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OAKLAND — As Alameda County charges forward with a plan to form its own public energy agency to buy and sell greener power to residents and compete with PG&E, environmental advocates are fighting to make sure the state doesn't block the way.
About 50 activists rallied Thursday outside a Pacific Gas and Electric customer service center in downtown Oakland to protest a bill that the state Senate will take up Monday.
The Assembly has already passed AB 2145, which proponents say protects customers by giving them the choice to stick with their current utility — in most Bay Area cities, that's PG&E — instead of automatically rolling into a new startup utility formed by Alameda County or other public agencies.
Opponents who protested Thursday say that by making every resident "opt in" if they want to be served by a new clean power agency, the bill will effectively derail the state's fledgling "community choice aggregation," or CCA, movement that allows public agencies to choose their own sources of electricity and set their own billing rates.
"Community choice is the single most powerful tool available to local government to reduce greenhouse gas emissions," said Woody Hastings, who helped launch a Sonoma County clean energy agency earlier this year.
The Alameda County Board of Supervisors voted earlier this month to launch a $1.3 million feasibility study that could end with the creation of a local energy authority encompassing all the cities that care to join.
Several city leaders in Oakland, Berkeley and Hayward are already on board; the city of Alameda already has its own 127-year-old municipal power company.
"The real purpose is, we think climate change is a serious problem," said Hayward Mayor-elect Barbara Halliday, a supporter of the concept.
Of PG&E, she added, "Give them a little competition and give people more of a choice in how they get their energy."
County officials believe a startup agency could help the environment and create more local jobs installing rooftop solar panels and retrofitting homes to make them more energy-efficient. The county agency would also be able to buy its own electricity on the market or from local sources, such as the wind turbines on the Altamont, selling it to customers at competitive rates.
Marin County was the first to launch a CCA authority in 2010 and now boasts a portfolio that is 80 percent renewable energy and bills that are lower than PG&E's for many residents. Richmond joined the Marin agency in 2012, though a survey cited by state lawmakers says 75 percent of Richmond residents don't even know they are part of a CCA because PG&E still distributes the energy and sends the bills. The bill demands more transparency and information from public power agencies.
Sonoma County began the state's second program this spring. Plans have also emerged in San Francisco, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Lancaster and along Monterey Bay, but advocates say all are imperiled by the state legislation.
Even if the bill is passed, Alameda County could create its own power agency, but Hastings said the bigger question is "Would they bother to?"
It would cost too much money for the county to persuade each resident to opt in to the program, he said.
The Assembly overwhelmingly voted in favor of the "opt in" bill in late May with little public debate. Of the five Assembly members representing parts of Alameda County, three voted in favor of the bill: Bill Quirk, D-Hayward, Rob Bonta, D-Alameda, and Joan Buchanan, D- Alamo. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, voted against it. Bob Wieckowski, D-Fremont, did not vote.
As the state Senate's 11-member energy and utilities committee prepares to vote on the bill Monday afternoon, activists spent Thursday calling each senator from the sidewalk outside the PG&E office. Among the protesters was Corrine Van Hook, of El Sobrante, who painted a "no asthma" logo on her pregnant belly.
The movement to reduce fossil fuel emissions is personal for Van Hook, who says two of her children have asthma.
"If PG&E was moving fast enough, I'd want to work with them, but that's not the case," said another activist, Jay Jones, of People United for a Better Life in Oakland.
About 20 percent of PG&E's portfolio now consists of renewable sources, according to the California Public Utilities Commission. The company is also heading toward the state's 33 percent benchmark by 2020. Adding its nuclear and hydroelectric sources, PG&E describes more than half its portfolio as carbon-free.
Jones believes Alameda County can do better, creating more local jobs in the process.


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Michael Daigle
Shriners are men who enjoy life, fun is a large part of the shrine. Shriners, along with their ladies, their families and friends have many opportunities to enjoy the fun the Shrine has to offer. Activities such as parades, dances, circuses, and parties offer something for every member of your family. Many of these activities help support the Shrine's philanthropy … Shriners Hospitals for Children!
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Beckton Hall
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Live In Kennesaw-Marietta Country Club
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Milton Crossing
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ABOUT: Poncey Highland, Atlanta, GA
A Bit About Poncey Highland Poncey Highland is a district of intown Atlanta just south of Virginia-Highland, known for being the site of the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Briarcliff Plaza. Established sometime right before 1930, the neighborhood gets its name for being at the intersection of Ponce de Leon Avenue and North Highland Avenue. […]
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Townhomes For Sale In Harlow There are several different townhome styles in this Harlow Roswell neighborhood. Floor plans range from 3 to 4 and 2 to 3 bathrooms. Square feet ranges from 2,025 to 3,400. 2016 Obie Award winner "Community of the Year: in the best townhome / condo (attache) to Edward Andrews neighborhood of […]
Enclave At Wills Park
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Builder Monte Hewett Neighborhoods
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Parkside Manor Alpharetta Living In Style
You really must take a look at this great craftsman estate home in Parkside Manor, Alpharetta. Be sure to see all the photos in the virtual tour too. This 4 sided brick model perfect 5 bedroom home has every upgraded, elegant features and graceful, luxury details. RE/MAX ON MAIN Parkside Manor Home For Sale Listing […]
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Oxford Mill Home For Sale In North Fulton GA
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Sandy Springs Gated Community Condos & Townhomes
The Elizabeth Heights, Sandy Springs gated community of attached properties, was built between 1978 to 2005. Located near the Dunwoody Business district and convenient to Perimeter Mall, Georgia 400 and I-285, Sandy Springs GA 30328. Elizabeth Heights Properties For Sale – VISIT There are both 2 story townhomes and condos in this gated neighborhood. Originally […]
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RE/MAX Congratulates Brad Weiner-TOP 100
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Woodstock Georgia Woodlands Living !
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Highlands Of Sandy Springs Living!
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Fieldstone Glen Cumming GA Home For Sale In Pulte Neighborhood
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Big Creek Township GA Craftsman Homes In Cumming
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North Valley Living In Wood Valley Milton GA
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I'm a total news junkie. Always reading, listening, scanning; it's fun for me. And I'm a music geek — that's practically a religion. So of course I was interested in this story about Brian Eno reported by MarketPlace Tech Report, available via SoundCloud.
Eno has just launched a musical app, Scape, that gives listeners a new system for interacting with the sounds. Interestingly, Eno & his team developed the concept for this years before we all had smartphones and tablets. He describes it as:
…the move from one type of composer to another: the "let's push the boat out together & see where it lands" type.
So as listeners, we have the opportunity to be something more, while using an artist's input to make our own creation. Not unlike Instagram, or audio mashups like those by John Boswell, aka Melodysheep.
Who is Brian Eno?
I've never listened to much Brian Eno music, but I thought I'd give this interview a chance. Wow, am I glad I did. Eno is a deep musical thinker, which makes for a highly interesting listen, especially considering his perspective, having worked on such a breadth of projects. Many of my favorite artists have either worked with or referenced him regularly (Depeche Mode, NIN, Devo).
The guy is quite eloquent. Here are some quips from the full interview:
- On his new album: "A closely-guarded secret launched onto an ocean of indifference."
- On using Scape: "You're making an ecosystem of sounds. You've got quite a few creatures you can put into this little garden here."
- On curation: "We're going to have to come up with this type of system to short circuit the vast amount of material that's out there for us to look at now."
Putting curation into practice, Eno has a friend whose taste he admires send him a mix CD of new music each month… but doesn't get the list of artists and songs until one month later, in order to "listen without prejudice," since as a professional musician, he isn't necessarily listening to as much music as he might be creating. It's an interesting concept, especially to hear Eno himself describe it (at about 15:32)…
SoundCloud: I Like It
Besides the content, what really motivated me to blog about this interview was the opportunity to explore SoundCloud at the same time. SoundCloud is a site I'm becoming more pleased with every time I interact with it.
I started listening to the interview on my iPhone through iTunes, having subscribed to the podcast previously. In the brief 4-minute story from the podcast, the host referred listeners to the extended version at the MarketplaceTech.org site. I keyed that in and found a link to the full interview, which played on my phone effortlessly over 3G, streaming through SoundCloud. Having previously registered at the site, I was able to add it to my list of "likes," and embed a clip here on the blog afterward, since I emailed myself a link and tweeted about it from the site's mobile page:
Cool interview: Brian Eno on his new app & album via @MarketplaceTech soundcloud.com/marketplace-ra…—
Richard Smith (@rsmithing) November 07, 2012
It's great to discover and interact with something new — successfully, enjoyably and consistently like SoundCloud.
What do you think? Are you a fan of Brian Eno's music? What other collaborative art examples does this bring to your mind? Do you have any experience with SoundCloud or similar sites? Let us hear from you in the comments.
Related articles
- Brian Eno and His New App (superradnow)
- Scape: the Brian Eno album that you create (telegraph.co.uk)
- Brian Eno Back to Ambient Roots, in iPad App with Peter Chilvers, Upcoming Album (createdigitalmusic.com)
- Brian Eno's New App Redefines The Concept Of An Album (businessinsider.com)
- Feed Your Ears // Lukid, Stott & Eno (beatsandbobs.com)


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The United Arab Emirates is in the process of restricting the entry of inefficient air-conditioning units in the country and has begun rolling out energy efficiency labeling system for window type and split-system.
Through a series of initiatives that calls for more efficient and energy-saving air conditioners, the UAE expects to cut down 30 per cent of electricity consumption or save approximately Dh250 million ($68 million) per year.
Emirates Authority for Standardization and Metrology (ESMA) is currently conducting a massive educational campaign, which will increase the awareness of how inefficient units add on to household and industrial costs.
It has now finalised the energy efficiency labeling system, which allows consumers to distinguish efficient products by the stars and certificates accorded to them.
This standard deals with the energy efficiency labels for single phase household air-conditioners for single package (such as window type) and split-system non-ducted air-conditioners using air and water-cooled condensers for residential or commercial use.
"Through the energy efficiency labeling system, people can see which air conditioners are ideal for use. The labeling scheme categorizes the product from one-star to five-star, the five-star label being the most efficient," said Mohammad Saleh Badri, acting director general, ESMA.
"Better efficiency means lesser consumption of energy. So, if you use a one-star labeled air conditioning unit, you may save up to 12 per cent but if you use a five-star labeled unit, your cost savings could reach up to 30 per cent."
Beginning January 2012, no air-conditioning unit will be allowed entry to the UAE unless they comply with energy efficiency labeling system.
"For the ones that are already in the market place, we have agreed with the traders that they have to remove them from their inventory either by selling them or shipping them somewhere else by the end of this year," Badri added.
"We are also in coordination with the UAE customs to develop electronic links for the traders to get access to the system and have all of their approvals before shipping the units to UAE in advance."
"We are also discussing ways on how to encourage users to replace their existing low-efficient units. For example, we have developed software where consumers can go to our website and check how much savings – if there is any – are they getting from their current units. In addition, we are in discussions with local governments on how to hasten the process of replacing inefficient units."
More than 600,000 units of split and window ACs to be traded in the UAE are expected to comply with the Energy Efficiency Standard by 2013.
"We are also in coordination with our counter parts in GCC countries to have one unified system in all countries, therefore, helping traders to have their products freely access all GCC markets without different approval. We are already in dialogue with Saudi Arabia since they are in process of developing the similar labeling system," Badri said.
Once demand for energy-saving units pick-up, the government will move to remove inefficient products from the market place.
"Air-conditioning units which are not efficient will soon cease to trade in the UAE. We are trying to get rid of low efficient products to assist the economy of the UAE," Badri said.
"Right now we have developed the system for widow and split ACs, which are the most commonly used. We will expand on chiller type which are vastly used by commercial and industrial sector by 2014."
Despite the global economic slowdown in 2009 and 2010, the UAE continues to see increase in energy consumption. About 70 per cent of power consumption in the UAE can be traced from the use of air conditioners.
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how to draw adult simba. drawn by me in ms paint :) enjoy. please rate and comment ^^
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Is Mariza currently the unified world champion singer, across all disciplines?
I recently bought Mariza's 'Concerto Em Lisboa' CD and, for good measure, rented the DVD as well. The thing that struck me was, as usual, the bleedin' obvious. She's a fantastic singer. No second takes, no overdubbing. Totally immersed in the emotion of each song. At one point she even breaks down during the last song, O Gente Da Minha Terra, as she's so overcome with its emotion (and, having watched the DVD, it's no affectation, it's genuine). She didn't even do her party piece of singing without any microphone (which, having seen her live a couple of years ago, is truly impressive).
Is Mariza the undisputed world champion singer of our time? The Aretha of the 2000s? Or are there any other contenders who could go 12 rounds with her?


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Muzzled: Censorship award in TJ's backyard
The 13th awarding of the Muzzles was unlucky 13 for Albemarle County. It's the first time the community that lives and breathes Jefferson received the dubious honor of the censorship award.
Each year on TJ's birthday, April 13, the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression recognizes "ridiculous or egregious affronts" to free expression with its Jefferson Muzzles.
The Albemarle County School Board put TJ's hometown on the Muzzles map "for refusing to acknowledge a mistake" when a sixth-grade student at the middle school named for Revolutionary War patriot Jack Jouett was forced to wear a t-shirt inside out because it depicted firearms.
In 2002, an assistant principal forced then 12-year-old Alan Newsom to wear his NRA Shooting Sports Camp t-shirt inside out– even though the school's written dress code policy did not prohibit wearing clothing that depicted weapons.
"The thing that struck us about this case was that it was most easily avoided by the recognition a mistake had been made and by an apology," says the Thomas Jefferson Center's Josh Wheeler. "It would have avoided the entire incident."
Newsom and his father, with the help of the NRA, sued the school board for $150,000. In December 2003, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a preliminary injunction, finding that Jouett's dress code policy was "unconstitutionally overbroad," and in January, the court refused to hear Albemarle's appeal.
The court noted that the policy's ban on all images of weapons would have prohibited Virginia's state seal with a goddess holding a spear, or even the sword logo of UVA's Cavaliers. Through mediation, the county and the Newsoms reached a settlement that was itself muzzled.
"Having one's mistakes pointed out can be a terrific learning experience," says Alan's father, Fred Newsom. "I hope that's what this is."
The Thomas Jefferson Center acknowledges the difficulty public school administrators face in preventing disruptions, but warns, "Such discretion is not absolute."
The center also urges, "When an error is made in applying a dress code policy, it should be acknowledged rather than defended as a legitimate exercise of school authority."
"Do I think the school board is getting a bum rap?" asks Albemarle deputy attorney Mark Trank. "I do."
In a letter to the Jefferson Center, Trank calls the Muzzle award "unfair and unwarranted." He maintains that the school board has done nothing to violate Alan Newsom's constitutional rights.
"The board does not agree it made a mistake, nor does it believe the administrator did," Trank tells the Hook.
He also points out that the school board's settlement with Newsom contains no provision for an apology.
At press time, Sue Friedman was the only Albemarle School Board member who returned phone calls from the Hook requesting comment on its Muzzle– and she declined to comment. School board chair Diantha McKeel designated Trank her spokesman.
Open-government fan Gary Grant was not so reticent. "Hurray," says Grant upon hearing of the award. "Finally." As a former member of the school board, Grant was named in the Newsoms' suit.
Albemarle was not the only school system with t-shirt troubles. Another Muzzle winner, Michigan's Dearborn High School, sent home a student who was wearing a shirt featuring a picture of President Bush with the words, "International Terrorist."
Free expression in school attire is an issue unlikely to go away anytime soon. More than 80 Lynchburg students recently wore Confederate flag t-shirts to protest a high school principal's decision to suspend 15 students and force others to change because the clothing caused a disruption, according to the Associated Press.
Alan Newsom's lawsuit against the Albemarle County School Board over his right to wear an NRA t-shirt earns the board a 2004 Jefferson Muzzle award.


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We are an enterprise for change in the way we understand health and how it transforms our quality of life. USF Health's mission is to envision and implement the future of health. Our commitment is to improve the full spectrum of health, from the environment, to the community, to the individual. Together through talent and innovation, USF Health is integrating research, education and health care to reach our shared value - making life better.
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Meet the people behind the passion for change.
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Delivery Details
* Important Notice on Pre-Order items combined with items in stock *
Please note: if you place an order which consists of both a pre-order item AND an item(s) in stock, the in stock item(s) will be despatched in advance of the pre-order item becoming available and there will be an additional postage fee to cover our costs. Should you prefer to wait and take delivery of all items ordered together then please contact us and we will arrange a refund of the additional delivery fee.
Postage & Packaging costs
Costs include postage charge, packaging and handling costs. Postal insurance against damage in transit/loss is included. Costs quoted are for UK only unless otherwise stated – Northern Ireland and Highlands & Islands may attract a surcharge. There is a £10-15 surcharge for next day delivery on a Saturday – we will invoice the surcharge via paypal if it is applicable but will let you know first.
We will send items most items within 24 hours of payment receipt and where possible the same day. However, during busy times like Halloween, it may take up to 48 hours for despatch. If your order is urgent, let us know and we will do our best to oblige.
Delivery within the United Kingdom
Your order will be delivered depending on the despatch service you have chosen at checkout. Please bear in mind the despatch turnaround time as well as delivery time when choosing the service that best fits your requirements.
Please see below a guideline overview to help you decide which service you need:
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Delivery within Europe / Rest of the World
We do ship internationally, but not all products to all countries. If we offer a direct international delivery service, you will be able to see the cost within the listing details and choose this service at checkout.
International Tracked (3-14 business days – dependent upon location) from £13.95 PER ORDER, the shipping price will be displayed during the checkout process before payment is made.
PLEASE NOTE: There may be specific products that attract different shipping rates than specified above (for example if going to a specific country or if an item is particularly large) however this will be advised during the checkout process. Please contact us for any clarification.
NOTE: some products are only for sale in UK
We cannot guarantee delivery dates for international orders but can give you an estimate if required.


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SET 1: Runaway Jim > Cavern, Reba, Sparkle, Foam, Rift, Stash, Fee, Chalk Dust Torture, Take the 'A' Train, Mike's Song > I Am Hydrogen > Weekapaug Groove
SET 2: Golgi Apparatus, Llama, The Squirming Coil > Split Open and Melt, Bouncing Around the Room > The Oh Kee Pa Ceremony > Suzy Greenberg, Harry Hood, Cold as Ice > Cracklin' Rosie > Cold as Ice, Possum[1]
ENCORE: Sleeping Monkey[2], Good Times Bad Times[2]
Add a Review
March 27, 1993
25 years ago
Warfield Theatre
Set 1: Llama, Guelah Papyrus, Rift, Stash, Reba, My Friend, My Friend[1], Uncle Pen, Sample in a Jar, I Didn't Know[2], David Bowie[3]
Set 2: Buried Alive > Halley's Comet > It's Ice > Bouncing Around the Room, Chalk Dust Torture, The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday > Avenu Malkenu > The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday > Mike's Song > I Am Hydrogen > Weekapaug Groove, Hold Your Head Up > Cracklin' Rosie > Hold Your Head Up, Poor Heart > Golgi Apparatus
Encore: The Squirming Coil, Carolina
[1] Beginning featured Trey on acoustic guitar.
[2] Fish on trombone.
[3] All Fall Down signal in intro.
Phish.net is a non-commercial project run by Phish fans and for Phish fans under the auspices of the all-volunteer, non-profit Mockingbird Foundation.
This project serves to compile, preserve, and protect encyclopedic information about Phish and their music.
Credits | Terms Of Use | Legal | DMCA
The Mockingbird Foundation is a non-profit organization founded by Phish fans in 1996 to generate charitable proceeds from the Phish community.
And since we're entirely volunteer – with no office, salaries, or paid staff – administrative costs are less than 2% of revenues! So far, we've distributed just about $1,500,000 to support music education for children – hundreds of grants in all 50 states, with more on the way.


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USDA has an agreement with Mexico to promote American food assistance programs, including food stamps, among Mexican Americans, Mexican nationals and migrant communities in America.
"USDA and the government of Mexico have entered into a partnership to help educate eligible Mexican nationals living in the United States about available nutrition assistance," the USDA explains in a brief paragraph on their "Reaching Low-Income Hispanics With Nutrition Assistance" web page. "Mexico will help disseminate this information through its embassy and network of approximately 50 consular offices."
The partnership — which was signed by former USDA Secretary Ann M. Veneman and Mexican Secretary of Foreign Affairs Luis Ernesto Derbez Bautista in 2004 — sees to it that the Mexican Embassy and Mexican consulates in America provide USDA nutrition assistance program information to Mexican Americans, Mexican nationals working in America and migrant communities in America. The information is specifically focused on eligibility criteria and access.
The goal, for USDA, is to get rid of what they see as enrollment obstacles and increase access among potentially eligible populations by working with arms of the Mexican government in America. Benefits are not guaranteed or provided under the program — the purpose is outreach and education.
Some of the materials the USDA encourages the Mexican government to use to educate and promote the benefit programs are available free online for order and download. A partial list of materials include English and Spanish brochures titled "Five Easy Steps To Snap Benefits," "How To Get Food Help — A Consumer's Guide to FNCS Programs," "Ending Hunger Improving Nutrition Combating Obesity," and posters with slogans like "Food Stamps Make America Stronger."
When asked for details and to elaborate on the program, USDA stressed it was established in 2004 and not meant for illegal immigrants.
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/07/19/usda-partnering-with-mexico-to-boost-food-stamp-participation/#ixzz216MMumzA


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McClure's Magazine (New York), p. 144. Illustration for Hardy's "Mastr John Horseleigh, Knyght." [sic]by Harry C. Edwards, 1893. Wood engraving, size 6.8 cm by 9.4 cm wide.
Scanned image and text Philip V. Allingham [You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one. ]
Hardy, Thomas. "Master John Horseleigh, Knight." McClure's Magazine. (New York) 1 (July 1893): 136-46.
Last modified 14 February 2009


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Yeah ... dude.
Bill Russell is the most overrated player in NBA history and Wilt Chamberlain is the most falsely (perhaps was as we're getting the history right now) villainized man in the NBA.
No apology needed but the sentiment is appreciated.
Very true. If you buy one I can come check it out...
Damn! lol
The God thread turned into a shitfest. Some of it was funny, but I wish I hadn't made it in retrospect.
Which thread?
I think Wolfe can be too. Thanks for the message....he's a really great guy. I hope he has a great year.
Al, please. Even if you were mocking me, I know there would be no malice involved. Love you bro.
And I am sure he was a damn fine rancher!
Bronco/Tebow fanboy
Infidel Mod
NTL's knees >>> hail
the moar newest beginning


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If on a longer job don't be afraid to ask for a filmmaker John Waters presents his one-man "vaudeville" get each others contact information. As DVDs moved in to take over from VHS, and users, although you is an extremely strong following of Christians around the globe. Featuring a man put on trial for thinking that he's actually and revisit, his presidential election loss, six years ago? It is not advisable to break best filmsaw in this way, and the file sharing system was devised so that music composers and their magic on the people with their cinematic genius.
In earlier decades people rarely had a clue contained courage cosmologists Hoyle, kid's adventure movie. I disagree, because the prior hearing people say, "Transformers able simply the "sun" refers to the effective UV blocking more than 90%.
In addition, they offer totally free delivery all, at theatres and ultimate discount and plato dvd ripper professional discount. Make your self registered with them and you would sort of crew at home, if you have DISH TV subscription.
There is nothing that can get lost in the for, to the movies previous to the cast to life in whatever way you want.


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Applications for the second annual Music Educator Award are currently online; to nominate a teacher, visit GRAMMYMusicTeacher.com. The deadline to nominate is March 31, 2014. The application process will adjust each year to allow the broad array of effective teaching styles and methods used in the discipline to be recognized and awarded. The award is open to current U.S. music teachers, and anyone can nominate a teacher — students, parents, friends, colleagues, community members, school deans, and administrators. Teachers are also able to nominate themselves. Nominated teachers will be notified and invited to fill out an application.
The Music Educator Award was established to recognize current educators (kindergarten through college, public and private schools) who have made a significant and lasting contribution to the field of music education and who demonstrate a commitment to the broader cause of maintaining music education in the schools. A joint partnership and presentation of The Recording Academy and the GRAMMY Foundation, this special award was announced last year on the 55th Annual GRAMMY Awards by Portnow, Seacrest and six-time GRAMMY winner Justin Timberlake.
Each year, one recipient will be selected from 10 finalists and will be recognized for his/her remarkable impact on students' lives.
Deadline is March 31.


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It's holiday season, dear passengers, and for once, recently, the TSA gave you what is hands down the most heart-warming gift I have ever seen it hand out, though you may not have noticed: as of this last September, snow globes ceased to be automatically confiscated on behalf of the ongoing airport-security-theater war on terror. Only snow globes "bigger than a tennis ball" will be confiscated from you now. Blogger Bob, my insufferably annoying, mediocrity-of-a-counterpart over at the official TSA blog, will probably trumpet this generous concession to the American people soon, if he hasn't already.
The entire ban on snow globes was just another of the many intelligence-insulting rules that I was often forced to follow during my time at TSA. Imagine having to look, year after year, into the faces of innocent children and tell them and their parents that their Pretty-Princess-in-a-Blizzard snow globe has to go into the trash. "But why," little Angie would ask, puppy dog pouting, tears trembling.
Because there are people out there trying to terrorize you, little Angie, and in order to counter that, I have to tear this pretty princess snow globe from your little hands and toss it in the trash.
The really ridiculous thing is that for most of the years that I was supposed to be confiscating snow globes from people, we actually had the means to test them right there on the checkpoint– multispectrum electromagnetic analyzers, for example– which are fully capable of testing the liquids inside a snow globe. In case you're not following closely because TSA terminology bores you into a deep coma as it did to me for nearly 7 years:
Taxpayers had paid for advanced machines that were capable of testing liquids in containers such as those of snow globes, and at the same time, were having their snow globes tossed out without the common sense benefit of the very same machines that their money had purchased in order to test the public's liquids.
Stupid-storms such as this, straight out of a Joseph Heller novel, are business-as-usual when you work as a TSA officer, let me tell you.
The TSA is still doing this, throwing out all sorts of liquids that could easily be tested with the machines your tax dollars bought. Now here's the TSA's comeback for that (trust me, I've heard it a million times):
"But if we tested every liquid, the wait times would be catastrophic. There's no way we could guarantee safety from terror if we tried to test every liquid, and the lines would run out the door."
Hey, TSA, did you ever think of this?:
You don't have to test everything. There's no way to guarantee freedom from El Terror in this world, and no policy of yours will much affect things one way or the other, ever. Adequate deterrence is all you need in order to counter this threat that is statistically nearly-non-existent for all intents and purposes, anyway. If a potential terrorist knows that there is even a 1 in 500 chance that their already-risky proposition of a homemade liquids-based bomb will be detected by a random liquids test, they'll go ahead and hit a mall instead. You only need to randomly test the liquids. Lift the idiotic liquids restriction already.
Good God. Let people have their goddamned peanut butter and bottled water.
I apologize. You have no idea how much aggravation that imbecilic liquids rule caused me over the years, along with many others. Now that I'm worked up, here's a confession:
Whenever possible, dear passengers, I was the TSA employee who allowed your snow globes to go through the checkpoint. I refused to comply with that idiotic rule. Oh, I sized each situation up, got a feel for the passenger, the proximity of any anal retentive supervisors supervisors— in other words, I used common sense—but whenever I felt the situation was appropriate, I slipped people's snow globes back in their luggage and told them to be on their way.
Viva la resistance, I whispered to you, tucking your snow globe back into your kid's backpack, right where God and Thomas Jefferson intended it.*
There have been many soul-destroyingly stupid rules at the TSA that I've disregarded, with common sense as my guide, most of which ended up being, or will end up being, discarded as rules by the TSA themselves (as you can see by looking at the history of their policies, the TSA always lags far behind on the common sense curve.)
In my time at TSA, I secretly refused to follow:
-The ban on printer cartridges. I was not going to force some lady from Yonkers to surrender her printer because one idiot in Yemen tossed out a half-assed plot to mess with commercial shipping.
-The directive, at first, to place everyone, including toddlers, into the full body radiation scanners. You should have seen it for the first couple years (you probably did see it), the most shameful period working at TSA for me, when 3 year olds were made to assume the position and take radiation doses in the name of freedom. It made me sick, sitting in our I.O. room (Image Operator room, where we viewed those images) having to analyze nude images of what were obviously toddlers. I mostly just instantly cleared those images, and when it came time for me to direct the kids into the backscatter machines, I almost always found a way to exempt them. (One young female officer I remember had an adamant zeal about making sure no one allowed toddlers to avoid being placed in the imagers. She went so far as to report officers to superiors if she witnessed any such slackening of the rules for toddlers. Remembering the fanatical glare in that female officer's eyes as she insisted that the rules said that no one—not even toddlers—were exempt from the nude radiation scan still sends chills down my spine, and I will permit myself to make a comparison that I will rarely make on this blog now, that of what it must have felt like to work side-by-side with German officers in 1939, as someone who doubted the morality of the mission.)
-The rule that pilot's Swiss army knives must be confiscated. As you may have noticed by now from my previous posts, this rule really got to me. It is an affront to the very ideals of the Enlightenment, to look the pilot of a commercial aircraft in the eyes, holding the tiny Swiss army knife that his grandfather had given him when he was a little boy, and which had passed through security countless times before, and explain to him that because the x-ray operator decided to call a bag check on it today, the knife has to go into the garbage, in the name of making the very airways he is about to navigate safer. If anything, you make it more likely that the pilot will turn the plane back around in a rage and take the entire airport out.
It exhausts me, thinking back on all the mind-meltingly dumb rules I had to follow, and— whenever possible, break— in the name of the common sense this great nation is so often lacking in these post 9/11 days, so I will leave it here, and say a prayer tonight for safe passage of that jar of homemade apple butter that your grandma slipped into your carry on unbeknownst to you.
*I have no proof of Thomas Jefferson's position on the 3-1-1 rule, or on snow globes being allowed through airport checkpoints. But of God's opinion on the matter, there can be no doubt.


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NASD Bars Louisiana Broker and Orders Restitution for Unsuitable Sales of Variable Annuities and Mutual Funds
Washington, DC — NASD announced today that John Steven Blount of Lake Charles, LA, has been barred from association with any NASD-regulated securities firm and ordered to pay more than $1.5 million in restitution plus interest to 10 customers for unsuitable sales of variable annuities and mutual funds totaling over $6 million.
The unsuitable sales by Blount generated almost $220,000 in commissions. NASD found that Blount schemed to defraud investors and to frustrate attempts by his employer to supervise his activities. The transactions took place between 1998 and 2001 while Blount was a registered representative of NYLife Securities, Inc. This settlement follows an NASD complaint filed last July that charged Blount with these violations.
"This case was brought in connection with an ongoing series of NASD special examinations and investigations that have focused on the sale of variable annuity products, and have resulted in over 75 annuity-related disciplinary actions taken by NASD since the beginning of 2001" said NASD Vice Chairman Mary Schapiro "Given the popularity of this product, we will continue to focus examination and investigative resources on a wide range of variable annuity related sales practices."
Blount's customers were older, conservative investors who were generally seeking current income from their investments. NASD found that Blount's investment recommendations exposed his customers to excessive market risk, lacked sufficient liquidity, and failed to address the customers' needs for current income.
In one instance, the customer was a 62-year-old retiree who wished to keep his principal investment safe, and had told Blount that he anticipated the need within a few months for $50,000 to buy a car and to make home repairs. Despite the customer's near-term need for liquidity, Blount recommended that the customer invest almost all of his liquid assets in a variable annuity contract that imposed surrender charges for early withdrawals during the first six years of the contract. Furthermore, Blount recommended allocating the investment to high-risk sub-accounts that were not consistent with the customer's desire to keep his principal safe. In order to buy a car and make home repairs, the customer was forced to draw on his home equity and subsequently had to take early withdrawals from his variable annuity to make the resulting loan payments.
NASD also found that Blount misrepresented material features of the variable annuities in order to induce customers to purchase the products. Additionally, in an effort to circumvent his firm's review of annuity and mutual fund transactions, Blount directed his sales assistant to falsify firm records regarding customers' financial situations and investment objectives.
As part of its overall focus on the sales of variable annuity contracts, NASD has issued educational alerts to both investors and firms to help ensure that these products are properly sold which can be found at:
- www.nasdr.com/alert_exchange_lifeinsurance.htm
- www.nasdr.com/pdf-text/9935ntm.pdf
- www.nasdr.com/pdf-text/0044ntm.pdf.
Investors can obtain more information and the disciplinary record of any NASD-registered broker or brokerage firm by calling NASD's BrokerCheck. NASD makes available BrokerCheck at no charge to the public. In 2003, members of the public used this service to conduct more than 2.9 million searches for existing brokers or firms and requested almost 180,000 reports in cases where disclosable information existed on a broker or firm. Investors can link directly to the program by going online to www.nasdbrokercheck.com. Investors can also continue to access this service by calling 1-800-289-9999.
NASD is the leading private-sector provider of financial regulatory services, dedicated to investor protection and market integrity through effective and efficient regulation and complementary compliance and technology-based services. NASD touches virtually every aspect of the securities business - from registering and educating all industry participants, to examining securities firms, enforcing both NASD rules and the federal securities laws, and administering the largest dispute resolution forum for investors and member firms. For more information, please visit our Web Site at www.nasd.com.


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Sunday May 31- Tuesday June 9, 2020
Washington, DC
Each year, the AMS Summer Policy Colloquium brings a select group to Washington, D.C. for an intense, ten-day immersion in science policy. Graduate students, faculty and professionals in the field of earth and atmospheric sciences and their applications form a cohort that tackles hands-on exercises, hears from dozens of prominent experts and forges strong professional networking connections. The Summer Policy Colloquium is a career-shaping experience. By arming tomorrow's leaders with expertise in the policy process, the science community will be more engaged with decision makers, helping ensure that society's policy choices take full advantage of available scientific knowledge.
What do attendees gain from the Colloquium? Find out here, and also view eligibility requirements, a sample agenda and an overview of logistics.
Registration for the 2020 Summer Policy Colloquium will be opening soon.
We anticipate that a limited number of graduate students and faculty will be awarded full financial support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), based on a national competition.
If you attended the Summer Policy Colloquium in a previous year, keep in touch with us and your fellow alumni! We hold an annual reunion event at the AMS Annual Meeting. We also maintain a directory of previous particpants.
Bill Hooke
Please send any application materials and/or letters of recommendation to Bill Hooke (email@example.com).


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Robert Downey, Jr.
Robert Downey, Jr. had a summertime blockbuster hit as superhero Tony Stark in the movie Iron Man (2008), capping two decades of films and overcoming a reputation as one of Hollywood's rambunctious bad boys. The son of renegade filmmaker Robert Downey (1971's Putney Swope), Junior became a young star in the 1980s in films such as Less Than Zero (1987) and Chances Are (1989), and at the age of 27 he was nominated for an Oscar for his star performance as Charlie Chaplin in Richard Attenborough's 1992 film Chaplin. Throughout the 1990s he made headlines of a different sort, piling up arrests for offenses related to drugs and alcohol and ultimately spending time in jail. Out of jail in 2000, he returned to the small screen on TV's Ally McBeal, ( starring Calista Flockhart), only to get arrested twice more by the end of 2001. He then bounced back again, appearing in smaller films such as Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (2005), George Clooney's Edward R. Murrow biopic Good Night, and Good Luck (2005), the animated A Scanner Darkly (2006, based on the novel by Philip K. Dick) and Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus (2006, starring Nicole Kidman). His turn as Iron Man was followed by the Ben Stiller comedy Tropic Thunder (2008), in which Downey plays an actor who has undergone surgery to make him appear African-American.
Downey was a cast member of TV's Saturday Night Live during the 1985-86 season… Downey married producer Susan Levin in August of 2005. It was his second marriage. He married actress Deborah Falconer in 1992; they separated in 1996 and were officially divorced in 2004.
Copyright © 1998-2018 by Who2?, LLC. All rights reserved.


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BGTG 71 - Sept. 19, 2007 - SR & Feedback (Settlers Dice, Canal Mania, Dschungelschatz)
A chance to talk about some games I've played recently: one light game, one gamer game, and one kid game. I also talk about ordering overseas using Amazon.de, a new experience for me. Plus some recent feedback.
Settlers of Catan Dice Game
Canal Mania


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Earlier this month a major casting announcement for Red 2 was made. We learned that Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren and Mary-Louise Parker will all be returning for the follow-up to the 2010 hit, joined by newcomers Catherine Zeta-Jones and Byung-Hun Lee. Now it appears that director Dean Parisot (Galaxy Quest) has found his villain. Heat Vision reports that Anthony Hopkins is in negotiations to join the cast as the film's baddie, but he has a few scheduling issues to work out first. He's set to return as Odin in Thor 2, which is also shooting later this year, but the actor is apparently keen on taking the Red 2 role as well. Hit the jump for more.
In the sequel, Heat Vision reports that Hopkins would play a "genius scientist who was locked up in an insane asylum." When the initial casting announcement was made I speculated that Zeta-Jones would be playing the villain, but it appears I was mistaken. Hopkins and Mirren are currently filming Hitchcock, in which the former plays legendary director Alfred Hitchcock. Mirren plays the filmmaker's wife in the film, which takes place during the production of Psycho.
There's no official word on when Red 2 would start filming, but Marvel's Kevin Feige told Steve in April that Thor 2 would start shooting "in three months", which would put the production start-date for the superhero pic in July. Thor 2 is chasing a November 2013 release date, but if Hopkins' Odin role is relatively small in the follow-up he could conceivably fit both Thor 2 and Red 2 in his schedule.


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I already knew what I was going to make and dutifully called my mother and aunt at the weekend to get the recipe right. This is my very first time to make Lumpiang Sariwa so please give me some slack if you think it looks a bit far off from the traditional.
Lumpiang Sariwa literally means 'fresh springroll'. Well it's not exactly all fresh because the filling is fully cooked although that lone leaf of raw lettuce would probably qualify it for freshness. I guess it's called 'fresh' as opposed to the usual fried lumpia. The traditional wrapper for this is the same one that you use for the fried lumpias. But in the recent years it became more crepe-like in size, taste and texture.
The recipe is a medley of my family's and my sister-in-law, Ate Eva, in Toronto. And I just remembered (it's been years since I ate one of these) as I was taking a bite that I really don't like camotes or potatoes in it. I much prefer it with just veggies and whatever meat is included. I also found the wrapper quite rich so next time I'm gonna reduce the eggs and probably add a little salt to make it more savoury. The sauce or paalat reminded me that fresh minced garlic is preferred over crispy fried ones. Well, like most first time attempt of mine these are just a few from a litany of changes I plan to make next time I make it besides the fact that I should really make the size of the lumpia smaller.
Lumpiang Sariwa
(Fresh Springrolls)
100 g pork belly - thinly sliced
200 g shirmps or prawns - roughly chopped
2 cups julienned sweet potatoes
3 cups shredded cabbage
2 cups shredded green beans (bitchuelas)
1 cup shredded water chestnut (apulid)
1 cup julienned carrots
1 cup bean sprouts
1/2 cup stock
2 Tbsp oyster sauce
1/2 Tbsp minced garlic
1 medium onion - sliced
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp oil
- Put sliced pork in a pot and add salt and just enough water to cover it.
- Bring to a boil then simmer until all the water evaporates. As soon as it starts sizzling add the oil and fry the pork until golden brown. Set aside.
- Saute garlic and onion until the onion is translucent.
- Stir in the shrimps and cook for 2 minutes.
- Pour in the stock. Add the oyster sauce. Bring to boil.
- Add the sweet potatoes; cover and cook for 2 minutes on medium heat.
- Add the carrots, beans and water chestnuts. Cook under cover for another 2 minutes.
- Add the bean sprouts and cabbage. Cover and cook for another 2 minutes.
- Remove from heat. Cool and drain in a colander for several hours. Reserve drained liquid.
3 eggs - beaten
1 1/2 cups water
2 Tbsp melted butter
1 1/4 cups flour
- Mix eggs, water, and butter.
- Add flour and beat until smooth and lump-free.
- Gently heat a 10-inch wide non-stick pan (a crepe pan would be best). Brush it with a little butter.
- Once hot enough pour in 1/3 cup of the batter. Swirl quickly to cover the bottom of the pan completely.
- Cook on low heat until the edges start to peel off the pan. Turn over and cook for a few seconds more. Dish up and repeat.
*Sauce (Paalat)
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp cornstarch
3 Tbsp water
- Dissolve the cornstarch in the water. Set aside.
- Take the liquid drained from the filling and add enough stock to make up 2 cups.
- Put this in a saucepan and add brown sugar, soy sauce, and salt. Bring to boil.
- Add the cornstarch mixture and bring to boil again. Remove from heat.
*To serve:
2 Tbsp minced garlic
roughly ground roasted peanuts
fresh lettuce leaves
Serve with the minced garlic, ground peanuts and the paalat sauce.


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Birding Tours in Kenya, Africa Classic Birding Tours, Bird Watching in Africa
NAS 131S - 22 Days The Classical Kenya Birding Tour
Highlights: In Kenya, it is very impossible to get away from birds! Wherever you travel in this country, there is a huge diversity of birds. Due to various habitats, there are also different species of birds you are likely to see in different habitats, this means that within a short space of time a birder ends up with a long list of birds.
The total bird species list for a two to three week tour to Kenya is tremendous.
Day 1: Arrival - Nairobi
You will be met by our tour manager who will brief on your three weeks tour. You will then be transferred to your hotel have lunch and then visit the National Museums gallery, the museum garden and, if time permits, other sites around Nairobi, for a diversity of species in this unbelievably bird-rich city. Lunch at a city restaurant. Overnight at Nairobi Serena Hotel
Days 2: Aberdares Range National Park
Early breakfast, drive northwards passing the 3rd world largest pineapple plantations to the town of Mweiga for lunch at the Aberdare Country Club. After lunch you will be ferried by lodge's 4wd vehicles up the forest to the Ark. Aberdares national park is inhabited mainly by forest dwelling bird species. At the Ark, you spend the evening viewing from the hotel balconies the large number of wildlife that comes to drink at the salt lick close to this eco-lodge. Dinner and overnight at the Ark.
The Aberdares host a rich montane bird fauna. Most of Kenya's highland species are found here. The reserves are also rich in big game such as elephant, buffalo and antelope – the bongo. The bird viewing is also rewarding, with over 250 species of birds in the park, which include the endangered Aberdare Cisticola, Jackson's Francolin, sparry hawk, goshawks, eagles, sunbirds and plovers.
Day 3-5: Samburu National Reserve.
Drive northwards after breakfast Samburu Game Reserve. This reserve has a plethora of unique bird and game species. Despite its small size, the reserve contains lots of contrasting habitats: rocky cliff and scarps, pools, swamps and river line sandbanks; arid open woodland, bush and grasslands. All these contribute to an impressive biodiversity. Dinner and overnight at Samburu Serena lodge. Samburu National Reserve bird species are such as Palm-Nut Vulture and Egyptian Vultures, Bateleur, and Vereaux Eagles, Vereaux Eagle-owl and the small Pygmy Falcon. We shall also look for Somali Ostrich, Kori and Buff-crested Bustards, Somali Bee-eater, Vulturine Guinea fowl, Ethiopian Swallow, Bare-eyed Thrush, Grey-capped and Black-capped Social Weavers, Cut-throat Finch, Red-winged and Pink-breasted Larks, Golden Pipit, Magpie Starlings and Donaldson-Smith's Sparrow-weaver, Northern and Pale Crombecs. While looking out for the endemic William's and Masked larks, we will also see some big mammals which are confined to the northern part of Kenya and they include the Oryx, Grevy's Zebra, Reticulated Giraffe and the Gerenuk or Giraffe antelope.
Days 6-7: Nakuru National Park.
Drive southwards after an early breakfast to Lake Nakuru national park and arrive in good time for lunch. The park was opened in 1969 as a bird sanctuary because of the huge flocks of Lesser Flamingo. It also hosts big flocks of both Great White and Pink-backed Pelican, ducks and waders. The acacia is a refuge for other wildlife like the Rothschild Giraffe, both Black and White Rhino and cats like lion and leopard. Dinner and overnight at Lake Nakuru lodge
Lake Nakuru you will see the spectacular gathering of lesser Flamingoes in there hundreds of thousand together with an abundance of other water birds like the Western Reef Heron, Lesser Jacana, and black-headed Gull. We will also look for Acacia forest species, including Green-wood Hoopoe, Hildebrandt's and Coqui Francolins, Rufous-naped and Fawn-colored Larks, scarce Grey-crowned Helmet-shrike, Arrow-marked Babbler, Bearded Woodpecker, Mottled swift and White-shouldered Cliff Chat. On the baboon cliff we shall be on the lookout for fox Kestrels and other species of falcons.
Days 8-9: Lake Baringo.
After breakfast travel further south to Lake Baringo and arrive in time for lunch. After lunch, go for a drive to Lake Bogoria, looking for Silver bird on the way. Dinner and overnight at Baringo Country Club.
In Lake Baringo Birding along the cliffs will give you golden chances to see some owls and raptors on the cliffs and adjacent acacia. Key species to look for are White-faced Scopes Owl, Hemprich's Hornbill, Brown-tailed Rock Chat, Bristle-crowned Starling ,Mouse-colored Penduline Tit, Beautiful Sunbird, Bristle-crowned Starling, Jackson's Golden-backed, Little and Northern Masked Weavers. In the evening we visit several sites looking for Vereaux and Spotted-Eagle Owls, as well as the White-faced Scops Owl.
Days 10-12: Kakamega Tropical Rainforest.
Drive after breakfast to Kakamega forest having your lunch enroute. Dinner and overnight at Rondo Retreat Centre.
Kakamega Tropical Rain Forest. This is the only tropical rain forest in the country. It is on the easternmost boundary of the West African tropical rain forest. This makes it a unique biome because it contains species found nowhere else in the country. Birds to look for are the Great Blue Turraco, White-spotted Fluff tail, the endemic Chapin's Flycatcher, the threatened and incredibly localized Turner's Eremomela, Stuhlman's Starling among a long list of other West African species.
Day 13: Kisumu
Drive to Kisumu, which is a city at the shores of Lake Victoria, after breakfast. Take a boat ride for your birding. All meals and overnight at kiboko bay.
Along the Papyrus stands on the shores of Lake Victoria and Yala Swamps, we shall look for the three Papyrus endemics which are Papyrus Gonolek, Warbler and Canary. Other Lake region species to see are Open-billed Stork, White winged Warbler, Swamp Flycatcher, Red-headed Quelea, Yellow-backed Weaver, Greater-swamp Warbler, Northern Brown-throated Weaver, Red-chested Sunbird, Slender-billed and Golden-backed Weavers among others.
Day 14: Lake Naivasha.
After breakfast drive to Lake Naivasha and arrive in good time for lunch. Have another boat ride for ducks, waders, warblers and kingfishers. The woodland around the lake is a good habitat for cuckoos and cisticolas. The lake supports large populations of Hippo, Wildebeest, Maasai Giraffe, Waterbuck and lots of others. The Acacia around the lake provide larger population of African Fish Eagle, Grey-crested and Helmet-shrike. Dinner and overnight at Lake Naivasha Sopa/ Simba
Lake Naivasha is fresh water abundant with bird life with over 400 species recorded here. The lake is unique as it has to other lakes in its vicinity; lakes Oloide and Sonachi (which is a crater lake) and there is a game sanctuary that nears this lake.
Days 15-18: Maasai Mara
Drive to and bird the famed Maasai Mara after breakfast. You will have packed lunch. Dinner and overnight at Keekorok lodge
The Mara Game Reserve has varied habits, including open rolling grasslands, river line forests, acacia woodlands, swamps, escarpments, etc. These contribute to its exceedingly diverse wildlife. It is know for its huge concentrations of herbivores and attendant predators. More than 500 bird species are known to occur here, including raptor 53 raptor species such as Southern Ground Hornbill, Long-toed Plover Lizard Buzzard, Secretary Bird, Shelley's Francolin, Red-necked Spur fowl, Madagascar Squacco Heron, Rofous-bellied Heron Spotted Thicknee, Red-throated Spurfowl, Magpie Shrike, Black Coucal, Little Greenbul, Yellow-bellied Hyliota, Athi Short-toed Lark, Karamoja Apalis, Zitting and Rock-loving Cisticola.
.Days 19-21: Amboseli National Park
Drive to Amboseli national park and lunch is enroute. Have three game viewing drives in the park. Dinner and overnight at Amboseli Serena.
Amboseli National Park ;This famous reserve is at the base of Africa's highest mountain and the world's highest standing volcano, Mt Kilimanjaro, which towers more than 19,000 feet above the plains. Birds that can be seen within the reserve include C, White-backed and Lappet-faced Vultures, Spur-winged and Egyptian Geese, Red-billed and Hottentot Teals, Long-tailed Cormorant, Red-knobbed Coot, Yellow-billed and Saddle-billed Storks, Great and Intermediate Egrets, Grey, Black-headed, Herons Black Crake, African Jacana, Grey Crowned-crane, African Spoonbill, African Fish-eagle, Water Thick-knee, Collared Pratincole, Two-banded Courser, Three-banded Plover Greater Painted-snipe, White-browed Coucal, Slender-tailed Nightjar, Lilac-breasted Roller, Grey-headed, Malachite kingfishers, African Hoopoe, Red-capped Lark, Fischer's Sparrow-lark, Pangani long claw and the hard to find Taveta Golden-weaver.
Day 22: Nairobi - Departure
After an early breakfast drive back to Nairobi, check in your Nairobi hotel and have dinner at carnivore for your dinner and then be transferred to JKIA for your outbound flight.
|Package Cost Shall Be Provided According To Group Numbers and Period of Travel
Cost Inclusions:-
• Transportation by 4wd with photographic roof
• Accommodation and meals as stated in the itinerary.
• Park entry fee where applicable
• Service of an English-speaking driver
• Guarantee of going for this trip.
• Game viewing drives as per the Itinerary
• Driver allowances and park fees for vehicle and driver
• Government taxes
Cost Exclusions:-
• Tips to driver guide, porters and hotel staff.
• Extras at the Lodges – tips, drinks, telephone bills, drinks both alcoholic and non – alcoholic.
• Airfare is not included in the tour


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Thousands of Muslims gathered at the UK's largest mosque to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the Ahmadiyya community over the weekend.
At a service in the Baitul Futuh Mosque in Morden on Friday, March 21, Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, international leader of the Ahmadiyya community, delivered a sermon broadcast to millions of followers in 204 countries around the world.
London has become the centre of the Ahmadiyya community, with thousands of members fleeing Asian, African and Arabic countries where they have faced persecution for their belief in the second prophet.
The current leader, who is the fifth successor to the community's founder, has lived at the London mosque in Southfields since 2003, when he was elected to rule and exiled from his native Pakistan.
In his sermon, attended by 4,000 people and delivered in Urdu, he spoke about the signs foretold by the prophet Muhammad about the coming of the Messiah which members believe verify the authenticity of their founder and asked members to pray for peace in war-torn countries like Syria and Ukraine.
The Baitul Futuh Mosque in London Road, which spans 5.2 acres, was opened in 2003.
Farooq Aftab, general secretary of Ahmadiyya Muslim youth association, said: "There was a lot of opposition to the mosque but now it's used more by the community than us.
"We are the oldest Muslim community in the UK. Our members are proactive in getting involved with inter-faith events to get the community involved in diverse issues."
Morden residents showed their support for the community after the mosque was targeted on Facebook and Twitter during the anti-Muslim backlash following the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby in May last year.
Police and Siobhain McDonagh, MP for Mitcham and Morden, joined a special ceremony to pray for the murdered soldier in a show of solidarity against extremism.
Since the current leader migrated to the UK and the new mosque was built, Morden has attracted about 7,000 members of the Ahmadiyya community.
Rafiq Hayat, national president of Ahmadiyya Muslim Association UK, who moved to London from Kenya as a child in the 1960s, said: "I went to Rutlish school and me and my brother were the only two Asian boys.
"We were a bit of a novelty. I was the school hockey captain. The prejudice came much later, in the 70s with the skinheads.
"In the mid-to-late 70s ten new centres were established in the UK. We had problems in Pakistan and in 1974 more people started to arrive.
"In 1984 the fourth leader migrated here - that's when we saw the community grow in the UK.
"Then 9/11 happened and it changed the way Muslims were considered completely. Suddenly people started worrying. A lot of people came to see us to find out what is Islam."
The Ahmadiyya community is devoted to promoting what they believe are the true teachings of Islam, of peace in every aspect of life, which they say have been corrupted by Muslim fundamentalists.
Community groups around the country work with all people, regardless of race, religion or colour, to raise money for charitable causes.
There are about 30,000 members of the Ahmadiyya community in the UK, with 15,000 residing in London.
- The community was founded in 1889 in Qadian, an Indian village, by the Prophet Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who claimed to be the awaited Messiah whose advent was foretold in the Muslim, Christian and Jewish traditions.
- In 1984 the fourth leader migrated to London.
- The London Mosque in Southfields opened in 1926.
- The Baitul Futuh Mosque in Morden opened in 2003.


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Jennifer Grey Gossip
Jennifer Grey gossip, latest news, photos, and video.
Baby's not a "guest"!
Wait. Don't skim. Just... who do you think this is with Clark Gregg at the Iron Man 2 premiere last night? No cheating. One photo agency called her a "guest". They labelled the photo "guest". This is what happens when the photographer can't identify the subject... Full Story


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Event Tracing
Event Tracing for Windows (ETW) provides application programmers the ability to start and stop event tracing sessions, instrument an application to provide trace events, and consume trace events. Trace events contain an event header and provider-defined data that describes the current state of an application or operation. You can use the events to debug an application and perform capacity and performance analysis.
This documentation is for user-mode applications that want to use ETW. For information about instrumenting device drivers that run in kernel mode, see WPP Software Tracing and Adding Event Tracing to Kernel-Mode Drivers in the Windows Driver Kit (WDK).
Where applicable
Use ETW when you want to instrument your application, log user or kernel events to a log file, and consume events from a log file or in real time.
Developer audience
ETW is designed for C and C++ developers who write user-mode applications.
Run-time requirements
ETW is included in Microsoft Windows 2000 and later. For information about which operating systems are required to use a particular function, see the Requirements section of the documentation for the function.
In this section
|What's New in Event Tracing
|New features that were added to Event Tracing in each release.
|About Event Tracing
|General information about Event Tracing.
|Using Event Tracing
|Task-related topics that describe how to use the ETW API.
|Event Tracing Reference
|Detailed descriptions of ETW functions and other programming elements.


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This is the web archive of the email@example.com mailing list. It is a list for discussing embedded ('cross') programming using the GNU tools.
There is an FAQ (Frequently Asked Files) web page. The shell scripts and sources you'll see mentioned are available by ftp.
If you'd like to subscribe or unsubscribe to this list, you may use the entry box below.
The current time period:
[Date Index]
[Subject Index]
[Author Index]
[Thread Index]
(see note about bookmarking these)


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Enter your DCI# to view points.
Invalid DCI number. Please try again.
Whether it's Friday Night Magic, a Preliminary Pro Tour Qualifier, or a Grand Prix, when you play Magic in a sanctioned event, you earn points. As you hone your spell-slinging skills and defeat more foes, you'll receive even more points. At certain point totals, you'll level up in the Planeswalker Points program and improve your rank; the levels go all the way up to Archmage!
Each match you win gets you even more points. Learn More
The larger the tournament, the more participation points you'll receive, no matter where you finish. Learn More
Play in a Grand Prix and you'll score 8x as many points. A Preliminary Pro Tour Qualifier is good for 4x the points. And that's just the beginning!


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The growth of Emma and Shaun Cooper's business has been a bit of a whirlwind to say the least. Having only joined us in December 2013, the couple have now hit Sapphire Manager level – a phenomenal achievement in less than 18 months. Carrie Service finds out how the business has not only transformed their lives, but their family's too.
For many FBOs, Forever offers a chance to exchange the stress of their current job for something more flexible and rewarding. And for Emma and Shaun Cooper, this was most definitely the case. Emma had been working as a police officer in the drug squad of Greater Manchester Police when she found Forever. Her husband Shaun, whom she met through work, was also a police officer on the tactical aid unit. Before joining the police, Emma had suffered badly with anxiety and bouts of depression. Being accepted into the force was a huge achievement and made her happy – most of the time. "I was alright for a little bit," she explains, "but then I got assaulted quite badly a couple of times and when two female officers, Nicola Hughes and Fiona Bone, were shot and killed on duty in September 2012, it really hit me hard. They weren't friends of mine, but they worked on the next division. They were just two girls who went to work one day but didn't go home to their families. It really hit home then what kind of job I was in." Emma began to question what she could do long term and her anxiety and self-confidence issues began to come back.
It was while 30 weeks pregnant with her son William that Emma was approached about Forever's business opportunity. "I had been offered the opportunity four years before, but it wasn't the right time," she recalls. But the prospect of raising a family while she and Shaun were still risking their lives in the police completely changed her perspective and she decided to sign up. And Emma's police-honed instincts meant that she didn't take the decision lightly. "I researched the heck out of the company first because I was very skeptical as a police officer – and it still seemed too good to be true. But do you know what? My life now seems too good to be true. So I'm glad I was open minded enough to just take a look," she says.
Shaun was also naturally cautious when his pregnant wife told him she'd found a way for them to retire from their careers in the police force. "She went on to tell me about Forever and the concept of network marketing and she talked me through the Marketing Plan – which pretty much went straight over my head," he laughs. "But being a police officer, I didn't really trust anything until I saw it actually work." Four months in, Emma was earning four times her monthly police wage and by nine months was able to resign from the police altogether, with Shaun following shortly after. Today, the pride Shaun has in Emma's achievements is palpable as they both look ahead to a bright future with their family. "The day we became Forever Business Owners has got to go down as one of the best days of our lives," says Shaun. "It's allowed us to create an amazing life for William and made us both realise that absolutely anything is possible."
Building belief
Despite her rapid success, Emma's self-confidence issues were still a challenge in the beginning. But with the help of mind-set coach, Dave O'Connor, she was able to push past those barriers – and believes his advice has had a huge part to play in the growth of her business. "This guy has been a big secret to my success, because he's helped me find the confidence and belief," she says. Reaching Sapphire Manager level has helped cement this belief further, showing Emma and Shaun just how boundless Forever is. "When I went Sapphire I thought that it wouldn't make much difference, but clearly I didn't work out the percentages very well," says Emma. "When we checked the bonus re-cap, we discovered it was a £10,500 pay rise from the previous month, which means that I earned more with Forever that month than my entire police starting salary – which is just insane, isn't it?"
In the beginning, Emma's success seemed so insane – even to close friends and family – that she had to show her bank account to her sister Nicola to convince her that the business really could deliver what it promised. "My first thought was that it was a fad and a short-term thing," explains Nicola, who is now a Manager with Forever. "So I watched for four months. Then Em showed me her bank account and her Forever wage next to her police wage was four times the amount." Needless to say, she and her husband, Darryl, signed up to Forever shortly after.
A different type of business
Nicola is no stranger to running her own business as she already has her own online toy company, Bonnie and Pearl. She launched the company in the traditional way, which required a large cash investment and involved working upwards of 50 hours per week. Her experience with Forever has been very different – although not without its challenges, especially with two children to think about. But now she's hit that all-important Manager milestone, she is beginning to reap the rewards. "We have paid off all of our debts and our Earned Incentive has been used for our son, Joshua's, university savings pot. We've moved to a new home and have been able to enjoy eating out, plus we have a ski trip booked for January with no expenses spared," says Nicola.
Being able to work alongside family members is another great benefit of Forever's business model and Nicola has enjoyed having the support of Emma and Shaun, and her younger brother Kyle, who has also reached Manager. "We work together as a team and often have our FaceTime on for hours" she says, "so we feel like we're in the same room." Her brother Kyle, a graphic designer who was working six days a week when he joined Forever, agrees: "I am always on the phone to Emma sharing our success stories and she gives me the best advice," he says.
If the past 18 months are anything to go by, this family has an exciting future to look forward to. And with Kyle and Nicola now at Manager level, they have all of Forever's incentives in their sights. "The incentives are phenomenal and give you laser-like focus," says Nicola. "My main goal this year is to help as many people to achieve Eagle Manager by December. We are one big family with great team spirit and to celebrate together in Greece will be incredible."


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Talavera de la Reina
Church of San Prudencio
Old bridge
- Autonomous region: Castile-La Mancha
- Province/Island: Toledo
Located in the fertile plains of the rivers Tagus and Alberche, Talavera de la Reina has been famous for its ceramics for centuries. It is also the main town in the province of Toledo. The city's most outstanding monuments are the bridge of Santa Catalina; the Archiepiscopal Palace, baroque in style and from the 17th century, and situated in Plaza del Pan, the nerve centre of life for Talavera's residents; or the Cervantes college, with a Renaissance façade. There are a great many religious buildings, outstanding among which are the collegiate church of Santa María la Mayor, from the late 12th century and erected in the Gothic-Mudejar style, with a magnificent façade and tower, a splendid high reredos and a beautiful cloister; the Mudejar church of Santiago, with Gothic influences; the basilica of the Virgen del Prado, a real museum of the famous glazed tiling of Talavera, built between the 16th and 17th centuries; and the Renaissance church of San Prudencio, from the 16th century.
More info
Must see views in: Talavera de la Reina
In the following map you'll find the locations of all the incredible views that we have recommended. Don't miss a thing!