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A brief overview of the legislative process
This section is of interest in particular to readers who are not familiar with the European Union ( ) legislative process. The forthcoming Single Euro Payments Area ( ) Regulation will be adopted in accordance with this process.
It is the privilege of the European Commission (the Commission) to introduce proposals for legislation for consideration and decision by the relevant bodies (see 'Economic and Financials Affairs Council' and 'European Parliament' below). On 16 December 2010, the Commission published a proposal for a Regulation establishing technical requirements for credit transfers and direct debits in euros (the 'Commission proposal'). This Commission proposal is commonly referred to as the forthcoming ' Regulation', i.e. Regulation which will, among other things, establish definitive deadline(s) for migration to .
The Commission proposal is now being progressed in accordance with the 'ordinary legislative procedure' established to adopt legislation. This procedure is based on 'co-decision' of the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union (the Council). As defined in Article 294 of the 'Treaty of the Functioning of the European Union' (TFEU), the co-decision procedure is the legislative process which is central to the European Union's decision-making system. It is based on the principle of parity and means that neither institution (European Parliament or the Council) may adopt legislation without the other's assent (for details on the co-decision process see first link under 'related links' below). Accordingly, the Commission proposal is now under review by both the European Parliament and the Council. Both institutions will table recommendations on how the Commission proposal should be amended. For the Regulation to come into force it is necessary that the European Parliament and the Council agree on a final version of the legal text.
The Council represents the 27 Member States. The Council meets in different 'configurations'. This means that when the Council meets, not all ministers of all governments convene, but only those ministers responsible for specific policy areas. The Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) is one such configuration. The ECOFIN is composed of the economics and finance ministers of the 27 Member States, as well as budget ministers when required. The ECOFIN covers a number of policy areas such as economic policy coordination, economic surveillance, monitoring of Member States' budgetary policy and public finances, the euro (legal, practical and international aspects), financial markets and capital movements and economic relations with third countries.
The Commission proposal for a Regulation is now subject to review by the ECOFIN. The ECOFIN details its recommended amendments to the Commission proposal in the Presidency compromise proposal. The Hungarian Presidency1 of the Council tabled its first draft compromise proposals in March and April 2011.
The European Parliament is the only directly-elected body of the . The European Parliament organises its work through a system of specialised committees. The committees draw up, amend and adopt legislative proposals and own-initiative reports. They also consider legislative proposals of the European Commission and ECOFIN proposals and, where necessary, draw up reports to be presented to the Plenary assembly of the European Parliament. The Commission proposal for a Regulation is considered by the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) of the European Parliament. The ECON details its recommended amendments to the Commission proposal in the ECON Report. Ms Sari Essayah, member of the ECON, is the Rapporteur of the European Parliament on the file. Ms Essayah published the ECON Draft Report on the Commission proposal on 30 March 2011 (see 'related links' below).
Other parties provide opinions on the Commission proposal for a Regulation. The European Central Bank (ECB) published its opinion on the Commission proposal on 7 April 2011 (see 'related links' below).
Representatives of the Council and the ECON indicated that it is their intention to finalise the legislative process leading to the adoption of a Regulation in 2011.
The ECON Draft Report on the Regulation introduces important improvements to the Commission proposal
As mentioned above, Rapporteur Sari Essayah published the ECON Draft Report detailing amendments of the Commission proposal considered by the European Parliament on 30 March 2011. The Rapporteur indicated that amendments to the ECON Draft Report should be tabled by 16 May 2011. The intention is to submit the final ECON Draft Report for a vote to the ECON members in June 2011 and to the Plenary of the European Parliament in July or September 2011 for a vote in first reading.
The ECON Draft Report is currently being analysed in detail by the . Based on a first assessment, the European Payments Council ( ) welcomes the fact that the ECON Draft Report introduces several important improvements to the Commission proposal.
The ECON Draft Report requires stakeholder consultation in the process of amending the technical requirements applicable to euro credit transfer and direct debit transaction through delegated acts
The annex to the Commission proposal lists the technical requirements to be met by euro credit transfers and direct debits as of the defined end date(s) to be established by the Regulation. The Commission proposal foresees that the legislator will confer extensive executive powers upon the Commission to unilaterally amend these technical requirements through so-called 'delegated acts'. In other words, the Commission would be empowered to change these requirements without seeking approval of the European Parliament and the Council. The maintains that Articles which set out the amendment of technical requirements through delegated acts should be deleted from the Commission proposal. The arguments supporting this position are set out in the detailed response to the Commission proposal (see 'related links' below).
If the legislator decides however, to confer these executive powers upon the Commission, then it must - at a minimum - be ensured that any amendments of the technical requirements are subject to a recommendation of the ECB according to its role and responsibilities. In addition, any amendments of the technical requirements should reflect a consensus among all stakeholders based on adequate market consultation.
The therefore welcomes that the ECON Draft Report introduces the requirement of stakeholder consultation as regards amendment of the technical requirements through delegated acts. The notes that the Council seems to support this improvement as well. The ECB opinion on the Commission proposal states: 'The Commission shall prepare draft delegated acts in close cooperation with the Eurosystem and where relevant, with other members of the ESCB2 and in consultation with service providers and user representatives'. The ECB opinion further states that the exercise of amending the technical requirements through delegated acts must 'ensure, inter alia, that amendments are scheduled taking into account the payment industry's business cycles'.
In the view of the it would also be required that timelines for amended technical requirements to take effect must be aligned with the timelines governing the release management cycles established by international standardisation bodies and European scheme management bodies. In the case of the , this means the timelines governing the change management of the Credit Transfer ( ) and Direct Debit ( ) Rulebooks (for more information see ' / Rulebook Release Management and Scheme Development' under 'related links' below).
The ECON Draft Report proposes to delete the requirement of 'interoperability' of payment schemes
The Commission proposal implies a theoretical scenario of multiple Union-wide payment schemes for euro credit transfers and direct debits. In the view of the however, the concept of 'interoperability' of multiple Union-wide schemes puts at risk the fundamental requirement of full reachability of all payment service providers ( ) across , counters the objective of overcoming the fragmentation of the euro payments market and disregards the principles governing an optimally efficient payment environment. The therefore proposes to delete the reference to the 'interoperability' of payment schemes from the Commission proposal. For more information on the subject refer to the dedicated page on the Website 'What is a Payment Scheme' (see 'related links' below).
The very much welcomes that the ECON Draft Report proposes to delete the reference to the 'interoperability' of payment schemes. The ECOFIN also supports deletion of this reference. Last but not least, the ECB opinion on the Commission proposal suggests, with regard to the relevant Article, 'deleting the reference to payment schemes as technical interoperability between such schemes is not regarded as operationally feasible.'
The ECON Draft Report recommends setting one end date for migration to Union-wide payment schemes
The advocates setting one end date at level for migration to and . The therefore welcomes that the ECON Draft Report also suggests setting one end date for compliance of euro credit transfer and direct debit schemes with the forthcoming Regulation. This is an important improvement compared to the Commission proposal which foresees two separate end dates.
The ECON Draft Report proposes to exclude large value payment systems from the scope of the Regulation
The scope of the Regulation, as set out in the Commission proposal, is too broad. Such a description would also encompass euro payments made via large value systemically important payment systems such as the ECB's TARGET2 and the Euro Banking Association's ( ) EURO1. These payment systems should be excluded from the scope of the Regulation.
The welcomes that the ECON Draft Report and the first draft compromise proposals by the Presidency of the Council and the ECB opinion clarify that large value payment systems should be excluded from the scope of the Regulation.
The recognises that the first considerations of both the European Parliament and the Council, with regard to the Commission proposal, include very important improvements to the Commission proposal. These improvements would greatly contribute to ensuring the desired outcome of this regulatory initiative, i.e. realising a harmonised and integrated euro payments market.
The however, remains particularly concerned with the provisions on multilateral interchange fees for direct debit transactions and technical requirements applicable to direct debit transactions that are currently foreseen to be included in the forthcoming Regulation.
The proposes to delete Article 6 on interchange fees for direct debit transactions from the proposal for a Regulation
Article 6 of the Commission proposal states that 'no multilateral interchange fee per direct debit transaction or other agreed remuneration with an equivalent object or effect shall apply to direct debit transactions'.
Following further evaluation of the possible implications of the Commission proposal on the business model, the Plenary, at its meeting on 23 March 2011, adopted the position:
- That Article 6 (and related Articles and Recitals) should be removed from the proposal.
- That the November 2012 date mentioned in Regulation (EC) No 924/2009 should be removed from that Regulation.
- The continues to support the default multilateral balancing payment (MBP) of maximum 8.8 euro cents and the commitment expressed to the Directorate-General Competition of the European Commission and the European Competition Network (ECN)3 to review the figure after the migration period.
By prohibiting multilateral interchange fees (MIFs), the Commission proposal is premature and inconsistent with the provisions of Regulation (EC) No 924/2009, in particular its 11th Recital and its Article 15.
It is questionable whether a prohibition as far-reaching as currently foreseen under Article 6 can be validly based on Article 114 of the TFEU (formerly Article 95 of the Treaty). In the view of the , any measures based on Article 114 of the TFEU (ex-ante) 'must genuinely be to improve the conditions for the establishment and functioning of the internal market'. Accordingly, 'a mere finding of disparities between national rules and the abstract risk of infringements of fundamental freedoms or distortion of competition is not sufficient to justify the choice of Article 95 EC as a legal basis'.
As measures must be limited to what is necessary to attain its objectives, the considers that this proposal infringes upon the principle of proportionality. The proportionality principle laid out in Article 5 of the Treaty on the European Union stipulates that the content and form of Union action shall not exceed what is strictly necessary to achieve the objectives of the treaties. The objective of the Regulation is to achieve migration away from national payment schemes to pan European schemes. An Article that interferes in the cost accounting of commercial service providers is far from being strictly necessary to achieve that goal.
As the Commission must examine (and to date has failed to examine), if the objectives pursued justify negative consequences for some operators, the considers that by failing to make a thorough assessment, the principle of proportionality has not been respected.
The prohibition of a per-transaction MIF would oblige banks to build a new business model at a time when they could legitimately base their forecasts on the possibility of applying cost-based MIFs. Such a turnaround would infringe upon the principle of legitimate confidence in the policy which has until now been pursued in this area.
The prohibition of the principle of interbank fees infringes upon the fundamental principle of freedom of trade if this prohibition does not respect the principle of proportionality. This is the case here as the objective to strengthen the single payment services market could be met by basing the fee level on the costs for banks in supplying this service, without prohibiting them in principle.
By eliminating the possible application of interbank fees, the proposed amendment to Regulation (EC) No 924/2009 affects the freedom of enterprise beyond the limits allowed by Article 52 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights. Eliminating the possible application of interbank fees constitutes an infringement of the Community principle of an open market economy that must benefit all economic operators, notably those in the banking sector with regard to the reciprocal relations necessarily resulting from their payment services activities.
Regarding European competition law, the considers that there is an error of judgment with regard to the allegedly limited nature of competition for MIF applying to direct debits. The statements in Recital 14 of the Commission proposal appear to be based on initial assessments conducted and published in 2008. As indicated above, such a claim with regard to MIF has never been substantiated to date, notably in the various cases examined by the Directorate General (DG) Competition concerning different means of payment. Indeed, DG Competition even recently recognised the possibility of such interbank fees, in moderate amounts, in the area of bank cards (see the recent communiqués of DG Competition concerning the MasterCard and Visa cases of 1 April 2009 and 8 December 2010).
The Commission fails to explain how the complete ban on MIFs, assuming the prohibition could be based on European competition law, must equally apply to MIFs or bilateral interchange fees (BIFs) for national transactions which are outside the scope of the European competition law rules. Furthermore, the proposal does not lay out why MIFs for return transactions (R-transactions) are fundamentally different and are allowable in principle - as opposed to regular 'per-transaction MIFs' (even though R-transaction MIFs are only allowable within the strict limitations of Article 6 (2) of the Commission proposal).
The maintains its recommendation to delete Article 6 (and related Articles and Recitals) from the proposal for a Regulation.
The Regulation should refrain from re-writing consumer rights established by the Payment Services Directive (PSD)
Several of the technical requirements applicable to direct debit transactions proposed by the European Commission prescribe procedures applicable to the management of direct debit mandates. A direct debit mandate is signed by the payer to authorise the biller to collect a payment and to instruct the payer's bank to pay those collections. The Commission now intends to make it mandatory for to offer such mandate management features which are optional in the Core Direct Debit Scheme ( ). The reiterates that the Schemes were developed throughout a five-year design process under close scrutiny of the Commission and the ECB. The ECB acts as an observer in all working groups. For detailed information on this subject, refer to the dedicated document 'The Principles Governing the Core Direct Debit Scheme' (see 'related links' below).
The Commission now wishes to force to offer such direct debit features which 75 percent of consumers making direct debit payments in the today do not request.4 In proposing these technical requirements, the Commission effectively reverses its position on the matter previously communicated to the : the Commission and the ECB confirmed in their joint letter to the of March 2010 that the Scheme is based 'on proven national concepts, fully meets the respective legal requirements and - in some points - goes even further than required by the Payment Services Directive in order to better satisfy customer needs'. In this joint letter of the Commission and the ECB both institutions recognised that 'factual and perceived security may not always coincide'. To make this perfectly clear: the push to make it mandatory for to offer those mandate management features set out in the Commission proposal for a Regulation is based on a 'perceived' risk scenario that is not supported by market reality. To read this joint letter of the Commission and the ECB, refer to 'related links' below.
In analysing whether these technical requirements now proposed by the Commission are compatible with and conducive to the realisation of the objectives, it should also be kept in mind that the PSD was transposed into the national law of Member States only very recently (November 2009). As stated on the Commission's website, the PSD 'provides the legal foundation for the creation of an -wide single market for payments. The PSD aims at establishing a modern and comprehensive set of rules applicable to all payment services in the European Union. The target is to make cross-border payments as easy, efficient and secure as 'national' payments within a Member State. The PSD also seeks to improve competition by opening up payment markets to new entrants, thus fostering greater efficiency and cost-reduction. At the same time the Directive provides the necessary legal platform for the Single Euro Payments Area'5. A significant part of the PSD addresses consumer protection measures including consumers' refund rights in the context of direct debits. There are no indicators whatsoever which would imply a need to re-write the comprehensive consumer rights defined by the PSD.
The PSD includes insurance for consumers against incorrectly processed direct debit. Articles 62 and 63 of the PSD specify:
- A refund right for payers if the amount of the direct debit was not specified when the authorisation was given, i.e. if the mandate completed by the payer to authorise the payee to collect payment by direct debit does not state the specific amount of the direct debit collection(s).
- A refund right for payers if the amount of the direct debit exceeds the amount specified with the authorisation (the mandate).
- Refunds may be claimed within eight weeks of the debit date for authorised transactions.
Article 58 of the PSD ensures refund rights for unauthorised direct debits. Refunds may be claimed within 13 months for unauthorised transactions. This insurance protects consumers against incorrectly executed direct debits.
The Commission will review the PSD - including its provisions detailing consumer rights - in 2012. Based on this review the Commission will decide whether modifications to the PSD are required. Today there is no evidence whatsoever which would indicate that the consumer protection established by the PSD with regard to direct debit payments would be insufficient.
The Scheme, developed by the is fully aligned with the PSD - and even exceeds the requirements of the PSD. The Scheme grants consumers a 'no-questions-asked' refund right during the eight weeks following a debit from a consumer's account, e.g. during this time any funds collected by will be credited back to the consumer's account upon request.
Given that there is no basis to assume that the consumer rights defined in the PSD would fall short, it is not evident why the Commission would want to overwrite the PSD with the forthcoming Regulation in this regard. Introducing additional mandate management obligations for banks via the forthcoming Regulation, implies that the Commission has no confidence in the PSD. The Commission however, is the principal author of the PSD. The Commission also championed the PSD as a major achievement in the area of consumer protection only 18 months ago.
If the legislator endorses the mandate management obligations proposed by the Commission, direct debits will become more costly - directly or indirectly - for all consumers
If the legislator would endorse the technical requirements proposed by the European Commission with regard to direct debit mandate management features, then it would be mandatory for the almost 4000 and early movers on the demand side that have already implemented the Scheme to re-invest in the adaptation of their payment architecture. Subsequently, direct debits will become more costly - directly or indirectly - for all consumers. This outcome would counteract the stated objective of the European Parliament, the ECOFIN, the ECB and the Commission itself, that should trigger a downward spiral as regards the pricing of payment services. It would be detrimental to the objectives if direct debit users are pushed to accept mandatory features such as additional mandate checks which lead to increased costs for all direct debit users.
Making mandatory those features which are currently optional in the Scheme may prove detrimental to the needs of direct debit users, because the instrument may be felt to be too cumbersome to be used. In consequence, the market will either retain or revert to other - less efficient - payment instruments in the long run. The right balance between efficiency and security must be met. To strike this balance, it is necessary to analyse the requirements applicable to direct debits not in isolation but in comparison to alternative instruments.
The forthcoming Regulation should therefore refrain from making mandatory such features which are optional in the Schemes developed by the .
Focus must be on migration
The scene is set to bring to its successful conclusion. The believes that this objective, i.e. setting definitive deadlines for the replacement of national euro credit transfer and direct debit schemes by a single set of harmonised payment schemes, should remain the focus in the debate on the forthcoming Regulation. The detailed comments of the on the Commission's proposal are available on the Website (see also 'related links' below).
Gerard Hartsink is the Chair of the .
Related links:
For more information on the 'ordinary legislative procedure' (co-decision) governing the European Union legislative process, click here
Update March 2011: EPC Response to the European Commission Proposal for a Regulation Establishing Technical Requirements for Credit Transfers and Direct Debits in Euros (December 2010)
EPC Background Document: The Principles Governing the SEPA Core Direct Debit Scheme (EPC017-11). This document is part of the detailed response to the European Commission proposal for a Regulation establishing technical requirements for credit transfers and direct debits in euros (see link above)
Joint letter of the European Commission and the European Central Bank to the EPC regarding SEPA Direct Debit (March 2010). In this letter, both institutions confirmed that the Core Direct Debit Scheme is based 'on proven national concepts, fully meets the respective legal requirements and - in some points - goes even further than required by the Payment Services Directive in order to better satisfy customer needs'
Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) of the European Parliament: Draft Report on the Proposal for a Regulation Establishing Technical Requirements for Credit Transfers and Direct Debits in Euros (March 2011)
Opinion of the European Central Bank on the Proposal for a Regulation Establishing Technical Requirements for Credit Transfers and Direct Debits in Euros (April 2011)
European Commission Proposal for a Regulation Establishing Technical Requirements for Credit Transfers and Direct Debits in Euros (December 2010)
What is a Payment Scheme? - Dedicated Page on the Website
SCT / SDD Rulebook Release Management and Scheme Development - Dedicated Page on the Website
publication: Who is Who in SEPA?
Related articles in this issue:
Innovacompegration (This is Not a Typo). Reflections on the best approach to innovation, integration and competition in payments
The Trailblazer. Kela, the Social Insurance Institution of Finland, Completes Migration to the SEPA Credit Transfer
SEPA Scheme Change Management. Public consultation starts in May 2011
Moving Into New Territory. The impact of the e-money Directive on payment service providers
Related articles in previous issues:
The Good, the Bad, the Ugly and a Knight in Shining Armour? European Commission requests unprecedented powers to determine payment functionalities ( Newsletter, Issue 9, January 2011)
Happy New Year? Post-crisis EU financial sector reform: the impact of 'Basel III' on payments ( Newsletter, Issue 9, January 2011)
So What´s in a Name? Explaining Payment Schemes, Instruments and Systems. Clarity on payment terms is critical in the debate over the approach to setting end dates for migration to SEPA through EU Regulation ( Newsletter, Issue 8, October 2010)
1The Presidency of the Council of the European Union rotates between Member States every six months. The Presidency is held by Hungary in the first half of 2011. There is - in parallel - a permanent President of the Council. The first permanent President of the Council, former Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy, was appointed in a special summit on 19 December 2009.
2The European System of Central Banks (ESCB) is composed of the European Central Bank (ECB) and the national central banks (NCBs) of all 27 Member States.
3The European Commission and the national competition authorities in all Member States cooperate with each other through the European Competition Network (ECN).
4The Direct Debit model relies on the direct debit model used in a large number of Member States including Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain. The latter four countries represent those Member States where direct debits are used much more often to make payments than in other countries. Out of some 17 billion direct debits processed in the euro area in 2008, approximately 13 billion direct debits - or 73 percent - were processed in Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain. The Scheme is built on the pre- direct debit model used in these four (and many other) countries.
5European Commission information on the Payment Services Directive (PSD): http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/payments/framework/index_en.htm
Your reactions
If you would like to comment on this article, please identify yourself with your first and last name. Your name will appear next to your comment. Email addresses will not be published. Please note that by accessing or contributing to the discussion you agree to abide by the EPC website conditions of use.


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The Beach
The Beach was first settled by the Ashbridge family who came to Canada from Philadelphia, in 1793. Ashbridge's Bay Park is named after these pioneers. The Ashbridges, and a handful of other families, farmed this district until the latter part of the 1800's, when many of The Beach properties were subdivided. At that time, large parcels of land were set aside for local parks.
Woodbine, Kew Gardens, Scarboro, Balmy Beach and Victoria Park collectively became Toronto's playgrounds by the lake. These amusement parks also attracted many summer cottagers to the area.
By the 1920's, the City of Toronto was expanding eastward and The Beach was subdivided for year round residential development. Over the years The Beach has emerged as one of Toronto's most popular neighbourhoods.
The Beach looks and feels more like a lakeside resort town, than a big city neighbourhood. In the summertime, thousands of Torontonians and tourists flock to The Beach to walk on The Boardwalk, exercise along the Martin Goodman Trail, relax by the water, or shop and dine at the colourful stores and restaurants along Queen Street.
The social centre of The Beach neighbourhood is Kew Gardens, which hosts many annual events including a Christmas Tree and Menorah lighting festival, a Jazz festival, and an Arts and Crafts show.
Ed. Note: A long standing debate has ensued over the proper name for this neighbourhood. Some refer to it as The Beach, others as the Beaches. To be politically correct use The Beach, otherwise both are acceptable.
Source: Your Guide to Toronto Neighbourhoods copyright Maple Tree Publishing Inc.
On any given day during the warmer months Queen Street East in The Beach is bustling with shoppers and people taking advantage of the relaxed, down to earth atmosphere. The Beach's main drag (Queen Street East) is lined with patios from the many cafes and restaurants. A good selection of boutiques and shops are available for the discerning shopper. The Beach is a great place to spend the day exploring its' numerous parks and The Boardwalk. Animal lovers enjoy shops such as Bark N Fitz and Three Dog Bakery. Touch of Love doggy day spa is also located in The Beach.
There is a wide selection of restaurants in The Beach to chose from including the casual The Green Eggplant to the more upscale Amuse Bistro.

subset: commoncrawl


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Wait, What?? Did Lala Anthony Just Get Put On Blast For Cheating On Carmelo With Rapper Maino?
- By Bossip Staff
8 of 10
Lala Anthony Accused Of Cheating On Carmelo
Has Lala Anthony been caught creeping out on Carmelo with rapper Maino?? Maino's baby mama certainly seems to think so. A woman claiming to be Maino's girlfriend left an angry outburst underneath a (now deleted) photo from Lala's Instagram, accusing the actress of breaking up her happy home for good after staying the night at the rapper's home after a low key movie date the other night…
Damn! Could it be true??
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McNamee Expands, Adds New Paralegal To Its Commercial Lending and Commercial Real Estate Practices
Allison Squires has joined McNamee as a paralegal in the firm's commercial lending and commercial real estate practices. Allison has been a paralegal since graduating from Mildred Elley in 1996. She has experience working in a variety of practice areas, including: Commercial Lending, Commercial Real Estate, Bankruptcy, Criminal Defense, Foreclosures and Construction.
Originally from Schodack, Allison joined the United States Marine Corps in 1990, leaving the Capital Region to work as part of Security Force Co. and in the Marines' legal department. She moved back to the Capital Region in 2004, and previously worked at two other Albany law firms before joining McNamee.


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NGU Chapel
Chapel at North Greenville University is a time when the entire university gathers to honor God through the use of music, drama, testimonies, Biblical preaching, and more.
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We broadcast our twice weekly chapel servies on Monday and Wednesday at 10:00 A.M., weekly BCM services Thursday night's at 7:00 P.M., and FCA services Friday mornings at 10:00 A.M. Eastern Time
Location Map
North Greenville University is located in Upstate South Carolina and Turner Chapel is located central to campus.
Connect with Us
Download the NGU Chapel application for both Apple and Android products for free in the App Store. There you are able to watch our videos, submit prayer requests, and link to the Bible.


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Rescooped by
Manuela Ruiz Romero
from Digital Delights - Digital Tribes
onto Comunicación, interacción, colaboración y participación.
In an era dominated by constant information and the desire to be social, should the tone of thinking for students be different?
This is the world of Google.
In this world full of information abundance, our minds are constantly challenged to react to data, and often in a way that doesn't just observe, but interprets. Subsequently, we unknowingly "spin" everything to avoid cognitive dissonance.
As a result, the tone of thinking can end up uncertain or whimsical, timid or arrogant, sycophant or idolizing–and so, devoid of connections and interdependence. The internet and social media are designed to connect, and with brilliant efficiency they do indeed connect—words and phrases, images and video, color and light, but not always to the net effect they might.
The nature of social media rests on identity as much as anything else—forcing subjectivity on everything through likes, retweets, shares, and pins. Instead, we might consider constant reflection guided by important questions as a new way to learn in the presence of information abundance.
But this takes new habits.


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Airedale is on the western edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park and, in common with many of the dales, Airedale gets its name from the river that runs through the valley, the Aire.
The River Aire is born high up in the Dales near Malham and runs down past Skipton and into the Aire Valley. From there it travels through the towns of Keighley, Bingley, beautiful Saltaire, and Shipley, heads towards Leeds, crosses the edge of the Vale of York and eventually joins the River Ouse before spilling into the Humber.
The Landscape of Airedale
Airedale has a stunning and dramatic landscape; ideal for walkers. It is well known for its limestone crags of which Malham Cove is the best known. To the south-east the landscape is hardy moor lands, dramatic rock outcrops and green pastures.
Major towns – an overview
A short walk away are Malham Tarn, a natural upland lake, Gordale Scar and the magical Janet's Foss.
If you are looking to visit the southern Dales this is a great base with plenty of choices for accommodation coupled with many fine cafes and restaurants.
Keighley is also home to the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, where you can step back in time on a steam train down the Worth Valley to Oakworth and Haworth, home of the Bronte sisters.
The lively centre features many restaurants and pubs along with a local playhouse and arts centre. Just outside the town is the famous Bingley Five Rise Locks on the Leeds-Liverpool Canal.
Salt's Mill has been converted into a busy retail and industrial complex and houses a permanent, and free, David Hockney exhibition. The village hosts a popular Annual Arts Festival.


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This article will guide you through the steps involved in setting up StrongVPN PPTP on a Tomato firmware router. We have used a Netgear Nighthawk 7000 router flashed with Tomato firmware to prepare this article.
1. Click here to follow the steps to get StrongVPN L2TP/PPTP credentials. Keep the credentials window opened as we need to enter details from this in the following steps.
2. Log in to the router control panel by entering the router's default IP address 192.168.1.1 to the address bar of your preferred browser. (If you changed your router's default IP address, enter that into your browser instead). While connecting using 192.168.1.1, the URL may change to http://192.168.1.1.
3. Navigate to the Network options below Basic Settings on the left side tab.
4. Move on to the title WAN Settings and select the Type to PPTP.
Once the screen changes enter the details as given below:
- Wireless Client Mode: Disbaled
- Username: Your StrongVPN username obtained via Step #1.
- Password: Your StrongVPN password obtained via Step #1.
- Use DHCP: Click to select.
- PPTP Gateway: Enter the server address obtained in Step #1.
- Options: Leave as blank.
- DNS Server: Auto
- Connect Mode: Keep Alive
- Redial Interval: Should not be less than 10 sec.
- MTU: Default
- Single Line MLPPP: It should remain unchecked.
5. Click the Save button on the left side bottom of the window. The page might pause for a moment.
6. Now navigate to the Status menu and select the Overview list to view the Connected status as shown below.
7. You can further confirm the connection is established either from Logs (Status > Logs > Last 25 lines) section under Status menu or from Traceroot (Tools > Traceroute) below Tools.


text:
The von Kármán Lecture Series: 2008
JPL & The Beginnings of the Space Age
Jan. 24 & 25
At the end of World War II, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory was at the crossroads. Should this outgrowth of Caltech continue to build rockets for U.S. Army in peace time? The answer came with the coming of the Cold War. Yet by 1956, JPL was already seeking a new role and had set its ambitions on teaming with the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville to launch the first satellite into space. Denied that opportunity in 1956 by the Eisenhower administration, JPL and the Von Braun rocket teams could only watch in frustration as the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the world's first satellite, in October 1957. Following Sputnik and with the explosion of the U.S. Vanguard rocket just weeks later, the White House, in desperation, turned to the JPL and Huntsville team, which then successfully launched Explorer 1 into orbit less than 90 days after being given the go-ahead. JPL and the Beginnings of the Space Age charts the transformation of JPL from a provider of ballistic missiles to the moment it set out on the path to become the world's preeminent explorer of the solar system and beyond.
Blaine Baggett
JPL's Executive Manager of Communications
Not available.


text:
Enjoy the very best of a great value Bandung spa experience with Marzanie Spa, or enjoy working out a sweat in a quality Bandung fitness with Eagle Fitness, all included within the fun collection of Bandung Wellness facilities inside a great Bandung Hotel, available with Serela Hotel Riau Bandung.
If you would like to enjoy a nice relaxation time, whether alone or with company, in a great value Bandung Spa, than Marzanie Spa is definitely a great choice. Staffed with professionals that understand the meaning of the word pampering, this is a Bandung Spa of a Bandung Hotel that always know what you are after. Moreover, work out a sweat with our Eagle Fitness, a Bandung Hotel's Bandung Fitness facility that you can always depend on for a great Bandung fitness experience!
Marzanie Spa
- Type of service
- 1. Full Body Treatment
- 2. Refreshing Treatment
- 3. Body Polish
- 4. Reflexology
- 5. Refresher Facial
- 6. Massage Traditional
- 7. Acupressure Aroma Therapy
OPEN : Every day ( 08.00 – 23.00)
EAGLE Fitness
Eagle Fitness Room & Sauna is a facility in Serela Riau Hotel that is purely designed toa attached fun and enjoyment to yours efforts of keeping your self healthy and tip-top shape. With alluring price point and attentive staff ready to serve you in any possible way, staying fit has never been this easy.
OPEN : Every day ( 06.00 – 18.00 )
Kids Corner
Located on the lobby level near the Front Desk. A place where children can just be children. Equipped with sliding board, coloring book, toys etc.
Kids Corner is a place where your children can enjoy a good range of fun activities supervised by our higly competent and professional staff. Kids Corner is the excellent solution for you if you want to expose your children to a safe and enjoyable hotel experience. Grand Serela Hotel is a place where fun is for everyone.


text:
A 56-year-old man who was jailed for having sex with a woman in a Halifax supermarket car park has won his appeal against his prison sentence.
Raymond Thorpe was sent to prison for 13 weeks by Calderdale magistrates last month after he was seen having sex in a Fiat Punto which had been parked up at the Asda store on Thrum Hall Lane last July.
Although the store was shut at the time Thorpe's hopes that they would not be seen were dashed when a woman visiting her parents' home nearby spotted their behaviour from a window overlooking the car park.
The Punto had been parked in an overflow car park some way from the store, but staff were still in the area and shortly before some children had been playing in a nearby street.
During the incident, which took place at about 6.45pm, the witness' husband shouted at Thorpe and tried to attract the attention of security staff.
Prosecutor Martin Sleight told Bradford Crown Court that Thorpe's buttocks were seen by the witness and at one stage he threw a condom out of the car window.
Thorpe, of Free School Lane, Halifax, pleaded guilty at the magistrates court to a charge of outraging public decency, but after he was sent to prison last month he appealed against the sentence.
Judge Peter Benson and a magistrate decided that the prison term should be quashed and replaced with a 12-month community order which included 100 hours unpaid work.
Judge Benson said they had taken account of the fact that Thorpe had spent 16 days in prison.


text:
1. Re: Symbol map by region?Shawn Wallwork Apr 17, 2013 2:10 PM (in response to Steve Myles)1 of 1 people found this helpful
Steve the behavior you are describing is.... hmmm, what word to use ... expected? by design? a Tableau limitation? Whatever, you're pushing up against the Tableau mapping limits. There are 'tricks' that can get you closer to your goal, but they may involve lots of work, and a lowering of expectations, sorry to say. Post a packaged workbook, with dummy data and I'm sure the Tableau Mapping community will help get you a few steps closer. But please note what I said about expectations.
2. Re: Symbol map by region?Steve Myles Apr 17, 2013 3:23 PM (in response to Shawn Wallwork)
Thanks, Shawn. I'll keep working with what I've got and will post a dummy workbook if I can't get any further.
3. Re: Symbol map by region?Noel Avison Apr 19, 2013 10:37 AM (in response to Steve Myles)
They way to get around this would be creating a new field in the data. So say you want to want to have filled maps with groups of states like midwest, west coast, east coast etc. And you want to overlay one pie chart for each group. The problem you are having is that when you overlay the pie chart, it overlays it on each state as opposed to region correct? Well to get around this you can make a new field. That defines an entire region as one state. Say for example you make the field and select California for all the states in West Coast group. Now you overlay the pie chart in as this new field and it will aggregate all the data up for west coast and display the pie chart over California. All you have to do is pick one state for each group of states and the pie chart for that region will appear over that state. Post some dummy data and I can produce and example for you.
4. Re: Symbol map by region?Steve Myles Apr 19, 2013 2:03 PM (in response to Noel Avison)
This works, thanks! I should have thought of this.


text:
Welcome to CSCAR's treatment assignment system.
Background: CSCAR's sequential treatment assignment system is intended to assist researchers who are conducting trials in which subjects are assigned sequentially to treatment groups. It aims to provide treatment assignments that are balanced across the levels of one or more pre-treatment covariates. Sequential assignment is useful whenever a complete list of all research subjects is not available at the beginning of a trial. It is especially effective when a study will enroll a small or moderate number of subjects.
Methodology: This system implements an approach to treatment assignment using minimization that was developed by Pocock and Simon (Biometrics 31, 1975). The minimization approach reduces covariate imbalances by utilizing non-uniform assignment probabilities for the different treatment groups, in order to reduce the level of imbalance following each round of treatment assignment. Although the probabilities are not uniform, the treatment assignments are still random, which reduces the risk that a user can bias the results of the trial by selectively enrolling patients.
Security: This system identifies users through their
Google account id. Users must be signed into their Google
account whenever using the system. This system runs on Google
AppEngine and the data are stored on Google's servers. You will
be given the option to store either complete data or aggregated
data for the subjects in your study. In the latter case, only
the frequency distribution of each covariate within each
treatment group is retained by the system.
Enter the CSCAR treatment assignment system


text:
Hiya Everybody!
This weekend was spent with my family in Catskills, NY and let me tell you, for someone who has not yet experienced the first signs of fall... it was COLD up there!
First up, the winner of the giveaway!!
Please excuse, I took screen shots because i'm still VERY new to all this..
Number 9 is.. STEPH!
Congratulations Steph, I've sent an email to you and to Coley from Twin-Stitchers about redeeming your prize.. Thanks to everyone that entered and spread the word!!
In other news..
While there, I was able to complete my first P.I.F.
But... i'm only showing you the back. I want it to be a surprise for the recipient!
Hope you don't mind that I put a label on the back, I personally want to remember where things come from!!
I was also able to work on my new embroidery pattern by Twin Stitchers!
This is as far as I've gotten - Not so pretty looking with the water-soluble marker still there.. but its cute so far!


text:
How do you feel about voting in the latest election? Are you enraged by the callous disregard shown by the [opposing] party? Or are you seriously sick of the mudslinging and emotional manipulation?
I am. When I watch the TV ads, both parties enrage me about the other. When Malcolm is on, Labour enrages me. When a Labour ad is on, the Liberals are a callous, xenophobic, elitist group. Of course like everyone my cognitive biases are strong, and I justify one party's indiscretions over another.
Sick Of It
But mostly I'm sick of the US and UK style of mudslinging that prevales. Seriously there are two levers: Fear and Greed. If the opposing parties policies scare you, that's exactly how you're meant to feel. The advertiser is playing you. Like a fiddle
My concern is that everyone I've spoken to is voting based purely on the TV as their principle information source. On TV ads.
What To Do
But what to do? I mean, in a week we have to vote, right.
My resolve is to not watch the adverts:
What Are You Ideally Voting For?
I've literally written down the policies I'd like to see in play. Policies about STEM education, innovation, getting us from 60th in the world for broadband speeds, humane treatment of refugees. Policies about protecting natural resources, funding science, research and development. Policies about a social net for the working class, and fiscal responsibility attracting companies to hire people in Australia.
What Are The Party's Really Promising?
Then I go online and read the policy manifestos of the three primary parties. Let's face it, the Hunters and Shooters, or Sex Party are
- Not likely to get in, which is a waste of my vote; and
- Their policies are actually not very comprehensive at all anyway.
Then I vote according to the closest the party's policy matches my ideals.
At the very least, I'll read the actual promises made without the context of the emotional manipulation of consumer advertising.
How about you?


text:
Learn about World War 2 and life in the 1940s from the perspective of a B-24 pilot, Jim Maris, and his wife, Lucille, who tell the stories.
Below are links (to be updated soon; Katch is no longer providing service) to archived, live streaming Periscope broadcasts during which Vickie Maris tells stories of her parents' lives during WW2. In some of the archived videos, she is interviewing her mom, Lucille Maris, who answers questions that students have asked in the online course on the same subject or that they are asking live during the chat.
July 2015 Sunroom Conversation – Topics: Living in a house in Galesburg, Illinois after Jim Maris was out of the US Air Force and attended school at Curry's School of Aeronautics for A and P; litter of Cocker Spaniel puppies from Blondie (photos shared); kittens rescued from airplane tire at Curry's School; friends visiting from Chicago; friends, Grover and Faye Doyle visiting in Galesburg; question about how to keep relationship strong while husband on a 9-month deployment; looking at photo of Jim Maris in his officer's uniform; what it was like to live in one room of a house while Jim was in school before they moved to little farm house in Galesburg. Approximately 20 minutes. https://ktch.tv/20NV
October 2015 – Topics of broadcast: Photos of Jim Maris with B-24 and the officers in his crew; this is plane that they flew overseas in the fuel consumption test, Straight Flush. You'll also see a photo of Jim Maris in a plane he flew at the tow target base in England. Approximately 7:30 minutes. https://ktch.tv/3mq1
November 2015 – Topics of this Periscope broadcast: Recap of Jim Maris buzzing the top of the Hotel Jayhawk in Topeka, Kansas as he departed for England and the war in a B-24 bomber with the 9 other crew members. It was his way of waving goodbye to my mom, Lucille, who was on the top of the hotel; See telegram that my dad sent to my mom upon his return from England. See telegram that my dad sent to my mom upon his return from England. Approximately 3 minutes. https://ktch.tv/4VM9
November 2015 – Treasuring Memories: Periscope broadcast in which Vickie Maris participated in the pass-the-cast, Treasuring Memories, hosted by @npbradshaw. She goes through several of the slides that are used in the online course in Udemy and talks about the history behind the pictures and memorabilia. Approximately 19 minutes. https://ktch.tv/3F7Q?s=02m28s
November 2015 – Honoring Jim Maris on Veteran's Day. https://ktch.tv/3-KL
December 2015 – Topic of Periscope broadcast: Vickie Maris being grateful for the way Jim and Lucille Maris raised her to be an independent woman. See photos of Vickie with her dad, Jim, and several of their pets. https://ktch.tv/6Sx2


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The Freemakers was a family that lived during the reign of the Galactic Empire. The family consisted of Rowan, Kordi and Moxie Freemaker. They had a servant B1 battle droid, R0-GR ("Roger"), who considered himself both a Freemaker and a droid.[1]
Behind the scenesEdit
The Freemakers are the main cast of the first season of the non-canon LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures series, which ran on Disney XD from June 20 to August 29, 2016. The four characters Rowan, Zander, Kordi Freemaker, and Roger were voiced by Nicolas Cantu, Eugene Byrd, Vanessa Lengies, and Matthew Wood respectively.[2] Cantu, Byrd, Lengies, and Wood reprised their roles in the second season of the Freemaker Adventures, which were released between June 17 and August 16, 2017.[3]
Non-canon historyEdit
The Freemakers were a family of scavengers who lived during the time of the Galactic Civil War. They consisted of the human siblings Zander, his younger sister Kordi, and their younger brother Rowan Freemaker. They had a servant B1 battle droid Roger, who served as a butler and a buddy to Rowan. The Freemakers owned a garage at the Wheel, a space station in the Abrion system. They made their living salvaging junk and selling/ fixing starships. They owned a starship called the StarScavenger which they used to salvage wreckage after battles between the Galactic Empire and the Rebel Alliance.[4]
A turning pointEdit
Short on funds, the Freemakers traveled to the jungle planet of Nal Kapok to salvage spare parts from wrecked Clone Wars vehicles. There, Rowan discovered he was Force-sensitive when he could sense the hilt of the Kyber Saber. Rowan and Roger soon encountered the Jedi Purge survivor Naare, who convinced Rowan to help her in the quest to find the pieces of the Kyber Saber, an ancient weapon that had been crafted from pure Kyber crystal by the Jedi Master Baird Kantoo. Naare offered to train him in the ways of the Force as a Jedi. After saving Zander and Kordi from stormtroopers, Naare won the trust of the Freemakers. In secret, she was a Sith agent who was working for Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader, the former wanting to harness the Kyber Saber's powers for himself.[4]
Under Naare's guidance, Rowan trained as the Jedi. Kordi was concerned that Naare's quest would endanger her younger brother and quarrelled with Naare. While the adults were arguing, Rowan sensed the second Kyber crystal in the Belgaroth asteroid field. Traveling with Roger aboard the StarScavenger, they managed to find the crystal. However, Rowan was mistaken as a bounty hunter by the Iktotchi Baash and Raam who brought him to the Hutt crime lord Graballa. Graballa took Rowan and Roger captive and attempted to use Rowan to lead him to the Kyber Saber crystals. He wanted to use the crystals to bankroll a beach resort and buffet. Rowan and Roger managed to escape with the help of Naare, Zander, and Kordi.[5]
Later, the Freemakers received a job from fellow Wheel resident Wick Cooper to service his vintage N-1 starfighter. Knowing Zander's poor impulse control, Kordi instructed Rowan and Roger to hide the starfighter from him. Despite their best efforts, Zander discovered the starfighter and took it for an unauthorized journey ride. Zander eventually stumbled into a dogfight between Imperial and Rebel starfighters and was captured by the Imperial Star destroyer Vendetta. With the reluctant help of Naare, Kordi and Rowan mounted a rescue mission. During the mission, they encountered Darth Vader himself but managed to escape with Zander and the N-1 fighter. However, the starfighter was badly damaged and the Freemakers earned the wrath of Cooper.[6]
Chasing the moneyEdit
After an unsuccessful Jedi training session with Naare, Rowan and Zander ventured into the Lower Ring to watch a podracing match. Short on credits, Rowan accepted a job from the rebels Lando Calrissian and Chewbacca to obtain a "lost treasure" from Cloud City, which was under Imperial occupation. Despite Kordi's instructions to Roger not to tell anyone, the droid accidentally exposed their whereabouts to Naare. During the course of their quest, the Freemakers ran into trouble with the bounty hunters Dengar, Baash, and Raam, who were after Rowan because Graballa believed the boy could lead them to the Kyber Saber crystals. Following a struggle, the Freemakers and Naare managed to rescue Rowan and restore Cloud City to its normal floating position. After returning to the Wheel, they discovered that Lando's "lost treasure" was his cape. Lando paid them several gold bars.[7]
Low on funds again, Kordi accepted an errand from the Twi'lek captain Ignacio Wortan to fetch a piece of wroshyr wood from the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk. For this mission, Rowan learnt Shyriiwook and Kordi fitted Roger with a translation chip. After a brief misunderstanding, Rowan managed to convince the Wookiee chief Attabura to give them the wroshyr wood in return for rescuing his son Tantarra from a Trandoshan fortress. The Empire used the Trandoshans as proxies to subdue the Wookiees. The Freemakers managed to rescue Tantarra but Rowan also embarked on a quest to find the third Kyber Saber. Despite accomplishing their quest and gaining the crystal, Kordi's plans to help pay the Freemakers' debts were ruined when she damaged the wroshyr-wood during a struggle with the Imperial officers Durpin and Plumestriker. As a result, Wortan called off his deal and the Freemakers were left trapped in debt.[8]
Later, the Freemakers came into contact with the Rebel siblings Princess Leia Organa and Luke Skywalker, whose Y-wing starfighter had been damaged in a space dogfight. Before they could repair the Y-wing, the Freemakers had to deal with an Imperial manhunt led by the Imperial officer Estoc. While Kordi, Zander, and Leia led Estoc and her stormtroopers on a hide and seek race, Rowan, Roger, and Luke traveled to Felucia after Roger accidentally activated the ship's hyperdrive. On Felucia, Luke taught Rowan to let the Force flow through him naturally. Rowan used his Force powers to distract an acklay that had stolen the StarScavenger's hyperdrive motivator. Meanwhile, Kordi and Zander managed to trick the Imperials into thinking they had killed Leia and Luke by sending out their Y-wing as a decoy. Having befriended the rebels, the Freemakers allowed them to buy a Z-wing at a discounted rate.[9]
Rising dangerEdit
After breaking out from their Cloud City prison, Dengar and his associates returned to Graballa and informed him about Rowan Freemaker. Graballa then used the podracer pilot Ben Quadinaros to lure the Freemakers into a trap at Mos Espa on Tatooine. The Freemakers managed to elude Graballa and his henchmen by participating in the 29th Annual Bricklayers' Classic race. The Freemakers won the race but were forced to flee into the Dune Sea. They managed to hold out long enough at an abandoned sandcrawler until Naare arrived on her Eclipse Fighter to rescue them. While hiding in the Eclipse Fighter, Rowan discovered her Sith lightsaber and a hologram message from Palpatine himself indicating that she was a Sith agent.[10]
After learning about Naare's deception, Rowan and the Freemakers managed to escape the Freemaker Garage and fled to Takodana. After damaging the pirate Hondo Ohnaka's starship, the Freemakers agreed to carry out an errand to fetch three golden orbs from the Third moon of Takodana. The Freemakers quickly discovered that the golden orbs were varactyl eggs. Instead of giving into the dark side, Rowan used the light side to communicate with the varactyls. The Freemakers refused to steal the eggs and confronted Hondo with the help of Maz Kanata. Impressed by the Freemakers, Maz gave them a quantum regulator. She also gave Rowan the fourth Kyber Saber crystal. Meanwhile, Naare joined forces with Graballa to hunt down the Freemakers.[11]
Before the Freemakers could leave Takodana, Naare arrived with Graballa's warship Rancor's Fist and stole the fourth Kyber Saber crystal. Undaunted, the Freemakers traveled to the ocean world of Ningoth where they convinced an opee sea killer to trade the fifth kyber crystal for a light bulb. Despite their efforts, Naare stole the fifth crystal. She also had the first three crystals in her possession. The Freemakers then traveled to Naboo where they infiltrated the Emperor Palpatine Museum and stole the sixth crystal from the late Queen Padmé Amidala's royal gown. However, Naare and Dengar turned up and managed to obtain that crystal as well following a fierce skirmish that destroyed the Museum. After escaping, the Freemakers discovered that Naare had been tracking them down using Roger's transmission pack.[12]
Following Maz Kanata's advice, the Freemakers decided to seek out the enigmatic Maker of Zoh, who lived on the junkyard planet of Zoh. There, they discovered that the Maker was none other than the former Sith clone Jek-14. Jek was the leader of a community of droids that including the hostile N-3RO, who feared that the Freemakers would corrupt the Maker. Rowan managed to convince Jek to train him in the ways of the Force. Meanwhile, N-3RO rallied the droids against the visitors and tried to turn Roger against his human masters. N-3R0 then attacked the Freemakers and Jek and managed to capture them. Before he could execute them, Roger intervened and reaffirmed his loyalty to the Freemakers. Roger then used his transmission pack to summon Naare and Graballa to Zoh. While Naare fought Jek-14, the Freemakers fled aboard the StarScavenger.[13]
Struggle for the Kyber SaberEdit
The Freemakers then traveled to the icy planet of Hoth, the location of the last Kyber Saber crystal. They were pursued all the way by Naare and Graballa but managed to retrieve the crystal from a deep cave. With the StarScavenger frozen beneath an icy lake, the Freemakers sought shelter at the abandoned rebel Echo Base. The disgraced Imperial officers Durpin and Plumestriker alerted Naare and Graballa to their presence. The Freemakers used a cobbled-up AT-AT walker and a snowspeeder to fight Naare and Graballa's forces but were overwhelmed by the Sith's powers. Rowan then tricked Naare by offering an ice crystal in place of the real Kyber Saber. The Freemakers then fled aboard the StarScavenger. In an attempt to protect his siblings, Rowan and Roger left in the Mini Scavenger with the last crystal.[14]
On an uncharted world, Rowan trained in Jedi lightsaber techniques using the memories stored in Roger's memory banks. Unable to find Rowan, Zander and Kordi returned to the Wheel only to run into Naare and Graballa. Naare tortured Zander and Kordi by destroying several of their possessions in an effort to lure Rowan out of hiding. Upon returning to the Freemaker Garage, Rowan engaged Naare in a lightsaber battle. The Freemakers also fought against Graballa and his henchmen. Despite improving his lightsaber and Force powers, Naare discovered that Roger knew the location of the last crystal and stole the droid's head. After trouncing Graballa's henchmen and the Freemakers, Naare departed aboard the Eclipse Fighter. Despite this setback, Rowan realized that he was Freemaker foremost and came up with a plan to stop Naare.[15]
Rowan's plan to stop Naare involved impersonating Emperor Palpatine and tricking Naare into handing the Kyber Saber to him. The Freemakers traveled to the galactic capital Coruscant and managed to infiltrate the Imperial Palace. Meanwhile, Naare recovered the last Kyber Saber crystal and managed to reforged the weapon. Overcome by delusions of grandeur, Naare then rebelled against the Emperor and attacked Coruscant. Rowan confronted Naare and managed to steal the Kyber Saber from her. However, he overcame Palpatine's temptation to kill her. Meanwhile, Zander and Kordi recovered Roger's head and then rescued several civilians. They then fled offworld and destroyed the Kyber Saber by plunging it into the volcanic depths of Mustafar. Unable to return to the Wheel due to an Imperial bounty posted on Rowan's head, the Freemakers decided to travel as a family through space. They were then invited by Admiral Ackbar to join the Rebel Alliance, which they accepted.[16]
Joining the Rebel AllianceEdit
After being contacted by Admiral Ackbar, the Freemakers boarded the MC80A star cruiser Home One, which served as Admiral Ackbar's flagship. After exchanging pleasantries, Kordi volunteered the Freemakers' services in helping the Rebel Alliance to procure a rare Type Two vector coil for Lieutenant Valeria's U-wing. Under Kordi's leadership, the Freemakers traveled through several worlds including Bespin, Kashyyyk, and Tatooine bartering various objects until they obtained a Type A vector coil from a band of Jawas on Tatooine. While on Tatooine, Rowan, Roger, and Zander were caught in the tentacles of a sarlacc. After returning to the Home One, a grateful Admiral Ackbar gave the Freemakers a permanent job servicing the Alliance's starfighters.[17]
Later, Roger attempted to befriend several rebel droids aboard the Home One including the C1-series astromech droid Chopper. Roger served the droids mechanical oil but the inflammable liquid caused an explosion. This incensed the other droids who beat Roger with one of his own arms. Attempting to repair relations, Roger then "borrowed" several starship and mechanical parts from Home One's hangar to build an improvised buffer. Roger's project coincided with an Imperial Star Destroyer's attack on the Home One. Roger accidentally caused a B-wing starfighter to explode, preventing the rebels from deploying more reinforcements. While testing the buffer, Roger accidentally catapulted himself into space. He crashed into the Star Destroyer's deflector shield generator. This allowed the Home One to destroy the Imperial warship with its firepower. Due to services, Roger was awarded a medal by Admiral Ackbar.[18]
Prior to Blue Squadron's planned attack on Strike Station Aurek, the Freemakers managed to finish servicing the squadron's fighters. While Rowan was using a stack of containers to eavesdrop on Lieutenant Valeria's briefing, Roger accidentally toppled the containers, causing a domino effect that damaged the starfighters. While Kordi and Zander distracted Blue Squadron and Valeria, Rowan and Roger rebuilt the starfighters with the former using his Force powers. Roger accidentally built himself into the astromech socket of Valeria's Y-wing. As a result, he and Rowan were forced to ride along with Lieutenant Valeria for the strike mission. During the battle, Rowan managed to drop the proton bomb which destroyed the Imperial battle station. After returning, Rowan and Roger sneaked out of Valeria's Y-wing. Valeria was unaware of the role the Freemakers had played and thanked her co-pilot and astromech droid, who had been left behind.[19]
Despite being turned down by Lieutenant Valeria for a dogfight with Imperial TIE fighters, Zander refused to give up. With the encouragement of his siblings, Zander retrofitted his Blazemaker Mark II with several laser cannons including a magma cannon. Using his heavy armament, Zander helped turned the tide of the dogfight in the rebels' favor. However, Zander's Blazemaker Mark II exploded since it was heavily overloaded with weapons. Zander survived and admitted he had gone too far.[20]
Later, the Freemakers volunteered to deliver a fuel intermixer to the rebel agents Lando Calrissian and Chewbacca, who were trapped by an Imperial blockade. As part of the plan, the Freemakers allowed their ship StarScavenger to be boarded by an Imperial Gozanti-class cruiser commanded by Durpin and Plumestriker. The Freemakers tried to fool the Imperials by claiming they had Gamorrean flu. While Durpin believed them, Plumestriker realized they were deceiving him and had them imprisoned in the brig. Rowan then used his Force powers to summon Roger out of the cargo box and reassemble him. Roger then used one of his legs to knock out the stormtrooper sentries and free his family. The Freemakers then escaped in the StarScavenger and managed to rendezvous with Calrissian and Chewbacca. Despite delivering the fuel intermixer to the Millennium Falcon, their victory was soured by the fact that Roger had left one of his legs behind.[21]
Pursued by M-OCEdit
The Freemakers later helped the Alliance Fleet to flee into hyperspace during an Imperial attack by servicing the starfighters. Despite their efforts, Rowan was displeased that his services were not needed. Kordi reassured him that he was a morale booster. Since the Alliance fleet needed more spareparts, the Freemakers decided to undertake a salvage run to the planet Tibalt, which had seen a recent battle. At the request of General Hera Syndulla, Rowan met with the Mon Calamari starship builder Quarrie and convinced him to accompany them after learning that Quarrie wanted to build a ship that could turn the tide of the Galactic Civil War.[22]
Meanwhile, the Emperor dispatched the hunter droid M-OC to hunt down the fugitive Rowan. M-OC followed the Freemakers to Tibalt and kidnapped Rowan. Before he could leave in his starship Tracker I, the Freemakers and Quarrie gave chase in the StarScavenger. Rowan managed to escape back to the StarScavenger by using his lightsaber to break his restraints. However, M-OC refused to give up the hunt and shot down the StarScavenger. M-OC fought Rowan in a duel and gained the upper hand with his gadgets. However, Kordi and Quarrie caused a wrecked starship to crash into M-OC and his ship. The Freemakers fled aboard the StarScavenger and returned to Home One. There, Quarrie recruited Rowan as his new apprentice. Rowan also experienced a Force vision of himself building the Arrowhead, a starship powered by a Kyber Saber. Meanwhile, M-OC survived the skirmish and informed the Emperor that the Freemakers had joined the Rebellion.[22]
Building the ArrowheadEdit
After being unable to explain his vision of the Arrowhead to Quarrie, Rowan traveled with Quarrie and Roger to the ancient Force Builders' city of Alistan Nor to seek inspiration. Without obtaining Kordi and Zander's permission, Rowan borrowed the StarScavenger and departed with Quarrie and Roger on their errant mission. Kordi and Zander were too preoccupied with their work for the Rebel Alliance to notice Rowan's absence until they discovered he had borrowed the StarScavenger. Meanwhile, Rowan, Roger, and Quarrie managed to reach the Tower of Alistan Nor where Rowan experienced another Force vision of the Arrowhead. The three were attacked by M-OC but managed to escape back to the Home One. After returning, Rowan reconciled with his older siblings and built a model of the Arrowhead. The Freemakers then embarked on a quest to build the Arrowhead.[23]
Embarking on their quest, the Freemakers decided to obtain a pair of embersteel blades for the Arrowhead. After learning that the Empire was auctioning a Theta-class H-2 executive star shuttle with embersteel wings on Mygeeto, Kordi convinced the Alliance leadership to loan them 75,000 credits to purchase the ship. Their mission was complicated by Zander's impulsiveness and the presence of Graballa, whose minions Raam and Baash accidentally bidded for the shuttle. While disguised as Princess "Alo Kortessi", Kordi was kidnapped by Graballa, who wanted to ransom her. Kordi managed to use her persuasive skills to free herself. Following a brief skirmish with Dengar, the Freemakers escaped with the Theta shuttle and its embersteel wings.[24]
The Freemakers later undertook a mission to extract the Alliance agent Bren Derlin, whose escape pod was in a junk field near the acidic planet Taul. Rowan also learned from Quarrie that the Arrowhead needed a proton suspension housing to hold its large kyber crystal in place. The only ship big enough to house one was a Corellian Defender. Rowan convinced his siblings to first travel to Takodana to seek Maz Kanata's help. The Freemakers instead encountered Hondo Ohnaka, who convinced them that he knew where to find a Corellian Defender. The Freemakers travel to Taul. After enduring much danger, they managed to obtain the proton suspension housing. However, Hondo stole the StarScavenger. The Freemakers were then attacked by M-OC but managed to fight him off long enough for Roger to overpower Hondo and rescue them. After rescuing Bren, the Freemakers handed Hondo over to his nemesis, the bounty hunter Awan Zek.[25]
Non-canon family treeEdit
|Pace Freemaker[26]
|Lena Freemaker[26]
|Zander Freemaker[4]
|Kordi Freemaker[4]
|Rowan Freemaker[4]
|Moxie Freemaker[27]
Non-canon appearancesEdit
- LEGO Star Wars: The Freemakers Adventures premieres June 20 on Disney XD on StarWars.com
- Star Wars: Droidography (First canonical mention)
Notes and referencesEdit
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Star Wars: Droidography
- ↑ LEGO Star Wars: The Freemakers Adventures premieres June 20 on Disney on StarWars.com
- ↑ The Last Jedi Cast Talks Teaser & The Freemaker Adventures S2 Preview! on the official Star Wars YouTube channel
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures – "A Hero Discovered"
- ↑ LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures – "The Mines of Graballa"
- ↑ LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures – "Zander's Joyride"
- ↑ LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures – "The Lost Treasure of Cloud City"
- ↑ LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures – "Peril on Kashyyyk"
- ↑ LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures – "Crossing Paths"
- ↑ LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures – "Race on Tatooine"
- ↑ LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures – "The Test"
- ↑ LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures – "The Kyber Saber Crystal Chase"
- ↑ LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures – "The Maker of Zoh"
- ↑ LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures – "Showdown on Hoth"
- ↑ LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures – "Duel of Destiny"
- ↑ LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures – "Return of the Kyber Saber"
- ↑ LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures – "Home One"
- ↑ LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures – "Thrown Into Battle"
- ↑ LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures – "Rowan's Secret Adventure"
- ↑ LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures – "Zander Freemaker, Superstar Pilot Guy!"
- ↑ LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures – "Beware, the Gamorrean Flu!"
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures – "Trouble on Tibalt"
- ↑ LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures – "The Tower of Alistan Nor"
- ↑ LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures – "The Embersteel Blade"
- ↑ LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures – "The Storms of Taul"
- ↑ 26.0 26.1 LEGO Star Wars: All-Stars – "Dealing with Lando/Han and Chewie Strike Back"
- ↑ LEGO Star Wars: All-Stars – "The Power at Jakku"


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Moira's Birthday Share this with a friend
by Robert Munsch
illustrated by Michael Martchenko
Welcome to a fresh, contemporary look for the most popular titles by the world's funniest children's book author.
Moira's afraid her parents might get upset if they find out she invited the whole school to her birthday party . . . so she just doesn't tell them. The big day arrives, and grades 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, annnnd kindergarten all come knocking down her door. Before long, the house is a total disaster and Moira's parents are going crazy trying to figure out how to get enough pizzas and birthday cake to feed everyone. Just leave it to Moira—she'll figure it all out, and even get the house cleaned up in the process!
A newly designed Classic Munsch picture book introduces this charming tale of the world's most boisterous birthday to a new generation of young readers.
"Another strong Munsch picture book, great for your collection."
—The Ladybug Reads, 01/29/19


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About Ameriprise
Background and qualification information is available at FINRA's BrokerCheck website.
Our approach begins with you, the client. FMB Advisors takes time to understand each client's unique situation. We believe that wealth management requires more than understanding a client's financial situation – we have to understand the person, their values, goals, and desires, because these hold the key to creating an effective long-term plan.
We consider our relationship with our clients to be collaborative. As in all relationships, success or failure depends on the ability of the individuals to work effectively together. To this end, each client works directly with a lead advisor and our team of skilled, experienced advisors to develop a plan to pursue your family's goals. Your advisor works with you and at your request, your specified outside professionals, to help you implement and maintain the plan.
Our comprehensive approach can be likened to a three-legged table. Each leg is important on its own and all are necessary to stand.
When it comes to investing, risk and reward go hand in hand. The higher the risk, the higher the potential return, but also the greater the risk of loss.
Risk tolerance refers to your ability to endure market volatility. All investments come with some level of risk so it's important to be aware of how much volatility you can tolerate. How risk tolerant you are is important, because it is one of the basic factors in determining an appropriate investment strategy for you. Your risk tolerance can affect both the types of investments you own and the way you choose to diversify your portfolio.
Read more about risk tolerance and take the 5-question quiz to help you assess your own tolerance for risk. Then contact me to discuss your portfolio and how it meets your needs and risk tolerance.
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3 charged with abuse for marijuana smoke
olice: Toddler found under 'cruel confinement'
GEORGETOWN, Ky. –
Three central Kentucky residents have been charged with third-degree criminal abuse after police said they exposed an 18-month-old girl to secondhand marijuana smoke.
The Georgetown News-Graphic reported that 21-year-old Travis Kyle Ross, 20-year-old Christina Renee Ohlendorf and 35-year-old Ennis Roquel Payton were arrested Tuesday night.
Ross also was charged with trafficking in marijuana in amounts between 8 ounces to 5 pounds.
Payton told WKYT-TV in Lexington that Ross and Ohlendorf weren't smoking marijuana around the baby. Payton told the station that police apparently smelled marijuana smoke in the air "so they arrested everybody in the house."
Police said they found the toddler under "cruel confinement" and exposed to "harmful toxins."
To view the video click here: http://www.wkyt.com/home/headlines/PoliceChild_exposed_to_harmful_toxins_157919875.html
Read more: http://www.wlky.com/news/local-news/kentucky-news/3-charged-with-abuse-for-marijuana-smoke/-/9718420/14758318/-/fjf2fk/-/index.html#ixzz1xRrxmxgq


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by Jennifer
I have two cats that use the box quite often. We've tried different foods, etc, to no avail.
I bought the ScoopFree Automatic hoping that it would cut back on my scooping 1-2xs a day, but it's really become nothing but a pain.
I've tried everything from the hood, to the Forever Tray to different litters, but no matter what, I seem to spend twice as much time cleaning this thing out and taking it apart so I can get all the poop out, as well as changing the litter in the Forever Litter tray than I did with a normal litter box.
The regular trays that came with the box that proported to last 30 days lasted 3 with my days before they smelled to high heck and the box needed to be scrubbed from the abundance of pee that couldn't be dried by the crystals.
I know a lot of people have had great luck with this box when they have one cat that goes only once a day or so, but for my cats, this has been a dismal failure.
I've now spent almost $200 for the box, hood, Forever Tray, etc.
when a $8 tray and clumping litter would have been a lot easier.
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Dentist in Alton
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After two rigorous rounds of judging, The Completely Group's flagship event Completely Retail Marketplace (CRMP) has won recognition in the Design Business Association's (DBA) prestigious Design Effectiveness Awards.
The DBA is the UK's most vocal champion of the role of effective design in the creation of business growth and believe that the most important way of communicating the value of design is by measuring its true effectiveness. The Design Effectiveness Awards are the only award scheme that uses commercial data as a key judging criteria.
Our entry focused on how we responded to the retail property market's needs by devising a one day, London based, business-focused event that creates an affordable, level playing field for landlords, agents and occupiers to do deals. The details included our market analysis, the approach and design solution, as well as branding and format plus ultimately how successful the event was.
Dominic Millar, Managing Director of The Completely Group commented "We are delighted to have won this exclusive award and to see our work recognised by such a well respected and authoritative organisation. It's especially gratifying when previous year's winning companies include the likes of Adidas, Legal & General, Alliance Boots, The Body Shop, Unilever and Google."
The DBA announces whether the winners have secured Bronze, Silver or Gold awards at the black-tie presentation at London's Tobacco Dock on 13th February 2014.


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Activist groups that track death tolls said that more than 5,000 people were forecast to die this month alone, substantially above the 4,000 that died in August. By contrast, the worst month in the Iraq conflict - after the initial invasion - accounted for 3,028 lives, in July 2006.
The United Nations refugee agency meanwhile predicted that up to 700,000 Syrian refugees could flee abroad by the end of the year, nearly quadrupling its previous forecast.
Lord Owen, the former Foreign Secretary who oversaw peacekeeping efforts in Bosnia, warned on Thursday that the scale and nature of conflict would eventually demand a united response from Russia and the West.
"This is a full scale civil war and my experience is that only an enforceable ceasefire will end it," he said. "Time is not on our side given the ghastliness of the fighting, the number of massacres and horrors of sectarian divisions becoming permanent facts on the ground."
Free Syrian Army fighter scans for targets from a building in Aleppo, Syria
In an article for the Daily Telegraph, Lord Owen today calls on Nato to use its formal ties with Russia to start talks on enforcing a no-fly zone in joint arangement that would not target the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
Vladimir Putin, Russia's president escalated the "blame game" with the West, accusing the US and others of sowing chaos in Syria.
"The most important thing is that our partners cannot stop themselves," he said. "They have already created a situation of chaos in many territories and are now continuing the same policy in other countries - including Syria."
Michael Clarke, the head of the Royal United Services Institute thank tank, predicted Syria's neighbours would be sucked into choosing sides in what is likely to be a drawn-out battle.
"As this becomes a fully-fledged sectarian war in the next couple of months the whole fabric of the Levant will be torn apart and what you will have is a Saudi Arabia vs Iranian proxy war involving elements in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Jordan," he said.
"The West is going to find it harder and harder to resist calls to intervene to contain the problem rather than stop the killing."
David Cameron condemned the Russian and Chinese government for blocking UN-backed action to stop the conflict in a speech to the UN on Wednesday.
Douglas Alexander MP, the shadow foreign secretary, said: "The sheer scale of the suffering being endured in Syria demands that the
international community renews its efforts to achieve unity and action."
Arab states have endeavoured to end the conflict but are publicly divided over regional military intervention, with comments at the UN exposing sharp divisions between major Muslim nations.
Mohammad Morsi, Egypt's new president opposed calls from the Emir of Qatar for a military intervention by Arab League states, while a meeting he had called of the Middle East "quartet" - Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Iran - was cancelled after the Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, decided not to travel to New York.
Prince Turki al-Faisal. a former Saudi Arabian ambassador to America, told CNN that "Nato and some combination" of other states would eventually be forced to intervene to quell fighting. "That requires military force," he said. "For somebody to deny this at this time is, I think, deluding themselves.
Wednesday was the most lethal day of the Syrian civil war yet, according to activist support groups inside and outside the country as the killing reached 343, according to one count.
Scores of bodies were discovered in the southern Damascus suburb of Dhiyabiyah, men of all ages who had apparently been shot in cold blood.
While Syrian opposition groups put the overall death toll in the 18-month war above 30,000, Amnesty International puts the toll at 21,000-plus.


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Time-to-Reperfusion in Patients Undergoing Interhospital Transfer for Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention in the U.SAn Analysis of 2005 and 2006 Data From the National Cardiovascular Data Registry
Author + information
- Published online June 24, 2008.
Author Information
- Anjan Chakrabarti, MD⁎ (achakrab{at}med.umich.edu),
- Harlan M. Krumholz, MD, SM, FACC,
- Yongfei Wang, MS,
- John S. Rumsfeld, MD, PhD, FACC,
- Brahmajee K. Nallamothu, MD, MPH, FACC,
- National Cardiovascular Data Registry
- ↵⁎Internal Medicine Residency Program, University of Michigan, 3116 Taubman Center, SPC 5368, 1500 East Medical Center Drive, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-5368
We previously reported that patients undergoing interhospital transfer for primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in the U.S. rarely met national guidelines-based recommendations of door-to-balloon times of ≤90 min using data from 1999 to 2002 in the National Registry of Myocardial Infarction (NRMI) (1). The median "total" door-to-balloon time, that is, the time from arrival at the first hospital to initial balloon inflation at the PCI hospital, in these patients was 180 min and only 4.2% had times <90 min. Since the publication of that report, there have been widespread efforts to improve timely access to primary PCI through the establishment of regionalized networks of hospitals for ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) (2,3). However, more contemporary data on total door-to-balloon times in patients undergoing interhospital transfer for primary PCI have yet to be reported.
We used 2005 and 2006 data from the American College of Cardiology National Cardiovascular Data Registry's CathPCI registry. Details of hospitals and data collection methods used by the National Cardiovascular Data Registry have been previously described (4). We included all catheterization laboratory visits of STEMI patients undergoing primary PCI after interhospital transfer (n = 22,019). To narrow our study population further, we excluded catheterization laboratory visits by patients: 1) who presented to the hospital more than 12 h after symptom onset (n = 2,993) or with uncertain time of symptom onset (n = 453); 2) who received any fibrinolytic therapy before arrival in the cardiac catheterization laboratory (n = 2,622); 3) with unknown or invalid date/time of reference for hospital arrival or PCI (n = 852); 4) with door-to-balloon times >12 h (n = 1,677); and 5) with any combination of the above exclusions (n = 6,874). This restricted our study population to 15,145 catheterization laboratory visits in 15,049 patients at 491 hospitals.
Our primary end point was "total" door-to-balloon time, which was defined as the time of arrival at the first hospital to the time of initial balloon inflation at the PCI hospital. We also evaluated: 1) door-to-door time (time of arrival at the initial hospital to time of arrival at the PCI hospital); and 2) PCI hospital door-to-balloon time (time of arrival at the PCI hospital to time of the first balloon inflation at the PCI hospital). Univariable analyses were used to report characteristics of the study population and the distribution of these end points.
The mean age of the study population was 60.5 years; 29.0% were women, 88.3% were white, and 20.8% had diabetes mellitus. In addition, 31.6% of patients arrived at the first hospital on weekdays between 8 am and 4 pm, 14.6% presented >6 h after symptom onset, and 10.6% were in cardiogenic shock. The median time from arrival in the initial hospital to the first balloon inflation time at the PCI hospital (i.e., total door-to-balloon time) was 152 min (interquartile range 116 to 211 min). Total door-to-balloon time was <2 h in 27.7% of patients, between 2 and 4 h in 53.9% of patients, and ≥4 h in 18.4% of patients (Fig. 1). Only 8.6% of patients had total door-to-balloon times <90 min. The median door-to-door and PCI hospital door-to-balloon times were 109 and 38 min, respectively.
The use of primary PCI in patients with STEMI is rising in the U.S. (5). However, there continue to be concerns about its effectiveness in patients undergoing interhospital transfer, given the potential risks of delays in time-to-reperfusion. Although we previously reported that such delays are common, those results used data collected before the publication of the DANAMI-2 (Danish Multicenter Randomized Study on Thrombolytic Therapy Versus Acute Coronary Angioplasty in Acute Myocardial Infarction-2) trial (6). This landmark study, which found that interhospital transfer for primary PCI is both feasible and efficacious within the controlled setting of a clinical trial, has prompted local and national efforts in the U.S. to improve timely access to primary PCI by establishing regionalized networks of hospitals for STEMI.
In this context, the present analysis adds important new information to the literature. Our findings suggest shorter total door-to-balloon times in transfer patients during the intervening few years (i.e., 152 min vs. 180 min). However, we also found that many patients still have marked delays in total door-to-balloon times and that few reach the benchmark established by national guidelines. Compared with the previous analysis, total door-to-balloon times were shorter because of more rapid door-to-door times (109 min vs. 120 min) and PCI hospital door-to-balloon times (38 min vs. 53 min). Of course, any direct comparisons between the present and previous analyses should be done with caution, owing to the involvement of different hospitals and types of patients between registries. The present analysis, for example, included more nonurban hospitals as well as patients with cardiogenic shock. Finally, it is important to note that these hospitals participated voluntarily in the CathPCI registry, a national quality improvement registry. These hospitals therefore may present a "best"-case scenario for transfer patients.
Please note: Supported in part by a grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, grant #R01HL072575. Dr. Rumsfeld is Chief Science Officer for the National Cardiovascular Data Registry. Dr. Krumholz has research contracts with the American College of Cardiology.
- American College of Cardiology Foundation
- ↵
- Nallamothu B.K.,
- Bates E.R.,
- Herrin J.,
- Wang Y.,
- Bradley E.H.,
- Krumholz H.M.,
- NRMI Investigators
- ↵
- Henry T.D.,
- Atkins J.M.,
- Cunningham M.S.,
- et al.
- Jacobs A.K.,
- Antman E.M.,
- Faxon D.P.,
- Gregory T.,
- Solis P.
- ↵
- Anderson H.V.,
- Shaw R.E.,
- Brindis R.G.,
- et al.
- ↵
- ↵


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Description: The University of Manchester is pleased to offer scholarships for the online Master of Public Health to academically excellent young professionals from Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania. Scholarships cover all tuition …Read More »
£3,000 University of Birmingham College of Arts and Law Distance Learning Scholarships, 2017- Apply Now
Description: The College of Arts and Law is pleased to be able to offer a funding opportunity for distance learning students, studying research programmes starting in the 2017-2018 academic year. Course …Read More »
OAU To Extend Distance Learning Centres To Other Cities
Prof. H. B. Olaniyi, who announced the new development, noted that the plan is to look beyond its provincial locations and extend its e-learning resource Centres. The Obafemi Awolowo University …Read More »
Online Course to Learn Compelling Resume, Networking & Interview Skills
Description: Your skills and expertise are only as strong as your ability to sell them. To secure a job that appeal to you, you also need to know how to …Read More »
5 Most Cheapest Places To Study Around The World
As prices for university creep ever higher in the UK and the US. You should be looking elsewhere for good quality learning that won't empty your bank account. 1. Germany …Read More »


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Love is Grand — Whimsical & Elegant and Oh-So Chic!
From the team, "Whimsical meets elegance in the most classical way perfectly describes the "Love is Grand" wedding inspiration shoot. As The Piano Studio polished their space with black, white, and pops of pink, our inspiration began."
"The Mrs. Box and delicate ribbon from Honey Silks and Company were perfect little touches to the details of the shoot!"
Photography: The Cannons Photography // Floral Design: Dietz Falls Florist // Event Planning: SM Events // Calligraphy: The Pine Needle // Tuxedo and Mens Attire: David Cotugno // Makeup Artistry: Shine Salon and Spa // Hair Stylist: JLS Hair Studio // Apparel: Elizabeth Renea's Bridal // Bakery: Couture Cakes by Marcine // Linens and Coverings: Sitting Pretty Linens // Jewelry: Susie Kays Keepsake Brooch Bouquets // Invitation Design: Olivia Rush Design // Other Location: The Piano Studio /


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RJ Shield and Tera-Finals Cash Prizes
Cash prizes will be awarded for:
1st Place
Best Primary Student
Best Age Under 10
Best Age Under 8
Tournament Schedule
1.00pm - Tera-Finals (7 games, 15 min p/p)
The Tera-Finals (incorporating RJ Shield Finals) are the final event of the OzSchools Chess Challenge as well as the RJ Shield.
Games start every half-hour.
5.00pm - Presentations
Novice Tournament - trophy prizes
Novice Tournament (trophy prizes) - entry fee $40 per player


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Dancing with the Stars 2017 Results: Who Went Home On Trio Night?
"Dancing with the Stars" results for Monday, May 8, 2017. Who went home during Trio Night?
The remaining couples danced a new routine plus a "trio dance" with an additional partner. It was another exciting night with a surprise bottom 2.
Normani and Val – Safe
Simone and Sasha – Safe
David and Lindsay – Safe
Rashad and Emma – In Jeopardy
Bonner and Sharna – In Jeopardy
Final Results:
Rashad and Emma – Safe
On this eighth week of competition the couple going home is…
Bonner and Sharna are eliminated from Dancing with the Stars!