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Seemingly as complex as the Gulf of Mexico itself, the federal civil trial against the operators of the doomed Deepwater Horizon oil rig is set to begin Monday – a high-dollar showdown pitting oil giant BP's cash wealth against the legacy of one of America's richest, yet most troubled wildlife habitats.
The April 20, 2010, spill that began with an explosion that killed 11 rig workers and ended three months later with more than 200 million gallons of light crude spilled into the Gulf still resonates physically and psychologically in the five coastal states affected, even as BP, the chief speculator, has gone to massive lengths to clean up the mess while paying billions in damages to residents and communities along the sullied coastline.
But Monday's trial, which could take three months, is about answering the still-critical subjective question: Did BP exhibit "gross negligence" in its operation of the rig, causing the largest offshore oil spill in US history? If so, the company could be on the hook for as much as $17 billion in damages, after having already paid out $24 billion.
RECOMMENDED: Sticky mess: The Gulf oil spill's impact on nature
"I thought that there would be considerable pressure on BP in particular to settle, since they are most likely to bear the heavy share of the damages and that they would have not looked forward to being on the front pages every day in an ongoing trial," says Edward Sherman, a disaster liability expert at Tulane University Law School, in New Orleans.
To be sure, the defendant side of the docket is complex, since the trial judge (there is no jury) will have to decide what percentage of responsibility each of the three major players – BP, the speculator; Transocean, the rig owner; and Halliburton, a key drilling consultant – will have to bear if found responsible.
But the plaintiff side, too, is rife with tension, particularly because joining federal lawyers and environmental groups are five separate affected states – Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas – all of which have differing thoughts on whether to settle the case quickly for maximum payout or push BP into a trial that will illuminate how deeply the spill affects not just wildlife, but everyone from fishermen to hotel owners, bartenders, and maids.
Part of the problem is that plaintiffs don't want to take a deal that's inadequate given lingering unknowns, including potential future problems from the spill.
"It will be years, even decades, before we understand the true impacts of the spill," says Chris Canfield, a vice president of the National Audubon Society, in a statement. "The law requires BP to compensate the American people for all the damage that was done – for every smothered blade of marsh grass and for every oiled pelican – as well as for any long-term effects we may have not yet seen…. The outcome of this case must ensure that BP will be held fully accountable not only for the damages we see today, but also for any damages we will discover years from now."
In a way, the parties involved will be treading familiar ground.
Other court cases and congressional investigations have all expounded on the series of events that led to the massive explosion and fire that eventually sunk the Deepwater Horizon, crumpling a riser pipe of oil and disabling emergency shutoff valves at the wellhead, almost a mile below the Gulf's surface.
A nation watched in horror as underwater cameras attached to remotely controlled submersibles documented the underwater geyser of heavily pressurized crude oil, all of which led to massive fishery closures and a six-month shutdown of new drill sites in the Gulf.
While BP has claimed responsibility, the ultimate legal liability is not cut-and-dried as US District Court Judge Carl Barbier has made clear that the two other companies also may bear blame for what became a domino effect of missed signs and overlooked problems that finally led to the explosion.
Government lawyers, meanwhile, will bring evidence they say proves that the accident was ultimately avoidable, and that the companies carelessly and negligently cut corners as they hunted for profit.
"Gross negligence is a very high bar that BP believes cannot be met in this case," Rupert Bondy, BP's general counsel, said last week in a statement. "This was a tragic accident, resulting from multiple causes and involving multiple parties. We firmly believe we were not grossly negligent."
In the almost three years since the spill, authorities have struggled to pinpoint exact damages. People on the coast say oil from the spill continues to wash ashore during heavy storms. Some experts say higher than usual dolphin mortality rates may be tied to the spill, where those marine mammals may be signaling the poor health of the ecosystem.
Yet it's also hard to determine an exact cause of such events, given other pollution problems in the Gulf, including vast "dead zones" caused by an excess of upstream agricultural pollution.
"It's going to be very, very hard unless you can isolate a particular substance to work out the toxicology here," Dr. Moby Solangi, president of the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Gulfport, Miss., tells the Guardian newspaper.
Even if the trial gets going Monday, a settlement may still come depending on how the first few days go, and as lawyers on both sides get a sense of what the other side has up its sleeve. And BP has a history of such moves: All four trials that began in the aftermath of the 2005 explosion at a BP refinery in Texas City were eventually settled before the court could make a ruling.
"There are a number of issues involved and lots of money at stake, so it's easy to see how settlement talks could break down," says University of Michigan Law School professor David Uhlmann, the former chief of the Department of Justice's Environmental Crimes Section, in an e-mail to the Monitor. "Still, going to trial raises enormous risks for both sides."
RECOMMENDED: Sticky mess: The Gulf oil spill's impact on nature


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Taste of the Wild Dog Food, and its variety of flavors and sizes, provides your dog with the proteins nature intended it have. Satisfy your dog instinctual cravings with the ingredients of Taste of the Wild Pacific Stream, High Prairie, Wetlands & more.
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Travel and Transportation
Pursue new digital business models to drive revenue, increase customer loyalty, and optimise operations with SAP solutions for travel and transportation.
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Find out how mature and developing economies are increasing their competitiveness in the global supply chain through significant investments in infrastructure.
Digital disruption transforms the travel industry
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Using technology to foster trust with guests
Learn how hospitality organisations must utilise new technology such as IoT and chatbots to foster genuine trust between guests and providers.
Communities and Events
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Stay up to date on the latest innovations, trends, and solutions by joining other travel and transportation stakeholders. Learn and share insights through blogs, discussions, and events – and find out how SAP can help your travel and transportation business run better.
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Internet of Things (IoT)
Deploy high-velocity, intelligent edge IoT applications using business and technology services.


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Mark Waters on The Salt Trail
Mark Waters first captured the attention of the surfing world in 2011 with his multi-award winning short Uncommon Ideals. Then things seemed to go a little quiet – but now he's back, with a full-length feature – The Salt Trail.
This has been a real passion project for Mark. Self financed and independently produced, this sumptuously shot movie takes us on a journey from the hustle and bustle of Bali and to the serenely idyllic Mentawais, looking at the life changing and life affirming powers that travelling to new lands has – how it is not just a passage across land and sea, but a voyage of personal discovery.
The Salt Trail has its World Premiere at the London Surf / Film Festival on Saturday 2nd November and Mark will be there to talk about the making of the film. Grab a ticket HERE.
Chris Nelson caught up with Mark to discuss his debut feature.
Many people will be familiar with you from Uncommon Ideals. What happened next?
The release of Uncommon Ideals was the first time my work had received recognition in the action sport world and things begun to flow. My girlfriend (Sunnie) and I were living in an apartment in the city, work was dry and inspiration was beginning to fade. I was emailing cover letters to just about every production company in England only to receive replies saying stuff like, Thanks for your interest, we will keep your records on file". I am lead to believe this is a polite way of saying f*@k off, due to the lack of jobs I received. Sunnie's positive spirit and my job pulling pints were the two things keeping me sane. At this point I needed a bit of a break and Uncommon Ideals was that. Within weeks of the release emails slowly found their way to my inbox and I found myself shooting in some pretty amazing locations. This raised both my spirit and the digits in my bank, which allowed me to fund the creation of The Salt Trail.
I always dreamt of hitting the Mentawais, but the crowds, resorts and boat trips put me off. However after a bit of research we found the complete opposite. A beautiful little village lost amongst the coconut trees with the friendliest, happiest people we had ever come across. We went for 10 days and stayed for a month, living off coconuts and noodles. After the first 10 days the boys left, so I stopped shooting surf and we absorbed the rest of the island. Mark Waters
What was it that lead you plunge headlong into the financing and production of an independent full length feature?
During the early phases there was little to no thought put into it whatsoever. Sunnie quit her job and we gave up our rental house and most of our possessions and set off on a six month adventure with no plans or expectations. The film was never the priority of the trip; we just went travelling and the cameras came with. Taking on the backing from brands would have tied me to a contract to achieve something specific. I never wanted that, we just set off on an adventure and shot it. As the frames started to build the story began to take shape. It felt right to fund the project independently because the story was naturally bending in a direction that partly promotes the idea of not being driven by money, so it would have been a bit of a contradiction to have all these brands and plenty of money to back the project.
One of the things that travelling opened my mind to many years ago, is to not be driven by monetary success and western expectations, but to rather be motivated by passion and what feels right. This education grounded me to a life of living in the moment with no regrets or worries. I guess TST became a bit of an experiment to see if this lifestyle of living in the moment, going with the flow and doing what just feels right, would be enough to make a full-length feature. It was only three months into the trip that Sunnie and I sat down, reviewed the footage and got exited about the possibility of this story actually materialising. The next 12 months was dedicated to bringing this film to life. Commercial work was coming in to keep the funds flowing which gave me the freedom to focus on TST.
The aim of the experiment was that if the film works then the theory of living in the moment has been proved right, because the film was created by completely surrendering to the moment whilst doing what felt right. The Salt Trail is now complete, funded by pockets full of soul. It's a projection of how I see the world, can be shared with my family and friends and is a memory that will be kept alive for life. I guess success comes in many forms and this is good enough for me. Anything that comes after is a bonus.
Where did the title The Salt Trail come from? Did you have a narrative or story in mind when you started filming?
The name was always something I hoped would happen spontaneously as the film grew. I went through so many different ideas but nothing really stuck until the week before the trailer went live. Myself, Sophie and Kristyan were at Deus eating tacos and bouncing ideas. Nothing was really standing out until Sunnie threw it out there, which earned her a huge high five. As for the narrative and story, the only thing I had in my head was that I wanted to create a visual refection of the life rewarded from travelling. There was no pre-direction. A six month return flight was booked to Asia and everything else fell into place, by letting the natural flow of life direct the story.
There have been some iconic surf movies made that revolve around Indonesia – was this in the back of your mind when you were making The Salt Trail
It was kind of in the back of my mind but necessarily in a positive way. There has been so many films shot in Indo, so another Indo film might not be deemed exiting to some. With this in mind my idea was to shoot Indo in a different light by not constantly focusing on perfect waves, but focus more on the feeling.
The film has an amazing diversity of footage - from aerial work, water shots, time-lapse to moments of that are quite intimate. What aspects of the process was the most challenging technically and personally?
I guess the biggest challenge was deciding what to shoot and when. I only really shot mornings and late afternoons to keep the golden light flowing, which gave me around 4 hours a day. Within these hours the waves were always going off, the landscapes were amazing and the lifestyle was buzzing, so I was usually pretty torn. Unfortunately, I could not be in five places at once because of my like of super hero powers, so decisions were pretty challenging. Besides that, it was all pretty cruisy. I only shot when I felt like it, so nothing was forced. I would usually just pack the gear and go for a walk and see what happened.
I was lucky enough to have Vít Hašek and Daniel Pék come on board and provide me with the aerial footage. They were super generous and sponsored me with the aerials free of charge after hearing the ethics behind the project. Sunnie took land cam position from time to time, when the waves were on and I was desperate to shoot water. The most challenging thing for me was the producer role. It was tough trying to sort all the admin and legal bits and pieces, while trying to keep creative in the edit. This slowed things down quite a lot. I don't think I would attempt to fill all these positions again in a feature length production because it's just to much work. I love the creative side but I could have done without the admin responsibility.
The film shows a great contrast between the hustle and bustle of Bali and the isolation of the Mentawais. Which part did you enjoy the most and how did it feel stepping back to the UK to finish the project?
The Mentawais have become a special place for both myself and Sunnie. I always dreamt of hitting the Mentawais, but the crowds, resorts and boat trips put me off. However after a bit of research we found the complete opposite. A beautiful little village lost amongst the coconut trees with the friendliest, happiest people we had ever come across. We went for 10 days and stayed for a month, living off coconuts and noodles. After the first 10 days the boys left, so I stopped shooting surf and we absorbed the rest of the island. As always, Sunnie had made some awesome bonds with all the kids, which led to an introduction to the small local village where we were welcomed with massive smiles. We immersed ourselves as much as we could and felt like we found our little place in the community, where we were rewarded with priceless gifts every day until the day we had to leave.
As for coming back to the UK, it's always a bit of a culture shock travelling from east to west. Got to take the good with the bad. I can't help but notice all the rushing around and all the stress that people are taking on everyday to meet expectations from others. Unsatisfied people, disguised with designer labels pacing the streets trying always to get somewhere, missing out on the life buzzing around them. Those moments remind me of the contrasting connections we made with those who have nothing, wear no disguise and hold no stress. They just smile and this thought stokes me out. I am yet to properly immerse myself in the rugged British coastlines but winter is creeping in and I'm feeling the time is near.


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Diesel Mechanic Technician needed for busy shop!!
Jobs Rated202nd
Position Description
*Excellent Benefits*
*Weekly Pay*
*4 Day Work Week!!
Ryder is hiring NOW in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Call or Text Brandi at 716-580-2485 or email at firstname.lastname@example.com for more information
We have an immediate opening for a Diesel Technician! Ryder is a global established company, and we are looking to add to our growing team!
At Ryder you'll be exposed to our diverse fleet! You may work on (but not limited to) the following equipment: Detroit, Cummins, Mack, International, Carrier, Volvo and Thermo King!
At Ryder, you'll also be able to take advantage of our excellent hands on training program! We have up-to-date software and training material to take your career to the next level.
What Ryder can offer you:
- Ongoing technical training and advancement opportunities
- Safe working environment
- Great exposure- working on a wide range of equipment
- Health, Dental and Vision Insurance and 401K
- PTO, Vacation & Sick Time and Holiday Pay
- Stability Ryder is a trusted industry leader; founded in 1933
- Award Winning Employer- Ryder was recently named #62 of 500 on Americas Best Employers 2015 by Forbes
- Uniforms provided along with a Boot Allowance
Under close supervision, the Tech II Diesel Mech (Regulated) position performs minor to average routine maintenance and repair services on different types of vehicles.Works with the assistance of a T3, T4, TIC, SS or SM, when performing highly technical and superior diagnostic type repairs. Task assignments are directed by shop management to encourage development in a productive manner.The T2 Technician performs minor to average repairs and routine maintenance under limited supervision. The T2 may be assigned to work/train directly with a T3 or T4.
- High school diploma or equivalent
- Post-secondary vocational education strongly preferred
- Must have minimum tool requirement
- Must have a valid drivers license
- Valid CDL (license A) is highly desired; mandatory in some locations
- Must possess state license as required
- This position requires for you to drive Ryder vehicles. In order to become a Ryder employee you must:
- Must be able to obtain CDL within 6 months after hire
- Pass a Ryder Drug Test
- Pass a DOT physical
- Pass a Ryder road test
- Pass a Ryder Background and Motor vehicle check including drug and alcohol verification from previous employers for the last 3 years
Important Note: Additional requirements may be required in different locations and/or accounts.
- Performs vehicle maintenance and repair duties
- Performs standard vehicle maintenance
- Performs standard component inspections and repairs
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- Diagnoses standard mechanical and electronic problems, utilizing diagnostic computer when applicable
- Identifies root cause of basic failures/conditions and perform repairs as required
- Replaces defective components as instructed
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- Interacts with customers/drivers to properly determine nature of complaint once assigned a task
- Utilizes key functions of Shop Management System and electronic documentation available
- Works in accordance with all federal/ provincial and corporate compliance guidelines (i.e., safety, DOT, MOT)
- Performs other support duties as required to support operations. These could include but are not limited to Service Island support
Ryder is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer and Drug Free workplace. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, status as a protected veteran, among other things, or status as a qualified individual with disability.
Jobs Rated Reports for Automobile Mechanic
ryder (Ryder Systems, Inc.)
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A soft leather jewellery roll with three wide inside pockets to house both small and large precious objects.
An Iconic Emblem
The yellow box is an essential part of the Acqua di Parma experience. Inspired by the bright and sunny yellow buildings of Parma city, the boxes define our philosophy of sunny sophistication.
The Italian Artisanal Touch
Handmade by artisans, the labels are applied individually on every box of all sizes. Our products lovingly packaged in these iconic boxes make an unmistakably Italian gifting experience.


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Keep that schoolmarm from perusing your porn with this USB-powered CD destroyer from Brando. In just five seconds, this hungry beast renders any CD or DVD unreadable, grinding in devastating circular scratches and resulting in a strangely beautiful coaster that reminds us of a Spirograph.
It even includes a leather case for destroying CDs on the go. Sure beats breaking up a CD into little pieces, resulting in glass-like shards that might actually be able to draw blood.
Believe it or not, some desperate dweebs rummage around in the trash looking for things like old CDs and DVDs, hoping that perhaps a bit of financial data might have been carelessly left on board. If you keep such data on removable medias, this mutha might be worth a $29 investment. [Brando]


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Fortune's Stanley Bing says big business mergers are rarely treats for the companies involved.
Fortune's Stanley Bing says we're repeating a lot of the same errors that we made in previous downturns.
Fortune's Stanley Bing says there's a lot to learn from a downturn, but we'll forget it all when the economy rebounds.
Fortune's Stanley Bing reveals that his reverse Midas touch burst the housing bubble and caused the recession.
Fortune's Stanley Bing can't think of a single cheap, relaxing place to take an extended break.
Fortune's Stanley Bing became the first person to fall short on the Treasury's test of financial stability.
Fortune's Stanley Bing looks past mad cow and Y2K while waiting for the next calamity.
Fortune's Stanley Bing says the U.S. is suffering a lag in panics now that the swine flu fever has passed.
From pet acupuncturist to book author, former 'BS' jobs are now coveted in this economy.
Fortune's Stanley Bing says CEOs are struggling to survive without astronomical salaries.
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- China's growth hits 3-year low(2:48)
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- JPMorgan cleans up 'London whale' mess(2:04)
- Why unemployment is worse than it looks(2:25)
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- Airlines: 1M jobs in next 20 years(1:55)
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- $3.5M water tower home in the sky(1:55)
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A Fast Track from Coal to Clean Energy
The low-carbon, low-use energy future that's essential for tackling climate change is scaling up before our very eyes. If we roll out proven solutions—energy efficiency, lifestyle changes, geothermal, solar, wind, plug-in vehicles, and smart grid—with speed and scale, we can more than meet the 80–90 percent carbon reduction by 2025 that climate scientists now say should be our target. Some people are calling this the convergence of clean energy solutions.
Many Americans, however, believe renewable energy is too costly and unreliable. They worry that, in most places, the wind doesn't blow around the clock, and there's no place where the sun shines at night. Regulators and utility officials can't imagine enough efficiency and renewable energy going online fast enough to prevent the lights from flickering off during their watch.
But clean energy solutions are starting to achieve real speed and scale—and a new opportunity could further accelerate the renewable energy future. Just in the past year:
- Congress passed the stimulus package with more than $20 billion for energy efficiency—the most important immediate and long-term strategy for tackling climate change.
- For the first time, renewable energy production, at 11.37 percent of U.S. supply, surpassed nuclear energy production, which was 11.18 percent, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. And throughout 2008 and 2009, new renewable energy installations grew faster than new fossil fuel production.
- In September, a broad coalition of environmentalists, investors, farmers, faith congregations, policymakers, and local officials celebrated their 101st success at stopping planned U.S. coal plants in their tracks. In 2010 they are targeting 22 operating coal plants: We're truly seeing the beginning of the rapid end of coal in the United States.
- Solar is reaching price parity with coal. A solar farm outside of Las Vegas, Nevada, went online at a cost of about $3.85 for each installed watt. The AMP Ohio coal plant, likely the next online, is running about $3.65 per watt, not counting the cost of carbon the plant will produce while operating. Solar will be cost competitive with coal and nuclear across the country by 2015. And solar is on track to deliver 50 percent of U.S. energy, for all uses including plug-in vehicles, by 2042, according to Green America's Solar Catalyst program.
- Ford, General Motors, Toyota, Nissan, and Mitsubishi—and newcomers such as Tesla and Coda—promise to have plug-in hybrids and all-electric vehicles available between 2010 and 2012. Charging an electric vehicle with solar energy at today's prices costs the equivalent of about $2.35 a gallon—and just $1.30 a gallon at the price of solar projected for 2015. With the advent of the smart grid, you'll be able to charge your electric vehicle battery with solar during the day, and plug your car into your house to provide electricity at night.
- China has recently set ambitious goals and serious incentives for wind and solar, and India isn't far behind. Both countries are, unfortunately, still building coal plants. However, unlike in our country, energy doesn't seem to come with ideological overtones. As solar and wind become less expensive than fossil fuels—and provide the benefit of clean air along with CO2 reduction—China and India will be scaling up wind and solar, and leaving their coal plants in the dust. And they each hope to become the world's supplier of choice for renewable energy.
All good news. But we need an accelerated transition strategy here in the United States—and an enabler that makes the cost of the transition less than or equal to what we'd otherwise pay, providing a backup to wind and solar until energy efficiency and renewable energy can carry the whole system.
Speeding to an All Renewable Energy System: A New Opportunity
That enabler is natural gas, a fossil fuel that produces about half as much CO2 as coal, and only 20 percent as much nitrous oxide, a far more potent greenhouse gas. Admittedly, it's an imperfect enabler, and it's not a long-term solution, but it offers a better path than the one we're on and a faster transition to the system we want.
Recently discovered natural gas reserves are big enough to power current levels of gas use for more than 100 years. The new discoveries are primarily in shale formations across much of the country—in the Rockies, throughout the Midwest, in Texas and Louisiana, and up the western side of the Appalachians and into the Adirondacks.
A significant new source of domestic natural gas provides three big opportunities for the United States.
It would allow our society, for the first time in history, to really assess the impact of developing a new natural resource—including choosing to develop little or none of it. Natural gas extraction causes environmental problems. Extracting shale gas is likely to be even worse: It's done with a controversial process called "hydraulic fracturing," which uses significant quantities of water and a slurry of chemicals, raising concerns about contaminating groundwater. We'd need to determine where and how to extract the gas in the least harmful way possible, and assess the minimum amount of gas, used as a backup, that would allow the United States to transition to all renewable energy.
13 Best Energy Ideas (Plus 3 Duds)
Sarah van Gelder lays out
over a dozen sustainable energy policies and technologies that
can make our infrastructure more climate friendly.
Second, we could begin converting existing coal plants to natural gas. No waiting for 20 years; let's get this done within three years of completing a socially and environmentally responsible plan for extracting the new natural gas reserves. Almost all coal plants can be converted to run on natural gas. And once converted, natural gas plants can be easily dialed up or down—or turned off for months—as more renewables come online. A gas plant is a great backup for renewable energy—you only use it if you need it. That's a big change from coal or nuclear plants, which are difficult to turn up, down, and off as demand changes.
Third, it would allow us to make aggressive, cost-effective regional clean energy convergence action plans to move to energy efficiency, renewables, plug-in vehicles and the smart grid—with natural gas as the backup—within 10 years.
With energy efficiency taking the lead and low-cost gas as a stop-gap, the transition to the all-renewables system would cost less than expanding our current energy system to meet future demands.
Most important, it will deliver the promise of the clean-energy future—real energy security, green jobs, a cleaner environment—and a real go at tackling climate change.


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copyright, Chris Buck
This quietly hilarious shot of Steve Martin was on the cover of Photo District News Magazine. And it's deeper than it looks. It's based on Robert Doisneau's shot of Picasso taken in 1952 and an homage to all three artists. You can get the whole story here. Oh, and this shot was made with 1 light and the sun.
Camera: Mamiya RZ67 with 110mm lens and Kodak Portra NC 400 ASA film, set on a tripod 10 feet back. Shot at 1/125, f5.6, ISO 400.
Lighting: With the higher speed film, Chris is able to compliment the natural light from the window with 1 medium Octabank at f5.6 positioned three feet to camera right. For fill, a v-flat with the white side facing out is placed camera left of Steve, just out of frame. The sunlight through the window at f4 helps to warm the room just a touch and create an evenly lit image with just enough contrast to pique our interest.
Comments: There were originally five bread fingers for each hand, but Steve made a couple of Nutella sandwiches for breakfast before he realized he was eating the props. His look of shame is authentic even though everyone assured him it was no biggie.


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Hand painted, made to order and delivered ready to hang.
Flowing Magma
from 339.00
By John Holdway
Balance is the philosophy that guides his work. Impeccable craft has always been important, but the vision, as John puts in, must come first. Since he was a teenager, John began to see the image slowly appear on the surface before he even made a mark. To John, it is part gift and part skill.
Hand painted, made to order and delivered ready to hang.
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FREE SHIPPING - Please allow up to 21 days to receive your hand painted artwork.
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Book Report: 'Affordable Remodel'
Remodeling contractors can be infuriating, especially when they stand in your house and respond to your ideas by saying things such as: "That's really going to cost you." Or: "There's going to be maintenance issues with that."
You might reply with a simple: "Thanks for stopping by," but what you're really screaming inside is: "You're supposed to help me realize my dreams, not kill them!"
But after reading "Affordable Remodel," a new Taunton Press book by general contractor and Fine Homebuilding magazine contributor Fernando Pagés Ruiz, it seems more clear to me that many contractors have, as a result of their years in the field, a unique intelligence about what makes economical sense in a remodel and what doesn't.
For instance, adding 6 feet of kitchen space onto the end of the house is monumentally, ridiculously expensive when you consider the grading, foundation, walls and roof that are required. So many tradesmen, so much coordination, so little benefit.
The far more economical way to get a larger kitchen, he explains, is to borrow existing interior square footage from an adjacent space, such as a laundry room or an infrequently used dining room.
Or perhaps you can add a charming bay window, which will give the impression of more space by cantilevering the bay out past the existing foundation.
You can also create the feeling of more space by punching the ceiling up into the attic, which is mostly wasted space here in Southern California.
One idea I really like is capturing the 3 1/2-inch-deep space between wall studs for use as nooks for books, artworks and photos. By installing a wood ledge that extends 2 more inches past the wall, you've got a nice little shelf.
All of these ideas are illustrated with either beautiful photos or the line drawings that Taunton's graphic artists are so good at creating. The large-format book feels big and robust and delivers what readers want: a visual treasure on every page.
In some ways, Ruiz is showing us how to create a house of quality, rather than one of quantity, which is also the goal of his fellow Taunton Press author Sarah Susanka of the "Not So Big House" series of books. But although architect Susanka does not delve much into the nuts and bolts of building the ideas she envisions, contractor Ruiz does exactly that.
Many of the book's suggestions are not just about space and construction but about design. One idea, pictured on the back cover, shows a fireplace faced with slate tile from the hearth to the mantle and then faux-painted in similar hues from the mantle to the ceiling. You get the vibe of the stone all the way up to the ceiling, without the all-stone cost.
If the book does fall short at all, it's where nearly every other book like this fails, and that is by ignoring the consumer's need to know how much things cost.
Especially in a book with the word "affordable" in the title, readers expect more discussion of dollars.
This book taught me a lot. In my years of interviewing contractors, I've asked many of them the very question this book answers: What remodeling features end up costing homeowners more money than they're worth?
None of the contractors I asked had very much to say about this, mainly because they were on the way to see a client, on the phone with another client and had a third client on hold. And that's to say: They're awfully busy.
So we are fortunate that Ruiz put down on paper so much of the wisdom contractors have but are too busy to explain.
Next time a contractor tells me that this or that idea of mine will be expensive to execute, I'll be more likely to understand that there is experience behind that statement. And maybe I'll be more receptive to the cost-effective alternative that will surely be offered.


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Don't miss out - ends Friday July 13, 2012. Includes FL Studio, upgrades, Deckadance, Plugins and IL loop libraries. Click above to learn more and get the discount coupon code.
FL Studio 10.6 Beta
This release focuses on stability and bug-fixes. You may get some pop-up reports when you close the program. If you see these, or have any crashes, please report in the thread linked from the image above.
New loop libraries
By popular demand! New loop libraries span Dubstep to Electro House.
Check the winners in the Auvic RMX contest.


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Nasal spirometry in the preoperative selection of patients for septoplasty
Suche in Medline nach
|14. April 2011
Introduction: there is no consensus over the best approach to selection of patients for septoplasty. Clinical examination is often inadequate and objective testing has not gained wide popularity due to technical, cost and training issues. The aim of this study was to evaluate bilateral nasal spirometry (BNS) as a quick and easily interpretable method of selecting appropriate candidates for septoplasty. BNS measures airflow asymmetry caused by a nasal septal deviation (NSD) and it is expressed as the nasal partitioning ratio (NPR). The NPR after decongestion can be used as an objective measure of the degree of NSD. NPR ranges from –1 (complete left nasal obstruction) to +1 (complete right nasal obstruction).
Patients/methods: Thirty patients (25 males/5 females, mean age 33 years) with nasal obstruction and a NSD were assessed by subjective measures (NOSE score, 10 cm visual analogue scale, 10-point double vertical scale) and the BNS before and after septoplasty. Thirty healthy controls (25 males/5 females, mean age 31.7 years) were recruited for providing a reference range of NPR values.
Results: All patients were subjectively improved after septoplasty but only those with NPR out of the normal limits (–0.25 to 0.24) had a significant reduction of NSD (Wilcoxon Signed ranks test, p<0.001). No correlation between subjective measures of nasal obstruction and NPR was observed.
Conclusion: BNS is a rapid, easily interpretable, noninvasive technique which identifies patients with large NSDs who, irrespective of concomitant mucosal factors of nasal obstruction, warrant septoplasty. BNS is unreliable in cases of a septal perforation or an S type NSD and it cannot detect an insufficient nasal valve.


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Dark Chocolate and Pumpkin Pancakes....and, Uh, They're Vegan
Posted by denise fletcher on Monday, November 1, 2010, In : Breakfast
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Dark Chocolate and Pumpkin Pancakes... and Uh, They're Vegan
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Autumn Seduction (Roasted Potatoes with Mushroom Vinaigrette)
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SAS® Data Preparation on SAS® Viya®
Try it free for up to 14 days!*
(*with the option to extend if needed)
Experience firsthand how self-service data preparation from SAS enables you to act quickly, make decisions confidently and work more efficiently.
About the Trial
- There's nothing to download; a web browser is all you need (we recommend Google Chrome 64-bit for the best experience).
- Use your own data, or use our sample data and demo scripts.
- Share the trial environment with four of your colleagues.
- Help is readily available from videos, documentation and an online community.
Interested in other SAS® Viya® products?
During the trial period you'll have access to other SAS Viya products in addition to SAS Data Preparation.
Please note: The trial is only available in English.


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Welcome to GISWeekly!
GISWeekly examines select top news each week, picks out worthwhile reading from around the web, and special interest items you might not find elsewhere. This issue will feature Industry News, Top News of the Week, Acquisitions/ Agreements/ Alliances, Announcements, Financials, New Products, Around the Web and Events Calendar.
GISWeekly welcomes letters and feedback from readers, so let us know what you think. Send your comments to me at Email Contact
Best wishes,
Susan Smith, Managing Editor
Industry News
GeoWebCache Takes the Ouch out of Tile Caching
By Susan Smith
The need for a caching solution that could be easily integrated with GeoServer drove the development of GeoWebCache, a product that seeks to break down the limitations of tile caching. For those unfamiliar with GeoServer, GeoServer is an open source software server written in Java that allows users to share and edit geospatial data. Designed for interoperability, it publishes data from any major spatial data source using open standards.
GISWeekly: What was the impetus behind the creation of GeoWebCache? The history?
Arne Kepp: The motivation behind GeoWebCache was the need for a caching solution that could easily be integrated with GeoServer. OpenGeo has been focusing on an enterprise quality, fully supported open source web application stack. GeoWebCache plays a key role in the OpenGeo Stack, sitting between OpenLayers, the JavaScript front end, and GeoServer, which serves the data from a variety of data sources like PostGIS, Oracle, ArcSDE and more. A tile cache ensures scalability and improves the user experience. Since GeoServer was written in Java it made sense to use the same language, both to provide tight integration and to make it easy to install on all major platforms.
Through Google Summer of Code Chris Whitney was able to spend a summer creating what became known as jTileCache. It had very basic functionality, but also original ideas like using the Java Caching System to store image objects and compress them on the fly. Over the next nine months that code was then reworked by OpenGeo into what is today known as GeoWebCache. Through external funding we were able to add native interfaces for Virtual Earth and Google Maps, making it easy to use those clients against data served by WMS servers.
Last summer the project benefited from another generous Summer of Code grant, allowing Marius Suta to contribute code that enabled XML configuration using XStream and a RESTful configuration interface.
Google's Open Source Office has also funded OpenGeo to add streaming Google Earth support to GeoServer, and GeoWebCache benefited from this, gaining the ability to tile and cache KML placemarks and vectors.
Looking forward, we are continuing to break down some of limitations commonly associated with tile caches.
GISWeekly: What is GeoWebCache's relationship to the GeoServer?
GeoServer is sort of like an older sibling. GeoWebCache has benefited tremendously from the collective experience of the GeoServer developer community and the feedback from GeoServer users. They have had a strong influence on the design and helped identify bugs. Originally GeoWebCache was intended to be a library for GeoServer, but since the WMS standard provides a very stable interface it turned out to be just as easy to develop a separate servlet.
GeoWebCache was first included as a plugin in GeoServer 1.7.1. In the 1.7.x series it basically has the same functionality as a standalone version of GeoWebCache, but the plugin is automatically configured and has a reduced footprint since it shares many libraries with GeoServer.
In the 2.x series of GeoServer, which is currently at the alpha-stage, we have started going beyond what can be achieved using the standard HTTP requests. If a layer is added or reconfigured, the tile cache will be informed immediately through a callback interface and reevaluate any existing tiles. However, GeoWebCache also has a RESTful configuration interface that allows other servers to achieve the same effect.
GISWeekly: What is new in the 1.1.0 release?
The main improvement in version 1.1.0 is the support for "modifiable parameters." Other tile caches have associated one layer name with one set of tiles, meaning they only consider the bounding box and the layer name of the request, the rest is defined by the configuration of the cache. GeoWebCache has for a long time supported a separate set for each combination of spatial reference system and output format.
The new release takes this one step further, allowing you to configure filters and specify what other parameters constitute a set of tiles. For example, you can now serve the same layer with multiple styles, you can apply CQL filters, or you can use the time and elevation parameters introduced in WMS 1.3.0. One of the filter types uses regular expressions, which are extremely flexible, and the other is written for matching floating point numbers.
One existing feature that many users appreciate is the automatic configuration of GeoWebCache from a WMS getcapabilities document. The drawback with using this method has been that you could not specify additional projections or output formats. In 1.1.0 this problem has been reduced, if the configuration file and the getcapabilities document have overlapping layer names the two configurations will simply be merged. In the long run we still hope to provide an AJAX interface to make this easy.
Very basic WFS caching is included in 1.1.0. The motivation behind this is that GeoServer's WFS supports zipped shapefiles as an output format.
These can be several hundred megabytes and very expensive to compute, so any public server should cache them. Again, you can limit what queries are allowed by using a regular expression, but this is definitely a feature that will be improved over time.
But most importantly, the 1.1.0 release lays a lot of the groundwork for future development. Key to this is the pluggable H2 database which stores meta information about tiles, so that it will now be possible to remove tiles that have not been accessed in a certain time period, or find tiles that have been outdated by a recent change.
GISWeekly: Does GeoWebCache work with other open source software? Is it mostly used by developers?
GeoWebCache works great with any WMS compliant server, including MapServer and deegree. But there are also a number of people who use it in front of ESRI products, Ionic and even custom WMS servers. On the client side it currently works with any software that can use the OSGeo WMS-C recommendations, including OpenLayers and uDig. There are also custom clients that use the Google Maps API.
The user base is anything from professional developers to home users.
Based on the activity on the mailinglist, my impression is that developers are actually the minority. Most questions appear to come from end users who own an existing WMS solution and wish to improve its performance or reduce costs.
While some understanding of WMS makes life easier, there are also those that do not want to deal with OGC services and use GeoWebCache so that they can access their data in Google Earth or use the APIs that Google Maps and Virtual Earth provide.
GISWeekly: How does GeoWebCache speed up delivery of geographic data from OGC Web Services?
GeoWebCache acts like a proxy between clients and one or more WMS servers. When the client makes a request, GeoWebCache first checks to see whether it already has the corresponding tile. If not, the request is forwarded to the appropriate WMS server. When the response comes back, GeoWebCache first saves a copy (caches) and then forwards it to the client. The entire process adds only a few milliseconds to the time it takes to do the WMS request. Subsequent requests for the same tile are then answered in milliseconds using the copy, with the added benefit that this requires no resources on the WMS backend.


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Drop Bottom Charcoal Chimney
Fire up your grill the easy way by igniting the charcoal with our chimney, then use the drop-out bottom to quickly release the red-hot coals. No more dealing with flying sparks when adding fiery briquettes to the grill – just pull the lever to open the trap door and deposit your coals.
- Innovative chimney has a drop-out bottom that releases red-hot coals by just pulling the lever.
- Charcoal is ready for grilling in about 15 minutes – without using lighter fluid.
- Load the cylinder with briquettes, light up a fire starter or crumpled newspaper under your grill grate, then set the chimney over the flame.
- Ergonomically designed handle has a comfortable rosewood grip.
- Heavy-gauge stainless-steel construction ensures maximum durability.
- Over time, exposure to the fire will change the color of the polished steel, causing it to acquire a rich patina.
- Take care to wear a protective glove when using this product.
Dimensions & More Info
- 11" diam., 11 1/2" high.
- Holds up to 5-lb. of charcoal.
- Made in China.
Use & Care
- Hand-wash.
Shipping Information
UPS can deliver most in-stock items within 3–5 business days. UPS is unable to deliver to P.O. boxes.
Shipping Rates
The shipping rate varies depending on your order total and shipping destination. View Shipping Options and Charges.
Next Day Delivery
For an additional charge of $26 per address, we can expedite delivery to most destinations. This service is not available for some oversize items, items shipped directly from the supplier (including perishable and custom-manufactured items), out-of-stock items and items to be shipped outside the contiguous 48 states.
Orders received by 9:00 p.m. ET Monday through Thursday will arrive the next business day; orders placed Friday through Sunday will arrive on the following Tuesday.
Return Policy
At Williams Sonoma, we take great pride in the quality and craftsmanship of our products. Attention to design, materials, safety and construction are our priority. Upon receipt, please inspect your purchase and notify us of any damage; we will arrange for a prompt replacement.
If within 30 days, you are dissatisfied for any reason, you may return your purchase for a refund of the merchandise value. An original receipt or gift receipt is required for all returns and exchanges. Returns with a gift receipt will be refunded in the form of a Merchandise Credit for the amount indicated on the gift receipt. Returns with original receipt will be refunded in the original form of payment, cash and check refunds over $100 will be issued as a company check (may take 14 business days from time of request).
For all cutlery returns (knife sets, single knives, cutting boards, knife sharpeners and knife storage), please contact us at 888.922.4108 to initiate the return.
We cannot accept returns on monogrammed, personalized, special-order items, custom upholstery, food, items shipped direct from the vendor or on items damaged through normal wear and tear. Final sale items ending in .97 or .99 cannot be returned.
Made to Order and Final Sale Furniture items are non-returnable and cannot be cancelled once the order is placed.
For returns of items purchased from your Williams Sonoma Gift Registry, we will gladly provide a refund or exchange for the merchandise within 90 days of your event or within 90 days of purchase, whichever date is later. View Full Returns Policy.
Drop Bottom Charcoal Chimney
|Drop Bottom Charcoal Chimney
|No Longer Available


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Should you happen to have any troubles at all with registration, posting, photo uploads, etc... Please contact us via the Support Tab, or on our Facebook Page. Thank you for your continued support!
Welcome to the new and improved Virginia Off Road Sports! Please stick around and join us in becoming one of the #1 Online Communities for Off Road Hobbies such as Jeeping, Mudding, Dirt Bikes and more!
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1962 Ford Galaxie 500
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- New
PP Pet Playpen Pet Fence Pet Gate
Reviews & Feedback
Already purchased this product? Write your review here.
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Product Q&A
- Topic
- All your Q&A posts are available in My Page > My Shopping Talk > My Q&A History.
- Once seller replies, you will be notified by email.
- Your posts may be removed and PrestoMall reserves the right to suspend your account if inappropriate contents are found;
- Any implication of direct trade / discounts with your contact number, email address, or any offline contact point.
- Any indication of libel/defamation, inappropriate price comparison, unrelated ads, etc.
Exchange & Return Policy
Seller's Information
|Shipping from
|Return/Exchange address
|Notice on Return/exchange
|1. Items return are within 7 days from the date consumer received the parcel.
2. Consumer may choose one of the return options:
- Exchange different items / color / size are strictly not allowed.
- Refund method is based on your original payment as mentioned in the 11Street policies.
(Please refer to 11Street for the refund process).
3. Please ensure that the items do not fall under the list of non-exchangeable & non-refundable brands and/or items.
4. Please look thoroughly if the items meet the following conditions for return, refund or exchange:
- Within 7 days from the date you received the parcel.
- Invoice available
- Original condition & tags intact
- Original packaging.
5. Shipping costs for return and exchange are not provided seller.
Cancellation Policy:
1. We accept FREE cancellation if items ordered are not ready to be ship out.
Please note:
1. Seller reserves the rights to withhold any refunds or exchange if your original item has not reached to us.
2. Seller reserves the prior of policies changes without any notifications.
PrestoMall Return/Exchange Policy
- Cancellation
- Request for cancellation if product has not been dispatched after payment completion.
- Strictly no cancellation for E-voucher after purchased.
- Return
- Request for return within 7 calendar days following delivery date.
- Check seller's approval on buyer's request.
- Buyer sends product in question to seller.
- Seller receives and checks returned product.
- Seller approves return and return is completed.
- Strictly no return or refund for E-voucher.
- Exchange
- Request for exchange within 7 calendar days following receipt of delivery.
- Check seller's approval on buyer's request.
- Buyer sends product in question to seller.
- Seller receives and checks returned product
- Seller send new product to buyer, and buyer receives it, and exchange is completed.
- No exchange for E-voucher purchased.
How to Request for Cancellation/Return/Exchange
- You can request for cancellation after completing payment and if product has not been dispatched by then, cancellation request is approved and you can receive refund.
But, in case seller has already dispatched product, cancellation request can be rejected.
- You can request for return after obtaining product, you should send the product in question to seller.
After seller checks if returned product is flawed, and approves your request, return is completed and payment is refunded.
- You can request for exchange if wrong product is shipped, you should send the product in question to seller.
After seller checks if returned product is flawed, seller approves your request, and re-sends new product.
Criteria for Return/Exchange
You can request for return/exchange within 7 calendar days following delivery date. But return/exchange request cannot be made in following cases:
- When request due to change of mind is made after 7 calendar days following delivery date
- When product is used, destroyed or damaged
- When tag attached to product is removed or package of product is opened and product value is damaged
- When sealed package is opened or packaging materials are lost
- When too much time has passed and product value has so decreased that its re-sale is not possible
- When return/exchange request is made for customized product such as hand-made shoes or accessories
- When components of product (including free gift) have been used or lost
- When buyer did not follow instructions included in product
As e-voucher products are immediately sent to your e-mail, returns/exchanges are not available. Please take note of this before purchase, and input your e-mail address correctly.
As Mobile Top-up products are directly reloaded on your cell phone number, returns/exchanges are not available. Please take note of this before purchase, and enter your cell phone number correctly.
For any inconvenience regarding Cancellation/Return/Exchange, please email to [email protected] and we will do our best to help you.
- Please note that, direct transaction with the seller without using PrestoMall payment service can cause problems such as; not receiving the product, receiving different product etc.
- For sales products and contents registered by the seller, PrestoMall run by Presto Mall has no responsibility on any of the registered contents.


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|Image Source
If you have other sources of income, or live with someone who helps with the bills, you cannot truly understand the strain of making an income via freelance writing. You can write part-time and be fine. Folks like me who are single and rely only on ourselves have to make a huge time commitment.
The amount of time I personally spend working every week is monstrous. Add in full-time nursing school, being a caretaker for two people and having no-so-great health and it takes its toll. However, the end benefit of financial security, as well as financial independence, is well worth the roll of the dice.
For me, just getting by is just not good enough. I also enjoy having savings and the ability to have a few non-necessities from time to time. I am willing to put in 80 to 100 hours a week to have a comfortable life. Plus, I love what I do so most of it does not feel like work.
Now, I cannot tell you how much time you personally need to spend writing, as all of our situations are different and unique. However, I can tell you that being a freelance writer is exactly like owning a business. Businesses take time commitment and sacrifice. Are you willing to do each of these? If not, then there is a high chance that a career in freelance writing is not for you.
If you are not the sole bill payer, you may be able to get away with a lot less hours than I put in. If you are like me and are single and completely self-reliant, then the time commitment will likely be very big. Most will never have to work the hours I do because most people do not have the bills that I do (multiple monthly medical expenses and I am paying for nursing school completely out of pocket plus all regular adult bills).
I will say this: never kill yourself by working yourself into the ground, but never think that you can skate by by writing whenever the mood strikes. You need to commit a certain amount of time each week based on your goals and stick to it. This is a job afterall, and should be treated as such.


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The matter of climatic change and its particular affect on our lives as well as the lives in our lavish children can be a severe a single, with unbelievable outcomes for the planet the planet, the world and all individuals who inhale onto it. When guy had started off messing around with character for years and years, it took an unattractive transform since the so-called commercial trend. We began emitting large amounts of co2 as well as other damaging gases in the atmosphere, dumping solid manufacturing waste in our lovely and real estuaries and rivers and developed a website of day-to-day convenience materials and gizmos with polluting uncooked components. All this began possessing unfavorable affect on the environmental harmony program. Nowadays, it is actually obligatory on each one of us to act and do items to turn back this period, or else completely, at least to a agreed and appropriate degree. Quickly. Kurorti abastumani
- Resort sector carries a large duty in helping the reason behind climatic change and it has replied by marketing.
- Hotels and accommodations should take a.
Accommodation industry carries a large responsibility in aiding the main cause of climatic change and contains responded by marketing the green accommodation idea, which can be quick gathering popularity with the visiting community. In the majority of countries around the world, the town organizing regulators approve a motel constructing arrange for a new accommodation, only when it complies with green design and style specifications. This can ensure that the hotels and resort hotels of the future will adhere to suggested ecological criteria; the process is to ensure the previous motel properties adjust actions that can decrease their carbon footprint. The workout is not merely bodily that a person alterations plant life, machinery and tools with more cost effective versions, but it additionally signifies that people employed in the hotels come to be an integral part of this process for its accomplishment.
Contains responded by marketing the green
Motel and vacation resort designers, inside decorators, methods specialists and others who form the primary group for motel growth also have to have a in depth familiarity with the green principle. The building style and format has to be cost effective. Only sustainable materials to become specific on the degree achievable and available which may permit pollutants within permissible degrees. First and foremost the team really needs an overall dedication and faith in what they may be doing entirely realising their obligation towards properly-getting in the atmosphere. Kurorti abastumani
Also have
The primary locations where the accommodations and resort hotels need to focus is effective consumption of all kinds of electricity, be it electrical energy, h2o, gas, coal or wood. Inserting all resources for electricity squander like keeping lighting fixtures on when they are not required, streaming taps, overflowing tanks and cisterns, too much strain in fuel burners, squander of recyclable warmth along with the listing continues on. One more location is always to tackle temps inside the oxygen-conditioning method, hot water temperatures tracking, laundry a method to obtain highest water and heavy steam ingestion, kitchen where probable might be in a few regions, water, gasoline and vapor. Outside brightness is an additional region where protecting probable is out there. Kurorti abastumani
Highest water and heavy steam
Hotels and accommodations need to look at cost savings in vitality and resources throughout the motel friends. You will find lodges which have effectively manufactured hotel visitors as his or her associates in conservation programs. Case in point is illumination, linen transform, fabric use to mention a few. These procedures, when aiding in hotels persistence for the environment preservation also include their discuss to the conclusion.
Manufactured hotel visitors as
Accommodation as an enterprise plus an hotelier like a liable part of the society have no choice but to go eco-friendly. The good news is, our company is inside an business exactly where we have knowledgeable, smart and understanding clients who if not more, tend to be at minimum evenly responsible members of the society. The job consequently is a joint enterprise. In this particular struggle to conserve and conserve our world world, you will find no geographical boundaries, no religion with no shade, our planet belongs equally to we all. Kurorti abastumani
News is our company is inside
- Resort being an organization and an hotelier being a liable person in.
- The primary locations where the hotels.


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Embotics Corporation, a pioneer in virtualization and cloud management software, today announced an upgrade program for users of VMware vCenter Lab Manager, which will reach its end of life this year and will no longer be supported by VMware effective May 1, 2013. Embotics V-Commander provides automated provisioning for test and development environments to allow IT organizations to become more dynamic and agile. Those teams can now upgrade their VMware vCenter Lab Manager licenses to Embotics V-Commander licenses at a net-zero cost, ensuring a supported platform for future development initiatives.
As VMware phases out support for the product over the next few months, users may find that vCenter Lab Manager no longer works if they upgrade to vSphere 5. Organizations could get stuck in aging environments unless they opt to migrate to vCloud Director or vCloud Automation Center, which are too complex and more expensive for most lab and development environments. To help users avoid this challenge, Embotics is offering Embotics V-Commander licenses at the same cost as existing vCenter Lab Manager maintenance and support. The Embotics Upgrade Your VMware vCenter Lab Manager program is available to users until March 31, 2013 and includes a free migration accelerator, as well as two days' worth of Embotics professional services to get next-generation lab environments up and running.
"It's always a challenge for an organization when a product they use reaches end-of-life. These organizations need options, and Embotics V-Commander is definitely a good option for users of vCenter Lab Manager," said Stephen Galbraith, executive vice president engineering and technical services at Empowered Networks, a Toronto-based specialized systems integrator that designs, deploys and manages technical solutions for networks, labs and data centers. "Embotics V-Commander lets IT provision and optimize multiple test and development environments quickly and easily. It's a simple and easy to implement option for vCenter Lab Manager users."
Embotics V-Commander offers rapid provisioning, self-service, service catalogs, IT costing and chargeback, workflow automation, resource optimization and lifecycle management capabilities. Its Web-based lab management features include configuration management, waste reclamation and ad-hoc reporting, all from a single pane of glass. Embotics V-Commander reduces test lab capital and operating costs while giving lab users higher quality of service.
"Embotics V-Commander is one of the only on-premise solutions in the marketplace, and it delivers a range of lab management capabilities, including the ability to deliver self-service management and provisioning portals to end users in a safe, secure and automated fashion," said Jay Litkey, CEO of Embotics. "Embotics V-Commander leverages existing virtualization investments and solves the broad challenges of the test and development environment. By offering this competitive upgrade to vCenter Lab Manager users, we're empowering IT to deliver applications with greater agility and without losing their vital support services."
The Embotics Upgrade Your VMware vCenter Lab Manager program also applies to those who have already migrated to vCloud Director or vCloud Automation Center for the purposes of lab management. The offer includes the substitution of vCenter Lab Manager/vCloud Director/vCloud Automation Center licenses with Embotics V-Commander licenses and price protection. (Customers will need to purchase service and support contracts from Embotics.) For those users unable to break out of their vCenter Lab Manager renewal pricing, Embotics V-Commander is specially priced at $299 per socket per year.
To take advantage of the Embotics upgrade your lab manager program, visit http://www.embotics.com/Embotics_Announces_Upgrade_Your_VMware_vCenter_Lab_Manager_Program


text: A plastic surgeon biopsied a nodule from the index finger of a 43 year old female. The surgeon said that the nodule was present beneath the nailbed, that it was "expanding" the bone of the distal phalanx and wondered about an "epidermal inclusion cyst". The nodule was biopsied to rule out malignancy.


text:
A testicular biopsy is a test to remove a small sample of tissue from one
or both
testicles and examine it under a microscope to
evaluate a man's ability to father a child.
testicles (testes) are oval-shaped glands that hang in
the scrotum beneath the base of the penis. The testicles produce
sperm (necessary for reproduction) and male hormones,
such as
A testicular
biopsy may, on rare occasions, be done to help
determine the cause of male infertility. Testicular biopsy may be done if both
of the following are present:
Testicular biopsy is not usually used to detect
testicular cancer. When cancer is suspected, an open
surgical procedure (orchiectomy) is done to confirm the diagnosis.
Testicular biopsy may also be done to retrieve sperm for
in vitro fertilization for
intracytoplasmic sperm injection (IVF-ICSI).
Before having a testicular biopsy, be
sure to tell your doctor if you:
You will need to sign a consent form that says you
understand the risks of a testicular biopsy and agree to have the biopsy. Talk
to your doctor about any concerns you have regarding the need for the test, its
risks, how it will be done, or what the results will mean. To help you
understand the importance of the biopsy, fill out the
medical test information form(What is a PDF document?).
If a testicular biopsy is done under
local anesthesia, no other special preparation is
If the
biopsy is done under
general anesthesia, your doctor will tell you how soon
before surgery to stop eating and drinking. Follow the instructions exactly
about when to stop eating and drinking, or your surgery may be canceled. If
your doctor has instructed you to take your medicines on the day of surgery,
please do so using only a sip of water. During
preparation for the biopsy, an
intravenous line (IV) is inserted in your arm, and a
sedative medicine is given about an hour before the
This biopsy is done by a
surgeon or a doctor who treats reproductive health
problems in men (urologist) in the doctor's office, a day surgery
clinic, or a hospital operating room.
You will lie on your back on
an examining table. The skin over your testicle is cleaned with an antiseptic
solution, and the area around it is covered with sterile cloth. Your doctor
will wear sterile gloves. It is very important that you do not touch this
sterile area.
A local anesthetic will be injected into the skin of
the scrotum to numb (anesthetize) the area. Then a small incision is made
through the skin, and a tiny piece of testicular tissue is removed with small
scissors. A single stitch is used to close the incision in the testicle, and
another stitch is used to close the incision in the skin. (Absorbable sutures
are used so the stitches do not need to be removed.) The procedure is usually
repeated on the other testicle. The scrotal area is then bandaged. You will be
asked to wear an athletic supporter for several days after the procedure to
help support the testicles while the incisions heal.
If general
anesthesia is used, you will be asleep during the procedure but the same method
will be used.
The biopsy usually takes 15 to 20 minutes. You will
probably be advised to refrain from sexual activity for 1 to 2 weeks after the
biopsy. You should avoid washing the area for several days.
You will feel a brief sting when the IV
line is inserted or when the local anesthetic is injected. Other than that, the
procedure should be painless.
Your scrotum and testicles may be
somewhat sore for 3 to 4 days after the biopsy and some bruising may be
present. You may also notice a small amount of bleeding through the bandage,
which is normal. Talk to your doctor about how much bleeding to expect.
There is a slight risk of prolonged bleeding or
infection from this procedure. There is no risk of erection problems or
infertility as a result of this biopsy. If general anesthesia is used, there is
a small risk of complications from anesthesia.
Call your doctor immediately if
you have:
A testicular
biopsy is a test in which a small sample of tissue is
taken from one or both
testicles and examined under a microscope to evaluate
a man's ability to father a child. Results are usually available in 2 to 4
pathologist examines the biopsy sample through a
microscope for any abnormalities in sperm production or maturation. If sperm
development appears normal yet a semen analysis test shows reduced or absent
sperm, a blockage of the tube (vas deferens) from the testes to the
urethra is suspected. A blocked vas deferens can sometimes be repaired by
It is important to remain
completely still while a biopsy is done under
local anesthesia. If this is not possible, general
anesthesia may be needed.
Testicular cancer is more likely to spread when a testicular biopsy is done. For
this reason, a biopsy usually is not done if testicular cancer is suspected. A
ultrasound is generally done to help diagnose
suspected testicular cancer. For more information, see the topic
Testicular Ultrasound. When cancer is suspected, an
open surgical procedure (orchiectomy) is done to confirm the diagnosis.
Other Works ConsultedGoldstein M (2012). Surgical management of male infertility. In AJ Wein et al., eds., Campbell-Walsh Urology, 10th ed., vol. 1, pp. 648–987. Philadelphia: Saunders.Walsh TJ, Smith JF (2013). Male infertility. In JW McAninch, TF Lue, eds., Smith and Tanagho's General Urology, 18th ed., pp. 687–719. New York: McGraw-Hill.
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December 28, 2012
Healthwise Staff
Medical Review:
E. Gregory Thompson, MD - Internal Medicine & Christopher G. Wood, MD, FACS - Urology, Oncology
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text:
Worldly women: Globe-hopping grads tell all
Through its latest evening lecture series, "Virginia 2020: Women Engaged with the World," the University of Virginia's Women's Center continues its mission to enlighten, empower, and celebrate women as shapers of the world.
Like most of the programs at the center, which range from mentoring to sexual assault education, this series is part of a bigger, forward-reaching plan. Eager to foster dialogue and spark change, the center decided to use UVA's broad "2020 Plan"– a vision of the university's future focusing on science and technology, fine arts, international affairs, and public service–- as a call to arms. Since 2000, and continuing through 2004, the Women's Center will examine the role of women in these four key areas.
Starting off 2003 with a punch, the "Women Engaged with the World" series brings to the forefront six female pioneers whose work in legal, human rights, judicial, and artistic arenas is transforming traditional power structures around the world and creating positive change, for us all.
The first talk in the series, "An American's Journey in Asia" Thursday January 30, is by Diane Johnston, UVA '75, currently Executive Director of Radio Free Asia. Johnston joined the Foreign Service fresh out of college and was posted to Taipei, Hong Kong, and Beijing. "My postings coincided with the normalization of relations between the U.S. and China, and I hope to convey some of the thrills and chills of those years in my talk," she says.
Some of the points she'll expound upon include the challenge of explaining to the most densely populated city in the world that NASA can't guarantee that an out-of-control 75-ton satellite will not hit Hong Kong when it falls from the sky; how your elected representatives behave on junkets overseas; and how to make the Chinese government back down.
She'll also talk and answer questions about Radio Free Asia, news source to countries denied freedom of information by their own governments, in her attempts to encourage her audience to get active overseas.
The rest of the series promises a similar mix of education and inspiration. Is it just a coincidence that, like Johnston, most of the speakers are UVA grads? Not at all.
"Thinking about international affairs is quite a kaleidoscopic undertaking," explains series programmer Sarah Whitney. "By looking at the ways in which Virginia graduates go out and engage with international projects designed to better women's lives, we have a way of exploring the connections between our community and the larger, global one."
Now that's what I call putting your degree to good use.
Diane Johnston discusses how the media can be a tool for political and social transformation on Thursday, January 30, at 7pm in the Curry School of Education's Ruffner Hall Main Auditorium (Emmet Street just across from the parking garage). A schedule of the "Virginia 2020: Women Engaged with the World" lecture series is available at the Women's Center, or visit womenscenter.virginia.edu.


text:
The Detroit-MI-US-flight destination airport of choice is Detroit Metropolitan Airport. This bustling international airport is home to airlines, such as Delta, American Airlines, and Southwest as well as Air France, Air Canada, and Lufthansa. Prices for flights to Detroit vary by point of origin. For example, a flight from Los Angeles to Detroit is $396 while round-trip flights to Detroit from Miami are $432 and from New York are $260.
The airport is within minutes of downtown Detroit and offers a wide range of transport options to get you to your Detroit hotel of choice. There is local bus service and various shuttle services as well as the Detroit Metro Airport Taxi service and limo service. All the major car rental brands are represented at Detroit airport.
Hotels in Detroit cater to different travelers, including efficient business hotels like the Marriott and Hilton as well as luxury boutique hotels, such as the Inn on Ferry Street and the Atheneum Suite Hotel and family bargain hotels like the Holiday Inn. Prices range from $51 per night on last-minute online deals to $114 for a family-style hotel to $239 for a luxury Detroit hotel.
Detroit has historic attractions that provide a look into the area's past and present, such as the Motown Museum in Detroit and the Henry Ford Museum are just outside of city limits. Further afield but close enough to add to your trip itinerary are natural attractions like the Great Lakes.
Peak prices for hotels and flights to Detroit are throughout the summer and up until October. Winter offers cheaper, off-season rates. It may be cold, but there are ski resorts nearby.
© 2019 Hipmunk® and Concur® Hipmunk® are trademarks of Hipmunk, Inc. and Concur Technologies, Inc.


text:
The Biking Wittwer Family
Join Travis Wittwer for a day of bike commuting with his children in Portland, Ore. Travis uses a Metrofiets, a box-style cargo bike designed and made in Portland.
Click here to start the slide show.
Powered by Dr Pepper, Travis Wittwer rides through the city dropping children off here and there; getting groceries; or riding one of his many cargo bikes. When he is not biking, writing, or fixing the things his kids break, he is a middle school English teacher and adjunct professor. Read more about his biking adventures in .
- : Car-free living not only cuts back on your greenhouse gas emissions. It also builds local community, brings families closer together, and helps support local economies.
- : Bike commuting tips and stories from our staff.


text:
AppServ the begining.
AppServ is not support by Thai Goverment or Corporation but this program was inspire by Phanupong Panyadee (AppServ Foundation). Concept of AppServ it is Easy to install Apache, PHP, MySQL in 1 minute. Many people in this world have problem when Install Apache, PHP, MySQL becuase use long time to configure and some time can make dizzy. First time of distribution provide on October 9, 2001. Many people use AppServ and growing up everywhere in this world. Right now AppServ website provide in Thai and English language. For the future AppServ wet site will provide every languages on world.
AppServ is.
AppServ is a full-featured of Apache, MySQL, PHP, phpMyAdmin. You can setup in 1 minite.
Package of AppServ
– Apache
– MySQL
– phpMyAdmin
All packages download from Official Binary Release. AppServ objective just make easy to setup. We do not provide anything else more than Official Binary Release package. Becuase we think the Official Binary Release work better than compile by individual or third-party binary.
AppServ have only special configuration when install, Apache configure httpd.conf, MySQL configure my.ini, PHP configure php.ini. AppServ can guaranty any package from AppServ can work stable like Official of Apache, PHP, MySQL Release.
Objective of AppServ Just Easy to install. You can setup web server, database server in 1 minute.For some question AppServ can be Real Production Web Server or Database Server. We can tell you Yes !! 100% can make AppServ to provide Production Server. But Windows OS is not good enough for heavy load on you web or database server.Windows OS architecture use more memory and CPU usage we recommend you to useLinux/Unix OS to service heavy load of work. Because Linux/Unix OS have more speed and use less memory and CPU usage. If you compare hit when use Windows OS and Linux/Unix OS you must be found a very difference speed. e.g. Windows can handle 1000 users per second but Linux/Unix OS can handle more than 1000 users per second and eat a little memory and cpu.
How difference of AppServ version.
AppServ Version
2.4.x is a Superb stable version work for all user, by the way this version use PHP 4.x because work fine with your old PHP code.
2.5.x is the Rock function. This version provide newest and experimental of Apache, PHP, MySQL.
8.0.0 is a New version on 2016 Support for Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10
Recommend for AppServ
We recommend for all AppServ user. You do not upgrade to new version every time when released. You should to select some version for your work if you think this version stable for you. New version is not mean good.
Name : Phanupong Panyadee (apples)
Work Description :
AppServ Founder, AppServ maintainer, Webmaster, Forum Admin,
Web moderator in Thai and English language.


text:
Producer for MSNBC's The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell more
Casey Dolan hails from New Canaan, CT and graduated from Villanova University in 2008. Go Wildcats!
Casey is a producer at "The Last Word w/ Lawrence O'Donnell." She is responsible for booking and coordinating the guests for "The Last Word" and finding new faces to join the conversation on the show. Casey also works closely with the K.I.N.D fund – an organization created by Lawrence O'Donnell that raises money to provide desks to schoolchildren in Malawi.
Casey lives in Manhattan with her husband, Dennis and their beagle/basset hound mix, Potato. She loves animals, hip-hop, quoting movies, iced coffee and of course - election years.
Shows The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell, The Rachel Maddow Show


text:
To whom it may concern, the letter-writer began, I find it appalling that $6 million is being spent to study something that any 3rd grader should be able to figure out.
The writer continued: "It is virtually impossible to enhance the flavor of an industrial farmed tomato because the flavor has been bred OUT of the varieties grown by big agriculture in favor of disease resistance and shelf stability. I can pick a green tomato from my yard and let it ripen on the counter and it will be delicious. That will just never be the case with most of the hybrids that have been developed over the past 20 years because flavor was NOT a priority. You can't add it in after the fact."UC Davis Cooperative Extension specialist Beth Mitcham, director of the UC Davis Postharvest Technology Center, wrote the following response:
"I agree with part of your comment but not entirely. It is true that breeders have focused for many years on yield, disease resistance and long shelf life. However, in recent years, breeders are paying more attention to flavor quality. As you mentioned, you can take a green tomato and ripen it into a great tasting tomato. I have also done this with tomatoes obtained from a commercial field.
"The problem with tomatoes harvested green and ripened after harvest is that the fruit are exposed to low temperatures. Studies have shown that exposure of tomatoes for just 24 hours to temperatures of 50 degrees reduces their flavor compounds by 50 percent. Most tomatoes are shipped to market at 45 to 50 degrees to reduce softening and decay. Another problem with green tomatoes and many other fruit is the maturity of the fruit at harvest. The earlier it is picked, the less flavor compounds the fruit will produce when it is fully ripe.
"This $6 million grant is focused on providing growers and shippers with the tools to successfully pick more mature or riper produce and deliver it to consumers with good flavor. We are refining technologies to sort the fruit by maturity and ripeness to remove the under-ripe and overripe fruit before shipment, better packaging to prevent bruising of softer, riper fruit during transport, methods to slow further ripening of riper fruit after harvest that may allow us to ship fruit at higher temperatures so that flavor is not lost.
"While you can always get the best flavor quality when you take a ripe product off the plant and eat it within a day, many US consumers do not have easy access to these products and most cannot get access year-round. While consumers recognize that fruits and vegetables are good for them, they only eat 2 to 3 servings per day (including French fries) instead of the 5 to 9 servings that are recommended. We believe that poor flavor contributes to low consumption. Our goal is to improve the flavor quality of fruits and vegetables available through your local grocery market so that consumers eat more – hopefully reaching the 5-a-day recommended for good health."


text:
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text:
Apple has never been bashful about drawing lines in the sand surrounding its tightly-controlled iOS mobile platform, but the company has always been a little more inclusive with its Mac OS X desktop operating system. However, changes are afoot in the world of Mac OS X as well: Apple has officially deprecated Java, the cross-platform runtime environment developed by Sun and now owned by Oracle, and the company has decided not to include Adobe Flash technology on its new super-slim MacBook Air notebook computers. If new MacBook Air customers want to use Adobe Flash in Safari, Firefox, or other browsers, they'll have to download and install it themselves…and anybody who's attempted to use Adobe's Flash installers for Mac OS X knows that's no fun.
First, as of Mac OS X 10.6 Update 3, Apple has officially deprecated the Java runtime included in the operating system, and warned developers that they should not count on Apple's Java runtime being present in future versions of Mac OS X—including the forthcoming Mac OS X 10.7 "Lion." This doesn't exactly mean that Java has no future on the Macintosh, but rather that Apple isn't going to be committing its own engineering resources to shipping a runtime with Mac OS X. When Mac OS X was brand-new, Apple wanted the system to be a first-rate Java platform, and the Java runtime built into Mac OS X is developed by Apple and certified by Sun—now Oracle, since Oracle acquired Sun. One result was that Apple's Java often lagged behind official releases from Sun and Oracle: Java 6 didn't land in Mac OS X until almost two years after other platforms. Although other developers may produce Java VMs for the Mac—and Oracle may decide to do the work itself—the biggest issue here is uncertainty: programmers working in Java on the Mac now have no clear future on the platform…and perhaps no future at all.
Perhaps of more interest to consumers is that Apple has decided not to include Adobe Flash on its new MacBook Air notebooks. Unlike the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPadk—which simply cannot run Flash at all—the new MacBook Airs are perfectly capable of running Adobe Flash. Customers who want Flash will have to download it themselves from Adobe.
Apple's strategy here seems two-pronged: first, the company is likely making a point that a considerable amount of online content that "requires" Flash is often available using other technologies, like HTML5 and H.264 video. (In part, this is because content providers want that material to be available to iOS devices.) Second, Apple is probably washing its hands of the stability and security issues that have plagued Adobe's Flash player recently: Apple suffered a bit of a black eye by shipping an outdated version of Flash player with Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, and has repeatedly blamed Adobe Flash for stability problems in Mac OS X Web browsers: "Flash is the number one reason Macs crash," Apple CEO Steve Jobs wrote in an open letter earlier this year.
By omitting Flash from its default software setup, Apple may be hoping to wash its hands of some of Flash's problems. Unfortunately, by shifting those troubles to consumers, Apple risks being perceived as part of the problem rather than part of the solution. Look for Apple to extend it's Flash-less stance to additional Mac models, and don't be surprised if Flash doesn't make it into Mac OS X 10.7 "Lion" next year.
(Anyone who has used Adobe's Flash player installer for Mac OS X knows what a nightmare it is. Quick tip: instead of using Adobe's installer, open the package contents for the installer, look in the
Contents > Resources directory, and run the Apple installer package from there.)
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