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Elegant Oval Diamond Tennis Bracelet In 14K 18K Or Platinum
An Elegant Oval Diamond Tennis Bracelet In 14K 18K Or Platinum 14K White Gold,Carat: 12.00 ct.,Diamond Color: HI,Diamond Clarity: I-1
A Gorgeus 14K White Gold Emerald, Onyx & 2 1/2 CTW Diamond Cuff Bracelet
A Gorgeus 14K White Gold Emerald, Onyx & 2 1/2 CTW Diamond Cuff Bracelet
Diamond and Blue Sapphire Antique Art Deco Design 18k White Gold Bracelet
This is a stunning diamond & blue sapphire 18k white gold antique style bracelet! This fabulous bracelet,designed in Italy, features gorgeous baguette cut blue sapphires, weighing 5.52 carats total withbaguette cut and round brilliant cut white diamonds of F color, VS2 clarity, excellent cut and brilliance … Continued
Edwardian Sapphire and Diamond Bracelet, circa 1910
This stunning Edwardian bracelet features a claw set central sapphire which is an impressive blue. The natural gemstone weighs 1.35 carat and has no evidence of heat treatment. It is beautifully surrounded by a halo of old cut diamonds totaling … Continued
28.58 Carat Natural Red Ruby and Diamond (F-G Color, VS1-VS2 Clarity) 14K Yellow Gold Luxury Tennis Bracelet
28.58 Carat Natural Ruby and Diamond 14K Yellow Gold Tennis Bracelet Created by Fashion StradaItem Type: BraceletItem Style: TennisItem Length: 7.5 InchesItem Width: 6.22 mmMaterial: 14K Yellow GoldMainstone: RubyStone Color: RedStone Weight: 27.78 CaratStone Shape: OvalStone Creation Method: NaturalStone Treatment … Continued
Designed as a graduated series of five emerald beads, spaced by single-cut diamond rondelles, to the natural pearl bracelet, measuring from approximately 5.77 x 5.63 to 4.46 x 3.96 mm, with two emerald bead terminals and rose-cut diamond clasp, mounted … Continued
42.74 Ct Emerald and Yellow and white Diamond Bracelet in 18K White Gold
An Exquisite 42.74 CT Emerald and Yellow and white Diamond Bracelet in 18K White Gold Color Weight: 21.70ct. of Matching Emerald Diamond Weight: 3.13 ct fancy yellow diamonds17.19 ct. of WHITE VVS/F/G Diamonds
Tiffany & Co. Schlumberger Turquoise Enamel, 18kt Gold & Diamond Bracelet
Tiffany & Co. Enamel & Diamond Bracelet by Jean Schlumberger Turquoise Paillone Enamel: Jean Schlumberger rediscovered the 19th century art of paillone enamel, a process of layering enamel over 18k gold leaf. 18kt Yellow Gold 19 + Carats of Very … Continued


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Most people who run for president seem to be on a political trajectory since birth.
In his mid-30s, former Vice President Joe Biden was already a U.S. Senator. Pete Buttigieg was into his second term as mayor of South Bend (he's just 37 now).
John Hickenlooper was getting laid off.
"I got laid off as a geologist," he told Rick Newman as part of Yahoo Finance's Meet the Candidate series. "I was out of work for over two years."
Hickenlooper, the former governor of Colorado, earned a master's degree in geology and went to work as a geologist for a company called Buckhorn Petroleum. By the mid-1980s, the oil industry in Colorado was struggling and the company was sold and reorganized. He was let go in 1986.
"That's what a lot of people that supported Trump feel like," he says, "feeling like you've been left behind or that no one really cares about your future."
His situation was not exactly like many struggling Trump supporters. As he noted in his memoir, he received a year's worth of severance when he was let go. He'd also been thinking about starting a business before the ax fell, so when the moment finally came, "truth was, I could not have been happier," he wrote.
Over the intervening two years, Hickenlooper figured out his next move: gathering investors to start his own business.
He opened the Wynkoop Brewing Company in Denver in 1988 with some business partners.
That business put Hickenlooper on a trajectory that led to his time as mayor of Denver, governor of Colorado, and now a presidential candidate. When he eventually sold his stake in the company in 2007, he reportedly netted between $5 million and $10 million.
As he wrote in his book, "if I hadn't been laid off, there's no telling how long I might have done the sensible thing and stayed on, feeling unfulfilled, misplaced; my real life might never have begun."
His business background, and the layoff that led to it, are now part of his presidential campaign message focused on his record as a pro-business pragmatist. It's a message that has yet to break through in a race largely shaped by the ideas of Bernie Sanders, a Democratic Socialist.
"Most people have no idea that I came from this kind of a background," he says. "That, in a funny way, really has prepared me, almost uniquely, to address Donald Trump."
Ben Werschkul is a producer for Yahoo Finance in Washington, DC.
Read more from Meet the Candidate
Why a Democratic underdog stays in the presidential hunt
This Democrat says corporations need a 'social mission'
Meet presidential candidate Kirsten Gillibrand
Gillibrand: Trump was right about the DC swamp but 'he lied'
Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance
Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flipboard, LinkedIn, YouTube, and reddit.

subset: commoncrawl


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In 1973, the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) introduced the standard call options that we know today. In 1977, the put option was introduced. They have proven to be extremely popular as trading volume has grown at a compound annual growth rate over 25% between 1973 and 2009. Clearly, investors understand options, are becoming more comfortable with them and are using them in a variety of strategies.
Weeklys: A New Class of Options
In 2005, 32 years after introducing the call option, the CBOE began a pilot program with weekly options. They behave like monthly options in every respect except they only exist for eight days. They are introduced each Thursday and they expire eight days later on Friday (with adjustments for holidays). Investors who historically enjoyed 12 monthly expirations on the third Friday of each month can now enjoy 52 expirations per year.
Investor interest in the weeklys has surged since 2009, with an average daily volume of just the S&P 500 weekly options exceeding 520,000 contracts in 2017, a 35% increase over 2016. (For related reading, see: Give Yourself More Options With Weekly and Quarterly Options.)
What Can You Trade With Weekly Options?
Indexes with weeklys available include:
- CBOE Dow Jones Industrial Average Index (DJX)
- Nasdaq 100 Index (NDX)
- S&P 100 Index (OEX)
- S&P 500 Index (SPX)
Popular ETFs for which weeklys are available include:
- SPDR Gold Trust ETF (GLD)
- iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index ETF(EEM)
- iShares Russell 2000 Index Fund (IWM)
- PowerShares QQQ (QQQQ)
- Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF)
Many popular stocks also have weeklys available. Indexes, ETFs and stocks are always being added, and you can find a current list of available weekly options on the CBOE website.
Weekly Option Strategies
Virtually any strategy you can implement with the longer-dated options you can also do with weeklys.
For premium sellers who like to take advantage of the rapidly accelerating time decay curve in an option's final week of its life, the weeklys are a bonanza. Now you can get paid 52 times per year instead of 12. Whether you enjoy selling naked puts and calls, covered calls, spreads, condors or any other type, they all work with weeklys as they do with the monthlies, just on a shorter timeline.
The Short-Term Advantage of Weeklys
In addition, during three out of four weeks, the weeklys offer something you can't accomplish with the monthlies: the ability to make a very short-term bet on a particular news item or anticipated sudden price movement. Let's imagine it's the first week of the month and you expect XYZ stock to move because their earnings report is due out this week. While it would be possible to buy or sell the XYZ monthlies to capitalize on your theory, you would be risking three weeks of premium in the event you're wrong and XYZ moves against you. With the weeklys, you only have to risk one week's worth of premium. This will potentially save you money if you are wrong, or give you a nice return if you are correct.
Although the open interest and the volume of the weeklys are large enough to produce reasonable bid-ask spreads, they are usually not as high as the monthly expirations. The well-known pinning action that takes place in monthlys, where a stock tends to gravitate toward a strike price on expiration day, does not seem to happen as much or as strongly with the weeklys.
The Downside of Weekly Options
There are a couple of negatives regarding weeklys:
- Because of their short duration and rapid time decay, you rarely have time to repair a trade that has moved against you by adjusting the strikes or just waiting for some kind of mean revision in the underlying security.
- Although the open interest and volume are good, that is not necessarily true for every strike in the weekly series. Some strikes will have very wide spreads, and that is not good for short-term strategies.
The Bottom Line
The weeklys are another tool in your investor toolbox. Like most of the other tools in that box, they are powerful enough to create quick profits or quick losses, depending on how you use them. The good news is if you trade monthly options, you already have some experience with the weeklys because the final week of a monthly is nearly identical to how a weekly behaves. In fact, during the monthly expiration week, they are the same security. Anyone who has developed an expiration day (or expiration week) strategy can almost certainly use their strategy with the weeklys now. (For further reading, see: Stock Options and Weekly Options.)


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Matthew is an associate in our national family team, joining Weightmans in May 2015 having previously worked at London firm Clintons.
He specialises in the financial ramifications of divorce and separation and is a Resolution Accredited Specialist for complex financial and cohabitation cases. He has extensive experience of high net worth matters, including those involving complex company, pension and trust assets. He represents cohabiting couples in relation to disputed property interests under the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996 and advises in relation to financial provision for children under Schedule 1 Children Act 1989. He is also frequently instructed to prepare pre-nuptial, post-nuptial and cohabitation agreements.
Matthew also represents clients in children matters, including where a parent wishes to permanently remove a child from the jurisdiction of England and Wales, or relocate to another area of the country.
Matthew takes a proactive approach to reach the best possible settlement for clients in a cost-effective and timely manner, whether negotiating out of court or using the court process.
Clients praise Matthew for being "helpful and sympathetic", for his "excellent advice" and for being a "rock", while he is recognised in the legal directories as being "excellent and thinks through cases very carefully to make very sound tactical decisions" (Legal 500 – 2018).
He is a well-known figure in the local family law community, being Chair of Merseyside Resolution, the membership group for family law professionals in the Merseyside region. He also sits on numerous court committees and the Liverpool Law Society family law committee.
Divorce tourism is not always successful as the recent decision in Potanin v Potanina shows.
As the festive period draws ever closer, many families will be stretching their finances to breaking point to pay for Christmas, with more than a…
Arriving with exquisite timing in the middle of Good Divorce Week – the annual awareness week of family law solicitors' group Resolution – the…
Matthew Taylor comments on the latest update in the long-running and notorious case of Hart v Hart...
Solicitor Matthew Taylor advises how to deal with financing legal proceedings following a high profile divorce case last month..
Legal Directory Quote
Matthew Taylor is "excellent and thinks through cases very carefully to make very sound tactical decisions". Legal 500 2019


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Compassionate Support and Experienced Legal Counsel
Harper Law PLLC is a small, highly relational law firm practicing in the area of personal injury and dedicated to helping people who have been seriously injured by the negligence of another. Personal injury attorney Ed Harper provides compassionate support and experienced legal counsel for individuals throughout Washington State. Ed is licensed to practice in both Washington and the state of California.
I have had a chance to run through your response (and Paige sent me the Letter, which I looked over as well), and I want to say, "Thank you!" for helping to clarify…as you know, I get super stressed about this whole thing and your guidance is priceless!
Thanks again,"
— Anonymous
Notable Personal Injury Verdict
$5.86 Million verdict for brain injury - Superior Court, King County, (Seattle) Washington, May 27, 2009. Head-on collision left client with a fractured leg, contusions and a brain injury. Having rejected plaintiff's $1.25 Million policy limit demand, PEMCO Insurance Co. had unlimited exposure. At trial PEMCO offered $2 Million, then $2.5 Million. Jury ultimately returned verdict for $5.86 Million.
We Are Here to Help
Although our office does not handle all types of cases, we hope you will contact us regarding any legal issues you may encounter. We will answer your questions, or refer you to another quality and trustworthy attorney if we are unable to assist you.


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Because #SampleSunday is all about trying before buying, I thought I'd share a scene that inroduces some of the major characters in the series and lets you sample two books at once! Man Made Man is Book 1 of the Phoenician Series and in it, you'll read Raif's story so he's in this scene. His sense of humor, his sense of self-confident arrogance, you get all of Raif, all the time here (LOL),
Also meet Raif's "new best friend," Jared Crenshaw, who was used to "spy" on Raif for Dr. Cory Jansen and whose daily and weekly reports crossed the desk of William Harrington--Director William Harrington--for five years. But they never got a chance to speak to each other, not until now.
It's quite the juggling act to watch the varying dynamics of all three of these men. They each interact with the other two in differing ways. Well, William lies to everyone but like everything Harrington, he lies beautifully!
If you enjoy this scene, you'll probably like the rest of Man Made Man, given that this scene is demonstrative of my "voice," and writing style, the pacing, tone, and humor in my books, and of course, the characterizations I write.
If you like William and Jared's chemistry, in particular, you should also check out their m/m romance, a gay scifi erotica piece titled A First Time for Everything which will be releasing on my birthday, November 7th of this year.
By next weekend, you'll be able to place preorders with Apple, Nook and Kobo and or directly from Smashwords, where I'll earn the highest royalties. For now, add A First Time for Everything to your "Wants to Read" shelf on Goodreads and come back here next weekend on #SampleSunday to read a snippet from that short story (28,000 words).
Now onto the sampling from Man Made Man, which is available exclusively from Amazon Kindle for now ((frown)) but that means Kindle PRIME customers can get a copy free!
It's been 400 years since When Minds Collide and William still hasn't given up hope of recovering some remnant of Andrew Caine. The current rendition of the merged man is masquerading as a Proctor named Raif. Then William meets Raif's "new best friend," Jared Crenshaw, and Will forgets about Raif--not easy to do without help!
The man in the blue tunic turned his head slowly and his pale blue eyes fixed on Jared. He hadn't seen the man in real life since that moment, for three minutes, five years earlier. It was amazing how vividly he still remembered those icy blue eyes. The Director's gaze sent a shiver down his spine now just like it had five years earlier.
The Director's eyes narrowed and he said, "Crenshaw, isn't it?"
God, did the man actually remember him? Horrified as the myriad of reasons why flooded his mind, Jared just nodded.
Raif kicked at the empty chair between himself and Director Harrington and said, "Please, Jared, sit down. Join us for a drink."
Jared hung there for a moment, gaping, then the Director added, "Yes, please do, Jared," before he grinned at Raif. "We're all friends here tonight."
Friends? With the Director? What the fuck, indeed! Jared slipped in front of the chair and started to put his bag down on the floor next to the Director, then realized his social faux pas and swung it around to drop onto the floor next to Raif's chair instead.
Jared stood there, between table and chair, and Harrington repeated, "Please, Jared, do sit, and you," he turned to Raif, "why don't you tell me why you called for a MedTech? Are you feeling unwell suddenly, Proctor?"
"No, but thanks for asking, Will. I'll admit I'm a little tired. I've had a long day." Raif sounded like he hadn't a care in the world and they were all old chums; Jared wanted to punch his gleaming teeth in and knock that superhero smirk off his face. Raif added, "Jared's here because he's a friend of mine, and I thought he might enjoy meeting you." Raif leaned back, hooking an arm over the back of his chair. Slouching. In front of the Director. Of the fucking Centre. What alternate universe had Jared entered and how could he get out of it again? When Jared just kept standing there, shocked into silence, Raif added, "Jared's a little star struck I think."
Yeah, Jared was struck by something all right, and Jared was going to use it to kill Raif, just as soon as the Director was gone.
Harrington said, "I'd feel more comfortable if you'd sit down, Jared. MedTech."
Great, now he was making the Director nervous. Jared looked around the table for something to drink but all the glasses were still empty. So they'd just gotten here. Raif had sent the call through Lawrence and Sam a good twenty minutes ago. He must've been stalling Harrington all this time waiting for Jared to show up. Jesus, Raif had nerve and he was just sitting there—slouching—like nothing was wrong at all.
Jared considered taking out a sedative for himself. He was definitely going to need something to help him calm down if this was how the evening was going to go, but he couldn't think clearly enough to figure out how to slip himself so much as a ten-patch of Seretin.
The Director asked again, "MedTech, are you all right?"
Raif quickly answered, "I told you, Will, you simply dazzle him. Jared, Sit. Down. You're being rude standing there."
Jared managed to speak but his voice was weak. Better faint than mute. "It's an honor to meet you, Director Harrington." Jared just couldn't bring himself to sit down and pretend this was normal. Then again, if he stood here much longer, his voice wasn't the only thing going to faint. "I'm just…a little confused. I was in the middle of a task that," Jared glared at Raif, "our friend here knew was not to be left unattended or to be interrupted and yet, well, here I am. Interrupted and not attending…anything—not that meeting you isn't delightful. We met five years ago, I'm sure you don't remember."
The Director stood up now and said, "Oh, yes, I remember. You're the lucky MedTech who found our stolen property during that terrible incident we had over in production."
Harrington placed a hand on Jared's shoulder—gripping his clavicle with surprisingly force. In fact, if Jared didn't sit down, he wondered if he'd be forced down by a brachial stun, jokingly called a Vulcan Death Grip by pop culture fans. Maybe Harrington could kill with that grip. It was strong enough—and that thought stirred images of Harrington's strong grip on other parts of Jared's body. A flush of arousal rippled through him, no doubt leaving an embarrassing flush to his face. Harrington's expression softened and his grip on Jared loosened then shifted, his thumb brushing briefly against Jared's jaw. The brief contact, though only a light touch, was enough to jerk his dick to life. Clearly Harrington's touch was more powerful than any Vulcan Death Grip.
For everyone's sake, Jared dropped himself down and dragged the chair back up to the table, trying not to notice the Director smiling at him. God, what had Raif been thinking calling him here for this? Jared stretched his legs out, placing his hands flat on the table's edge to steady himself and took a few deep breaths to calm down. He'd be fine. Or wake up. This was quite possibly all just a dream. God knew he'd had more than a few erotic dreams about William Harrington five years ago. There was something about the guy that shot right through Jared. Try as he might, he couldn't stop being aware of him now.
Harrington offered, "I've ordered a bottle of wine, Jared. Would you join me in a glass?" He smiled at Jared and the man's entire face lit up. It was remarkable how much a smile transformed his countenance. He quickly added, "That offer extends to both of you, of course." And just like that, Harrington's smile vanished, the light with it. That was a shame.
Jared heard himself sighing and when Harrington looked his way again, he covered by saying, "I'd love a glass of wine. Thank you!" He tried to wrap his brain around the situation. The Director of the Centre had just offered him a glass of wine, and he'd accepted. And sighed. If this was a dream, he hoped this time he didn't wake up before the really good parts.
Thankfully, the head waiter came over with three glasses of water and the Sommelier, who presented a bottle of wine even better than Raif-as-Gaultier kept on private reserve. It shouldn't have surprised Jared; Director Harrington had ordered it. The man probably could afford the best of everything. He probably took this sort of thing for granted.
As the Sommelier presented the wine for Harrington's approval, Jared asked the head waiter hovering nearby for the strongest synthahol Jared could think of by name. Wine, no matter how fine, was not going to cut it tonight. Before the waiter could escape again, Jared revised his order, making it a double.
Then he regretted only ordering one.
Jared decided he was going to get—and stay—drunk for the next three days if this was any indication of the hijinks Raif would be pulling in his newfound free time. Staying out of Raif's practical joke range was never easy but this was a whole new level of Raif-ness.
Jared downed the water in his little glass and tried to ignore the fact that Harrington and Raif were bantering back and forth like old chums. When they both laughed at a joke that was absolutely not in the least funny, Jared wondered where exactly the waiter had gone with his drink. He reached over to pick up Raif's water glass and was lifting it to his mouth when both Raif and Harrington lunged at him, grabbing at his wrist and shouting in unison.
"Don't!" Raif shouted as Harrington said, "No!"
They each had a hand on Jared's wrist now. The water, amazingly, only sloshed a little and did not spill over the lip. But it was close. So, maybe Raif's paranoia wasn't entirely unfounded. Jared eyed them both and waited for his wrist to be released by the two of them. One by one, they withdrew and Jared sat back with the glass of water in both his hands and looked down into it. Sure looked like plain old water. He gave his two table mates a look. They were both trying to recompose themselves as though nothing at all had happened.
"What exactly is wrong with this water?" Jared asked the two of them.
Harrington said, "There's nothing wrong with that water." at the same time Raif said, "I wouldn't want you to catch my cold."
Harrington sat back and smiled again—that brilliant and blinding light that Jared studiously tried to ignore as it was a definite distraction. The man really needed to stop doing that, or Jared would never think straight again. Raif added a cough for effect and brought Jared's mind back to focus. Raif had never been sick a day in his life and he was a very bad actor. Raif held out his hand for the water glass with a smile as fake as his cough. Jared decided there was something in the water that his naked eye couldn't detect—and both of the other men at the table knew what it was.
"I'll just hold onto this a moment, if you don't mind." Jared drew the glass towards himself, nestled at the table's edge, and he leaned forward, bodily owning it. Finally, the waiter arrived with their drinks and Jared told him to bring him another round right away. Jared held onto Raif's water glass with one hand while downing his synthahol with the other. It felt amazingly good going down.
"Now, gentlemen," Jared started, sitting back and holding the water glass up in front of his face again with both hands, "shall I test this with the equipment in my kit or would one of you like to tell me what exactly is in this glass?"
Harrington said, "You mean, besides water?"
Jared laughed, but it was a snide laughter, surprising even himself. "Oh, yes, Director, that's exactly what I meant, and I think you know it." Jared couldn't believe he was speaking that way to Harrington but extreme times called for extreme measures. He turned to Raif. "Let's have it, Raif, what's in the water?"
"Other than my germs, I really don't know, but if you'll give it to me, I'll drink it and prove it's just water." Raif put his hand out again for the glass.
Jared held up the glass and took an other close look at it. No lip marks at the rim, so he hadn't imagined that no one had touched the glass yet. In fact, only his own fingerprints marred the spotless surface. The head waiter wore pristine white gloves. So Jared was the only one with dirty hands here. Lovely. Now he felt conspicuous and out of place. He said, "Raif, you haven't drunk from the glass yet so how'd your germs get in here? And I'd note, you know as well as I do, there are more germs on this table cloth than you've had in your body in your entire lifetime." Jared turned to Harrington and shook his head. "He's the healthiest human being on this planet. It's really kind of disgusting how abnormally strong his immune system is. Trust me, I would know."
Harrington smiled, a dark smile this time. "You would, wouldn't you?" Harrington leaned forward, a sharp interest in his eyes now. He rested one elbow on the table and perched his chin in his palm, fixing Jared with his piercing gaze. "Are you his personal MedTech, then?"
God, it was like being stunned by a laser when the man stared at him like that. Jared just sat there trying to breathe, never mind comprehending what the man had asked.
Raif took advantage of Jared's momentary distraction to snatch the glass from Jared's grip with a muttered, "Give me the damned glass."
Before Jared could stop him, Raif had lifted the glass to his lips and downed half the contents. He said, "There. Now you can get your kit ready in case I keel over from—" Raif stopped but Jared suspected Raif-ness was about to strike again. Raif's eyes widened and his mouth opened but he really was a bad actor. Jared knew he was faking. Raif's idea of humor. The jerk.
Raif clutched at his throat with his free hand and Jared shoved at him. Raif burst into laughter, that deep, rich laughter that Jared loved so much and that annoyed him no end right now.
"Not funny, asshole." Jared muttered then remembered their guest. "Excuse my language, Director, but he actually thinks he's hilarious."
"Yes, I've noticed his humor with others, and you know, I've heard that word before. I've even been known to use it on occasion."
Still resting his chin on his hand, Harrington smiled at Jared again. His eyes sparkled this time. If Jared weren't already sitting down, he'd have fallen down from that look. He couldn't take his eyes off the Director's mouth and for a terrible moment, Jared thought he was drooling at the prospect of tasting those full lips. He swallowed loudly and grabbed at the wine glass for another drink. It was a bad idea to mix synthahol and wine but if Jared didn't put something else in his mouth, he was likely to try and fill it with Director Harrington. Talk about biting off more than he could swallow.
Raif said, "Will, maybe you could do us all a favor? Prove to Jared that this is just water by drinking some yourself." Raif smiled, one of those cold, calculating smiles Jared had heard about but until now, never seen applied first-hand. Now he understood why that look scared grown men. Raif's smile sent a chill down Jared's spine—killing all the warm fuzzies that Harrington's smile had been spinning in Jared's gut a second ago—and Raif's smile hadn't even been aimed at him.
Harrington didn't seem at all affected by Raif's chilling intent. He barely hesitated before sitting up and reaching out to retrieve the glass from Raif's hand. They maintained eye contact as Harrington raised the rim of the glass to his lips, held it there and even bobbled his Adam's Apple; but from Jared's angle of view, he could tell that Harrington hadn't actually drunk the water. He'd faked it for Raif's benefit. Harrington put the glass down in the middle of the table and asked Raif, "Happy now?"
"Oh, yes. Just thrilled." Raif said, clearly simmering under the surface.
Raif used just thumb and forefinger to touch only the rim of the glass in the spots where no one had drunk, and drew the glass back towards his place setting, then folded his hands around the glass marking it off as his personal territory. So he wasn't clueless to the risk, just stupidly exposing himself to potential poisons, contagions and other artificial means of sabotage. Just like a Proctor to do a stupidly-heroic thing like that.
Jared had never understood the Proctor's drive to commit suicidal heroic acts, even in all his years of working with them, but it was part of the brainwashing designed by Harrington's own ancestor. Maybe this Director Harrington could explain it to Jared one of these days.
Jared had never seen Raif actually doing it either, not before now. Jared wasn't sure just what rationale had made Raif swallow whatever biohazard was in that glass, but at least now it was clear why Raif had called him here. Raif had wanted Jared here to revive him once the toxin, drug or other alien substance took hold, and Jared was utterly convinced now that there was something besides water in that water glass. He just hoped his MedKit contained an antidote for it.
Harrington took a sharp left turn—literally turning back to Jared before speaking again. His expression softened but the smile was forced this time, adding none of that brilliant light the natural smile caused.
"Jared, you said you had an interest in meeting me? So many do these days. Was there a research project you want funded?"
"No, I—" Jared laughed nervously and decided there was no graceful recovery "No research, Director. It was just—It was a joke, and a bad one, telling Raif here that I'd love to meet you one day because here we are." Jared laughed nervously. As though to remind Jared that he was sitting right there, Raif clapped a hand down over Jared's forearm on the table and held him there with an iron grip. Why? Did Raif think Jared was going to jump up and run away now he'd been completely embarrassed in front of one of the most-desirable men on the planet? Or was Raif finally experiencing whatever was in that glass? That was a bad thought. Jared looked up at Raif and didn't see any joking or cajoling in his expression, just cold, stone blankness as he stared across at Harrington.
Harrington glanced down at Raif's hand holding Jared's arm to the table and a small smile crept into the corner of his mouth, though he tried to hide it. Jared wished it were another one of those light-inducing smiles, and he wondered if Harrington also had a nice laugh to go with it. Perfect men were like that. Jared's laugh was too loud, he'd been told by former lovers. Raif had disabused him of that insult, saying he liked Jared's laugh, that it was unrestrained, not loud. Would Harrington like his laugh? Would Harrington ever make him laugh? Could he ever make Harrington laugh as brightly as that perfect smile?
Before Jared realized it, Harrington stood and pushed his chair a fractional distance away from the table, saying, "Yes, I'm a little unpredictable myself so I do believe it's time for me to go. Please enjoy the wine. It's a very fine vintage and I assure you, there's nothing wrong with it." Harrington poured himself a small refill and sampled it, vapor first, then just a taste. "Mm, delicious as ever. It does need to breathe a few more minutes but," He held the wine up to look at it, then looked down at Jared and said, "it's one of my personal favorites." Harrington said it as though he knew Jared had an interest in his personal preferences in wine. In his person, generally. Was Jared that obvious tonight?
"Thank you, Director." Jared muttered.
"Will." Harrington said quietly then pushed his chair back in and told Raif, "Proctor, I strongly advise you to wait for your friend in Dr. Jansen's office from outside the building. You have about," Harrington checked the time, "a half-hour left before the records show you leaving, so if you decide to re-enter, please wait another half hour or Security will receive an alert about the logs. Your friend should be in there another hour anyway. Enjoy your unrecorded freedom here. It's not something that someone in your position happens upon often."
"No, it's not." Raif said, again with the blatant sarcasm in his tone. "Thank you so much for that, Director. I mean, Will." Raif gave Harrington a snide smile. "My night would have been so different without you showing up."
Jared didn't want to know what Raif meant by that. Since Raif hadn't released Jared's arm, he was unable to rise to bid farewell to Director Harrington. Despite Raif's conflicted feelings about Harrington's presence, Jared was feeling sorry about how the evening had turned out—and he knew he might never get another chance like this. He couldn't let it go by untried.
Jared blurted out, "Director—Will—maybe sometime when the Proctor here has his own plans, you and I could try having a drink again? Just the two of us, a social visit, nothing to do with business. I promise, no research proposals." Jared smiled but he was sure it was obvious it was a nervous smile.
Harrington clasped his hands behind his back and inclined his head to smile down at Jared. It wasn't one of those smiles that lit his face, though; it was a cold, polite smile. Distant. In fact, Harrington had an air of superiority now. Maybe it was just his posture.
Jared was just about to try and take it back when Harrington asked, "You mean a date?" Harrington looked Jared over as though he were considering the prospect.
Raif's vice-grip on Jared's arm hadn't loosened and Jared was feeling like a bug pinned under a glass being examined by two bullies facing off in the courtyard. He wished one of these two men weren't here; he just wasn't sure which one. He just nodded and tried to smile up at the Director. He hoped it didn't come out making him look like a goofy idiot. One ex-lover had described his nervous smiles that way.
Finally, Harrington said, "I don't date much anymore. It might be nice to change that before it becomes a habit. My schedule's quite a challenge though, so I'll have to call you when I can get some free time blocked off and see what we can do with it. Thank you for asking."
When Harrington made to go, Jared asked, "Don't—that is, don't you want my numbers?"
Harrington looked over the table and his gaze tracked from Raif's grip on Jared's arm up to Raif's face, then he came back to Jared and smiled openly, one of those smiles that lit up his whole face, "Oh, I've got your number."
Jared sat there stunned as Harrington left, his foot falls barely audible. Jared only knew the man was gone because that was when Raif finally released his grip on Jared's arm.
"What the fuck, Raif?" Jared massaged his forearm, which had started to ache. "You trying to break my arm? And what were you thinking bringing me in here—with him?"
"I was thinking you droned on about how much you wanted to meet him and you might appreciate my giving you the chance to ask him out. I'm proud of you for doing it. Good job—and you're welcome."
"I didn't thank you, asshole!"
"No, you didn't and I noticed that. Poor form, Jared, really. You usually have better manners than that. You know, he seems like a stuck-up snob to me, not to mention closed and emotionally unavailable, but I guess he's pretty enough to look at and he's certainly a better class of man than your usual fare. He might even be good enough for you."
"Yes, speaking of stuck-up assholes." Jared muttered.
You have reached the end of the free sample. If you enjoyed it and would like to keep reading, please consider purchasing Man Made Man from the Amazon Kindle Store (KindleUS and KindleUK). Amazon PRIME members may borrow it from the Kindle Owners' Lending Library (KOLL) at no charge through the end of the Kindle Select period, so until the end of November. The book will be available to purchase from Smashwords or other eTailers worldwide after December 5, 2013.
Tune in for next week's #SampleSunday snippet from A First Time for Everything. Hope to see you then!
Sunday, October 13, 2013
#SampleSunday snippet from #SciFI #novel MAN MADE MAN avail only @Amazon http://amzn.to/MMM-KindleUS * http://amzn.to/MMM-KindleUK
Posted by Marjorie F. Baldwin at Sunday, October 13, 2013
Labels: Conditioned Response, Dramond, ebook, free, ManMadeMan MMM, memory mapping, Phoenician Series, phoenicians, PhoenicianSeries, reviews, scifi, series, SF/F, when minds collide


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Control Chart Templates with Scrolling Data
Are you looking for a control chart that will scroll through your data?
- Do you want to be able to look backwards and forwards through your data?
QI Macros contains scrolling control chart templates for most control charts.
To use these templates:
- Click on the QI Macros menu and select Control Chart Templates.
- Click on one of the control chart templates to open it (e.g. c Chart.)
- QI Macros control chart templates are actually made up of several worksheets. Click on the worksheet labeled "Scrolling" (i.e. c Chart Scrolling.)
- Input your data into the yellow input area and the chart will automatically populate to the right.
- The template provides two ways to scroll through your data:
- Input the starting value in the "Start Cell" to the right of the chart (i.e. cell L2).
- Use the scroll bar below the chart. Click on the arrows or on the bar itself to move backwards and forwards through your data.
Tip: If column A contains special formatting (e.g., dates), you may need to select column C (may vary by chart) and change the format to match column A.
Note: The c, np, p and u chart use all of the data to calculate limits. XmR and XbarR use the first 50 data points to establish limits.
Learn More About Control Chart Template Options ...
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The Maker Show: Episode 5 - Installing Windows 10 on a Raspberry Pi 2
In this episode of The Maker Show, we'll get Windows 10 up and running on a Raspberry Pi 2, and take a look at what it comes with out of the box. We'll examine setup with a display for the Pi, how you can get the system up and running in a headless mode through the Windows 10 IoT Core Dashboard and the Windows Device Portal, and take a look at the options that gives you. Finally, we'll connect through a remote PowerShell session and see what opportunities open up.
[00:00] - Introduction
[01:04] - Accessories
[02:13] - Get Started with the Install
[02:45] - IoT Core Dashboard
[03:58] - Connect your Pi
[04:30] - Configuring your Pi and the Out of the Box Experience
[05:19] - Hello Blinky
[05:47] - Connect to the Network
[06:48] - Windows Device Portal
[08:08] - Connecting with PowerShell
[11:05] - Rebooting your Pi
[11:51] - Closing
Raspberry Pi: https://www.adafruit.com/products/2358
Micro SD Card: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12998
All-in-One Keyboard: https://www.microsoft.com/accessories/en-us/products/keyboards/all-in-one-media-keyboard/n9z-00001
Miniature Keyboard: https://www.adafruit.com/products/922
7" Touchscreen: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/13733
Touchscreen stand: https://www.adafruit.com/products/2033
Wi-Fi Dongle: https://www.adafruit.com/products/2638
Pi Tin Case: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/13103
Windows IoT Page: https://dev.windows.com/iot
Get Started with Windows IoT: http://ms-iot.github.io/content/GetStarted.htm
IoT Core Default App Sample: https://ms-iot.github.io/content/en-US/win10/samples/IoTDefaultApp.htm
More episodes in this series
The Maker Show: Lecture - Intro to Fusion 360 API
Related episodes
Manually Updating a Raspberry Pi 2 running Windows 10 IoT Core to the 10.0.10586.63 Update
The Maker Show: Azure IoT Starter Kits
CodeChat 060 - Toradex Makes a Cool, Little Windows 10 IoT Board
The Maker Show: Episode 6 - Soldering Basics
The Maker Show: Episode 3 - Arduino and Servos
GIVE Sign Construction Fast Forward
Getting Started With Windows 10 IoT Core and The Raspberry Pi 2 at Chicago Coder…
The Maker Show: Mini - Bitcoin Sensor
National Maker Faire
Introduction to Azure IoT - TiltSensor / Beer Me
The Discussion
I've already got three follow-up shows in the works to go more into detail about this topic. Earlier this week, Windows 10 IoT Core was added to NOOBS, so I want to do a show to demonstrate how that works, I want to look at how to connect different sensors and devices to your Raspberry Pi, and I want to show how to deploy an app to the Pi with Visual Studio. I'll probably do each of those as stand alone mini topics.
BTW, re-watching the show, I noticed I made a minor, though somewhat embarrassing mistake. I'm going to blame sleep deprivation, but I'll make the most out of it. If you can point out a mistake in the show, I'll send you something from the Garage. Probably something laser cut or 3D printed, or a bit of electronics I've got lying around. This could be a terrible idea.
I good show would be installing python on the Raspberry PI Win 10 IoT, and showing how to convert python from one other Raspberry Pi OS's on it.
@KennySpade:u called the micro USB cable micro SD. Hehe
Sooooo, if Rasberry PI is ARM based, does this mean I could somehow (hint - suggestions please) get Windows 10 on my Windows RT Surface?
9 hours ago, GDRitter wrote
@KennySpade:u called the micro USB cable micro SD. Hehe
Hehe, yeah, we caught that before publishing yesterday but it was too late to reshoot. Good catch!
6 hours ago, OzBobWa wrote
Sooooo, if Rasberry PI is ARM based, does this mean I could somehow (hint - suggestions please) get Windows 10 on my Windows RT Surface?
From an end-user point of view, Windows 10 IoT Core is VERY different than full Windows 10 or event Windows RT. Windows 10 IoT Core is a single-app environment. There is no shell, no store, no ability to run more than one app. It is purely meant for IoT scenarios and not for consumer or business scenarios. The huge benefit of course is that you get access to the full Windows 10 developer stack to build your IoT client-side apps.
10 hours ago, rcroeder wrote
I good show would be installing python on the Raspberry PI Win 10 IoT, and showing how to convert python from one other Raspberry Pi OS's on it.
See my comment above. Unlike Raspbian which is a flavor of Linux, Windows 10 IoT Core is not a consumer OS. You cannot code on it the way that Raspbian lets you code in Python or Scratch. Windows 10 IoT Core is meant to run Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps only, and those are built in Visual Studio with C#, VB, or C++. We will cover the development experience of Windows 10 IoT Core in future episodes soon enough. In the meantime, check out the reference links in the show notes.
@GDRitter: That's the one I was looking for. See, my mistake, and you get something for it. Send me an address and I'll pick something out and mail it to you. You can PM me on Twitter, I'm @KennySpade
@rcroeder:I haven't done this myself, but it looks like there is a way to get Node apps running on it. Sure, it's not Python, but it opens up a lot of options.
Good show, I'll watch the others as soon as they're posted.
Suggestion for next series of shows. RaspberryPi3 w/installation of winIoT. And program a web browser for it using VS2015.
Hopefully #Hardkernal gets with it and winIoT can be installed on an ODroid-XU4, that would be awesome.


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Happy new week to you all and happy new travel week to me! I have finally found my excitement towards my trip in 4 days and it is with that excitement I am bringing you the fun recap of last Friday's #WeddingChatter tweet chat. "Choosing your bridesmaids" is a topic I have covered on this blog before but we definitely went a lot deeper in the chat.
Here are the major points we covered;
Making the Choice
When thinking of who to include in a bridal party, a bride should avoid being careless with this decision; wedding planning process can be stressful enough to carelessly add people that could make it worse. In most cases, a bride would either from her Immediate family, Friends, In-laws or a mixture of all. When a bride asks her groom's family member to be on her train, it is not only is it a nice gesture to the groom and his family but it can definitely help foster a better in-law relationship (which we know can be difficult sometimes).
When choosing bridesmaids, these 3 pointers should be kept in mind;
1. Choosing people who love and support the wedding/marriage: If a person is not in support of the marriage, there is certainly no question about it; she should not be a bridesmaid! Due to the possibility of having close interaction with the bride and her groom, having to deal with such negativity during planning might not only be draining to the bride but could also cause issues/conflict between the bride and the groom. Regardless of who this potential bridesmaid is, this is one issue that should not be overlooked.
2. Choosing people who the bride is comfortable with: Being comfortable here means being free to be who you are. With wedding planning, there would most likely be very personal and intimate situations, if a bride is not comfortable with talking about it to a potential bridesmaid, then it may be best if such a person is left out from the list. Not to say that a potential bridesmaid has to agree with every single thing the bride says (after all family and friends disagree), but once a bride starts feeling like she has to
censor omit some details about her wedding because she is not sure how a such a person would react, then it may be time to decide "No" to such a person being a bridesmaid.
3. Counting the Costs: Having bridesmaids can add to the expenses of a wedding, so a bride should count the costs (and planning logistics) before making her decision about the number of bridesmaids she can have. It is always better to get the number right from the get go than later having to drop bridesmaids because a bride realizes she cant afford that many on her train. Because of this, many people opt for a smaller wedding party and find other less expensive/complicated ways of including families and friends in the wedding.
Handling Rejection
There are those situations when a potential bridesmaid may have to turn down the invitation to be in the bridal party. It may feel hurtful at first but a bride should always try to listen, understand and accept their decision. Being a bridesmaid could be a source of pressure for some people – financial – or it may just be bad timing, brides should never just "assume" it is done with bad intentions.
Remember, a declined invitation by a potential bridesmaid is always better than having to deal with an unsupportive bridesmaid.
Is it time to Kick her out?
There are many cases where brides have to kick bridesmaids off the list, we all hear these stories; it could be as a result of conflicts or lack of help/support during the wedding planning process. Whatever the reason is, a bride should try hard to resolve it by honest communication before resorting to kicking anyone out. If for some reason the conflict seems impossible to be resolved or the bridesmaid is becoming too difficult to handle then that awkward conversation might be needed.
However, a bride should always do this with grace and a clear head; have this conversation not in the heat of the moment but after having much time to re-think the whole situation. Even after asking such bridesmaid to step down and possible hurt feelings, a bride could leave room to repair the relationship by offering the said bridesmaid an invitation as a guest to the wedding or assigning her some other task that may be more suitable for her.
Getting the Bridesmaids acquainted
Due to the different categories from which a bride can choose her bridesmaids, there is usually a possibility some may have never met before so it is advisable that the bridesmaids get acquainted before the wedding. If all the bridesmaids happen to be in the same area/location, a bride can organize hang outs (invitation stuffing night, asking parties or other pre-wedding events) which involve activities where the bridesmaids get to interact.
For those bridesmaids that are not in the same location, technology could play a huge role in getting the ladies acquainted. Having group chats, Facebook group discussions, Skype sessions are many of the ways to help foster a better relationship between the bridesmaids so they all feel somewhat feel comfortable with each other at the wedding.
Other ways to include Family/friends
For various reasons, some close family/friends may not make the bridesmaids list but the bride may still want them included in the wedding. A very common and effective option would be to put them "in charge" of some aspect of the wedding/planning. Here are a few tasks you could have them handle in such situation;
- Ushers/Hostesses
- Ceremony Reading
- Playing an instrument
- Singing or reading a poem
- DIY project assistance
* * * * * *
With my trip coming up on Thursday, #WeddingChatter would be on hold this week and we would pick it up the upper week once I am settled with the time difference and jet lag:) Hope you join us then on June 20th 2014!


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Women's Road Runner Sports Outpace 5" Short :: Need a little extra coverage while still getting loads of mobility? Then this running short is for you! Move with ease in the stretchy fabric, split design and the not-too-tight, not-too-loose fit.
Key Features & Benefits
- Stretch woven fabric designed to move with you
- Smooth, wide knit waistband flatters your tummy
- Secret cell phone pocket built into the interior waistband so stash and go
- Overlapping petal splits at sides provide a full range of motion
- 'Be seen' reflective logo at left thigh
- Brief liner built in so be confident you're covered
- Natural rise sits comfortably on the hips
- Semi-form fitting: Not too tight, not too loose
- 5" inseam
- Body: 63% polyester/25% Poly CD/12% spandex
- Waistband: 86% polyester/14% spandex
Ratings & Reviews
You Deserve to Know Your Review Counts!
Help other athletes and runners just like you make the best decision


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02 Jun2016
Herald Contract Talks Break Down
The latest round of talks between the Chronicle Herald and its striking workers broke off, yesterday.
The union says the company tabled a position that was worse than the one that led them to go on strike in the first place.
61 members of the Halifax Typographical Union, including three in Sydney, have been off the job since January 22nd.
Both sides had been meeting with a provincially appointed conciliator.
Chronicle-Herald Chief operating officer, Ian Scott says the company has no choice but to make cuts and adds their proposal to the union reflected that.
Meanwhile, Halifax Typographical Union Vice-President, Frank Campbell, says union members were willing to accept some cuts, but adds the company was asking for too much.


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Last night Chris Brown suffered from an alleged seizure. Seizures are nothing new to the 24-year-old artist, as he experienced them multiple times as a child. Click below for more information regarding the incident and the 911 call.
Chris Brown suffered from an alleged seizure last night at his Hollywood studio. 911 received an emergency call at 1:09am regarding the situation, but when they arrived to the studio Chris refused to get treatment. Story still developing. Let's just hope that he's okay.


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The students in the Rhode Island Philharmonic Youth Orchestras perform their final concert of the season on Sunday, May 5 at 1 p.m. at The VETS, Providence. The Youth Wind Ensembles' concert is on Sunday, May 19 at 3 p.m. at Rhode Island College, Sapinsley Hall.
The orchestras feature the top-level Symphony Orchestra conducted by Music Director Alexey Shabalin; Repertory Orchestra under the direction of Vincent Mattera; String Orchestra under the direction of Irina Naryshkova; and the Intermediate String Ensemble and String Ensemble under the direction of Erin Quinton Erban.
The Youth Symphonic Winds is conducted by Dr. David Neves, and the Wind Ensemble is under the direction of John Knasas.
RI Philharmonic Youth Orchestras (RIPYO) Concert 1 p.m., May 5, The VETS, One Avenue of the Arts, Providence. Tickets for the Youth Orchestras are $12 for adults, $7 for students and seniors, and can be purchased online at tickets.riphil.org/ripyo-spring-concert,RI Philharmonic Youth Wind Ensembles (RIPYWE) Concert 3 p.m., May 19, Rhode Island College, Sapinsley Hall, Providence
Tickets are $12 for adults, $7 for students, 18 and under, and senior citizens, and available through the Rhode Island College box office at 456-8144 or online at: purchase.tickets.com/buy/TicketPurchase?orgid=21971&schedule=list.The Rhode Island Philharmonic Youth Ensembles (RIPYO, RIPYWE, RIPYJazz & Chamber) provides quality rehearsal and performance experience for talented young musicians from Rhode Island and nearby Connecticut and Massachusetts. Students range from elementary through high school.
For more information or to schedule an audition, visit musicschool.riphil.org or contact Youth Ensembles Manager


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Yesterday was my birthday.
If you must know, I'm now 46 years old. I'm in my late mid-forties. That's okay, I guess. Anyway, there's not much I can do about it.
I had a great day. Really, really great. The kids were in school and my wife took the day off. We went to brunch and then pretty much goofed around the rest of the day.
It was truly wonderful to hang out with my wife and no kids during daylight hours, with no projects or chores to do, for pretty much the first time since the kids were born.
We also received the great news that my wife passed the brutal Medical Board exams (!), which she has to take every ten years, so there was a lot to be thankful for.
But I was a little distracted by the damn internet, because a lot of people were talking about me over there.
My first piece on Slate was published in the morning, and by the time I found out about it, there were over a thousand comments on it, most of them aggressively negative.
I mean, it was awesome that I got something published on Slate, which I've been enjoying since I first learned about the internet, and that people were reading it.
But, it wasn't so awesome that everyone seemed to hate what I had written.
So what I'm doing here pains me a bit. I don't love the idea that I need to explain something that I already wrote. I've written about a number of controversial issues, but I've hardly ever been attacked by the self-styled critics known on the internet as "trolls."
I like to think that that's because I try to be thoughtful, avoid generalizations, qualify any bold claims, and preemptively address concerns or counter-arguments readers might have.
This also makes me long-winded; but issues aren't simple and I try not to oversimplify them. So I feel like I have screwed up when the tone of something I have written doesn't get across to the reader.
That's what happened with my piece on Slate, which some editor or another named "Heel."
What I Was Trying to Say
Among the flaming comments on Slate, a ridiculous response to my piece on Jezebel, a virtually incomprehensible satire on NYmag.com and some bashing on twitter, there were a few thoughtful comments and genuine questions by people who were puzzled about what I was up to.
Most of the people I know, including my mom and my wife, got it.
They thought it was funny, honest, and thought-provoking.
Some of the commenters on Slate got it. Most didn't.
Others weren't so sure. A couple writers emailed me and asked if it was satire. One of them was interested in the evolution of the article–whether something had been compromised in the revising and editing process that made its tone unclear and evoked such outrage and disdain from Slate commenters.
I think that answering his question is the best way I can explain it.
I started writing this story months and months ago. It was inspired by a bit that Louis CK does where he talks about being a "prisoner of perverted sexual thoughts." I could relate to it, and I wanted to see if other middle-aged dudes could as well.
I found a clip of the bit on YouTube and posted it to my super-secret Dad Bloggers page on Facebook.
The conversation it inspired went on for nearly 300 comments and was hilarious and raunchy. Virtually all of the guys copped to being susceptible to sudden sexual fantasies about attractive women on a regular basis. Most of the guys didn't see it as a problem. In fact, they embraced it as a healthy expression of straight male sexuality.
I'm mostly in the same camp as far as thinking an erotic fantasy life is normal.
Why not, right? Everybody does it. It's not hurting anyone if you don't act on your impulses.
But part of me has always found it troubling, or paradoxical anyway, that the feminist (a word many of my new critics claim I don't understand) values that I believe in are in conflict with my flights of sexual imagination.
I mean, there have been times when I have been having serious conversations or just casual interactions with women, and suddenly part of my brain is locked in (fleetingly, most of the time) on what they might look like naked, or…you know…typical sex daydreams.
I'm thinking about them in a way completely unattached to who they are as people or what their desires are. I call this objectification, although many of my new critics also say I'm misusing that term.
If I were to say, "By the way, your rack looks awesome and I would love to knock boots with you right here in the line at Costco," that would be decidedly sexist (a word which, according to many of my new critics, I am using completely wrong), right? But to think those things is okay, as long as I keep them to myself?
This is what I would call cognitive dissonance, and it seems like something worth talking about.
This situation is a pretty small concern of mine, in the grand scheme, but it's something I've thought about, and it–the fantasizing part, if not the concern about fantasizing–is something that seems almost universal among men (although many of my new critics say that I'm an asshole for thinking that men are more preoccupied with sex than women).
Naturally I thought, "Hey–I should write about this." I write about gender stuff.
This is a gender thing. Perfect.
So I pitched it to my editor at the Atlantic, and we went back and forth on it for a while.
The last draft I gave her went something like this:
I'm a sensitive feminist guy (tone was meant to be a little self-mocking, but ultimately sincere).
I saw this funny Louis CK bit and related to it.
I confirmed with my buddies that most guys have sexual thoughts about random women, and most of them think that's not a problem
Part of me feels like these thoughts aren't completely harmless though, so I wanted to research what literature was out there that offered a reprieve from what Louis CK called a "prison" and a "nightmare." And here's the gimmick: I make like I'm on a quest to tamp down my own erotic imagination.
A funny premise under which to explore the existing research. (Also, it wouldn't kill me to try not to think about sex so much. Maybe I could get more stuff done.)
Here's what the sex research and evolutionary psychology says about how men's and women's sexual fantasies differ and why. It's interesting, fairly predictable, and none of this research talks about trying to control sexual ideation as long as it's not harmful to the person experiencing it or the people around him.
The only place I found people talking about reducing or controlling sexual thoughts that fall into the "normal" range were religious websites, which promoted the practice of self-shaming, which I'm not really into.
Here's what a couple experts on male sexuality told me:
Don't worry about it. Be a grownup. Don't ogle women, but feel free to daydream about them.
Conclusion: mumble mumble I don't know I guess I can just try to grow up blah blah mumble maybe evolution will catch up to our sex drives and make them less urgent and more selective than they were when we had to try and impregnate every fertile-looking female in the valley.
The conclusion was not very strong.
The editor didn't love the whole piece, and, honestly, I think she was kind of creeped out by it. I moved on.
Months later, I happened to be in contact with an editor from Slate (a long story in itself), and mentioned my "pervert" article. She looked at it and saw some potential there.
She had an idea: get rid of the boring science parts because everyone already knows how men are, and make it more about my quest to control my sexual thoughts.
Make it funny and light-hearted. Oh! Oh! Oh! I could look into recommendations about how to stop objectifying women, and then spend a day trying to implement them, and write about the experience!
Yes! Of course! Bring the funny more. It'll be kind of a fool's errand: a snipe hunt for the "cure" to my sexual preoccupation, which is mostly a silly simplification of a complicated issue, but during which I actually make legitimate points!
We went back and forth on it for over a month, at the rate of maybe a couple exchanges per week, and then finally got to the point where it was ready to go.
It had shrunk from about 4000 words at its most sprawling to whatever it is now: 1400 or so, I guess.
We ditched a long intro in which I more thoroughly established my feminist bona fides.
We chopped the part where all the dad bloggers embraced their own sexual daydreams. We scrapped all the sex research about men's fantasy life.
We stripped down the quotes from the sex experts and the articles by other men who had examined their own sexual thoughts and ogling.
My editor told me it was "totally delightful and hilarious"
She is a highly respected writer and editor. Who was I to doubt her?
Then it went live.
Commenters on Slate are crazy. That's just the way it is.
Any article that's slightly controversial brings out all kinds of rage, often of the right-wing and "Men's Rights" variety; but really, all agendas are represented.
So I didn't take it personally when commenters called me a creepy perv, an emasculated eunich, a closet homosexual, a cuckold, a sexist, a religious zealot, a Puritan, and so forth.
That happens all day every day on Slate.
What did bug me though, was that so many people took the piece so seriously. My tone didn't come across. It's tempting to say, oh, the idiot commenters were just too dense to get it; but that's not really fair.
Something didn't work.
I'll take some of the blame for not fully committing to the humor piece, although I thought phrases like "cloaking them in imaginary burqas" and the idea that I would use the image of my Intro to Women's Studies professor as my "higher power" would be a pretty good indicator that I was not taking myself, or my "quest" completely seriously.
It wasn't satire, exactly, although it had some satirical elements.
It was meant to come across as self-deprecating, hyperbolic, and quixotic. But I also wanted to have a conversation about this vexing, complicated, contradictory thing that happens in the monkey-minds of men who would never consider hollering or wolf-whistling at an attractive stranger. It didn't seem impossible to do and still have jokes.
I'll put some of the blame on my editor, for telling me I was funny.
I'll put some of the blame on context.
As one of the more reasonable commenters on Slate pointed out, it was hard to tell if I was trying to be funny when she first read it, because the article appeared in the "Double X" section, which is generally devoted to "women's issues" and almost always comes from a strong feminist slant.
So it seemed feasible to that reader, at first anyway, that I was being 100% sincere about trying to purge dirty thoughts from my mind and that I was relentlessly beating myself up about having sexual urges.
I assure you, as much as I am sometimes a little conflicted, I am not beating myself up.
I'll put some of the blame on internet pundits whose default setting is snarky outrage.
I'll put some of the blame on the topic for not being simpler and less uncomfortable to talk about.
And next time, I'll make sure to be less subtle.
*Update: I usually don't do comment moderation because I want to encourage everyone to engage if they feel like it; but I had to this time because of some disturbing comments.
I'll try to stay on top of the moderation as possible. Sorry about inconvenience.
In other news, I have an article up on the NY Times Motherlode blog. I also wrote that one a long time ago.
The editor warned me that it might be controversial and people might leave mean comments. So far, everyone has been perfectly lovely about it.


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Welcome to Our "Business Networking" page. The goal will be to list businesses or services provided by Pikes in the hopes that we can honor the "Pikes helping Pikes" concept by allowing our brothers to provide the business or services we are paying for already or will need in the future. Therefore, if you would like your business listed on the website, please join the association and send an e-mail with the following info and format to firstname.lastname@example.com:
INVEST Financial Corporation
Investment Advising/Financial Planning
Zack Smith
Investment Representative
www.cfsbky.com (Click on brokerage services tab)
Provide financial advising and planning to individual clients as well as businesses. Full service investment firm offering investment options such as Stocks, Bonds, Mutual Funds, CDs, Annuities, Retirement Plans (401k, 403b). Office located in all 5 locations of Community Financial Services Bank (Benton, Draffenville, Calvert City, Paducah, & Murray).
Rob Hess Search Group
Kevin Pataluna, Owner
Phone: 615.562.3121
Email: email@example.com
Website: www.robhess.com
Rob Hess Search Group partners with industry leading homebuilders and developers in recruiting talent on a national basis.
Will offer an 18% Placement Fee for all brothers (normally 25%)
Kough Equipment
Patrick Kough, Owner
Farmington, KY 42040
(270) 382-2207
website: koughequipment.com


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Gets or sets if the image to be displayed is the last image within the ImageSlider.
public bool IsLast { get; set; }
Public Property IsLast As Boolean
The IsLast property equals true if navigation is performed by the SliderBase.SlideLast method, rather than with navigation buttons.
See the Virtual Mode topic to learn more.


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News Articles
Boy Scouts to Canvas the City for Door-to-Door CollectionPosted Nov 24th 2015 2:17pm by Melissa DaigneaultBoys Scouts - Grand Canyon Council is teaming up with Souper Bowl of Caring to collect food through a substantial door-to-door effort throughout the city this weekend.
Spotlight: Meet Ethan NaluzPosted Aug 11th 2015 1:52pm by Melissa DaigneaultEthan Naluz is a senior at Raymond S. Kellis High School in Glendale, Arizona.
What is National Youth Advisory Board?Posted May 28th 2015 2:02pm by Melissa DaigneaultAs you may know already, we are currently accepting applications for our National Youth Advisory Board. If you're wondering what NYAB is, our talented Director of Communications, Multimedia/Webmaster, Jamie Clark, put together this video featuring our 2014-2015 group sharing their experiences! Read more...
2015-2016 National Youth Advisory Board Applications Now AvailablePosted May 21st 2015 12:30pm by Melissa DaigneaultWe are excited to announce that the application for the 2015-2016 National Youth Advisory Board is now available!
Arizonans Collect More Than A Quarter Million Meals For Local CharitiesPosted Feb 26th 2015 12:25pm by Melissa DaigneaultArizonans are champions this year, as their local donations have calculated to more than a quarter million meals.
Article by The Catholic Sun Recaps Arizona Luncheon EventPosted Feb 26th 2015 8am by Melissa DaigneaultThere was an article in The Catholic Sun recapping our event in the Super Bowl host city, Arizona. Read more...
Volunteers Needed For A Service Blitz At Mesa CanneryPosted Jan 20th 2015 6:53pm by Melissa DaigneaultThe Association of Arizona Food Banks is looking for volunteers to participate in a service blitz for Souper Bowl of Caring. Adding a day of service to your Souper Bowl of Caring collection can serve as another meaningful way to give back to your community and remind yourself of those who are without a bowl of soup to eat this Super Bowl season.
Dine Out and Tackle HungerPosted Jan 20th 2015 12:38pm by Clara CooperWhile Arizona is hosting the 49th Super Bowl game on February 1st, help the community tackle hunger while dining out at participating Arizona restaurants. The week leading up to Super Bowl Sunday, California Pizza Kitchen, Serrano's Mexican Restaurants and Chompie's will donate a percentage of proceeds to local hunger-relief organizations when customers dine there and mention "Souper Bowl of Caring" or "Tackle Hunger."
Arizona Community Unites for Annual Super Bowl Hunger-Relief CampaignPosted Dec 22nd 2014 4:47pm by Clara CooperSouper Bowl of Caring will kick off in Arizona on Jan. 14, 2015 with the Souper Bowl Kickoff Luncheon and continue through Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 1, 2015
Read more...
Get Your Official 2015 Arizona ResourcesPosted Dec 10th 2014 11:36am by Melissa DaigneaultWe want to help make your fund or food drive as successful and meaningful as possible. Here are some great resources you can use to learn more about the Arizona movement, advertise your event and display our partners.
100 millionactivistsadvertisementadvertisementsambassadorsarizonabig gameblogboy scoutscalifornia pizza kitchenchallengechompiescollectcollectioncollectionscommunitycoupondine outdisplaydisplaysdonatedonationdoortodoordrafteventfacebookfood drivefundinggivegive backgoalgrantgrouphost cityhungerinstagramkey messageskick offkickoffleadershipluncheonmaymealsmesa cannerynational youth advisory boardneighborhood drivenewsnyabparticipantsposterposterspovertyraisedrecruitmentregisterreservationreserveresourceresourcesschoolsserranosserviceservice blitzsignupsocial mediast vincent de parlsuper bowlsupporttackle hungertrainingtwitterunite4goodvideovolunteeryouth


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Hulu, Fuller Have a 'Dream'
Hulu has signed on as one of the primary partners on American Idol creator Simon Fuller's new Web venture, If I Can Dream.
Dream, which launches next year, will follow five young, aspiring performers who will live together in the Hollywood Hills and spend time trying to make it in the entertainment biz.
Project, which will officially launch in late February, will rep the first original program to run exclusively on Hulu.


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Australian Handyman Supplies' Night Sky is a powder coated steel post, suitable for fencing and other outdoor applications.
We will gladly assist with returns and exchanges of this product in accordance with our returns and exchanges policy
Get It Home
Need it delivered? We can help
Shop wherever you are, whenever you want.
Visit our Shop Online page to learn more.
Where you find a competitor's lower price on the same stocked item, we'll beat it by10%
Excludes trade quotes, stock liquidations, commercial quantities and MarketLink products. Same in-stock item available for same-day delivery or collection, including GST and delivery charges.


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Research Publications/ReportsListing last 25 publications. (View All) View/Hide Filter
- Arithmetic Circuit Lower Bounds via Maximum-Rank of Partial Derivative Matrices
Mrinal Kumar, Gaurav Maheshwari, Jayalal Sarma, Appeared in ACM Transactions on Computation Theory (To Appear), Apr 2016. A preliminary version under the title "Arithmetic Circuit Lower Bounds via MaxRank" appeared in 40th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages and Programming (ICALP 2013), Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Vol 7965, pp.661-672, Jul 2013.
- Faster Parameterized Algorithms for Deletion to Split Graphs
Esha Ghosh, Sudeshna Kolay, Mrinal Kumar, Pranabendu Mishra, Fahad Panolan, Ashuthosh Rai, M. S. Ramanujan, Appeared in 13th Scandinavian Symposium and Workshops on Algorithm Theory - SWAT 2012, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Vol 7357, pp.107--118, Jul 2012.
- A Characterization of all Stable Minimal Separator Graphs
Mrinal Kumar, Gaurav Maheshwari, Sadagopan Narasimhan, Appeared in Accepted for Poster Presentation in European Conference on Combinatorics, Graph Theory and Applications (EURO- COMB 2011), Jun 2011.


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What's top of mind for Leland?
Building Customer Loyalty
Meet Leland Kass - the tech-savvy marketing pro behind one of the world's most beloved luxury lifestyle brands, Jonathan Adler. Almost two decades since he sold his first piece of pottery in Barney's Department Store, Jonathan Adler has become the poster child for the contemporary American lifestyle. With 30 retail stores and over 1,000 points of distribution around the world, Jonathan Adler is universally known for Modern American Glamour and flawless design from furniture and lighting to pillows and pottery.
Like many luxury lifestyle retailers, Jonathan Adler has a very specific clientele and it can be challenging to target this specialized group in order to keep them coming back to your store. Leland believes that traditional marketing tactics no longer suffice. In a world of dwindling attention spans and endless options, brands like Jonathan Adler have to be more sophisticated in how they acquire and obtain customers, understanding their behaviors down to the most finite detail.
Start with Getting to Know Your Customers
To tackle this challenge, the marketing team at Jonathan Adler has evolved beyond simple targeted marketing campaigns to a truly personalized strategy. In this three-part blog post, we'll dive into how the company has re-focused their marketing strategy in order to build loyalty with their customers.
"Brand loyalty is a difficult nut to crack, especially in the luxury market. There are so many options out there and there are so many competitors. Customer attention spans are getting shorter and shorter, so the luxury landscape overall is getting a bit muted."
Here are some of the questions we asked Leland:
- Who are your customers and how do you engage with them?
- What are some of the biggest challenges you are facing as a retailer as it relates to customer loyalty?
- What initiatives are top of mind for you in response to those challenges?
- Are you seeing growth online and/or in mobile?
Who are your customers and how do you engage with them?
Our customers really fall into five buckets. One is the multi-homeowner, those who come into the store (or online) and in one fell-swoop outfit their entire first or even second home with our product. Another is the design community, the interior designers with a large reach of clients. A third is the higher income young family with one or both parents working and typically a young child. We also have a strong gay and lesbian fan base. Our fifth group is younger, in college or just out, who love the brand and love Jonathan. Jonathan has an incredibly dynamic personality - he connects with a wide audience. We've been able to identify that this fifth group in particular starts entry price point items in college and then grows to make bigger purchases as they progress through life.
To engage with these groups we have a variety of strategic tactics. We keep the conversation alive across a variety of platforms from email and direct mail to social and press. Our regular touchpoint across all groups is email and we send typically 3-4 emails per week. This year we increased our direct mail significantly. We are doing three major catalogs, and two, maybe three, smaller mailers. We've found that direct mail is a successful tool for cultivating customers and a catalog filled with stylized photography is important given the price point and breadth of our products. We have strong and engaged following on social from our younger demographic, so posting daily on Instagram, updating our pins on Pinterest, etc. is critical. Social is a vibrant, interactive forum to talk to those particular customers.
Customized outreach continues to be a focus for us, and as we gather more information on our customers, the more personal our campaigns will be. We rely very heavily on our stores, as well, to do personalized clienteling. Acquisition is one part of our strategy. Catalogs are hugely important to driving growth in our database, but so are grassroots efforts like events and outreach to neighboring businesses for co-branded events to share customers.
Retention is another part of our strategy. We've implemented a life cycle campaigns. We're identifying customers who haven't shopped and at key points in the life cycle, we're giving them targeted offers. The goal is to prevent them from going more than a year without shopping. Clienteling complements our life cycle campaigns as well. Once we've identified the customer who's about to lapse, we can tap the associate who worked with them on their last big purchase to reach out to them, inviting them in for a gift, etc. We're really trying to address retention from a broad communication standpoint, and then from a one-to-one connection.
What are some of the biggest challenges you are facing as a retailer as it relates to customer loyalty?
Three things: obtaining customer information,understanding purchase frequency and retention, and lastly, acquisition.
The first challenge is hardly unique to us, but it's increasingly difficult today to get customers to share their contact information. We have all these incredible customers transacting, but when you see that your top customer in a store "walk-in-client" in your CRM tool, there's nothing I can do with that as a marketer. Even further, it's even more challenging to get a customer to give us both their mailing and their email addresses. And as a customer shopping in a store, I understand both sides of the struggle. But, that information is worth its weight in gold to companies like Jonathan Adler who want to personalize marketing campaigns for every customer.
As our business migrates to more large high-ticket items, another challenge is understanding the frequency with which we should expect a customer to shop and how to drive their second purchase. We're in the midst of learning about customer behavior and pinpointing the proper timeframe to drive that second purchase. Retention remains a big focus for me, and a huge opportunity.
We also face a challenge in acquiring new clients. It's all about growing our base. More, more, more. Again, this is not especially unique to us. We've put a lot of effort into implementing grassroots, store-based initiatives as well as corporate initiatives to drive new people into our stores, grow our brand awareness, and gain new customers.
What initiatives are top of mind for you in response to those challenges?
To address our collection of information challenge, we recently held an all-store manager summit, where for the first time, we spent significant time training store managers on the appropriate and effective way to ask a customer for information. This included everything from the types of questions to ask, how you can follow-up if you don't get all their information, tips on how engage in a meaningful customer dialogue, and how to identify which customers are more willing to share their email address vs. their mailing address.
For acquisition, we are constantly engaging in partnerships with other brands to secure more customer leads that make sense for our brand. We are also really focused on our grassroots events program at the store level. Let's use Dallas as an example. Let's say there's a charity in Dallas that's important to one of our top customers. Our goal would be to do an event with that charity in hopes that that top customer would bring in all of her friends whom we can acquire as customers. It's an intimate setting. It's a great way to display our product, and it also has a feel-good charitable component. Our stores are making friends with their nearby businesses, involving themselves in the community. We know that the business is in the neighborhood, and connecting at this level is key for bringing in new names.
Are you seeing growth online and/or in mobile?
Absolutely. We recently replatformed our site which now offers more tools, more imagery, and more rich content on our products and craft. Plus, we're mobile-optimized. All of this helps close a sale online.
Our site has grown tremendously in the past few years and we're seeing increasing engagement on mobile.
Now that we have this burgeoning, beautiful website, we are taking advantage of prospecting to people all over the country. Previously, we had only sent catalogs within a 15-mile radius of a store. For the first time ever, we are prospecting to trade areas where we don't have a store - there's a wide audience out there waiting to become brand fans and loyal customers!


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Specialist support to Businesses that have engineering and technology at the core of their activities.
We offer a range of services, aimed at providing high quality professional advice and support to businesses that delivers measurable benefits.
We can provide professional services that include on site expert business advice, business issue resolution, hands-on delivery of projects, mentoring, interim management support and tailored business improvement programs to meet the aspirations for your business.
Business Growth
Sales not coming in, or lack of capability to reliably deliver your order book?
Business Issue Management
Are you and your team spending more time fire-fighting than running the business?
Margin Improvement
Cutting margin to win work or failing to achieve the margin you forecast at the sale?
Business Advice and Support
In need of some advice across a range of business areas, or delivery of a critical project?


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Cosmetic Imaging - See the Benefits
Cosmetic imaging is a digital service where your smile is enhanced and improved. It could be used in seeing your potential results. It also allows you to better understand your options and choices for the treatment as well.
How Is It Done?
Send us a photo of your smile. This is the "before" picture. The bigger and the more close up you get, the more detail we can provide for you. Let us know if you want your smile whitened or you are interested in cosmetic dentistry.
You can email your photo to firstname.lastname@example.com. Once we have performed the services you have requested, we will email you back your imaging results.
Some of the more specialized cosmetic imaging services, besides a simple whitening are, a smile make-over, space closure, teeth lengthening, gum recontouring and more.
Digital Whitening: Free (a $35 value)
Specialized Cosmetic Imaging: $95 and up.


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When Canada's new prime minister, Justin Trudeau, announced he had appointed women to half of his government's cabinet positions, many people asked him why.
"Because it's 2015," he replied.
But 2015 isn't an especially progressive time in the political world for gender equality. There are zero countries where women have equal representation with men. Zero.
A new report on global gender equality by the World Economic Forum, the Geneva-based nonprofit most famous for its uber-elite economic conference in Davos, Switzerland, shows that while women are inching toward global parity in education, health, and to a lesser extent economic outcomes, they are still woefully underrepresented in national governments.
Of 145 countries in the index, only four (Iceland, Finland, Norway, and Nicaragua) are more than halfway toward equality at the parliamentary, ministerial, and head-of-state levels of government. The majority of countries are below a quarter of the way to equality.
This is no accident.
"Political power continues to be one of the great bastions of masculinity, almost anywhere you go in the world," said Shauna Shames, an assistant professor of political science at Rutgers University-Camden, who studies the subject.
Without political power, women can fight and claw their way toward other types of equality, but their fates are still ultimately in the hands of men.
Many of the top 20 countries on the list in terms of political empowerment — including Rwanda, Bangladesh, and Costa Rica — only got there through some sort of quota system that forces political parties to recruit and groom women for political office.
The United States comes in 72nd on the list, about halfway down.
In the U.S., things aren't getting better. In fact, they are getting worse.
Via The Huffington Post at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/women-political-power_564cb9e4e4b00b7997f88b70


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CitiBlocs 22-Piece Little Builders
by CitiBlocs
Please check your favorite toy retailer for availability. Prices may vary.
Buy Online:
Product Description
Our Little Builders set just won the prestigious Oppeheim Platinum Award! Shake, Rattle and BUILD with this set for toddlers. This 22 block set is perfectly designed for little hands and includes rattle blocks, stairs and roofs in various fun colors. Comes in a sturdy storage pail with carry handle. Ages 2 .
Building with Citiblocs is simple: stack one block on top of another. Made of eco-friendly pine wood from New Zealand, their specific size and shape and weight allows building that is simply not possible with other building toys. Build a small cabin by the lake or a tower that reaches the stars!
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October 11, 2018 @ 6:30PM — 9:00PM
Food and drink, gymnastics and fun!
It is with great excitement and enthusiasm that we ask you to support the 2018 Going for the Gold Gala to benefit the Wendy Hilliard Gymnastics Foundation on Thursday, October 11, 2018 at the National Geographic Encounter at 226 West 44th Street from 6:30 to 9:00pm.
On this night, we will present Olympic Champions Nadia Comaneci & Bart Conner with the Champions Award, Vice Chairman of Millennium Management Simon M. Lorne with the Corporate Award, and USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame member Bruno Klaus with the Spirit of Sport Award. Tennis legend Billie Jean King, Good Morning America's Robin Roberts and Olympic Gymnastics Champions Gabby Douglas and Simone Biles will serve as Honorary Chairs. In addition, Maurice DuBois of CBS-2 News will serve as our Master of Ceremonies.
Nadia Comaneci is the first gymnast to be awarded a perfect score of 10.0 at the Olympics. Bart Conner is a two-time Olympic gold medalist and television commentator. The two have been married since 1996. Simon M. Lorne is the Chief Legal Officer and Vice Chairman of Millennium Management LLC. Bruno Klaus is a living legend in the sport of gymnastics and runs a family-owned gymnastics camp. All have been exemplary supporters of the Wendy Hilliard Gymnastics Foundation.
Bart Conner & Nadia Comaneci
Olympic Gold Medalists
Champions Award
Simon M. Lorne
Chief Legal Officer and Vice Chairman of Millennium Management
Corporate Award
Bruno Klaus
USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame
Spirit of Sport Award
Maurice DuBois
CBS-2 News
Master of Ceremonies
If you are unable to attend the event, you may still make a contribution through the donation page or by mailing your donation to the WHGF office at:
Wendy Hilliard Gymnastics Foundation
550 West 155th Street
New York, NY 10032
We look forward to seeing you! Check out some highlights from last year's Going for the Gold Gala.


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No, Facebook isn't creating an anti-drug task force
Satirical website NationalReport.net recently published a story entitled 'Facebook Drug Task Force To Begin Monitoring All Messages October 1st' and just like what often happens on the internet, many people thought the story was legitimate, resulting in it being shared thousands of times on Facebook.
According to the story, next month Facebook has plans to implement a task force "designed to arrest those who buy and sell narcotics and that they have plans to "monitor" the messages of all uses." The article also includes an amusing and rather convincing interview with a member of Anonymous who suggests people should turn to TOR for all their drug purchasing needs.
In just 24 hours over 100,000 people shared the story and various marijuana-focused online communities issued what they cleverly called a "Stoner alert."
But fortunately for gullible people Tweeting their displeasure with this new fictional task force dedicated to breaking down the doors of teenagers buying weed via Facebook messenger, it doesn't actually exist.
What makes the fake story even more amusing is the number listed as Facebook's drug tip hotline in the report actually connects callers to the Westboro Baptist Church.
While the idea of dealing drugs on social media might seem silly and unbelievable, many drug dealers actually publicly peddle their wares on the image sharing website Instagram.
Despite this story being fake, Facebook does actually scan chats with a combination of technologies in an effort to thwart sexual predators and contact the appropriate authorities when a related crime is being committed. This is done through automated screening programs that look for inappropriate language and the exchange of personal information. According to Reuters, the software even uses the recorded conversations of conflicted pedophiles online chats to help the software know what information to look for.
The moral of this story is teenagers seem to be really easy to trick on the internet with mildly realistic satirical stories, especially if they involve drugs.
Follow me on Twitter: @Patrick_ORourke.