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Teen Choice Worst Dressed: Ashley Greene
Personal feelings aside, she needs a proper stylist. There's no reason a girl this pretty with a body this tight is so often so poorly dressed on a carpet. Or does she just, like, have genetically bad taste... in the same way Jessica Simpson has genetically bad taste?
How is this ensemble flattering?
It makes her look wide when she isn't wide. It makes her look short torsoed when she's perfectly proportioned. It makes her legs stumpy when they are not. What a terrible disservice to a famewhore who busts her ass making sure the paps get her at the gym every day, only to showcase that ass in the sh-ttiest way possible. It's so sad I can't even be happy about it.
Ashley presented at the Teen Choice Awards with her Twilight co-star and "scene stealer" (this is the name of the award they both won which, I mean, there really isn't enough energy) Jerry Curl Kellan Lutz who, amazingly, couldn't find a reason to take his shirt off onstage, though I'm sure he begged and begged the producers like the new Matthew McConaughey.
Photos from Wenn.com and Kevin Winter/Gettyimages.com


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ESPN homes in on 12-year BCS package
Editor's note: This story is revised from the print edition.
ESPN is close to securing media rights for the entire college football playoff system, with industry sources pegging the new 12-year BCS package at $500 million a year.
That means ESPN would own college football's postseason for a total of $7.3 billion over 12 years, beginning with the 2014 season. That figure, which averages to around $608 million per year, takes into account the $215 million annual payout ESPN has committed to the "contract" bowls — the Rose presented by Vizio, Champions and Discover Orange — in addition to the playoff package.
While a formal announcement could come at some point this month, industry sources cautioned that the two sides still have some contract details to hammer out. Sources say the TV committee, made up of five commissioners, must ultimately approve the deal before it becomes official. A final version of the contract has not yet gone before the TV committee.
However, sources say ESPN and the BCS commissioners have reached a broad agreement that will keep the games on ESPN, which still has two seasons left on its current deal.
Four years ago, ESPN surprised the sports business with a daring $495 million deal for BCS rights over four years. The deal was far higher than the incumbent Fox was willing to pay and convinced the BCS to bring its five games per season from broadcast to cable for an average of $125 million a year.
This year, it appears ESPN is not willing to test the BCS's strength on the open market. The two sides are still working inside an exclusive negotiating window, which opened Oct. 1. Many rights holders like to wait out the exclusive period, believing that they will see bigger rights fees once their rights hit the open market. In the case of the BCS, Fox was waiting to kick the tires. NBC and Turner also were rumored to show interest in the package. But ESPN long has been considered the front-runner to secure the rights to the new playoff. The only question was whether ESPN might share those rights with another network.
It's not an uncommon arrangement these days. ESPN has joint media rights agreements with Fox for the Pac-12 and the Big 12, while CBS and Turner Sports share the rights to the NCAA men's basketball tournament.
But as the negotiations between the BCS and ESPN have progressed, it's become clear that ESPN plans to keep the rights to the playoffs for itself.
With a total package of BCS bowl games, including the playoffs, going for $608 million annually, the BCS's rights fee will approach the money the NCAA makes for March Madness. The NCAA's package with CBS and Turner pays an average of $771 million annually over 14 years.
In total, the BCS package includes 12 national championship games and 24 semifinal games within the new college football four-team playoff that begins with the 2014 season, as well as the rights to three "access" bowls that will be in the BCS mix: likely the Tostitos Fiesta, Chick-fil-A and AT&T Cotton. The BCS has not finalized the lineup of access bowls.
There have been reports that a seventh bowl could be added to the package to grant access to the BCS for the five non-power conferences — the Big East, Mid-American, Mountain West, Conference USA and Sun Belt — but sources say the BCS will stick with its original plan of six games.
One "contract" bowl, the Champions Bowl (a matchup of SEC and Big 12 teams), will become the Allstate Sugar Bowl, which won the bidding for the game last week.
Back in the summer, ESPN negotiated separate deals for the Rose and Champions (now Sugar) bowls, at $80 million annually apiece. ESPN's deal for the Orange Bowl will pay $55 million a year.
The Big Ten and the Pac-12 share the revenue for the Rose Bowl, while the SEC and Big 12 share the Sugar Bowl money. The ACC and its opponent will split the Orange Bowl revenue.
When those games are plugged in as semifinals for the playoff, that money will be distributed to all of the FBS conferences through the BCS.
One of the complications in the talks between ESPN and the BCS has been the structure of the playoffs. The BCS still has not announced how often the Rose and Sugar bowls will be included in the four-team playoff and how often those games will remain separate from the playoff.

subset: commoncrawl


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I wasn't going to do a Beauty in the Movies this week, what with Thanksgiving and my turkey hangover and all, but I decided I would just keep it light and simple instead. A friend recently told me he watches 30 Rock each night before bed because it makes him happy, so I gave it a try myself and I have to say, laughing before sleeping is a great idea.
If you haven't had the chance to fall in love with 30 Rock yet, do yourself a favor and watch it streaming on Netflix or borrow the DVDs from someone, because this show is best watched in bulk, 21 minutes is never enough. 30 Rock follows Liz Lemon, head writer of sketch comedy show TGS (The Girlie Show) and her life behind the scenes as she tries to keep things together on and off set. 30 Rock is a character driven comedy, and the more you know about these people the funnier they are, which also means you can watch each episode several times and keep finding new things to laugh at.
In her day-to-day life, lonely lady Liz Lemon must balance her controlling (but needy) boss, Vice President of East Coast Television and Microwave Oven Programming, Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin), her self-centered (also needy) friend and star of TGS Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski) and the other (bigger) star of TGS Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan), who also happens to be incredibly needy and mostly insane too. Liz often turns to Kenneth, the morally perfect, endearingly dense NBC page, (Jack McBrayer) to help quell the madness in the studio.
As she tries to please everyone, and stay in the good graces of her lazy apathetic staff of writers, Liz also attempts to have a love life and often finds herself eating dozens of doughnuts alone in her apartment as her biological clock ticks away. Liz has been known to steal baby shoes, hallucinate Oprah, and eat a $54 dollar steak in under three minutes. In many ways Liz Lemon is a modern incarnation of Mary Tyler Moore, a single career-gal in the big city surrounded by crazy characters that constantly keep her on her toes.
30 Rock is pretty darn perfect, the one part that can get a bit trying is the way Tina Fey's attractiveness is downplayed. It's kind of like Rachel Leigh Cook in She's All That, put some glasses on her and viola, she looks like a troll—oh no wait, she just looks like a pretty girl in glasses. Obviously nothing about the show is meant to be taken all that seriously, and Tina Fey has become something of a sex symbol, so I certainly hope there isn't anyone at home who believes Liz is as unattractive as the show pretends. It does make you wonder what would happen if the character had been played by an actress who wasn't conventionally attractive, suddenly those jokes would be less funny and more cruel. Calling beautiful women ugly and making jokes about their bodily functions are both SNL trademarks so it's no surprise that as a former head writer for that show some of those jokes have found their way on to 30 Rock, but unlike SNL this show has a lot more going for it than toilet humor.
Tina Fey recently received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor and all you have to do is watch a few episodes of 30 Rock to understand why. The woman has the talent and smarts to write comedy that appeals to everyone, it's too bad there aren't more comedians like her. Luckily for us 30 Rock has been renewed for a sixth season, and since the show seems to get better with each episode, that's definitely something to look forward to.
Alright, now you can go eat your leftovers, and have a great weekend!
30 Rock: Liz Lemon by justinez featuring striped scarves
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Bottled Up Designs Pink Depression Glass Square Pendant
Brand: bottled Up designs
See more: Jewlery
Beautiful and highly collected antique pink depression glass! This glass was made in great quantities during the 1930's and 1940's, now known simply as depression glass. Once broken, these lovely treasures were tossed into dumps in the woods where they remain a hazard to the environment and wildlife. I have removed these little pieces of history to hand-cut them to a 1" square, and hang them on a 1/2" sterling hoop. They hang from your choice in length 2mm sterling snake chain.
Includes "The Story of the Glass" detailing for you what the glass was originally, and the age.


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Quebec police: 3 confirmed dead in oil train derailment
- About 30 buildings were destroyed after tanker cars laden with oil caught fire
- Several people were reported missing
- The cause of the derailment was not immediately known
LAC-MEGANTIC, Quebec (AP) - Two more bodies were discovered overnight after a runaway train carrying crude oil derailed in eastern Quebec, igniting explosions and fires that destroyed a town's downtown center. The confirmed death toll is now three, and is expected to rise.
Fires were preventing rescuers from reaching part of the 73-car train, and billowing black smoke could still be seen long after it derailed. The eruptions early Saturday morning sent residents of Lac-Megantic scrambling through the streets under the intense heat of towering fireballs and a red glow that illuminated the night sky. A fire chief likened the charred scene to a war zone.
Quebec provincial police Lt. Michel Brunet said Sunday there are more dead among the missing. Police have refused to give any estimate of people unaccounted for because police were having difficulty getting a fixed number.
"We know there will be more deaths," Brunet said.
The multiple blasts came over a span of several hours in the town of 6,000, which is about 155 miles east of Montreal and about 10 miles west of the Maine border. About 30 buildings were destroyed after tanker cars laden with oil caught fire.
The derailment caused several tanker rail cars to explode in the downtown, a popular area packed with bars that often bustles on summer weekend nights. Police said the first explosion tore through the town shortly after 1 a.m. local time. The fire then spread to several homes.
Brunet said he couldn't say where the bodies were found exactly because the families have not been notified.
The head of the train's operator, Rail World Inc., said the train was parked uphill of the community, but it's believed the brakes were properly applied.
Myrian Marotte, a spokeswoman for the Canadian Red Cross in Lac-Megantic, said Sunday there are about 2,000 evacuees and said 163 stayed at their operations center overnight.
"There are those are still looking for loved ones," Marotte said.
Marotte said many of the evacuees are staying with family and friends. "Some people have lost everything," she said.
Lines of tall trees in the area looked like giant standing matchsticks, blackened from bottom to tip. Witnesses said the eruptions sent many shook residents out of their slumber and sent them darting through the streets.
Patrons gathered by a nearby bar were sent running for their lives after the thunderous crash and wall of fire blazed through the early morning sky.
Firefighters and rescue workers from several neighboring municipalities, including Sherbrooke and Saint-Georges-de-Beauce, were called in to help deal with the disaster. Firefighters from northern Maine were also deployed to the Quebec town, according to a spokesman at the sheriff's office in Franklin County.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced he is heading to the town Sunday.
The train, reportedly heading toward Maine, belongs to Montreal Maine & Atlantic. According to the railroad's website, the company owns more than 500 miles of track serving Maine, Vermont, Quebec and New Brunswick.
Last week a train carrying petroleum products derailed in Calgary, Alberta, when a flood-damaged bridge sagged toward the still-swollen Bow River. The derailed rail cars were removed without spilling their cargo.
The Quebec accident was likely to have an impact across the border. In Maine, environmentalists and state officials had previously raised concerns about the threat of an accident and a spill from railroad tank cars carrying crude oil across the state.
The Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway carried nearly 3 million barrels of oil across Maine last year. Each tank car holds some 30,000 gallons of oil.
The Maine Department of Environmental Protection has begun developing protection plans for the areas where the trains travel, spokeswoman Samantha Warren said recently.


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1981 -- Los Angeles
The first sign that I was infected with human papilloma virus (HPV). I discovered several little bumps on my anus that turned out to be warts or anal chondyloma caused by HPV, a sexually transmitted infection. I had them removed with acid, which wasn't the most pleasant experience I've had. But then those were the days before HIV, when any "venereal disease" was easily treated and dealt with. It was really no biggie, and the implications of what HPV could do were really not on anybody's radar at the time.
1988 -- Oklahoma City
My HIV diagnosis. It was obviously a turbulent time when HIV was hitting the Midwest hard. I was tested for HIV in the only anonymous clinic in OKC. I had no apparent symptoms and there were no further issues with anal warts at that time. But alas, I found out I was HIV-positive. I immediately sprang into action to fight this new and terrible disease by moving to the West coast, the center of the epidemic.
1998 -- San Francisco
Studying HPV. Ten years after learning my HIV diagnosis I entered a clinical trial studying the (HPV) natural history in gay men. At the time many of my buddies entered the study, wanting to further the research. We also were afraid of anal cancer -- which is caused by HPV -- and this study offered us examinations and diagnosis, and for the first time a better understanding of what might be happening "down there". My buddies and I had been at death's door with HIV, and now we were willing to be a part of anal cancer research. We knew we were at risk for HPV infection and wanted to be as aggressive as we had been with treating HIV. What we didn't realize is that even in 2008 there would be little medical consensus on diagnosis, monitoring or treatment for anal HPV. I continued to be followed in the study until I left the Bay Area for the Windy City.
2000 -- Chicago
I came to the Midwest with two diagnoses: AIDS and high grade anal dysplasia. But since leaving the HPV study in San Francisco, I had no concrete plan for follow up for monitoring or treatment. In Chicago my doctors never seemed that concerned, even when I showed them the pathology reports from the study. Despite the fact that there were no symptoms and no apparent progression, I remained confused and puzzled on how to deal with my situation, like the early days of HIV.
2001 -- San Francisco
Cross country HPV follow-up. I visited the Bay Area, and went back to the UCSF anal dysplasia clinic for monitoring. My HPV had not progressed but there was "concern" from the clinic as to who would follow my HPV progression back in Chicago.
2003-2007 -- Chicago
The first signs of cancer. I eventually was referred to a colo-rectal surgeon in Chicago for follow up. He was concerned but unsure about my case. We decided to continue monitoring my ever-changing HPV. Eventually in 2007, a biopsy taken during a routine colonoscopy presented me with a new daunting diagnosis -- anal carcinoma in situ -- which is sort of like a pre-cancer. Once again, I was left with the decision as to how to handle my situation. Surgery or chemotherapy? Wait and see? Or just follow-up in three months? No one could agree.
2008 -- New York City
The big "C" -- cancer. Frustrated, I found my way to the East coast where I begged for another opinion from an expert East coast butt doc who specialized in HPV. I had conducted considerable research in finding him. After a dozen biopsies that left my anus a battlefield, I received a full-blown "superficial" anal cancer diagnosis, in only one of the 12 biopsies. I knew it wasn't something like pancreas or lung cancer, but the fear was still pervasive. HPV had progressed to cancer despite all my efforts to deal with it for the past 10 years. Now I was faced with chemotherapy and radiation, certainly a big blow.
2008 -- Chicago
A second opinion. I wasn't sure I needed chemotherapy and radiation since I had very early stage cancer, and a lot of other high grade lesions. Horror stories of being hospitalized due to chemo were enough to make me delve deeper into other options. So the next few weeks got even more confusing. I made phone calls, more appointments and had conversations with doctors back at UCSF, in NYC and in Chicago. I joined anal cancer list serves and spoke to several friends I knew who had been through treatment. There seemed to be no consensus on what to do with me. After all the back and forth I found my way to another colorectal surgeon at Northwestern. I finally decided to have the lesion removed through an out-patient surgical intervention that would be a better option than the toxic chemotherapy and radiation. But the surgery was no cake-walk despite the fact that it was a 15-minute procedure. I was sore for weeks.
2008 and Beyond
What the future brings. As a "patient" I'm not sure being more aware of HPV has been a good thing, especially a disease where the care is sketchy and treatment indefinite. My own HIV advocacy was a totally different story, as I wouldn't be alive today had it not been for all the HIV drugs that I fought for. But with HPV, while I thought I was being proactive, the field of diagnosing and treating is all rather new. In fact, the researchers doing the HPV study at UCSF, Joel Palefsky and his colleagues, are pioneers in the field. It turns out I actually was lucky that I found out about my anal cancer before it was too late.
Over the years that I have dealt with HPV I learned that there is a lot of professional controversy over the best way to diagnose and treat, much to the detriment of people who don't find out until it's too late, or they have to cope through the confusion with less information than I had. I learned that the doctors doing HPV research appear to be more assertive, for good reasons, and some HIV doctors more passive. I knew through anecdotes from clients that some primary care doctors won't even take a look "down there" because "we don't know what to do with HPV." Or they'll prescribe treatments that are painful and not effective. Clearly, much more research needs to be done in this field. And the doctors need to agree to disagree and develop a standard of care for HPV disease for the sake of the patient.
Bottom line is that no matter what your doctor says, demand an anal pap smear. And if they look at you like you told them the world is flat, demand to see someone who will check your butt out. And remember, since we all have anuses and most of us are sexually active, both men and women should be checked.
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ATI Radeon HD 4890 vs. NVIDIA GeForce GTX 275by Anand Lal Shimpi & Derek Wilson on April 2, 2009 12:00 AM EST
- Posted in
- GPUs
I'm not really sure why we have NDAs on these products anymore. Before we even got our Radeon HD 4890, before we were even briefed on it, NVIDIA contacted us and told us that if we were working on a review to wait. NVIDIA wanted to send us something special.
Then in the middle of our Radeon HD 4890 briefing what do we see but a reference to a GeForce GTX 275 in the slides. We hadn't even laid hands on the 275, but AMD knew what it was and where it was going to be priced.
If you asked NVIDIA what the Radeon HD 4890 was, you'd probably hear something like "an overclocked 4870". If you asked AMD what the GeForce GTX 275 was, you'd probably get "half of a GTX 295".
The truth of the matter is that neither one of these cards is particularly new, they are both a balance of processors, memory, and clock speeds at a new price point.
As the prices on the cards that already offered a very good value fell, higher end and dual GPU cards remained priced significantly higher. This created a gap in pricing between about $190 and $300. AMD and NVIDIA saw this as an opportunity to release cards that fell within this spectrum, and they are battling intensely over price. Both companies withheld final pricing information until the very last minute. In fact, when I started writing this intro (Wednesday morning) I still had no idea what the prices for these parts would actually be.
Now we know that both the Radeon HD 4890 and the GeForce GTX 275 will be priced at $250. This has historically been a pricing sweet spot, offering a very good balance of performance and cost before we start to see hugely diminishing returns on our investments. What we hope for here is a significant performance bump from the GTX 260 core 216 and Radeon HD 4870 1GB class of performance. We'll wait till we get to the benchmarks to reveal if that's what we actually get and whether we should just stick with what's good enough.
At a high level, here's what we're looking at:
|GTX 260 Core 216
|Stream Processors
|Texture Address / Filtering
|80 / 80
|80 / 80
|64 / 64
|Core Clock
|Shader Clock
|Memory Clock
|Memory Bus Width
|Frame Buffer
|Transistor Count
|Manufacturing Process
|TSMC 55nm
|TSMC 55nm
|TSMC 65nm
|TSMC 55nm
|Price Point
|ATI Radeon HD 4890
|ATI Radeon HD 4870
|ATI Radeon HD 4850
|Stream Processors
|Texture Units
|Core Clock
|Memory Clock
|975MHz (3900MHz data rate) GDDR5
|900MHz (3600MHz data rate) GDDR5
|993MHz (1986MHz data rate) GDDR3
|Memory Bus Width
|Frame Buffer
|Transistor Count
|Manufacturing Process
|TSMC 55nm
|TSMC 55nm
|TSMC 55nm
|Price Point
We suspect that this will be quite an interesting battle and we might have some surprises on our hands. NVIDIA has been talking about their new drivers which will be released to the public early Thursday morning. These new drivers offer some performance improvements across the board as well as some cool new features. Because it's been a while since we talked about it, we will also explore PhysX and CUDA in a bit more depth than we usually do in GPU reviews.
We do want to bring up availability. This will be a hard launch for AMD but not for NVIDIA (though some European retailers should have the GTX 275 on sale this week). As for AMD, we've seen plenty of retail samples from AMD partners and we expect good availability starting today. If this ends up not being the case, we will certainly update the article to reflect that later. NVIDIA won't have availability until the middle of the month (we are hearing April 14th).
NVIDIA hasn't been hitting their launches as hard lately, and we've gotten on them about that in past reviews. This time, we're not going to be as hard on them for it. The fact of the matter is that they've got a competitive part coming out in a time frame that is very near the launch of an AMD part at the same price point. We are very interested in not getting back to the "old days" where we had paper launched parts that only ended up being seen in the pages of hardware review sites, but we certainly understand the need for companies to get their side of the story out there when launches are sufficiently close to one another. And we're certainly not going to fault anyone for that. Not being available for purchase is it's own problem.
From the summer of 2008 to today we've seen one of most heated and exciting battles in the history of the GPU. NVIDIA and AMD have been pushing back and forth with differing features, good baseline performance with strengths in different areas, and incredible pricing battles in the most popular market segments. While AMD and NVIDIA fight with all their strength to win customers, the real beneficiary has consistently been the end user. And we certainly feel this launch is no exception. If you've got $250 to spend on graphics and were wondering whether you should save up for the GTX 285 or save money and grab a sub-$200 part, your worries are over. There is now a card for you. And it is good.
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SiliconDoc - Friday, April 24, 2009 - linkI agree but you'll never get that here since ati gets stomped in fs9 and fsx even more.
This is red rooster ragers central - at the reviewer level for now.
Put in the acelleration pack, and go for nvidia - the GT200 chips do well in FS9 - and dual is out for FSX so....
A teenage friend just got a 9800GTX (evga egg) and is running ddr800 2 gigs with a 3.0 P4 HT, on a G35 Asrock and gets 25-30 fps in FSX on a 22" flat Acer with everything cranked.
He oc'ed the cpu to 3.4 and pulled like 5 more frames per.
That's what he wanted, very playable on ultra - on his former 8600GTS he couldn't even give it a go for fsx.
However, moving up from 8800 I'm not certain what the gain is specifically. I've seen one or two reviews on HardOcp for fsx with a few cards. Try them. Reply
8KCABrett - Friday, May 8, 2009 - linkWell, now that I've picked up a GTX 285SC, I've done some rudimentary benchmark comparisons between it and my 8800GTS in FSX and IL-2. I will add BlackShark results soon as well.
http://www.txsquadron.com/forum/index.php?topic=26...">http://www.txsquadron.com/forum/index.php?topic=26... Reply
SiliconDoc - Monday, June 22, 2009 - linkVery interesting, and not a great increase - Tom's lists FSX benchies in most of his card charts - the 9800GTX+ is way up there(3rd I believe), as are some of the 8800 series.
It's weird.
The old HD2900 (pro even) does well with a good overclock - even the strange saphhire version which was 256 bit with 320 shaders - on a 25% oc it makes FSX quite playable. ( another friend on an E4500 w 4gigs/800).
I saw the ati1950XTX at hard does pretty well - well the 1950GT does NOT.
That 8800 chip is still - well, if not the best, still darn close. Reply
lk7900 - Monday, April 27, 2009 - link
Can you please die? Prefearbly by getting crushed to death, or by getting your face cut to shreds with a
I hope that you get curb-stomped, f ucking retard
Shut the *beep* up f aggot, before you get your face bashed in and cut
to ribbons, and your throat slit.
I wish you a truly painful, bloody, gory, and agonizing death, *beep* Reply
lk7900 - Monday, April 27, 2009 - linkhttp://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3539...">http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3539... Reply
asq - Monday, April 13, 2009 - linkMy friend working for Anandtech and told me that ATI paying for articles good for them and in disadvantageous to Nvidia..what we can clearly see in that article.. Reply
lk7900 - Monday, April 27, 2009 - linkDie of aids moron. Reply
SiliconDoc - Friday, April 24, 2009 - linkAhh, yeah well people have to get paid.
It's nice to see the reaction there from the red rooster though, huh - cheering it on while he spews his brainwashed communist-like hatred of nvidia.
It's amazing.
Good for you noticing, though. Reply
joeysfb - Tuesday, April 28, 2009 - linkI don't hate Nvidia. I own 5 nvidia cards and 1 ati card. I m buying what gives me the best value. To me, its ATI for now. I think AnandTech did a good job reporting on matter the happens behind the scene. They just report it and it up to individual to form their own thoughts.
You obviously only buy Nvidia which is good... no fuss on deciding on what to get next!! hahaha.... Reply
SiliconDoc - Monday, June 22, 2009 - linkWell incorrect entirely. They didn't do a good job reporting on behind the scenes, because they left out the ATI prodding and payment parts.
Furthermore, ati is still in a world of hurt losing billions in consecutive years.
If you were to be HONEST about things, if all the people here were to be, the truth would be: " WHERE THE HECK WAS ATI FOR SO LONG ? !! THEY'VE ALWAYS BEEN AROUND, BUT NVIDIA SPANKED THEM FOR SO LONG, WE HATE NVIDIA FOR BEING TOP DOG AND TOP PRICED - BUT IT'S REALLY ATI'S FAULT, WHO ENTIRELY BLEW IT FOR SO LONG.."
See, that's what really happened. ATI fell off the gaming fps wagon, and only recently got their act back together. They shouldn't be praised, they should be insulted for blowing competition for so long.
If you're going to praise them, praise them for losing 33% on every card they sell, in order to have that 5-10 dollar pricepoint advantage, because if ati were to JUST BREAK EVEN, they'ed have to raise all their gaming cards prices about $75 EACH.
So they're losing a billion a year... by destroying themselves.
Nvidia has made a profit all along, however. I think the last quarter they had a tiny downturn - while ati was still bleeding to death.
PRAY that Obama and crew has given or will give ati a couple billion in everyone else's tax money and inflation for everyone printed out of thin air dollars, to save them. You better so, or for a multi-billion dollar sugar daddy corporateer. Reply


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When Collins, a young boy in Kenya, joined the Hope for a Family sponsorship program, his mother Roseline embraced the CFCA mothers group and took steps to transform her family's life.
"In our group we share ideas on business ventures and we also encourage each other on personal matters. Ö Our slogan is 'Jikaze,' which means 'do not give up,'" Roseline said.
Through the Hope for a Family sponsorship program, CFCA offers opportunities for families to achieve economic self-sufficiency through mothers groups and other activities.
Roseline is the secretary for her mothers group. She takes the minutes at each meeting and is also the signatory.
Through the mothers group, Roseline has been able to start her own business, something that would not have been possible without the loan she received from her mothers group last September.
Roseline used the loan to purchase 23 tins of millet, which is a type of grain grown widely around the world for cereal. Roseline re-sells the millet to earn additional income for her family.
She has since opened a bank account to save the profits she earns because she is planning to expand her business in the future.
"I would like to encourage my fellow mothers to work hard and make use of the help that CFCA gives them through the CFCA support groups," Roseline said. "My wish is to see my children succeed in life and help the needy in society."


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Wiggins Shuts Down Attacks from all Sides to Extend Lead in 2014 Amgen Tour of California with Two Days Left to Race
Published on May 16, 2014
Esteban Chavez Climbs to a Solo Victory atop Mountain High in Race's Second Summit Finish
Final Weekend of Racing Begins Tomorrow with Stage 7 from Santa Clarita to Pasadena
WRIGHTWOOD, Calif. – With just two days left in the 2014 Amgen Tour of California, today's 94.4-mile stage from Santa Clarita to Mountain High had all the makings of an epic showdown, with riders in contention for the overall win doing anything in their power to make up valuable seconds in hopes of overtaking the race leader before Sunday's finale. But, as he crossed the summit finish today, Team Sky's Bradley Wiggins(GBR) had strengthened the lead he has held since Monday by another two seconds.
"This is a fantastic win for me and my teammates," Chaves said. "I did not think it was possible [to win] until the final 2 kilometers. This is a special win for me to defeat guys like Tom Danielson and finish ahead of Wiggins. This is a dream come true."
Mountain High is a first-time Amgen Tour of California Host City, and Stage 6 presented by Crunchies Natural Snacks included the second mountaintop finish of 2014. ORICA-GreenEDGE's Esteban Chaves (COL) rode to an impressive solo stage win after joining an early breakaway of six and pulling away from the remaining three riders on the slopes of Mountain High with about three miles left to ride. Joining 24-year-old Chaves on the podium today were his breakaway comrades and fellow climbing specialists David de la Cruz (ESP) with Team NetApp-Endura (+:13) and Tom Danielson (USA) with Team Garmin-Sharp (+:41), who placed third overall in the 2011 and 2012 race editions.
Wiggins is now squarely in the driver's seat going into the final two days and final two stages.
"The boys [his team] really did a fantastic job and they really put me in a good position near the finish," Wiggins said. "I was really just monitoring Team Garmin-Sharp and [Rohan] Dennis. It wasn't until the final 300 meters near the big screen [at the finish] when I noticed there were only four us left in the [chase] group."
The main pack of riders containing the general classification contenders pulled to the line seconds later after toiling up the nearly 12-mile climb, with the leaders in close proximity to one another. Today's close result was crucial for Wiggins to defend his overall position. Team Sky knew it would be a day rife with attacks on the Tour de France winner, and they worked together to set a fast pace at the front of the peloton for much of the stage. Lying in wait within the main group were the other general classification challengers, including second-place contender Rohan Dennis (AUS) with Team Garmin-Sharp and BMC Racing Team's Peter Stetina (Boulder, Colo.). Approaching the mountain, Dennis' teammates attempted to bridge him to the breakaway, but the peloton's fast pace shut down the possibility of a successful jump out of the pack.
During the approximately 4,000-foot climb up Mountain High, which has an average 6.3% grade, Team Sky's Joe Dombrowski (Charlottesville, , Virginia) set a fast enough pace in the final miles to make it nearly impossible for other teams to attack on the slope, which heightened to a double-digit grade in the final three miles. Challenges from Team Garmin-Sharp and BMC Racing Team led nowhere, and Wiggins and his teammates took control of the thinning group into the final kilometers as Wiggins ultimately retained the Amgen Race Leader Jersey and shoring up his overall lead (+:30) over Dennis with a fifth-place stage finish. Lawson Craddock (Austin, Texas) of Team Giant-Shimano remains in the Crunchies Best Young Rider jersey and moves into third place overall (+1:48) with Team NetApp-Endura's Tiago Machado (POR) slipping to fourth place (+2:02). Cannondale Pro Cycling's Peter Sagan (SVK) remains in the Visit California Sprint Leader Jersey. UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team's Christopher Jones (USA) was awarded the Amgen Breakaway from Cancer® Most Courageous Rider Jersey for his part in the breakaway and leading the charge up today's smaller climbs before Mountain High.
Will Routley (CAN) of Optum Pro Cycling p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies once again will don the Michelob Ultra King of the Mountain Jersey, which he has held since day two of competition, further cementing his chances as overall winner of the KOM competition when the race ends Sunday.
"Founded in 1980, Amgen is a biotechnology pioneer, having since reached millions of patients around the world with our medicines," said Ray Jordan, senior vice president, Corporate Affairs, Amgen. "And, as a biotechnology company in the race to dramatically improve lives, the Amgen Tour of California creates a platform to educate the public not only about Amgen and our innovation, but also about important resources available to patients through our national Breakaway from Cancer initiative."
Amgen created the national Breakaway from Cancer initiative in 2005 as a complementary component to its sponsorship of the Amgen Tour of California. Through Breakaway from Cancer, Amgen and its four nonprofit partners offer a broad range of support services complementing those provided by a patient's team of healthcare professionals.
Today's activities featured cancer survivor Jennifer Schelling who fired the official start gun to begin the stage, and cancer survivor Steve Bartolucci had the honor of awarding UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team's Christopher Jones with the Amgen Breakaway from Cancer Most Courageous Rider Jersey.
For access to resources or to learn more, visit breakawayfromcancer.com.
From iconic ocean vistas to mountaintop finishes to desert scapes, the cyclists will cover more than 720 miles of beautiful and varying California terrain this week as they ride from the north to the south of the state in the ninth annual Tour de France-style competition.
Saturday, May 17 – Santa Clarita to Pasadena (88.7 mi)
Start Time: 11:40 a.m. PDT
Estimated Finish Time: 3:15 p.m. PDT
Satellite Feed Time: 4:50 – 5 p.m. PT
Coordinates can be found at: http://www.amgentourofcalifornia.com/uploads/images/news/2014-stage7-tipsheet.pdf
For the second consecutive year, Santa Clarita will host two stages. Stage 7 will start at the familiar Westfield Valencia Town Center. The route will follow a high desert path to a sprint in Acton and into the Angeles National Forest. A slight twist from the familiar route through the National Forest will be the addition of Upper Big Tujunga. This adds a second KOM, as well as several miles on the picturesque Angeles Crest Highway. Passing the Mount Wilson Observatory, the riders will quickly begin a long, steep and very technical descent into the town of La Cañada Flintridge. The riders will pass by the Rose Bowl and across the iconic Colorado Street Bridge. After some quick turns in Old Town Pasadena, the leaders will see City Hall, the finish line and three laps to go. The three-mile circuit will follow many well-known streets in Pasadena, including the main route of the famous Rose Parade... Colorado Boulevard.
There are plenty of ways to take in the pro action, whether in person on the race course through May 18, via daily broadcasts on NBC Sports Network and NBC Sports (final Sunday), or by downloading the free Tour Tracker app, which features live race updates, rider background and full race results. More information on all of the ways to watch is available at www.amgentourofcalifornia.com.
About the Amgen Tour of California
The Amgen Tour of California is a Tour de France-style cycling road race created and presented by AEG that challenges the world's top professional cycling teams to compete along a demanding course that traverses hundreds of miles of California's iconic highways, byways and coastlines each spring. The teams chosen to participate have included Olympic medalists, Tour de France contenders and World Champions. More information is available at www.amgentourofcalifornia.com.
About Amgen
Amgen is committed to unlocking the potential of biology for patients suffering from serious illnesses by discovering, developing, manufacturing and delivering innovative human therapeutics. This approach begins by using tools like advanced human genetics to unravel the complexities of disease and understand the fundamentals of human biology.
Amgen focuses on areas of high-unmet medical need and leverages its biologics manufacturing expertise to strive for solutions that improve health outcomes and dramatically improve people's lives. A biotechnology pioneer since 1980, Amgen has grown to be the world's largest independent biotechnology company, has reached millions of patients around the world and is developing a pipeline of medicines with breakaway potential. For more information, visit www.amgen.com and follow us on www.twitter.com/amgen.
About AEG
AEG is one of the leading sports and entertainment presenters in the world. AEG, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Anschutz Company, owns or controls a collection of companies including facilities such as STAPLES Center, StubHub Center, Sprint Center, The O2, Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE and Best Buy Theater Times Square; sports franchises including the Los Angeles Kings (NHL), two Major League Soccer franchises, two hockey franchises operated in Europe, management of privately held shares of the Los Angeles Lakers and the Amgen Tour of California cycling road race; AEG Live, the organization's live-entertainment division, is a collection of companies dedicated to all aspects of live contemporary music performance, touring and a variety of programming and multi-media production. For more information, visit AEG today at www.aegworldwide.com.
# # #
Media Contacts:
Michael Roth, AEG
Eileen Tanner, GolinHarris
Diana Valdez, GolinHarris


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I made a quick stop in New York last November, and while I was there I headed over to Redux to do a video profile shoot. They have been pumping out some great videos of many of the photographers on the roster, and you can see them all at the Redux site as well as the Redux Vimeo page.
This is a pretty cool idea, and hopefully will help art buyers get some insight into how each photographer works. The videos should also make for some good marketing material in the coming year.
I hope everyone had a restful December, and you are looking forward to 2010. I have really enjoyed taking some time off recently. It has given me the opportunity to clear my head, and re-focus for the year to come. I'm learning the importance of slowing down every once in a while, and just taking a rest. With the way things are going these days, it's easy to think you have to constantly be creating new material to keep up. I suppose it is possible to keep up that kind of pace but it is also exhausting. I want to make sure I am staying balanced so I can create through inspiration, rather than creating because I feel I have to.
Thank you everyone for your continued interest in my work. I am working on some projects right now I am very excited about, and I am looking forward to sharing my photography with you in 2010!