text:
Cats and rats and lots of fun. That's what audience members can expect in the world premiere of "Hermitage Cats Save the Day!" The production, directed by Paul K. Looney, artistic director emeritus of Theatre Tuscaloosa, makes its debut on the Moody Music Building Concert Hall stage at 6 p.m. Wednesday.
Cats and rats and lots of fun. That's what audience members can expect in the world premiere of "Hermitage Cats Save the Day!" The production, directed by Paul K. Looney, artistic director emeritus of Theatre Tuscaloosa, makes its debut on the Moody Music Building Concert Hall stage at 6 p.m. Wednesday.
This musical for children features the cats of the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, and crosses cultures in an entertaining and learning experience, Looney said.
The play has at its center the longstanding Russian tradition of allowing cats to maintain residence in the Hermitage Museum, one of the largest and oldest in the world, founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great. The museum first employed cats as its original pest control agents. Now, more than 200 years later, the cats thrive in the museum as part of St. Petersburg culture.
"Since Catherine the Great called (the cats) 'the guardians of art,' they have a lot of status," Looney said.
These famous felines even have a designated day of honor known as the Day of the Cats, as well as a press secretary. It is not uncommon for Hermitage cats to be seen on desks, in boxes or on bookshelves in museum offices, said Mary Ann Allin, who wrote the children's book the musical is based on as well as the musical's book and lyrics.
Allin, an arts consultant based in Washington, D.C., had a firsthand experience with this furry phenomenon when she worked and lived in St. Petersburg.
Allin took her granddaughter, Ann, to see the cats on a visit to the Hermitage, and wrote a book about their experiences titled "Ann and the Hermitage Cats."
Both Allin and Looney were reluctant to title the production either a play or a musical; it has many dimensions that make it difficult to categorize.
"We call it a musical fantasy," Looney said. "It has acting in it, and it has music and visuals going on in it."
The production contains an orchestral piece along with acting, singing and interactions with the audience. To create the musical version of the story, the team had to add a level of imagination that would entertain and teach, Allin said.
Grammy-nominated jazz composer Chris Brubeck, son of the late pianist and composer Dave Brubeck, created what Looney called a lively score. Los Angeles-based Brubeck said he was excited to work on a piece that offered so many different elements.
"The music is very interesting, and it's an interesting story with actors," Brubeck said. "It's working in different dimensions. It's interacting with actors doing something very whimsical to appeal to children and something that is multicultural."
Looney said the actors' interaction with the piece is unique, making it challenging in some ways.
"I think we're actually creating something that ... well, I am not familiar with anything quite like this," Looney said. "In this case it's like learning an opera, but you're not singing. You're saying lines, but they have to happen in a certain spot in the score. All three actors had to be musicians."
Because the play focuses on the cats in the Hermitage Museum, it is in Russia. The acting and musical portions of the production will be accompanied by animations created from children's drawings in a yearly contest on the Day of the Cats.
Allin, Looney and the rest of the production team faced the challenge of working cross-culturally and with a language barrier head-on.
"It gives a level of excitement," Allin said. "We have a creative team that is spread all over the world. We have a visual designer in St. Petersburg. We have an artistic team in Russia, Washington and Alabama. Musicians come from the Russian National Orchestra. We put together a new team everywhere they go. We have a lot of things going on just to get this to the stage. We're trying to show that it is possible to work together in this cross-cultural play."
Allin decided to premiere the play at UA because of her familiarity with the Tuscaloosa community. In 2008, she set up an exchange where two musicians in the Russian National Orchestra, Vladislav Lavrik and Maxim Rubtsov, studied at UA's School of Music.
"While (the musicians) were here, Allin became familiar with the people in Tuscaloosa," Looney said. "She thought it was a grand idea to use the people in Tuscaloosa and the music department at the University of Alabama to produce this piece."
The bonds Allin and the musicians created aided in the construction.
"It was that relationship that let us work together and stage it first in Alabama," she said. "We knew the music school and Moody Hall. All of the people know each other. There's a professional relationship and a strong friendship between everyone."
Allin wanted to ensure that the production had an impact for children with disabilities. One of the musicians from Alabama, Dawn Sandel, works for the Rise Program at UA as a music therapist. Allin said it was important the other musicians learn how to present music to these children.
Along with reaching out to kids between 6 and 12 years old, Allin wanted to show university students the complexities of creating a show of this magnitude — to recognize that it takes years, persistence and support to pull together a compelling performance.
The show will be performed once in Tuscaloosa before moving to Washington, D.C., for a performance at the National Gallery of Art on March 10. Once it has finished its rounds in the U.S., it will premiere in St. Petersburg on this year's Day of the Hermitage Cat, April 6, with a Russian director, script, orchestra and actors.
Lavrik and Rubtsov will play in the American performances as well as the performance in St. Petersburg. Alabama musicians Diane Schultz and Dawn Sandel, will perform in Tuscaloosa and Washington, D.C., and then travel to Russia for the Day of the Hermitage Cat premiere.


text:
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan released several Afghan Taliban captives Wednesday, a gesture meant to nudge along on-again, off-again reconciliation talks aimed at ending the war in Afghanistan, Pakistani officials said.
The Afghan government has long sought access to such prisoners in hopes of establishing a dialogue with the Taliban insurgents who have battled for 11 years to topple the US-backed Afghan government.
''It is a gesture of support for the Afghanistan reconciliation process,'' a Pakistani military official said. While this official said upwards of 10 prisoners were released, another security official put the number at seven or eight prisoners, who had been held at different jails around the country.
Whether Islamabad's gesture to Kabul eases the deep mistrust between the neighboring nations remains to be seen.
Negotiators for Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the United States have concluded that political reconciliation is the only viable solution to ending the war. But Taliban leaders have continuously stated their unwillingness to negotiate with President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan.
Karzai regularly criticizes Pakistan for what he calls its support of terrorist attacks and militant operations against Afghan and NATO troops.
But Karzai also recognizes that Pakistan can play a key role in brokering any peace pact — ideally before the end of 2014, when the United States will pull its combat troops out of Afghanistan, leaving the country more vulnerable than ever to Taliban assaults.
The two Pakistani officials, who spoke anonymously because they are not authorized to be named as spokesmen, said Mullah Abdul Ghani
Baradar, the former Taliban second-in-command behind Mullah Mohammad Omar, was not among the prisoners released.
Barader, who was captured in Karachi in 2010, is considered close enough to Omar to hold some sway in efforts to bring peace.
Omar broke off talks with US officials earlier this year.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
The job
An Online 2D RPG game. Idea (Please note that its a work in progress. There are daily overhauls, and features might change, links might be updated and stuff will be added. It's just to give some idea of what's inside my crazy head.) So the idea is there. But it's a massive task. So I find myself looking for a team.
What's in it for you?
A good question I think. Three things I would say. First you get to be part of making a game that potentially could end up fun to play. Secondly I'm sure you'll learn something along the way. And third I'll pay 100$ per head a month for your help.
Now why do I pay, and why that amount?
As everyone who read the stickies here must know it says at one part that you should never invest more time then you can afford to lose. This goes for me as well, I'm offering the money because I can afford to lose them if this doesn't work out. But it's still some money. Not much but this is a project over time. I also want to pay monthly since there is no guarantee that this will last. But then at least I'll have some work done and you'll have some money.
What will I be doing?
Everything I can do. I'm going to do my best to get sketches, drafts and game logic down. I'll also do all kind of work that you can delegate to me! Got some repetitive code to be written? Well send it my way then I'll do it. Need descriptions written for something in-game? Throw it my way. So I'll be doing whatever you can make simple enough for me to understand. (I'm a very quick learner tho) I will also do my best to have a good communication channel open with all parts so that we're on the same page.
How many people am I looking for? And what expertise
Now that's a good question. First turn around I'm looking for 1-2 people. That should be enough people to get something started. But what expertise is required? Well, language wise I haven't reached a conclusion. But so far C# and C++ seems to be somewhat suited for my project and a lot of people have competence with them. But I'm looking for more then that. Knowing how networking works and pref having used it before would be a massive bonus - This will be an online game from the start so it's kinda a must.
So to sum up:
- Trustworthy (Anything from impressing with a reply or having a good rep will do this trick. I'm OK with leaps of faith)
- Knowledge of programming. C++ or C# preferred. (If you have a better language then feel free please to convince me!)
- English, have to be able to communicate properly so writing proper English is a must
- Some flexibility, no games are like others so there is a chance you will have to learn some stuff as-well.
- All other skills are welcome. Graphics, PHP or HTML - A website is always cool.
How will the payment work?
Been thinking about this. And I've came up with a system(ish). As a team we'll sit down each 14 days and decide what the goal should be until the next 14 days. So we basically come to an agreement that until next meeting each person is going to get something specific done. Then I'll pay 50$ each 14 days as long as we reach the agreed result (Please note this is a suggestion to how we can do it, and everyone will have a say in what can be achieved in that amount of time, I'm a realistic person so I'm sure we can reach some kind of agreement.)
Let's take an example. If I now hire 1 person. Then we sit down 20.08 - 12 where we agree that the next big meeting (03.09 - 12) we're going to have a launcher (Client/Server) ready. With let's say 3-4 functions. 1; Connect to the server. 2; Auth using Login and Password. 3; Press Update (This will get the newest game files from the server) 4; Press Play (Which will launch the game in whatever state its in)
This might be too much for 14 days. So for the first 14 days the agreement might be to get a server up and a client up that can auth using login and password. Anyhows. I will pay 14 days in advance. And all payments will be on time. I will use Paypal for the first 2 payments. After that I can use pretty much whatever. Even if I have to get the local currency of your country and mail it to you.
This means you can decide to end our partnership after each 2 weeks. But part of this agreement is that everyone will sit with all of the source. And when we part we all part with the source.
What is my plan for the game?
Fun, fun and perhaps gets my cost covered. Ideally I would want to get to a point someday where we can launch an alpha along the lines of Minecraft. Where people for a very small fee can take part in testing. If this time ever arrives then whatever profit is leftover after all costs are paid (Server, Web, etc etc) will be divided among whoever is in the project at that time. I have no finished game thought out. I'm constantly thinking up stuff and removing features.
The idea is that even if 50% of my ideas are impossible or useless there will still be tons of stuff to be done.
We'll work as a proper team, everyone will have say in how the game turns out. Sometimes we might disagree about a technical aspect and then we'll refer to your programming experience. Sometimes it might be a question on how things should be implemented in-game. That will be more my table. But all have a say.
Who am I?
Best question of the day! Well. My name is Daniel Davidsen, I'm 19 (20 in September) and live in Norway. I work as a tech support at Telenor (Mobile, ISP, TV and such)I have a passion for books, paintball, go-cart and gaming. I like to think of myself as smart but no genius and trustworthy. If I first say I'm going to do something then I'll do it.
Why should we work with a kid?
Hey! that hurts, I'm telling mo..... Wait a minute, why not? I have some of the adult intelligence combined with the playfulness of a child. I'm also so damn adaptive and learn scary fast.
Last words.
This is an attempt. Sometimes things just work out. So don't join unless you actually have the time to waste.
Contact Info
You can reach me by email: [email protected]
Skype: Xyren92
Posting here.
PM me.
I will also do my best to answer any question's asked. (All criticism as long as its constructive is welcome. Hints and wishing me good luck as-well.)
PS: Please be gentle, this is my first time(As trying to get a game going)


text:
If one teacher can screw up an entire generation, that's one heck of a teacher!
"Im fairly certain one shit teacher can do more to screw up a generation than an entire school of laureate PHDs."
Bad teachers teach the useful lessons of contempt for the system, resentment of bad authority, and how to route around people who deserve to be deceived and manipulated.
Often, I find that one can evaluate the sense of a statement by taking it to its natural limit. So, if the occasional bad teacher can be good for students, then the occasional worst possible teacher should be great for the students, like a pedophile.
Limit[thisStupidStatement[x], x -> Infinity] = CatholicSchool
Forget your creationist strawman. That's hardly the big issue here.
The problem is that we've got such a "wealth" (glut is maybe a better word) of horrible teachers in America that the good ones are few and far between these days. The good teachers are being held down and pushed out by a bureaucratic system that is keen on top-down control. Top-down control mechanisms don't work so well; in fact, they scale very poorly, so they must exert what the controlling "educators" see as "best practices" upon the stupid, peon teachers.
Of course, these teachers are only stupid because of the system. While the pay for teachers is pretty poor these days (particularly compared to even 20 years ago) despite year after year of increased educational tax spending, this isn't the core issue. The core issue is that they have "set the standard so high" - ie, shoveled piles of bureaucratic shit on top of anyone wanting to become a teacher - that only the most insipid, functionally useless people actually make it through. You know the type: the dumb-as-rocks B-average student who spends their every night doing homework.
Aside from these toilet bowl gems, there are a scant few, noble souls who push through the mire to actually teach, whether for belief in the mission or the system itself. There aren't many of them, and they do their best, but their far in the minority. All the while, many who would teach are dissuaded from even attempting it by the reams of stupidity-masquerading-as-officialdom. The low pay is only icing on the cake (and a convenient, frequent excuse to ask for more funding to further bloat their bureaucracy without any accountability or results).
After we fix these existential issues, then you (and I) can start bitching about these smokescreen problems. Seriously: if children are educated well, they will be able to see the poorly clad arguments, misdirection, and outright avoidance of poorly conceived dogma. Basic logic (both linguistic and mathematic), critical thinking, and introspection should be the main things taught in early schooling - but they're not. If they were, this wouldn't be such a problem.
Note: I once thought, briefly, about becoming a high school teacher. I'm very good at it, and am able to make it entertaining in the process (yes, for all ages - I still have people comment on technical presentations I did 5 years ago). I didn't do it once I read about all the "soft words" (ie verging on doublespeak) teachers were required to learn and understand, and how foolish the training for teachers is. Do you realize how quickly I (or, probably, your average adult-and-fit-for-public slashdotter) would be kicked from a school due to internal "politics" alone? Thinking outside the box is a felony in today's schools.
I think that's a lesson better reserved for on the job training. Any kid who has a crappy minimum wage job during school, or shortly thereafter, will learn it quickly enough.
Sadly your boss at your crappy minimum wage job is probably earning more than your teacher. Less than average pay, less than average teachers, less than average education.
I'll bet half the reason public schools in wealthy areas do so much better is not because the parents give more of a shit, but because it's more likely that the teachers want to live in that area. That, and it's easier to concentrate when you're not worrying about how to make ends meet before you're legally allowed to drive.
Good point. Notice the word "half".
There is not much in favour of a kid growing up in a "bad" neighbourhood. Here in sweden,m there is one thing, though: Only in a "bad " neighbourhood (our"bad neighbourhoods aren't as bad as the ones in the US. No gang killings and such, yet) a kid can experience cultural diversity. "Good" neighbourhoods are packed with white uptight
In the UK that completely depends where you are. Large towns are very, very mixed. There are perhaps more barriers between social class than between race in such places -- you're more likely to hear slightly derogatory terms like "chav", "toff" or "yummy mummy".
I went to a private school (parents paid), and a third of the class wasn't white-British. Granted, this was in one of the "least white" large cities in the UK (not London). Most of the parents were probably "normality junkies", but skin colour was ir
Teachers don't like crap schools (in crap areas) because there's less satisfaction in the job, and more pointless stress (from dealing with badly behaved children). Parents in crap areas don't care if their children fail at school (after all, they failed school and they're 'OK'), so they don't encourage their children to succeed at school.
The teachers I know wouldn't choose to live near their school -- they'd rather not see the children they teach in social situations. But that might be because they teach a
I will say I did learn something reasonably valuable from bad teachers, which was don't trust authority to do the right thing or tell the truth, especially when questioned. By high school, I knew how to ignore, work around, go above, and end the career of bad teachers, which has served me well in my professional life.
In real life, if things are bad enough in a job you can leave.
A kid can't leave a classroom no matter how much the teacher sucks, unless the parents are really well off. But even then the parents have to decide to take the kid out, and the parents may have no idea how bad things really are.
Also, at least in certain grades kids are not that interested. In the early classes we would likely have slacked, in the latter classes we'd be pissed that we weren't getting the help we needed to get into good schools or good jobs. There's plenty injustice to go around so you don't need to ignore it, excuse it or accept it.
Exactly. And dealing with a bad teacher is NOT real life training for dealing with a bad boss.
In School, if you correct a teacher about something, if they're a bad teacher, they will tell you that you are wrong and that they are right to save themselves the embarassment. When I was in 7th Grade French Class (being Canadian, learning french is often encouraged), one student was utterly harassed by our teacher for saying things differently. This student happened to have French parents from France where the teacher was born and raised in Quebec, the big French speaking province of Canada. The differences in the language are about as much as you'd expect from Southern States English and The United Kingdom Queen's English. After 2 parent teacher interviews, the student was pulled from the class by their parents, and the French teacher still holds that job to this day, never having gotten a reprimand. I might also point out that after 3 years with this French teacher, I only know how to count to 29 and can barely decipher any french text I come across for some semblance of meaning. To be honest though I never had much interest in learning French, either way, I hated that teacher.
Also, my Girlfriend has an English Prof at the university who believes that no student could ever earn an A+, only English majors could earn an A-, and any other student could only get a B+ as their best grade. My girlfriend, a history major and being 0.02 Grade points from making the deans list (which I think was like a 3.8 or something GPA), was very upset to learn this. Her last paper, which earned a B-, had no writing on it to suggest any feedback or errors. It was also editted by 5 English Majors and 2 other friends of hers, so she was pretty confident this would be the booster to her grade. She went on to Appeal her grade which was bumped up to a B+ (thus making the deans list), though there was still no explanation why she didn't garner an A. *** Luckily this university offers students a chance at the end of the year to evaluate the teacher. As far as I know, everyone has given a poor review and are praying they get fired.
As for "Real Life" in the working world? I have found a boss finds the "No" man 5 times more valuable than a "yes" man. If my boss proposes something I don't like, and I tell him why, he has a chance to reconsider, or defend his point by discussing things I might have missed. This is the mark of a good employee - not one that sits there and goes "Yes sir right away sir" everytime an order is barked at them. The School system should NOT be pumping out mindless drones. If there is any reason to have a bad teacher, it's to teach kids to stand up for themselves when they know they are right.
*** As a side note, apparently this teacher didn't show up for 3 classes (without a note or explanation as to why they were absent), and for 2 of them, the prof put on a movie and left.
I got bad grades in math through high school, not for lack of decent teachers. But, the experience left me with the notion that I was bad at math. In reality, I was bad at doing homework. Almost ten years later, I went back to school and ended up in a precalculus class with an abysmal teacher. She made mistakes and got angry at people who corrected her, she insisted that she was right in the face of irrefutable evidence. So, I got angry and sought to prove her wrong. I relentlessly toiled over my home
Years back I hired a day laborer to help me with a concrete pad I was having him pour. He knew some broken English. I knew little about pouring concrete.
When I asked him to do the job he said in broken English "Senior, I think..... no. I know, yes I know, I must have a long... how do you say?... woods for these job". He was trying to tell me he needed a long 2x4 or some such to flat-scrape the small pad. Which was of course correct, but I really hadn't thought about it.
Good employee. I hired him again and
I was in the room when she wrote it out by hand with over a dozen textbooks circled around her, only to have her hand it to me to type it up (simply because my words per minute are far higher than hers) - and she had all those people edit it BECAUSE she got a paper back before with a C grade - no feedback, and she didn't know what was wrong and the prof wouldn't tell her when she asked.
When it comes to university, there is no "extra credit". You can't hand it more work or any kind of bonus material to boost
Teaching students to speak like Parisians would hardly have been useful to them.
Yes, but it's not that she was didn't want to teach us parisian, it's that she singled out a student who KNEW perfect fluent parisian french, when the rest of us are barely capable of pronouncing the words. The student wasn't event correcting the teacher, because they knew there was a difference, but because the student was already so fluent in parisian french, it just didn't come natural to speak it the other way. And anytime the student slipped up, the teacher made an extra effort to point it out.
Having 7 people edit her paper was also cheating unless she disclosed it, in which case I wouldn't blame the professor for not taking her too seriously
No, edit
And your girlfriend didn't seem to understand humanities where 100% can indeed be impossible
I've never understood the point of a grading scale with one end so high that it is considered to be unattainable. Every time I encounter the concept it reminds me of the "this amp goes to 11" scene, but in reverse--and every bit as absurd.
As for "Real Life" in the working world? I have found a boss finds the "No" man 5 times more valuable than a "yes" man.
Then you've been pretty lucky. I've had plenty of horrible bosses who could not improve themselves and set aside their hangups no matter how bad things were going. They tend to have this world view that people are by nature lazy fucks who must be motivated by threats and fear. Even when faced with disaster, knowing that a particular direction or action would get us all fired, they couldn't help themselves and did it anyway because that was what they knew. Some uppity minion's idea threatening to make the boss look stupid? Squelch it! The idea is so good it might save the situation? Squelch it anyway! Any minion that dares say "no" is fired immediately. Snow job not working? Try a bigger, better, faster snow job! Ragging on the engineers and scientists not getting results? Rag on them harder! "The beatings will continue until morale improves." Demand heroic work hours, give them crap about how everything is all their fault and scream about what idiots they are for being unable to realize the boss's glorious visions, mete out punishments that take the best minds away from crucial work to do drudgery (wouldn't do for them to show up the boss, and such a move heads that off under the pretext of punishment, and if the punishment also involves denying them some pay over a technicality, even better), threaten to fire them all, etc. Of course none of that ultimately worked. You might think everyone would just walk if it was that bad, but until you've been in that situation, it's hard to appreciate just how very hard it is to walk away from a paycheck. A few do walk, but most stay on until very close to the end.
dealing with a bad teacher is NOT real life training for dealing with a bad boss.
Too right! Saw plenty of bad teachers, but the worst were pikers compared to bad bosses under intense pressure. Teachers don't have the same power. By firing people, a boss could set in motion a chain of events that end in ex-employees losing their cars, houses, and marriages, not to mention their credit ratings. And the bosses know that, and make sure the minions fully appreciate that too, the better to terrorize them into doing their "best". In those cases where they don't have a hold like that, they'll try to get one by bullying or sweet talking the employee into being an idiot and giving them just such a hold, all the while overlooking the inherent contradiction in wanting idiot behavior on something like that, but super genius brilliance in pursuit of the narrowly defined directions desired. No mere teacher can do that to a student.
Workplace rules, or union rules, getting rid of them is more costly than letting you suffer with them
That reminds me of my 8th grade algebra teacher, Ms. Thomas. She established the class based on memorization and required her students to complete hundreds of nearly identical problems on a daily basis. It was horrible, I couldn't learn anything. So I asked my mom to request a different class for me.
Before I could leave I had to sit down with the Assistant Principal and the teacher to explain why I wanted to transfer. Ultimately they told me that I was hurting her feelings for wanting to leave and that
Is this person just mentally retarded?
Nah... she just had a bad teacher.
Seen on the noticeboard in the staff room at a school:
"Failed teachers become PE teachers.
Failed PE teachers become OFSTED inspectors."
That's sort of what I was thinking, except minus the comedy bit. The same argument could be made for a lot of horrible things, e.g. it's good for boys to get beaten and girls to get molested because there are scumbags out there who would try to do that to them when they're adults. The argument for bad teachers is a specious argument, as the logical extension of such an argument readily demonstrates.
The fact of the matter is that kids already deal with plenty of people who are incompetent and hard to get a
e.g. it's good for boys to get beaten and girls to get molested because there are scumbags out there who would try to do that to them when they're adults.
Oddly, when I was in middle school (early 90s), that applied to boys, e.g. "He stole your lunch and knocks your books out of your hands in the hall. Live with it. It's part of being a boy" was something I was literally told. Of course, if I would have decked him like I wanted to (and should have in hindsight) I would have had a few detentions.
Yet for some reason the same didn't apply to girls. e.g., no one would dare tell an adolescent young woman that some injustice is just part of being a woman.
Then on the other, other hand there was this one teacher who had a question on a test "What makes things stay on the ground?" My little brother answered "gravity" and was promptly graded wrong. Upon inquiry, we discovered that the correct answer was air pressure. C'est la vie.
Wow. Just... wow. I hope your little brother pointed out that air pressure on the shuttle is the same as air pressure on Earth, give or take, yet strangely enough, things float around quite nicely.
...as long as the bad teacher isn't the metal/wood shop teacher or driving instructor.
You learn to drive in school? (serious question)
Yes and no in Canada. We have a drivers education program which you can enter at 15 and a half. Generally this course is taught through a school, as it is where you go to reach students of that age. The person teaching the course will not likely be a teacher per se, but will be a qualified drivers education instructor.
I did here in Canada. Theoretical classes at lunch hour for a couple weeks (20 hours) followed by a written test to get the learner permit, then followed by practical driving (6 hours) during class hours.
Where I'm from the drivers ed class is held at the school and I think organized by the school but it is a private company and you have to pay for the lessons. It is also held after hours (with driving time usually right after classes end). Of course here, drivers ed is not required to get your license, you simply have to pass the test. Drivers ed allows you to take the test 6 months earlier than if you didn't take the course and it gives a small benefit on your insurance as well.
I'm sure it varies a lot
In the UK its nothing to do with school.
You apply for a provisional license, the earliest you can get this is your 17th birthday. Then you can either take lessons with a driving instructor (most are very small companies/franchises), or with someone over 21 who's had a license for over three years (e.g. parent). Lessons are expensive, but the insurance for a learner driver is even more -- over a thousand pounds for a 17yo in the kind of car Americans would laugh at.
I haven't learnt to drive, and I'm 24. I th
Kept trying to tell me that the CPU was the entire computer.
Duh, like everyone knows that big box with the retractable cup holder in it is called the "hard drive". Even if its got a SSD in it. As if they'd know what a SSD is.
Then there's the old timers whom always called terminals "tubes" and even to this day call LCD displays "tubes".
I'd say both usages are common enough that either definition is valid.
In my opinion, anyone claiming that exactly one of those two definitions is the correct one, was wrong.
Man, what a synecdouche.
(Because I'm afraid that sentence will be too short to get past the lameness filter, here's [wikipedia.org] some clarification)
Half of the problem there is that the school probably reassigned her to computers because she was the most skilled in them of all the teachers. No, I'm not kidding.
And then she has to keep her authority in class. How does she do what with some smart-ass kid telling her she's wrong? So of course her gut instinct is to try to shut you down. And because she can't be seen as weak and doesn't have the information to actually know the answer, she simply uses her authority to "overrule" you.
The other half was that
The teacher does have a point, in that bad teachers can indeed provide a valuable lesson. The problem is, they're supposed to be teaching something else, and that subject suffers even while students get this other type of learning. I find the idea that this is a worthwhile trade to be questionable at best.
'In society there are people you don't like, there are people who are incompetent and there are often people above you in authority who you think are incompetent, and learning that ability to deal with that and, actually surviving that environment can be an advantage
You're assuming he's talking about teachers?
Isn't his description remarkably similar to the stereotypical teenager view of their parents? At least occasionally when they're arguing?
So, thats a great experience for the parents that are wrapped around their kids finger and/or want to be their kids best friend or parent, but a waste for all the other kids with "normal" parent / teen relationships.
Another issue is all posts, so far, assume he means incompetence on an absolute scale. However, even if your staf
She was being ironic.
Ms Atkins had told the paper that schools should not try to get rid of every inadequate teacher.
She added she believed it was the responsibility of each school to weed out bad teachers.
Perhaps Ms. Atkins could have used better teachers, or at the very least, better meds.
if you're a fuck up...there's a place in education for you, too? "See Johnny? Mr. Dumbass is a good example. We're not judgemental...if you can fog a mirror...there's a place for you at our school!"
Is that the message they're trying to send?
I like it.
What does it say about Zenna Atkins' supervisors if she thinks students should learn to live with incompetent bosses instead of the smart move: finding employment outside the reach of the incompetents.
"finding employment outside the reach of the incompetents."
Finding an alternate universe would be quite an accomplishment!
Simple- that doesn't exist.
I had a guidance counselor tell me to "cry her a river" when I told her taking night classes at a local college and a full schedule at high school and working two jobs was too much for me, and I wanted to only go to high school only half day (a program fully supported by the school district, or at least supposedly so...)
The correct response is to say "alright" and burst into uncontrollable floods of tears. The more manly you are the rest of the time, the better.
The only thing the crappy teacher taught me was that I didn't want to be a teacher.
I would have rather learned History from her, frankly.
And by the same extension, we shouldn't yank the licenses of bad drivers, because should learn to drive down the road even if there is a maniac who drives at 90mph while applying makeup and talking on a cell phone.
School, for better and for worse, is nothing like working life. A student is pretty much stuck in the class he or she is assigned to, cannot simply quit even if a bad teacher makes the experience, and the necessary education, impossible.
Bad teachers should be removed just like bad accountants, ba
It might be good for every school to have one useless teacher, and for each student to have one class with him/her.
But only _one_. I don't really think we're in danger of having schools lacking in useless teachers, alas.
what doesn't kill you makes you stronger
so in the same brilliant pilosophical vein, let's make sure we feed our children chicken tainted with salmonella in the cafeteria, let's make sure we encourage our kids to text constantly when they drive to school, and let's make sure we bully them in the hallway
uh... no, asshole, i'm sorry, but bad experiences are accidental, not something you purposefully expose your children to. why? because it MIGHT ACTUALLY KILL YOU. ie: you might actually derail a child's academ
By this person's argument, should hospitals tolerate bad doctors? I mean, both teachers and doctors have a strong impact on the people they're dealing with. They're both in positions of power over their students and patients, respectively. Most importantly, they can both cause harm when they're incompetent. I never hear about people preaching tolerance for bad doctors. So why should we tolerate bad teachers?
If you say stupid nonsense that is apparently devised to excuse incompetence and get you out of improving a bad situation, you get fired.
And I know just the public official to demonstrate this life lesson with. I'm sure that his sacrifice will be deeply appreciated by all the children instructed.
Of course, he might not see it that way, now that it's HIS life being screwed by the "life lesson". He was OK when it was just thousands of students.
That's what a classroom for a kid is supposed to be?
It's not tough enough for any kid to figure out what's going on in the world?
In other news today:
Teacher Provided Grant to Study Creative Defense of Incompetency
NEA Announces Press Release Tomorrow
Where would 1970s progressive rock have been if Roger Waters or Roger Hodgson had never had a bad teacher?
Students will cope with bad teachers. But the best lessons are learned from the good ones.
Do children benefit from bad parents? No. They will cope, but they suffer their entire lives.
The real solution is have good teachers teach about bad teachers.
Now, with all that being said, this person's words are being put way out of context. She's just looking on the bright side, if you ask me, given bad teachers will never go away.
By that same logic, every school should have a drug dealer and a child abuser, since those also "reflect society".
By that same logic, every school should have a drug dealer and a child abuser, since those also "reflect society".
And don't forget Blackjack, and hookers!
Come to think about it, forget about the bad teachers and child abusers.
Every corporation should have a bad CEO...at least one...
Oh wait....
These kids arrive with bright young minds ready to learn and achieve. We need to teach them to lower their expectations if they're to have any chance of getting along with the screwed up crapflood we call management today.
What's sad is that we tolerate bad teachers all the way up to the college level.
I've had plenty of good instructors, but I've also had my share of professors who, while they might be brilliant in their field, at proving mathematics, or researching computer algorithms, or whatever, where not skilled or gifted teachers.
Miss Matheson smiled. "You are not far off the mark. Miss Stricken's phase of the curriculum comes perilously close to being without any real substance. Why do We bother with it then?" {snip}
"To teach you humility
My regime would also impale bad teachers.
"There is no distinctly American criminal class except Congress." -- Mark Twain


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Old English ridan "sit or be carried on" (as on horseback), "move forward; rock; float, sail" (class I strong verb; past tense rad, past participle riden), from Proto-Germanic *ridanan (cf. Old Norse riða, Old Saxon ridan, Old Frisian rida "to ride," Middle Dutch riden, Dutch rijden, Old High Germn ritan, German reiten), from PIE *reidh- "to ride" (cf. Old Irish riadaim "I travel," Old Gaulish reda "chariot").
Meaning "heckle" is from 1912; that of "have sex with (a woman)" is from mid-13c.; that of "dominate cruelly" is from 1580s. To ride out "endure (a storm, etc.) without great damage" is from 1520s. To ride shotgun is 1963, from Old West stagecoach custom in the movies. To ride shank's mare "walk" is from 1846 (see shank (n.)).
1759, "journey on the back of a horse or in a vehicle," from ride (v.); slang meaning "a motor vehicle" is recorded from 1930; sense of "amusement park device" is from 1934. Meaning "act of sexual intercourse" is from 1937. To take (someone) for a ride "tease, mislead, cheat," is first attested 1925, American English, possibly from underworld sense of "take on a car trip with intent to kill" (1927). Phrase go along for the ride in the figurative sense "join in passively" is from 1956. A ride cymbal (1956) is used by jazz drummers for keeping up continuous rhythm, as opposed to a crash cymbal (ride as "rhythm" in jazz slang is recorded from 1936).
Related Terms
full ride, go along for the ride, hitch a ride, joy ride, let something ride, sleighride, take someone for a ride, thumb


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Dean's Message
Welcome to the Graduate School at Valdosta State University!
The Graduate School is home to more than 56 programs. With a strong selection of face-to-face, fully online, and web-hybrid degrees, we have options for everyone's learning style and lifestyle. Our online programs combine excellence and innovation by offering quality academics in a 21st century format, while all our programs provide opportunities for collaborating with outstanding faculty through research and graduate assistantships. Over the last few years, we have tripled the number of graduate assistantships to more than 350. With a Fall 2012 enrollment of over 2200 graduate students, we are very proud of the fact that approximately one out of every six graduate students receives an assistantship at VSU.
Whether you are a working professional, a full-time student, or both, the VSU Graduate School is ready to help advance your career. A 2010 report entitled "The Path Forward: The Future of Graduate Education in the United States" by the Council of Graduate Schools projects that approximately 2.5 million jobs will require a master's, doctoral, or advanced degree by 2018. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that the current decade of 2010-2020 will witness occupations in the master's degree category growing the fastest at 22 percent followed by occupations in the doctoral or professional degree category growing by approximately 20 percent. Furthermore, the 2007-2009 American Community Survey highlights typical lifetime earnings of $2.7 million for individuals with a master's degree, $3.3 million for those with doctoral degrees, and $3.6 million for those with a professional degree in comparison to $2.2 million for individuals with a bachelor's degree.
As I reflect upon my own graduate education, it was genuinely a transformative experience. I learned from wonderful faculty as well as my fellow graduate students. A graduate assistantship resulted in conference presentations and peer-reviewed publications with a faculty mentor, which placed me on my current career path. I also built enduring friendships with graduate students in my cohort.
At Valdosta State University, we welcome the opportunity to visit with you about the graduate program that best fits your educational and career goals. Our superb graduate admissions staff is available to assist you with the application process.
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Valdosta, GA. 31698
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Mailing Address
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Valdosta, GA 31698


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Three Rivers edition - Cabot Ladies Night Out, April 2018READ ONLINE
Spring beckons lighter, livelier fare in the kitchenPublished March 27, 2014 at 12:00 a.m.
After one of the longest winters in Arkansas' collective memory, March 20, the first day of spring, was a welcome sight. Even with the forecast showing below-average temperatures for the next few weeks, the longer sunny days inspire menus to evolve from hearty stews and pots of chili to lighter and livelier fare. Although Arkansas is not yet in full-on barbecue season, flavorful salads utilizing springtime ingredients such as asparagus, strawberries and peas of all varieties reflect the promise of the season of renewal.
The category of "salad" encompasses a wide variety of tastes and textures. No longer is a salad just a plate of iceberg lettuce with tomatoes and a glop of bottled ranch dressing. Whether presenting salads as a side dish or a main dish, homemade dressings are simple to make and add personality and freshness to the dish. Fresh herbs and a squeeze of citrus add tremendous flavor.
With Arkansas being an agricultural state, we are blessed to have access to the freshest vegetables of the season. Following are some tips for selecting the highest-quality produce, whether from the supermarket or a farmers market:
• Artichokes: Choose globes that have tight leaves and feel heavy for their size. The leaves should squeak when pressed against each other.
• Asparagus: Choose firm, smooth and brightly colored stalks with compact tips. Avoid limp stalks. Choose stalks of equal thickness to ensure even cooking times.
• Cucumbers: Choose cucumbers that are uniformly green (not yellow).
• Kale: Choose crisp, deeply colored leaves. Avoid yellowed leaves. Smaller leaves tend to be more tender.
• Lettuce, spinach and other leafy greens: Choose greens with fresh, crisp leaves. Avoid any that are wilted or slimy.
• Peas: Choose crisp, green pods. Avoid bulging, dried, yellow or white pods.
• Scallions: Choose scallions with crisp, green tops and firm, white bulbs. Avoid wilted or brown scallions.
• Tomatoes: Choose tomatoes that are fragrant, smell earthy at the stem end and feel heavy for their size. Avoid tomatoes with wrinkled skins.
1/4 cup orange juice with mango
1 tablespoon packed light-brown sugar
1 teaspoon lime zest and juice of the lime
1 pound Cutie oranges
1 teaspoon peeled and finely grated fresh ginger (from about a 2-inch piece)
1 pound kiwis (about 5 medium kiwis), peeled and cut into large dice
16 ounces pineapple (from about 1 medium pineapple), skin removed, cored and cut into large dice (pre-cut and trimmed pineapple from the deli is a great timesaving substitute.)
Whisk together the juice, brown sugar, lime zest and ginger in a large bowl until the sugar has dissolved; set aside.
Segment the oranges, removing any thick membrane, pith or tough ends. Cutie oranges are simple to peel and require little additional trimming.
Add the kiwis and pineapple to the bowl, and gently mix until the fruit is evenly coated. Serve immediately or chill in the refrigerator for up to 2 hours before serving. Squeeze the lime juice over the salad or toss it right before serving for extra freshness and flavor.
1 bunch asparagus
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup green onions, white and green parts, sliced thin
2 cloves garlic, minced
12 ounces orzo pasta, cooked to al dente and cooled
15-ounce can artichoke hearts
1 1/2 cups sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil
1 lemon, zested and juiced
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup olive oil
Bring a medium saucepan full of water to a boil. Turn off the burner, add in asparagus pieces, and blanch for 3 minutes. While the asparagus is in the water, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a small sauté pan. Sauté garlic for 1 to 2 minutes, just until tender. Add green onions to warm pan. Drain the asparagus, and rinse with cool water.
In a large bowl, add cooked orzo pasta, asparagus pieces and sautéed onions and garlic. Drain artichoke hearts and quarter them, adding them to the bowl. Add in sun-dried tomatoes with oil and lemon zest. Stir to combine.
In a small bowl or container, whisk together lemon juice, white wine vinegar, salt and pepper. Slowly pour olive oil into the vinegar, whisking continuously. Once the mixture is emulsified, stir the dressing into the salad. Move to the refrigerator for at least 6 hours for flavors to meld. Serve cold.
Salad ingredients:
One bag baby spinach, pre-washed
1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted
1 pint strawberries, hulled and quartered
1/2 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded and finely diced
1 pound peeled and deveined shrimp, poached or sautéed
1 lemon, juiced
Kosher salt
Dressing ingredients:
3/4 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1/3 cup sugar or sugar substitute, such as Splenda
2 tablespoons poppy seeds
Bring a large saucepan of water to a roiling boil. Season with a large pinch of kosher salt. Add shrimp and lemon juice, remove from heat, and cover. After about 5 minutes, the shrimp should be opaque. Remove from hot pan and set aside. (Shrimp require very little cooking — no direct boiling maintains tenderness and flavor.)
Whisk all dressing ingredients together in bowl, and chill in the refrigerator. In a large salad bowl, toss together all the salad ingredients except the shrimp. Arrange greens on serving plates, top with shrimp, and dress just before serving.
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A realistic Ricky Ponting expects to discuss his future with the selectors after the Adelaide Test, and conceded his career could be over by the end of the summer
Ponting, who is due to equal Steve Waugh's record of 168 Tests in the next Test in Perth, has been bowled in both innings of the second Test against South Africa, for four and 16, after scoring a duck in the series opener in Brisbane.
There are growing concerns about the 37-year-old's reflexes when facing fast bowling, after he chopped a ball from Dale Steyn onto his stumps on Saturday.
"I haven't spoken to the selectors anything about my immediate future," Ponting told Channel Nine. "I'm sure that conversation is going to come in the near future but nothing has happened just yet. The disappointing thing for me about the start of this Test series is I have felt in really good touch, my (Sheffield) Shield stuff early season has been really good and I actually felt I was batting better than I had in a few years... I said going into the summer that it really is a game by game thing for me. I can't afford to look any further forward, I've got to keep my head down and score runs. If I score runs then I will get myself selected. If I don't I will leave the door open for someone else to come in my spot. That's where it sits at the moment and we'll wait and see what happens at the end of the game."
With Shane Watson due back from injury in Perth the selectors might be loath to make two changes to the top order for the third Test, but Ponting acknowledged his credits are running out.
The subsequent Test, against Sri Lanka, will be played in the former captain's home state of Tasmania, raising speculation about a home farewell.
He said his dream of competing in next year's Ashes would be dashed if he doesn't make runs soon.
"I'm a realist. I live in the real world and I know if I'm not getting runs I might not make the summer out and I definitely won't be in England, but we will wait and see what happens at the end of this game. I'm looking forward to the boys playing well this morning and hopefully getting a good win here and we'll see how we go for Perth," Ponting said.
"That is really all it is. I've got no illusions or disillusions about where my cricket's at. It's just a matter of working hard and hopefully when I get a chance to bat in the middle I'm a bit more assertive than I have been in the last couple of games.
"Yesterday's was probably a ball I shouldn't get bowled on. It was back of a length and short and ended up getting chopped onto the stumps, but the first innings I got a pretty good ball. How did I feel form wise? Probably if anything I have been a bit tentative, certainly in the first innings in Brisbane [when he reached outside off stump and edged Morne Morkel] was a tentative shot and yesterday afternoon was a tentative shot. It's not the normal way I play.
"It was a tough situation yesterday as well when the ball was starting to reverse swing and there were six overs to go in the day. I probably needed to be a bit more positive."
Meantime, injured fast bowler James Pattinson is expected to bat as Australia tries to build a match-winning lead in Adelaide, but is highly unlikely to bowl with a side strain. .
"He was in a fair bit of pain. I spoke to him after the first over he bowled and he could hardly breath so he is in a fair bit of trouble," Ponting said.


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Because DAYS tapes so far in advance, she will air through November.
"The Kristen story wrap-up is just fantastic; she was just glorious," Executive Producer Ken Corday told Soap Opera Digest. "The official word there is that Eileen Davidson is leaving the show to take some time out with her family. Will she come back? We'll see. But she's not going to another show. I am thankful for all she's brought to us. It was the first shot in the arm we needed. A big shot in the arm."
Aside from DAYS, Davidson is best known for playing Ashley Abbott in THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS for many years. Will she make a another return to Y&R? Stay tuned.
Davidson responded to an outpouring of fan support on Twitter: "You're all so awesome! I didn't get fired. My family is fine. Thanks for your love and support! xoxoxo"
Davidson reached out to fans on Facebook: "Hello! I just wanted to confirm that I have indeed left DOOL. My last day was July 16 but I will be airing until November. I'm taking some time off to enjoy my family however I am not retiring. Not really sure what's next for me work wise. But I am looking forward to figuring it out! Thanks to all of you for your support and love. I've had an incredible time on DOOL this year....."
- INTERVIEW: Eileen Davidson On DAYS OF OUR LIVES, Enjoying The Ride, And Jeanne Cooper


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New Poll Indicates Transportation's a Top Priority for New York Voters
The poll was commissioned by the American Public Transportation Association and a similar group. It says over sixty percent of likely primary voters in New York would think less of their representatives and senators if they do not protect the state's highway, bridge, and public transit funding in fiscal year 2015.
Rob Healy with the American Public Transportation Association says the Federal Highway Trust Fund supports more than half of New York's transportation projects. But it's facing a serious lack of cash. Healy says funding for existing projects could halt as early as August. And he says a band-aid solution's not an option.
"Whether it's the Tappan Zee Bridge, or roads; many of the projects that this funding supports are multi-year, major capital investments," he said.
Some transportation organizations are suggesting raising the gas tax as a way to get more revenue for a new funding bill. The current bill expires October 1.


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June 16, 2004 – The Center and allies submitted a petition to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the Siskiyou Mountains and Scott Bar salamanders as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act.
July 19, 2004 – The Service responded that it had reviewed the petition but because of inadequate funds, it would not be able to address the petition at that time.
2005 – The Center and allies sued the Service for its failure to respond to the petition.
April 25, 2006 – The Service published a 90-day finding that the petition to list the salamanders did not present substantial information to indicate that listing may be warranted.
July 6, 2006 – The Center filed suit.
January 19, 2007 – The court determined that the Service's 90-day finding was arbitrary and capricious and ordered the Service to make a new finding.
March 29, 2007 – The Service announced that listing might be warranted and initiated a status review.
January 24, 2008 – The Service published a final rule announcing that listing the salamanders was not warranted.
March 12, 2018 – Due to plans for ramped-up logging on federal lands in southern Oregon, the Center and allies submitted another petition to the Service to list the Siskiyou Mountains salamander under the Endangered Species Act.


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Your BCS 7th-ranked Miami Hurricanes (6-0, 2-0 ACC) kickoff the second half of their season and play their first game without an NCAA anvil hanging over their head at noon today against visiting Wake Forest (4-3, 2-2).
The game can be seen on ESPNU. Feel free to chat with us as the game is going on.


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— From NBC's Mark Murray
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno has just announced that Clinton will appear on the show Thursday. Per the press release, it will be the third time she has been on Leno.
Discuss as:
Hillary to appear on Leno ThursdayMonday Mar 31, 2008 5:26 PM
— From NBC's Mark Murray


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As an award-winning ABC News anchor, Elizabeth Vargas has traveled the world covering breaking news stories, reporting in-depth investigations, and conducting newsmaker interviews. She is currently the co-anchor of "20/20" with David Muir. Vargas is also the author of "Between Breaths: A Memoir of Panic and Addiction" released in 2016.
Some recent highlights from "20/20" have been covering Christian refugees escaping ISIS in Iraq, profiling the Angulo Family who were at the center of the award-winning documentary "Wolf Pack," and interviewing Olympic star Suzy Favor Hamilton about her secret descent into the world of high priced prostitution. Vargas has also reported for a popular series on "20/20" called Searchers about individuals on emotional quests to find long-lost family members. She reported extensively on the Amanda Knox case, the American exchange student accused of murder, from Perugia, Italy and spoke exclusively with the high school boys accused of sexual assault in the Steubenville rape trial.
In 2016, Vargas anchored the breaking news live network coverage of the deadly Orlando nightclub shooting, the ambush in Dallas where five police officers were killed, the death of pop star Prince and the passing of boxing icon Muhammad Ali. Vargas also anchored live coverage of the 2015 Paris terrorist attacks. Her story on the hero NICU nurses of Hurricane Sandy was part of the ABC News' Peabody Award winning coverage. In 2011 Vargas anchored coverage of the Royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. During the historic Iraqi elections in December 2005, she reported extensively for "World News Tonight" from Baghdad. She has interviewed leaders from around the world, including President George W. Bush from the Oval Office in the White House. Her international coverage has sent her to Beslan, Russia, where she found stories of hope after rebels attacked a school and killed more than 300 people, over half of them children. She also reported from the Middle East for a special on the resurrection of Jesus and reported from Cambodia on the plight of orphans and questionable international adoption practices there. In 2000 Vargas won an Emmy for Outstanding Instant Coverage of a News Story for anchoring live coverage of the Elian Gonzalez case.
The New York Times credited Vargas in November 2004 as reinvigorating the newsmagazine format with her "intellectually brave" reporting of an examination of the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard, a young man whose murder gained national attention as an anti-gay crime. In November 2003, she anchored "Jesus, Mary and Da Vinci," an hour investigating many theories raised in the bestselling novel "The Da Vinci Code." And her February 2001 exclusive interview with the owners of two dogs that killed a San Francisco woman was so revealing, prosecutors in the case say it was critical to winning convictions against the couple. More recently Vargas hosted "Human Footprint," a ground-breaking National Geographic special that followed the cradle-to-grave consumption of an average American boy and girl, which aired in April 2008. Vargas was previously co-anchor of "World News Tonight," anchor of "World News Tonight Sunday," news anchor and frequent co-host on "Good Morning America," correspondent for "20/20" and "Primetime Thursday," and co-anchor of "Primetime Monday." She joined ABC News from NBC News, where she was a correspondent and anchor, primarily for "Dateline NBC" and "Today." At NBC she also served as substitute anchor for the weekend editions of "NBC Nightly News." She joined NBC News in 1993 as a correspondent for the newsmagazine "Now With Tom Brokaw and Katie Couric."
Prior to joining NBC News, Vargas spent four years as a reporter and anchor for WBBM-TV, the CBS owned and operated station in Chicago. From 1986-89, she was the lead reporter for KTVK-TV, the ABC affiliate in Phoenix. Earlier she worked as a reporter/anchor for KTVN-TV, the CBS affiliate in Reno, Nev. Vargas graduated with a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Missouri in Columbia, Mo., where she began her broadcasting career as a reporter/anchor for KOMU-TV.


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A Main Street bar has been socked with a three-year ban on outdoor activities on its property during Bike Week, Biketoberfest and other special events, a punishment never doled out before in the city.
DAYTONA BEACH— A Main Street bar has been socked with a three-year ban on outdoor activities on its property during Bike Week, Biketoberfest and other special events, a punishment never doled out before in the city.
A special magistrate decided Tuesday that Main Street Station violated city code in October by straying from the City Commission-approved Biketoberfest plan it agreed to and sliding a stage too close to Main Street.
"Hopefully the message will be sent out to Main Street, Beach Street and Mary McLeod Bethune Boulevard that once the plan is submitted you don't deviate from your plan," Hector Garcia, the city's head of code enforcement, said after Tuesday's magistrate hearing.
"Participation in the events is a privilege, not a right," said the city's zoning officer, Colleen Miles, during the hearing.
Being locked out of having live music, vendors and bars outside its two buildings through the end of 2015 could be devastating to Main Street Station, which like other businesses on the beachside road relies on the biker bashes to pull in over half of its annual profits.
"It's a sad, sad, sad day," said Phaedra Lee, the bar owner's daughter and the person who handles marketing and event planning for Main Street Station.
Main Street Station can appeal the magistrate's decision, and the business can seek relief in the court system. But city officials have already decided to have the bar's application for Bike Week 2013 pulled from the stack of forms that will go before a Bike Week committee Friday. That means the application probably won't make it to city commissioners for final approval Jan. 16.
With the magistrate's ruling that the bar violated code, the business could also face up to $5,000 fines for repeat violations in the future.
"We're operating under such fear now," Lee said.
Garcia said his intention was never to hurt Main Street Station's bottom line.
"Our objective is just to get compliance; it's not to be punitive and hurt anybody or their future earnings," Garcia said.
Garcia said his code officers tried to nip the problem in the bud when they first spotted plan deviations during a routine inspection on Oct. 17, the day before Biketoberfest officially started, and gave property owner Rick Johns a chance to correct the violation. The officers noticed one of the outdoor stages was closer to the sidewalk than Main Street Station indicated it would be on the site plan it submitted in the spring.
"I asked (Johns) how long it would take to come into compliance," Garcia told the magistrate, Daytona Beach attorney David Vukelja. "He said with a smirk on his face 'four days.' "
Biketoberfest is four days long.
Garcia said Johns told him "do what you got to do and I'll see you in court."
Johns, who has owned the bar for five years, said at the hearing there was no way he could have had the stage moved in the 12 hours the city requested.
The stage was also covering the spot where the site plan showed a vendor would be located.
Code officials pointed out the plan indicated the vendor would need a spot that would be 10 feet long, and a photo officers shot that day shows the distance from the stage to a palm tree near the sidewalk appears to be less than 10 feet. Garcia said the stage was about 10-12 feet closer to the sidewalk than it should have been.
City officials acknowledged they didn't take any precise measurements before issuing the warning to correct the problem or face the possibility of the three-year ban. Johns said he knew the stage was the required 12 feet from the sidewalk because he said he has 12-inch-long feet and he walked it off.
"It's almost humorous that the city and you played with something so catastrophic and no one had a tape measure," the magistrate Vukelja told Johns.
"They actually admitted to not taking any measurements, but yet we'll pay a penalty," Lee said.
Miles, the city's zoning officer, said after years of inspections on Main Street she was able to just "eyeball" the measurement.
"Even though they weren't standing there with a tape measure the difference was so substantial they could tell the stage was moved," said Tony Jackson, the city's police legal advisor.
Miles said the distance limits are important because "there's an impact to pedestrians, traffic, light, sound and crowd control."
"By moving things forward it has a very large impact," she said.
"These specifications all have a purpose so businesses and surrounding neighbors can all co-exist in a high-volume period," Vukelja agreed. "Deviations from the rules and regulations do have impacts."
Main Street Station was also cited for placing a wooden bar outside that appeared to be larger and more permanent than the business indicated in its plan.
City rules call for things businesses put outside their businesses for special events — such as vendor stands, portable toilets and bars — to be removed within five days of an event ending. The wooden bar was removed two days ago, seven weeks after Biketoberfest ended.
Lee was still reeling from the decision Tuesday afternoon, and she had already called her alcohol supplier to say she wasn't sure what the bar would be doing for New Year's Eve, which on Main Street includes outdoor activities. She's also not sure what she'll do about an event she has planned for Feb. 18, which if it happens will include 40 race car drivers outside Main Street Station giving autographs.
The bar's attorney, Peter Heebner, said he plans to fight for Main Street Station, and will take the case into the court system if necessary. But if the Daytona Beach attorney could manage to get Tuesday's decision overturned, it's not clear how soon he could make that happen.
"I don't know what we're going to do," Lee said.


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ITHACA, NY — Chilean poet and visual artist Cecilia Vicuña will give a free public reading from her works at Ithaca College on Tuesday, March 19. Her 7:30 p.m. presentation in Klingenstein Lounge, Egbert Hall, is sponsored by the Distinguished Visiting Writers Series.
Vicuña exhibits and performs widely in Europe, Latin America and the United States. Engaged with improvisatory oral performance, her work deals with interactions between language, the environment and textiles. She is the coeditor of the "Oxford Book of Latin American Poetry" and has published 20 books of poetry herself. Her film/poem "Kon Kon Pi" was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in 2010.
Vicuña was exiled from Chile in the early 1970s for her support of the elected president, Salvador Allende, who was murdered in a coup. While exiled in London, she cofounded Artists for Democracy to oppose dictatorships in the developing world. Since 1980, she has split her time between New York and Chile.
For more information on the Distinguished Visiting Writers Series, visit www.ithaca.edu/dvw or contact Catherine Taylor, associate professor of writing, at email@example.com.


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Hello - new here. I'm getting back into Mtn. Biking after about 10 yrs. I want to ride trails, mining pits, woods, etc. And I have a buddy who's super into biking and I wouldn't mind being able to hang with him somewhat. I'm looking for a good decent bike for around $500 or so. I have a chance to buy a 2008 Fetish Cycles Discipline for $450. Wondering if some of you guys think it's a good deal. Here's the specs:
2008 Fetish Cycles Discipline double butted aluminum frame
Manitou Axle comp 100mm travel fork
Shimano LX rear derailleur
Shimano Deore front derailleur
Truvativ Iso Flow cranks 22/32/44
Truvativ cartridge bottom bracket
Shimano HG50 9-Speed Cassette 11-32
Shimano HG53 9-Speed chain
Shimano Deore 9 speed shifters
Cane Creek headset
Alloy 30mm rise aluminum handlebars
Alloy clamp-on 7deg rise aluminum stem
Alloy seat post
Tektro brake levers
Hayes MX4 Mechanical w/ 160mm rotors
Pivit disc wheels with 14g stainless steel spokes and Weinmann XTB double wall rims
Velo saddle
Kenda Komodo 2.1 tires
OR any other suggestions on bikes? Any help would be appreciated. Also, to note, I'm 6'3" and 275 lbs. Thanks.
Here's a pic of the bike.


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Rangers' concern lies with Hamilton's life, family
Club to hire 'accountability' partner; contract on 'backburner'
By T.R. Sullivan / MLB.com | 02/03/12 4:33 PM EST
ARLINGTON -- Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said the club is in the process of hiring an "accountability" partner for outfielder Josh Hamilton.
Daniels said the Rangers were "working through" that even before Hamilton had a second relapse on Monday night in his ongoing recovery from drug and alcohol addiction.
"We're close to that," Daniels said. "I expect we'll have an announcement on that sometime next week."
Hamilton, who missed 3 1/2 years in 2003-06 because of his drug and alcohol addiction, admitted on Friday that he was drinking alcohol in two Dallas establishments on Monday night. The Rangers were informed of the incident on Tuesday morning by his agent Mike Moye.
"There are a number of emotions that you go through in something like this," Daniels said. "We've talked about how we view ourselves as a family. Well, when somebody in the family makes a mistake and screws up, there are a lot of emotions. One is we're disappointed, but the overriding concern is for Josh and his family."
Daniels said that is a bigger concern than how it impacts a possible long-term contract extension for Hamilton, who can be a free agent after the upcoming season. But he also admitted that it's something that has to be factored into the negotiations.
"I think it's something that we have to address and take into consideration," Daniels said. "But this is not a baseball story. This is real. This is something Josh has to deal with, how it affects him and the people around him. He and his family, that is where our heads are right now."
Hamilton held a news conference at the Ballpark in Arlington on Friday. Daniels is out of town and was not present at the news conference but spoke by phone with the media on Friday afternoon. Club president Nolan Ryan was also out of the office and not available on Friday.
"Josh has an addiction, he has a disease," Daniels said. "It's something that needs to be dealt with, and he needs help from the people around him. Not just me, but everybody in the organization, when we heard about this, the thought was not about how it impacts the club but our thoughts were about his wife Katie, his daughters and how he was going to get through this. That's where we are. We want to make sure we support him on this."
The Rangers had been talking to Moye about the contract extension, and Hamilton had set the beginning of Spring Training as a deadline to come to an agreement. Hamilton said on Friday those talks are on the "backburner," and Daniels agreed with that assessment.
"I don't know when that will be brought up," Daniels said. "We have more important things to deal with."
Johnny Narron, who has known Hamilton for many years back in North Carolina, spent the past four seasons in the role of accountability partner but has since been hired as the Brewers' hitting coach. The Rangers then hired Hamilton's father-in-law Michael Dean Chadwick earlier this winter, but he had to withdraw because of family considerations.
The "accountability" partner is somebody who travels with the Rangers and watches over Hamilton as a mentor and counselor. But Hamilton also had a relapse in January 2009. He was working out at a private training facility in the Phoenix area and slipped away from Narron one night. He ended up in a bar and became severely intoxicated.
Daniels admitted the Rangers were concerned that both relapses have occurred at the same point of the offseason when there is less structure in Hamilton's life.
"It's something we need to talk about," Daniels said.


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Newton residents safe following Boston attacks
A pair of Newton residents, including 27-year-old Richard Harris and 31-year-old Jennifer Brown, appear to be safe following Monday's attacks at the 117th Boston Marathon.
Five Catawba County natives were among the field of 27,000 entrants in the Marathon, including Harris, Brown and Hickory residents Angela Hamilton, John Johnsen and Katie Ledford.
For more on the Boston Marathon attacks and local survivors, please visit observernewsonline.com and pick up a copy of Tuesday's O-N-E.
Area residents who ran in Monday's Boston Marathon
(according to Boston Marathon's website by zip code look up)
• Gavin Arsenault, 54, Statesville
• Josh Baker, 32, Valdese
• Matt Broughton, 46, Sherrills Ford
• Jennifer Brown, 31, Newton
• David Garmon, 60, Lincolnton
• Russ Harrow, 53, Taylorsville
• Richard Harris, 27, Taylorsville
• Angela Hamilton, 53, Taylorsville
• John Johnsen, 55, Hickory
• Hubert Lambert, 73, Lincolnton
• Katie Leford, 43, Hickory
• Morgan Turner, 21, Lincolnton
• Gary Walker, 61, Taylorsville
• Dwight Winters, 36, Morganton
• Benjamin Zachary, 57, Taylorsville


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Kenai City Manager Rick Koch will write to Alaska Department of Fish and Game Commissioner Cora Campbell to ask that the city's dipnet fishery not be pushed to a 24-hour opening like it was last year. All members of the Kenai City Council agreed to add their signatures to the letter at its meeting Wednesday night.
"It just puts the city at a hardship," Mayor Pat Porter said. "It comes without warning."
Council Member Brian Gabriel Sr. said the letter will be the first of its kind because, following last season's beach-side trash — fish heads, human waste, beer cans, diapers — the city has to take action.
"Probably the biggest complaint that I heard from the citizens is that the beach is a mess (during the dipnet season)," Gabriel said.
The normal operating hours for the fishery are 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., seven days a week, July 10-31. That gives city crews time to comb the beach with tractors to remove the waste.
"If we have that window from 11 at night to 5 in the morning, we could get a lot of work done," he said.
However, when the fishery is extended to a 24-hour opening the city crews can not effectively clean the beaches. The large tractors and their equipment are too dangerous to use when dipnetters are on the beach, Koch said.
Also, the 24-hour extension is often announced on short notice, Gabriel said, which makes it difficult to scramble the already thinly-spread fishery crews.
Another problem the 24-hour opening causes is the increased noise from motor boats, Gabriel said. He said a number of residents in the VIP subdivision have complained.
"I think the idea is to give Fish and Game something to think about," Gabriel said. "The idea is there's impact with the decisions they make to the city of Kenai."
Koch's letter, Porter hopes, will open a conversation with Fish and Game. She said she thinks they are listening already, and Koch said Gov. Sean Parnell and Campbell have been supportive in the past.
There will be a work session Feb. 6 to discuss dipnet issues further. The council will meet at 5:30 p.m. in city hall, 210 Fidalgo Avenue.
Also at Wednesday's meeting, the council reallocated $141,052 to cover Kenai Fire Department's overtime pay.
It is an annual problem for the city, Koch said. Over the past five years the fire department's overtime pay has been rising, according to a spreadsheet Koch presented to the council.
The largest factor is paying staff during leave, Koch said. The department has 15 firefighters and each takes a minimum of 240 hours of leave per year, he said. He said the firefighter's leave pay accumulates quickly because they work 24 hour shifts, so, for instance, a three-day leave would rack up 72 hours of leave pay.
And the problem, he said, is irreparable if the department is to continue its standards of operations.
Fewer staff would lower the required leave pay, but the department would not be able to effectively respond to fires.
The council also set the date for a work session to discuss the estuary rehabilitation project. They will meet Jan. 22 at 6 p.m.
Dan Schwartz can be reached at email@example.com.


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Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Texas-OU: The Thrilla in the Apartment Villa
Anything in this video jog any unpleasant memories from your collegiate past: The completely wasted guys trying to act tough? The breaking of shit for no reason? And, naturally, the hysterical screaming chick in the background?
Man, I hated crap like this.
To see how the fight started, here's the start of the scuffle...
To see how much "fun" this party was even without the fighting, check out these other clips from it:
1) drunk idiots trying to kung fu their cabinets and other homoerotic male bonding
2) "playful fighting" from the same party (along with more homoerotic male bonding) and finally...
3) Just plain ol' homoerotic male bonding
Big HT to Scott at DallasSportsPowerHouse for the link.
18 comments:
Texas ans OU fans are dumb
They should of come together and beat that chick up though
- October 10, 2006 12:36 AM
I was really tempted to make a sarcastic and arrogant comment about how Longhorn and Sooner fans are drunken hicks but the fact of the matter is there will always be a segment of the population that will lay into the booze way too hard and come up with a ton of liquid courage and make complete asses of themselves whether it be in Austin, Norman or Ann Arbor. I am just glad I'm personally I am not an ass who loses all self control and ends up looking like a complete loser on a viral video around college football fansites.
- October 10, 2006 12:50 AM
- Sports on a Schtick said...
Down with drunken idiots, up with college football action.
- October 10, 2006 1:30 AM
What's the over/under line on how many of these kids are even students at either OU or UT?
- October 10, 2006 8:08 AM
Fuckheads are everywhere...it's fucking nice to fucking see you, fucking Yost, step up to the fucking plate and acknowledge that OSU doesn't have a fucking monopoly on which fucking brainless fucking prats decide to root for their fucking team, and that it's not just my fucking Buckeyes that have a fucking monopoly on idiotic fucking "fans".
- October 10, 2006 8:12 AM
Shady as hell. And as if the video is not disturbing enough, we have to see that big guy's asscrack.
It could happen anywhere. It's the elitist in me that says that it just happens more often in Texas and Oklahoma, but it might just depend on your crowd. But then again, for example, Michigan fans generally do not stoop to the level of OSU fans and pull the same shit that they do.
- October 10, 2006 9:08 AM
- Doug said...
Oooooklahoma, where the drunks come screaming down the plain . . .
- October 10, 2006 9:49 AM
Wow, I forgot how crazy my ex-boyfriend can get!
Seriously these people are a bunch of dorks. Hey every college experience involves a stupid drunken fight, but the people that I hung out with in college were not like this. These guys are kinda on the douche bag side.
This happens everywhere. A little FYI, people from Oklahoma are civilized, believe it or not!
- October 10, 2006 10:22 AM
Any indication as to what part of the game this was?
What set whom off?
- October 10, 2006 10:46 AM
It seems like in every fight theres always a fat guy named "Big A" to get in there and break it up. I too wish they would've just made friends and beat the shit out of the screaming bitch. Oh and I doubt that this took place in either Austin or Norman, most likely Dallas. Notice how they are doing their gay kung-fu shit WHILE the game is going on. If any of them had actually attended OU or UT, they would've been glued to the TV.
- October 10, 2006 10:47 AM
You think that's bad, you should visit the InsideTexas/Politics board sometime!
- October 10, 2006 11:11 AM
I couldn't even understand what went on---some guy in a Peterson jersey started fighting with some other dude. Then a chick started screaming and a fat dude showed his butt crack.
That about sums that video (and all of the youtube videos) up.
- October 10, 2006 11:16 AM
Nice remark on the homoerotic shit going on
- October 10, 2006 12:30 PM
- The King said...
These dudes really need to work on their chokes.
- October 10, 2006 7:53 PM
One of the dudes took off his shirt to fight? LOL!
- October 10, 2006 11:24 PM
I guess you`ve never had your tshirt pulled over your head to be beat senseless while not being able to see shit.
- October 11, 2006 12:45 AM
Aladouche -- why am I not surprised you liked the homoerotic shit?
- October 11, 2006 1:11 AM
This is why you don't bring chicks to your buddy's house for the game.
- October 11, 2006 11:40 PM


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University Place Elementary had the biggest increase in student enrollment, while Central High had the largest decrease, according to an attendance report released by the Tuscaloosa City School System this week.
University Place Elementary had the biggest increase in student enrollment, while Central High had the largest decrease, according to an attendance report released by the Tuscaloosa City School System this week.
Mike Daria, assistant superintendent of general administration for the system, said University Place's open enrollment and the new STEAM program, which teaches math, reading, science, language arts and social studies in hands-on, real-life situations, contributed to its enrollment boost.
Meanwhile, Central High's enrollment dropped by 63 students from last year. Daria said the main reason for the decrease is the Alabama Accountability Act of 2013.
"Central High School was one of the schools where parents could transfer to another school under the Alabama Accountability Act," Daria said. "Not all of the drop is that, but most of it."
Overall, the attendance report shows that student enrollment increased by 80 students from last year.
This year, the system had 9,948 students enrolled 20 days after Labor Day, compared with 9,868 during the same time last year. Those numbers don't include pre-kindergarten students. This year, the system had 311 pre-kindergarteners, while last year's number was not available. Overall, 11 schools in the system decreased while 11 schools increased student enrollment.
The schools with an increase are Central Elementary, Paul W. Bryant High, Eastwood Middle, Northridge High, Northington Elementary, Oakdale Elementary, Rock Quarry Elementary, Rock Quarry Middle, University Place Elementary, University Place Middle and Verner Elementary.
University Place, which is newly rebuilt, opened admission to all students in the city this school year so that all elementary-age children could have access to the school's new STEAM program.
Most of the school's 133 new students are transfers from other elementary schools within the system, Daria said. Some of the students lived in the University Place zone and three students transferred to the school from outside the system, he said.
The schools with a decrease are Alberta Elementary, Arcadia Elementary, Skyland Elementary, Southview Elementary, Southview Middle, Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary, Tuscaloosa Magnet Elementary, Tuscaloosa Magnet Middle, Central High, Woodland Forrest Elementary and Westlawn Middle.
Oak Hill School, which is an alternative program, also experienced a slight decrease in enrollment.
Central High was on the Alabama Department of Education "failing schools" list released June 18 in compliance with the Alabama Accountability Act of 2013. The list contained 78 schools that ranked in the bottom 6 percent of all public schools in the state for at least three of the past six years. Westlawn Middle, Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary and Davis-Emerson Middle joined Central High on that list.
Parents of students attending a school that was designated as "failing" were given the option of transferring their children to a non-failing public school in the area or enrolling them in a private school and receiving a $3,500 tax credit to help pay the cost of private school tuition.
The newly opened Tuscaloosa Career and Technology Academy had an inaugural enrollment of 2,772 students. The majority of TCTA's students — 1,247 — are from Northridge High. Paul Bryant High has the next largest number of TCTA students with 863. Central High has 662 of its students taking classes at TCTA.
Reach Jamon Smith at email@example.com or 205-722-0204.


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From the Wires
Census Bureau to Offer American Community Survey Internet Response
By: PR Newswire
Dec. 17, 2012 02:27 PM
WASHINGTON, Dec. 17, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American Community Survey, the most detailed portrait of America's towns and neighborhoods, is now more convenient for most participants with the added availability of responding online. That will make it the 61st U.S. Census Bureau survey with Internet response, saving money on printing, paper, postage and processing costs, while maintaining security.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110428/DC91889LOGO )
"The online response option is part of an ongoing digital transformation at the Census Bureau," said Thomas Mesenbourg, the Census Bureau's acting director. "The Census Bureau is transforming to make responding to surveys more convenient, conducting surveys more cost-effective and America's statistics more accessible on digital and mobile devices."
Households selected to participate in the American Community Survey will receive a letter in the mail with instructions about how to log in to the secure website and complete the survey online.
When using the online response option, participants will have the ability to review their answers and receive help. This response option, which is secure and confidential, will be available for almost everyone in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. If households selected to participate in the survey do not use the online response option, the Census Bureau will send them a paper questionnaire, or contact them by phone or in person to obtain answers.
In addition to collecting information online, the Census Bureau is adding a series of questions on computer and Internet usage. The data gathered through these questions will become available beginning in 2014.
The American Community Survey is sent to more than 3.5 million housing unit addresses on a rotating basis throughout the year. The survey provides a wide range of important statistics about people and housing for every community across the nation. The results are widely used, for example, by town and city planners, retailers and homebuilders. The survey is the only source of local estimates for most of the 40 topics it covers, such as education, occupation, language, ancestry and housing costs for even the smallest communities.
"The people who respond to the American Community Survey contribute vital information that benefits their neighborhoods, towns and cities," Mesenbourg said. "That's why participation is so important."
Ever since Thomas Jefferson directed the first census in 1790, the census has collected detailed characteristics about our nation's people. Questions about jobs and the economy were added 20 years later under James Madison, who said such information would allow Congress to "adapt the public measures to the particular circumstances of the community," and over the decades, allow America "an opportunity of marking the progress of the society."
The Census Bureau releases three sets of American Community Survey statistics each fall. First come single-year estimates for all areas with populations of 65,000 or more. Next is a corresponding set of three-year estimates covering areas with populations of 20,000 or more. Finally, five-year estimates for areas down to the neighborhood level are released at the end of the year.
Robert Bernstein
SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau
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A recent report by the Centers for Disease Control shows more than half of Americans with high blood pressure don't have it under control. Here in Iowa, 28 percent of the population has high blood pressure. Lynn Fisher with Washington County Public Health says there are steps that can be done to keep your blood pressure at a healthy level.
Quit smoking, remain physically active and eat healthy foods, drink alcohol in moderation are ways to lower your high blood pressure. She adds another way to have a healthy blood pressure level is to learn to manage and cope with stress and reduce the amount of salt in your diet.
Fisher notes some risk factors for high blood pressure cannot be avoided. To learn more about high blood pressure and screenings, contact Washington County Public Health.


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Rocky Long Range Roper Boot
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Rocky Long Range Roper Boot
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Additional Information
These Rocky Long Range Roper boots (style #8863) make excellent work boots. The classic rounded toe and lower heel make for a comfortable, yet practical boot. Not only are they built to be comfortable, but they're also rugged, good looking and durable.
The upper has been fashioned out of very soft, full-grain leather. To preserve the look of this superior leather as well as wanting to keep your feet utterly dry, these boots are built with Rocky Waterproof Construction. These 11 " Long Range Roper Boots have a very unique material that is used for the lining, Dri-Lex Eco™. You'll be amazed by how well these linings can control moisture.
For your foot to enter smoothly and to make it easier to wear, this Long Range Roper boot features a western dipped top line (instead of a standard Roper "œstove-top " topline). Also, the exclusive Expansion Fit Seam™ stretches and allows you to get this boot on and off effortlessly. The Long Range X outsole system unites 10 superior components to have this #8863 Rocky boot reach its peak performance and makes it incredibly durable, comfortable, flexible and provides stability for you.
To give you arch support and further stability, this boot has Rocky's exclusive Stabili-Shank™. The Long Range footbed will prevent odor, is recyclable and is fantastically comfortable to step down onto. On the bottom of these boots, the 1.5mm shallow lug depth is ideal for slipping into a stirrup or the cab of a cross-country rig.
Although, these Rocky Long Range Roper boots make an outstanding work boot, they are so comfortable and good looking that you can wear them to dinner or for when you go out on the weekends.
Other Long Range Boots You Might Enjoy:
- Guaranteed Rocky® Waterproof construction
- Round U toe
- Dri-Lex® Eco lining with moisture management
- Long Range dual-density removable footbed is recyclable and odor resistant
- Long Range heel
- Expansion Fit Seam for easy on and off
- Soft, weathered Long Range leather upper
- Long Range X outsole system of ten peak performance components
- Triple stitched construction
- Round toe
- 11 Inches in height
- Goodyear® welt construction


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MCleaner is one of those nifty jailbreak apps which are actually useful. The app blocks unwanted callers (even texts from them), and recently posted an update which adds a feature where the caller gets an immediate answer and hangup - so they can't even leave you a voicemail. Heh.
MCleaner has been around for a while, and runs on quite a few phones (check their site for a full list).
Its available on the iPhone via Cydia (and runs a steep $11.99, actually - up to you if that's something you want to block or accept ) with a 15 day trial.
MCleaner 1.6 - Hang up on Idiots Immediately


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My three kids and I are united on at least one thing: We love Christmas. It's such a pretty, homey holiday—the baubly tree, the yummy cookies, the suspenseful advent calendar, the festive meals. It's the little stuff that makes it wondrous.
I rely on this principle in gift-giving, too. To me, the ultimate Christmas day excitement is gathering around to open stockings. I spend all year gathering up odd items with an eye to delight:
A pair of red Chinese slippers from Pearl River; a mini purple geode from a hippie store; a solar-powered dancing penguin; fancy band-aids; tarot cards; tiny books.
None of these things add up to much in the way of expense, but watching the kiddos reach in, retrieve each one, and giggle with glee? Get ready—I'm gonna say it—priceless. (It is, though!)
It doesn't hurt that early on, I insisted that Santa was not a catalogue, but a special fairy with insight into what will give you pleasure. Plus, no one ever sees him (pay no attention to that guy in the mall).
My older two still believe in Santa—that he speaks to me, and I listen. And I do.
Got Peace?
Susan Gregory Thomas lives in Philadelphia, and is the author of "In Spite of Everything," a memoir.
Naughty or nice.What special holiday gifts do you still remember from when you were a kid?


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2008 Toyota RAV4 4x4: – OUR TAKE: In the extremely competitive compact-crossover/SUV market, it often comes down to the Honda CR-V versus the Toyota RAV4 in buyers' minds, though the Hyundai Santa Fe and the Saturn Vue have become formidable entries lately. Source: www.autoweek.com
US News Rankings – The 2008 Toyota RAV4 ranks 2 out of 26 Affordable Compact SUVs. Source: usnews.rankingsandreviews.com
New York TImes Review – The redesigned RAV4 is our top-rated small SUV. It has a flexible, well-designed interior. Source: autos.nytimes.com
2008 Toyota RAV4 - Review – What's new, trim levels, optional equipment, and safety info for the 2008 Toyota RAV4. Source: www.caranddriver.com
International Toyota Enthusiast Community – Welcome to Toyota Nation, the world's largest Toyota owner and enthusiast forum community. Source: www.toyotanation.com
Car Brakes: How Do You Know When to Change Them?
By Zach Bowman For those who suffer a daily commute through heavy traffic, your vehicle's braking system can bring thousands of pounds of metal, plastic and empty Starbucks cups to a stop hundreds of times before you get to work. It goes without saying that these pieces wear out, but they do so slowly, meaning you may not notice they need attention until ...


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We offer commercial space for rent, 363 m², Prague 1 - Nove Mesto, Jungmannova street
We offer commercial space for rent, 363 m2, Prague 1, Jungmannova street.The area consists of five offices, meeting room, kitchen and toilets. Near is the metro station "A" and "B" Mustek. In the vicinity of all amenities: post office, the Prague City Hall, restaurants, shops, parks, shopping centers, cinema, theaters, kindergarten and elementary school.
158 970 CZKper month
|+ 16000,- CZK utilities (electricity and house service fee)
|Offer ID
|Jungmannova, Praha 1 - Nové Město
|very good
|2nd floor
|Usable area
|363 m²
Contact a broker
archivní zakázka
Office: Prague central
E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com
Land phone: +420 222 312 488
Thank you for your interest
We are currently processing your request. Our real estate agent will contact you within 24 hours. You can also use our free line 800 800 505.
In the couple of last months, I have got to know tens of real estate brokers and real estate agencies, maybe even more, and you are the only one who can be .... as a "really good real estate broker".More info
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- For how long period is the lease contract signed, is it possible to enter into a lease for an indefinite period and how long is the period of notice?
- Why should we enter into a reservation contract when buying a real property?
- What comprises the brokers´ fee of Home Sweet Home in the process of selling your real property?
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