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Monday, March 19, 2012
SWTOR impressions
The game is such a "clone" of WoW that I immediately felt at home, despite not playing WoW for almost a year. The interface is instantly recognizable and familiar, to the smallest of details. There's P for skills, I for inventory, C for character screen, ENTER for chat, R for replying to a whisper, /dance for dancing and so on, ad nauseum. Don't get me wrong, this is a great thing. I noticed the same thing in Rift and it has really become like a standard that MMO developers are following these days. Considering how many people play these games, it's extremely helpful if interfaces are consistent across games.
I tried 7 of the 8 classes, including Jedi Warrior, Smuggler, Trooper, Sith Warrior, Bounty Hunter, Sith Inquisitor and Imperial Agent. The only one I skipped was the Jedi Consular which didn't seem that interesting. I only managed to level the Sith Warrior to level 10 where I unlocked the talent tree and professions, while the others were leveled to 4-6 or so.
I can't even say that the Sith Warrrior was the most pleasant class to play with. I tend to prefer ranged classes and the Trooper, Imperial Agent, Smuggler and Bounty Hunter were more interesting. I also realized (too late) that I should have leveled a Sith Inquisitor instead of a Sith Warrior. The Warrior is based too much on melee moves and uses the "rage" system which didn't quite feel right to me. Instead, the Inquisitor uses both magic and melee and uses Force as a resource, which acts in a more predictable way, just like mana.
Character customization was disappointing. I expected more from this game, maybe not what Skyrim does but certainly something more involving than WoW. Instead, all the characters, regardless of race, felt bland. The thing that bothered me the most was the scarcity of options for height and body type. Those should have been 2 independent sliders with infinite granulation. Instead, each gender gets 4 predefined body types.
What felt even more annoying was that, while I could create a fat guy character, I couldn't create a fat chick. The closest thing was a curvier-than-usual female which was anything but fat. Dammit, I wanted to play a fat chick!
The game felt easy to play at the beginning, just like WoW. Grab quests, go places, complete quests, return, get reward, rinse, repeat. I appreciate the fact that each class has a "recovery" skill which helps you quickly heal and recover resources after a fight. Fights weren't too hard, except for one instance where a quest boss killed me about 4 times until I got my companion. Then, the fight became trivial. That encounter didn't seem too balanced.
The companions are an interesting concept but the way every class gets it's own companion type (which can't be changed) feels very artificial.
At level 10 I got my first taste of the crafting system and, again, it felt different in a good way. Being able to send your companion on a crafting mission is pretty cool. Also, sending them away to sell the useless crap that you find is a good thing, although not original to this game.
The graphics are kind of disappointing. I almost feel that WoW's are better, although they are probably not. The intro movies are kick-ass, because they are CGI, but the cutscenes suck ass. The character animations in these cutscenes felt very 2000-ish.
Now I'm sure lots of people won't be pleased by what I'm gonna say next. The much-ballyhooed voice acted quests are, in my humble opinion, rubbish, as well as a waste of resources. They would have been better off sinking that cash into something else, like some proper character customizations. OK, I admit, I'm not really the lore type. I don't devour lore and story like some people do. I prefer the action.
I started out by diligently listening to all the spoken dialogue - until I realized that I was wasting time (and I didn't have a lot of that) instead of exploring the game. After I figured that I wasn't missing a great deal by skipping through the dialogue, I started to do that. Pretty soon I wasn't caring at all about the story or anything that supposedly went on in the game. I just followed the quest markers on the map. While I kind of understand why they used voice acting for the main quest story, I don't see the point of this for every single crappy quest your character encounters. Every "Kill 10 rats" type of quest has voice acting. But whatever. Some people like it. Good for them. I just feel that they put too many resources into this one "killer" feature instead of improving other areas of the game.
And then there's this whole dark side/light side paradigm that is starting to grow old. I mean, even the Sith wouldn't be so stupid as to permanently do cruel things without reason. Yet, the game forces you down the narrow light/dark path, without the possibility of recourse. Of course, you could stay neutral but then you won't have access to certain items which are unlocked by how good or evil you are.
There is one thing, at least, that SWTOR does right. Dead, lootable mobs are marked by a shaft of light, which is colored based on the type of item which drops. Green item? Green shaft. Pretty cool idea. The other thing that, I thought, was awesome, is area loot. Oh how I wish WoW had this feature whenever I farmed low level dungeons with my level 80! Essentially this allows you to collect loot from all the bodies in your vicinity by looting a single body. Kick-ass feature.
Well, ok, I also enjoyed how light sabers can be customized, with crystals, grips, power sources and what-not. It felt very much like KOTOR. Too bad I'm not much of a melee person.
I wanted to post some screenshots but I have no idea where the game saved them, so screw that.
I'm gonna stop here because there's nothing much left to say. The game was ok, but nothing groundbreaking. I'm certainly not going to spend a single cent on it. Will I ever play it again? Not unless it goes free-to-play, and even then, if I don't have something better to do.
6 comments:
- Unknown said...
> lootable mobs are marked by a
> shaft of light, which is colored
> based on the type of item
> which drops
We should say "thanks Borderlands!" ;)
- March 20, 2012 at 3:18 AM
- Darraxus said...
I actually liked the voice acting, and it kept me interested until 50. Then after that, it just felt like a very bland WoW Clone.
I thought this could be my Next MMO. I was wrong.
- March 20, 2012 at 12:02 PM
Pretty good summing up of the early levels. I'm definitely waiting for the next big patch before I give it another go.
It's worth noting that the well made & plot-heavy starter planets aren't very indicative of what's to come - it slows down a lot after that. Still lots of tedious and unnecessary voice acting though, that doesn't end.
Couple of things:
"The graphics are kind of disappointing. I almost feel that WoW's are better, although they are probably not"
The graphics are very disappointing. Just doesn't feel at all Star Wars-y, which has a pretty well defined visual theme.
Also, I think this applies here:
WoW just wins this one hands down.
"every class gets it's own companion type (which can't be changed)"
Not true - all classes get all 5 types of companion eventually (healer + ranged & melee versions of dps/tank, and even then they have different 'stances'), though some of the later ones come very late, and it sucks if you want a healer and don't get them early. They are generally the most useful unless you're doing it yourself.
It also sucks that the one that best complements your play style might be totally opposed to your chosen alignment, which also negatively affects their usefulness as crafting/gathering monkeys. The morality system really needs to be just flavour, and separate from the mechanics, I agree there.
What is cool about the crafting is that you can use your non-preferred companions to make genuinely useful stuff for both yourself and your main buddy. Slightly dodgy AI aside, a well-geared 'pet' is frequently better than a real other player! I recommend light-side bounty hunter, with the first companion, a very effective healer. Then take cybertech or armormech to make both of you decent equipment.
I do like the gear modification system. You probably didn't make it far enough to get much customisable armour, but you can find items you like the look of and then slot in (craftable or buyable) upgrades that affect how useful it is, so you don't end up wearing increasingly freaky-looking stuff as you level.
Surprised you didn't mention the Godawful 'running' speed + huge, pointless empty areas which is an obvious time-sink. Guess you didn't make it that far trying lots of classes in 3 days...
Finally, don't know if you ran the first group flashpoint (aka dungeon) at around lvl 10-12, it's Black Talon for empire, Esseles for the republic. "Solo" suggests you wouldn't, "Darth" suggests you really ought to;) The competitive conversation thing is really fun the first the couple of times.
Of course it gets old fast, and none of the other subsequent flashpoints are nearly as good, this game is very front-loaded.
Oh, and apparently WoW is stealing the awesome AoE looting feature for mists. Soloing those old instances suddenly becomes so much faster...
- March 20, 2012 at 4:40 PM
- Darth Solo said...
@Loque Nahak I'll be damned, I think you are right. However, I never noticed that in Borderlands. Maybe it was better implemented in SWTOR because I noticed it immediately.
@Darraxus well a lot of people like it and to an extent it's a great accomplishment, but it feels a bit overkill.
@Anonymous a lot of great points, thank you. A very good friend of mine who was ecstatic over SWTOR played it until max level and then he quit. He said the story and leveling was awesome but at the end it just felt a lot like WoW and he was sick of that.
I thought the companions were specific to each class, sorry about the mistake.
I wanted to mention something about running and running and more running but I forgot :)
No, I didn't get to do any flashpoint. I just wanted a taste of the classes.
Ooo WoW stealing area loot! Here I come WoW! Not! It's great that they are doing it but it's too little too late for me. I'm really going to dedicate 99% of my spare time to Diablo from now on...
- March 20, 2012 at 7:39 PM
- Unknown said...
@ Darth
This is a pretty good example:
- March 21, 2012 at 3:28 AM
- Darth Solo said...
Oh of course, now I know exactly what you mean. But it's not the same thing. In Borderlands items dropped on the ground just like in Diablo. In SWTOR they stay on the bodies, like WoW, until you loot them. So the shafts are over the bodies which may contain magic/rare/etc items.
- March 23, 2012 at 8:22 PM


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Readers, how do you hydrate and fuel on long runs?
Today I took my Xersion running shorts out for a test drive. They're basically like the Nike running shorts, but cheaper. Xersion makes FABULOUS capri-length running pants that are identical in appearance and performance to my Nike running capris, but cheaper, so I was pretty excited to try out these shorts.
Xersion™ Woven Running Short
Price: $22.00 but frequently on sale for 40% off or more
Description: "Xersion™ running shorts offer comfort-driven features for those long-lasting runs. Running short liner, quick dry, credit card pocket, waistband drawstring, 3 1/4" inseam, washable, polyester."
Review: I bought these because people just love the Nike running shorts, and these look the same, so I figured they were probably just as good since the capris are! And at $14 on sale, I figured they were a steal.
PROS: The material feels and looks nice. Comes in different colors. Inexpensive. The lining doesn't rub or chafe even on a 17 miler.
CONS: The shorts bunch up at the crotch. BOO. I'm pretty sure I got the right size (small), so I'm not sure what the issue is. Maybe that my thighs rub together? Whatever it is, I need my shorts to stay where they're at, and these shorts don't. I don't know if Nike shorts would give me the same problems or not.
If you love your Nikes and want a cheap alternative, or want to try out running shorts, for $14, it's worth a try if you don't mind bunching. I think I'm gonna stick with spandex compression pants and shorts!
Lipgloss + Spandex rating:

subset: commoncrawl


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Contact Josh
Mailing Address:9911 Rose Commons Dr. #E-133
Huntersville, NC 28078
This morning you saved my message boards, some hacker had gotten in and you caught it and fixed it within minutes! … I can not thank you enough Josh, you're the greatest…
In the course of working with many developers over a 6 year period, I've yet to find anyone that gives you ANYWARE NEAR what Josh gives you for the money. His excellent coding skills and well thought out implementation always saves me money in the end.
I would like to THANK Josh for all of his hard work on my site, he has completed several mods for me and they work great, his prices are fair and he responds very quickly.
Josh has done a great job, is always on time, is a pleasure to work with, and has a talent to put into words exactly what he is going to do so there are no errors or misunderstandings.
He goes beyond the call of duty to help get things squared away and I have always appreciated that, his prices are very reasonable and you will get more than you expect for it.
When I get SUPER SERVICE as I have received from Josh it is worthy of a response. First, besides the fact that this gentleman (Josh) is a true magician at what he does, he is very understanding and appreciates how business should be run.


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The Lipscomb women's golf team opened the 2012 fall campaign this week in the 17th annual Chris Banister Gamecock Golf Classic at the Silver Lakes Golf Course in Glencoe, Ala.
The Lady Bisons landed at a combined score of 993 (338, 319, 336) after three rounds of play for a ninth-place finish. Junior, Savanna Schubert, led the Lady Bisons with scores of 81, 77, and 87, totaling 245 and tied for 30th.
Fellow junior, Mackenzy Carter, at 39th place with a 248, followed Schubert closely. Also in play were Miriam Parker finishing with a 253, Sami Khan at 255, Morgan Bucher with a 256 and Sabrina Ferreri at 278.
Texas State University went away with the tournament title at a combined 879.
Silver Lakes Golf Course is a 72-par course covering 5,943 yards. The Lady Bisons hit the course again on Sept. 24-25 in the SIUE Intercollegiate in Edwardsville, Ill.


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While I do my best as a writer to convey the idea of what we do here at Charleston Forge, illustrate what we see and hear, show you the process of how our furniture comes to be, sometimes, its just better to see what we do. So while this video is quite a few years old, it tells the story and shows the process of what we do, how we're made, and what we believe. Enjoy!
We would love to hear back from our readers. Feel free to post a comment or feedback below
...and, if you have a facebook page, take a moment to come and "like" us on our FAN page


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Zytiga (Abiraterone Acetate)
HOW TO USE THIS INFORMATION: This is a summary and does NOT have all possible information about this product. This information does not assure that this product is safe, effective, or appropriate for you. This information is not individual medical advice and does not substitute for the advice of your health care professional. Always ask your health care professional for complete information about this product and your specific health needs.
This medication is used along with prednisone to treat men with prostate cancer that has spread to other areas of the body. Abiraterone belongs to a class of drugs known as anti-androgens (anti-testosterone). Testosterone, a natural hormone, helps prostate cancer to grow and spread. Abiraterone works by blocking the production of testosterone, thereby slowing the growth and spread of prostate cancer. This medication should not be given to women or children.
Read the Patient Information Leaflet if available from your pharmacist before you start taking abiraterone and each time you get a refill. If you have any questions, ask your doctor or pharmacist. Different brands of this medication may have different dosing directions. Do not change brands of this medication without your doctor's direction.
Take this medication by mouth on an empty stomach (at least 1 hour before or 2 hours after food) as directed by your doctor, usually once daily. Taking abiraterone with food greatly increases the amount of this drug in your body and increases the risk of side effects. Swallow whole. Do not crush or chew before swallowing. Pregnant women should wear gloves if handling the tablets. If the tablet is crushed or broken, women who are pregnant or who may become pregnant should not handle it or breathe the dust from it (see also Precautions section).
The dosage is based on your medical condition, lab results, response to treatment, and other medications you may be taking. Be sure to tell your doctor and pharmacist about all the products you use (including prescription drugs, nonprescription drugs, and herbal products). Use this medication regularly to get the most benefit from it. To help you remember, take it at the same time each day. Do not stop any medications for your prostate cancer unless told to do so by your doctor. Stopping your medications could allow the cancer to spread more rapidly. Tell your doctor if your condition persists or worsens (such as urination becomes more difficult, bone pain increases).
Headache, hot flushes, joint pain, heartburn or cold-like symptoms may occur. If any of these effects persist or worsen, tell your doctor or pharmacist promptly. Remember that your doctor has prescribed this medication because he or she has judged that the benefit to you is greater than the risk of side effects. Many people using this medication do not have serious side effects. This medication may raise your blood pressure. Check your blood pressure regularly and tell your doctor if the results are high. Your doctor may control your blood pressure with medication.
Tell your doctor right away if you have any serious side effects, including: increased urination, painful urination, fast/irregular heartbeat, muscle cramps/weakness, leg pain, swelling in legs/feet, bone fractures. Get medical help right away if you have any very serious side effects, including: chest pain, feeling short of breath while at rest, symptoms of liver disease (such as nausea/vomiting that doesn't stop, loss of appetite, stomach/abdominal pain, yellowing eyes/skin, dark urine).
A very serious allergic reaction to this drug is rare. However, get medical help right away if you notice any symptoms of a serious allergic reaction, including: rash, itching/swelling (especially of the face/tongue/throat), severe dizziness, trouble breathing. This is not a complete list of possible side effects. If you notice other effects not listed above, contact your doctor or pharmacist.
In the US – Call your doctor for medical advice about side effects. You may report side effects to FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088 or at www.fda.gov/medwatch.
In Canada – Call your doctor for medical advice about side effects. You may report side effects to Health Canada at 1-866-234-2345.
Before taking abiraterone, tell your doctor or pharmacist if you are allergic to it; or if you have any other allergies. This product may contain inactive ingredients, which can cause allergic reactions or other problems. Talk to your pharmacist for more details. Before using this medication, tell your doctor or pharmacist your medical history, especially of: heart problems (such as heart failure, irregular heartbeat, previous heart attack), high blood pressure, liver problems. Using corticosteroid medications for a long time along with abiraterone can make it more difficult for your body to respond to physical stress.
Therefore, before having surgery or emergency treatment, or if you get a serious illness/injury, tell your doctor or dentist that you are using this medication or have used this medication within the past 12 months. Tell your doctor right away if you develop unusual/extreme tiredness or weight loss. If you will be using this medication for a long time, carry a warning card or medical ID bracelet that identifies your use of this medication.
Before having surgery, tell your doctor or dentist about all the products you use (including prescription drugs, nonprescription drugs, and herbal products). This medication should not be used in women, especially during pregnancy or breast-feeding. It may harm an unborn or breast-feeding baby. Women who are pregnant or breast-feeding should avoid touching or accidentally taking this medication. Consult your doctor for more details.
Because it is unknown if abiraterone passes into semen, men who use this drug and have sex with pregnant women must use a latex condom during all sexual contact, even if they have had a vasectomy. Men who use this drug and have sex with women of child-bearing age should use a latex condom and another reliable form of birth control (such as diaphragm with spermicide) during all sexual contact. Continue using reliable form(s) of birth control as directed until 3 weeks after abiraterone treatment has been stopped.
Drug interactions may change how your medications work or increase your risk for serious side effects. This document does not contain all possible drug interactions. Keep a list of all the products you use (including prescription/nonprescription drugs and herbal products) and share it with your doctor and pharmacist. Do not start, stop, or change the dosage of any medicines without your doctor's approval. Other medications can affect the removal of abiraterone from your body, which may affect how abiraterone works. Examples include rifamycins (such as rifabutin), drugs used to treat seizures (such as carbamazepine, phenytoin, phenobarbital, primidone), St. John's wort, among others.
If someone has overdosed and has serious symptoms such as passing out or trouble breathing, call 911. Otherwise, call a poison control center right away. US residents can call their local poison control center at 1-800-222-1222. Canada residents can call a provincial poison control center.
Do not share this medication with others. Laboratory and/or medical tests (such as blood pressure, potassium levels, liver function tests, blood PSA test) should be performed before you start treatment, periodically to monitor your progress, or to check for side effects. Consult your doctor for more details.
If you miss a dose, skip the missed dose. Take your next dose at the regular time. Do not double the dose to catch up. If you miss more than one dose, talk to your doctor right away.
Store at room temperature away from light and moisture. Do not store in the bathroom. Keep all medications away from children and pets. Do not flush medications down the toilet or pour them into a drain unless instructed to do so. Properly discard this product when it is expired or no longer needed. Consult your pharmacist or local waste disposal company.


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Whether you are planning on surfing, diving, or just laying out in the sun, Kailua Kona is an amazing destination full of pristine beaches and local culture. A Kailua Kona holiday is sure to be unforgettable, but why not make it even more special by staying in your very own holiday rental instead of a hotel? There are a variety of Kailua Kona holiday rentals available, from a cozy one bedroom condo to a spacious rental house that can sleep the entire family. There is sure to be the perfect rental home to suit your needs and your style, so check out our great deals on Kailua Kona holiday rentals for your next trip.
Kailua Kona is an ocean lover's paradise, full of beautiful sights and opportunities to explore. Enjoy the breathtaking view at Mauna Kea Summit and all that you can see from 13,796 feet high. To check out the sights underneath the water as well, take a dive with Big Island Divers and you will not believe your eyes. Surfer Bear Hawaii Surf Lessons can teach you and the entire family to catch some waves, or lay out in the sun at Manini'owali Beach and let your troubles melt away. Finish the day off with some delectable Hawaiian style drinks at Don's Mai Tai Bar and you may never want to leave. No matter how you spend your Kailua Kona holiday, you can rest assured knowing with holiday rentals you have chosen the most comfortable and convenient option for you and your family. A holiday rental offers you all the benefits of having a home away from home, and did you know it can even save you money?
Hotels can be expensive, especially when traveling with a large group. Luckily, with holiday rentals there is no need to worry about booking multiple hotel rooms when you can simply rent a holiday house that can fit your entire group. If you plan on staying a while, many Kailua Kona rental homes also offer a discounted rate on extended stays, so you can enjoy your holiday for longer while saving money. Rental homes offer so many benefits to you, your family, and your wallet, that it is a truly a win-win situation for your next trip to Kailua Kona.


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Select Major Ball Parks Will Feature a "No Ordinary Family" Fam-Cam
Take your family out to the ballgame and cheer for your favorite team, as ABC's "No Ordinary Family" Fam-Cam will be scanning the crowds at Major League baseball parks looking for families to appear on screen at the game. The Season Premiere of "No Ordinary Family's" airs TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28 (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.
Participating Major League Baseball teams' parks and dates are as follows:
· Houston Astros, Minute Maid Ballpark - September 9-19
· Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Angel Stadium - September 9-26
· Detroit Tigers, Comerica Park - September 9-26
· New York Mets, CitiField - September 10-19
· Chicago White Sox, US Cellular Field - September 10-19
About "No Ordinary Family"
The Powells are about to go from ordinary to extraordinary. After 16 years of marriage, Jim feels disconnected from his workaholic wife, Stephanie, and two teenage children, Daphne and JJ. To encourage family bonding time, Jim decides the family will join Stephanie on her business trip to South America. When their plane crashes into the Amazon River, they barely enjoy a moment to celebrate their survival before returning to the grind of everyday life. But they will soon realize that their lives have been forever changed. Each member of the family starts to show signs of new, unique and distinct super powers. Will their newfound abilities finally bring them together or push them further apart?
"No Ordinary Family" stars Michael Chiklis as Jim Powell, Julie Benz as Stephanie Powell, Romany Malco as George St. Cloud, Autumn Reeser as Katie Andrews, Kay Panabaker as Daphne Powell, Jimmy Bennett as JJ Powell and Stephen Collins as Dr. Dayton King.


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Council on Architecture
Founded in 1971, the Council on Architecture supports the Museum and celebrates its exceptional architecture. Its members are interested in promoting greater understanding and appreciation of the built environment through architectural tours, exhibits, and lectures.
Architecture Tour
Every first Sunday of the month members of the Council on Architecture lead tours featuring the Museum's architecture and gardens at 1 pm. There's lots to talk about with the exciting enhancements to the building by Mark Cavagnero Associates. View all tours
A Gift of Architecture and A Gift of Architecture 2
A Gift of Architecture 2, a significantly expanded and updated edition of The Oakland Museum: A Gift of Architecture, the 1989 monograph of the history of the museum building, includes new photographs featuring the 2010 expansion and redesign by Mark Cavagnero Associates, and new essays. The book is now available at the OMCA Store online and on the second level of the Museum.
Oakland Museum of California pop-up cards designed by Joyce Aysia, Live Your Dreams Designs, funded by the COA, are also available in the OMCA Store.
Chairman: Lise Thorgensen
Vice Chair: Rebecca Schnier
Treasurer: Sue Cake
Secretary: Helene Vilett
Membership Chair: Sandra Coleman
Museum Tour Chair: Michael Coleman
Events Chair: Michael Behan
For more information call: Sandra Coleman, 510-451-6796


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March 29, 2014, 8:00 am
Cartoons of the day: Obama and Pope Francis
President Obama met with Pope Francis at the Vatican Thursday, their first face-to-face meeting. The two leaders discussed their mutual admiration, as well as deep differences between the White House and the Catholic Church. Editorial cartoonist Steve Sack thinks the president was hoping the pope popularity would rub off on him, while Chip Bok says Pope Francis gave Obama an earful on the contraceptive mandate in the Affordable Care Act. Meanwhile, David Fitzsimmons thinks March Madness was their real focus.
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We accept applications on a rolling basis throughout the year – apply now!
This is the application process for:
- Master of Education degree
- Endorsement Programs
- Post-Baccalaureate Teaching Certification
Please submit the following:
- Completed application, including essay
- An official college/university transcript for each undergraduate and post-graduate institution you have attended
- Two professional recommendations or letters addressed to Shari Brouwer
- Copy of teaching certificate
- For international prospective MEd students:
- TOEFL scores (international students)
- Declaration of Finance Form and supporting documents
Non-Degree Guests
Whether you are interested in taking a summer workshop or a graduate level class the Graduate Programs offers students the opportunity to take up to nine semester hours as a guest without being formally accepted into the Graduate Programs.
To be a guest one must fill out the Graduate and Undergraduate Guest Application form and return it to the Graduate Programs Office with the desired workshop or course listed. The university requires a $500 deposit per guest application to secure course registration. The deposit goes 100% towards tuition costs. You may also fax it to 616-526-6505 with Attn: Graduate Studies.Graduate Studies in EducationCalvin University3201 Burton St SEGrand Rapids, MI 49546
If you are interested in Calvin's graduate program or have any question about your readiness for such courses, please contact us.
International Applicants
Financial commitmentStudents must show the ability to meet a certain level of financial commitment in order to be admitted to the Graduate Program. Our Declaration of Finances form is the only form we use for this process. You may also have someone submit a Sponsor form on your behalf.
TOEFL and IELTS scores
The minimum TOEFL score for regular admission is 550 (213 on the computerized version or 80 on the internet based test).
The TOEFL code number for Calvin is 1095.
The IELTS results are also accepted by the university with a minimum score of 6.5.
The IELTS code number for Calvin is 1095.
Scores must be original or certified copies.


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Inspirations Wedding Ring set, This set is in Sterling Silver but comes in all metals and also each comes seperate to the other. In this example the gents ring is matt and shinney, and the ladies is set with a Diamond. The ladies ring is also available with out the Diamond
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Special Report: Midrange arrays
Modular storage systems are the antidote to expensive monolithic arrays. In this report, you'll see why midrange is hot, where it's heading and what systems are leading the charge.
Midrange arrays are changing the way companies manage their data and business. Gone are the days when pricey monolithic arrays ruled the data center. Cost is key. Companies no longer need to spend millions on a monolithic array for storage applications that a midrange array can handle for substantially less money.
As this Special Report reveals, midrange arrays offer a wide choice of features that can fulfill almost every storage need. Because the choices are so varied in the midrange array category, some homework is required to find the right array at the right price for specific storage requirements. Applications will dictate your requirements, but a midrange array can offer the best fit whether an application requires low-cost, high-capacity disk, the ability to mix and match different kinds of disk and RAID within an array, replication between monolithic and midrange arrays or the ability to virtualize other storage arrays.
Disk drive support
A compelling force behind the deployment of midrange arrays is their ability to support disk drives of almost any type, size or number. The lowest-priced configurations are approximately $5,000 per terabyte and show up in midrange arrays, such as EqualLogic Inc.'s PS200E and Isilon Systems Inc.'s IQ 2250, that support only SATA drives. Products like 3PAR Inc.'s InServ S400, IBM's TotalStorage DS6800 and Sun Microsystems Inc.'s StorEdge 6920 support only high-performance Fibre Channel (FC) drives, and are priced at around $50,000 per terabyte. Still other companies, like Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) Corp., offer arrays that support either SATA or FC drives.
The trend, however, is for midrange arrays to support both high-performance FC drives and high-capacity SATA drives behind the same front-end host interface. Vendors such as EMC Corp. and HDS -- that initially supported only FC disk drives in their Clariion and Thunder series arrays, respectively -- now include SATA support within these arrays and allow users to mix FC and SATA disk drives on the same system. 3PAR, IBM and Sun, who don't currently support SATA drives within their midrange systems, plan to add that support this year.
The ability to mix high-performance FC and high-capacity SATA drives within a midrange array gives administrators the flexibility to put the right data on the right kind of disk. For example, FC disk drives are designated for a high-performance database or file system apps, while the high-capacity, lower-cost SATA disk drives are used for apps calling for disk-to-disk backup, snapshots, virtual tape libraries, e-mail archives and fixed content.
Because different capacities and speeds exist for high-performance FC disk drives, users need to weigh several factors to come up with their best choice. IBM says that as a general rule, the smaller and faster the disk drive, the better the performance. HDS finds that 15,000 rpm FC disks will provide up to a 15% increase in performance over 10,000 rpm FC disks in random read environments.
One way to improve performance on slower disks is to distribute the data volumes across multiple disks. Chris Berthaut, the open-systems storage team manager with Hibernia National Bank in New Orleans, says his team uses this feature on the nine Xiotech Corp. Magnitude Classics they manage. "The virtualization [feature] was a big factor in the decision to buy Xiotech arrays since it allowed us to easily stripe data across disks on their arrays," says Berthaut.
A final area that may be overlooked is how the array recovers from failed disk drives and how easy it is to replace the faulty drives. Many midrange arrays, including HDS' Thunder 9520V, have a "call home" feature that reports a disk drive failure or a drive that's on the verge of failing. HDS reports that approximately 95% of the disk drives replaced on HDS' Thunder arrays "soft fail"--the disk exceeds an error threshold and is swapped out before the disk physically fails. Thunder copies the data from the poorly performing disk to a spare in the system. This approach minimizes performance degradation and speeds up recovery time since a copy operation runs faster than a RAID 5 rebuild.
RAID controllers
The type of RAID controller will determine three major array functions: Performance, disk drive management, and RAID levels
Storage Technology Corp. (StorageTek), for example, uses different controllers on various models depending on application requirements. If performance isn't a major concern, users should consider StorageTek's FlexLine FLA200 model that uses Fibre Channel arbitrated loop (FC-AL) controllers to connect to the disk drives. Conversely, if performance is the primary driver, the FlexLine FLA300 model enables a point-to-point or switched connection to back-end disk using a switched bunch of disk (SBOD) architecture.
The SBOD architecture also provides users with benefits beyond enhanced performance. The SBOD architecture in Hewlett-Packard (HP) Co.'s EVA5000 allows both of its controllers to connect to both ports on all of the disk drives for improved redundancy. It also provides fan-out and isolation between the controllers and disk drives, which makes fault isolation, repair and expansion easier. IBM's TotalStorage DS6800 takes SBOD even further, providing four data paths to every disk drive. The point-to-point connection also enables the array to identify when an individual disk drive starts to fail, something more difficult to do in an FC-AL implementation, and the failure of one RAID controller doesn't affect server and data availability.
The RAID controller also determines the RAID levels the array will support. With nearly every array on the market supporting RAID 1 and RAID 5 configurations, the importance of this feature comes into play for shops that need a specific RAID level to support a particular application. For instance, using RAID 10 in conjunction with a high-performance database should further enhance performance. Similarly, using either RAID 10 or 50 with SATA disk drives will improve performance and provide a higher level of protection in the event of a disk failure even though these configurations impose a large capacity usage penalty.
Vendors like Nexsan Technologies and Xiotech Corp., which support a large number of SATA configurations, are looking forward to the formal introduction of RAID 6 later this year. RAID 6 resembles RAID 5, but it uses two disks for parity. This new RAID configuration suits SATA disk drives particularly well because it allows two disks to fail without any data loss and incurs less of a capacity penalty than a mirrored disk configuration; it also provides a higher level of protection than RAID 5.
Cache and ports
There's a significant variance in the amount of cache in midrange arrays vs. their monolithic counterparts. While cache support varies from no cache on Xiotech Magnitude 3D systems to 80 GB on a fully configured 3PAR InServ S800 Storage Server, the average cache amount on midrange arrays is 8 GB vs. 64 GB or greater on monolithic arrays.
Midrange arrays need less cache for two reasons: The I/O of apps running on Unix and Windows OSes tends to be more random than sequential, which generates more queries to disk. As a result, installing more cache in the midrange system generates only a marginal performance increase because the queries still need to go directly to disk.
The second reason for the reduction in cache is that the I/O block sizes generated by Unix and Windows applications tend to be either 4 KB or 8 KB. Unlike some monolithic arrays that carve out their cache sizes in 32 KB blocks, midrange arrays break their cache into either 4 KB or 8 KB blocks. This allows the smaller cache sizes on midrange arrays to act as efficiently as the larger cache sizes on the monolithic arrays, because all of the cache in each block of the midrange array is used.
The number of front-end FC connections supported by midrange arrays ranges from one to eight, although the majority of array vendors say four ports are sufficient for most applications. Assuming a 2 gigabytes per second (Gbps) FC connection, throughput only becomes an issue for the most performance-intensive apps or when a large number of servers (more than 10) access the same port on the array.
While having the option to mix-and-match disk types on the same array sounds appealing, storage admins need to be aware of some of the downsides of this approach. For instance, a batch job that archives old e-mails from FC to SATA disks may start at the same time that a highly visible production OLTP database needs to execute reads and writes to the disk. With the data potentially spread across multiple disks on different controllers and the applications sharing the storage processor and cache, contention for the same resources could arise. This creates an unpleasant situation in which the production OLTP application will slow down as both jobs contend for the same resources. It's also important to keep an eye on which servers are using which array ports, so backup jobs running at the same time don't overwhelm the same port with too much traffic.
Sun Microsystems Inc.'s StorEdge 6920 and other midrange arrays address these issues through logical partitioning (LPAR). LPAR lets storage admins carve up the storage array's memory and processing power and then assign it to specific servers. This way, even if an e-mail archiving batch job kicks off in the middle of the day, it can use only the memory and processing power allocated to it.
Hibernia National Bank minimizes contention issues by deploying different arrays. The bank's Windows/Novell group uses only Xiotech arrays for its file and print services, while the Unix group uses an IBM FAStT 900 (now the DS4500) that it finds is better suited for its applications' performance requirements. This approach also helped to isolate technical problems and alleviate political problems.
Volume management
Sophisticated volume management software on midrange arrays is approaching the functionality found with monolithic arrays. In addition, every midrange array comes with software that lets administrators monitor, analyze, manage or tune the performance of the array with varying levels of granularity. For example, the base module of StorageTek's SANtricity software suite lets users: update controller firmware non-disruptively, migrate RAID levels dynamically, add and configure new drive modules, manage a system with mixed FC and SATA disks and monitor and tune performance
It's important to determine how many arrays a particular vendor's software will manage. Not having to learn how to use different management programs for all the different arrays in the data center saves considerable time. HDS, for example, extends the same level of software support it offers on its arrays to other vendors' midrange arrays by licensing and rebranding AppIQ Inc.'s StorageAuthority Suite as its HiCommand Storage Services Manager.
For any midrange array that will present virtual volumes or logical unit numbers (LUNs) to multiple servers on the same front-end FC port, volume management software is a must. While every array vendor offers this functionality in some capacity, there are differing degrees of management flexibility. The following volume management features should be considered essential:
The ability to group two or more volume groups and present them as one large volume makes the most sense for offloading volume management from the server to the array. Offloading the volume management to the array lets storage admins working with heterogeneous server OS environments learn only one volume management interface. It can also eliminate the need to buy third-party, server-level volume management software. Nearly every midrange array can accomplish the offloading of this task, but each array uses different methods; users need to be cautious about changing existing volume configurations.
For example, EMC's Navisphere Management Suite allows a user to create volume groups, or what EMC calls metaLUNs, on its Clariion array. These metaLUNs can be created in either a striped or concatenated format from existing LUNs. Each option presents benefits and drawbacks. The striped feature provides better performance because data is striped across all of the LUNs in the metaLUN, although all of the LUNs in a striped metaLUN must be of the same size, RAID level and disk type. A concatenated LUN must also be composed of disks of the same type (FC or SATA) and RAID level, but concatenation allows individual LUNs of different sizes to be joined.
In addition, the maximum size of a metaLUN is restricted by the size of the individual LUNs and the type of Clariion array. For example, metaLUNs on the CX600 can comprise up to 16 LUNs, while only eight LUNs can be used for metaLUNs on the CX400 and CX200 models.
Shops that opt to offload volume management from the server to the array will also need the ability to extend or grow these volume groups as they fill to capacity. Midrange arrays from 3PAR, HP, EMC and other vendors provide dynamic volume group growth, but each handles it differently. 3PAR allows administrators to grow a volume by increasing it to the precise size desired. HP's EVA can start a volume at any size, ranging from 1 GB to 2 TB, and then grow the volume in 1 GB increments.
EMC permits the dynamic growth of metaLUNs, but the process differs depending on how the metaLUN was created. If a LUN is added to a metaLUN that was created in a striped manner, the Clariion will re-stripe the existing data across all of the LUNs now in the metaLUN. With a concatenated metaLUN, when a LUN is added to it, it gets appended to the end of the existing string of LUNs in the metaLUN with new data put on the new LUN in the group. With a concatenated metaLUN, data isn't automatically redistributed across this new configuration of LUNs.
The final step in growing virtual volumes is to configure the host server OS to discover the new size of the virtual volume. Some OSes such as Windows Server 2003 can do so dynamically, but users should exercise extreme caution by testing this functionality first and assuming any volume expansion will necessitate a reboot or, minimally, a rescan of the expanded volume to discover the additional capacity. Administrators should also check with the vendor to see how their OS handles the dynamic growth of volumes. Some array vendors report that data loss can occur if an OS doesn't recognize dynamic volume expansions.
Snaps and mirrors
Driven by SATA drives, shrinking backup windows and the need to create in-house disaster recovery procedures, array-based snapshot and mirroring are becoming common. Hibernia's Berthaut uses the synchronous mirroring capabilities of Xiotech's Magnitude Geo-Replication Services software between sites in New Orleans and Shreveport, La., with a high degree of success.
Berthaut began using the synchronous mirroring feature as a stopgap measure because he was unsure how successful this approach would be due to the 700-mile roundtrip distance between the two sites.
"The Windows and Novell servers are extremely tolerant of the latency, but I'm still looking for a more acceptable asynchronous solution," says Berthaut. "I am currently evaluating Xiotech's TimeScale rapid restore appliance, an asynchronous mirroring product, and I plan to use it to replace the current synchronous mirroring process." As midrange arrays take on more monolithic attributes, users should look to deploy midrange arrays for more mission-critical storage applications. They offer low-cost disk, high levels of performance and availability, easy to use software and effective replication technologies.
About the author: Jerome M. Wendt (firstname.lastname@example.com) is a storage analyst specializing in the fields of open-systems storage and SANs. He has managed storage for small- and large-sized organizations in this capacity.
Alex Barrett, Rich Castagna, Jo Maitland and Alan Radding also contributed to this Special Report.


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Racine County, WIHome Menu
Ready Racine Newsletter
Racine County Emergency Management Annual Report
GET PAID $15 per Hour | Enroll in FREE Training
Contact WRTP | BIG STEP at 262.619.6560 or email@example.com.
For additional training and resources, contact the training hotline at 262.638.7701 or go to Fast Forward.
Interested in opening your own in home childcare, please call 262.638.6504 or need
assistance with childcare, please go to racinecounty.com/ess for more information.


text:
Over the weekend, on July 14 to 15, Prumsodun Ok & NATYARASA, the country's first gay dance company, made their debut in Siem Reap, Cambodia. The troupe of all male dancers staged Khmer classical dance as well as mixing tradition with contemporary arts.
During his two weeks visiting several refugee camps in Thailand and Cambodia, Barron witnessed a "horrifying" experience of Cambodian people –many looked as skinny as skeleton and suffered severe coughing from lung disease –who sought refuges in the first world countries.


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Info » Ebooks
Wheelers ePlatform offers schools and public libraries a secure eBook library which is affordable, easy to use and rich in features that will inspire and educate your readers.
We deliver a huge range (over 300,000) of eBooks that include the latest international titles as well as the largest local content (from Australasia) than any other eBook platform.
Since launching in 2011, over 1000 schools and libraries in 15 countries have chosen ePlatform as their eBook lending partner. We host and facilitate the lending of eBook titles for your library so you can open your students/ members up to an exciting world of reading whenever they want, wherever they are.
Watch our video to see how it works:
The ePlatform APP makes it quick and easy for your library members/students to find your library, browse your collection and borrow a book to read. After signing in the once and borrowing a book, it's one-click reading (even after going offline).
We encourage you to experience ePlatform for yourself by registering for a free trial login to our demo site below.
Visit our website to read more
Download our school brochure or public library brochure
Email us with any questions
Register now to trial ePlatform
'Wheelers provide many useful features for our digital library, including a wide range of titles and subjects. The option to download or read online is especially valued by our patrons, as well as the ability to reserve titles. Wheelers have responded quickly to feedback and purchase suggestions, and have a diverse range of content.'
Nathan Turner - e-Resources Librarian, Parramatta City Library, Australia
'I've found that Wheelers is excellent to deal with. Their eBook platform was very easy to set up, their books (both print and digital) are Australasian-oriented and up-to-date, and the purchasing system is simple and straightforward. Efficient and courteous help is only a quick phone call away.'
Jennifer King - Head of Information Services, Brisbane Boys' College, Australia
'It can be very confusing when you start to think about e-books and all that it entails for your library. Wheeler's e-book platform makes it easy. Their staff answer all your questions. Their help desk is easy to access and available to help you with any problems you might have. I am very impressed with the range of books you can get now and new publishers are being added all the time.
Most importantly the e-readers I have in my school are out all the time, the students have taken to them like ducks to water. They are a great tool to promote reading.'
Karen Clarke - Library Manager, St. Patrick's College, Wellington, New Zealand
'I am extremely impressed with Wheelers' efficiency. I set up the registration page and user interface easily, which shows how friendly it is.'
Rob Gutteridge – Library & Information Resources Manager, Maritzburg College, South Africa
"I'm just writing to let you know that I love your e-platform service! I've found the whole process of implementing the platform at Freyberg High School very smooth and seamless. Thanks for the great service so far too: you've been quick to offer support when needed. I know your range of eBooks is ever growing and even in these early stages of your service, I'm quite amazed at the range already on offer.
Keep up the good work and congratulations for creating the first ePlatform of its kind in New Zealand, for New Zealanders!"
Debbie Price-Ewen - High School Manager, Freyberg Library, and founder and manager of NZeRT
"Hamilton City Libraries have had the pleasure of offering a customised ePlatform, including our own banner and colour scheme, to customers since February 27, 2012. Wheelers have provided excellent technical support, with fast response times. We enjoy having the freedom to log into the admin side and customise such things as loan limit and length. Our customers appreciate the thorough help guides available, the convenience, and not having to worry about overdue fees"
Amanda Magee - Digital Manager Hamilton Library, Hamilton, New Zealand
Subscribe now to be the first to hear about specials and upcoming releases.
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Linny136 needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 573 designs submitted by 113 freelance designers.
We're a small company, looking to create a youthful, vigorous brand. Two mid 20's young professionals, one an admitted lawyer, another a practicing dentist, we both studied a long time to work in our respective fields and have both become disillusioned with working life, not that we hate our jobs, we just hate the 9-5 grind.
Both of us want to follow something more related to our passions, which both being very health conscious, involves health products. We want to basically sell something that WE as young healthy people would buy. And inspire people at the same time.
Don't panic though, we're growing as a company. I mean, we just got a pot-plant. And all successful companies have those in abundance. Right?
We sell healthy green tea based consumer products, and are expanding our lines gradually
Our key brand messages are:
1. Youth
2. Health
3. Vitality
4. Purity
Ultimately this is a company that is a pretext for making money and having fun. So the brand should be about that, but also have a touch of edge and distinction. This is not a crass or cheap brand.
We can see the brand expanding into other lines (well, that is the vision) and become a brand that ultimately is not associated with a particular product line, but with a way of life.
I want to be healthy, I want to look after myself, I want to have fun. This is what Quay is about.
1. Young Professionals
2. Image conscious
3. Health conscious
4. Time poor
5. High disposable income
6. 25-40 y.o
"When I use Quay products I feel better about myself and I feel healthier"
"When I buy Quay products I am doing something good for myself"
''Not only am I being healthy, I'm being cool too.''
People that are looking to get an edge on life. That is who we are marketing to.
We chose 'Quay' because it's a cool sounding name, that just seems to fit. Plus we like the 'Q'...so be sure to play that up if you want to win!
Our vision seems to be around a lot of white (for purity), with perhaps something symbolic of green as we have a line of 'green tea' products. So maybe you can use a a leaf in there? The products are centered around the healing powers of green tea so a small mystical, eastern or oriental influence could help to convey this.
We want to be seen as a high-end product, but one that is young, hip and leaves the person feeling good about themselves. This is a positional good that allows for conspicious consumption of healthy products.
The company could be initially based on dental products, so we would be looking for a clean DENTAL feel about the logo. Like for instance something that projects clean shiny white teeth, not necessarily white, but an association with that. We are a bit cautious about using 'green' as we don't want any connotations of staining teeth.
We both enjoy clean lines, so the word Quay should be dominant element of the logo. Though, feel free to prove us wrong.
Ultimately there is a degree of license here for the designer. But I think judging by the tone of what we said, and the specifics of the brief, you should be able to (hopefully) pick up on the vibe of what we are after!
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


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Associate | New York
firstname.lastname@example.com | (212) 336-4228
Steven J. Bleiberg is an associate in the Financial Transactions Group of the New York office of Morrison & Foerster, and a founding member of MoFo's Blockchain/Smart Contracts Task Force. He represents financial institutions, public and private borrowers, and other corporate entities in a variety of finance transactions, with a particular focus on credit and securities transactions, and mergers and acquisitions.
His work in the commodities trading area has involved structuring and documenting trading, hedging, financing, supply and offtake, storage, processing and tolling transactions. He also has experience with securities offerings by financial institutions, including investment grade securities and structured products linked to equities, commodities, interest rates and other underlying assets.
Mr. Bleiberg earned his J.D./M.B.A. from Columbia University, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and a Milbank Law & Economics Fellow and served on the Columbia Business Law Review. He received his B.A. in quantitative economics from Tufts University.Show More
Unsolicited e-mails and information sent to Morrison & Foerster will not be considered confidential, may be disclosed to others pursuant to our Privacy Policy, may not receive a response, and do not create an attorney-client relationship with Morrison & Foerster. If you are not already a client of Morrison & Foerster, do not include any confidential information in this message. Also, please note that our attorneys do not seek to practice law in any jurisdiction in which they are not properly authorized to do so.


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Nagios: System and Network Monitoring Booklast updated in Categories Book Review, Linux, Monitoring, RedHat/Fedora Linux, Suse Linux, Sys admin, Troubleshooting, Ubuntu Linux, UNIX, Windows server
The convenience and reliability that monitoring programs offer system administrators is astounding. Whether at home, commuting, or on vacation, admins can continuously monitor their networks, learning of issues long before they become catastrophes.
Nagios, the most popular open source solution for system and network monitoring, is extremely robust, but it's also intensely complex.


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Compost Turners
Composting is an important aspect of waste management throughout the world. Product from compost operations can be seen in various applications such as:
- Top-dressing for yards and golf courses
- Compost socks, which are mesh tubes filled with compost that will slow and filter water on a construction site, capturing soil and reducing erosion
- Erosion control on disturbed areas such as construction sites, development (and planting) projects and exposed stream banks
- Organic fertilizer or soil conditioners
Vermeer compost turners introduce oxygen into the compost pile, helping to speed the decomposition process. Vermeer compost equipment is designed to process up to 4000 cubic yards (3058.2 cubic meters) of compost per hour depending on the type and size of the turner. Drum-style windrow turners feature a horizontal steel drum with flails that aerate the compost windrow.


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TahoeChamber receives awards
TahoeChamber executive staff recently received two awards at The Western Association of Chamber Executives in San Francisco.
The first award acknowledged the third annual Labor Day weekend festival Sample the Sierra, which is part of a geotourism initiative to enhance sustainable tourism and to increase year-round visitation by focusing on the destination's authentic assets, according to a press release.
The second award recognized TahoeChamber's work with TahoeFuture. For 20 years, the vocal minority has derailed environmental and economic revitalization efforts in the Basin. TahoeFuture.org was conceived as a way to shift this dynamic, by galvanizing a support base that wants to see economic and environmental gains implemented, the release stated.


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Shop RC Models is an e-shop for Radio Controlled Models and RC parts. With 30,000 product codes from all over the world, our target and purpose is to present you the largest RC Models catalog in Europe at the lowest prices.
Among our pages you will find electric and petrol powered model cars, aircrafts, helicopters and boats. You will also find all spare and optional parts for each model.
RC Modelling is our hobby and we will do our best to offer you anything you will need with the best possible service.
The Shop RC Models Team
Transmitting computer fully equipped, with exceptional performance. Successor of the established transmitting FF-9, now equipped with large LCD screen with backlight.
Operations center and the large high resolution display (160 x 72 dot), which guarantees good readability in all views. With the control keys, the key hotkey and 3-D graphics on the screen, the device can readily be programmed.
New high-precision stick control system with special trim Adjustable digital: no need for trimming or store trim values following the change of model in memory. The trim values in use are conveniently displayed on the LCD in the form of bar graphs.
The practical side hand lever allows the activation of additional functions while keeping your fingers on the stick control.
The transmitter is fully equipped: with 5 to 8 knobs and analog integrated circuit does not require any additional accessory. The controls and switches are associated with almost all functions.
Complete bundled software: includes all mixing and other functions are really necessary for model airplane and helicopter.
Several mixer free, even with a 5-point curves, allow you to achieve more complex mixtures.
This version is devoted entirely to the new 2.4 GHz FASST technology that does not accept other forms of frequencies.
In a 10-channel receiver works with the R608FS and R6014FS, but in the way it works with 7-channel receivers R6004FF, R606FS, R616FFM, R607FS, R617FS
The complete software is available in 6 languages: German, English, French, Italian, Spanish or Dutch.
Swashplate mixing H3 (1:1:1) integrated controls for CCPM rotor head type (140 °), H4X for rotations of 45 ° swashplate.
Already prepared for the battery power thanks to the integrated charging socket
Mechanical control stick prepared in universal mode, allowing the user to select and activate the same ones you like, from "gas right" to "gas left."
15 models in memory, expandable via CAMPac module:
CAMPac module 4k = 1 model
CAMPac module 16k = 4 models
CAMPac module 64k = 16 models
16x64k CAMPac module = 256 models
Counter hours of operation 0 ... 99h: 59 m
Digital display of supply voltage
"Mode" 1 ... 4 for the layout of the controls on sticks
Reversal of motor function (gas)
Copy the template into memory
System student - teacher with mixed use and transfer of individual functions
Adjusting the LCD contrast
Graphic display of the race of servants
Username (10 characters)
Digital trims
Model Features
Model name (10 characters)
3 separate timers, one of which is dependent on the model
Reverse Servo travel channels 1-8
Fail-safe (channels 1-8), only in PCM mode and FASST
Menu selection for mixing: model aircraft, motor gliders and helicopters
Setting of the servants of the race for channels 1-8 (ATV / EPA)
Set and store values of the excursion trim trim
The minimum trim with reverse (ATL)
Choice of control for channels 5 ... 10
Switching the type of modulation FM / PCM 1024
Centering the servos (channels 1-8)
Logik 3 function switches (switch and / or stick)
Basic functions
4x 3-point programmable mixers, with / without trim and offset mixing
4x 5-point programmable mixers, with / without trim and offset mixing (helicopter only 2x)
3 x reversal excursion command (D / R)
3 x exponential, exp (4x Acre)
Aircraft Motor (Acro)
Flaperon mixing with differentiation and regulation of separate limit
Flaperon trim (value Flaperon mixing)
Mixing 2: differentiation in the wing with 5 or 6 channel output
Brake Air Brake (with wing flaps function / brake)
Timon of depth -> Flaperon
Mixing of the tail plane to V (V-Tail)
Delta wing mixing (elevons)
Helms deep with separate aileron function (Alivator)
4 x Snap Roll (wing - directional - depth)
Preset gas (raising the minimum)
Speed adjustment for throttle servo
Adjusting the mixture with a 5-point curves and speed setting
Excluding gas
Adjustment of minimum 2
Menu control for the sensitivity of the gyroscope
Gliders (2 Serve)
Flaperon mixing with differentiation and regulation of separate limit
Flaperon trim (value Flaperon mixing)
Mixing 2: on wing with differential output channel 5 or 7
Mix ailerons and flaps for butterfly landing with adjustable curve 2 points for the beginning and the end of the compensation of offset and delay rudders for control of depth
Mixing with Offset Butterfly
Mixing flaps
Mixing aileron-flap
Mixing aileron-rudder
Mixing dell'impennaggio V (V-Tail)
Delta wing mixing (elevons)
-Trim menu for ailerons, flaps and depth with trim function
Timon of depth -> Flaperon
Engine shutdown
Gliders (4 Servants)
Mixing flaps / brakes -> aileron
Mixing 2. ailerons with differential output on channel 5 or 7
Mixing aileron and flap landing Butterfly with offset and delay for control of depth
Mixing with Offset Butterfly
Mixing flaps
Mixing aileron-flap
Mixing aileron-rudder
Timon of depth -> flap
Mixing dell'impennaggio V (V-Tail)
Flap -> aileron
Aileron -> flap
Trimm-menu for ailerons, flaps and depth with trimmer function
Engine shutdown
Command swashplate mode H1, H3,
Setting stroke swashplate (AFR - roll, pitch, pitch)
7-point throttle curve, normal, pre-gas 1, 2, 3 delayed
7-point pitch curve, normal, pre-gas 1, 2, 3, and auto image rotation
Curve Revo-Mix 5-point, normal, pre-gas 1, 2 and 3
Swashplate Mixing - Gas
Tail rotor mixing - Gases
Menu to adjust the sensitivity of the gyroscope, standard with 3 settings 0 ... 100% or
GY with 3 settings 0 ...+/- 100% (normal / AVCS), according to flight condition
Function menu setting for governor (speed regulator) as a function of flight condition
Trim the throttle and pitch for hovering (hovering)
Auto rotation with tail rotor offset
Mixing-trim offset for feature-set roll, pitch and tail with the tail set of the slowdown in H1 mode for Nick Roll
Adjusting the mixture with a 5-point curves for 3 phases of flight
1 2.4 GHz FASST transmitter TX 10CG
1 Receiver R6014FS 2.4 GHz (14 channels)
Battery and charger included Tx
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Copyright © 2011 Shop RC Models - All Rights Reserved


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|(a) Any employment, office, trade, profession or vocation carried on for profit or gain.
|(b) Any payment or provision of any other financial benefit (other than from the authority) made or provided within the relevant period in respect of any expenses incurred by me in carrying out duties as a Member, or towards my election expenses. This includes any payment or financial benefit from a trade union within the meaning of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992.
|(c) Any contract which is made between any of the above named persons (or a body in which any of the above named persons have a beneficial interest*) and the authority under which goods or services are to be provided or works are to be executed, and which has not been fully discharged.
|(d) Any beneficial interest in land which is within the area of the authority.
|Ekor, St Helens Avenue, Pocklington YO42 2JF
|(e) Any licence (alone or jointly with others) to occupy land in the area of the authority for a month or longer.
|(f) Any tenancy where (to my knowledge) the landlord is the authority and the tenant is a body in which any of the above named persons have a beneficial interest.
|(g) Any beneficial interest in securities of a body where that body (to my knowledge) has a place of business or land in the area of the authority; and either the total nominal value of the securities exceeds £25,000 or one hundredth of the total issued share capital of that body; or if the share capital of that body is of more than one class, the total nominal value of the shares of any one class in which any of the above named persons has a beneficial interest exceeds one hundredth of the total issued share capital of that class.
|(a) Bodies to which I am appointed or nominated by the authority (ie outside body appointments).
|Pocklington Arts Centre Management Team
|(b) Bodies exercising functions of a public nature of which I am a Member (including regional and local development agencies, other (parish) Councils, public health bodies, school governing bodies).
|(c) Bodies directed to charitable purposes of which I am a Member (including the Lions, the Masons, a Parochial Church Council; not just bodies registered with the Charity Commission).
|Trustee of the Gian Foundation
|(d) Bodies whose principal purposes include influence of public opinion or policy (including any political party or trade union) of which I am a Member.
|(e) Any voluntary work undertaken by me.
|Guide at York Minster
|(f) Any person from which I have received in my capacity as a Member a gift or hospitality that amounts to the value of at least £25 (NB, the requirement to complete this paragraph will depend upon the version of the Code of Conduct adopted by the relevant Council).
|(g) Any person employed by the authority who is a member of my family (NB, the requirement to complete this paragraph will depend upon the version of the Code of Conduct adopted by the relevant Council).
|(h) Any role as a trustee (NB, the requirement to complete this paragraph will depend upon the version of the Code of Conduct adopted by the relevant Council).
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Wikimedia Language engineering
The Wikimedia Foundation Language team is responsible for providing standards-based internationalization and localization tools support for Wikimedia sites on the Web and mobile platforms. The group is part of the Product department.
More about: Localization (L10n) and Internationalization (i18n)
The Wikimedia Foundation Language team has a combined working knowledge of more than 15 languages.
Abijeet Patro
Software Engineer
Amir E. Aharoni
José Pita
QA Engineer
Kartik Mistry
Software Engineer
Niklas Laxström
Senior Software Engineer
Pau Giner
Senior User Experience Designer & Product Manager
Runa Bhattacharjee
Language Engineering Manager
Santhosh Thottingal
Senior Software Engineer
Language coverage
- mediawiki-i18n Mailing list
- IRC - #mediawiki-i18n
- Team blog
- Monthly reports
- Office hours - (Logs)
More than 300 languages are provided with internationalization support at various levels across Wikimedia projects, of which the Wikipedias are the largest, with 289 languages. The tools created and maintained by the Language team are continually updated to increase the number of languages these tools cover. The goal of the team is to provide the same level of support for all languages and to provide translation tools.
- Content translation – The content translation tool is a computer-assisted translation (CAT) tool aimed at making the translation of Wikipedia articles easier and better. The tool targets users who know two or more languages, and will provide value for different kinds of users. For new users, the tool will provide a new way of contributing that is easier than creating a new page from scratch. For experienced editors, the tool will simplify the process of translating content. This extension is currently in development. Read more
- Universal Language Selector – Universal Language Selector (ULS) provides a flexible method of selecting and configuring a language to use in the user interface. It provides options to select fonts and input method. Languages can be searched using the ISO language code, with language names written in current user interface language or in its own script (autonym). Depending upon the user's location or the browser/operating system's language, the user interface language will be suggested. Cross-language searches – using any script – can also be done. Read more
- Translate – Translate extension is a feature-rich extension that lets users translate software strings and pages in their browser. For both software and page translation, it supports translation memory, statistics by group and language, advanced grammar support for multiple languages, and more.
- MediaWiki Language Extension Bundle – The MediaWiki Language Extension Bundle is a collection of selected MediaWiki extensions needed by any wiki that wants to be multilingual. It follows a monthly release cycle. Get the latest release. The following extensions are part of the bundle:
- Project Milkshake – Project Milkshake aims to make generic jQuery components for commonly needed internationalization feature components that have been developed for use through MediaWiki in Wikimedia projects. These include input methods, web-fonts, and grammatical rules for languages. For easy participation and wider adoption, the source-code repositories are hosted on GitHub and the components have been dual-licensed as GPL and MIT.
- jQuery.ime – More than 150 input methods in various languages are provided through jQuery.ime; many of these methods have been contributed by the Wikimedia community. See Demo.
- jQuery.i18n – This library provides internationalization elements to support grammatical rules for languages, including rules for plural forms and gender. See Prototype.
- jQuery.webfonts – jQuery.webfonts uses the WebFonts technology to allow usage of fonts from a font repository. This eliminates dependency on system fonts while viewing pages in those languages. Read more about webfonts
More details of how we maintain the different projects can be found in:
Follow our work
- Monthly reports
- What we're doing now (quarterly goals)
Why we're doing what we're doing:
Get involved
Readers, editors, translators
- Tell us about:
- text you can't view, and
- input methods that are not working well
- Write a new article using Content Translation
- Translate interface messages
- Write help documentation for input methods
- Report new bugs
- Fix some bugs
- Help write unit tests for input methods
- Make a possible i18n project come true
Contact us
- Join the i18n mailing list
- Talk to us on IRC at #mediawiki-i18n
- Follow our blog posts
- Participate in our office hour (announcements are sent before the event)
See also
- language-team on Gerrit
- Team meetings archive: 2011–2012, 2012–2013
- Quarterly review meetings: October 2015, July 2015, April 2015, January 2015, September 2014


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Public Company Information:
Schwab takes the lead to educate investors on the benefits of independent financial advice with new ad campaign.Tweet this
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Schwab Advisor Services today announced the launch of a national advertising campaign to advocate for independent financial advisors and raise awareness of the benefits of independent advice among high net worth investors. Underscoring Schwab's longstanding commitment to independent advisors, the creative campaign features Schwab advisor clients, positioned alongside the Charles Schwab brand. The integrated print and digital campaign was previewed today at Schwab's annual EXPLORE® conference and will debut nationwide tomorrow.
"The qualities investors seek in a financial advisor – trust, commitment and accountability – are fundamental to the independent advice model and are the same client-focused values on which Schwab was founded," said Bernie Clark, executive vice president and head of Schwab Advisor Services. "Schwab has supported independent advisors for decades, and as the industry moves to cultivate a new generation of investors, we are proud to take the lead in driving awareness directly with investors, helping them to understand the value of independence in the rapidly changing landscape for financial advice."
According to Schwab's latest Independent Advisor Outlook Study (IAOS) , the majority of independent advisors describe themselves as optimistic about RIA growth over the next five years (73%), yet they also expect competition in securing new assets (66%) and they see a need to differentiate their firm from competition as being greater than ever (65%).
National Advertising Campaign and New Independent Advisor Learning Center
Schwab partnered with The Richards Group to develop the creative concept. The campaign is based on insights from proprietary consumer research and advisor interviews. The ads themselves are informed by input from advisors who helped articulate the differentiators of independent investment advisors.
The campaign represents the most pronounced investment in a national marketing and advertising effort that Schwab has undertaken to date on behalf of independent advisors. The ads will be visible in numerous national print publications as well as large-scale digital media and video rotations, online media properties, social media and paid search channels. Media outlets include The Wall Street Journal, Barron's, Forbes, The Economist, CNNMoney, MarketWatch and Business Insider.
An important part of the campaign is the Independent Advisor Learning Center located online at www.FindYourIndependentAdvisor.com. The site expands upon the success of Schwab's RIA-focused marketing efforts to date (RIA Stands for You), functioning as a content hub where investors can learn more about independent advisors, with a mobile-enhanced directory feature allowing investors to find and connect directly with an independent advisor in their region.
"This campaign is, in part, an effort to break through the confusion that exists among many investors about the difference between traditional advice models and the independent financial advisor," said Susan Forman, senior vice president and head of marketing for Schwab Advisor Services. "We believe it is important to educate investors on the unique benefits of the independent model by showcasing real independent advisors against the backdrop of Schwab's trusted brand."
About Charles Schwab
At Charles Schwab we believe in the power of investing to help individuals create a better tomorrow. We have a history of challenging the status quo in our industry, innovating in ways that benefit investors and the advisors and employers who serve them, and championing our clients' goals with passion and integrity.
More information is available at www.aboutschwab.com. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn.
Through its operating subsidiaries, The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE:SCHW) provides a full range of securities brokerage, banking, money management and financial advisory services to individual investors and independent investment advisors. Its broker-dealer subsidiary, Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (member SIPC, www.sipc.org), and affiliates offer a complete range of investment services and products including an extensive selection of mutual funds; financial planning and investment advice; retirement plan and equity compensation plan services; compliance and trade monitoring solutions; referrals to independent fee-based investment advisors; and custodial, operational and trading support for independent, fee-based investment advisors through Schwab Advisor Services. Its banking subsidiary, Charles Schwab Bank (member FDIC and an Equal Housing Lender), provides banking and lending services and products. More information is available at www.schwab.com and www.aboutschwab.com.
Independent investment advisors are not owned by, affiliated with or supervised by Charles Schwab & Co. Inc. ("Schwab").
Schwab Advisor Services™ serves independent investment advisors and includes the custody, trading, and support of Schwab.
Schwab is not affiliated with The Richards Group, The Wall Street Journal, Barron's, Forbes, The Economist, CNNMoney, MarketWatch and Business Insider.
For informational purposes only.
Charles Schwab
Rob Farmer, 415-920-3816
The Neibart Group
Emily Serafin, 718-875-2122


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How to add users in Ubuntu
Ubuntu is a Linux-based operating system that uses the Debian model to distribute it as open-source software. The administrators for Ubuntu systems routinely manage user accounts, which primarily consist of creating new accounts, deleting accounts that are no longer needed and changing the privileges of existing accounts. Adding a new user account in Ubuntu is a simple task if you have superuser privileges, commonly known as root privileges. A single command will prompt you for the information needed to create the new user account. You'll then logon with the new user name and password to ensure the account is working properly.
|DIFFICULTY strong>
|Basic - 1 | Medium - 2 | Advanced - 3 td>
|TIME REQUIRED strong>
|5 min
|RELATED PRODUCTS strong>
|Linux-based VPS or dedicated servers
Here is a quick tutorial on how to how to add users in Ubuntu.
Create the new account
Enter the following command from a terminal window to create the new account:
The above command creates an account for the user testuser and uses sudo to ensure the command has the necessary root privileges.
The system will prompt you to enter the user's password and confirm it by entering the password again. You'll also be prompted for the user's name and phone numbers. The system will use default values for these fields if you press the Enter key without entering a value. Once you have entered the information correctly, press the "y" or Enter key to create the account.
Test the new account
Test the new account with the following command:
The above command uses the su command to change the current user account totestuser. The --login option makes the new shell a login shell, requiring you to provide the password. Enter the password for the testuser account when prompted.


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SAN LUIS OBISPO (AP) — A retired firefighter was sentenced Wednesday to two days in jail and three years of probation after pleading guilty to aiding his wife"s suicide at a state park in San Luis Obispo County last month.
George Taylor, 86, has already served the jail time after he revealed the couple had planned to kill themselves for years, according to the San Luis Obispo Tribune.
The retired firefighter was initially charged with murder, but San Luis Obispo County prosecutors reduced it to a count of aiding and abetting a suicide.
Taylor said it was his 81-year-old wife, Gewynn, who finally decided last December the time was right. He was arrested after her body was discovered in the back seat of his car by a ranger in Montana De Oro State Park on Dec. 10.
"We had a pact. A suicide pact," Taylor told the ranger, according to a sheriff"s report. He added that he and his wife were healthy but had been extremely depressed.
Taylor told the ranger he put a plastic bag over his wife"s head and cinched it around her neck, then slashed his wrists and neck and tried to suffocate himself, the sheriff"s report states. Despite the injuries, he survived.
Taylor"s attorney Ilan Funke-Bilu told The Associated Press that his client will no longer have to undergo court-ordered counseling, and he is not believed to be a threat to himself any longer.
"They were both just deep lovers," said Funke-Bilu, who cited extraordinary community support for the Taylors, who were a fixture at public meetings and well known in Los Osos.
"The courtrooms were always populated by supporters," he said. "They"ve been an integral part of the community for so many years and so well known that I think the judge realized what kind of person he is."


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Colorado weeds: Why it's time to attack them in September, and one volunteer who is
I ran into Bob Drage on Loveland's Boyd Lake bike path as I walked the Career Terrier Wednesday morning. He was just one reminder that September means it's high time to get after those bindweeds, dandelions, mallow, tumbleweeds, cheat grasses and thistles.
(Unless, of course, you're going to eat them. Then you should read this.)
Drage was removing one of the most hated, and feared, weeds in Colorado: Puncture vine, a.k.a. goat head (Tribulus terrestris, to botanists).


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Academic Resources
Campus Resources
University Resources
Information For
College of Business > Academics > Department of Marketing
The Department of Marketing provides students with the knowledge and skills required to strategically identify and develop products and services that meet customer needs. Courses are designed to prepare students for the rigors and ambiguity of marketing leadership in the contemporary global economy by providing a high degree of skill in analysis, conceptual ability, planning and control of market activity.
Customize your marketing major with electives based on your career interests, or choose from two main concentrations.
Choose from MBA concentrations and MS degrees in Marketing from the Kellstadt Graduate School of Business.
Students learn from a faculty of scholars and business leaders who bring the real world of marketing into the classroom. DePaul's robust internship program and career services provide an opportunity for students to apply what they've learned and forge career connections. For example, paid internships are available at companies like Pepsi, Red Bull and Anheuser-Busch for students that have taken the course MKT 380 - Science of Retailing.
Undergraduate and graduate students have opportunities to better understand the global economy through
DePaul's study abroad and international business seminars. A range of options are available, from marketing-focused programs lasting two to three weeks to term-long study in another country.


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By Rene Lynch |
Lisa Lillien considers the bowl of cocktail wieners simmered in a quick-fix barbecue sauce as if she were appraising a fine wine. First, she swirls -- to evaluate the richness. Then, she sniffs. Tasting a spoonful of the sauce, she ... Read more
Step 1Slice the fillet crosswise into thin strips about one-eighth inch thick. Set aside.
Step 2Spray a medium pan with nonstick spray and heat over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are slightly browned, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat to a small bowl and set aside.
Step 3Re-spritz the pan with nonstick spray. Cook the fillet strips over medium-high heat until browned on each side, 1 to 1 1/2 minutes on each side.
Step 4Break the cheese slice into small strips, place on top of the meat -- still in the pan -- and continue to cook until the cheese has melted slightly, less than 1 minute.
Step 5Remove from heat and mix the cheesy beef strips in with the mushrooms and onions. Serve in the lettuce "cups."
By Rene Lynch |
Lisa Lillien considers the bowl of cocktail wieners simmered in a quick-fix barbecue sauce as if she were appraising a fine wine.
First, she swirls -- to evaluate the richness. Then, she sniffs. Tasting a spoonful of the sauce, she nods approvingly. Then comes the moment of truth: She bites into a wiener. Wrinkles up her nose. And pronounces it awful.
"The sauce is incredible," she says. "But the dogs are rubbery."
Standing in the middle of her Woodland Hills test kitchen, wearing jeans and a hot-pink track suit jacket, Lillien, 43, might not look like she leads one of the most rabid, devoted and willing-to-spend-money armies out there.
That would be women on a diet.
But Lillien is the creator of Hungry Girl, that bouncy cartoon character that dispenses calorie-saving recipes, health and diet tips and tell-it-like-it-is product reviews in a daily e-mail blast. Lillien started in early 2004 with roughly 70 subscribers -- all of them friends and family. Today, there are more than 750,000 subscribers, and Hungry Girl is on track to have a million by year's end.
With the traffic has come success. Among the website's regular advertisers are Weight Watchers and Dreyer's light ice cream line. Her first book, "Hungry Girl: Recipes and Survival Strategies for Guilt-Free Eating in the Real World," came out last year and shipped more than 600,000 copies. Her straight talk about calories helped drive her second book "Hungry Girl: 200 under 200" -- 200 recipes that clock in at less than 200 calories per serving -- to the No. 1 spot on the New York Times' bestseller list earlier this year. "There is no case of 'second-book-itis' here," said Matthew Shear, senior vice president and publisher of St. Martin's Press. "The second book is selling slightly better than the first."
She has two more books on the horizon, a TV project in the works and an endorsement deal with General Mills' FiberOne line. (They inked a deal after learning that Hungry Girl pulverizes the cereal and uses it to add crunch to seemingly everything, whether the coating on faux-fried chicken dishes or the crust on low-cal cheesecakes.)
All told, Hungry Girl is a business that makes well over $2 million a year.
Lillien has been brainstorming with personal advisors who want her to seize this critical moment. They'd like to see her relinquish the time-consuming, hands-on control of the daily e-mail that is at the heart of her empire and instead focus on money makers such as subscription-fee-based diet plans, or expanding the advertising base.
Instead, Lillien has another plan: Taking on nutrition labels.
She wants the Food and Drug Administration to crack down on packaging that misstates -- or, more likely, understates -- the number of calories and nutrients contained within. She also wants labels to more accurately reflect the calories in real-life serving sizes, something likely to shock consumers.
Lillien recently told readers -- mainly women but also some men -- she plans to take food items to a lab for analysis to see how their calorie counts compare with the labels. She asked them to recommend products for scrutiny. Within a few hours, she says she had 400.
"People really want this information," Lillien says. "And I'm like their crazy friend who will actually go and figure this out."
Lillien's e-mail blasts are wrapped in a sherbet-meets-Miami color scheme and a peppy, punny, OMG-writing style punctuated by lots of CAPS and exclamation points.
It's a carefree, bestest girlfriend style that she honed over a career that began with the Long Island native's first job out of college: editor in chief for Tutti Frutti, a Tiger Beat kind of teen celebrity magazine. She later moved into TV, working as executive producer for TV Land Online and director of convergence development at Nickelodeon Online.
Alongside her career successes, Lillien found herself constantly struggling with an extra 20 or so pounds. Then, in 2002, "I just said 'Enough!' " She lost the weight by walking on her treadmill, cleaning up her diet and taking a long, hard look at trigger foods -- like potato chips -- that always seemed to send her diet into a tailspin. She also played mad scientist in the kitchen, concocting low-cal snacks and substitutes for foods that always gave her trouble.
When she began sharing her results with family and friends, they demanded more.
"I knew I was on to something," she says.
She decided to quit her job and see if she could turn Hungry Girl into a business. "I told my husband, 'If after a year, this is just an expensive hobby, I will go back to work.' " (Her husband, Dan Schneider, created and executive produces the 2-year-old Nickelodeon hit "iCarly," and the couple live in Encino.)
Hungry Girl quickly built a following. "We've never spent one penny to advertise it," says Lillien, who adds that she chose an e-mail blast because she wanted people to want it, to sign up for it, to pass it along -- not just trip over it on the Internet. As the subscribers grew, so did Lillien's staff. She now has nine employees, including a graphic designer, recipe developers and researchers. But the essence is still Hungry Girl.
"She really brings humor to it, and you can totally relate to her," says Danica Pike of Fairfield, Calif., who has been a Hungry Girl subscriber for more than four years and appreciates Lillien's easy recipes and honest reviews. "She's not like other diet blogs that will just plug any product."
With Americans reportedly spending well over $35 billion a year on weight-loss products, the niche world of low-calorie snack foods clamors for Lillien's stamp of approval. A flood of new products arrives on her doorstep each week in the hopes of getting an e-mail shout-out.
Lillien's clout comes from a personal code of ethics. She does not accept payment in exchange for a review or mention in her daily e-mail. And she recommends or accepts advertising dollars only from products she personally uses.
But if she endorses your product, well . . . let Keith Belling tell it.
Belling, co-founder and chief executive of PopChips -- a baked alternative to fried potato chips -- sat down at his desk one morning to find his in-box jampacked with product requests.
"I'm like, 'What is going on here?' It was Hungry Girl." And a rave review. Belling said he used the e-mails to better gauge the potential audience for PopChips and called or contacted nearly everyone who wrote. He said he was struck by their diversity. Young. Old. Professionals. College students. Kids in high school. Stay-at-homes.
Belling would not discuss how the Hungry Girl stamp of approval has affected sales, but he said the endorsement is "priceless" because a traditional ad campaign could never reach such a swath.
Lillien, who looks disconcertingly like her cartoon image sprung to life, including the feline-green eyes, gleaming white teeth and swing-y brown locks, is curled up in a chair in her Hungry Girl office. It's really the master bedroom suite of a rental unit in a posh apartment complex. Lillien set up shop in the unusual digs because of a floor-to-ceiling pantry for storing those products that keep arriving, and a spacious kitchen that lends itself to recipe testing.
Critics say that her recipes may be low-cal, but that doesn't mean they are healthful. Wrote one online commenter: "I am not a fan of Hungry Girl. She advocates processed foods in landfill-filling single serving packages, Splenda, cooking spray instead of olive oil etc. It's the same dieting nonsense that has made the U.S. fatter each year. . . ."
Lillien argues that her critics are missing the point. She says Hungry Girl subscribers are well-versed about nutrition -- they don't need to be lectured. Instead, they're looking for low-calorie ways to scratch a snack itch without blowing their diets.
Others applaud such a balanced approach: "Of course, the best diet is whole foods, fresh fruits and vegetables, and grains, but this can help people who have cravings stay on track," says Angela Ginn-Meadow, a spokeswoman and nutritionist with the American Dietetic Assn.
Lillien's reaction is the same to both the criticism and the lobbying of those who push her to expand Hungry Girl in new directions.
The way she sees it, her credibility, her voice is all she has.
And if she were to nibble away at that -- by handing the e-mails over to someone else, or taking advertising dollars for products she wouldn't use, or putting her name on a fee-based diet plan -- she'd run the risk of turning off her friends, which is how she sees her followers.
"People would see right through that," she says. "That would water down the power of the brand."
She added: "[Advisors] keep telling me, 'One day you'll need to decide what you really want to focus on.' But they don't understand that that's exactly what I'm doing."