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Sunday, February 28, 2010
Why we think we should begin all over!
As many have pointed out, people do not like the idea of greater government intervention into their lives, and they see this bill for what it is: yet another arrogant power grab. Plus, they are convinced that the bill is being sold under very specious claims of cost reduction, when the real cost drivers are not addressed--in their opinion--and, as is usual for government solutions, the costs will inevitably explode downstream by factors of two or three at least. They liken this bill to making medicine a large set of highly regulated utility companies representing 1/6th of the economy, which is just one small step away from government ownership.
Further, many simply are not buying into the Obama agenda of ever greater government solutions, instead of market driven solutions. While some provisions are attractive, they do not account for how they are being paid for clearly, and there is suspicion that Medicare fiddles are counting savings twice, whether that is true or not, and to talk of a $500 billion reduction in Medicare scares the elderly to tears.
In short, the Democrats and Obama have lost the trust of many because of their fiddles with medical hot buttons, and see the need to begin over with clarity for all to understand.
Labels: Health Debate
Friday, February 26, 2010
Obamacare Should be Dead
A Terribly Arrogant Show by the Democrats
There are several issues with the proposed bill that do not show up in the text or are sufficiently vague, that the Republicans pointed out in huge detail.
These were:
1) Abortion funding by the feds, which is in there, that will add untold millions of deaths to the 50+ million so far;
2) adequate tort reform, which is nowhere to be found;
3) giving the states a free ride a la Nebraska's gift to the tune of 50 x 200 million dollars = $10 billion;
4) Reducing Medicaid by $500 billion without specifying how this will affect senior citizens; and,
5) disguising the actual cost rise the bill will confer on the public because of the addition of 31 million people, and not spelling out all of the assumptions given to the CBO, many of which are also chimeras.
There are more examples, but these were the ones I remember. We all know that the hope of reducing waste and fraud in Medicaid is a hopy changy chimera that will not pay off any time soon, or near the amount desired, if ever.
It is therefore highly disingenuous to tout that all of the public agrees with the bill's provisions, or lack of same, when clear suggestions have been continuously given all year by the Republicans in over 70 bills to reduce these very large impact costs drastically, but to no avail.
We do indeed need to begin all over.
Labels: Democrats, Obamacare, Republicans
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Civil Unions?
Conservatives Support Civil Unions
Some conservatives are driven by their understanding of the Bible and their religious leaders, which condemns homosexuality in several books—notably Leviticus and Romans.
Other conservatives, that happen to be atheistic in their religious outlook, are not bound by what the Bible and religious sects say, and can thus free-think their way out of the dilemma of respecting the customs and traditions of marriage versus a more open interpretation.
Still others simply wish that the whole issue would go away, disappear, and not come back.
There are also agnostic conservatives that wish to ride the tide of social change (read: the hedonistic tendencies of many to release all of the bonds of morality) regardless of the tide's breakaway impact on fundamental Christian moral values.
Those minorities that want to sunder the conservative cause by calling the stand of Christian conservatives for Civil Unions and not gay marriage to be wrong, are themselves being intolerant of a religious and moral belief system and a tradition that is widely and deeply held in the nation; perhaps by 80-85% of the population.
I fail to see the advantage of elevating this now to a divisive, emotional, political, legislated, special kind of morality issue for conservatives, rather than leaving it to be the fundamental religious issue it most surely is and will remain to be in our society.
The long term question is: whose morality will be followed, that of the continued relaxation of moral standards, customs and traditions seemingly championed by humanists and feel-good hedonists, or of reinforcing the Christian moral standards of our society?
In all cases where this has come to a vote, Christian morality has won handily.
Labels: Atheism. Christianity, Moral Degeneration
Monday, February 15, 2010
Truly Annoying Things-- II
The Next Set of Annoying and Hateful Things
Number five in my list of truly annoying things is overzealous environmentalism. This includes attempting to save a few bugs from extinction by preventing homeowners from saving their houses from erosion, and the entire scam of Anthropogenic Global Warming or AGW. From the small bugs to the sweeping impact of supposed fixes demanded by AGW proponents such as Al Gore, this is the most egregious con job on the public since eugenics.
The moral degeneration of our society is the next (or sixth) hateful thing. From teen pregnancies to abortions, to unfaithful husbands to hookups, and to the blatant TV and PC porn shows, we have become hedonistic and nihilistic. This trend has been wildly supported by leftists that appear to want our society to fall apart.
In seventh place is the almost total disregard for the provisions of our Constitution on the part of the Congresses and the Presidents, both current and past. We are in a Post-Constitutional period where any idea can be turned into law without regard to its constitutionality. This will lead us into chaos sooner or later. The abdication of our courts of their duty to preserve and protect, and to interpret and define the Constitution in favor of judicial activism is a prime cause for this situation.
The eighth place goes to the two political parties for their disregard of their duties to the public in favor of party confrontations, ideological stances that destroy bipartisanship and meaningful compromise, and the ever-widening gap between the left and the right as to the directions of the nation. It is the far left that has wrecked our government and economy, moved away from constitutionality, and will undoubtedly wreck the military and diplomatic posture of the nation in due time.
These eight annoying and hateful situations can only be corrected by our citizens electing to office at every level very qualified conservatives that know where to steer the ship, and to keep a wary eye on them while they are in office.
Labels: Constitution, Environmentalism, Moral Degeneration, politics
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Truly Annoying Things
The top of my list of truly annoying things
Absolutely at the top of my list is the entire Jihadist thing out of the Islamic Middle East. Perhaps annoying is too mild a word. It should be more like hate! With many thousands of people killed in the name of Jihadism, I see this scourge to be eminently destroyable!
Following along with that, the number two thing on my list is liberalism in all of its dishonest glory. For the sake of power and influence, they distort the world around us, and try to impose their odious, arrogant and atheistic thought processes on us and on our children. They are ready to sacrifice our way of life for an impossible ideal or Utopia that has no chance whatsoever of being realized. Many appear to have been raised in homes for anti-American people. The idea of being forced into using the politically correct-multiculturalism mindset of the left is simply obnoxious.
The third item on my list are the spendthrift souls in our Congress and the Administration that believe somehow that we can spend our way out of the debt hole, when anybody can tell them that ultimately you have to pay the Piper. This is not fair for us, for our children, or for our children's children. They seem to believe that government is the answer to all problems, including employment, when any fool could tell them that it is the private sector that generates jobs, not the government.
My fourth annoyance is tied to the current economic situation where, because of our financial troubles and our president's fiscally and diplomatically irresponsible policies, we are becoming ever weaker in the international scene. This cannot be a good thing! We have seen stupendous wars growing out of such weakness in the past, and they are too horrible to mankind to be allowed to happen yet again.
So those are the top four of my peeves or hates. There are a lot more to go!
Labels: Democrats, Fiscal Responsibility, Jihadists, Liberalism
Friday, February 05, 2010
Where Went Transparency?
Do politicos lie, or just bend the truth?
For a moment, let us return to the idea that some politicos say one thing and do another. Not that they do this in every situation, or for every statement they emit, but they do it often enough to merit extremely close attention to their words versus their actions.
It is clearly, clearly reserved for those times when they read the tea leaves; that is, when they realize that a significant sector of the public wants to insist on one way and the politico wants to go in exactly the opposite direction. Thus, they claim up front that they are going with the public desire, but behind the scenes they are working in the opposite direction.
This tactic was employed by Clinton quite often, and it appears to have been fully embraced by Obama. It is designed very cynically to misdirect and neutralize some part of the public as to the real intentions of the politico and his party at a critical point, such as before an election or a key legislative vote.
The open government theme of transparency is one perfect example of such a meme out of many that is readily embraced by the public, so stated as absolutely necessary over and over by Obama, and almost totally reversed in practice by him and by his party once he was elected.
A video of Democratic legislators and Obama horsetrading away on national TV to buy votes for the Obama Healthcare bill would be instantly devastating to the entire gaggle of politicos shown!
Labels: Democrats, Liberalism, Obama, Pelosi, Reid
Wednesday, February 03, 2010
My Government II
There is a long list of liberal legislators that would not survive in my government, headed by Pelosi, Reid, Schumer, Waxman, and Feinstein, How they got elected speaks to the lack of smarts in their home constituencies, corruption in the voting process, or the inability of their voters to connect the dots correctly. These people propose anti-American and anti-constitutional solutions to national problems, and should never be allowed inside the Capitol building again, even as visitors.
Labels: Conservatism, Constitution, Democrats, Liberalism, Pelosi, Reid
Monday, February 01, 2010
My Government
A few of my views on where we must go in 2010!
One of the things I want for my government is dependability. I want it to be there in strength when the rest of the world goes bananas. What I mean here is that we should have a very well-equipped and substantial standing army, navy and air force to maintain the posture of peace through strength. Then no one will take us on, or try to humiliate us by attacking our friends.
I do not want it to look like a basket case financially, either, which means it should be prudent with our money. The idea of expanding entitlements translates to me as increased government handouts offered seemingly to buy the votes of recipients, which is simply not prudent. To extend these entitlements to illegal immigrants is the apex of stupidity and imprudence!
It pains me as well if the government is speculating or experimenting with my services or my rights. Services should be largely a fixed thing and fair for all citizens, so that one can rely on having such services for decades. I expect to retain my natural rights forever and ever!
Perhaps I am a bit selfish, but I cannot stand to see my tax dollars being used to afford healthy people a living without working, or to see the government gamed by people using multiple births to increase their welfare checks. We must take care of the indigent, the ill, the old and crippled for sure, but not the capable.
We have had a relatively free market approach to our economy, with some regulation thrown in to try to keep things fair and above board. We must maintain this free market posture. The market regulations and the regulators have not performed their jobs very well recently, so I can see the need to beef up some aspects of regulation, and the need to find some more honest regulators, in order to prevent future crashes of the kind we are in now. This does not mean that the government has to move in and become owners of our industry, which is occurring currently.
This has to extend to the Congress as well, in that they should keep their hands off the financial sector except through lawful regulations and inquiries. Their hidden hand in our mortgage crisis has yet to be fully exposed and dealt with properly.
The fact is, I simply do not trust big government or advocates of programs that lead to more big government; mostly by Democrats. We already have far too many government employees, government organizations, and government influences on our lives.
One reason we have an energy crisis is the government's intervention into the realm of nuclear power plants, and stalling conversion to more nuclear generation of electricity, and then, for toppers, stalling on development of our own oil deposits, seemingly, just to make things worse. I have nothing against wind or solar power developments, which have promise of ameliorating the energy crisis, but they are both kind of ugly to look at and take up a lot of otherwise pleasant surface areas and views.
The final complaint I have for now is that we have been step-by-step weaned away from our Constitution into a Post-Constitutional government, where most anything goes. The checks on constitutionality of laws dreamed up by liberals (for the common good, and their own continuance, of course) have been subverted, and the Supreme Court has anointed itself as a super-legislating body able to extend their legal hands into everyday affairs without our representative bodies—the House and Senate-- having a say.
I do hope that 2010 begins a reversion to sound Constitutional government, and away from ad hoc interventionists.
Labels: Government
Who the hell are they, anyway?
Some day, someone will take on the task of identifying these so-called "elites" and their real preferences in life, government, and associations. Till then, I think that the concept is far too hazy, sort of like "the poor", which is quite largely a transient state in the US.
Tell me how to recognize an "elite" when I pass one on the street, meet one socially, or go hunting for one. Just who are they, anyway?
Are they the dreaded popcorn-idea-men intellectuals that Thomas Sowell writes about that want the power to make laws of their popcorn and to experiment on the public with all manner of provisions; are they the wealthy, the high Democratic officials, the professors, the politicos, liberals, Ivy League grads, kooks, some of all of this, or what?
No one seems to want to name names and give bios, so the elites can't be hunted down effectively, even with bird dogs.
It reminds me of Jeff Foxworthy's: "You may be a Redneck if…." joke list. You may be an elite if you graduated from Yale, are worth over a million inherited dollars, have the required liberal guilt syndrome, are a frustrated professor of something exotic, write books no one reads, and vote Democratic across the board. (or not!)
Labels: Elites, Intellectuals


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If you are looking for a hearty stew this is it! Italian sausage, zucchini, mushrooms and tinned tomatoes all combine to create this beautiful stew.
This is DELICIOUS! A great summer recipe. The only thing I did differently was to slice the zucchini and squash thickly (maybe 1/2 inch) so that they keep a little bit of crunch to them. We ate it over egg noodles and everyone enjoyed it. We froze leftovers and it was just as good after thawing again as it was the first time! - 30 Sep 2010 (Review from Allrecipes USA and Canada)
Delicious. I didn't use the mushrooms to make it more kid-friendly. Great summer meal. Thanks! - 31 Jul 2010 (Review from Allrecipes USA and Canada)
This is a very delicious dish. I used sweet Italian poultry sausage and did include the carrots and mushrooms. I also added some salt and pepper. It is different enough from my other Italian dishes to be a nice change. Hubby and I really enjoyed it! It is very healthy and a good way to get in the veggies! - 08 Jan 2012 (Review from Allrecipes USA and Canada)

subset: commoncrawl


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First Year Residence Halls
First year students are typically housed in residence halls which feature more traditional style living arrangements. Read more about First Year Housing at W&J
Upperclass Residence Halls
Upperclass students have a variety of housing options including the College's newest residence halls and apartment style living. Read more about Upperclass Residence Halls
Fraternity & Sorority Housing
All ten of W&J's Fraternities and Sororities live in the College-owned Chestnut Street houses, completed in 2005. Read more about Fraternity and Sorority Housing at W&J
Residential Learning Communities
Residential Learning Communities at Washington and Jefferson College provide an environment where students can explore the interconnected relationship between what is learned and what is lived. Read more about Residential Learning Communities at W&J


text: Mark Miller Regional Sales Engineer, South Central As a sales engineer for Sitecore, Mark enjoys working with customers and partners to identify practical solutions for their digital marketing and communications needs. Sure the destination matters, but the adventure is in the journey and the relationships built along the way. Mark comes to Sitecore with a wealth of knowledge about the challenges faced by businesses today in the connected world. As an e-commerce and brick and mortar store owner for years, Mark lived with the challenges of relating to customers in the digital realm just as he would personally - by knowing and relating to them as individuals, with specific interests, values and needs.


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Silo delivers on the growing need for a centralised, reliable source of
all industry-related product images, data and analytics.
No longer just South Africa's largest digital FMCG image library and brand content library,
Silo is the ultimate, unified source of retail intelligence and retail analytics in the country.
Current trends reflect the need for an open sharing of brand content, brand content data and packaging information across a variety of mediums. This is not only useful to retailer, but for a broad spectrum of industry players, including brand teams, packaging developers, distributors, marketing teams and more.
Advanced information sharing through these new mediums enables brand owners the ability to manage the information about their products for the best representation thereof; giving retailers easy access to accurate and verified brand related assets; and ultimately gives the consumer the ability to make better informed decisions.
"Mobile devices have completely changed the buying experience. Couch commerce is a growing phenomenon, as consumers gather data about the pros and cons of products, retailers and prices via their mobile device before getting off their couch, let alone entering a shop. Consumers want an enriched shopping experience."
News24 - 11 Sept 2015
Silo is South Africa's leading digital brand content provider and source of unified retail intelligence, retail analytics and product analytics. Silo provides a single solution from product sourcing, photography, image production, post production and data capture; to hosting and distribution of content assets across the industry channels.
Established in 1993, under the name Skuworks, we've provided content, image libraries, product photography, and creative services to the FMCG industry for more than 21 years. On 1 October 2015, Skuworks acquired Fastmoving and merged Skuworks, DDS, ProductMaster and Photography into an integrated business offering; positioned to supply our long-term partners: retailers, brand owners and content consumers with rich brand content and data for their Omni-channel marketing needs.
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We have expert teams in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town that contribute to the success of our customers by helping them sell more products through better quality product imagery that is accessible immediately and versatile for output to various media and formats; accurate and high quality brand product content and data contribute to brand owner's perceived value to the consumer. Combined in force, we are providing more experience and knowledge to the industry than anyone else in South Africa, in providing effective brand and retail solutions.
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Night School, the racing industry's national online fan education program, makes its first foray into the world of "ADW/Online Wagering" with Tuesday's eighth of 40 lessons during the 2013 season. The 90-minute live chat, which begins at 8:30 p.m. ET, will feature representatives and handicappers from several of the industry's top advance deposit wagering (ADW) companies.
Tuesday's guests include John DeSantis, senior editor at Xpressbet and the on-track television handicapper for Gulfstream Park; Ed DeRosa, marketing director for BRIS and coordinator of the Twinspires.com players' pools; and Jonathan Fowler, Keeneland fan educator and handicapper for Keenelandselect.com.
"ADW/Online Wagering" will feature a discussion and Q&A with the fans on the pros and cons of playing the races from home, as well as a look at what the marketplace is, and will be, providing its customers. Tuesday's final 30 minutes will include a "Jump Ball" session that will look ahead to the upcoming Kentucky Derby.
Presenting title sponsors for Night School are the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, American Quarter Horse Association, Keeneland, Churchill Downs, Inc., and the United States Trotting Association.
The 90-minute classes are offered every Tuesday for 40 consecutive weeks through Dec. 3. Topics change weekly, and fans are eligible for prizes and rewards for registering. Registration is optional and free. There is never a charge for taking part in Night School. The weekly program is offered in three media: live chat via the Cover It Live live blogging/chat forum, audio/radio streaming and full video lesson plans. The media of delivery is based on the subject matter and alternates throughout the season.
This week's Night School will be followed at 10:00 p.m. ET by the "After Night School Special," featuring live racing from Mountaineer Park. The segment will cover the evening's final race in real time with free, live-streaming video. Fans wishing to take part in the Mountaineer action simply need to remain in the Night School chat after class.
The Night School lessons continue each week with the "Night School Friday Night Live" from Remington Park, featuring expert analysis and live chat for an entire card of action with complimentary live streaming video. The Friday live chats—co-hosted by track announcer Dale Day, morning line maker Jerry Shottenkirk and Horse Player NOW's Jeremy Plonk—begin at 6:30 p.m. ET and extend through the evening's final race.
This week's Night School preview video by Jeremy Plonk: http://youtu.be/fOWZWbpGvgg
This week's study materials, courtesy of Horse Player NOW:


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News archive
News archive
13 December 2012
Flybe Launches Get More Initiative To Simplify Gds 'bundled' Bookings
Flybe, Europe's largest regional airline, has launched an initiative that offers the trade a quick and easy way to sell and book its popular New Economy product via a unique fare basis that includes a single bundle supplement so there are no SSR entries required or any additional payments via MCOs.
Following the airline's introduction of its 'Making flying better' initiative earlier this year that incorporates the New Economy product, a popular value-for-money package that offers added- benefits for customers namely 10kg hand bag allowance, a free standard sized hold bag, free advance seat selection at the time of booking and a free itinerary change, Flybe has been working closely with its GDS providers to develop a more streamlined solution to make it easier for the trade to process.
Stephen Hobday, Flybe's Director of Sales comments: "Whilst the undoubted benefits of New Economy sell themselves, we nevertheless needed to create a mechanism to save time for TMCs and costs for corporate customers when booking in the GDS. With the support of our trade and GDS partners, we are delighted to have now achieved this to everyone's satisfaction.
"Previously this bundle had to be booked separately to the fare, with an MCO issued and additional SSRs for baggage and other added elements. This has now been loaded as a special fare basis across all distribution channels."
The introduction of the New Economy option has been a key component in Flybe's 'Making flying better' strategy which encompasses the entire flying experience – from the choices that are made during the booking process, through an enhanced airport experience right through to the flight itself. Other initiatives have included the introduction of our Manchester hub which provides improved frequency and convenient connectivity, and the introduction of our new 88-seat Embraer 175 jets into the fleet that continue to generate extremely positive passenger reviews."
Robin Ranken, Head of Supplier Europe from Travelport, Flybe's 'preferred GDS' added : "We are delighted to be working with Flybe to bring their complete product offering to our travel agency customers worldwide. The new bundled fares will make it quicker and easier for agents to book and as a GDS that drives efficiencies across the travel supply chain we are excited to be working with Flybe on this latest development."
Flybe's Sales Team will be working with its customers and trade partners to develop further sales of New Economy and full details of GDS entries can be found by visiting Flybe's trade pages at www.flybe.com/trade.


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A program to replace water meters in all residential and commercial structures within the Village of Shorewood is scheduled to begin in early 2020. The Wisconsin Public Service Commission requires that all water meters be replaced on a 20-year cycle. Shorewood's most recent meter replacement program was initiated in 1995.
The Village of Shorewood/Shorewood Water Utility and Village Board are in the process of selecting a vendor for this program. It is anticipated that a vendor and meter reading system will be approved by the Village Board in October 2019. Meter installation will likely start in early 2020. Access to the interior of most homes will be required.
The new meters and reading system will provide better customer service, improve operation efficiencies and provide greater access to data.


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The first semester of my senior year has flown by, with each month seeming to get shorter and shorter. As 2014 gets closer, I have been thinking about resolutions for next year. I normally don't even make New Year resolutions because I think they are just destined for disappointment, especially with everyone pessimistically tweeting about how they stopped working out or stopped eating healthy by January 3rd. But this year is different. I've realized the true importance of goals and plan on coming up with several realistic goals for the new year that will, hopefully, stick around for much longer than a year.
Setting goals helps you stay organized and focus on things you want to accomplish. I have not always been the most organized person – just ask any of my friends and they'll jump at the chance to vouch for this – but this year I have really started to work on and improve my organization skills: I started to keep a weekly planner with assignments, meetings and other appointments, started to organize papers and assignments from school more efficiently and began organizing files on my computer. I've started to keep my room cleaner and even started finding fun ways to decorate it. It may not have always come naturally to me, but now you can be assured I'll never return to my old ways.
Even more important than a planner full of to-do's are my goals. This year, I set goals for organizing my social media (especially my Linkedin), making more connections, getting more involved on campus and beginning to apply for jobs. These goals made all the difference in my year and made me feel like I wasn't wasting my time or skills any longer.
Which brings me to the reason I'm even discussing goals at all right now: because they make all the difference.
Next year's goals:
1) Figure out what to do with the rest of my life (aka – Find a job). This is kind of a given, I guess. I'm one of those college seniors who hasn't found exactly what I'm supposed to be doing career-wise. But this only gives me more opportunities to figure out what it is – what exactly I will do that will interest me and help me grow. I cannot wait to figure out what it is! Sometimes, the process of finding out what you are passionate about can be the most fun part.
2) Grow. I want to grow in my relationship with God, my relationship with others and in my relationship with myself. This could mean finding new hobbies, delving more deeply into interests I already have and reading the Bible more, learning how to take what I learn and really apply it to my everyday life. We are meant to grow.
3) Give. Whether it is giving to a church, to a friend, to a family member or to a complete stranger, I have been given so much and the least I can do is find ways to give to others.
4) Stop drinking sodas. It sounds ridiculous but this bad habit will probably be the hardest to change.
5) Cross something off my bucket list. I've realized this is the age where you have to start thinking about jobs and growing up…but that does not mean you have to forget about the fun stuff. I am 21 and about to graduate college and this is actually the perfect age to do whatever I want – before I have a family or a long-term job that ties me down in one area. I'm determined to do something (hopefully travel-related) I've always wanted to do.
Tip: Find a friend that has the same feeling and cross something off the list together – it's something you'll always remember.
6) Show love and gratefulness to those I love more often. Recent events in my community have reminded me how quickly people can be taken away, before you have a final chance to show them or tell them how much they mean to you. My goal: to not have hard feelings or unspoken apologies. Show those around you how much you love them as often as you can.
Hopefully, I can keep these six goals on my mind and in my heart and can take actions next year to stick by them, not letting them fade away after January. I'm not expecting some revolutionary change or "new year, new me" type of thing. I'm also sure I will come up with more. In the mean time, these will just help keep me on track, not lose sight of what's important, and continue to grow each day. Bring it on 2014!


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As more and more companies move to nearshore call centers for customer service outsourcing, it's important to understand how contact centers are responding, and adapting.
There are new tools, and constant sources of continuing education, but the heart of the matter is still this: delivering a great customer experience. As a call center, we're not setting out on a complex research project to cure cancer or develop a new computer chip; instead, we're working on getting the fundamentals right.
Customers want help getting information, placing an order, or solving a problem. Frustrations often come from consumers who are met with a chatbot, or robot, which are programmed to answer a certain set of questions. Every problem is unique, however, and that is something that robots cannot detect or adapt to.
Creating a team and the right workflow is not as easy as saying "the customer is always right." If your agents simply respond in an automated and scripted way, then they're no better than the chat bots.
In that case, call centers are met with an interesting challenge; reduce the stagnation, and try to understand human behavior. Trying to understand what makes people tick, what makes them happy, and what makes them satisfied, is how call centers can truly excel. With 8 in 10 consumers willing to switch companies due to poor customer service, can your call center afford not to understand those elements?*(1)
As we enter the digital era, too many companies boast about their acquisition of the newest tools, and most advanced technology integrations. As artificial intelligence rises to the surface of trending topics, those disclaimers often catch the eye of consumers that are coming into the new space of outsourcing their call centers.
What they have limited documentation of, however, is how those tools correlate with customer experience, and how to execute the best customer service as a call center.
There's no denying that the latest technology can be helpful, but unless agents are highly trained, motivated, and have the right skill sets, there is no technology that can help you succeed.
Your team makes your customer service a success; are you ensuring that your call center agents can (and are allowed to) stop talking and listen to the customers when they need to, so that they may respond appropriately, and uniquely?
One way to keep the focus on the customer is to emphasize communication. 90% of companies have named improving customer experience as a strategic focus*(2), and that all starts with how they communicate with customers.
At Callzilla, we use strategies that ensure everybody on our team understands what the client wants us to deliver, with training and guides that use context clues and empathy to solve their issues. Then, we set our agents up for success by encouraging them to be free to use their instincts and think about how they can improve the customer experience at the moment. This approach enhances brand loyalty and customer satisfaction with the companies that have outsourced their customer service to us.
The practice of merely listening extends past the voice on the other end of the phone. Monitoring social media, understanding the results of customer surveys, and learning from past customer feedback, are all tools that improve the methodologies of customer communications. In fact, 66% of companies are looking to increase their use of advanced analytics* (2) to improve their customer experience. Now that's where that technology comes in hand.
Life doesn't follow a script. Why should a contact center? Our agents can make a positive impression on customers' lives, and make them glad they contacted us.
It's not rocket science; humans want human help. Whether that help comes through a phone, an email, or a chat correspondence, holds little bearing when the end goal is to provide superior customer support. At Callzilla, we know that if we can deliver omnichannel customer service, while also providing some "wow" moments, we'll reap great rewards.
Those "wow" moments translate into incredible things: dollars and cents, lifetime values, loyalty, and customer emotions that go beyond mere satisfaction or tangible rewards, and that's something that call centers cannot lose sight of.
By expanding your training programs, aligning your staff to meet the goals of the companies you work with, and diversifying the channels by which you execute customer service, the future is bright for call centers.
Reference Guide:
1) https://getvoip.com/blog/2017/05/16/state-of-customer-experience/
2) https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/us/Documents/strategy/us-con-2017-global-contact-center-survey.pdf
Neal Topf co-launched Callzilla in 2005. Since then, he's led Callzilla to become one of the world's top-ranked outsourced contact centers, earning over a dozen industry awards for top quality and performance in outsourced customer care, business process outsourcing, and customer acquisition via phone, email, live chat, automation, and social media. He has been named one of the 2017 Top 50 Thought Leaders (@nealtopf), by the International Customer Management Institute, and regularly presents at industry conference like SOCAP. One of his proudest accomplishments is Callzilla winning the prestigious ICMI 2017 Best Outsourced Service Provider award.
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Good things!
We all know good things come in small packages — and the blueberry is a perfect example. This little super-fruit packs a serious punch as an antioxidant powerhouse and a disease fighter, among its famous other health benefits. But--we haven't felt that way for long in modern history. Let's go back a bit.
For centuries, the Native Americans have known and relied on the medicinal powers of the iconic blueberry. And we, as the modern American consumer, have been told endlessly by parents, grandparents, teachers and preachers that we should "eat more servings of fruits and vegetables." Ok. Dandy. But it wasn't until 2008 when results were published from a study conducted at Center for Human Nutrition, at University of California, that things really heated up again for these bewildering bits of blue!
The study was entitled "Berry Fruits: Compositional Elements, Biochemical Activities, and the Impact of Their Intake on Human Health, Performance, and Disease." Now don't get me wrong. American consumers have always LOVED the taste of blueberries. We just didn't know how incredibly GOOD they were for us – and why. So, when Navindra P. Serram published findings stating …"An overwhelming body of research has now firmly established that the dietary intake of berry fruits has a positive and profound impact on human health, performance, and disease. Given the wide consumption of berry fruits and their potential impact on human health and disease, conferences and symposia that target the latest scientific research (and, of equal importance, the dissemination of this information to the general public), on the chemistry and biological and physiological functions of these 'superfoods' are necessary."
And then? POW! Right in the kisser! Symposiums and conferences about berry health started happening all over the place! (I went to one in June of 2013 – fascinating!) Every form of worldwide media picked up on the exciting discoveries and shouted and touted them from every headline, byline, and sideline available! Large corporations with the deepest of pockets responded by throwing very, VERY large amounts of money into university based research focused specifically on what Native Americans have always known…that blueberries really are an incredible gift of nature! The word "Antioxidant" became a household word. People wanted to know – "Where can I get 'em?!" and "How can I get MORE of 'em?!" From there, people started talking, thinking about and understanding the role of free radicals, and even more importantly—understanding how oxidation, DIS-ease, and aging process happens within the human body. And the very real connection of "you ARE what you EAT," just like your Momma said! Finally, you listen!
Ok then! Now that I got your attention, let's get down to brass tacks, folks! Pull up a chair and sit a spell. Let's flip the long ash a bit, shall we?


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By all accounts, Palm Beach State is enjoying its first trip to the junior college national championship.
Before one of the Panthers' recent games at the National Junior College Athletics Association Division I World Series in Grand Junction, Colo., former Summit Christian right-hander John Costa wore a microphone in this video, produced by local TV station KKCO.
Marvel at the greatness as Costa plays phantom ping-pong with teammate Ryan Pistey, conducts a serious interview with pitching coach Dax Rankine, and offers his thoughts on tight pants.
Palm Beach State, after fighting its way through the elimination bracket, will play the winner of tonight's Central Alabama-Spartanburg game at 9:30 p.m. Thursday in the final four. All games are streamed live at JUCOGJ.org.


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Here is Dress Detail For Pakistani Casual Shalwar Kameez White Chiffon
Top: White chiffon shirt having amazing floral embellish embroidery on neckline. Adorned with gorgeous embellish stone, thread and bead work on neckline and sleeve. Sleeve shirt with neckline style. Fully lined. Concealed back zip closure.
Bottom/Shalwar: Ferozi crepe shalwar.
Dupatta: White pure chiffon dupatta finished with piping on edges.


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Throughout the entire history of computing technology (as opposed to the human computers made famous by movies like Hidden Figures), one fact has stayed consistent: Supercomputers are expensive.
Sure, you can now get more flops for every dollar you spend on computing technology and supercomputers are now far less vulnerable to a literal bug in the machinery, but the number one reason that cash-strapped academic organizations might hesitate to invest in a supercomputer is that teraflops are still costly.
The answer to this might seem obvious to anyone who has ever been impressed by the sheer amount of computing power that the Bitcoin network can command at any given time.
If computing power could be decentralized to the point where anyone with a decent desktop computer could earn cryptocurrencies by contributing unused flops to a "fog" supercomputer, then organizations that need serious amounts of computing power but don't want to make an upfront investment in the hardware could lease those flops.
SONM aims to bootstrap the concept of monetizing the unused flops by connecting people with unused computing power with organizations that might be willing to pay for fog computing services.
*Learn Bitcoin While Earning Income HERE
What makes a fog supercomputer different from cloud computing?
The chief difference here seems to be that you think of fog as this sorta wispy cloud that floats along the ground. It only gets annoying when it wrecks your ability to see any significant distance while your driving and the fog will evaporate when it warms up enough.
A cloud is something you could point at up in the sky that might bring rain. It looks pretty well-defined in shape and boundaries. Likewise, a cloud server is usually something you can pinpoint with a little technical know-how.
A "fog" supercomputer is different because the computers that are providing your flops can shift around and change depending on the preferences of the owners.
If a topography of a fog supercomputer could be created, its tendrils might look as thin and wispy as a light covering of fog. That supercomputer might take a slight dip in computer power if the owner of a gaming laptop decides that he wants to play a game for a few hours.
It's the sum total of computing power that a fog supercomputer can command that could put it on the same level as IBM's Watson, or even the Bitcoin network if enough people decide to rent out their unused flops.
What Does Using SOMN Require?
Before you can rent out your unused computing power, you need to download something called Docker.(i) It's designed for serious developers and is available as a free Community Edition and premium Enterprise Edition. The good part here is that Docker is available for a good variety of operating systems, including the major flavors of Linux.
The chief problem with Docker is that its website seems intent on sending potential users around in an endless loop through its documentation pages rather than simply making it easy to download the Community Edition.
If users can figure that part out, SOMN does provide some easy-to-follow instructions for setting up its miner that is geared toward Linux (or maybe the website just detected on its own that I use a Linux laptop).
What Is SOMN's Target Audience?
SOMN seems to target any organization that needs to process large amounts of data but don't have the upfront cash needed to buy hardware that would give them large amounts of computing power.
So it could attract anyone who has already considered cloud computing as an option but have hesitated because they can't find service packages that would give them computing power on the same level as the latest supercomputers.
Academic organizations are an obvious potential customer base to anyone who has ever heard of BOINC, which was designed to bootstrap unused computing power on people's desktops to help process data from experiments. Some small academic organizations may find it attractive to just be able to rent the flops they need at any given time rather than spend the limited dollars they have on even a small supercomputer.
The SOMN system could also provide the back end for mobile apps, game servers, machine learning apps, and web hosting services that need more computing power than their backers can afford to buy. Anyone who has had to put up with slow video streaming and rendering may also be tempted to rent some flops to speed things up.
Any Nitpicks?
There aren't too many negatives that I saw beyond Docker making it a hassle to download the Community Edition, which made it impossible to test the SOMN system. SOMN is also still in Alpha, which implies that it still has a few technical issues to sort out.
It's also a matter of whether the concept of a decentralized fog supercomputer can catch on with organizations that may be used to a centralized organizational structure.
For instance, many government organizations may hesitate to get involved because, well, it's a cryptocurrency that isn't backed by a government and they're too invested in the U.S. dollar. So in this case, it may be a matter of selling SOMN as a token that can be used to unlock computing power.
It's also a case of the "chicken and the egg" problem in which owners of excess computing power may hesitate to rent it out if there aren't enough customers to rent their flops and organizations may wait to rent the flops they need if the computing power isn't there. So one may hope that SOMN has a decent marketing plan.
If SOMN can do what it takes to snag a decent share of the cloud computing market, though, it will have boosted an obvious application of the decentralized computing concept popularized by Bitcoin's Proof-of-Work algorithms.
The same computing power used for Proof-of-Work can also be rented out for purposes like data crunching for academic organizations and boosting the performance of game servers and video rendering. If you care to place a bet on SOMN going big, SOMN has recently jumped by more than 30% on exchanges.
Thanks for reading!
There are Fortunes Being Made Every day with Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies – Watch Video Here


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Overlook Connection Press publisher Dave Hinchberger is giving away two copies of the limited edition of Fatal Journeys! To be in the running just post a review of the book on Fatal Journeys' Facebook and Amazon pages. You will authomatically be entered in a lottery to win one of the two limited editions being given away.
The limited edition includes:
*"Wingless Beasts", a bonus story, never-before-pubished and making its first appearance in this signed limited edition
*Original cover foil-stamped design by noted horror and dark fantasy artist Glenn Chadbourne, who created new art for the front and back of this edition
*Signatures by Lucy Taylor, Jack Ketchum, and Glenn Chadbourne
*Frontispiece by Bill Munster
*Bound-in silk bookmark
There are only two hundred copies of the limited edition available, so write a review and get one for free!


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King Street, Montrose, DD10 8NL
For Sale - Offers Over £549,000
The Limes is a substantial and well known guest house in the thriving town of Montrose and is situated in a central location and within easy access to Montrose High Street, Golf Courses and prominent Beach all within a short distance away.
Montrose is also well know for its pharmaceutical, oil and gas connections as well as a visitor destination due to the sandy beaches, Medal and Broomfield golf courses with easy access to the Grampian Mountains making The Limes Guest house ideally situated to capitalise on the tourism and business industry. The Limes Guest House offers plenty of opportunity to increase turnover considerably should the new vendor wish to increase the trading period and marketing exposure which is currently at present limited due to time constraints.
The property is a substantial detached stone built property over three levels with extension to the side and boasting a large car park, garden conservatory, garage and spacious garden ground.
The large reception hallway gives way to the residents lounge area with feature fireplace and access into the large breakfast room which comfortably accommodates all staying guests and there is potential to convert into a function suite in the evening if required. There is a WC on the first floor and shower room on the ground floor.
The Limes Guest House comes with 12 en suite letting rooms all with tea and coffee facilities as well as televisions in all rooms and have been been finished with traditional decor throughout. The rooms can offer a configuration ranging from double, single, twin and family rooms with 9 bedrooms on the first floor, 2 bedrooms and the second floor and 1 bedroom on the ground floor.
The owners accommodation is situated on the ground floor and comprises of private sitting room with large bay window overlooking the garden ground, owners kitchen, laundry room and private bedroom with en suite bathroom. There is also linen storage cupboards on the first and second floor.
There is large front landscape garden ground, off road parking for approximately 8 vehicles, conservatory, side garden with drying green and access to garage with large storage area.
Mains water, drainage, gas and electricity
Scottish freehold
The business conforms to all fire regulations
Accounts are available on requested after formal viewing.
An inventory will be compiled to detail all items of a personal nature excluded from the sale.
Strictly through FindMyBuyer Estate Agents.
For further details
call us on
Key Features
- Detached Guest House
- Three reception rooms
- Kitchen
- Laundry room
- Thirteen Bedrooms
- Fourteen Bathrooms
- Parking for 8 vehicles
- Garden conservatory
- Gardens & Garage


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Big Oyster Brewery 1007 Kings Hwy Lewes, Delaware.
Open daily for lunch & dinner with 16 beers on tap, full bar, wine list, 4-packs to go, crowlers, and growlers.
Happy hour from 4 pm - 7 pm Monday through Thursday and 11 am-6 pm on Friday and 11 am-6 pm Sunday.
Big Oyster Brewery is giving tours! Come walk through our brewery and learn about the process of brewing. We'll give you inside detail and access to our fermenters and barrel room, while you learn the history of beer and us. Tours are on each Sunday of the month. Time Slots are 11:30 am, 12:00 pm, 12:30 pm. To buy tickets, click this link: Big Oyster Tours


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Using two powerful antibacterial plants: Neem and Tea Tree, our Neem Face Cream eliminates bacteria which forms when there is excess oil or dirt on the skin.
The Neem Tree is an evergreen tree that is part of the mahogany family and is a common feature of the drier regions of India, Southeast Asia and parts of Africa. Neem bark, leaves, fruit, seeds and oils all contain medicinal qualities. Many of these qualities play an important role in healthy skin care. Scientific studies have shown Neem to have properties that are:
Antiviral – inhibits the growth of viruses
Anti-fungal – inhibits the growth of fungi
Antibacterial – destroying the growth of bacteria
Analgesic – providing pain relief
Anti-inflammatory – reduce certain signs of inflammation, swelling or tenderness
Antimicrobial -destroying the growth of microorganisms
With Sweet Almond Oil and Peppermint, it sounds like a cream good enough to eat. But while it smells fresh and amazing, the other two active ingredients – Neem and Tea Tree – get to work at keeping the skin clean and infection-free. Working wonders for problem skin, Sweet Almond Oil and Shea Butter leaves you with soft, moisturised skin.
Directions For Use:
Every morning replenish and moisturise your skin by gently massaging Ayumi Moisturising Neem Face Cream into your face and neck.
Allergy Advice:
* Allergen occurs naturally from Essential Oils
Paraban Free Formula
Our products are not tested on Animal nor does it contain any animal derivitives.
No Artificial Fragrances
No SLS
Aqua, Isopropyl Myristate, Cetearyl Alcohol, Glycerin ( vegetable Origin ), Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil, Myristyl Myristate, Steareth-21, Steareth-2, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter), Polyacrylate, Illicium Verum (Aniseed) Oil, Eucalyptus Globulus (Eucalyptus) Oil, Mentha Viridis (Mint) Oil, Citrus Aurantium Dulcis (Sweet Orange) Oil, Arvensis (Peppermint) Oil, Menthol, Melaleuca Alternifolia (Tea Tree) Oil, Azadirachta Indica (Neem) Seed Oil,Aloe Barbadensis Extract, Tocopheryl Acetate, Phenoxyethanol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Ascorbic Acid2-Bromo-2-Nitropropane-1, 3-Diol,Limonene*


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As we have limited update on the next jailbreak and are all waiting for a release from either the TaiG and Pangu team, there have been thousands of comments being made under their official Weibo accounts by Chinese supporters to the two jailbreak teams. I scrolled through them every day just in case there is a release. I did post some interesting comments that are written in Chinese on my Twitter and received quite a few requests to get those translated. So here are some recent ones that I selected to share with you:
- In fact you don't owe anyone anything. It's your freedom to jailbreak. But can you just tell us if you are able to do so? If not, just say it and we won't wait anymore. If yes but takes time, we can also understand.
- I don't jailbreak. But I knew that TaiG is famous for "picking up" exploits/vulnerabilities. They held the submit because Apple patched the exploits in iOS 8.2 and they wanted to talked about sharing the vulnerabilities (from foreign hackers) but failed to achieve. Don't take on the job without the tool or skill.
- Since all the jailbreak teams did not respond anything, would it be some big things going on? Or are they running out of ideas? Either death or breakout from silence.
- Support the Pangu team to win the race against TaiG and prove to everyone they are capable to jailbreak on their own
- TaiG has lost their Weibo account password so they cannot login and update the progress.
My feeling is 8 out of 10 people who keep on blaming on TaiG and Pangu is because of lack of visibility on the iOS jailbreak development progress and that the team are trying to turn people's focus onto the security conferences.
They have also made it official that the rumors on some posts on 3K Forum that TaiG has got several vulnerabilities have been proved to be fake. The TaiG team will not make announcement on the progress at the discovery stage. Again, this is something "we shall see" instead.
The remaining portion, well, either impolite languages, or teasing on them as if they are no longer capable in releasing a jailbreak for newer version of iOS without "buying" exploits/vulnerabilities, i0n1c has been trying to prove. And now, it could be the time to prove on this. On our side, we should not be too harsh or complaining too much as the jailbreak teams released the tool to the public for free.
So what's your take and speculation on the next jailbreak? Positive or negative? Let me know in the comments!


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The Revenue Optimization Companies Announces New Division, Let's Talk Repairs
MIAMI (Wednesday, September 21, 2016)
The Revenue Optimization Companies (T-ROC), recently named by Inc. 5000 as one of the nation's fastest-growing private companies, announces its latest brainchild and division, Let's Talk Repairs, a solution-based company that provides convenient device repairs for Apple iPhones, Samsung Galaxy smartphones and soon tablets. Whether it's a cracked screen or dead battery, professionally trained in-house technicians will travel anywhere in Miami-Dade and Broward County, at the customer's convenience to fix the problem, delivering fast solutions and providing impeccable concierge door-to-door service. Whether the customer is at home, work or a restaurant, technicians will travel the distance for their ease and support.
"We understand the importance of quality service and convenience. We have provided our clients with flawless service, so we are setting the bar high for our Let's Talk Repairs customers." said Brett Beveridge, President and CEO of T-ROC and Let's Talk Repairs. "We are mobile because our users are," he added.
Let's Talk Repairs sources the highest quality parts including batteries, screens and screen protectors, which allows the customer to experience and enjoy the full benefits of their smartphone. Customers are able to request a technician by simply visiting the website, selecting a date, time and location of their convenience. The technician will arrive on-time with all necessary equipment and parts to successfully complete the repair service.
Before the end of 2016, the company will announce its expansion in to other surrounding markets. To learn more about Let's Talk Repairs, visit www.letstalkrepairs.com. For more information about The Revenue Optimization Companies, visit www.trocglobal.com.
About The Revenue Optimization Companies
The Revenue Optimization Companies (T-ROC) is home to four sales solutions companies that enable clients to fulfill all of their sales performance needs. The Retail Outsource (TRO): an in and out of store sales performance management company; Mobile Insight (MI): real-time field reporting and business intelligence; The Consumer Insight (TCI): full-service customer experience analysis; and SYMBITS: managed IT services. Working in synergy, these four companies form a complete ecosystem for running, managing, and maximizing the productivity of institutional efforts. To learn more about T-ROC and its subsidiaries, visit www.trocglobal.com.


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Create an Account - Increase your productivity, customize your experience, and engage in information you care about.
The Street Department is responsible for maintenance of all roads, sidewalks, street signs, and right-of-way within the city limits. Additional tasks include maintenance of Harris Shoals Park and the newly developed Watkinsville Woods. The Department also provides assistance and support for all city-sponsored special events, such as the Fall Festival and the Christmas Parade, and works with a number of subcontractors to complete a variety of other public works jobs within the City.
Jerry Harris - Street Maintenance Supervisor
Jerry HarrisEmail: firstname.lastname@example.com: (706) 424-1367Address:191 VFW DriveP.O. Box 27Watkinsville, Georgia 30677
Professional Experience: Worked as a fork lift driver for 10 years before joining the Street Department in 1997.Personal: Has one daughter and two grandchildren. Enjoys classic cars and riding his Harley.
Street Maintenance Workers:
Justin Dunaway
Email: email@example.com
Alex Bishop
Email: email@example.com


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Prostate cancer is the most typical most cancers in males in the UK, with over forty,000 new instances recognized every year. A number of instruments can be found to help predict outcomes, such as pathologic stage and recurrence after surgical procedure or radiation remedy. Now, my girlfriend's father was diagnosed with prostate cancer similtaneously my father, it had not spread, he had surgical procedure to take away it and he's wholesome as a horse and most cancers free. If it has metastasized to the bone, then if may very well be a matter of weeks or months, relying on once you first realized the extent of the cancer.
Dcotors like people to report symptoms early so that any actual cancers can be caught whereas they are extra simply treatable. As the average life expectancy will increase attributable to advances within the remedy of cardiovascular, pulmonary and different chronic ailments, it is probably that extra aged patients will likely be living lengthy sufficient to suffer the results of their prostate most cancers.
The Prostate Cancer Foundation focuses on funding research for prevention and treatment. Subsequently, there is at present a lot interest in the position of aggressive prostate most cancers therapy modalities resembling with surgery or radiation in the aged population who have localized illness. The one factor i'd say is that, if the most cancers turns into very advanced, it is going to trigger him much more ache and struggling than any treament will do so, for my part, he is much better off being treated than struggling at the finish.
If there's a particular type of treament he is fearful about he probably doesn't even have to go although it as there are many different methods of curing prostate cancer. I don't mean that the ribbons themselves are significantly noticeable, just that the ladies who run breast most cancers prevention organizations do a a lot better job of promoting breast most cancers consciousness events and such.
Typically a person who carries a gene for prostate cancer may not show symptoms). I used to be identified with bi-lateral prostate cancer with surrounding tissue involvement. Many of the threat elements for prostate most cancers are extra common together with longer life expectancy and diets high in red meat. The hormone therapies try to inhibit the manufacturing of testosterone, for testosterone fuels the prostate most cancers cell growth.


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Tag Archives: blogging
Yes, I'm Updating My Blog. Yes, It's Taken 5 Years (!)
Tweet The last time I was really here was 2013. Wow. With reference to my last (beyond old) blog post, clearly Halle Berry is no longer pregnant. But I do still think sheer fashion can be chic. And the clothes … Continue reading
Posted in health, leslie quander articles, lifestyle, travel Tagged blogging, freelancing, hawaii, health, leslie quander wooldridge Leave a comment


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Have you got music video on your iPad that you don't have on your computer? Maybe you've lost a hard drive(or an entire computer), or your computer is crashed, or you've accidentally deleted just a little too much, and for one reason or another, you don't have the original source of the music and movie. Now you want transfer songs video from iPad to computer, is there any way for this? Or you maybe a newbie and find it difficult to use iTunes and moreover iTunes only offers one way synchronization of music video from PC to iPad and want to get an iPad transfer to copy videos and music from computer to iPad without iTunes.
If you have long been puzzled over problems above, well, you're in the right place. Transfer music video between iPad and computer without iTunes easily and fast, you need a smart iPad transfer that allows you to transfer videos and music from computer to iPad directly and copy iPad files to computer smoothly. Here iTransfer is highly recommended. With it, you can effortlessly transfer media files between your iPad and computer without iTunes. Besides, you can also use it to transfer files among different iPhones, iPods, etc. without any limitation! If you are looking for the Mac iPad transfer, please go to iTransfer for Mac.
Free download iTransfer, install and run it. The main interface of the software is as below. After connecting your iPad to PC, you will get your iPad info including capacity version, etc.
With iTransfer, you can simply follow the wizard interface to do the following things with ease:
You can select to add video/music files or file folder from computer to iPad and transfer files to iPad directly.
Select one or more files in the file lists and then click "Transfer", you can transfer iPad movie music to PC for backup.
Select one or more files in the file list and then click "", you can transfer iPad video/music back to iTunes smoothly for backup. The program will automatically open iTunes after transfer process is done.


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This website is owned and operated by Bloody Good Book, a division of Bushfire Publishers LLP. The following terms and conditions outline Bloody Good Book's privacy policy.
1. Some sections of Bloody Good Book may be accessed by the user without registering. However, users are required to register to submit manuscripts, rate and comment on manuscripts, etc.
2. During the registration process, Bloody Good Book reserves the right to ask for information such as the user's email address, full name and user name. Bloody Good Book will use the personal information you provide to offer you services and/or products that you may select.
3. Bloody Good Book will use information such as your email address to notify you regarding an information relating to your account or your manuscript.
4. Bloody Good Book may contact the user by using the personal information provided to to provide products, services and information that may be of interest to the user.
Visibility of your information, manuscript and comments on Bloody Good Book
1. Once the user registers with Bloody Good Book, the personal information such as profile photo (if uploaded), manuscript(s) (if uploaded), email address, name, etc will be made visible to all other Bloody Good Book users. The user must choose the option to make private the information (except manuscript(s)) if he/she does not wish to make this information publicly visible.
2. In addition to other information passively collected by the Bloody Good Book website, this site also tracks
(i) Manuscripts that have been uploaded by users,
(ii) what Manuscripts, comments and other content users view and how often they view it,
(iii) ratings given by users to Manuscripts.
3. If you're an author, Bloody Good Book reserves the right to keep public your manuscript's profile page along with its reviews after the six month exclusivity period ends. Bloody Good Book will ensure that unless permitted by the author, the manuscript will not be available for reading or viewing by registered members of Bloody Good Book after the exclusivity period ends.
1. Bloody Good Book uses session ID cookies. The user can opt-in to the usage of cookies by indicating that their login credentials be remembered when the login subsequently.
2. Bloody Good Book may use cookies that are not linked to any personal information to store certain preferences about the user's use of the services.
Site Activity on the web and mobile
1. Bloody Good Book, like most web and mobile sites, stores and uses web server log files. These files include anonymous information about web browsers, such as internet protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, internet service provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, platform type, date/time stamp, and number of clicks to analyze trends, administer the site, track users' movement in the aggregate, and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use. Such log files are not linked to Personal Information through the Bloody Good Book service.
Sharing of information
Bloody Good Book will not share information provided by users, except as follows:
1. Bloody Good Book may use users' personal information to produce aggregate information relating to the activity of Bloody Good Book's services and products. This information will show the user's activity as a whole rather than on an individual level. This aggregate information will not allow a user to be personally contacted or identified. This information may be shared with relevant customers and partners of Bloody Good Book.
2. Bloody Good Book may share users' personal information with its affiliates, subsidiaries and service providers for the sole purpose of providing the Bloody Good Book service to the user, provided that the information is required for and used only for such purpose and provided the information is used in accordance with this Privacy Policy. Bloody Good Book will otherwise only release Personal Information to third parties in the following limited circumstances:
(i) if a law, regulation, search warrant, subpoena or court order legally requires Bloody Good Book to do so;
(ii) if Bloody Good Book's rights or property or the rights or property of Bloody Good Book's affiliates, subsidiaries, service providers or the users of the Bloody Good Book website or services are in jeopardy; or
(iii) if the personal safety of users of the Bloody Good Book website or services or other members of the public is in jeopardy.
3. In the event Bloody Good Book goes through a business transition, such as a merger, being acquired by another company, or selling a portion of its assets, users' personal information will, in most instances, be one of the assets transferred. Users will be notified via email prior to a change of ownership or control of their personal information. If, as a result of the business transition, the users' personal information will be used in a manner different from that stated at the time of collection, users will be given a choice to decline such different use.
Bloody Good Book employs security measures in order to prevent the loss, misuse, unauthorized access, theft and alteration of personal information. However, no transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be completely secure. Consequently, Bloody Good Book its affiliates, subsidiaries, service providers and their respective officers, directors, employees and agents do not represent, warrant or guarantee that personal information will be protected against misuse, loss or alterations and do not accept any liability for personal information submitted to or collected by them nor for your or third parties' use or misuse of Personal Information. Correcting/ updating/ deleting and deactivating personal information
1. If a user's personal information changes (such as phone, email address or cellular phone number), the user may update this information on the Bloody Good Book website or on their mobile phone.
2. If a user no longer desires to use Bloody Good Book's service, Bloody Good Book provides a way to delete/deactivate users' Personal Information. Account deletion/deactivation can be done online www.bloodygoodbook.com
Notification of changes
If Bloody Good Book decides to change its privacy policy, the changed policy statement will be made available on the Bloody Good Book website.
If a user has any questions or suggestions regarding the privacy policy, he/she can contact Bloody Good Book at firstname.lastname@example.com


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In this research, MIT scholars acquired geographically and time-referenced 3G mobile traffic data from several operators. This included data from all types of mobile devices such as phones and tablets, corresponding to several million people in NYC. The dataset enabled the collective tracking of the spatial and temporal locations of NYC's population. This enabled researchers to assign corresponding time and geographically variable air pollution exposure values to residents in order to map New York City's population with their air pollution exposure levels.
Since mobile phone operators provided normalized data aggregated at the cell tower level to the researchers, the users were anonymized. However, the study does not detail how these datasets were procured and what data-sharing agreement was forged between the mobile phone operators and the researchers.
This research attempts to use digital datasets to "predict the impacts of the urban environment on human health." In this study where researchers use mobile phone data to map the movements of several million people, important insights into the risks of air pollution can be gleaned, which can then inform environmental and public health policy.


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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
what does civilizing meant to the writer
" Miss waston and her sister wanted to civilize me " ... Plz answer :)
" Miss waston and her sister wanted to civilize me " ... Plz answer :)
For Huck this meant using good manners, being well groomed, going to school and basically becoming a "gentleman". Huck, of course, wanted nothing to do with this. Huck felt this destroyed his freedom. He wanted adventure and to live a life free of social conformity.
When Widow Douglas takes Huck in to "sivilize" him, Huck says it is rough considering how "regular and decent the widow was in all her ways." Part of the experience that Huck finds rough is the prctice the widow has 'to tuck down her head and grumble a little over the victuals" instead of going right to eating. In addition to learning good manners and developing regular habits of respectable living, "sivilizing" includes learning to pray. Miss Watson tries to help Huck with spelling (education), his manners ("Don't put your feet up there Huckleberry"), and his understanding of heaven and hell ("then she told me all about the bad place") Huck struggles with all three things throughout the book because they limit his freedom and prevent him from enjoying the adventure he wants. At the end of the book he rejects being "sivilized" in favor of adventure.


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CDC reveals deadliest drug in AmericaHealth, News December 15, 2018
According to the latest numbers from the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics, Fentanyl is now the most commonly used drug involved in overdoses.
The new report says that the rate of drug overdoses involving the synthetic opioid increased by about 113% each year from 2013 through 2016.
What is fentanyl?
Pharmaceutical fentanyl is a synthetic opioid pain reliever, approved for treating severe pain, typically advanced cancer pain. It is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine.
It is prescribed in the form of transdermal patches or lozenges and can be diverted for misuse and abuse in the United States.
However, most recent cases of fentanyl-related harm, overdose, and death in the U.S. are linked to illegally made fentanyl. It is sold through illegal drug markets for its heroin-like effect. It is often mixed with heroin and/or cocaine as a combination product–with or without the user's knowledge–to increase its euphoric effects.
Illicitly-made fentanyl use is on the rise
The rate of overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids other than methadone, which includes fentanyl, doubled from 2015 to 2016. Roughly 19,400 people died from overdoses involving synthetic opioids other than methadone in 2016.
Reports from law enforcement indicate that much of the synthetic opioid overdose increase may be due to illegally or illicitly made fentanyl. According to data from the National Forensic Laboratory Information System, confiscations, or seizures, of fentanyl increased by nearly 7 fold from 2012 to 2014. There were 4,585 fentanyl confiscations in 2014. This suggests that the sharp rise in fentanyl-related deaths may be due to increased availability of illegally made, non-pharmaceutical fentanyl, and not prescribed fentanyl.
The number of states reporting 20 or more fentanyl confiscations every six months is increasing. From July to December 2014, 18 states reported 20 or more fentanyl drug confiscations. By comparison, six states reported 20 or more fentanyl drug confiscations from July to December 2013.
What can be done?
CDC suggests the following actions in response to increases in fentanyl-related overdose deaths:
Improve detection of fentanyl outbreaks
- Public health departments:
Explore methods for more rapidly detecting drug overdose outbreaks, including fentanyl.
- Medical examiners and coroners:
Screen for fentanyl in suspected opioid overdose cases in regions reporting increases in fentanyl confiscations, fentanyl-related overdose fatalities or unusually high spikes in heroin or unspecified drug overdose fatalities. Not all jurisdictions routinely test for fentanyl.
- Law enforcement:
Law enforcement can play an important role identifying and responding to increases in the distribution and use of illegally-made fentanyl.
Expand Use of Naloxone
Naloxone is a safe and effective antidote to opioid-related overdoses, including heroin and fentanyl, and is a critical tool in preventing fatal opioid overdoses. Depending on state and local laws, this medication can be administered by EMS, law enforcement, other drug users, or family and friend bystanders who have obtained the medication.9
- Health Care Providers:
Multiple doses of naloxone may need to be administered per overdose event because of fentanyl's high potency relative to other opioids.10
- Harm reduction organizations:
Conduct trainings on naloxone use to persons at risk for opioid-related overdose and their friends and family members.
Four Indicted for Distributing HeroinNews August 28, 2017
How Will President Donald Trump Pay for the Border WallFeatured, Politics April 20, 2017
The media won't be happy until they see a picture of Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto presenting President Donald Trump with the BIG check. You know the Publishers Clearing House size check that has written in the memo area "Mexico payment for the wall".
Congress has to pass a spending appropriations bill before the end of April to prevent a government shutdown. Trump is asking for money to start the famous wall. You know the one, Mexico will pay for.
Attorney General, Jeff Sessions along with Homeland Security Secretary, John Kelly stress we need to start construction of the southern border barrier now.
Sessions is determined to shut down America's worst criminal gang MS-13. Kelly warns that the next major attack will come from terrorist groups like ISIS partnering up with Mexican drug cartels. Both Kelly and Sessions sound the alarm on the enormous amounts of opiates, heroin and cocaine coming across the border. Just recently Maryland Governor Larry Hogan signed a State of Emergency to deal with opiate addiction problem.
The media keeps asking how we are going to pay for the wall? We have paid for the wall. We have paid with the blood of our children butchered by illegal alien gangs like MS-13. We have paid with the lives of our children who are dying daily from drug addiction.
Don't accept your congressman asking how we are going to pay for the wall. Tell them they need to support the President and the wall is already bought and paid for!


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SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Facing elimination yet again, Ohio Dominican's baseball team took down No. 23 Quincy 10-4 and No. 4 Illinois Springfield 14-12 to win its third and fourth straight games at the NCAA Midwest Regional and advance to the regional championship on Monday.
The Panthers (36-16) will take on Southern Indiana starting at noon CT (1 p.m. ET) at Robin Roberts Stadium. Southern Indiana, the No. 7 seed, is 3-0 in the tournament, meaning the No. 4 seed Panthers must win twice to claim the regional and advance to the NCAA Division II National Championship.
To earn that right, ODU first avenged a setback to Quincy (41-18), the No. 5 seed and GLVC Tournament champion, after the Hawks started the tournament with an 8-3 victory over the Panthers on Thursday. In Sunday's rematch, the Panthers pounded out 14 hits and used relievers Brad Wilson (Alexandria, Ohio) and Tyler Magley (Baltimore, Ohio) to work all nine innings in the victory.
Colin Kaucher (Toledo, Ohio) lined an opposite field homer over the wall in right in the first inning to answer a Quincy solo shot in the top of the inning, and Jace Komminsk (Westerville, Ohio) pounded one over the fence in right center in the second inning to make it 2-1.
Quincy threatened in the third with a one out double and a fly ball to deep right center. Noah Bland (Oberlin, Ohio), though, ran the ball down in the gap for the catch, then started a relay to the plate that Kaucher held on to while absorbing a mid-air collision for the putout and double play to end the frame.
The Panthers rode that momentum into the bottom of the inning as Justin Childers (Pickerington, Ohio) smoked a ball past the third baseman and Kaucher drew a walk. Joey Machuga (Canfield, Ohio) took a 2-2 pitch through the right side for an RBI single and Chris Sackett (Loveland, Ohio) drilled the first pitch he saw into the gap in left center for an RBI double.
Quincy brought its infield in and Max Banke (Oakwood, Ohio) blooped a basehit over the drawn-in alignment for another RBI basehit, and Cody Paterniti (Chardon, Ohio) had an RBI infield single as well to cap off the four-run inning, giving ODU a 6-1 lead.
The Hawks cut it to 6-3 in the sixth and had two runners in scoring position with one out, but Magley entered and fanned the last two hitters to keep ODU on top.
Brad Hull (Gahanna, Ohio) blasted a one-out double into the gap in left center and went to third as the ball was bobbled, and with two outs, Kaucher lined a base hit into right to bring him in and bump the lead to 7-3.
Magley then made quick work of Quincy in the seventh with a strikeout and a pair of routine fly outs to left, and the Panthers took advantage of a Hawk miscue in the bottom of the inning. With Komminsk on first, Paterniti ripped a basehit to center, and with Komminsk headed to third, an overthrow allowed him to speed home and put the Panthers in front 8-3.
Quincy pushed across a run in the eighth and had runners on second and third, but Magley again ended an inning with a strikeout to keep the lead at 8-4.
Hull then started the home half by drilling a triple in the gap in left center and the Hawks intentionally walked Childers to face Kaucher, who made them pay by pounding a double to right field that brought in both Hull and Childers and bump the cushion to 10-4.
Magley then cruised through the ninth to close out the victory.
Wilson picked up the win, logging 5.1 innings in his first start of the year and throwing a season-high 90 pitches. He struck out six and walked just one in improving to 4-3.
Magley was magnificent, striking out a career-high seven in 3.2 innings to pick up his first save of the season and third in his career. He allowed just three hits and one run without walking a batter in the longest outing of his season.
Kaucher finished 4-for-4 with four RBIs and two runs scored with a walk, extending his streak in reaching base to 11 straight plate appearances. He headlined a 14-hit attack that saw Machuga, Paterniti, Banke and Hull pick up two hits apiece as well, while Childers drew a pair of walks.
Following an hour long break, the Panthers regrouped to face Illinois Springfield, the top seed in the region who entered with a 47-8 record and won the GLVC regular season title, but had lost to Southern Indiana on Saturday night.
Trailing 2-0 after the top of the first, Childers and Kaucher had line drive singles to start the bottom half, and a throwing error on a pickoff attempt at first allowed Childers to score and Kaucher to reach third. Sackett then brought Kaucher in with a sac fly to center to even the game.
The Panthers then struck for three runs in the second inning as Hull singled back up the middle and Bland walked to start the frame. Childers pulled a double down the line to bring in Hull and Machuga split the gap in left-center to score Bland and Childers to bump the lead to 5-2.
UIS loaded the bases with nobody out in the fourth and capitalized with a four run inning to grab the lead at 6-5.
The Panthers responded, though. Sackett walked and Komminsk was hit by a pitch, and Bernee Sanchez (Grove City, Ohio) cranked a 1-1 pitch over the wall in left center to put the Panthers in front 8-6 in the fifth. Hull then drew a walk, stole second and came in to score on a UIS error, and Kaucher cranked an RBI double to score Childers and cap a five-run inning as ODU took a 10-6 lead.
UIS tacked on a run in the sixth and threatened in the seventh, loading the bases with two outs. A deep fly ball was hit to straightaway center, and Bland made a running catch on the track and flipped over the three-foot wall in center, but managed to hold on to the ball to preserve the Panther lead.
Childers then cranked a two-out solo homer to left in the bottom of the inning, but UIS answered with a two-run homer in the eighth to close to within 11-9.
The Panthers came right back in the bottom half, though, with Komminsk hitting a fielder's choice RBI grounder, and Hull and Bland following with RBI base hits to push the cushion out to 14-9.
The Prairie Stars countered with a three run homer in the ninth, but a ground out, a foul out and a line out to left ended the ballgame.
UIS had a 3.02 ERA as a team entering today, but ODU plated the 14 runs on 10 hits against five Prairie Star pitchers. Childers finished 3-for-5 with a walk and scored four times, while Kaucher and Hull also finished with two hits.
Freshman Tim Zeller (Mount Vernon, Ohio) picked up the victory, logging 4.2 innings of relief and allowing three earned runs while striking out seven, and senior Dustin Cowart (Hoover, Ala.) earned the save.
Contact: Scott Miles


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Angel Falls, Venezuela
The world's highest waterfall, as seen on the 'Fresh Water' episode of Planet Earth.
Our beautiful planet is so fragile -
WE MUST HANDLE WITH CARE! ... here's a way that you can raise your voice along with other artists
Thank you, Neda for the inspiration to join hands, hearts, pens and paintbrushes and
to support environmental awareness - please take a moment, follow her link & find out how!
Humpback Whales, Tongo, South Pacific
Underwater camerman, Doug Allan filming as seen on Planet Earth.


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Creed Announces €13.6m Basic Payment Refund to 96,000 farmers
The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed TD, today announced that the payment of €13.6 million to approximately 96,000 farmers has commenced. This money was deducted from their 2015 Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) payments under the Financial Discipline rule.
Minister Creed said 'I am pleased to confirm that the Financial Discipline deduction totalling €13.6 million from the 2015 BPS payment will now be reimbursed to eligible 2016 applicants.' The Minister added that these payments "will bring the total paid to Irish farmers under the 2016 Basic Payment Scheme to €1.2 billion".
Minister Creed also added "the 2017 Basic Payment Scheme saw a further increase in the number of online applications to almost 114,000. 87% of farmers availed of the online option for the 2017 scheme, a number which far exceeds the EU target of 75% for this period and moves Ireland significantly towards its target of 100% online applications in 2018."
In relation to the 2017 BPS, preliminary checks for online applicants will begin to issue shortly. Where a farmer receives a notification of a preliminary check, they should respond to it as soon as possible. Further information will issue in this regard as notifications begin to issue.
Note to editors
In the context of the annual budgetary procedure of the European Union, the financial discipline mechanism which is implemented by the Member States involves a monetary deduction from some direct payments thereby creating a financial Crisis Reserve for the European Union. The crisis reserve is intended to provide additional support for the agricultural sector in the case of major crises affecting agricultural production or distribution. In the event that the Crisis Reserve is not activated in the financial year, or it is not fully utilised, the balance not used is refunded to farmers in the subsequent financial year, hence this reimbursement.
To view this Press Release as a PDF: DAFMPR 103/2017 (pdf 369Kb)
Date Released: 12 June 2017


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Intel/Windows is still attractive for many industrial and commercial applications. The big advantages being remote access and maintenance, especially if you select an Intel vPro model (Core i5 or i7). That's one area where Android is still lagging.
Here is another reason for Intel NUCs appeal. Many CMS products still only support Windows.
Before the Intel NUC, folks sometimes used Mac Minis running Windows as their main digital signage player hardware. The Mac Mini's format meant they were easy to hide behind a display screen but Intel's new hardware is half that size and it has very competitive specs.
Intel NUC continues to be a great option for many digital signage applications.
Here is a great article on ZDNet that covers the specs in detail. There is also more information about the new NUC models on Intel's web site.


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You know what I like?
I like it when my 3 year old consistently uses the potty.
Or when I can consistently eat ice cream + fit into all of my clothes.
I like it when my baby sleeps through the night, every night.
And when my internet or cell phone service actually work.
I also liked it when I used to do a five on Friday link up with some lovely gals...
It might not be surprising to you that consistency rarely happens in my life.
You don't always get what you like I suppose.
Until today.
Lucky for you, that link up that closed for the summer...
It's baaaack!
With a different name.
But the concept?
Totally the same.
Karli and I found no need to complicate things.
Karli and I found no need to complicate things.
All you need to do is write up a post about five things.
ANY five things.
Five happenings in your week.
Five things that tick you off.
Five items you'd like to purchase.
Top five favorite songs.
Really... the options are endless!
Don't forget to copy and past the html on the button below into your post.
The more the merrier.
It's such a great way to meet lots of new bloggers.
So tomorrow morning, come and join us.
I can't wait to meet some awesome new peeps!


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Mar 1, 2017
Hey! We've had a hell of a couple of weeks. We're hard at work writing a pilot for Audible.com. We won the Austin regionals for Earwolf's Contest4Improv4Humans and we just got back from the wilds of West Texas where we recorded our debut album for Sure Thing Records. All that AND we're performing at this year's SxSw conference on March 11th at 3:30 on the Podcast Stage (http://schedule.sxsw.com/2017/events/OE06616).
And somehow, with all that going on, we still haven't missed a monthly episode. Here it is, in all it's glory!
As always a DONATION helps us out! But mostly, please remember to RATE and REVIEW and SUBSCRIBE on iTunes!
Victrola is brought to you by the fine folks at Austin's ColdTowne Theater. Written by and Starring Michael Jastroch, Bob McNichol, Bryan Roberts, Lance Gilstrap, Cortnie Jones, Jericho Thorp and Molly Moore!
Produced by Michael Jastroch, with additional editing by Dalton Allen - in collaboration with our good friends at Humordy (http://Humordy.com) and ColdTowne Theater (http://ColdTowneTheater.com).
Read more at http://victrolapod.com/#8q8S6ESJ2JOdsCFr.99


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I attended Ohio University for several reasons. 1) Even though I visited during the dreaded cicada season, it was still one of the most beautiful places on earth. 2) Its journalism school kicked butt. 3) It was way more affordable than out-of-state. And 4) Well … come on, let's be honest: it was a party school, most notably on the night of Halloween.
As I've mentioned before, Athens, Ohio, has been called one of the most haunted places on the planet, and, perhaps by coincidence, the city is also host to one of the largest Halloween block parties in the nation. Every year anywhere from 10,000 to 30,000 costumed party goers fill Court Street in Uptown Athens. Lucky me, I lived on Court Street my junior and senior years. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
I was drunk the first night I set foot in Athens, Ohio, after unpacking all my junk, meeting my new roommate (Katie Nichols/Laver, the sweetest girl on earth), and saying goodbye to my tearful ma and pa. Literally, as soon as our parents' cars could be seen driving away from Washington Hall on East Green, Katie and I turned to each other and said, "So what are we doing tonight?" We went out, wandered around, and ended up at an upper-class kegger. I was eighteen! Drinking a beer! And I didn't have to worry about my parents finding out! Because they were back in Perrysburg!
The months continued liked this, until it was made apparent: Halloween is a big deal. You must have a good costume. You must hang out on Court Street. You must possibly get arrested for public urination. It was all part of the tradition. The first year, I was a mafia princess. The second year, I was Trinity from The Matrix, and by the second year, three of my best friends rolled into town for the event. Halloween in Athens became their tradition, too. Even Jake was in Athens for Halloween one year, while I was at the university. It's a small world … where Halloween celebration at Ohio University is concerned.
The main attraction of Halloween in Athens was Court Street, my home for two years. The City of Athens closed down the entire street to accommodate the crowds, and as spectators/ participants, we gratefully obliged. The walk to Court Street was always a challenge, even when I lived there. By the time you actually left your house, you'd probably been drinking for about six hours. (One year a visiting pal of mine never even made it to Court Street. She blamed it on the avid game of flip cup we'd played that afternoon.)
Once on Court Street, the drunkenness of the entire town functioned as a contact high. You made friends and got hugs from perfect strangers—especially if they were dressed as, say, Indiana Jones or a postal carrier. It was a good thing you made new friends, because you usually lost the ones you came with anyway. (Once, I lost another out-of-town visitor on Court Street, only to later find out she'd been drinking a bottle of straight vodka, walking down the middle of the street, right past policemen … who were thankfully watching someone else do something stupid.) By the end of it all, Court Street was a thriving, pulsating, single entity of friends for a night, acting as they never would on any other night of the year.
Maybe that's what it was all about. Halloween is about costumes, right? Maybe on Halloween, we all do things we normally wouldn't. Smoke cigarettes. Make out with a vampire. Latch onto people you've never seen and probably never will see again. It was something I loved about Athens on Halloween; it was something I loved about Athens all year long, because in college, you do tend to make friends with people you never would have expected. Those friendships last the rest of your life; my OU group meets at least once a year, and whenever we're together, it's like we're back on Court Street.
I've been back for Halloween since graduation, to visit my little bro, Matt, while he was a student at Ohio University. People say things change. What you remember about the "good times" will never be quite as good when you go back. I say that's a bunch of bull crap. Athens, Ohio, was exactly the same. And so am I, whenever I go back—21 and a total idiot. But I was always a happy idiot. Especially on Halloween.


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We're here, Daisy, Holly, Miss Snowflake and Mr Brambles.
What a hot day it's been! It was warm when we woke up this morning and in fact it was so hot we didn't bother having our morning cuddle with Old Two Legs, instead we just sort of rolled on the bed and went back to sleep again!
It was the ferrets rattling their cage that woke OTL up and got him out of bed to sort them out!
Down on the beach we looked across to Sheerness to see it glinting in the sun light.
|Sunny Sheerness
That woke him up!
|Hey! That's not my ear!
I spotted a rabbit on the horizon, well, I thought it was a rabbit and went tearing up the beach and into the bushes. OTL was not happy, I was too busy with the rabbit hunting to bother with his whistling and calling.
In the end he had to tell Holly to find me while he walked behind with the ferrets in his arms.
They were wriggling around and wanted to get down, so, there was OTL surrounded with ferrets and Holly pointing her nose towards me, tail up, in a bush sniffing for rabbits.
That was it, I got put on the lead and Holly got a stroke and a 'Good Girl' from OTL!
Secretly, I wasn't too worried as I was getting a bit hot and could do with a rest! A bit further up the path OTL let me off the lead with a strong warning about running away again!
So, there I was, all worn out and thirsty and collapsed on the ground when suddenly, from behind me, there was the feeling of a ferrets nose on my tail!
|Snowflake Bites Yer Butt!
She has got a strange fascination for sniffing tails and Holly reckons that she has spent too much time living with us and is get some 'Doggy Habits'!
Back home to a brush down and a bowl of chicken for breakfast, at last, real food!
As normal, I crashed out under OTL's desk 'cos it is the coolest place in the house. I tried the garden but it got too hot and there were too many buzzing insects!
The ferrets had a little game with OTL but soon were fast asleep, doing what a ferret does best, dream!
|Little Miss Snoozy!
Off we went and on the way we had guesses on how many Two Legs would be on the beach and how much food we could mug!
|Nice tickle but no food!
|It's just Formula Milk and water! Waste of time here!
|Hello Two Legs I'm a friendly little doggy that loves you!
We will have to wait until the shortbread comes out!
See you tomorrow!
Daisy, Holly, Miss Snowflake and Mr Brambles.