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Class Prep
USF Card
The USFCard is the official identification card of the University of South Florida. The USFCard is a multi-functional card with digitized photo and electronic identification and validation for departments needing to verify student and/or employee status. The USFCard was designed as a platform for a multitude of services and functions.
买作弊器被骗全过程You must visit the Card Center to fill out proper documentation to obtain your USFCard.
Cardholder Responsibilities
A. Use of the USFCard by anyone other than the person to whom it was issued is strictly
B. The cardholder is subject to disciplinary actions or other penalties for improper use of the card.
C. The cardholder is responsible for any and all losses associated with the card.
买作弊器被骗全过程D. Punching holes, marking on the card, adding stickers or altering the card in any way is strictly prohibited.
View the full list of .
Download Form. Download this form and fill it out before heading to the Card Center.
Payment: Students and Distance Learning students will no longer have to pay for the USFCard at the time of issue. Instead, students will be conveniently billed through their university account.
The cost of your original card is $10. Replacement cards买作弊器被骗全过程 are $15.
Distance Learning Students
. Before you begin you will need the following in order to complete the process.
1. Drivers License
2. 2x2 Color Photo. White background only.
You will receive a confirmation email from the Card Center to let you know if you have been accepted or denied. If your application is denied the reason will be in the email response and you may reapply as necessary.
Payment:买作弊器被骗全过程 You will no longer have to pay for the USFCard at the time of issue. Instead, you will be conveniently billed through your university account.
The cost for your original card is $10. Replacement cards are $15.
Faculty and Staff includes Faculty, Adjunct Faculty, Postdoc Scholar, House Staff, OPS Staff and Staff.
Download Form买作弊器被骗全过程. Please download this form and fill it out before heading to the Card Center where you will obtain your USFCard. Your first ID Card will be complimentary.
For replacement cards, you will be required to pay the $15 fee at the Card Center.
Payment: Payment options include Visa/MasterCard at the Tampa and St. Petersburg Campus. At other Regional Campus, customers may pay with a credit card or debit card at the Regional Campus USFCard Centers. For the safety and security of everyone, customers who wish to pay by cash or check must do so at the Cashier's Office (Sarasota Campus-SMC B116). The Cashier's Office will provide a receipt which may be taken to the USFCard Center as proof of payment.
Retiree, Retired Faculty, Professor Emeritus
买作弊器被骗全过程All of your USFCards are complimentary. In order to obtain your USFCard, you will need to stop by the Card Center.
For replacement cards, you will be required to pay the $15 fee at the Card Center.
Tampa Campus
Location: SVC1032
Hours: Monday - Thursday: 9:00am-6:00pm, Friday: 9:00am-5:00pm
Email: email@example.com
For more information, please call (813) 974-2357.
Sarasota Campus
Location: 8350 N. Tamiami Trail in B116
Hours: Monday - Friday: 8:30am-5:00pm.
买作弊器被骗全过程For more information, please call (941) 359-4220
USF St. Petersburg
Location: Nelson Poynter Library, Room 221
Hours Monday - Thursday: 9:00am-5:30pm
Friday: 9:00am-5:00pm
For more information, please call (727) 873-4409


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[Skip to content]
The A-Z lists the services provided by Gosport Borough Council, or available within the Gosport area. Choose the initial letter of the service you require.
If you can't find what you are looking for in the A-Z or have a suggestion for a word or phrase that you think would be useful, please let us know.
A-Z of central government services is available here (link to gov.uk)
Lists central government departments, executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies

subset: commoncrawl


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Q: I want to install aeration. Which system do I buy for my pond?
Cindi – Troy, MT
A: Choosing the right aeration system can be quite a puzzle to solve, particularly if you have an oddly shaped lake or pond. But with these three keys that we've provided below, you can unlock the secret to selecting the right system for your pond or lake.
Pond Size
First, determine the size of your pond or lake so you can choose the right size aeration system to handle it. To calculate its surface area, measure the length and the width, multiply them, and then divide that number by 43,560. Aeration systems list the pond surface area that it can handle on the package.
Pond Depth
Once you know your pond or lake's surface area, you then need to figure in its depth. It plays an important role in the system compressor's efficiency and aeration area—the deeper the pond, the more area one diffuser can handle; the shallower the pond, the less area it can handle.
Look for the system that will handle the surface area at the depth of your pond. Ponds less than 6 feet deep will benefit from an efficient shallow water system, like the Airmax® Shallow Water Aeration System. It allows for multiple aeration plates that can be spread across the pond to compensate for the shallow depth.
Pond Shape
Finally, take a look at your pond's shape. If you have a round pond, it's relatively easy to fit an aeration system, like the Airmax® Pond Series™ Aeration System, based simply on its size and depth. If you have a long, narrow pond or one with odd shapes or coves, however, you may require additional diffusers for optimum circulation.
Still having a problem figuring out the aeration puzzle? Let us help! We can look up your pond via satellite and size the aeration system for you along with a layout for diffuser placement. Just give us a call!
Pond Talk: What problems have you experienced when trying to figure out what type of aeration system to install in your lake or pond?
Filed under: Aeration, Pond & Lake | Tagged: Aeration, aeration installation, pond size | Leave a comment »


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Someone get a man in as there's something wrong with time and space. Somehow this thing– this movie– came over from some awful bizarro world alternate universe where Gilbert Godfried is President and KFC sells Wolly Mammoth thigh. That can be the only logical explanation.
Yes, someone in 1995 really thought a movie set in the the future where Whoopi Goldberg teams up with a dinosaur named Theodore Rex was a good idea.


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I've heard somewhere that goldfish only have 3 seconds of memory. I imagine that their inner dialogue goes something like this, "I'm a fish. I'm hungry. Wait! I'm a fish!" I'll liken Miles' attention span (or any toddler's attention span!) to that fish's memory. But more than just the three second attention span, my husband has made the miles/ fish comparison many times lately in what I'm calling "The Goldfish Syndrome".
You see, goldfish will grow to the size of their tanks.If you buy and itty bitty goldfish and you leave it in an itty bitty tank, it will stay and itty bitty goldfish. But if you take that same goldfish and put it in a huge pond, it will turn into a huge goldfish. I don't quite understand why that happens. It is one of those phenomenons that make me scratch my head and say, "What the freckle?"
It's no secret that Miles won't grow. At what we think is three years old, he is the size of an average American 15 month old. We've looked into every possible reason for why this could be and can't come up with anything other than extreme malnutrition as an infant. Seriously- we've run all the tests. He's been poked and prodded and weighed and measured more times that I can count. I've even called the doctor once to ask him what it was that Webster had to see if Miles could possibly be the next Webster. Nope. That wasn't it either.
So hubs has come up with this new theory of why our kiddo won't grow. It's because his "tank" is too small. When Miles came home he had no desire to co-sleep. He likes to be completely alone and in total darkness when he sleeps. He is the lightest sleeper imaginable. We at first thought when Miles came home that the boys would share a room, but it became clear really quickly that Miles needed his own room or he would never sleep. So we moved Sadie into Noah's room and Miles now takes up permanent residence in Sadie's pink princess room. With his horrible crib trauma, we just set up the pack-n-play in there and he loved that thing immediately. I don't even think that it's a full sized pack-n-play. Anyway- he falls asleep as soon as he hits the pillow at night and sleeps all night in it. He's only climbed out of it once and I think it freaked him out so bad to have some freedom that he never even tried it again. It goes on all of our trips with us and for him, that tiny little cage is home for him. But Kamron's theory is that Miles will never grow bigger than the confines of that pack-n-play. His inner goldfish is refusing to get larger than his habitat. Because we can't come up with anything better (medically speaking) I am pronouncing my son to be the first person in the universe with Goldfish Syndrome. We will be getting an award recognizing us for this huge breakthrough in medical theories at next year's Nobel Prize awards.
We've thought about putting him in a real bed, but why rock the boat when this has been working for us so well for the last year and a half? And seriously- he doesn't look discontented, does he? I may be biased, but I truly think he is the cutest, little, brown cuddle bug on the planet- especially in his PJ's. *sigh*
Today is the last day of the Circle of Mom's Top 25 Adoption Blogs Contest. Can you vote for us one last time? (CLICK HERE!) I'd really love to finish in the top 5. Pretty please, with sugar on top? When you are finished with that, click over and join our Facebook page. I'll be giving away something pretty awesome over there when this contest is over as my way of saying thanks. We LOVE LOVE LOVE our readers like crazy cakes.
Like what you read? Join us on Facebook!


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By Ryan Healy – As much as I enjoy the company of my supervisors and consider many of them my friends, we still work in a professional environment and they are a step above me on the food chain. So I watch what comes out of my mouth around higher level co-workers, but it's just as important for them to watch what they say, too.
Here are five things you should never say or do around any young workers who you want to keep around:
"Put your iPod away."
Want to see your young workers jet to a new company after a few months? Tell them they aren't allowed to listen to their I-Pods in the office. I feel naked without mine. I work out with it, walk with it, attach it to my car stereo and listen to it when I'm working or writing. An old supervisor once told me to put away my I-Pod. I did. Until he left the room!
We all see the stories about small startups and Google's working environments. These companies are the gold standard for twentysomethings. Employees wear jeans and T-shirts and work from rainbow colored bean bag chairs. If the office I'm at doesn't even let me listen to an i-Pod, they are obviously behind the times. Who wants to work for a boring, outdated company?
"Pay your dues."
I understand the logic behind this way of thinking. There's certainly something to be said for putting in your time and learning the ropes before jumping into a management position, but watch your wording.
Ryan Geist once put it this way: "Don't tell me to pay my dues. Tell me to sell myself."
The point is, youngsters are not stupid. We know a few years of grunt work is to be expected, but we don't like to think of it as "paying dues." Young workers will respond better if you say something like, "develop your skill set" or " build your brand." These are two positive ways to imply the same message. "Paying your dues" is not entirely false, but its significance gets lost in translation. It screams negativity. .
"Don't you wish we were on vacation all the time?"
No, actually I don't wish I was on vacation all the time. I plan to accomplish many things in my short time on this planet. Getting a great tan on a life long vacation is right above swimming with sharks on my to-do list.
If a manager that I plan to replace one day said this to me, I would have more than a few second thoughts. Desiring to be on vacation all the time implies that you don't like your job and you have little ambition. I don't want to work for a company that doesn't keep their employees happy, and I don't want to work for a manager who has no aspirations.
"Before I was at the top of the food chain…"
This is my all time favorite. Please do not talk about your days as a low-level cog in the corporate machine. For one thing, those days are now my reality. It's not necessary to remind me about the late nights and crummy hotels you were stuck in.
But also, I know you're the boss. I do not need to be reminded. I have seen the corporate reporting structure, and unless you're the CEO, you're not at the top of the food chain. If a manager needs to talk about their status as "the boss," this gives the impression that the company is apprehensive about status and titles. Young people really don't care about titles. My goal is not the corner office and I'm not awestruck by a high profile executive. We're all people.
"I wasted a huge part of my youth doing what you are doing."
Yes, somebody actually said this to me.
Ryan Healy's blog is Employee Evolution.


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NHL Game Night: 2-6-14 Maple Leafs at Lightning
Ben Bishop allowed 1 goal on 22 shots before leaving the game after the Second Period with the old "upper body injury." Cedrick Desjardins allowed 2 goals on 13 shots the rest of the way for the backdoor loss. Tough spot for Cedrick to come into, and it cost the Lightning, because there was a goaltending duel in progress at the time.
First Period
Second Period
7:57 TOR Raymond (15), (Kulemin, Rielly)
Third Period
2:19 TOR McClement (3), (Clarkson, Lupul)
8:10 TOR van Riemsdyk (23), (Gunnarsson, Kessel)
10:28 TB Palat (12), (St Louis, Johnson)
17:08 TOR Bozak (12), (Kessel)(EN)
Ondrej Palat was the game's third star.
Let's recap the past 36 hours. Steven Stamkos' return was postponed another 2-3 weeks because his broken leg hasn't completely finished healing. Ben Bishop is down again with an "upper body injury" which may or may not keep him out of Saturday's game against Detroit. Valtteri Filppula also looked to reinjure his hip after getting the old Russian leg sweep from a Leaf tonight (no call), and he may also be out for Saturday.
Standings-wise, the Lightning are 7 games into segment 6 of the season having only collected 6 points in those 7 games. A loss Saturday would mean the Lightning can't hit their minimum segment target of 12 points again, and puts them in serious jeopardy of not having the minimum 72 points the Lightning really need to have after Game 60 to comfortably be on pace for the playoffs. That's bad. Very bad. This isn't a battle-tested veteran club. You don't necessarily want to see them scrambling for points in March and April against teams that are. Staying on pace is critical.
Mark Barberio had 1 shot in 14:21.
J.P. Cote had 3 shots in 9:05.
J.T. Brown had 2 penalty minutes, 5 shots, and 1 blocked shot in 12:57. He keeps generating chances with his speed and grit, particularly in tight, but just can't seem to find a finish.
Nikita Kucherov was -1 with 1 shot and 1 blocked shot in 15:34. He had a handful of glorious chances in the First Period before tailing off as the game went on. He also has 2 of his shots blocked and 4 that missed the net, as he may be cutting it too fine right now trying to adjust to NHL goaltending.
Box score and extended statistics from NHL.com.
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The Boxer is a tough puppy and can handle a lot of power. Perfectly usable without a subwoofer, this speaker gives a great window into music. Incorporating a terrific Full Range Driver with rich detail and 3D sound stage. Imaging is very precise and vocals emerge with astounding clarity and presence. The enclosure is made of fully recyclable composite materials and is finished in sustainably harvested American Walnut and American Rift Oak.
Standard speaker wire length 4 feet. Amplifier not includedMADE TO ORDER Please allow 2 - 4 weeks for delivery.
Made to order. Please allow 2 - 4 weeks for delivery.
Power Handling: 20 watts RMS
45 watts max
Impedance: 8 ohms
Frequency range: 80-21,000Hz
SPL: 87 dB 1W/1m
9.5" x 7.5"
6 lbs.
Responsible design
Here's how this product leaves a lighter footprint
Meet the designer
Well-Rounded Sound - Jerry Cmehil
We admit it, the first thing that caught our attention about Well Rounded Sound's incredible line of speakers, amps, and turntables, was how great these things looked. Pretty sweet, right? Of course, a good looking speaker that doesn't deliver crisp, powerful sound is nothing more than an oversized paper weight. To put our fears to rest, we were graciously invited by inventor, speaker guru, music lover and Well Rounded Sound founder Jerry Cmehil into his upper east side studio for a personal demonstration of what these bad boys are capable of. Hearing is believing, and we were blown away. Don't let Well Rounded Sound's "boutique" status fool you: These are premium quality speakers that match up pound for pound with any of the high end brands out there and far surpass the more generic brand-name models currently popular on the market. Recently displayed at the New York Audio Show with a subsequent spotlight in Stereophile Magazine, Well Rounded Sound uses sustainably sourced materials to provide music aficianados with the finest sound achievable in the desktop domain.
Process & Materials
All Well Rounded Sound enclosures are fully recyclable and made from composite recyclable materials. They use only top quality finishing materials that are sustainable, renewable and biodegradable. Their American Hardwoods come from sustainably harvested forests and all Bamboo Veneers and Solids are among the most natural, renewable materials on the market. All wood materials and finishes used in Well Rounded Sound products have an ultra-low VOC content (Volatile Organic Compounds: the often toxic and harmful compounds found in typical paints/lacquers/finishes.) Their 100% New Zealand Wool Felt is a fully recyclable, biodegradable, sustainable and a renewable material that is naturally moisture resistant with excellent acoustical properties. Loudspeakers manufactured in U.S.A. and have been certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.


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guugus needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 69 designs submitted by 30 freelance designers.
I am looking for a design for a taewkondo martial arts community. The design should incorporate the url plus any design elements.
Desired Color Scheme:
you pick but make it look good
Accepted File Formats:
Vector Formats (.eps, .pdf or .ai); Layered Formats (.psd or .tiff)
The design should be fresh and contemporary. No posed silholuettes that look like they belong on the top of a bad trophy. Not adverse to anime but it must be Taekwondo not karate or something else. The name TKD 360 meaning a 360 degree view of Taekwondo around the world.
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


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Harry Potter for Kinect announced
The boy who lived is getting yet another video game adaptation. This time, players will be thrown into the shoes of a Hogwarts student through the magic of Kinect. Appropriately titled Harry Potter for Kinect, the game is being developed by Eurocom and is due out this fall. Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment is publishing, naturally.
The game encompasses all eight Harry Potter films, but you won't be playing as any of the core gang of characters. Instead, the Kinect will scan your face to make your own witch or wizard and weave within the characters and scenarios presented in the films. You'll visit Ollivander's wand shop, be placed into a house, and battle Voldemort. Apparently they're playing a little fast and loose with canon. Kinect commands will let you cast spells with physical maneuvers and spell names.
"Harry Potter for Kinect will engage Harry Potter fans old and new by bringing them into the wizarding world as truly active participants," said WBIE senior VP of production and development Samantha Ryan, in the announcement. "Kids and parents will enjoy recreating their favorite Harry Potter adventures, from flying a broomstick in a Quidditch match, to battling pixies and dueling other wizards."


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Address45 Tigi Court
Concord, ON
Canada L4K 5E4
AGM Basements has completed over 80 basements in the wonderful area of King City. In 2017 alone, we completed over 10 successful projects. We have worked with numerous clients in the area with homes that vary in size, age, and project needs. Our talented team of experts work with clients every step of the way in order to ensure they end up with exactly what they wanted in their space. Our commitment to customer satisfaction and the quality of our experts and materials make us the best choice for your upcoming basement project. When you choose AGM, you become part of a team that goes above and beyond and strives to make your vision a reality.
AGM Basements is qualified in every aspect of basement remodeling. We have successfully completed projects that vary in size from 2000 sq./ft to 5000 sq./ft. We have also worked with houses that range from brand new builds to homes that were built 50 years ago. We know that every project we take on will be unique, and we strive to meet the needs with years of experience, close communication with our clients, and the use of high-quality materials.
As every client requires different needs for their space, we are able to offer a wide variety of remodeling services to our clients. These include:
Wine cellars.
And more!
Our Team
When you choose to put your project in our hands, you become a part of a talented team of experts designed to make your vision reality. This team includes;
A dedicated project manager that will monitor your project daily and be in contact with you throughout the entire renovation process.
A professional team of interior designers available to help you envision your space. With 10+ years of experience, these designers have what it takes to turn any of your basement needs into reality.
Experienced builders will be completing the renovation project to assure that everything is built to last and measures up to the highest of building codes and standards.
Master electricians will bring everything to the most current building codes and provide ESA electrical certificates.
And finally,
Our Professional Cleaning Team will finish your project off, leaving your space looking like a model home.
Why AGM Basements?
We pride ourselves in going above and beyond for our clients, and our reputation reflects just that. We are able to offer a long list of quality referrals as well as welcome you to attend one of our many finishing showcases and open houses.
We hope you choose AGM for your project. We can promise you that our team is up to the challenge, and we will create a space that you will enjoy for years to come. Please do not hesitate to contact our team for more information. We are eager to start turning your needs into your reality. We appreciate you considering AGM, and we look forward to hearing from you very soon!
We've finished over 5,000 basements in the GTA and counting.


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Art Basel taking place earlier this month reminded me of my trip to Miami last summer. It was probably the first vacation where all I did was relax instead of running around to catch as many notable sights as I could. Most of my time was dedicated to lounging on the beach, driving around with beautiful landscapes in view and gorging on local food in excellent company.
The first thing I saw of Miami from the plane was palm trees. I remember being so excited as they're the sign that you're about to land in a warm exotic place.
I'm usually not a big beach person despite growing up on the seaside, but give me warm clear water with sun and I'll spend my days there.
We did however take in the Art Deco architecture on Ocean Drive with its many hotels.
Along the way we came across Gianni Versace's former mansion in front of which the designer tragically died.
If you feel like shopping, The Webster is the place to go. Run by a French woman, The Webster is Miami's version of Colette or Liberty.
Another French-run place my friends and I were fonder of was La Sandwicherie. It's the perfect spot to indulge in big sandwiches and delicious natural smoothies before hitting the beach.
Other restaurants we enjoyed include Loews Hotel for their amazing breakfast buffet, the Italians Quattro and Bianca (at the Delano Hotel) and Icebox Café for its desserts. (Nobu was a bit of a disappointment.)
Speaking of the Delano Hotel, we loved the outdoor bar where you can lounge on giant pillows or in your own little tent around the shallow pool. And the cocktails are great too, which doesn't hurt.
If you fly to Miami, do spend an extra 2 or 3 days in the Keys. The drive itself is a pleasure with beautiful landscapes and excellent restaurants along the way, like the Butterfly Café in the gorgeous Tranquility Bay Resort where we stayed. Breakfasting on sweet crêpes at the French-run Banana Café in Key West and dining at Marker 88 with the sun setting on the ocean were quite an experience too.
Snorkeling in Bahia Honda State Park was probably the highlight of my trip. It was exhilarating to observe the coral and tropical fish so up close.
For shorter day trips, head to Key Biscayne. Once there, you can climb the stairs to the top of the lighthouse and take in the beautiful view before hitting the beach.
Are there any similar trips you would recommend me for next summer?


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Snoop Dogg's Way Of The Dogg Combines Music And Fighting
Rapper Snoop Dogg (AKA Snoop Lion) is providing the music for Way of the Dogg, a new rhythm-action fighting game built around music and '70s Kung Fu films.
Players match beats to Snoop's music in order to take out enemies; each new level provides a different music track to lay the smackdown to.
Way of the Dogg will release on Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, and mobile platforms. Snoop is not new to the gaming scene: he was featured in Tekken Tag Tournament 2, and has helped promote sports games such as FIFA 13.
[Source: Joystiq]


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East Grinstead Chauffeur
MS Executive Chauffeurs provide a reliable and effective chauffeur service in and around East Grinstead. We will collect you on time and be there for your return journey.
One of our Mercedes S-Class or BMW 7 Series cars will transport you and your luggage safely and effortlessly to or from East Grinstead.
- Corporate & Executive Travel
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"It's how you arrive" says everything about our aim to deliver the best in chauffeur driven luxury travel. We provide a punctual, reliable and friendly service enabling our customers to arrive on time and in style.
Get a quote or make a booking now by visiting our quotes and bookings page or call us on 01892 882636.
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Charlize at Sundance
Charlize Theron showed up at Sundance with Stuart Townsend to promote her new project Sleepwalking which she produced. Charlize plays a woman who gives up her children to foster care. It is not a biography of Britney Spears.
Not feeling her hairstyle… you?
As you can see, Charlize is all smiles and unusually spirited…especially considering the cameras are around. Then again, Charlize can light it up with the best of them when she's selling. And Stuart is a fine piece of ass.
Speaking of ass… Charlize started her career based on her ass. Not unlike Shelf Ass Jessica Biel and Grumpy Ass Jessica Alba. Remember Charlize's statuesque bare body in Two Days in the Valley?
But as you know, getting ugly was Charlize's ticket to "serious" movie stardom. And since "serious" movie stardom is what the Jessicas are after, would they consider getting ugly too?
Would they put on 30 pounds for The Role they've been waiting for? Would the Shelf Ass become a Table Ass in exchange for membership on the Top Tier?
It would be almost poetic, non? That to get where she wants to go, she'd have to give up her Shelf Ass…which is what got her to where she is. Problem is… if Shelf Ass grows into a Table Ass, will Pip stick around?
Oh the torture of being Jessica Biel…
Photos from source


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Adjuvant therapy* with radiation may be given after surgery for breast cancer even though all detected cancer was removed. The goal is to destroy any unseen malignant cells and improve chances of cancer cure. From 85 to 95% of patients receiving adjuvant therapy develop moderate to severe skin reactions with damage to deeper layers of […]View Post
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(415) 863-0620
1745 Folsom St
Map and Holiday Hours
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For weekend road-racers turning laps in their foreign sports cars, the sudden appearance of Buster D'Amato's '67 Impala SS running them down from behind can more than affect the way they drive. Not only do they tend to give this two-ton heavyweight plenty of braking room, but they also refrain from using intimidation to gain the preferred line going through a curve. Then they peg their tachometer on the straightaway in a vain attempt to keep up with 502 inches of Chevy power. It's the revenge of the land yachts and this story couldn't be any sweeter.
"A lot of drivers have told me that they'll see me in the rearview mirror thinking, 'Oh my gosh! What is that coming up?' " Buster says with a twinkle in his eye. "They may get around me in the corners, but I'll just blow by them. Then they feel like they'll catch back up with me in the next corner, but most of the time, I'm already gone.
"When I took it to a time-attack event, my instructor asked me to slow down because it was scaring him," Buster continued with a laugh. "This car is the biggest thing in terms of size on the track."
Buster was offered this classic Impala as payment for a paintjob he did for a customer a little over 15 years ago. The offer was hard to turn down. Not only was this the same kind of car that he had earned his driver's license in, but it was also an original Super Sport.
"It was light blue with a white vinyl top, and it had a 327 with a Powerglide in it," Buster says. "My mom had a plain Jane car like this that I learned to drive in. It wasn't perfect, but it was a good little get-around car. I drove it for two years before parking it. My plan was to do a nice restoration, so I started collecting parts for itùand that was the hardest part by far."
As it was, the car was in fine enough condition for many people. It came nicely equipped from the factory with aggressive fastback styling, air conditioning, power steering, and numerous safety improvements such as a collapsible steering column. Even so, this 327-cid, 275hp Super Sport tended to be overlooked in collector's eyes by the bigger 427 version that debuted for the first time that year.
Pulling a fullsize 4,100-lb car like this would be a load for any small-block, especially on a racetrack. Buster decided that a modern-day big-block would be the answer. When the ZZ502 crate engine with the oval-port aluminum cylinder heads became available, Buster was one of the first in line to get one. With 502 peak horsepower and 567 lb-ft of torque from 92-octane pump gas, this was just the engine combination for a classic fullsize street car.
While the new crate engine provided more than enough motivation for this Impala, Buster realized early on that he would have to upgrade other areas as well for it to be a balanced performance. Kooks Custom Headers devised an exit strategy for the exhaust that utilized 3-inch stainless steel tubing, an X-shaped crossover, and high-flow mufflers.
Mike Graham from Virginia Speed put together a Turbo TH350 automatic with a mild shift kit and an ATI 2,600-stall converter, and then replaced the stock differential with an Auburn rear with 3.42:1 gears.
Handling was substantially improved with the addition of some beefy aftermarket sway bars and KYB gas shocks. To improve the braking, a Master Power Chevy power front disc-brake kit that features oversize cross-drilled/slotted rotors was bolted to the original drum spindles. The back end features a Master Power rear drum-brake kit as well with cryogenically treated 11-inch drums.
Seventeen-inch Cragar rims shod with Goodyear F1 rubbers helped provide plenty of "stick" on both the street and road courses.
"If the ZZ572 had been available then, I would have grabbed that instead," Buster says. "Even so, we found this to be very dependable and strong. In testing, we found that putting on a Holley 750 HP picked it up two-tenths right out of the box, but we were hard on the transmission and had to go through it a couple of times to get it to last. With 28.5x15 Mickey Thompsons on the rear, the best we've gone with the car on the quarter-mile is a 12.36 at 111 mph."
The hardest aspect of this restoration project, however, didn't involve the performance upgrades at all. Instead, it was gathering together all of the little chrome and stainless steel trim pieces that aren't available as reproduction pieces. Many of the survivor cars that are still with us today have been repainted, with many of them having damaged trim parts because of sanding.
Buster had to go to the time and expense of buying four different rust buckets that still had their original paint on them in order to get the best-quality replacement trim that he could find.
He then added some custom touches of his own by spraying the car in a deep, rich blue hue that he custom-mixed from some Mercedes-Benz and Chrysler factory colors. Once the basecoat/clearcoat combination was wet-sanded and buffed, Buster added some subtle touches of his own, with a black vinyl top, solid red taillights, and a set of Camaro SS hood louvers.
"A lot of people still don't know what this car really is," Buster said with a laugh. "Then I have others who tell me about all of the memories it brings back. One of my favorites is when someone told me that the trunk is big enough for them to put six kids in it so they could all go to the drive-in movies. It seems to bring back a lot of good memories for different people."
As a versatile performer on the street, road course, or dragstrip, Buster's '67 Impala SS proves that classic heavyweights like these are still more than relevant in terms of today's performance. Long live the land yachts!


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by Ray Blaak
Table of contents
12 May 2011
|Prerequisite knowledge
|Required products
Prior knowledge developing applications with Adobe Flash
Professional or Adobe Flash Builder is recommended.
Experience programming in ActionScript 3 is required.
Flash Builder (Download trial)
|User Level
Ensemble Systems has partnered with Adobe to develop movie viewing applications for Samsung's 2011 models of Smart TVs and Blu-ray players for EPIX and CNET. Developing the viewer apps for these devices posed some interesting challenges because the Samsung Smart TV and Blue-ray player devices are constrained in both processing power and available memory. The players we developed present selections of video clips and movie titles from an online catalog. Users select a show from the menu, which plays back on their TV or streams over the Internet on demand (see Figure 1).
Figure 1. Users can navigate to select movies using the CNET Viewer.
These applications were demonstrated at the 2011 International Consumer Electronics Show, running on the 2010 Samsung Blu-ray player. Adobe AIR will be embedded in the 2011 models of Samsung Smart TVs and Blu-ray players.
Generally speaking, the processors in connected TVs and Blu-ray players today are not as powerful as desktop computers—but they do have powerful 2D graphics hardware acceleration and capable video decoders that require fewer system resources. During the process of building these projects, our development team at Ensemble learned valuable lessons and best practices to deliver a good user experience on TV and Blu-ray player hardware.
In this article, I'll describe some of these considerations and highlight the lessons we learned to optimize performance of rich Internet applications for Smart TV and Blu-ray players. Although the applications are conceptually simple and reasonably straightforward to develop in ActionScript, we found that it was necessary to pay close attention to the details to ensure good performance. It's particularly important to be careful when dealing with project assets to achieve smooth movement in animations and transitions.
Both the EPIX and CNET applications present movie catalogs with a hierarchy of menus. The navigation elements display appealing animations as the user transitions through the various levels of content. As the user selects a movie, the player loads more details about their selection; in other cases, it also loads the movie player. Movie playback is required to play the video smoothly. The player includes the standard playback controls, such as pause, fast-forward, and other related buttons.
Current hardware is constrained both in terms of memory and vector drawing ability. We couldn't use the classic trick of preparing and caching bitmaps in advance because we found that performance suffered due to processing the initial drawing; memory limitations were also apparent when the app attempted to store too much image data at once. We realized that the key involved drawing bitmaps as efficiently as possible and displaying the graphics needed only for that moment—nothing more. Additionally, since the memory limitations restricted our ability to cache image data, we focused our efforts on recreating the screens more efficiently. These strategies really improved overall performance.
In this section, I'll outline the changes we made to enable the devices to display the graphic content more efficiently.
Caching bitmaps
When developing in ActionScript, it is a common practice to use the
cacheAsBitmap property on
DisplayObject . We certainly made heavy use of it, but
cacheAsBitmap only works on the display object itself, not its children. When developing these projects, we found it useful to render complex but static displays to a bitmap and then display the bitmap instead.
The trick here involves generating the bitmaps we need for the current display and then throwing them away as soon as they are no longer visible on the screen.
It is helpful to use the
Graphics methods with vector drawing objects to precisely control a display's appearance. However, be aware that they perform slowly when used in conjunction with scrolling content. When dealing with scrolling elements, we were forced to use
cacheAsBitmap . This approach works reasonably well. When absolutely necessary, you can render off-screen bitmaps of complex content, as mentioned previously.
Efficient bitmaps
After experimenting, we discovered that the direct use of bitmaps as bitmap fills on sprites or shapes performed better than the native
flash.display.Bitmap object. This strategy appears to use less memory overhead. Furthermore, when you use sprites, you gain the capability for the bitmap to have children, which is convenient when displaying captions.
We ended up writing our own image class that behaved like the standard bitmap class (with a source property that loads from a URL) and drew more efficiently.
Scaling and smoothing bitmaps
The view apps we developed required the ability to scroll large quantities of movie thumbnail bitmaps smoothly on the screen. In many cases, the bitmaps came from the server in a larger size than the thumbnails to be displayed. We found that if you simply scale the bitmaps down to fit, scrolling performance is impacted. It appears that the original bitmap data is used during scrolling, instead of the scaled displayed bitmap data. Similarly, the smoothed bitmaps are slower compared to non-smoothed bitmaps when scrolling.
To resolve this, we generated the bitmap images used for the movie thumbnails as sprites and applied the bitmap fills with full scaling and smoothing. Then we explicitly rendered the resulting image sprite to a new bitmap object that was non-transparent, non-smoothed, and unscaled in order to capture the displayed result for scrolling purposes.
Our displayed movie thumbnails consisted of these final efficient bitmaps, which scrolled much more smoothly.
The scrolling performance is also affected significantly when transparency controls are set. If you don't need transparency, ensure that your bitmaps are drawn with transparency set to
false . It's a best practice to set the
opaqueBackground property to the desired background color instead.
The following tips highlight other helpful strategies we followed in order to improve the performance of the viewer apps and make them play faster in devices.
To achieve efficient font rendering, use embedded fonts. Although you certainly gain better display control with embedded compared to system fonts, the drawing performance of embedded fonts is the primary advantage needed when building these types of applications.
Another consideration is to set the
antiAliasType property of text fields to
NORMAL or
ADVANCED , as needed. While advanced anti-aliasing provides the best visual results, the normal setting draws faster. Our team generally used the advanced setting for static text and applied normal anti-aliasing to moving text.
Also, setting
cacheAsBitmap to
true helps significantly when text is included in scrolled content.
It's very important to minimize the amount of content on the screen at any one time. For example, in many projects it is acceptable to overlay temporary screens on a previous screen. However, we found in constrained devices (like connected TVs) that underlying content can impact performance even if the new screen content is non-transparent and completely covering it. Essentially, the non-visible content still factors into clipping and drawing calculations.
We first encountered this issue when we overlaid a full-screen video player for movie playback over the top of the previous movie selection screen. The application suffered from poor video playback with stuttering. But after adding code to ensure that all underlying content was removed, the video playback performance improved.
Component libraries like Flex greatly aid in the efficient development of components and component placement. They provide controls that allow layouts to be implicitly determined (using features such as percentage-based sizing). However, these abilities come with a runtime cost: it takes more time for components to "settle" in and be displayed as they are measured and sized in layout loops.
When developing these viewer apps, we used pure ActionScript-only components with little to no implicit placement. In our projects, the apps were simple enough that placement could be either constant positions or readily computed from the size of the parent component— using code such as this:
child.x = (this.width – child.width)/2
This approach greatly improved app performance, allowing components to be placed on the Stage much more immediately, and resulted in smoother transitions.
As hardware improves, this issue will matter less. In the future, you'll have more processing power in devices that can leverage the improvements in development effort that Flex components provide. However, in the short term, as you develop apps for performance-constrained devices, it's important to be conscious of the runtime impact of the layout model you use and look for alternatives.
Many existing component libraries are available to facilitate efficient development of components and component placement. Flex is particularly powerful and useful when building applications in general. Note that the latest version of Flash Builder 4.5 has greatly improved support for constrained devices, especially mobile devices, and the layout performance issue has been significantly addressed.
A good tweening library is a very common tool in every Flash developer's arsenal. On high-performing systems, your choice really depends on stylistic preferences and the features available in the API. However, when developing for poor-performing devices, the tweening library's implementation can make a big difference in consistent performance, predictable execution times, and the occurance of dropped frames.
After testing, we found the GreenSock tween library is quite good in terms of runtime efficiency and the ability to execute tweens with low overhead.
In other situations, we developed explicit frame event handlers and raw timers directly. When you use this approach, take care to avoid using code that counts frames. Always measure the elapsed time instead.
In general, it is a best practice to write code with few (if any) frame event handlers. It is optimal if the code is independent of frame rate. In our projects, we used the default frame rate of 24. We discovered that increasing the frame rate simply increases the per-second amount of processing by the runtime; decreasing it tends to make animations choppier.
In these projects, we originally attempted to scroll entire collections of movie thumbnails together by modifying their individual
y properties. This is inefficient. It is much more efficient to place all scrollable content in a single parent container and then scroll that parent container in a single transform.
Performance optimization can be tricky and time-consuming. Strive to follow general best practices in advance, but realize that ultimately every project requires a lot of trial and error. Sometimes seemingly unrelated changes made when bug fixing can undo achieved performance gains, so it is critical to continually test your project (early and often) throughout the entire development and deploy phases.
To learn more about developing for connected TVs, visit the Flash Platform for TV technology center. To get more information about building RIAs, check out the Rich Internet application development center.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported License.


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Explore Our Hotel
Hotel in Marysville, Washington Offers Comfortable Stay on Puget Sound
Just minutes from Puget Sound, we are close to many of Snohomish County's largest businesses and attractions, and is just a half-hour north of Seattle.
Our hotel in Marysville, WA is just minutes from the Xfinity Arena and is close to many corporate locations. Agilent Technologies is just five minutes from our hotel, while New Glasair LLC is just ten miles away. The Port of Everett is also nearby, located just ten minutes from our Marysville hotel.
For leisure travelers, Tulalip Casino is just a minute away. With dining and live entertainment, this is a great place to spend an evening! For the best shopping, Seattle Premium Outlets is also just a minute away. It has 110 name brand outlets to choose from. The Future of Flight Aviation Center and Boeing Tour, located 15 miles from our hotel north of Seattle, features the only public tour of a commercial jet assembly plant in America. Also just ten miles from our Marysville hotel is Everett Marina. With shopping, dining and whale watching tours, this is a great place to see Puget Sound.
Our Marysville hotel offers you choice amenities such as an indoor pool and whirlpool spa, Business and Fitness Centers and free high-speed Internet access. Come experience all our new Snohomish County hotel has to offer.
- Black-out Shades
- Rollaway Bed/Cot Available
- Crib Available
- Iron/Ironing Board
- Separate Hanging Closet
- In-Room Heating and A/C Controls
Bathroom/Personal Care
- Private Bathroom
- Bathroom Amenities Available
- Hair Dryer
- Bathtub
- Separate/Walk-in Shower
In-Room Features
- Mini Refrigerator
- Microwave
- Coffee Maker
- Flat-screen TV
- iPod Docking Station with Clock Radio
- Work Desk with Lamp
- Desk-level Electrical Outlet
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- 3 Meeting Room(s) Available
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- Indoor Pool
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Complimentary Fitness Center
Exercise Room includes 2 treadmills, an elliptical machine, stationary bike and free weights.
Hours of Operation: 12:00 AM to 12:00 AM
Fitness Center Type: LIMITED
Fitness Center Equipment:
- Elliptical Machines
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Hotel Details
8606 36th Avenue NE
Marysville, Washington 98270
United States
Check In: 3:00 PM
Check Out: 12:00 PM
Check-in Age: 18
Parking + -
- Complimentary Self Parking Available
Accessibility + -
- Public Entrance
- Guest Rooms
- Elevators
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Accessible Hotel Areas
- Registration Area
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Hotel Areas with Accessible Routes from Accessible Public Entrance
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Provided by Hotel
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- Number of Floors: 4
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Beckhoff Automation Expands in the Carolinas
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Friday, January 1, 2010
Beckhoff Automation LLC, Burnsville, MN, a supplier of PC-based controls, industrial PCs, automation controllers, servo drives and motors, opened a new sales and engineering center in Charlotte, NC. It hired Ron Pryor, customer service engineer, and Les Queen, application engineer, to work at the new center, a 3000-sq.-ft. facility that includes a training room. It's the firm's seventh regional office in North America.
See also: Beckhoff Automation
Related Enterprise Zones: Automation
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