristbands is finally here! Oh, happy day! Take a minute to go nuts and let your freak flag fly. Are we all chillaxed now? Awesome possum. I have ALL the info you need on wristbands in this post, so make sure you read this over a good THREE times. If you still have questions, feel free to leave them in the comments section below and I’ll do my best to put my thinking cap on and answer your Q’s. Let’s begin, shall we? Your Guideline for Getting Wristbands to the 2012 MMVAs: * MMVAs wristband giveaway starts at 6 pm ET on Friday, June 8 during New.Music.Live. at MuchMusic. * MuchMusic is located at 299 Queen St. West, Toronto at the corner of Queen and John St. * For maximum safety and enjoyment, we ask that the wristband line up starts no sooner than Tuesday, June 5 at 7am. Anyone who comes down before that will be asked to return later. * You must be at least 14 years old as of Sunday, June 17 to get wristbands. Not 14 in a month. Not 14 on June 18. * You must have photo ID with you to get a wristband. School photo ID with your birth certificate, license, photo health card, TTC card or passport (actual or photocopied) is fine. We basically need any photo ID, but if it’s school ID/TTC card, we need your birth certificate too. If you have a clear photocopy of your birth certificate or passport, you can bring that instead of the real thing! * One wristband per person. You cannot get one for your friend who couldn’t make it, even if she is the biggest Justin Bieber fan in the world. If you get a wristband we will put it on you and you MUST keep it on until the MMVAs on June 17. * Wristbands are free. We cannot be bribed. If we could, I’d be writing this from a yacht in Tahiti. Tips: * If you do not get a wristband you can still totally watch the MMVAs from the street on June 17! And yes, you can still totally see the stages! There are no age limits for watching from the street. We lurve er’body. * We will be giving some wristbands away through contests. Keep checking the MMVA 2012 site for updates on contests! * How many wristbands are you giving out? Sorry, we can’t release that number. * I can’t make it to MuchMusic on June 8. How can I get wristbands? Keep checking the MMVA 2012 site to find out about contests for winning wristbands. * If I wear the wristband for 9 days before the MMVAs, won’t it fall off? Nope, it’s durable. * Is it safe for me/my kids to line up over night? Our security staff will be monitoring the line-up at all times. * How will I know where the line-up starts at MuchMusic? You’ll know once you get there, we promise. * What if I don’t get a wristband on June 8 and don’t win one? You can still watch the MMVAs from the street. You can also line up to be part of the red carpet, and hopefully get an autograph from your favourite celeb. * When can I begin lining up for a wristband? You may start lining up Tuesday, June 5 at 7 am.Anyone who comes down before that will be asked to return later. Since we don’t know how many people will begin lining up at Tuesday, June 5 at 7 am we can’t tell you when you should join the line. We will update the MMVA site with information on how long the wristband line up extends on a daily basis. Posted on Friday, June 1st, 2012 at 6:30 pm by Allison and is filed under Blog.Tweet

http://blog.muchmusic.com/wristband-info-for-the-2012-mmvas/?album=6&gallery=611&pid=9492

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- - - Archives - ► 2012 (52) - ► 2011 (56) - ► 2010 (566) - ► 2009 (960) - ► 2008 (554) - ► 2007 (398) Monthly Archives: July 2008 “Q.” “N.” Notice the difference? The [...] Do not let John McCain prepare your taxes Sen.. [...] The McCain/Clinton ticket Revenge [...] The blog that gets me damned to hell once and for all God [...] Politics = an afternoon of HBO [...] This just in: Fireworks are dangerous [...] Everything tastes better in the Hidden Valley of Death There [...] Straight non-truth about Sen. Barack Obama Wake up America! The truth is right in front of you. So is this stuff, none of which is remotely true. Trouble in the Obama marriage? The presumptive Democratic candidate and his wife can’t handle the pressure of being in the spotlight, resulting in a public meltdown. CNN Obama won’t do the terrorist fist bump [...] Swimming with the dolphins and nothing else Someone [...] Good news re: $4 gas, Fox lies & Boy George The. • 10 things to like about $4 gas. [...]

http://blog.mysanantonio.com/atlarge/2008/07/page/4/

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This is the week that every stressed out, tense, overworked, underpaid, or laid off worker has been looking forward to. Spa Week has hit San Antonio, and it lasts until Sunday, April 19. During Spa Week, you can hit up five San Antonio spas and get select treatments that normally would cost $100 and up for the bargain price of $50. There are even eco-friendly and organic treatments. Participating spas include Facelogic Castle Hills, Facelogic Stone Oak, Radiance Med Spa, Sivan Salon & Day Spa, and The Woodhouse Day Spa at The Rim.

http://blog.mysanantonio.com/clockingin/2009/04/finally-spa-week-has-arrived/?gta=commentlistpos

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: The Caroling Project Music changes lives Part 2 Just before Christmas I wrote about the 21-year-old volunteer effort called The Caroling Project. For more than two decades Symphony musicians have volunteered their time and talent to play for children in hospitals and jails at Christmas time. Here is a photo of the group of professional musicians and students who performed at the Juvenile [...]

http://blog.mysanantonio.com/jackfishman/tag/the-caroling-project/

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As my assignment in Vietnam drew to a close I found myself mesmerized by the Vietnamese people. The rural areas such as Hue were especially remarkable. Hue, once the imperial capital, was the second leg of the Vietnam veterans’ return to the country. The city is a significant stop for the veterans. It was the site of one of the Vietnam War’s fiercest battle, the Battle of Hue, during the Tet Offensive of 1968. There was a huge loss of lives in Hue and major physical damage to the city’s infrastructure. Hue seems to be stuck in another time. Larger cities like Hanoi in the North and Ho Chi Minh City in the South are virtually modern in comparison. In some instances it seems as if the people of Hue never left the 19th century. In a funeral procession I photographed the mourners wearing 1800′s-styled clothing. The rice farmer uses the very same method of planting and harvesting her crop that have been used for generations and beyond. Seeing the two boys riding on water buffaloes instead of playing video games harkens me back to an earlier time, before the digitalization of society. I found all of it engaging! I was impressed by how the Vietnamese carried on with their lives despite the ever present wounds of wars and hardships they endure. The people of Vietnam have a spirit that is hard to put into words but left an impression on me that will last my lifetime.

http://blog.mysanantonio.com/mi-foto/2010/01/v-is-for-vietnam-vignettes/

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Written by Megan Sheehan | May 16th, 2013 We’ve got some interesting news on the climate change front this morning. Written by Megan Sheehan | February 6th, 2013 Happy Hump Day! And now for your green buzz… Written Madeline Breen | August 17th, 2012 [...] Written by Madeline Breen | August 7th, 2012 Having a bad day? Well, at least you’re not a shellfish. Madeline Breen | December 16th, 2011 This sweet photo from Alaska definitely evoked some “awwws” in our office. Flickr user Lejun4 did a wonderful job of capturing the love and pride that this mother harbor seal has for her pup. Thanks to Lejun40 for sharing this photo through The Nature Conservancy’s Flickr group! See all of The Nature Conservancy’s featured daily [...] Written by Brad Parker | August 26th, 2011

http://blog.nature.org/conservancy/tag/alaska/

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Come to the Nebraska History Museum on Saturday, April 10 to Celebrate the Czech Culture Families are welcome to drop in from 2:00-4:00. - The Kramer Sisters will entertain - See and try on authentic Czech costumes - Hear Czech music - Play horse tail jugs, stomp fiddles, and accordions - Do some Czech language activities - Exercise doing Sokol gymnastics - Set up a model Czech farmstead For more information go to or call the museum office (402) 471-4754

http://blog.nebraskahistory.org/?p=481

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Politics continues to intrude on our fantasy lives this week in the form of DCU: Decisions #1. By most accounts it was a predictable story, but it included an unexpected reveal about Lois Lane. Chris J. Miller gives the details: Perhaps the only unexpected relevation [sic] in the issue is that Lois Lane is “proudly for a strong military, small government, low taxes, and maximum individual freedom.” This is presumalby [sic]. Other reviewers were less generous: [T]his book is Judd Winick writing Green Arrow as a clueless moron and Bill Willingham writing Lois Lane as Ann Coulter. Stop it. Just stop it. I could understand if they said that Batman was a Republican. Or Alan Scott. Or Wonder Woman. Heck, it could even have been an interesting twist if Hawkgirl voted Republican. By there is NO FREAKIN’ WAY that Lois Lane is a Republican. That is all. By defining the political leanings of these characters, DC has instantly alienated a lot of the readership. While this first issue does not clearly state the big three’s views, it does define them for other important characters, most notably Lois Lane. They made Lois a Republican. It makes no sense. And it has pissed a lot of people off. I have to say I’d be annoyed if the rationale for her party membership was just because she was a military brat. Contrary to popular belief, Republicans do not hold a monopoly on the loyalty of military members. It’s pretty damned annoying that so much of the military’s representation in popular culture is painted red and riding elephants. I’d like to see the sort of people I’ve actually met in the military as characters in pop culture. I’m tired of the Conservative Christian Family Values General, okay? I want to see the atheist NCO gun enthusiast, or the liberal conspiracy theorist technician, or the socially conservative Wiccan from personnel reflected in our entertainment. I know it’s a cliche, but could you think outside the box for five seconds? There are all sorts of people in foxholes. But if this was a way of making a point about her as a journalist, then I have to say it has potential. Probably not under these writers (Honestly, Wonder Woman decides who to vote for based on their military prowess? Have they ever read her book?! Do they really think she’s so one-dimensional?), but someone with some characterization skill can take this development and get some good story material out of it. How she’s registered doesn’t necessary match with how she marks her ballot. Lane, as characterized over the past 60 years, probably votes for the least corrupt person on the ballot. She most likely decides who’s the least corrupt after investigating them herself. If her ideals tend to be conservative, and the conservative candidate turns out to be corrupt while the liberal candidate is an honest person, there’s some internal conflict for Lois. And what does she do when the conservative candidate is more religious and moralizing than she’s comfortable with? There’s some good election tale fodder here. I don’t have faith that DCU Decisions will make good use of it, but then I have low expectations for these writers. (And the Wonder Woman thing really doesn’t help.) But some future Superman writer could get a really great story out of Lois Lane, Registered Republican. September 19th, 2008 at 7:29 pm I haven’t read the material, but if Chris J. Miller’s description of it is accurate, it doesn’t sound to me like Lois is a Republican. Rather, it sounds like she’s a Libertarian. And that would go well with a career as a journalist, with marrying an illegal alien, and with supporting her husband’s vigilante tendencies. September 19th, 2008 at 7:38 pm I hope all these people realize that there are probably as many people as they who think Lois being a Republican makes perfect sense. I know people who I always imagined were Republican actually turn out to be Democrat and the other way around. Isn’t this part of the greatness of America? I really feel sorry for anyone who is alienated by Lois because it turns out the character is Republican. September 19th, 2008 at 8:11 pm I’d consider Lois more a pragmatic conservative. In Canada, she’d likely be what we used to call a “Red Tory”, back when there really were Tories. She’s seen enough to know when the other side of an argument’s got ideas worth acting on. Looking forward to seeing how the rest of this plays out…and how a meeting with Icon and the Rocket would go for her. September 19th, 2008 at 8:47 pm I look at all that and go “sounds like a Democrat to me”. Or at least my definition of what I want. I don’t think anyone’s going to ever literally SAY a party they belong to. They’ll say enough bout what they believe in that everyone will go “They belong to……” But I bet everyone’s gonna see something that makes them say its their party over everyone elses. Which just means its all universal in the end. September 19th, 2008 at 10:37 pm Lois Lane for Sarah Palin! LOL! September 20th, 2008 at 2:55 am We need to be talking more about Superman’s stance on the issues: “It’s a secret ballot, stop bothering me” September 20th, 2008 at 5:07 am Hey! Many thanks for linking to my still-infant blog! (Obviously, one thing I’m going to have to do is keep a closer eye on my typos. Sorry about those [sic]s!) I agree with Lisa that the revelation about Lois *could* be interesting (if only as an ironic inversion of the “liberal media” meme), but the story as written lives down to her low expectations: Lois’ own dialogue says “You always know who I vote for… I’m a product of my upbringing.” Nuance? Internal conflict? What are those? (Unlike Matt Morrison, though, I’m not sure who to blame for this dialogue, or any other. Most of it reads like Willingham’s work to me, but I could be wrong.) I don’t think the plot is as awful as some others do, nevertheless. Yes, it’s a bit odd to see the JLA on point for presidential candidates’ security, especially for what appears to be a non-meta threat, but other than that it more-or-less hangs together so far. Anyway, like I wrote earlier — as both a political junkie and a comics fan, I just can’t help being curious. September 20th, 2008 at 10:24 am Pretty Mediocre, not horrible like some Winick bashers make it out to be. – My Thoughts on #1 (And Rick Leonardi CAN do better, c’mon) September 20th, 2008 at 10:28 am Oh and sorry, but Republicans will NEVER be seen as decent, especially after they pulled that ‘Obama is a secret muslim’ crap. September 20th, 2008 at 11:08 am I predict there will be 50,000 commenters on this comic with only 20,000 copies sold. Everybody’s got an opinion. What they really need is an informed opinion. September 20th, 2008 at 11:58 am Lois being a Republican goes against everything established about the character imo. I agree with the poster who said not all military folk are conservatives, although her father has in fact been portrayed that way, and she’s been portrayed as rebelling. She’s a reform minded feminist exposer of truth. George W. Bush would give her gas pains. I agree with what Evan said, even though that’s how Republicans define themselves, it’s closer to how Democrats are in real life, except perhaps for the “low taxes” bit, but the Republicans are the same on taxes, except if you’re a millionaire. September 20th, 2008 at 3:49 pm Willingham is the the conservative of the two, blame him for making Lois one. This whole miniseries should be pulped IMO. September 20th, 2008 at 6:26 pm Without knowing which writer is taking responsibility for which parts, I’d suspect Winnick wrote Lois Lane’s dialog here. Whether he believes the dialog or not isn’t the point here, but it just smells like typical Winnick ‘hit-’em-over-the-head-with-it writing. September 21st, 2008 at 12:07 pm Hasn’t anyone ever heard of the moderate New England Republicans, also known as Rockefeller Republicans, a quickly dying branch of the Republican Party? It’s actually not a bad place for Lois to be on the political spectrum, balancing both her army brat upbringing with a strong sense of social justice. Unfortunately, it’s a horrible place to be in today’s more fundamentalist Republican Party (just ask former senator Lincoln Chafee). September 22nd, 2008 at 11:07 am It fits quite well with the Margot Kidder version of Lois. And neatly overturns the cliche that every newspaper journalist is a lefty (by US standards). Can’t see the problem. September 22nd, 2008 at 11:14 pm Hmmm…that “New England Republican” angle might go well with certain theories on Metropolis’ location on the map of New Earth’s version of the USA… November 28th, 2008 at 3:11 am Thank God Lois is a republican! She’s very smart and well informed so it’s no surprise she would be a Republican. November 28th, 2008 at 12:00 pm So, Nicky… Lois also thinks President-Elect Obama is Muslim, thinks Obama “pals around with terrorists,” thinks living in Alaska gives one foreign policy experience or that going into Iraq (while bin Laden is still on the loose) has been a positive, successful experience? Certainly she feels the economy has been really strong the past few years, right? Yeah, very smart and informed indeed… And to think some Republicans have accused Dems of “drinking the Kool-Aid” this year. More accurately, lots of people just changed to a different, more palatable flavor after eight years. September 4th, 2012 at 8:49 pm That’s an apt answer to an ientrsetnig question

http://blog.newsarama.com/2008/09/19/just-past-the-horizon-decisions/

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Claire Sambrook teaches at The University of Portsmouth and is helping organise the Love Your Bike event in Portsmouth tomorrow. They’ve made a newspaper for the event and we asked her to write a little bit about it for the blog. The weather is supposed to be nice tomorrow, you should pop down to Portsmouth. It sounds like a great day. As part of Love Your Bike Portsmouth a goodie pack has been produced which includes a cyclist bag, bike charm necklace, spoke cards and a newspaper. This 1st edition newspaper features 50 cyclists from around the city telling their stories of their bikes and why they love them. Love Your Bike Portsmouth aims to encourage participants to fully embrace the possibilities of connecting with their bikes and explore the many ways that they can improve it’s appearance and design. Bike culture is an important part of cycling and regaining the streets. With this in mind, the event also aims to get more and more people using their bikes around the city. It’s a celebration of all the innovators who design and create wonders on two wheels. If you love your bike then you will use it more often. The event will feature workshops, bike demo’s, bike polo, marketstalls, bike artwork, bike safety and a showcase bike arena. Ben Wilson, Death Spray Custom, Tokyo Fixed Gear, Raw Bamboo Bikes and Gocycle are amongst some of the participants and I Love Dust have designed the branding and newspaper. Follow the event at loveyourbikeportsmouth.co.uk (A footnote from the Art Dept. Claire tells me that I Love Dust used our InDesign template to help them design this newspaper.)

http://blog.newspaperclub.com/2010/05/

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A story about exceptional service Wednesday, August 26, 2009 Recently I found myself constrained by the puny 200GB of my Mac Book Pro and I bought a 500GB Seagate drive to replace it (a fast 7200 rpm one). The Macbook Pro has no easy access for the drive so you have to resort to dismantling the case to access it. This put me off replacing the drive because I would probably be voiding the warranty and was running the risk of damaging this expensive piece of equipment. I’ve been filling the drive with pictures from my recent camera purchase and I couldn’t put it off any longer, so I bought the new drive and went online to find some good tutorial on how to crack open the Macbook Pro case. After a few searches, I noticed that many people were referring to the iFixit.com website. It was very easy to find the tutorial I was looking for, I didn’t have to register, and each step was made very clear and simple. It took no time to open the case and replace the drive. I was very happy with that find. Now, that’s not the end of the story. A couple of days before I replaced the drive the left fan of the laptop suddenly became noisy. This would happen a few times a day, at random, and would last 10-20 minutes. My only solution to get this repaired was to get to the local Apple service shop. Even though I knew exactly which part number was to be replaced, they still wanted me to: - go across town to visit them so they could see for themselves what the problem was: annoying because the problem was intermittent so I may have to go for nothing. - wait for the part to arrive a few days later. - go back to leave the laptop - go again to collect the repaired laptop the next day or so. So all in all: about 6h spend travelling back and forth + no laptop for a couple of day + the risk that some indiscreet technician start looking through my personal stuff. Instead, I went back to the iFixit website: - identified my machine - found out the list of spare parts available from their store - added the fan to my cart - paid for it. - found a guide that showed how to replace the part. That took me all of 10 minutes; I placed my order on Thursday and the next Monday I received the part … halfway across the globe! I also got a survey request from iFixit and left some comments, from which I got back two nice detailed email follow-ups, one from the CEO saying they were implementing my remarks as part of their site improvement efforts. Well, I thought I would share this story. It’s not that often that you get excited by an online vendor that not only does its job well but goes beyond expectations. Entry Filed under : Business,Hardware,Reviews,sysadmin Some HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong> Trackback this post | Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed

http://blog.nkadesign.com/2009/a-story-about-exceptional-service/

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News and notes on the people and politics of Bergen County government. Tag Archives: Roche Diagnostics Record Talk Radio with John Felice Join us on Tuesday, Oct. 30 at 8:30 a.m. when our guest on Record Talk Radio will be Bergen County Freeholder John A. Felice. Felice is the vice-chairman of the freeholder board. He chairs the health services and parks committees. …

http://blog.northjersey.com/bergenbeat/tag/roche-diagnostics/

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Here are a few tidbits of local restaurant/bar news from our lovely Beaumont Village area: As most everyone probably knows by now, Fife closed earlier this year. The premiere restaurant in the Village is set to be replaced by Soluna Grill, run by a new chef in town who lives about two miles from the restaurant. Soluna is set for a September 1st opening. Will it be able to garner the same status Fife did? We will have to wait to see. UPDATE: It was confirmed to me Parisi's will close by August 22. A new, as yet not named, restaurant will reportedly be taking over the space. The reason for leaving - tired of doing retail - that's fair. Word is Parisi's, the gelato shop in the same center as Green Dog Pet Supply, is closing. No word as to why, but it is said they will be out by mid-August. Vite, the wine bar behind Parisi's, is under new management and will open afternoons coming up in the next few weeks. Blackbird Wine Shop is preparing to expand, taking over the larger space along Fremont which once housed Bella Lulu's. They've got a liquor license already posted in the window and it is said by businesses around them they will be offering nibbles in house to enjoy with their wines.

http://blog.oregonlive.com/beaumont/2009/07/beaumont_village_food_scene_ch.html

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From the Adidas America sports laboratory on the bluff overlooking downtown Portland comes this: The Lightest Basketball Shoe Ever. That's how Adidas is billing the adiZero Crazy Light basketball shoe, which is being introduced today at an event in New York. The shoe is 9.8 ounces in size 10, which Adidas says is two ounces lighter than the nearest competitor. That said, the authoritative blog CounterKicks is reporting that Nike Basketball's Kobe VI shoe weighs 10.2 ounces. Davis, trained in sports physiology, said the design team, led by shoe designer Robbie Fuller, set out with the goal of crafting a structurally sound shoe of 10 ounces or lighter. The shoe was designed for the Germany-based company in the North American headquarters on North Greeley Avenue in the Overlook neighborhood. Instead of taking an existing design and stripping it of weighty components, Davis said the team instead began with the approach of...nothing. The team added essentials to a bare foot, starting with a footbed and moving from there. Lawrence Norman, vice president of global basketball for Adidas America, has traveled the country introducing the adiZero Crazy Light to NBA players under contract with Adidas, including Chicago Bulls guard and MVP candidate Derrick Rose. Rose is going to wear the adiZero Crazy Light during the Bulls' playoff run, Norman said. Adidas introduces the adiZero Crazy Light well aware that Nike, Inc., with its Nike, Jordan and Converse brands, commands about 95 percent of U.S. basketball shoe sales. The Oregon sports equipment giant is led by the Jordan Brand, which, according to Matt Powell, footwear analyst for SportsOneSource, accounts for nearly 65 percent of sales, followed by Nike, with nearly 28 percent. Adidas is third, with slightly less than 3 percent. Norman said he is not daunted by those numbers, saying of the adiZero Crazy Light: "One show can make all the difference." -- Allan Brettman; twitter.com/abrettman

http://blog.oregonlive.com/playbooksandprofits/2011/04/adidas_introduces_lightest_bas.html

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Manti Te’o tale started with a tip and ends with 20-20 hindsight Like so much revealing journalism, Deadspin’s revelation about Notre Dame star defender Manti Te’o’s mystery girlfriend began with a blind tip..

http://blog.pe.com/watchdog/?tag=espn

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Penn State defeated Ohio State 5-4 at the Three Rivers Classic in Pittsburgh on December 29th. That win was a great result for the program but it was made even more memorable and fun as sophmore goalie PJ Musico was mic'd up during warm-ups and the game itself. As many of you are aware, the California native is not only a great goaltender on the ice but he is also a fun guy off the ice. His style of play and great athleticism are what got the attention of both Penn State coach Guy Gadowsky and "Stack the Pads". PJ has contributed to the blog in the past through a "Stack the Pads" Q&A. He is currently 8-8 on the season with a 3.03 gaa and a 90.4 save%. See below for some cool video of him talking us through warm-ups and reacting to the goals that led to the huge 5-4 victory over Ohio State. Penn State will take on the United States U18 National Team this coming Friday at the Greenberg Ice Pavillion. Area fans will get to see Musico and the rest of the Penn State Nittany Lion ice hockey team in action at GIANT Center against Ohio University on Friday February, 1st. "Thank You Terry" did yet another update on the construction of the Pegula Ice Arena. If you have not seen pictures recently you really need to check this out. The venue is shaping up to be pretty spectacular.

http://blog.pennlive.com/stackthepads/2013/01/penn_state_goalie_pj_musico_mi.html

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nginx PSGI module via github.com « CGI::Application - search.cpan.org | Main | Deploying Plack Web Applications: OSCON 2011 - O'Reilly Conferences, July 25 - 29, 2011, Portland, OR » This is only a preview. Your comment has not yet been posted. As a final step before posting your comment, enter the letters and numbers you see in the image below. This prevents automated programs from posting comments. Having trouble reading this image? View an alternate.

http://blog.plackperl.org/2011/06/ykongx_mod_psgi-github.html

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An article in today’s Sunday Times, highlighted by SpyBlog and Ben Goldacre has revealed what the Sunday Times describes as the “discreet monitoring” or “snoop(ing) on the habits of millions of EE phone customers” as they came out of London’s Oxford Circus station. In other words, EE were monitoring and recording the actions of their customers and giving the data to Ipsos Mori in what is, no doubt a potentially very profitable enterprise. Ipsos Mori was delighted with the results. In a deal with EE — Britain’s biggest mobile phone company, formed in 2010 from a merger between Orange and T-Mobile — the polling firm had purchased the exclusive use of the phone data and the test run in central London had shown its potential. There are some serious echoes of Phorm here.

http://blog.planetjamie.co.uk/blog/?cat=3

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Every time I conduct an interview, I try to get it recorded. I have tried out several high-end recorders, only to find out the are "too good." Too many times when I have used the high end products, they are too sensitive and pick up way too much background noise. When I say recorders - I am speaking of digital recorders. I do not use tape any longer - it is just logistically too impractical. The 4th recorder I decided to try out was basically out of need. I had sent back another expensive model, and I needed one as a stop-gap measure. I bought a $59 model from Wal~Mart. The recorder I got was a Sony ICD-PX312 digital recorder. It has a removable micro-SD card (which was one of the few requirements I have). It can record in several formats, and has several quality settings. I stated off using everything in the middle range. It it easy to set up and easy to use. I can turn the recorder on and lock the power button so it continually records conversations. I put the recorder in my pocket and conduct the interview. It doesn't matter if it is a shirt or pants pocket - it records the conversation really well. I would have to give this recorder a 5 out of 5 rating if I had a system. It is easy to use, easy to set up and always gives me a great recording. This equipment is standard issue for everyone working for me. If you use something that works really well, I would like to hear from you.

http://blog.realtexaspi.com/2012/04/how-do-you-record-your-interviews.html

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Cisco puts a virtual router in the clouds, and a virtual server in a router, among other unnatural acts. As we like it, 2012 of Cloud Connected Solution for Cisco user. According to Cisco’s Global Cloud Networking Survey for 2012, the majority of IT “decision makers” cite a cloud-ready network as the biggest requirement to foster the migration of business applications to the cloud. It is against this backdrop that Cisco developed the Connected Cloud Solution. The Cisco Cloud Connected Solution is comprised of: Cloud Connectors: new software embedded into the Cisco Integrated Services Router (ISR) G2 platform along with services that improve the performance, security and availability of cloud applications. The open architecture of the Cloud Connectors allows service providers and channel partners to develop third-party Cloud Connectors to help them deliver differentiated services to their customers. Cloud-enabled platforms: the new Cisco Cloud Services Router (CSR) is a virtual router that enables customers to extend their virtual private networks (VPNs) into the cloud. Cisco is also expanding the Aggregation Services Router (ASR) platform with the Cisco ASR 1002-X router, and introducing the Cisco UCS E-Series Server Modules on the ISR G2, delivering lean branch solutions by hosting multiple third party services on a single branch platform. Innovative cloud services: new capabilities added to existing routing and WAN optimization platforms to better support cloud computing, including the new Cisco Application Visibility and Control (AVC) technology integrated into the Cisco ISR and ASR platforms to optimize the delivery and troubleshooting of cloud applications on the network; and Cisco UCS E-Series Server Modules on the ISR G2. New Cisco AppNav technology intelligently clusters Cisco’s Wide Area Application Services (WAAS) physical and virtual appliances into a single resource pool managed by a central controller. (Cisco UCS) E-Series. Supporting Quotes Praveen Akkiraju, senior vice president and general manager, Cisco Services Routing Technology Group: “As businesses are driving the rapid adoption of cloud based services, routing platforms and the WAN have become a strategic control point to provide an optimal user experience across the cloud. The Cisco Cloud Connected Solution redefines the WAN architecture with key innovations that leverage the network intelligence as a critical link in cloud deployments by putting more functionality into traditional enterprise routing, allowing customers to connect to the cloud with an optimal user experience.”″) NOTE: 2012. More Related Cisco News: Cisco Partners to be Invited to Cisco’s Cloud Party Cisco: Network Tops Cloud Challenges

http://blog.router-switch.com/2012/06/cisco-cloud-connected-solution-unveiled-for-cisco-isr-and-asr-routers/

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Have you registered for the 2013 National Scout Jamboree? If not, the time is now. Zip-lining through the 175-foot-tall canopy of West Virginia’s towering Hemlock trees. Scaling sandstone rock-climbing routes in the New River Gorge. Biking, hiking, rafting—whew, we’re outta breath just thinking about it! Aside from plenty of heart-racing activities, the next jamboree—spanning July 15-24, 2013—will bring together 50,000 youth and adults in Scouting’s brand-new digs: the Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve, W.Va. Brush up on all the application details here. You don’t want to miss it. But don’t just take our word for it—watch this promotion video and reserve your spot today. Pingback: New York OA Trader | Shared Items From Around The Web – August 11, 2011 Pingback: Handheld cell phone use in West Virginia will cost you « Bryan on Scouting

http://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2011/08/11/register-now-for-the-2013-national-scout-jamboree-2/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=d42062ed33

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Seabourn Quest anchored off Golfo Stella at Elba today and the crew deployed the ship’s watersports Marina, It was a gorgeous day, the guests got to play in the sea and we got a really good look at Quest’s sleek profile. We even had a helicopter taking aerial video–exciting! This entry was posted on Thursday, June 2nd, 2011 at 2:37 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

http://blog.seabourn.com/seabourn-quest-marina-day

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It’s 8:15 in the morning Tuesday as I start writing this, and the Mariners have just gone in to the all-purpose room in their Peoria, Ariz. complex for their annual meet-and-greet. There are new players that members of the front office have to meet. There are new members of the front office (admittedly not at high levels) that the players have to meet. There are new rules to go over. There are talks about the organization’s baseball goals, its charitable goals, its attendance goals, its media goals, all put forward by CEO Howard Lincoln and president Chuck Armstrong. After that the crowd will thin a little and general manager Bill Bavasi and manager Mike Hargrove will step forward and address the players. Hargrove said the meeting is important because it sets the tone of the camp, and by extension, of the whole season. It will last about an hour.

http://blog.seattlepi.com/baseball/2007/02/20/mariners-huddle-in-annual-tone-setting-meeting/

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Noven Pharmaceuticals, a Miami pharmaceutical company, is working with Procter & Gamble on a testosterone patch in continuing attempts to find a treatment for women with low sexual desire. Although the patch still has to gain regulatory approval, speculation already is occurring about how many women would receive help from the patch. The patch could help some women, especially those near menopause with low testosterone levels, Amanda Richards-Bullock, an obstetrician- gynecologist at the University of Miami, said in a Miami Herald article. Other women may need different treatments. They could be depressed, be overextended, or have a physical problem, such as vaginal pain. Taking antidepressants also can cause reduce sex drive. Richards-Bullock thinks boomer women will want solutions to a low sex drive to have an equivalent to Viagra, which helps many men improve their sexual performance. ”Prior to the Viagra era, women just accepted that men lost interest” as they got older and women did too, she said in the article. ”But now men are continuing to have satisfying activity,” thanks to the blue-diamond pills, and they’re looking to their spouses to join them. Low sexual drive is a recognized disorder in medical textbooks, Eva Ritvo, a University of Miami psychiatrist, said in article. “For some patients, it can be an agonizing problem,” Ritvo said, adding, “But if a woman gets to a certain age and isn’t bothered by a lack of desire, that’s fine too.” The testostrone patch has been on the market for some time in Europe. It’s approved for use only for women who have had hysterectomies. No estimated date is available for when the patch could appear on the market. Procter & Gamble began working with Noven five years ago on the patch, and has been in talks with the Food and Drug Administration for four years on how to proceed. No agreement has been reached with the federal agency. For more information for boomer consumers, see my blog The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide.

http://blog.seattlepi.com/boomerconsumer/2008/08/page/2/

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As you may have noticed, if you read this little bloglet, TPF has been on a very brief hiatus while The Fool and my adamantly Un-Foolish Significant Other took a wee camping trip down to Kanaskat Palmer State Park, a place I highly recommend for those who want to escape King County, Washington, while not actually leaving it. Laying there under a bell-clear summer sky at night, listening to the Green River murmur its run-off-swollen blues, well, it may not be Paris but it’ll do for what ails ya. Elk Head is in a tiny industrial park on the “outskirts” of what might be called “downtown Buckley”. It’s almost the last building on 410 as you push on to the west, the setting sun, and all the Glory That Is Tacoma. You enter through a regular door, next to a roll-up door which, on this hot-ish summer day, was open to expose a beautiful burgundy old panel van, emblazoned with Elk Head’s logo on the side. Inside the door was a long counter fronting a wall of 14 beer taps, all of which, shockingly, held a different beer. The guy behind the counter could not possibly have been more welcoming and cheerful, short of offering a back-rub, something I try to avoid when tasting beer. (It makes the beer slosh out of my glass.) We told him we’d like to taste everything and he said “Okay!” No dickering about tasting flight charges, no dialog about only allowing four-to-six tastes, he simply dragged out a tiny, two-ounce miniature beer stein and got to work. I’m not going to go through all 14 beers because we both have to get on with our days, but I will mention several things that really deserve your attention (provided you ever find yourself in Buckley) and say that, whatever was in the back of my mind about Elk Head Brewing of Buckley, Washington, what we found there vastly exceeded expectations. The first pour was a pale ale infused with citrus fruits, “Citronic”. As these fruit-laced beers go, this was a gem; a jazzy package of fresh fruit flavors that present emphatically without taking over the beer. My big peeve with citrus beers is that the beer frequently disappears. Brewer Rich Dirk has balanced this one masterfully, letting the lemon, orange, and lime notes ride atop the lovely grain and toasted bread flavors. The light touch of banana worked as a gentle accent and the total effect was as refreshing a thing as I’ve tasted this summer. Elk Head “Kilted Elk” is just simply a top-shelf Scottish ale; a strappin’ mouthful of mellow, caramel-drenched malts, married to some impressively assertive hops, producing a balance that a lot of American Scottishes fall well short of. This is Scottish ale as they understand it in Scotland, where hops are not as widely grown as around here and they’ve historically made maximum use of what’s on hand. This actually reminded me a lot of Belhaven “Wee Heavy”, on a slightly smaller scale, packing in Scotch ale muscle into a Scottish framework, to make an incredibly satisfying brew that will stand up well when you’re having more than one. This is just a flat-out delicious beer and will compare favorably to any Scottish made anywhere in the Northwest. I’m instantly suspicious of any brewery that gets too esoteric with their choices in additives. I’m wrong about that, frequently, and always happy to be so but I approach any beer with more than three or four infusions as I would a sleeping rattlesnake. The last beer on the taps was “Elk Dandee”, a 9.2% ABV whopper of a Pale, infused with dandelions(!), ginger, and ginseng. I tasted it with a reflexive scowl already in place and relaxed the second it hit my palate. “Dandee” is a solid effort. This is refreshing, silky, and the exact opposite of overdone; subtle, immensely flavorful, and beautifully made. The fine, faint dandelion flavors – which I know quite well from my childhood experiments with dandelion wine, in my Virginia mountains birthplace – presents right up front, a mild, sweet tang that suggests fresh dill and bananas. Behind that, the ginger – which normally hijacks any liquid it’s mixed into – lays back prettily, adding a brisk bite without overdoing it. And the ginseng adds it’s signature note of radish to the finish, pulling the ale back from excess sweetness. As these Asian-inspired ales go, this is as good as I’ve found from any Washington Brewer. But the star of the show was what Dirk and Company call “Blast Zone”, a dazzling chile beer that very nearly redeems many of the truly grotesque examples of this style I’ve forced down, over the past ten years. Like many people, I tasted Cave Creek Chile Beer as my first chile ale and the memory of that horror sometimes wakes me up in the night, drenched in sweat. Since that one, back in 1991, I’ve tasted about two dozen but never one as fleshed-out, thoughtful, and enormously flavorful as this EH version. This is quite simply the best chile beer I’ve ever tasted, from anywhere. Rich Dirk used several medium-to-hot chiles, fresh, and put half the yield into a Traeger smoker. This smoking shows up beautifully in this ale, tinging the lovely, bright flavor of the Serranos and jalapenos with a firm smoke character reminiscent of a fine Euro Rauchbier like Bamberg or Aecht Schlenkerla. The peppery burn starts within about five seconds and stays managably warm, comfortably warm, on the palate. The flavors have almost nothing in common with typical chile ales, in which the burn delivers nearly absent of any trace of the actual peppers. This stuff came home with us in a pint growler and it was even better the next evening, as we sipped it contemplatively on our patio. The whole trip down to Buckley would have been justified to get this alone but, added to the other great stuff we found, we’re planning another trip to Elk Head any time we’re within 20 miles of the place. Just a word,too, is in order about…well, the vibe of the place. It goes beyond just that Elk Head Brewing is located in a small town and all the all-American images that conjures up. We arrived just about opening time. We were nearly the first ones in the door and the crowds arrived right behind us. Clearly, the folks at the brewery know – and like – most of their customers. And just as clearly, these folks do not just come in to drink whatever mild, inoffensive analog of Bud Light EH may have on tap. There was a lot of sampling, lots of laughs, and an immensely unhurried, un-prissy, down-home atmosphere. We both remarked on it: this is just a completely likable brewery, particularly in contrast to a couple of Seattle-area operations we’ve visited that have been in business for less than two years and already have an (unwarranted) Attitude and rock-star swagger that would register from outer space. Elk Head Brewing was a true breath of fresh air that anyone who’s a real beer lover – and not just interested in beer for the Hipness Quotient – can appreciate. I sometimes get all puffed up with myself and forget that great beer – great anything, really – is not the sole province of cities and their cool, uber-hip urban breweries. Within the past three months, we’ve tasted literally revelatory ales from Kent, Wenatchee, Poulsbo, Waitsburg, and Stevenson, Washington, and Enterprise, Oakridge, Pendleton, and Ashland, Oregon. Now, we can add Buckley, WA, to our must-visit list, for a periodic catch-up on what Rich and his inspired crew are whupin’ up lately.

http://blog.seattlepi.com/thepourfool/tag/dandelion/

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book, This Is Who I Am: Our Beauty in All Shapes and Sizes. Join Rosanne at Otto Miller Hall, Seattle Pacific University, 3469 Third Avenue West (free parking at Otto Miller Hall parking lot); the fee is $10.00. On September 29, 2-6 p.m., Richard Hugo House hosts one of more than 650 events in 110+ countries as part of 100,000 Poets for Change for readings by Elizabeth Austen, Annette Spaulding-Convy, Jeannine Hall Gailey, Kelli Russell Agodon, Susan Rich, and other Pacific NW writers. Afterward, you can head right on over to Elliott Bay — also on Saturday, September 29, at 6 p.m., Waverly Fitzgerald and Curt Colbert will be at Elliott Bay Book Company for their book launch of Dial C for Chihuahua, a humorous mystery novel forthcoming from Kensington on October 1. October is National Adopt a Shelter Dog month, and the authors are donating part of their profits to this cause (sadly, Chihuahuas are second only to pit bulls in being abandoned at shelters). The Elliott Bay event will feature treats, a dramatic reading, the debut of the book trailer video, book signings, and a guest appearance by Pepe, the Chihuahua who inspired the book. Redmond Poet Laureate Jeannine Hall Gailey’s Inaugural Reading, with featured artist Michaela Eaves October 6, 2012 4-7 PM at the Second Story Repertory on the second floor of the Redmond Town Center Free! Reading, Q&A, with art exhibit and afterwards with snacks and drinks Redmond Reads Poetry Book Club Meeting to discuss Kathleen Flenniken’s Plume October 24, 2012 7-9 PM at the Redmond Library Kathleen Flenniken Reads and Q&A for Plume November 17, 2012 3 PM at the Redmond Library

http://blog.seattlepi.com/thewritersblock/2012/09/10/autumn-literary-events-in-the-seattle-area/

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Fresh from five days in Barbados earlier this year, tight end Vernon Davis dominated Wednesday’s practice catching at least six passes from a combination of Shaun Hill and Alex Smith during last week’s OTA practices. Now entering his fourth season and with an offensive coordinator who likes to highlight the tight end, Davis has the best opportunity yet to realize his sixth overall selection potential. “He (new offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye) told me the tight end is the focal point,” Davis said Wednesday. “I’m looking forward it. He said he wants to get his playmakers involved.” Looking the part has never been an issue for Vernon Davis. Davis has a year of frustration to unleash after his minimized role last season in Mike Martz’s offense. He went from 52 passes in 2007 to 31 last year, despite Martz’s declaration in training camp that he was making a special play list just for Davis. Either Martz couldn’t break his habit of having a receiver-dominated offense, or Davis never caught onto Martz’s system. Either way, Davis said he spent some time in Mike Singletary’s office pining for more opportunities. “It was real frustrating,” Davis said. “I thought when you pick a guy with the sixth pick (in the 2006 draft) that you pick him to make plays. So my thing, was I was just trying to be patient.” Raye’s development of Kansas City tight end and former Cal star Tony Gonzalez is a highlight in Raye’s resume. “I talked to Tony all the time,” Davis said. “He said Jimmy would take of me and make sure I would get the ball and stuff like that. I’m just looking forward to the opportunity.” If Davis is going to be an elite tight end, this will have to be his year, not only because of Raye but because he’s showing the maturity to handle the responsibility of becoming a major piece of the offense. On Wednesday for example, linebacker Mark Washington ran down Davis from behind and tried to deck him during the non-contact team drills. The Davis of early days would have tried to punch Washington in the throat. Instead, Davis calmly walked back to the huddle while coaches admonished Washington. “I don’t have time for fighting,” Davis said. “If it’s during a game, that might be different. But out here, I got to concentrate on what I’m doing.” Despite learning a new offense, Davis said he’s comfortable with Raye’s scheme and it looked like it in the week of practices. In fact, the 49ers gave him the day off Thursday after he dominated on Wednesday. Davis also said he tried to get the higher ups to take a hard look at his little brother Vontae, one of the top cornerbacks to come out of this year’s draft. In light of Walt Harris’s season-ending and perhaps career-ending knee injury, it would have been a good idea. “He’s going to be great,” Davis beamed with brotherly pride. “Press coverage? Forget it. He’ll kill it.” Davis said he has trouble getting off of his younger bro’s press coverage. Vontae was selected 25th overall by Bill Parcells’ Dolphins, despite his prima donna rep. The younger Davis was demoted by Illinois coach Ron Zook for goofing off in practice. On second thought, maybe two Davises on one one team is one too many.

http://blog.sfgate.com/49ers/2009/05/23/catching-up-with-vernon-and-vontae/?gta=commentlistpos

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I know. It’s the day after Christmas, and we should be thinking about warm, wholesome things, but there is still some housekeeping left to do, worst movies of the year lists to be written. Hence today’s topic. My end of the year worst-movies list will be running on December 31st. In the meantime, refresh your memory of some of the year’s worst films and devise your own top ten worst list. Word of warning. With such an embarrassment of riches, it’s hard to narrow it down to ten. what from 2012 might qualify for all-time worst consideration.

http://blog.sfgate.com/mlasalle/2012/12/26/the-worst-movies-of-2012-you-decide/?plckOnPage=6&plckItemsPerPage=10&plckSort=TimeStampAscending

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I’d wager that within moments of Melky Cabrera’s 50-game suspension, Brian Sabean wrote him off as a Giant. I’d bet that down in the clubhouse, the feeling was mutual. In the wake of today’s revelation by the New York Daily News, there’s no longer any doubt. Cabrera won’t ever wear the San Francisco uniform again. Put it this way: If the Giants still plan on reaching out to Cabrera, they won’t care that they’re known as “Steroid Central” around baseball circles these days. And they’ll go ahead and activate Guillermo Mota, a patently absurd notion, when his 100-game suspension ends. The Daily News is reporting that “in a bizarre attempt” to avoid a 50-game drug suspension, Cabrera “created a fictitious website and a nonexistent product designed to prove he inadvertently took the banned substance that caused a positive test.” The story went on to report that Cabrera’s urine.” (Note: These “reports” come and go, often to be exposed as spectacularly inaccurate. The Daily News’ investigative team is perhaps the most reliable in the newspaper business.) The key words there are “associates and entourage.” I seriously doubt that Cabrera came up with this pathetic scheme on his own. If this is the incident that keeps him out of baseball — not just in San Francisco, but anywhere — he won’t be happy with the jokers who handle his business. As we’ve seen in San Diego, the Giants have a great thing going on the field. There’s tremendous spirit in the dugout; everyone’s coming through. It’s plain to see that the team is on a forget-Melky mission to make the playoffs, and I think they have a damned good chance. As far as the players are concerned, today’s news is unsettling from a personal standpoint. Most of the players found Cabrera to be a genuinely nice guy, and he was obviously a big part of their lineup. As of now, though, he’s a complete afterthought. No need to even consider the notion of bringing him back.

http://blog.sfgate.com/threedotblog/2012/08/19/that-clinches-it-no-more-melky/

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Bohemia of Finances (pt. 4)March 8, 2011 | By Filed under: Conversations,, today an e-mail conversation with the amazing American writer Eileen Myles. EM: I was a full-time academic from 2002 through the end of 2007. So I get a small allowance from them. I’m on the dole. Before then I taught workshops sporadically and wrote freelance, read, and performed. And since then (the full-time academic job) I’ve been writing mainly, my own stuff and lots of different kinds of journalism, art writing, writing about books, etc. Blogs. I’ve been traveling doing readings, having a semester-long visiting writer job, a bunch of short-term — one or two week — ones, and I guess that’s about it. I’ve gotten some grants, too. BB: You’ve done a lot of writing about visual arts and artists. Other artists and writers I’ve talked to in this series have drawn attention to the somewhat thorny relation of the visual art world to the centers of financial capital. Especially when the work itself seems to advocate for an exploited or alienated class, an oppressed and brutalized gender, or sexuality — the “inevitable” transformation of these works into objects of sale seems paradoxical or at least … complicated! Does this seem like a fair description? EM: Yeah, yet I think that exchange is one of the few ways some of those exploited or alienated peoples or causes do get expressed. I mean, outside of the academy and political papers and websites. It’s visible, and that seems valuable somehow. Even to make monuments to be sold. I remember seeing genital mutilation (of women) exist as a page of print in a vitrine in a Wolfgang Tillmans show. I wasn’t so much appalled as interested in the fact that a man could include that info in his work, and I couldn’t think of a single woman who would or could. All of this in a world where politicians may or may not rally at all to save any kind of public funding for art in America. And, increasingly, fashion and the design industry is supporting the visual arts. It seems more melancholy than paradoxical. BB: And then, I guess, I’m wondering if you track a different situation for writing versus the more generally commodified art world? EM: You mean in the way that we make wider claims for more kinds of people with fewer sales in quieter venues? Writing is less splashy for sure. Smarter in more complex ways, less sophisticated in other ways. Our society is more about the world but in itself less worldly. I think the arc of being innovative is a little more desperate in writing and more uneventful. Our world is less brash than the art world, I mean in terms of our relationship to media and the artist’s expectation of being heard. In writing, the part of the world that labels itself experimental is often kind of old-fashioned. Or maybe just not interested in fashion. Which is not bad, but it’s slower and quieter. Big publishing is in the hands of oafs largely. There’s a big opportunity for détente in art and writing, but I keep saying this maybe while it’s passing. Sometimes I think it’s two snow globes next to each other. Someone warm needs to pick them up and give a talk perhaps. Or make a movie about what’s real inside of them. Have you noticed airport security bans the carrying of snow globes? They’re a weapon, it turns out. I’m not sure what I’m talking about. BB: In the Valentine’s Day piece, which appeared in Awl, you write, “Is writing just a job. Writing books, writing poems. If it is then the message to women is to go elsewhere.” You note that recent numbers analysis of poetry reviews show supposed sex parity, but also that the majority of people writing poetry are women. Does the fact of the “fewer sales in quieter venues” make the poetry world a place less inclined to send this message to women? Like, while there’s still no shortage of the heroic guy poet thing, in that “experimental” poetry world I’m at least hearing the questions and challenges that seem feminist. EM: I think the poetry world you’re describing in so many ways is women. It’s women-driven. Increasingly we’re actually seeing women including men in their things. Our neck of the woods is probably the best there is. I think we just have to resist being precious and guarding our borders too hard. Not looking out. BB: I’m just curious — what does “sophistication” mean to you? I’ve been obsessed with it as a thing just out of reach, being raised in a sort of backwards, rural meth-town in middle America and moving to San Francisco at 18. EM: Yeah, I’m from suburban working class Massachusetts. Not much culture there. Though it wasn’t far. But still you had to get on the bus. I always knew the kids on the bus going to Cambridge were the sophisticated ones. I suppose that’s it. Being sophisticated has something to do with having a choice and making it. Creating an aesthetic. Knowing what’s out there and not being beholden to it and not being oblivious of it either. You don’t even have to do a lot. Culture is exhausting, right. But I think there’s an increasingly wide band of hunters and gatherers working across the art-making worlds, and they are the most sophisticated people I know. I vote for seeing them get rewarded for doing this crucial work of doing and knowing. But you know it is its own reward to know. We don’t do this ’cause it’s NOT a pleasure. BB: What’s your take on the economics of “coming up” or, to use artist-speak, “emerging”? Reading Inferno, I got the impression of this lost New York City, a place that somebody goes to be an artist and can do that and not work all the time. I don’t mean that your book is utopian or romantic in a dumb way — but it describes a different kind of scene than the one I see now for young writers and artists who are encouraged to buy themselves a couple years at very expensive MFA machines. EM: I think it’s less geographical but that younger writers could probably think of coming to New York more actively as a collective project. Do people live together in big or small groups with the goal of working on their writing or art and NOT getting a job. I’d love to hear about that project. I’m sure it’s possible. If part of your ideal was witnessing your time and working in it instead of having to succumb to it I think a lot could be accomplished and differently. I wouldn’t like to live with people, though. I’m bent by the opportunity I had to get away from my suburban family and live mostly alone. Most of my friends lived alone, too. But our story isn’t the dominant one. Its fragility is probably there to be witnessed. I think that’s why I wrote that book. What recent numbers analysis shows supposed sex parity, but also that the majority of people writing poetry are women?March 8th, 2011 at 10:03 pm The sex parity was suggested in the vida pie-charts though yeah I remember a different result in the ones you produced. But I was responding to the ones I’d seen lately. I do mean in my experience everywhere I’ve taught the workshops are packed with women. Maybe that’s who takes my workshops but that’s the case at Naropa which is why I’d get enraged when some guy would get up and prop up the same old sexist world view to a tent full, largely, of young female students. Aren’t most writing programs getting most of their applications from women? Most of the graduate students in Missoula where I last taught, were female. I haven’t done research but this is what it seems to me. in the interview with Brandon I was thinking of many female driven scenes like the Belladonna one in New York which seems to be the dominant set in the poetry world I occupy here. Juliana and Dodie seem to be central figures in the Bay Area scene. Who are the big men?March 9th, 2011 at 5:10 pm Oh. Thanks. Was wondering what studies. I’m not sure I would read the VIDA ones that way. Although I am going to go back and look. Wondering if one does a sort of VIDA count using a random sample on last year in “experimental” what happens. I would hope to be pleasantly surprised. I want “experimental” to be “better.” Not worse. I agree with you. Belladonna is amazing! I wish I had Belladonna in my backyard. I say this all the time. Stopping self from writing long paragraph on how much I adore the multi-media/platformed approach of Belladonna. Books! Conferences! Reading series! Chapbooks! Etc! And, although there are no #s on this, I suspect most MFA programs are more female than male. Perhaps way more. Ugh. MFA makes my brain hurt. If the MFA admitted its femaleness “at the true level of their productivity and influence poetry would wind up being a largely female world and the men would leave.” Or not get MFA. Is this one more of the many reasons everyone hate on the MFA so much? Brandon is one of the big men in the Bay area! But also the obvs are Michael Palmer. Kit Robinson. Bob Haas. Dean Young. Alan Bernheimer. Joseph Lease. Stephen Ratcliffe. Etc. You know this list. Thank you though for asking “who are the big men?” Thank you for “Being Female.”March 10th, 2011 at 12:35 pm

http://blog.sfmoma.org/2011/03/bohemia-of-finances-pt-4/

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Shermans Travel » Blog » Miami Beach Gay Pride Cruise Returns Shermanstravel Blog Miami Beach Gay Pride Cruise Returns Miami’s LGBT scene will be sizzling come spring. First up on the docket, the Miami Beach Pride, held on April 15 this year, will be bringing buzz back to the Deco District. Last year’s event saw 40,000 people march down Ocean Drive, making it the largest single-day event in South Beach’s history, and with the addition of the post-Pride party cruise, one of the most unique. Setting sail Monday, April 16, through Friday, April 20, onboard Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Sky, the Miami Beach Pride Cruise offers a chance to extend the party with a 4-night voyage to the Bahamas with stops in Grand Bahamas, Nassau, and Great Stirrup Cay, the cruise line’s private island. A portion of the proceeds will be donated back to Miami Beach Gay Pride’s charitable causes.. to get exclusive weekly deals

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~ Sock Dreams ~ We offer FREE USPS shipping on all US orders! back to » home » latest news index RSS feed Latest News « Older Entries | Newer Entries » by JenDub April 26th, 2013 Stumptown Comic Fest 2013- code word #1 After the success of our promotional give away at Sakura Con, we’re doing it again!!! For each day of the con (Saturday 4/27, Sunday 4/28), we’ll be posting a new code word right here in our Latest News.. Stop by our booth at Atrium #2 right outside the main con area and say the code Rose Red. Good luck! be the first to comment! » by JenDub April 22nd, 2013 Stumptown Comics Fest 2013 Not everyone can be a superb artist, but here at Sock Dreams, we are fortunate enough to have several seriously talented folks. From the real to the absurd, from the geeky to the adorable, if you ask for invoice art, one of us is more than happy to oblige. That’s why, when we were offered a table as the first non-comic retailer at Stumptown Comics Fest , taking place at the Oregon Convention Center this weekend April 27th & 28th, we knew that we had to present something pretty darn special. Stumptown Comics has been celebrating independent comic artists, writers, and publishers for 8 years now and has grown exponentially. It is a gathering for all the geek community of Portland, with parties, performances, pod casts and the Stumptown Independent comics awards. Portland is a city of comics, with folks like Oni Press, Dark Horse, Periscope Studios and countless other comic folks doing it on their own and Stumptown is their time to shine. When we learned the we were going to table at Stumptown, it only seemed natural to feature not only our amazing socks, but our artistic talents. As such, we will be premiering our very first Zine!!! It will be filled with interesting artwork, inspired by our customers, from various invoices over the years and we’re pretty proud of it. You will be able to find the Zine at any of our geeky events this year and can pick one up for the low, low price of 7 bucks! In addition, we will have all the usual deals on our Dreamer Socks and Dreams Stockings, as well as fun socks for this artistic crowd. Hope to see you there! to comment! » Photo Phrenzy! In addition to all the pictures we’ve been taking of this spring’s new items, we’ve been doing photo shoots all over town! We got to hang out with the supremely rad folks over at Periscope Studio… We were graced with a visit from a traveling Latanya, blogger extraordinaire behind Sprinkles and Booze… We met a sweet calico with Meghan Sinott from Filmed By Bike… Soon, we’ll be shooting the lovely Karol Collymore, newly-appointed head of the Equity Foundation, and her partner Shaley in their BRIDE Knee Highs… If you’re local, be sure to pick up the Portland Mercury‘s annual Southeast Neighborhood Guide in May, and keep an eye out for our socks gallivanting around Sunnyside Piazza! And we KNOW we’re going to have a blast snapping pictures of the devastating derby dames of RCR! We Dreamers love our derby girls almost as much as derby girls love socks… Stay tuned! be the first to comment! » by JenDub April 2nd, 2013 Thanks Sakura Con! We had a great time at Sakura Con this past weekend! We saw many amazing costumes, sold some socks and had a generally lovely time in Seattle. If you received one of our promotional gift cards, we’d love to hear from you. Feel free to post on our Facebook or Twitter pages how much your gift card was for and what awesome socks you got with it. We look forward to seeing you all in Seattle later this year!!! « Older Entries | Newer Entries »

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~ Sock Dreams ~ We offer FREE USPS shipping on all US orders! back to » home » sock journal index RSS feed Sock Journal « Older Entries | » Socks For: May! May is a marvellous month, with Emeralds, Lily of the Valley and Taurus as its symbols. Bold, dainty and terribly stubborn; which is a pretty good description of how this month is turning out for us in Portland, with blasting hot days, delicately warm nights and a mind of its own regarding the weather! All this sun and April’s showers have made our world bright and green (and brought some of those May flowers too!). Which makes May’s gemstone very appropriate. Emeralds are green beryl, ranging from yellow-green to blue-green, but always green! And though we use the word “emerald” on only a couple of green styles, we have quite a wide representation of greens! Clockwise from top: Opaque Solid Nylon Trouser Socks, O Basics, Harajuku Scrunchy Socks, N40s, Socklings, Kimi Wool Blend OTKs. May’s flower, the lily of the valley, is like the shy cousin of the flamboyant lilies that dominate bouquets and their little bell shapes could easily be confused for any other sleepy-looking wildflower. The fleur-de-lis, on the other hand, is very recognisable. So we’ll let this stylised lily take center stage. • Paris Trouser Socks • • Snappy Fleur-de-Lis Garters • • Paris Fleur-de-Lis Pantyhose • Like Aries last month, the May’s constellation of Taurus isn’t as dignified in sock form as it is in star form. But dang is it adorable! Both of these cow socks even have grippy bottoms to help keep you stable. • Moo Toes • • Tubular Cow Socks • As May moves on, spring will soon be over and, on the flip side, winter is coming for folks in the Southern hemisphere. So embrace these transitional days of spring and autumn while you can! be the first! to comment! »_2<<. « Older Entries | »

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~ Sock Dreams ~ We offer FREE USPS shipping on all US orders! back to » home » sock journal index RSS feed Sock Journal « Older Entries | Newer Entries » by Brenna April 12th, 2013 Socks For: April! I will admit that I’m a little partial to April’s symbols, but for good reason—it’s my birth month! Sparkling diamonds, pretty little sweet peas, daisies, and Aries, April has got a pretty good batch. Diamonds are, according to popular song, a girl’s best friend, but they’re also clear so they’re not easily represented via sock. If only there was a pattern or something that was diamond-y . . . • Diamond Jester Knee Highs • • Dreamer Harlequin Diamond OTKs • • Harlequin Diamond & Stripe Tights • Right! “Diamond” is a pattern/texture you can check off in our Advanced Search. It’s a gorgeous, simple pattern that goes with everything, kind of like the gemstone, even. Top row, from left: Diamants Lace Topped Knee High, Sheer Pattern Knee High, Vienna Trouser Socks. Bottom row, from left: Sheer Pattern Crew, Five Toed Sheer Knee High, B.Ella Gigia Microfiber Crew. Sweet peas are pretty little pastel flowers. They have a distinct shape and don’t seem to be a popular choice to decorate socks with. Daisies too! Other than the flowers the Sock It To Me Elephants are holding, there isn’t single daisy on the socks we currently carry. I suppose I’ll just have to make my own. Let’s see, we need some solid white styles for the outside and some solid yellow for the middle: Clockwise from top: Bobby Socklings, Ribbed M Stockings, Socklings, Opaque Thigh High with Bows, Taller Tabis, Harajuku Arm Warmers. Center: Arm Warmer w/Thumb. Did you know the daisy is a compound flower? Each petal and each cluster of yellow in the middle is an individual flower. Nature! So crazy and awesome. The constellation that makes up most of April is Aries, the ram. I know the ram is kind of like, this noble symbol, but even the most dignified ram is still as fluffy as the sheep on the Sleepy Sheep bedsocks (though I’m sure the facial expression would be more stern). Sheep provide a lot of wonderful wool, with merino being a popular choice when luxurious softness is sought. We have a nice selection of merino styles to pamper your toes, but here are a couple that I consider the fluffiest, thanks to the amazing combo of soft wool and boucle yarn: • B.Ella Katy Striped Wool Socks • • Alpino Merino Mousse Crew • • Franco Wool Boucle Stripe Midcalf • April! Fluffy flowers, sparkling sheep! Spring all of its wackiness in full force. by Brenna April 5th, 2013 Gumball Poodle: Dress vs. Athletic Ever popular, Gumball Poodle’s made in the USA “word socks” are a fun way to label and proclaim. We’ve totally done a style spotlight on them before, but with the introduction of their crew style, they’ve now got three great ways to say it with socks. Wait, three?! That’s right, all the Gumball Poodle knee highs aren’t created equal and there are two distinctly different ways you can wear a word. One style Gumball Poodle calls “dress socks.” You can spot ‘em by their contrast heel and toe. Smooth textured and thin enough for snugger shoes, they’re perfect at hiding under office slacks, looking like a plain dress sock at the ankle while secretly being like, a ninja. The other style is called an “athletic sock.” True to its name, this style is rugged and ready for anything. A terry lined foot cushions and absorbs—in the copy for the athletic styles we even say “Keep in mind that they are SO cushy they bring your shoe size up by half a size, so they’re best for roomier sneaks and boots.” Their lightly ribbed body is a pro at staying up, they’re no sissies. Beyond just style, the differences between the dress and athletic socks affect the fit. The dress socks don’t stay up as well on some legs as the athletic socks and there is no way the athletic socks are fitting into snug dress shoes. But with over forty words and phrases to choose from we know you’ll find a fit that strikes your fancy and says exactly what you mean. be the! » by Brenna March 15th, 2013 Socks For: March! Folks say that March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb, and maybe that’s why it has two birthstones, Aquamarine and Bloodstone. The daffodil and Pisces round out the other symbols for March. The aptly named “water of the sea” Aquamarine is turquoise beryl (its deeper green cousins are emeralds!). Now, we’ve got a lot of things that are turquoise, it’s a very popular colour (although, I will confess, it’s a real bear to colour correct!) Clockwise from top: Opaque Solid Nylon Trouser Socks, Nuova Baby Ribbed Wool Socks, Harajuku Arm Warmer, Classic ToeToe Socks, Harajuku Scrunchy Socks, Layered Tulle Petticoat. But March gets two birthstones! The second is Bloodstone, also known as Heliotrope, even though it is totally a different colour than the Heliotrope flower. Deep, dark green with flecks of red, it’s sort of the perfect counterpoint to the clear blues of Aquamarine. Green and red don’t appear together on socks very often, but I think we can capture the ideals of Bloodstone pretty easily. • Dreamy Striped Tubes • • New Zealand Bedsocks with Stripes • • N Stripes • I always forget that March’s flower, the Daffodil, is properly called the Narcissus. Frilly and yellow and already flowering in my yard, they’re harbingers of spring, reminding us that sun is around the corner. I was a little worried about picking styles to represent these flowers. Yellow, despite the recent popularity of mustard as a colour, isn’t a common shade of sock, but lo and behold I found a couple of shots where we used the Narcissus to bring out the best of lemony shades! • White Knees • • Sock It To Me Bumble Bees • • Vertically Inclined Knee Highs • Properly following February’s Aquarius sign, March’s constellation is mostly Pisces, symbolised by two fish. And we’ve got two-by-two options for you, both straight up fish: • Sock It To Me Koi Fish • • Mouthy Fish 3-D Socks • And more symbolic scales (maybe your feet are the fish!): • Lola Knee High • • Mermaid Armor Over the Knee • March marches on, bringing us the start of spring and sneak peeks of sunshine. Are you a March birthday? Do you pick Aquamarine or Bloodstone? « Older Entries | Newer Entries »

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~ !_9<<_10<<_11<<_12<<_13<<?” « Older Entries | Newer Entries »

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Whenever a business owner or company decides to make a website for their business promotion the first and foremost thing is to get it designed by a New York web designer. Building a website is like taking a first step towards increasing your popularity and revenue. Next important decision that you have to take is about web hosting, whether you would use free hosting services or get it from a paid service provider. The term web hosting refers to the physical place where the site files would be located. In case of free web hosting the files are kept along with free hosting sites which make your files vulnerable to their control. If you choose a self-hosted blog, it implies that you pay certain amount of money for keeping the site files where you have more control over them. Using and getting free hosting websites are much easier but on other hand getting self-hosted blog is also easy job. There are some disadvantages of using free web hosting plan. The initial problem faced in free hosting is, you don’t get the advantage of selecting domain name of your choice. For instance if your business name is XYZ the URL would not be XYZ.com bit XYZ.blogspot.com. This makes the people hard to recall your URL. Also if you don’t have your exclusive domain name, people may conclude that you are new to the field and is not very keen about the business. Another major problem with the free web hosting services is you get only fixed number or limited designing options to choose from. The designs and colors are few from which you have to select. So their would be no exclusiveness about your web design. If you choose self-hosted option, than you get hundreds and thousands of options to choose from. The theme selection also has many options which can change the way your site looks and the color options are also plenty in number. This is just starting point. After fixing the website theme you can further customize the look of the website and feel of the site too. As far as customization of the site is concerned, self-hosted sites stand better chances of getting it designed in the way you want. The overall functionality of your website can be improves by thousands of plug-ins available. Such thing can improve overall search engine optimization and the layout can also be designed according to one’s like. But such options and freedom are not available with the free hosting services.

http://blog.spinxwebdesignnewyork.com/why-is-paid-web-hosting-service-better/

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The Splitweet support email receives every day a lot of comments, suggestions, good words (and bad ones) from registered and not yet registered users. From people who don't know how to browse the page to experts who suggest brilliant ideas. What I want to show here is the list of the most (not necessarily the nicer) requested features that I've found in the inbox several times, so users say... I want... - To filter following tweets by account - A desktop application like Tweetdeck - A translation in my speaking language - An application for my iPhone - An application for Blackberry (the word Storm was heard a lot) - TinyURL, is.gd, xortr.com and similar link integration - Exclude my own tweets from the brands' mentions - To pick the color associated to each account - An application for Windows Mobile - Search box for users - To see new following users - To schedule tweets - To show nested conversations (and other similar stuff) - A Firefox sidebar - To post via SMS We won't do everything on the list, at least in short. I want to remark that we are not a company and that we do all this in our spare time, so the development is slow. And, NO we can't promise you a specific date. We do our best, and we are also open to anyone who might help us, specially in the Adobe AIR development, firefox plugin development and translations. The first 3 points in the list are started :) We also did a lot of stuff based on this kind of comments, just to put ten: - Enable/disable sound preference - Show complete name or username preference - Disable autoupdates preference - Redesign of the site - Retweet messages - Reply messages - Check the last used account so you can post several times using the same selection - Stop reloading page if there are new tweets and you are writing something - Add to favorites and the favorites page - Warn the user by javascript if no account is selected And of course Splitweet is now in 11 languages... I'm dying for a desktop version for OS X, or a pop out version of some sort that makes it easier to leave Splitweet running in the background. Any idea what the ETA is on something like that? Keep up the good work guys. We all appreciate the work you're doing to provide this free service! A desktop version that runs on OS X 10.4 & doesn't require AdobeAir! My biggest frustration is being taken back to the dashboard after I reply to a comment from my brands or replies list. I'd like to be returned to the page I reply from. Also, why the three page limit on followed tweets? Overall great job. I appreciate your efforts. Hi Bob, there is no 3 pages limit, but there is an algorithm that mixes all the followed accounts in a given date. Probably one account of yours has reached the last tweet and the others stop working, I should look at it. While reading this i was browsing splitweet.com/page/7 ... Thank you :) Click tracking and tweet scheduling. those are two features that another service has, but I still prefer the splitweet interface, so I haven't switched away yet. I'll second the tinyurl integration and some type of follower management. Those all might be "pro" features worth paying for too. Being able to create groups for different types of accounts would be nice Also to toggle which accounts to tweet to. (Select all, etc.). Some sort of caching would help a little (maybe?), it seems to take a long time to move from tab to tab within the app and I think performance is more important than bells and whistles. I don't mind using tinyurl extension for example for FF and just do that manually so long as I dont ahve to wait 10 seconds for the page I requested to load. The client thing is cool but I don't care much for it since I use the 3 major OS' heavily and don't expect an app to work the same in all 3. To simulte an app I would use a single site browser like Fluid or Chrome. But thats just my $.02. Thanks for putting this out anyway, you guys are doing awesome. Hey Oscar, There is caching right now, but probably expires before you click again. Think that users want to see FRESH content, that makes us to cache for 90 seconds or so. If you have a lot of accounts then you have to wait for all the background twitter calls to create the dashboard. We could make the web fly, but it wouldn't be fresh... You are right that sometimes in some cases the dashboard response is slow... we will have to look for a mid-term. Thanks for your comments, and the sinle site browser is a good idea. :) maybe have the brands show in individual sections : "brand 1" = "box 1" and so on (would make it easier if you have many brands) I'm a brand new user to Splitweet (less than 24 hours) and I LOVE it! I manage 4 Twitter accounts and this has been very helpful to see them all in one place. I'm getting used to the color coding, too. It would really be cool to have the avatar instead of the color, but that's so minor. I like it better than Tweetdeck (which really slows my computer down), but the only thing I miss is the ability to "Group" the people I am following so I can really keep up with certain people and not miss their tweets in all the traffic. Keep up the great work! :-D Carla <!-- /*;} --> I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often. Is there a way for Splitweet to automatically know which account I want to respond from? For example, if I click on a tweet to reply I won't always know which acount they are listed with so how do I know which one to reply from? By now Splitweet remembers your last used account(s). It doesn't matter what are you doing, it just remembers your last selection and assumes you want to reply/retweet/tweet with it. A major feature that would really be useful would be to have the ability to cluster / group selectable twitter accounts together in to a catagory. This way when messages need to be sent out to say just "Europe" twittter accounts then all you would need to do is select that catagory "Europe" and your tweet would be sent to all those twitter user accounts. It can be used in other ways too. This would make life easier than having to select each user from your twitter accounts check box to send tweets out to if you have lots of accounts! N. Number 6 would be great. Integrate a solution to shortening URLs. This forces me back to TweetDeck. For me, the only thing missing from Splitweet is the URL shortening. I prefer tr.im. Thanks for the service and all the work you do. I'd like to be able to block people. At the moment I can follow/unfollow but there doesn't appear to be a block option. Some people who follow me I really don't want showing up on my followers list. Seems like you could kill a few birds with one stone using Adobe Air. Hey i love the site, i use it every day and it's brilliant, so cheers! the only time i switch back to the normal site is when i have to block/remove people. So thanks very much and keep up the great work! for your wonderful service. Most of the time, internet activities consume an unbelievable amount of our time. This service helps to save lots of precious time. Please keep up the good work. Hats off for a geat service, website and keep up the good work. Great site but it'd be even better if brand mentions didn't include your own accounts. It is hard to filter through and find actual mentions if you are managing many accounts that follow each other. Please consider implementing this change soon! Thanks :] Hey whatever language splitweet uses, I will code the "brand mentions shouldn't include one's own tweets" for you, free of charge. I want it so badly :( how can I retweet mssgs from splitweet ?? To retweet click on the "recycle" icon when the mouse is over a tweet. Great site but it'd be even better if brand mentions didn't include your own accounts. It is fast and easy to use. Occasionally I need to schedule tweets, so for that I use another service, but I prefer Splitweet otherwise..

http://blog.splitweet.com/top-15-features-requested-by-splitweet-users-195017

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Search « Waiting to Expel | Main | More 911 Madness » other Clear Channel stations. Sayeth the website:. Except for the line about "big name personalities" (I mean, who are they supposed to be pining for? Dick Clark? Alan Freed?) it's not bad, huh? The station was outed by someone at WOXY, who looked up the Radio Free domain name and saw that it was owned by Clear Channel in San Antonio. I supposed this isn't all that surprising coming from the company that pioneered the art of making generic, nationally produced newscasts sound as if they're local. Still, it's hard to believe that upper management would have their heads so far up their asses as to think this is a good idea. Chances are they plan on using this "guerilla" marketing to convert one of their stations to a new "alternative" or liberal talk format, but all it's really going to do is piss people off. Anyway, I think of all this as good news: Clear Channel is so desperate to defend its turf that it'll even try joining the chorus of critics. (Thanks, Sarah Riegel!) Update: The RadioFreeOhio website is now just radio silence; nothing but a launch date and a promise of "revolution." But we've posted some text from the site here. Update 5/30/05: Clear Channel acknowledges stunt. See this followup post. Posted by carrie on 05/25/2005 | Permalink bash-2.05b$ dnsqr a radiofreeohio.org 1 radiofreeohio.org: 51 bytes, 1+1+0+0 records, response, noerror query: 1 radiofreeohio.org answer: radiofreeohio.org 86400 A 207.230.150.254 bash-2.05b$ whois 207.230.150.254 OrgName: Clear Channel Communications OrgID: CCC-111 Address: Clear Channel Worldwide Address: 20880 Stone Oak Parkway City: San Antonio StateProv: TX Country: US NetRange: 207.230.128.0 - 207.230.159.255 CIDR: 207.230.128.0/19 NetName: NSNS NetHandle: NET-207-230-128-0-1 Parent: NET-207-0-0-0-0 NetType: Direct Allocation NameServer: NS1.CLEARCHANNEL.COM NameServer: NS2.CLEARCHANNEL.COM Comment: ADDRESSES WITHIN THIS BLOCK ARE NON-PORTABLE RegDate: 1996-11-19 Updated: 2005-03-31 OrgTechHandle: MOORE7-ARIN OrgTechName: Moore, Rick OrgTechPhone: +1-210-253-5000 OrgTechEmail: [email protected] # ARIN WHOIS database, last updated 2005-05-25 19:10 # Enter ? for additional hints on searching ARIN's WHOIS database. Posted by: xx | May 26, 2005 6:30:00 AM It won't piss people off. Once they begin regular broadcasts nobody will remember. Posted by: aabbaabb | May 26, 2005 8:57:34 AM Ladies and gentlemen, that is what we in the broadcast industry call a "radio stunt". Posted by: ThatGuy | May 26, 2005 9:22:04 AM It's ironic that fans of WOXY, a truly independent and innovative station was the first to discover that ClearChannel was trying to be hip and cool... Posted by: Bryan-Mitchell Young | May 26, 2005 10:11:44 AM They had a message board up. First people were calling them commies, then when they got outed people were posting angry responses. Sometime this morning (between 7:30 and 10:30 EST) they pulled the plug on the message board--I'm getting a 404. Posted by: mj | May 26, 2005 10:33:39 AM Aha!!! Another radio clone trying to bring people to the darkside. Posted by: lothlorien | May 26, 2005 10:37:24 AM Check your facts more carefully. WNIR is not a Clear Channel radio station. We're independently owned and proud of it, and we have nothing to do with the Radio Free Ohio fiasco. Posted by: wnir | May 26, 2005 11:35:27 AM lol, the website is changed now, it says nothing but wait til the 31st, anyone have it cached or archived? archive.org and google and yahoo cache dont have it Posted by: comsn d | May 26, 2005 11:44:37 AM Wait. When folks are claiming that this is "bleeding" into other broadcasts, do they mean that WNIR's signal has actually been interfered with by this operation? Or is it that this operation bought time on WNIR, (and was presumably given it by Clear Channel stations in the area).? Posted by: MB | May 26, 2005 12:05:10 PM Well if I WAS going to make a truly pirate radio station, I wouldn't use my real identity in the DNS information of its website. It might even be a cute prank to enter the ownership details of the company I was lampooning... Now FCC frequency license records, that would be a better indicator of who is what. -PHiZ Posted by: PHiZ | May 26, 2005 1:21:57 PM Everytime I have to drive past their offices (my in laws live in Stone Oak) I contemplate how awful life was before satellite radio. Then I realise radio isn't that great. Then I cry on the inside. Awhile ago San Antonio had hearings against clear channel's business here... I don't know what became of those.. What was i saying? Posted by: MeltMan | May 26, 2005 2:32:27 PM I live in Ohio, and the "big name personalit[y]" I miss is Billy Ray Vulgar. Not that any of you know who he was, or care. But I miss him. Oh, yeah, Clear Channel sucks. I'm not being sarcastic. Posted by: mammon | May 26, 2005 4:33:08 PM Not to be pimping for WOXY, but over in the thread I linked to before they found that the message board is still up, you just can't get to it from the main page. You can still post though. Some of us are having fun taunting them and seeing how long it will be before they delete those posts too. Posted by: Bryan-Mitchell Young | May 26, 2005 6:31:28 PM Pimp away, BMY! The sleuthing at WOXY has been great. Posted by: Charles Star | May 26, 2005 7:02:47 PM Come now, my little anarchists. This sort of thing goes on all the time. It's not even a new tactic on the airwaves. They've been doing this in Houston and other markets, having their top 40 station trash-talk their Alternative station and vice-versa. It's a practice as old as corporate convergence itself. Most people honestly never catch on. Maybe it's news that CC blew it by registering the domain in their own name, but they'll learn. They'll create a wholly-owned subsidiary with a grassroots-sounding name to do this sort of thing from now on. Then only the people with enough snap to look into the backgrounds of the companies will ever know -- and only then because they're probably investing. Oh, and as for faking the DNS registration -- that'd have to be a thorough hack. The NS records point inside the Clear Channel domain, so even if all the contact info is bogus, Clear Channel's own DNS servers are authoritative for this. Still think it's an outside job? Meanwhile, look who's generating the publicity on behalf of Clear Channel. Brilliant! Posted by: johnnyb | May 26, 2005 7:57:47 PM Meanwhile, look who's generating the publicity on behalf of Clear Channel. oh, yeah, Clear Channel is just loving the publicity; that's why they took the website down IMMEDIATELY. Give me a break! Posted by: Carrie McLaren | May 26, 2005 9:44:58 PM Poor Radio Free Ohio. Y'all should quit pickin' on the poor fellows. In fact, I'll even give 'em some of my hard-earned cash so that they can continue the good fight:. Posted by: Greyscribe | May 26, 2005 9:49:04 PM Most, if not all, of the stations insulted by that site are not Clear Channel owned. Posted by: Matt | May 27, 2005 6:53:54 AM They're bright enough to leave "Clear Channel Worldwide" on their Error page: Posted by: James | May 27, 2005 8:26:06 PM clear channel needs publicity like coca-cola and mcdonalds need publicity. Posted by: andrew | May 27, 2005 9:14:02 PM only station i listen to is infinaty broadcasting....but to hell with clear channel.... anyways couldnt they kinda be called a monopoly (which is illegal for those who dont kno)? Posted by: greg | May 28, 2005 4:18:56 PM I e-mailed the clear channel tech guy listed in the dns info and he e-mailed me back telling me to go to the clear channel website. e-mail him back again saying well radio free ohio isn't listed as a clear channel channel on that site what is the connection with clear channel. he hasn't responded to that. e-mailed the radio free dudes and they never returned the e-mail. the first thing that occured to me about the station was that this was some kids setting up a pirate station and then using clear channel's specs for their dns entry to hide themselves. however all evidence points to the contrary. peace, a Posted by: andrew | May 29, 2005 11:54:28 AM Radio sucks. Music sucks. Here in the DC market DC101 is on the verge of becoming a classic rock station; they've played House of Pain (Jump Around) at least 3x a day during the afternoons lately. Not to mention the inmitable Pearl Jam (why won't they die? Who does Eddie Vedder have pix of to blackmail?). The reason for this is simple: there's no new music being produced that anyone will listen to (but what about mash-ups? Hah.) The interesting thing with CC in this instance is the notion of the "pirate" station "bleeding" onto other stations. A CLEAR AND SERIOUS FCC VIOLATION. Their license can and will be pulled immediately if any evidence exists as to this. Anyone have a tape of these "pirates". Why not post a .wav file on some blogs, file a complaint with the FCC for frequency infringement, and finally put a rock in the eye of this 10-headed CC monster? The bigger they are, the harder they fall.... Posted by: Recovering Music Listener | May 30, 2005 11:24:56 AM Here's an idea--turn off the radio, get yourself an instrument, pick up a pen, and make your own music. Let's make art and music an activity again instead of a commodity that we are dependent on others to supply to us. It will be more meaningful to you because it's your personal expression. Then get together with your friends and show them what you did, and hear and see what they did. We don't need this pre-fab junk which is just a platform for advertisers anyway. We need to express ourselves. Then all these creeps will have no advertising revenue, and their huge empire will collapse. Anything not based on quality collapses eventually. Posted by: SH | May 30, 2005 12:13:05 PM This is kind of like McDonalds opening up a health food restaurant and imploring people not to poison themselves on the crap at those golden-arched fast-food joints. Keep up the good work. Posted by: Mark | May 31, 2005 5:49:51 AM For the Activists: Also, to your list of people to complain to, please add Robert Levine of the New York Times, who reported the story yesterday. Actually, add his editor, who's job it is to pitch stories and hype them up so they get space and don't end up running on a HOLIDAY. Let Levine and his editor know that they did a shoddy job of reporting what could have led to a discussion of important issues (such as Low Power FM, lack of local voices, the fact that CC could just pop up another station, but a real local broadcaster would have much more difficulty), that you are complaining to OTHER people, and that this "prank" as he called it, has not been laughed off by everyone. (From a journalist, this is how to make it 'newsworthy.') You have to send these things soon, though. A newsroom has no memory until it's necessary. Posted by: Jennifer | May 31, 2005 5:48:24 PM I'm in the delivery business in Austin TX, so I spend a lot of hours driving around while listening to the radio. So, last fall I noticed the dramatic format change on three FM stations I surf among on a daily basis. Overnight all three changed: 102.3 and 105.9 (Clear Channel) and 103.5 (Sinclair Broadcasting). Out went the "oldies" format that even went back to the 1950s when Rock n' Roll began, to be replaced with what all three stations started promoting as "old songs mixed with contemporary ones." Hmmm, this should be interesting, I thought. Then, I noticed something strange. All three statiions, as an example of contemporary R/R music started promoting ?Los Lonely Boys? ?"How far is Heaven?" (not certain if I've got this right, but you probably know the song). Pretty good song. No problem, right? But then I began to wonder about all the Christian Rock songs that started showing up, especially on Clear Channel's FM 102.3. Oh, I get it. Under the old format of "oldies," the Religious Reich couldn't get their religious fundamentalist rock played over the publicly-owned airwaves,...so they dumped the old format. But I think the plot even goes deeper. Certain classic R/R songs from the past use religious terms in their lyrics. For example, the Doobie Brothers and "Jesus is just alright with me." Great song. But the DB's had other great songs, too. So why does this seem to be the only DB song that Clear Channel plays? You do see where this is leading, don't you? Lowery Mays (Clear Channel) and Bob Sinclair (Sinclair Broadcasting) put their heads together, I believe, and decided to use their network of radio stations to Proselytize over the airwaves. Christian Rock is essentially a niche market, but da boys at CC and SB wanted to share their right-wing faith with everyone. I noticed what they are doing, and I'm not at all interested in being proselytized by some religious nuts, especially two guys who pulled a "sneaky" on everyone. Even though they don't play continuous contemporary Christian Rock, I now find myself carefully listening to the lyrics of any song I've never heard before...then I change the radio channel if I start hearing certain religious fundamentalist lyrics. However, I think it is time I looked into XM Radio or Sirius Satellite. This way I can listen to R/R hits without having to wonder if that Christian Rock crap is intermixed. Hopefully. And the funny thing is, I'm a Christian, but not one of May's or Sinclair's types of Christians. Hey, I'm liberal and a child of the 60s. Posted by: The Oracle | Jun 1, 2005 4:27:36 AM? Posted by: Ritabert | Jun 1, 2005 8:26:36 AM For anybody who takes all this stuff seriously: Get a life! Posted by: Neil | Jun 2, 2005 1:23:43 PM Love music country the gretested Posted by: David Stevenson | Jun 3, 2005 6:16:06 AM Why not take it seriously? Many of the things being discussed happen to deal with the fact that CC is taking the capitalist system and raming it up our... so i cant see how not taking a selfserving prank to promote yourself to eliminate other grassroots radio stations, thereby allowing a corporate monopoly to exsist, is unimportant. And you are obviously taking it seriously to take the time to comment/read/ whatever. Posted by: alan | Jun 4, 2005 6:31:51 PM ?" dude, it's fucking florida. I lived in Orlando for 7 years. The latin ratio is huge. of course their going to do this. it's money. peace, a Posted by: andrew | Jun 7, 2005 12:07:06 PM The comments to this entry are closed.

http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/2005/05/radio_free_clea.html

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.”. Linj: Sponsored by ‘The Stonehenge Tour Company’ – Winter Solstice Videos: Merlin says ” A truly great Solstice celebration with a spectacular sunrise” Merlin @ Stonehenge The Stonehenge Stone Circle Website

http://blog.stonehenge-stone-circle.co.uk/2011/12/23/

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Monday, October 25, 2010 Follow This Blog! Just so you know...We've added a "Follow Sugar Hollow" button to our blog. You see it there -- just to the right of this post. Become a Follower (public or private, your choice) and keep up with the latest goings-on at The Inn at Sugar Hollow Farm. Come to Charlottesville, Virginia and enjoy a serene country retreat at the Inn at Sugar Hollow Farm in the foothills of the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. Awarded the Certificate of Excellence by TripAdvisor.com. Dick and Hayden Cabell Owners/Innkeepers 1-866-566-7388 3 comments: I was with friends in Charlottesville is a beautiful place I would like to live cristina I saw the B & B, but maybe it's in Farmington at the country club? I was a guest there Cristina from Italy Hi Cristina, Thank you for your comment. I believe you are referring to us, The Inn at Sugar Hollow Farm, but we are not in Farmington, we are a bit further west of Charlottesville, on Sugar Hollow Road, on the Moorman River, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge. I think you are the Cristina from Italy who has stayed with us. I hope so! I wish you were here now - the leaves are changing color, it feels like Fall and it is just so beautiful.

http://blog.sugarhollow.com/2010/10/follow-this-blog.html

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To the Editor: To Mayor Stephanie Miner and County Executive Joanie Mahoney: Welcoming the state fair and all of its visitors to Onondaga County could be compared to welcoming people into your home. But look around the area surrounding the fairgrounds and the city of Syracuse. There is so much trash along the broken down, pot-hole and weed-filled roads it is ridiculous. There is no excuse. Everything from blown tires to bags of trash and piles of last year's salt remnants and stones are strewn along the roadside. There is always talk in the news of revitalizing Syracuse. How is that going to happen when the city and surrounding area is broken down and full of trash? When visitors come to our home, it should be clean and welcoming. Cindy Todd Baldwinsville Our 'home' must be clean and welcoming To the Editor:

http://blog.syracuse.com/opinion/2012/08/our_home_must_be_clean_and_wel.html

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Short answer– yes. I just did a test that worked with three domains– on domain A, I had an iframe pointing to a file on domain B. Domain B’s iframe was to: alert “location.href”, write it to the document, and then redirect the browser to domain C. All tests worked.

http://blog.thenateway.net/?tag=location-href

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David R. Ross was named a shareholder in the law firm. Ross practices in the Health Law and Healthcare Fraud and Abuse practice areas. In his new role, Ross will lead the firm’s newly launched Governmental Investigations Unit focusing on representation of clients facing governmental and law enforcement investigations and prosecutions. He has served as of counsel to the firm since 1997. Ross has held numerous prominent positions within New York State and county government. He was acting Medicaid inspector general for the State of New York and general counsel of the Office of the Medicaid Inspector General (OMIG). He has also served as acting general counsel for NYS Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS) and deputy counsel of OASAS. Ross was an assistant attorney general for the State of New York and handled civil and criminal cases and investigations. Ross is a graduate of Albany Law School and a cum laude graduate of the State University of New York at Albany. He is admitted to practice in the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York, the United States District Court for the Western District of New York, and all New York State courts. He is currently a member of the Albany County and New York State Bar Associations (Health Law Section) as well as the American Health Lawyers Association. Ross also makes appearances as a legal analyst for Capital District radio talk show Talk1300AM hosted by Paul Vandenburgh.

http://blog.timesunion.com/onthemove/david-r-ross-named-shareholder-at-o%E2%80%99connell-aronowitz/3263/

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A tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) is an electronic system designed to monitor the air pressure inside the pneumatic tires on various types of vehicles. This system reports real-time tire pressure information to the driver of the vehicle, either via a gauge, a LED display or a warning light. Maintaining proper tire pressure is critical for driver safety as well as maximizing tire tread life. In October 2000, United States legislation enacted the TREAD Act (Transportation Recall Enhancement, Accountability and Documentation). This Act mandated the use of TPMS in all light motor vehicles (under 10,000 pounds), to help alert drivers to severe tire under-inflation. This act affects all light motor vehicles sold after September 1, 2007. Although vehicle manufacturers are now required to install TPMS sensors in new vehicles, there has been some confusion on whether or not drivers are required to keep their TPMS active. Although most states have not mandated the TPMS remain active, there are at least four states that currently require vehicles manufactured after October 2007 to have properly functioning tire pressure monitoring systems. These states include Hawaii, Rhode Island, Vermont and West Virginia and verification of proper TPMS function is part of the annual vehicle inspection. Take a look at "State TPMS Regulations" to help confirm restrictions in your area.

http://blog.tirerack.com/blog/where-the-rubber-meets-the-road/tpms-regulations-and-state-inspections

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Paradise? Trip Start Sep 12, 2007 1 44 48Trip End Feb 25, 2007 Map your own trip! Map Options Show trip route Hide lines I arrived at Rarotonga airport at 2am, January 30th, having left Auckland at 9pm the same day. This was all due to the crossing of the international date line, meaning all the hours lost due to time changes as I've moved around the world were given to me in one go, so now instead of being in front of time in the UK, I'm now way behind! Interesting to have the same day twice- although I think I'll time it for my birthday in the future! The first thing you notice about the Cook Islands is how quiet it is. The Islands have a population of 18,000 and spread out over 15 tiny islands spread out over an area the size of Western Europe and the pace of life is positively sedate. I am staying on the largest of these islands, Rarotonga,- a volcanic island surrounded by an atoll reef. The vast majority of my time here has been spent at the beaches of this reef, occasionally snorkeling, bust mostly reading and sunning myself, getting the last bit of sun on my trip before I head to the winter of the Northern Hemisphere and my final leg across the United States. I've also hired out a moped for the week, allowing me to navigate my way around the orbital main road of the island and take in the many different villages en route. I've been into town a couple of times, but the nightlife is as quiet as the rest of the island life, and all is closed by 12 most nights! The people here are incredibly friendly, as it is nowhere near as developed for tourists as other pacific islands such as Fiji, making tourists more of a novelty than a commodity. Overall, it's been a fantastic place to recharge my batteries from the frantic pace at which I traveled New Zealand before I take in the equally frantic cities of San Francisco, Las Vegas and New York before my final flight home, now quite clearly on the horizon! Roratonga I visited Roratonga in Nov. 1991 for a week. Your description sounds much like mine would have. I signed up for everything they offered and loved it. The Cultural Center, History Trip around the island, scuba dived the wreck, flew to the northern island of A......., rented a car and drove it on every inch of the island, bicycled to the Falls. It is still one of my favorite island memories. AND THE PEOPLE WERE WONDERFUL, FRIENDLY AND HELPFUL. One of the dancers from the 'show' picked me up and gave me a ride to the airport. A great peaceful place to visit. L.

http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/johnbrianmess/world07/1201674780/tpod.html

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Going Coastal... Trip Start May 22, 2010 1 3 17Trip End Jun 28, 2010 Map your own trip! Map Options Show trip route Hide lines But as I slowly defrosed and took in the quiet Carpinteria morning, I realised that it had been a great idea after all. The greyish-pink quality of the light at dawn and the crispness of the air really made me feel alive. The waves shushed against the shore as we crossed a lone train track to reach the cliff overlooking the ocean. Beaches in this part of California are like no beaches I have ever seen. The sand has an almost coffee colour to it, and they are much rockier than I had imagined A flock of pelicans glided by, caught in an updraft. Shane thought they were dirty - their feathers weren't the usual gleaming white we are used to. Later after a quick breakfast of cereal and yoghurt (Mel was game enough to try the powdered-egg omeletes) we jumped back in the tank for the four hundred mile trip from Carpinteria to San Francisco. The plan was to take Highway One, a road we had been told was a lovely scenic trip. Somehow the descriptions that friends had given us of this road had not done it justice. Not even slightly. I'd been told that travelling from LA to San Francisco would feel like travelling to another country. What I hadn't planned on was the feeling of travelling through many on the road between the two cities. The trip began as the urban sprawl gave way to farming land - acres and acres of crops like a patchwork across the ground, with the mountains in the background framing the picture. This gave way to fields of swaying green-gold grass, as we hit Highway One and the coast came into view once more. Even the coast seemed changed; fantastic craggy rock formations pierced the surface of the ocean like an old man's teeth. We made our first stop at the Hearst Family State Park. The wind hadn't let up - if anything it had gotten stronger, whipping my hair into my face as we tried to pose for photos on the jetty. It was here we discovered the answer to the dirty pelicans - they're a whole different species - the Brown Pelican. Zipping across the highway we made a little detour to Hearst Castle - the home of WR Hearst, a media magnate from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His Castle and grounds are said to be breathtaking in their magnificence. Unfortunately, we hadn't pre-booked a tour, and in the typical control-freak style of the American's, no one can access the castle or the grounds unless they are on a tour. The wait for an available tour would have made us so terribly late into San Fran that we were forced to leave empty handed. The disappointment didn't last long, however, when we stumbled across the next stop on the highway - a viewing area for Elephant Seals who sun themselves on the beach. And before we even got near the seals I was fully distracted by another form of wildlife - a squirrel, begging for food. I desperately wanted to feed it, but the signs forbade it, and I had nothing to give in any case. The seals were enormous, rolling about in the sand and flicking it over themselves while using as little energy as possible. The only real action we saw was when two larger ones started grunting and throwing themselves at each other - an obvious show of dominance. What really left me speechless was the sheer numbr of seals on the beach - it seemed like almost every available bit of sand was taken up with at least one of the enormous creatures After there the road really started to take some serious twists and turns, narrowing and winding around the steep cliffs overhanging the ocean. Bede was a very careful driver, taking the road slow and steady like the tortoise. Unlike Shane, the hare, who seemed to prefer to leave the car to pick its own speed, and at times I was clinging to the seat for dear life. He'll insist I was overreacting, but I'm sure I tasted my heart in my mouth at least once. It seemed like every time we came around a bend we were gasping at the new beauty of the scenery. It never stopped being amazing how each turn revealed a sheer drop towards aqua ocean, cliffs covered with pine trees or enormous misshapen rocks. We stopped for lunch at a little cafe very high above the ocean. As suspected the meals were enormous, but delicious. I think Man and Food might be even - the cool, salty air must have boosted Shane's appetite. We weren't entirely through the windy part, but the road curved away from the ocean, and the landscape changed again. Forest suddenly soared up on either side of us, forming a break from the icy coastal wind, and overshadowing the road. We had entered Big Sur. One thing I was dying to see was a Giant Sequoia - a Redwood. They are the tallest trees in the world, and only found in this part of the United States. While the best ones are hanging out with Yogi Bear at Yellowstone, according to the slightly creepy park attendant at Big Sur "there are some lovely specimens right here". Of course, I think his slightly confused tone of voice was in response to Shane's ambiguous and uber bogan greeting: "g'day mate, we wanna see some big trees". It's been Shane's goal to try and work up to using an Australian colloquialism like "flat out like a lizard drinking" or "dry as a dead dingo's donger" in a conversation with an American. He's not quite worked up the courage, but I think he's on his way. The "specimens" we saw in the park weren't quite the giant ones, but they were still enormous and magnificent. Mel and I were like tiny munchkins trying in vain to get out arms all the way around one. Mel is used to being a munchkin, but it's not something I've ever really felt before.. Further into the park, we came across a little rocky stream. There was no question about whether I was taking a paddle or not. Icy cold outside it may have been, but that water was getting on my feet in one way or another. The trees allowed a dappled light to penetrate and sparkle off the water (a bit like vampire skin, really). The water WAS freezing, but my feet were numb so quickly that I didn't mind. I waded around for about ten minutes with the boys. Mel decided her feet would stay dry, but she did find some tiny golden specks in the wet sand. Gold was a big contributor to the settlement of California, and so the specks could well have been tiny pieces of real gold. We dried off and kept moving, still having a couple of hours until we would reach out accommodation in San Francisco. The road met up with the 101, and we were flying once more. My first glimpse of the San Francisco I recognise was the steep rows of houses as the freeway closed in on the suburbs surrounding the city proper Shane's first impression of San Fran was; "It's like Melbourne - it's cold, there're trams and lots of beggars". And he's quite right. In walking one block from the car to the hotel I was accosted by three different beggars - one cradling a scruffy looking dog with a sign against her knees reading "Please help us get out of the cold". It was almost heartbreaking. It's definitely not a sleeping city though - it's almost midnight on a Sunday night as I write this and I can hear the street car (tram) clanging it's bell outside my hotel window. I'm looking forward to riding one of them tomorrow. Our hotel is 'boutique' and had maintained an Art Deco charm. The features are very close to original, and the corridors are long and confusingly laid out, almost to the point where I'm starting to wonder if I turn a corner whether a pair of twins will appear asking me to come play with them...forever and ever and ever... But horror movie scenery aside, it's a stunning hotel, and definitely more unique than any modern behemoth. Tomorrow we plan on hiring some bikes and taking a bit of a ride through the city. Maybe we'll catch the trolley car to the top of a hill and coast down... I'm really enjoying the read each evening. Loving your blogs :) Ha, you should be a travel writer. Love the descriptions. Too bad it's still so cold though... You better have given the dog some food sis ! You better have given the dog some food sis ! You better have given the dog some food sis ! You better have given the dog some food sis ! You better have given the dog some food sis !

http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katiespruce/1/1274545447/tpod.html

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Fredericksburg, Texas White House, plus a Surprise Trip Start Unknown 1 31 66Trip End Ongoing Map your own trip! Map Options Show trip route Hide lines Where I stayed -Lyndon B. Johnson Wednesday's field trips were in the Hill Country. First stop: Fredericksburg, a town with much German influence, where we started with the Pacific War Museum. Most of us did a cursory walk-through but retired history professor Jack, of our group of friends, wanted to see (and read) it all! We walked, without Jack who was still in the museum, along Main Street checking out a few shops and even tasting some local wines. We decided to eat at Wheeler's Restaurant. John had German sausage which he said was OK, not great. I had a Reuben sandwich which was quite good. The six of us split up after lunch. John and I checked out Rustlin' Robs where there was a huge variety of salsas and sauces to taste. John discovered some hot ones! We shared a German sweet pretzel from the bakery---very nice. The coach picked us up at 2 and we were headed to the LBJ complex. The first stop was the Visitor Center where we viewed a film partly narrated by LBJ himself. We had a little while to browse the exhibits and gift shop. Our driver, Michael, then drove us around the ranch while we listened to an audio narration. We saw many cows ---with branded horns. There were a number of deer grazing as well. We toured the Texas White House where there were park rangers in some of the rooms to relate stories about LBJ and Lady Bird. The last bus stop was the cemetery where the former president and first lady are buried. After leaving the ranch, Michael took us on some very curvy roads to Luckenbach, which was a surprise as it was not on our itinerary. While we still didn't know where we were headed, Christina and Della played the Waylon Jennings song "Luckenbach, Texas" and then told us we would stop there for a cold one. As long-time country music fans, both John and I just had to get Tshirts and he chose a visor, too. It was a fun stop and a cool surprise! And, you know, "Everybody is somebody in Luckenbach!" Click on the youtube link to hear the song. Just X out the advertising at the beginning. Then we were "on the road again" to Waring and realized that these were the REALLY curvy roads! When we arrived at the Waring General Store, Bret Michael's tour bus was parked there. I took a picture for my daughter who was a big fan at one time. It was "steak night" and we ate outdoors on picnic tables. There was salad with Texas ranch dressing---spicy, chalupas, quesadillas, mashed potatoes, rolls and of course, steak! Not the best but OK. We had beer with our meals---definitely not a bad thing. There was live music but NOT country---go figure! (OMG, I just this minute had a revelation! It was likely Bret Michaels playing!) I was hoping to get John to dance but there wasn't even a dance floor! We returned to the hotel about 8:30, pretty tired after another long, busy and fun day!

http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/orlandoanne/1/1355409825/tpod.html

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? Honestly I am not cool with this! haha, it apparently is coming, mm123, get ready!!!! Cool! What an amazing time/world we are living in. This is going to be absolutely awesome!!! Thx, justacooldudeuknow28, we hope so!!! There will probably be plenty of snags along the way, we’re interested to watch the whole story play out … I think many of us are looking forward to the opportunities that driverless cars represent, and while the roads are getting their improvements it would be great to see other coexisting technologies introduced such as bimodal technology. More options are always better and how great would it be to have not just a car driving itself but a car driving itself a long a high speed efficient system that would allow more throughput and less congestion. Thx BiModel Glideway — we also think that getting rid of rubber-necking and all of that highway congestion could be one of the biggest upsides!!! Just imagine … driving into Los Angeles without wanting to throw yourself out of the moving car!!!

http://blog.viper.com/2012/07/29/want-a-driverless-car-heres-whats-keeping-it-from-happening/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=3b93935130

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By. Pingback: Fake notifications from PayPal contain Trojan « MALWARELIST INFORMATION ABOUT VIRUSES When you say, Webroot users are protected from this treat, how do you mean? I don’t see email spam filter or protection in the Webroot SecureAnywhere Complete platform, and can’t locate where you offer antispam protection. Please advise, most of the Webroot threat blogs write about spam email but I can’t find it in my Webroot interface! Thanks for the question, it’s a relevant one. When I say that Webroot users are protected from these threats I have multiple things on the mind. For instance: - on the majority of occasions the malware samples dropped in these campaigns following a successful exploitation of a client-site vulnerability, are detected as already being a part of a malware family known and detected by Webroot SecureAnywhere Complete. - Webroot’s built-in anti-client-side exploitation often prevents the actual client-side exploitation to take place on the affected host. - Webroot’s built-in behavior-detection technology proactively detects the malicious intentions of the dropped executables, and prevents them from modifying and accessing critical system resources upon execution, thereby minimizing their impact on the operating system even if the user gets socially engineered to run these executables. Hope this clarifies the “protected by Webroot” line. Best, Dancho

http://blog.webroot.com/2012/08/30/cybercriminals-spamvertise-paypay-themed-notification-of-payment-received-emails-serve-malware/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=27cac980df

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Published by Angus on 18 Mar 2010 at 05:30 am New on WiserEarth: RSS Feeds from Search Results If you’re not familiar with the term, RSS stands for stands for ‘Really Simple Syndication’ – it’s a web feed format accepted by many websites such as Facebook and LinkedIn. On WiserEarth, the feed you create will update every time something new comes up that meets your search criteria. So say, for example, you searched for events in San Francisco. Now every time someone posts a new event in San Francisco on WiserEarth it will be ‘fed’ to you automatically. So how do you create your personalized web feed? Just follow these three easy steps: - Conduct a search on WiserEarth, you can use this link. Remember to put the words in quotes if you want to use an exact search term, e.g. “Transition Towns”. - Click on the RSS icon or text on the top right-hand corner of the search results. It will look like this: - You browser will open a new page with the Feed URL. Copy that link into your favorite RSS-enabled website or program. Here are a couple of ideas for using your new RSS feed: - Feed it into Facebook: Click on this link and insert the Search RSS URL. It’s as simple as that. - Feed it into Twitter: Go to TwitterFeed, register, and click on ‘Create New Feed’. - Add it to your RSS reader: Free services like Google Reader and Bloglines allow you to read all your RSS feeds in one place. Give us your feedback as a comment below and let us know how you are using the new RSS Search feeds. We will share how you are using these feed in a future post. Tags: Facebook, RSS, Twitter 2 Responses to “New on WiserEarth: RSS Feeds from Search Results” Trackback URI | Comments RSS Just looking at pubsubhubbub V. interesting. What do you think ? Great idea Phil. If and when we have the RSS based traffic to warrant it this seems like a no brainer to implement. Best, Angus

http://blog.wiser.org/search-rss-feeds/

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It is my honor to introduce Lawrence De Voe as Yammer October Customer of the Month. As Chief Technology Catalyst at Initiative, Lawrence embodies the progressive technologist who understands that the role of IT is to make the organization more adaptable and innovative through the use of technology. Apart from being a visionary, Lawrence is a valuable member of the Yammer customer community and a respected voice in the industry. Here’s Lawrence’s experience in his own words: When I joined Initiative, one of the first things I did was sit down with our CEO to discuss the state of the business and how we were using technology. We talked at length about the business strategy and what we needed to do with technology to further it. The clearest single message coming out of that meeting was that our business leaders around the world (we have offices in over 70 countries) found collaboration hard, and had very little visibility into what was happening in other parts of the network. We had an Intranet, but it was over engineered, widely disliked, out of date and difficult to use. Over the next month I had my team identify and evaluate the key problems with the existing Intranet while I thought about the gaps between what it was and what the agency actually needed. Coming out of this assessment we had a problem – fixing the existing known problems with the Intranet was going to cost a lot, and even then we would be left with a system that didn’t align very well with the actual needs of the organization. I met again with the CEO, and proposed that we take the opportunity to try something different – a simpler and more social Intranet that would empower users across the network to collaborate and communicate in real time. He loved the idea, and after a few weeks of looking at different ways to accomplish this we decided to pilot Yammer. The initial pilot user group was 10 users who were supposed to report back on what they thought at the end of 3 weeks. Instead, they invited their co-workers and at the end of 3 weeks we had 400 users signed up and actively using the toolset. People were emailing the CEO telling him how much they loved Yammer, and emailing me asking how they could get involved. We quickly moved from pilot mode to full on deployment planning, and now have 7500 people from 4 agency groups in our Yammer network. each of our networks has its own character from our Initiative network which is a pure Yammer network, to our UM network where Yammer is embedded in SharePoint. We also have numerous self-service external networks for clients and business partners being set up all the time. My favorite thing about Yammer is that it’s so empowering to our users. It’s let my team get out of routine provisioning discussions to focus on higher value activities. And here’s a little more about Lawrence: Thank you, Lawrence, for your vision and commitment to making Yammer successful at Initiative.!

http://blog.yammer.com/blog/2012/10/meet-october-customer-of-the-month-lawrence-de-voe-of-initiative.html

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Shannon, from the Zazzle Store wasootch, was kind enough to sit down and answer some questions about her hobbies and some great tips for new sellers. Check out the interview below and don’t forget to check out her store wasootch! About: Why is the store named Wasootch? Well, it’s the name of a picnic area in Kananaskis Country, Canada and we’ve always found it to be quite a fun sounding word. Then, we looked up the meaning and found it is a Stoney Indian word meaning “unique”. We thought that had a nice ring to it. Finally, we started off with our cartoon Bigfoot products and thought that perhaps a Bigfoot type animal might be appropriately named a Wasootch. Lately we’ve been creating more wedding related designs, many of which we try to put some “uniqueness” into. Zazzle: When and how did you first become interested in art? How long have you been making art? Shannon: I’ve always been interested in art, even as a small child. Back then, I really liked cartoon art and would draw a lot of cute little characters. In elementary school, I enjoyed arts and crafts class the most out of all my classes. Once I reached high school, I made sure to fit many art and visual communication classes into my schedule. I actually thought I might become an animator professionally. Of course, thinking I couldn’t really make a living off of being an artist, I actually didn’t end up pursuing it as a career. I took Electronics and ended up in the computer industry for a quite a while. It was through this that I started doing web development, and the graphic design that went along with that. Eventually, it is this that led me to Zazzle, as it has always been the design work that I really enjoyed, rather than the web programming. Zazzle: When you’re not creating art, what are your other hobbies? Shannon: I have always loved trying all sorts of new things. Right now, I enjoy hiking, traveling, running, and reading. I’m also attempting to learn Spanish and I’m finding it quite challenging. Lately Zazzle keeps me quite busy. I might have to put more time aside for other interests! Zazzle: What is your favorite Zazzle feature? How do you use it? Shannon: This is a tough one, as I really like a lot of Zazzle features. As just one example, I like how easy it is to take an rss feed of any of the products from Zazzle and post them on a web page anywhere or import them into a database to be used on a web page. I’m currently working on creating a site on my own domain, so I will be using this feature a lot. Also, Zazzle store builder and many of the other promotional tools really help sellers get the word out as well. It’s really quite easy to post Zazzle products onto blogs and social networking sites using the tools available on the product pages. Zazzle: Do you have any fun stories about being a seller on Zazzle? Shannon: I would say the most fun I have is interacting with my customers when they have contacted me through my store on Zazzle. I’ve heard from customers all around the world and I’ve gotten to know some of them fairly well. Another fun part of being a seller on Zazzle is getting to tell people I often “make money when I’m sleeping”. Not many jobs where you can make that claim! Zazzle: What got you interested in selling your art on Zazzle? Shannon: Random luck I suppose. I was looking into ways people use the Internet to make money and found the print on demand world. I thought it might be fun to give it a try, as I felt it could be a good way to motivate me to learn Illustrator and Photoshop better and do something different in terms of design. It was really just an experiment. It has been fun for sure! I never actually thought I could make a living off of it, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised. Zazzle: What tips can you give someone who is just starting out on Zazzle? Shannon: This is a tough question, as everyone has their own goals with their Zazzle stores. One thing I will say is that it is not a get rich quick scheme. It takes a lot of work and you need to put in the effort to get results. I’ll also say that, contrary to popular belief, success does not lie in putting up huge quantities of products. Wasootch was getting good sales without having very many products up. It is better to think about what designs you are putting up right from the beginning. There is a lot of competition out there. You need to think about how you can fill what a customer might need or want. Think: Is there a niche market that is not well represented in the Zazzle marketplace and elsewhere that you may be able to tune into? You can get sales without doing much promotion, but it is important to have good titles, descriptions, and tags. Even the names of your images should be considered. I see many people use titles like “Whimsical Dream”. Well, that is a pretty and artistic title, but it’s not great in terms of helping people find your product. Titles that use design descriptive keywords work much better, like “Cute boy and dog walking in park customizable poster”. Also, creating designs that fit the products properly is important in my opinion. A bumper sticker design should fill the full size of the bumper sticker. A round sticker should have a design that works with that shape properly. Finally, adding template text is a good idea. What makes Zazzle special is the ability customers have to customize the products with their own names or text or pictures. Showing them samples of what they can do doesn’t hurt at all. That is something I wish I had learned earlier. I made a lot of products that weren’t really customizable. When customers are buying a shirt or invitation or whatever off of Zazzle, I suspect they want to add their own personal touch. Thanks Shannon! September 3, 2010 at 4:55 am | Congratulations on your feature, Shannon! I am pleased to read that you came full circle and are right where you deserve to be, creating beautiful art. Your designs are beautiful and many a bride has had her special day enriched with your creative designs. Have a great weekend. September 3, 2010 at 10:13 am | WTG Wasootch ! No-one is more deserving of this recognition ! September 3, 2010 at 4:23 pm | Well done Shannon. A great tribute to a very creative young woman! I’m definitely a fan! September 3, 2010 at 4:55 pm | Everyone loved the cards you designed for our wedding – and the postcards you created for my husband’s new business are amazing. You’re creative, and have great attention for important details. September 3, 2010 at 8:59 pm | Cute Big Foot! September 4, 2010 at 12:37 pm | Congratulations, Shannon! Much deserved feature for all of you beautiful work. September 4, 2010 at 5:15 pm | Congrats on your feature, Shannon! Well deserved and a fantastic interview! September 4, 2010 at 8:22 pm | Congrats Wasootch on the feature as you are an outstanding shopkeeper with great products. I wish you nothing but success in your adventure at Zazzle. September 5, 2010 at 12:47 am | Good going! September 5, 2010 at 8:01 am | Hello, Shannon! Very nice interview! I would also like to add that I appreciate the help you offer to other Zazzlers, like me, on the forum. Congratulations, and best wishes toward more success!

http://blog.zazzle.com/2010/09/02/zazzle-featured-seller-interview-with-wasootch/

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My zulily LOVE today: Simply Been… !

http://blog.zulily.com/tagged/jewelery

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. Article comments 1 - Keenan Well done bro

http://blogcritics.org/music/article/dead-and-alive-why-biggie-deserves/

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Received wisdom says that Ray Charles, who died in, his duets release on Concord Records coming out August 31. Ray's voice wavers a bit from time to time and some of the high notes evade his grasp, but the conviviality of the collaborations bring out a spark in Ray that has often been buried under sugary arrangements in his later period. "Here We Go Again". Bill Cosby will host a Ray Charles tribute concert Sept. 29 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel with Michael McDonald, James Ingram, Gerald Levert and Angie Stone thus far signed on to raise money for the $15 million Morehouse College Center for the Arts in Atlanta. Brother Ray gave the black liberal arts college $2 million to help fund the complex, which will contain a performance space in his name. Article comments 1 - Dude Hey Eric, Have you heard the "Crazy Love" duet of Van the Man and Ray the Genius on the CD? That's the one I really want to hear. I read that both of them were incredibly moved when they performed that song at a Songwriters Award ceremony last year. 2 - Eric Olsen Yes, it's the last song on the CD and was recorded live, maybe at the show you're talking about. It's very nice.

http://blogcritics.org/music/article/erics-quick-picks-ray-charles-genius/

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Braden is a conservative blogger from Montgomery, AL. He specializes in politics, movies and music. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Business Information Systems from Faulkner University. Follow him on Twitter as @bradenpace. Love, in reflection of God's own love toward humanity, is the ultimate solution The world has lost one of its great entertainers. Would Reagan's record get rough treatment from the right today? Conservatives can't afford to be Trumped in 2012. Did Jesus Christ have a political ideology? What you may not know about Mitt Romney's dealings with health care. America needs another hero An inside look into one of America's greatest rock bands. Is the left really afraid of Palin, as some Republicans claim? Or is something else going on? Catwoman and Bane are the main villains, now what?

http://blogcritics.org/writers/braden

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Dateline: Happy Valley, Oregon Weblog: Articles: 136 Scott C. Smith is a freelance writer from Happy Valley, Oregon. He has a cat and likes pop culture a little too much. Janice Whaley interprets the music of The Smiths for a new generation. Karl Pilkington explores the New Seven Wonders of the World, and hates it. Lettterman, Leno, or Fallon? How about: None of the above. Albion seeks a hero; will it be you? Watch as an aging Clark Kent very, very slowly becomes the hero he is destined to be. Zombies, gore, and laughs; what more do you need? Recount proves to be an engrossing look at the 2000 presidential election. Vince Clarke and Andy Bell bring their "Light at The End of The World" tour to the Royal Albert Hall in London. Do "snuff" films exist? Director Paul von Stoetzel examines the myths - and reality - of snuff films. Game developers made me angry. Hulk smash ugly textures!

http://blogcritics.org/writers/scott-c-smith/

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tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1039161489041752842.post8768702401015939980..comments2010-11-12T16:08:13.225-06:00Comments on Dredd Blog: Jabber The Whut?Dredd, True enough. The point of <i>this s...disaffected,<br /><br />True enough.<br /><br />The point of <i>this series</i> is to reveal to the ignorant, who think Russia and China each spend more on the military than we do, that we spend more than they do in one week.<br /><br />We will get into the actual numbers again tomorrow.Dredd, Don't forget that MOMCOM is the primar...Dredd,<br /><br /. <br /><br /, <i>determinant</i> in world affairs. The <i>cover</i>.<br /> <i>extraordinarily</i> high! - since MOMCOM's reach far exceeds the US and will doubtlessly continue to do so, even if the US were to fold as a "going concern" during this century, as I believe it will.disaffected

http://blogdredd.blogspot.com/feeds/8768702401015939980/comments/default

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Busy Parents Feeding the Family — Behold the Miracle of Delivery! By ericabrooks 184 days ago on Health from After a long day at the office — not to mention dance practice, soccer practice, or piano lessons — cooking dinner seems downright unappetizing. Well, here’s an appetizing idea — get some delicious, wholesome food, piping hot, delivered right to your door. Clearly you’re dreaming, right? Nope! Believe it or not, there are hundreds of [...] busy parents feeding family behold miracle delivery

http://blogengage.com/story.php?title=busy-parents-feeding-the-family-%E2%80%94-behold-the-miracle-of-delivery

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Jonathan Smith Hey everyone, I am starting a new blog and it will be all about blogging. I have great plans for this blog as I have been a blogger for about 4 years now. 4 or 5 months ago I was a victim of a hack and my web hosting provider was unable to restore my files and database because all along they were not backing up my files. SHAME ON THEM. Anyway, to make a long story short I gave up for a few months and just 2 months ago I started back. This inspired me to start a new blog on this topic and to offer a blog hosting service to other bloggers. I am going to be teaching blogging as well as traffic and list building while offering great blog hosting services. If you are interested in helping me out that would be great! It is a multi-author blog allowing others to share in the goal of helping other bloggers. Please add me as a friend and send me a message. You can also reply to this post with your contact information such as email, Google+, or your blog. I will get in touch with you one of the ways you provide. Thank you so much for considering. It will be a pleasure working with you. Jonathan Smith P.S. the blog name is HitBloggers. Not yet ready to go live with it as I just started it...BLAH :(

http://bloggers.com/talk/need-guest-posts-about-blogging-tips-and-blogging-information_11975

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- 2) Wednesday, June 17, 2009 You Know You Have Boys When.... ....your toyroom contains: LOL, yes that is certainly an all boy playroom. We have some of those items but add to the mix dolls and dress ups. :) Blessings, Kimberly Only 2 balls? Oh, and my toyroom mostly has pieces of all these toys, not the whole toy, because they have taken the toys apart! lol Jenny! Great post. Sounds like my house...and I only have one boy. Most of the balls have migrated outside, now that it's nicer out. And -- they always have plenty of fun throwing the pillows! Of course, I didn't look under the couch and chair. That's just too scary.? Norine -- check out today's post.

http://bloggingboutboys.blogspot.com/2009/06/you-know-you-have-boys-when.html

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02 October 2007 Does ‘Chuck’ hold the secret to ‘Lost’?(via) In the second episode of Chuck, we got a peek at some of the government secrets inside Chuck’s head. And apparently he holds the answer to one of the biggest Lost mysteries. 25 September 2007 ‘Chuck’ Saves the Day with Porn(via). 1 (2 marks)

http://blogmarks.net/user/vacelts/marks/tag/Zachar+Levi

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Last Chance To Win By CommentingWritten by Erz on Wednesday, July 01, 2009 Did you know that the Sweet UPrinting Giveaway is ending very very soon? Have you entered by just making a simple comment on the post to win some free business cards and brochures? Contest ends very soon on July 3rd, 2009. A minimum of 10 participants is needed to award any prizes. So do go enter at the original post - it is just a comment away! | Posted in » Contests Links to this post

http://blogodise.blogspot.com/2009_07_01_archive.html

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Sites Tagged: business education What people search with business education: - globsyn.edu.in Studying at GBS is a life changing experience. With emphasis on intellectual discovery and critical thinking, our students are provided an environment for both intellectual discourse and experiencing corporate life. snewsnet.com The Most Trusted Outdoor News and Fitness News Source Since 1984. The source for outdoor industry news and fitness industry news and wintersports news as well as mystery shop, sales training, business education, product trends, expert advice, retail merchandising support, outdoor jobs, fitness jobs, winter sports and snowsports jobs and product reviews. careerforum.in B-School Rankings, B-School Profiles, Specialized Courses, CAT Institutes, CET Top Institutes, CET Institutes, Placements 2010, 2011, B-School Selection Procedure, Educational Loans, B-School Admission Procedure, Admission Procedure, , Exam Alerts,Exam Results, B-School Notifications, B-School Exam Notifications, B-School Admission Notifications, B-School Placements, B-School Events, Career Forum Events,CAT, CET, ICET, XAT, FMS, JMET, MAT, SNAP, NMAT, IIFT, IRMA, TISS, ATMA, TANCET, Career Forum Toolbar, Latest News, GD and PI Tips, Exam Analysis, Notice Board,Career Forum Batch Options, Career Forum Photo Gallery, Career Forum Events, Weekly Quiz, Online Quiz, Career Forum Courses, CAT Bulletin, CAT 09, 10, MBA Entrance exam Analysis, IIM, MBA Entrance Exam Coaching Batch, Correspondence Course, Study Material, Mock CATs, MBA Entrance State Level, Business school India, CAT Entrance Exams management B-Schools India, B-School forms and Other premier institutes Dig Your Search - - Franchisee2 Sites - GD2 Sites - FMS2 Sites - Stanford2 Sites - snowsports2 Sites - Educational News2 Sites - SIBM2 Sites - XLRI2 Sites - technology education2 Sites - IRMA2 Sites

http://blogplay.com/tagged/business+education/

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Acrobat X Opens a New World of Document Collaboration and Innovation Courtney Brigham exchange. Our customers tell us they spend too much time figuring out how to do their jobs. They regularly face the difficulties of keeping everyone on the same page. They struggle with a staggering volume of information and the negative effect it has on their work. They want to reduce the complexity. Yesterday’s tools and techniques no longer cut it if you want to move your business towards tomorrow. In a recent study of enterprise collaboration techniques, the Gilbane Group said, “The document is becoming a parallel collaboration channel to the Web, a channel in which people not only create and consume ideas, but also interact around them, creating innovation and value.” Clearly, our expectations of what a document is and does are changing. Today’s documents need to be dynamic. They must have tools for collecting, sharing and aggregating feedback. They must be able to contain comprehensive content, from text and images to audio and video. Documents need to be dynamic in every dimension: It’s not just about content, it’s also about context. The context in which we present information or the order in which it is viewed is as critical to the overall communication as the content itself. For example, when a sales presentation is sent to a customer that contains slides, a short video and an order form, how might we manage the process that the customer moves through the information so we can create the most impact and get the order? Think of an insurance company that can process video, images and forms to expedite a claim. Or similarly video, images and testimony in support of a case for law enforcement. Putting content into context not only adds clarity; it improves productivity as well because the information is more actionable. You can see powerful examples of PDF Portfolios here. The new Acrobat X software family redefines how documents are managed and used, how they are perceived, and how dynamic they can be. And now, anyone with the free Adobe Reader X can join the review and feedback process—all with access to sticky notes and highlighting commenting tools, as well as full control and security. We’ve introduced new Acrobat services today, as well. Adobe SendNow, a new document exchange service lets you send and receive large files and track them with proof of receipt, so you can avoid e-mail gateway issues, complicated FTP servers, or the costs of expensive overnight mail. The SendNow service will be available when Acrobat X ships. Adobe CreatePDF is a new document exchange service that will be available through the Adobe Reader X interface as well as through the browser and allows a user to quickly create a PDF online. The CreatePDF service will also be available when Adobe Acrobat X ships. These days, the document is very much the proxy of its author. It represents what you do, how you do it and the value you deliver to your company, coworkers or partners. With Acrobat X, your documents can be virtually unconstrained, as dynamic as you need them to be, expressing the creativity and innovation that leads to greater productivity. Welcome to the next generation of document collaboration. Be sure to check out our new web site for a sneak peak of Acrobat X. And don’t forget to sign up for a trial download notification so you can be one of the first to see how Acrobat X can dramatically improve the way you exchange and collaborate on documents. Kevin M. Lynch, vice president and general manager of Acrobat, Digital Enterprise Solutions Group ><< Has MDI been restored? Thankfully I’m working for a company at the moment who have stayed on Acrobat 8, but I hope that we’ll be able to update without the huge loss of usability that forced SDI brought about. MDI isn’t back. We’re still SDI. Please see the blog post on this topic here: [...] and Reader software, today announced a new family of products, including Adobe Reader X and Acrobat X. This new series of software, which Adobe says will be available sometime in November, will [...] I agree MDI is a must and was a stupid decision to remove it. I trust that employee has since been fired and is looking for a job in the 70s on his monochrome monitor. Speaking for myself, two of the most valuables features missing in Acrobat 9 were: 1. Support for MDI (multiple documents in the same window). Nobody in Adobe reviews documents side by side? 2. Compare documents from Acrobat 8. The compare feature in Acrobat 9 is an absolute mess. Tracking changes for long documents full of text was incredibly tedious and complex in version 9. Will these two features be back in Acrobat X? If not, I hope Adobe don’t start thinking in dropping menu bars and adding silly ribbons. Can Acrobat X open multiple documents? Or should I continue with Acrobat 8? So, it I understand that MDI is still not available and that I either have to stick with V8 or look for an alternative. It’s enormously tedious that design-decissions are being made by people who apparently never have to work seriously with their own software. Please look at other industries that thought they could decide what customers need and what happened to them. Regards MDI support is not available in Acrobat X as previously announced, please check out this past blog post that details it further:

http://blogs.adobe.com/acrobat/acrobat-x-opens-a-new-world-of-document-collaboration-and-innovation/

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Just a reminder that I will be at the InterContinental Hotel and Conference Center in Dallas TX on Saturday April 28, 2012 from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM. From 10am – 1:00pm we’ll talk about how to “Revitalize your workflow with Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4”, and from 2:00 – 5:00 we’ll cover Photoshop Techniques for Photographers.!

http://blogs.adobe.com/jkost/2012/04/a-full-day-of-lightroom-and-photoshop-training-in-dallas-tx.html

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