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Barry Cordero – Chairman of the Board, Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE)
Keynote Speaker
Barry Cordero is the Chairman of the Board for the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) and the Operations Excellence leader for Medtronic Diabetes. Barry has been an active leader in SHPE for 13 years where he has served in varying leadership roles. A Lean Sigma Master Black Belt, Barry manages the Continuous Improvement strategy for Medtronic Diabetes. He has served as a leader within Medtronic's Global Inclusion, Diversity and Engagement (GIDE) program for 5 years, the Medtronic Hispanic Network for 3 years. He helped establish the first ever SHPE Medtronic Professional chapter and co-chaired the Medtronic Latin Cultures Network Employee Resource Group. Four-Time winner of SHPE's President's award for service, Barry has been featured in ABC News Blog's Second Tour, Hispanic Executive, La Voz Latina, SHPE Magazine, Kids Ahead and Science Matters for his passion for diversity in STEM.
Ana Rosa Galli– Intel, Director of Cloud, Accelerators, and Network (NFV/SDN) server systems
Workshop: Career Planning and Transitions
Ana Rosa Galli Kagamihata leads the Cloud, Accelerators, and Network (NFV/SDN) server systems team in the Intel Datacenter Engineering Group and is based in Hillsboro, Oregon. Ana Rosa joined Intel in 1999, and has managed geographically dispersed multi-disciplinary teams and projects in numerous organizations including Intel Labs Long Lead Technologies (crypto-currencies, autonomous service robots, cubic millimeter computing), Platform Engineering (SoC planning), Channel Client Platforms, Boxed Processors, ODM and Ecosystem Enabling (boards, memory, power supply, chassis, FHS), and Internet Service Provider program (Network devices, servers). Prior to joining Intel, Ana Rosa worked as a Telco Network Consultant at 3Com USRobotics, a SW engineer trainee at Alstom and BankBoston, and researcher at POLI-USP Computer Network and Architecture Lab (LARC). Ana holds a Computer Engineer degree from Polytechnic School of University of Sao Paulo-Brazil and an Executive MBA from California State University Sacramento.
Alexandra Oliveros-Villalba– Intel, Process TD Engineer
Workshop: Should I pursue a PhD or enter the workforce? This is My Journey
Alexandra received her PhD in Electrical Engineering and Master's degree in Biomedical Engineering from the University of South Florida (Tampa, FL). She currently works at Intel Corporation as a Process TD Engineer, where she enables the manufacturing of Intel's 14 nm technology. Her primary focus is ramp-up and transfer of process equipment for lithography under-layers. Alexandra enjoys learning new things, training and mentoring fellow engineers and technicians. She strives to highlight the value of diversity and inclusion, especially of Latinos, as the Co-chair for the OR-Intel Latino Network.
Before joining Intel, Alexandra moved from her native Barranquilla, Colombia to Tampa, FL to be a researcher in the SiC group at the University of South Florida. She developed several methodologies for biocompatibility testing of carbon based and wide bandgap semiconductor materials. During this time she also explored her passion for biosensors by designing a platform to predict the onset of a heart attack.
Vikki Mueller Espinosa – Talent Champion and Sr. HR Manager, Intel Talent Organization
Workshops: Finding a Mentor
Vikki is a recognized thought leader in Career Development and a respected Career Coach both inside and outside of Intel. She is an instructor, mentor, blogger and speaker. She was raised in Brazil and speaks fluent Portuguese and Spanish. She holds a B.S. in Business Administration from Northeastern University in Boston. Vikki excels at helping her clients identify their strengths to ensure they are doing work that is aligned with their talents and passions. She lives in Portland with her husband and two daughters. When not at work, Vikki is a fencer on the US National Wheelchair Fencing Team and has represented the US at competitions around the world.
Jerry Jimenez – Intel, Program Manager
Workshop: Internships 101
Jerry Jimenez is a Program Manager with Intel Corporation in Hillsboro, Oregon. He has been active in SHPE for many years and has served as a member of the National Board of Directors and Region 1 VP. He also served as the National Elections chairperson and received the SHPE President's Award in 2005 for introducing secure online voting and increasing participation by 62%. He holds a BS Computer Science from California State University, Northridge and an MBA from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. When he's not working, he enjoys spending time with his wife, Dayana, and their son, Luke.
Sonya Patino – Hewlett-Packard, NPI Program Manager
Workshop: Developing Emotional Intelligence for Effective Leadership
Sonya Patino is currently a NPI Program Manager with HP, Inc. She has been with HP for 15 years where she has contributed to the R&D, development, manufacturing and transfer of technologies for an array of commercial and consumer products delivering hardware, firmware, software and manufacturing solutions. She is an expert in cross-functional development and systems integration. She is an avid ally of discovering and promoting the strengths of diversity and inclusion. Her undergraduate education is in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Southern Illinois University and graduate education in Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering from Oregon State University.
Jason M. Trujillo – Intel, Director of Technical Leadership and Learnings
Workshop: Leadership, Diversity and Growth as a Lifelong Learner
Jason Trujillo is the Director of Technical Leadership and Learning at Intel Corporation. Jason's broad career journey includes a variety of technical, functional and managerial roles. He has worked across many of Intel's major business groups spanning Manufacturing, R&D and Product Groups including PC, Software and Services, Healthcare, and Internet of Things. In addition, Jason has held a number of Corporate roles in Corporate Strategy, Human Resources Strategy and Leadership Development. Jason is a member of Intel's Hispanic Leadership Counsel and was recognized as Mentor of the Year by the MIT Office of Minority Engineering in 2014. Jason has a bachelor's and master's degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of New Mexico and the University of Washington, a master's degree in Systems Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a master's degree in Management from MIT Sloan.
Aura Davila – Intel, Supply Chain R&D Engineer
Workshop: Career Development Through Volunteerism
Aura Davila is a senior materials engineer in Intel's Global Supply Management organization. Originally from Colombia, she obtained her PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Connecticut. Aura joined Intel in 2005 as a TD process engineer in Intel's Portland Technology Development Group. She loves to create and organize programs to motivate minority students to study STEM majors. She is a member of the board of directors at Centro Cultural of Washington County and the Intel Latino Network chair for 2016. Aura enjoys hiking and travelling with her husband.
Veronica Grave – Adelante, Mujeres Board President
Workshop: Career Development Through Volunteerism
Veronica was born in Mexico and migrated to the US in 1998; she has been living in Oregon since 2004 and always wanted to be involved in the community. She has the opportunity to volunteer with Adelante Mujeres and loves the enthusiasm and passion of the organization to empower women and their families through holistic education. Veronica currently works at Intel as an application developer.
Emilio Cañas – Intel, Sr. Application Engineer
Workshop: Career Development Through Volunteerism
Emilio Cañas specializes in education solutions to foster innovation, collaboration and learning in educational institutions with more than 21 years of experience. He obtained his BSEE in Electrical Engineering from Cal. State University Los Angeles in 1996 and his MBS from OH&SU in 2003. He is a Senior Engineer for Server Enterprise industries with 21 years of experience as an OEM/ODM relationship enabler and Intel server architecture design for microprocessors and chipset server platforms.
Emilio Cañas is one of the original Intel co-creators for national recognized and acclaimed 4-H Tech Wizards model selected for 2015, by the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics Initiative's, at first Latino Tech Fest as a Bright Spots in Hispanic Education for its impact to engage Latino students after school, provide small-group mentoring program for vulnerable and marginalized youth who tend to be underrepresented in STEM fields.
Linda O'Hara – Instructor, School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Workshop: Start Smart
Originally from Corvallis and Philomath, she also lived for a while in Newport where she graduated from high school, but came back to her roots to attend Oregon State University to earn her degree in math.Her first career was working in the private sector as a systems analyst and programmer, but she eventually got the itch to do something else. She realized that she really enjoyed helping people learn so she decided to take a risk and go back to school to get her master's degree in information systems so she could teach at the college level. After two years of hard work, continuing in her full time job while she went to school, she got her degree.She started teaching at a local community college and was thrilled to get a position at Oregon State where she teaches an introductory class for non computer science majors and an upper division class on social and ethical issues in computer science.
Salvador Hernandez – Assistant Professor, School of Civil and Construction Engineering, and OSU SHPE Faculty Advisor
Workshop: Presentation and Communication Bootcamp
SALVADOR HERNANDEZ, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the School of Civil and Construction Engineering at Oregon State University (OSU). He earned his Ph.D. degree in Transportation Infrastructure Systems Engineering at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana in 2010.
His current research leverages knowledge and experience to produce solutions to the complex and multifaceted problems inherent in transportation systems. His research derives knowledge from social sciences and computational sciences to create meaningful solutions for problems in Transportation Safety, Freight Logistics, Transportation Systems Modeling, and Disaster Management.
Hannah Rempel – Associate Professor, College of Agricultural Sciences Librarian & Graduate Student Services Coordinator
Workshop: Writing and Citing Like A Pro
Hannah is a Science Librarian at Oregon State University and has been leading Zotero workshops since 2008. She enjoys researching graduate students' information needs, how learners use mobile library sites, and the impact of curiosity on the research process. In her spare time, she edits a journal and thinks about how she can help those authors become more coherent writers.


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Holiday Inn Nanjing Qinhuai South
Holiday Inn Nanjing Qinhuai South
NO.21 Mozhou East Road, Jiangning District
NO.21 Mozhou East Road, Jiangning District
Mainland China
Check In: 3pm
Check Out: 12pm
Check-in Age:18
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- Best Price Guarantee
We promise you access to the guaranteed best available prices, or your first night is free.
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Your room is guaranteed.
- No Booking Fees!
We do not charge any booking fees for making reservations directly with us.
- Data Privacy and Site Security
IHG takes your privacy seriously and works to protect you. All personal information you provide is encrypted and secure.
Welcome to Holiday Inn Nanjing Qinhuai South
Kids Stay and Eat Free
Kids ages 12 and under stay for free when sharing their parents' room. Up to four kids ages 12 and under eat free any time of the day in any Holiday Inn® on-site restaurant.
|Kids Stay Free
|Kids Eat Free
|Greater China
|12 and Under
|12 and Under
Free High-Speed Internet
- Wired Internet Available in Rooms, Suites, Business Centre, Public Areas and Meeting Spaces.
- Standard wired internet service is free for all IHG® Rewards Club members
- Wireless Internet Available in Rooms, Suites, Business Centre, Public Areas and Meeting Spaces.
- Standard Wireless internet service is free for all IHG® Rewards Club members
Shuttle/ Parking
- Car Parking Available
- Complimentary Daily Self-Parking is available
Pet Policy
- No pets allowed
- No pets allowed
Credit Cards
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- Number of Floors: 26
- Total Number of Rooms: 289
- Number of Suites: 19
- Number of Non-Smoking Rooms: 221
- Number of Accessible Rooms: 2
- Connecting Rooms Available
- Public Entrance
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You can be assured that when you stay at an IHG Green Engage Hotel, you are participating in an advanced, world-wide sustainability effort. We understand that it is important for you to have an active role in protecting our environment and that's why we've made it easier for you to choose a hotel that matches your sustainable values.

subset: commoncrawl


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Mortenson-Grunley A Joint Venture
HDR Inc.
U.S. Army
Completed: May 2018
158,000 square feet
Federal Government,
Data Centers,
Mission Critical
team results
The project is a $91 million design-build contract to design and construct a 158,000-square-foot headquarters facility at Fort Meade, Maryland. Mortenson-Grunley has partnered with HDR, Inc. for the design of this office building. The building will house offices, conference rooms, a dining hall, and a high-bay operation center.
Get In Touch


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I hate how infertility steals so much from me. It steals a lot of joy from life. It's hard to be patient and content in ones circumstances when they aren't the circumstances I was planning for. It's hard to remain hopeful when nothing has ever worked. It's hard to be happy for others when my heart is breaking inside.
I've also been dealing with feelings of guilt lately. It's my body that is failing us. It's my eggs that seem to have issues. It's my uterus that can't seem to hang on to a pregnancy. It's my emotions that are off the wall. It's all my fault. Which I know isn't entirely true. And I know no one is blaming me. But it's how I've been feeling nonetheless.
The wait is absolutely killing me today. Five years feels like too long to wait. And another five may kill me. In fact, another year may do it. How much more can I emotionally take? What will be my breaking point? When will I say "enough is enough"? When should we give up?
Everything is too much today. I can't handle today.


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Amber Reversible Bikini Top x MEC in Emerald/ Exotic Summer
$59.99 Sold out
The Amber bikini top is our only reversible top. Comfortable and versatile, the high neck is perfect for sporty girls who want to be care-free when they play around. This product is a part of the collaboration with Mountain Equipment Co-operative. It is available exclusively on our online store and at MEC stores. It's a 2 in 1 top that's going to find its way in your luggage for your next trip under the sun!
- Colors available: Emerald (ribbed)/ Exotic Summer
- Surf-approved
- Fabric: 84% ecoyarn Polyester, 16% elastane
- Lining: 100% nylon
- All June Swimwear products are lovingly made in Quebec, Canada
Orders (US & Canada) ship free on all orders over $95. Standard shipping to Canada costs starts at $9, and standard shipping to USA costs $12 and international $25. For more information, click one of the following options -Shipping or Return policy.
Wash your swimsuit by hand with a gentle soap after a day of use and hang it in the shade to dry.


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- How do I turn off Selfie in Kiosk Mode?
- If An Attendee Wishes To Change Their Schedule After A Badge Is Printed, Can The New Schedule Be Reflected On A Badge?
- What if I don't want an Event Flyer?
- Can I add a guest's unique schedule to their badge?
- Can I add sessions from a specific track to a guest's badge?
- How do I wrap text on a badge?
- Can you assign badges by a category that isn't registration type?
- When I search on Kiosk none of my guests show up?
- My text is cut off on my badge, how do I fix it?


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What is it?
For those of you familiar with the glacial pace of Mercedes-Benz SL development, prepare to be alarmed. Just four years after it was launched, here's the facelift.
It's okay, calm yourself. Mercedes clearly did. This is one of those mild tweaks, as befits a car that Mercedes, presumably, will be disinclined to throw vast sums of development money at because of the small numbers it sells in. Britain is its second-largest market, where fewer than 1000 of them a year find owners.
So, mild facelift it is. Most notably, the front – the face, if you will – has been, er, lifted. It's now a bit more reminiscent of both the rest of the current range and the first SL, the racing one that the modern SL doesn't otherwise particularly resemble. AMG's GT is Merc's racy car these days, the SL is a luxurious two-seat roadster, even when equipped with a 5.5-litre, twin-turbocharged V8 that puts out 577bhp.
The other options are an SL 400 (a 3.0-litre V6), the SL 500 (a 4.6 V8) and the AMG SL 65, which has a 6.0-litre V12. All of those have two turbos apiece because, let's face it, a 6.0-litre V12 wouldn't be sufficient without two turbos.
The 63, though. At £114,100, do you need it over a £73,805 SL 400 or the £82,850 SL 500? Unlikely, although somehow a car like the SL feels like it wants a V8, and if you're going to have a V8, then I'm inclined to think that it's worth having one that somebody has made as rowdy as the AMG engine.


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Many California city governments, including Los Angeles', are boycotting Arizona over its new immigration law which was set to take effect this week. A judge has temporarily blocked the more controversial aspects of the law from going into effect. But several Inland Empire cities not only show unwavering support of that law – they're crafting strict new immigration policies of their own. It's part of a wave of anti-illegal immigration sentiment sweeping the Temecula Valley.
Surrounded by a boisterous group of supporters outside Temecula City Hall, Shellie Milne grips a bullhorn and aims it at a small group of immigration rights activists, most of whom are Latino.
"Go back from where you came if you don't wanna follow the rules! And you know what," bellows Milne, to affirmative shouts of "yeah!" and "Amen!" "We have an undocumented worker in the White House and we need to get him out..!"
Milne, a married working mom with six kids, heads a Temecula-area chapter of the Tea Party movement.
In the past two months, the group has successfully pressured cities in this staunchly conservative semi-rural valley east of Orange County to adopt, or consider, a raft of anti-illegal immigrant policies. It has pushed everything from symbolic resolutions supporting Arizona's tough new immigration reform, to strict ordinances requiring employers to verify the immigration status of all new workers through the free federal E-Verify system.
"It's really to protect the people, those that are here legally," said Milne, decked out in a "Martin Luther King Jr. was a Republican" T-shirt. "And so it's holding the employer to a higher accountability and it's a free service.
"You hire somebody on their merits, run their stuff through, it comes back 'yes,' 'no' or whatever, you staple that to their hiring packet and away you go."
In the last six weeks, three cities in the region unanimously adopted E-Verify ordinances. Employers that don't comply could be fined and lose their business licenses.
"We're not trying to be that stringent on people, we're giving them the benefit of the doubt," said Daryl Hickman, a councilman in Lake Elsinore – a city that has morphed in recent years from a sleepy little retirement community into a fast growing middle class enclave with lots of new homes, and lots of new Latino residents.
Last month it became just the third city in California to adopt an E-Verify ordinance. An action promoted by Hickman.
"It (illegal immigration) infuriated me, so in due time I brought it up," he said.
Sitting in the patio of his lake view home, Hickman fumes over what he says is an "invasion." In 2008, when he was mayor, Hickman pressured local Congressional representatives to call on federal immigration authorities to step up immigration sweeps in the region. More than 200 alleged illegal immigrants were detained or deported. A part-time school teacher, Hickman said he sees the impact of illegal immigration in local classrooms.
"You just see the kids coming in and, I'm gonna tell ya out of a class you have maybe three whites and the rest are Latinos," Hickman said. "And the parents can't speak English, they're all drawing welfare."
When pressed for verification he gives anecdotal evidence.
"I'd say because none of them would come if they didn't have a free meal or something and so, um…" Hickman pauses. "I can't say all of them. The majority, let's put it that way."
The claim could not be verified.
What is certain is that legal and illegal Latino immigrants have settled in the Temecula Valley for years, drawn in part by low-paying but plentiful work in a fertile wine country and booming construction trade.
But as the economy soured, so too did many people's tolerance for undocumented workers. The anger now boils over regularly at city council meetings and rallies like this one in Temecula a couple of weeks ago featuring Victorville Minuteman Raymond Herrera, who's renowned for his inflammatory anti-Latino rhetoric and dubious conspiracy theories that link virtually all illegal immigrants to drug cartels.
"This is your country, YOUR democracy, and they're third world peasants that are gonna pack it up and go!" shouts Herrera.
Lake Elsinore pre-school teacher Laura Melendez took part in a counter protest that day.
"Oh my goodness, it makes me very sad because we all started from down here," said Melendez. "They (undocumented workers) are working because they need to, and they are willing to die for their family."
Melendez was born in the U.S. - to parents who came here illegally from Mexico. Her husband is an undocumented construction worker. He came three years ago, before the couple met. He was deported during the 2008 immigration sweeps in Lake Elsinore, but returned shortly after.
"Because in Mexico things are real difficult too, he couldn't work," said Melendez. "Work stopped because people stopped sending money form here over there."
Others worry the newly adopted E-Verify ordinances will exacerbate economic woes here, in a region mired in double-digit unemployment. Businesses could be wiped out, and more undocumented workers driven into an underground economy where income taxes go unpaid.
Carlos Batara says most cities don't even money to enforce the ordinances. Batara is an immigration attorney in Hemet, a city considering its own E-Verify measure.
"There was discussion about closing the library down because they don't have the funds," said Batara. "So at a time like this when there is not enough money for public services, why would you impose a burden like this on a city? The cities that are supporting E-Verify in Southwest Riverside County are moving the wrong direction because their budgets are tight too."
The increased scrutiny of undocumented immigrants is worrying Laura Melendez and her husband. Melendez says he rarely leaves home, except to go to work. Melendez says he talks more and more of going back to Mexico - and taking his American born family with him.
"And I'm like; wait! Something will happen. I'm an American citizen, I'm entitled to stay I don't wanna go," said Melendez. "And he's like; well for me there's no chance to stay here. I know (I tell him), but I need you here."
The E-Verify ordinances embraced in the Temecula Valley may end up having minimal impact on the local economy. But the policies could compel many undocumented people like the husband of Laura Melendez to move away for good. And that's one impact anti-illegal immigrant activists in this region would welcome.
You can read the full ordinance below:


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Based on feedback within the Thanet Creative Writers' Facebook group, we are looking at establishing a regular event just for poets or all skill levels.
The group will be for absolute beginners up to and including professional poets. The idea is that we can each support and encourage each other sharing what we know.
This project has probably moved forward since this was written.


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One day, the Hawks will get that shutout. One day, we will find the rainbow connection.
Either way, the Hawks for the third straight game never had to get out of 3rd gear to cruise to victory. They potted two quick goals, added a third late in the 1st period, and then it was essentially over. It was about looking like you're trying without actually trying, and the Hawks managed that. Still couldn't get that whitewash, though.
Most important tonight, the Hawks didn't have to grind anyone into dust minutes-wise. No one had more than 21 minutes except for Johnny Oduya, and he was at a manageable 23. No forward had to go over 18 minutes except Patrick Sharp. This should leave them as fresh as a team can be for the second of a back-to-back.
There's not much else to say here. The Hawks got contributions from every line, though the 4th line didn't score but did control all of its shifts. The other three chipped in with at least a goal. The special teams were perfect. You read that right, the power play and penalty kill both went 2-for-2.
Better yet, the power play actually used a different tactic, getting Patrick Sharp to the high slot with a screen in front. He's far better at releasing his lethal one-timer from there, and he makes the opponent commit and leave other spaces open when he's there. They're learning!
With the win and the Predators' loss, the Hawks are just two points back of them for fourth in the conference with a chance to tie them Wednesday. They have two games left with the Preds this season, and one with the Wings who also are tied for that slot. Home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs is a very real possibility if the Hawks can maintain this kind of form.
But obviously, first thing's first, and that's keeping it going.
Sam Fels is the proprietor of The Committed Indian, an unofficial program for the Blackhawks. You may have seen him hocking the magazine outside the United Center at Gate 3. The program is also available for purchase online. Fels is a lifelong 'Hawks fan and he also writes for Second City Hockey .


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For gamers it's a little early to start thinking about the PlayStation 4 as for many the PS3 Slim was the real introduction of the console at an acceptable price point and more manageable size. But Sony has to consider what console will replace it even if that is three or more years away.
Industry watchers are always speculating as to what is happening internally at the games divisions for Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo. The latest rumors and speculation suggest Sony may not use the Cell processor in the PS4. That information comes courtesy of Hiroshige Goto, technology writer for Japanese publication Impress Watch.
It is thought Sony is considering alternatives to Cell due to feedback it received from developers about the PS3 architecture. It was clear to see that producing games for PS3 was a struggle to begin with due to the new challenges the architecture posed. Early games clearly looked better and ran faster on the Xbox 360, which had a more friendly architecture. Goto had previously informed his readers that Sony were looking at Intel's Larrabee as an alternative or a modified Cell solution which introduced an SPU2 for hardware caching. This would allow programmers to treat the Cell more like a typical PC processor.
Now Goto is saying that Larrabee has been dismissed as a poor performer for both processing and power consumption. Instead the modified Cell is still under consideration, but next to a more mainstream multicore processor setup.
Gamers need not worry about saving up for a new console just yet. Goto also believes we won't see anything from Microsoft or Sony before 2012 and that we should expect the PSP2 before then from Sony.
Read more at Andriasang
Matthew's Opinion
I don't even want to start thinking about the PS4 yet. I am only just starting to build up my PS3 game collection and I think developers have a lot more to show us on the machine. Uncharted 2 set a new level of quality for PS3 games and we still have at least two more years of releases if Goto is right. I suspect it may be a bit longer than that though, and a 2013 release date at the earliest.
We also don't know what form the PS4 will take. Could it be the first digital download only console next to the same in handheld form from the PSP2? Or will it still boast a Blu-ray drive to allow for movie watching and disc-based game sales?
For now lets all focus on enjoying what the current generation of consoles has to offer and leave Sony's R&D department to worry about what we'll have sitting under our (3D?) TVs in a few years.


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A legend who carried on a legacy of the New Haven hamburger has died.
Ken Lassen, the longtime owner of he famous Louis' Lunch died last week at the age of 93.
He was the grandson of Louis Lassen, who is credited with inventing the hamburger.
As legend goes -- a man hurried up to Louis Lassen's lunch cart in 1900 and said he was in a rush and wanted something he could eat on the run. Lassen placed his own blend of ground steak trimmings between two slices of toast and sent the gentleman on his way – giving birth to the hamburger, according to the restaurant's Web site.
Ken Lassen died of kidney failure, according to the Middletown Press.
The Lassen family has long held firm on their desire that no condiments be served with the burgers – only cheese, tomato and onion. That's a history Ken Lassen carried on.


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10 Halloween Kids Meal Ideas
Scary EyeballsMake deviled eggs and add a little more mustard into the egg centers or a thin dollop under where you will lay a black olive into the creamy center.
Ghost SandwichesCut your bread into ghosts, add the filling of your choice and your children will have a ghostly treat for their school or after school sandwich.
Wormy Hot DogsThinly slice your hot dogs and then microwave. This will make them curl to look like worms. Put them on a hamburger bun and dress with mustard, catsup and pickles to make a slimy swamp underneath.
Ghostly ToastToast your bread. When it is cool enough to cut, with a gingerbread girl cutter or a plain knife, cut to make a ghost body. Top with whipped cream cheese or flavored yogurt with raisins or dates cut for eyes.
Orange Jack O LanternWith a toothpick, gently carve a face into the orange. Careful not to injure the meat/pulp of the orange, your child will have a small version of the Jack O Lantern that is healthy and edible.
Salty BonesMaking breadsticks for your spaghetti tonight? Here's a Halloween twist. Unroll a tube of refrigerated breadstick roll and separate the triangle pieces.
Roll the remaining 4 flaps into what would make the end of a dog bone. Sprinkle with coarse salt and bake as directed.
Graveyard SnackTake a cup of plain or buttered popped popcorn; add a half cup each of mini pretzels, mini marshmallows, chocolate chips, goldfish crackers and raisins.
Spider SnackTaking two round cookies with cream in the middle place 8 small pieces of black licorice. 4 on each side to make the legs. Add a dot of cream from the middle to place the eyes on the top.
non-dessert spider try this one with crackers.
Goblin TonguesUsing mini bagels, spread cream cheese or mayonnaise, your preference, onto bagel. Cut slices out of circular pieces of bologna lunch meat to look like tongues and put into the top center of the bagel, leaving it to hang out like a tongue.
Pudding with Eyeballs
Create a batch of your favorite pudding from a box or homemade and add candy eyeballs. If you don't have candy eyeballs available, use mini marshmallows and add a dot of chocolate icing or melted chocolate in the middle.
Let them help you when creating these treats and they may just be a little more receptive to the new Halloween changes in foods they already love.
More Halloween Resources
12 Halloween Theme Cooking Activities
Easy Jack O Lantern Sandwiches
10 Easy Halloween Ideas
Halloween Recipe Ideas- for snacks, dinner, dessert
Halloween riddles and fun quotes
Halloween Theme Ideas- with spiders, bats, witches, etc.


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Two chances to catch mcb this week
You will have two chances to catch the Michael Cleary Band this week. Friday night, June 25th, we'll be at The Main Pub in Manchester. This is a great live music venue with yummy food and a groovy vibe.
For those on the shoreline, MCB will be at Donahues in Madison on Saturday night, June 26th. We had a great gig our first time thru and will be making several stops here during the Summer.


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We encourage you to use the Warhorn logo in your convention's marketing materials. Here are some materials to help you out:
Warhorn brown is hex code #753502. Warhorn green is #949c51.
Here's our logo at a few different sizes. The .pngs are pre-padded with the necessary white space. Please don't crop the edges. If you need a resizeable logo for printing purposes, contact us and we'll get you a vector image.
We prefer that you don't alter the logo in any way. If you have special circumstances that require a modified logo (black and white printing, for example), please contact us for assistance.
Thanks for making Warhorn a part of your con!


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Cash On Delivery Now Available!
Please enter your PIN code in the search box to know if we deliver there.
Category: Hair Care
Product Code: Shampoo-frizzy-hair
Availability: Coming Soon
Standard delivery in 12 working days.
Enter pincode of your location to check delivery.
Nice shampoo Review by Megha
Been using it for 2 months and do it for my 5 yr old daughter and it works amazing. Thank you for taking something out for frizzy hair. I basicaly experience lot of broken hair in btw and that makes it more frizzy. Do takr out a conditioner for it as well for over all care. Recommend to everyone who has frizzy hair problem. Posted on(24/05/2018)
Nice shampoo Review by Megha
As it is for frizz - i agree it does work. Using kaytra hair oil and shampoo does wonders. Posted on(24/05/2018)
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This nonsense is outta hand. I can't take it. Maybe "Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe" is the first time I hate song-title allegorical ties to the popularity of a track. Insanely enough, I want to kill Kendrick Lamar's vibe, just because it's s'ohhhh October 22 of last year. Like when people were still listening to My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy that next summer, but it only reminded everyone of the fall that year before, and it was just fucked and weird. And now that same depressive ghost lives through Lamar. It feels dense and unavoidable. Like flipping through the stations and it's on three of them; two playing exactly at the same time, the other playing the Jay-Z cash-out remix version. Sometimes C likes to pee alone.
zcamp, kill my vibe:
Okay, okay. I know Kendrick Lamar's videos have a tendency towards the melodramatic. That free-fall in the "Swimming Pools" video was pretty over-the-top (although the Dumbo-esque ear jiggling helped to break the tension a bit). And although there's something dark to be enjoyed in the Romeo + Juliet theatrics of "Poetic Justice," you can't help but wish that the guy could cut off the smoke machines for a while. Thankfully, there are no smoke machines in the "Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe" video, no wistful glances offscreen, no high-strung histrionics. The proceedings may revolve around a funeral, but what a -FUN-eral it is! The self-referential jokes, the over-saturated palette, the exaggerated limousine party scenes: it all marks a goofy digression from Lamar's typical sensibilities, one that almost appears too good to be true. But then we get that twist at the end, and you can't help but feel unsettled, that all of the smiles and optimism were little more than an MDMA mask, covering the painful truth. And in that sense, "Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe" works — a "gotcha" game lurking beneath the appealing aesthetics.
• Kendrick Lamar: http://kendricklamar.org
• Aftermath Entertainment: http://www.aftermathmusic.com
More about: Kendrick Lamar


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Gabourey 'Gabby' Sidibe is Precious
GABOUREY SIDIBE was born in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of R&B/Gospel singer Alice Tan Ridley and Ibnou Sidibe, a native of Senegal. When her parents separated, Gabby moved to Harlem with her mother and older brother. A graduate of Washington Irving High School, she was pursuing a degree in psychology at Mercy College and working as a telephone customer service representative when she was cast in Precious. While she never studied theatre, she played the lead role of Torch in a lesbian version of the play Beirut at Lehman College in the Bronx, followed by roles in Lehman productions of Peter Pan, and The Vagina Monologues. She also appeared in the musical revue Uptown Serenade, in which she sang two Ella Fitzgerald songs. Following Precious, she will continue acting. We meet up in London during the London Film Festival...
Have you been able to explore London?
The very first morning I didn't have anything on the schedule to do until the next day so I went to Buckingham Palace. It was amazing. I wish I could have seen the Queen. It's so weird. How do you act with a queen; what happens there? It's crazy! There is a huge palace in the middle of the city. Actually, it's funny. I know where Princess Diana lived because my manager lived across the street from her palace, wherever she was sent. It was right across the street. She was a college student at the time!
It's a terrific performance in Precious, but I understand you had no real aspirations to become actor. You thought it was a dream too far...
Yes. That makes a lot of sense, a dream too far. I had been told for most of my life that I would never be able to do something like this. Also I got a lot of cues from the media: when it comes to actresses and people the media cares about, you can probably count the girls that look like me on one hand. So I certainly didn't think I could break any barriers and become an actress.
And even when you got the audition you weren't convinced?
No. I wasn't. I was withholding; on the fence. I thought it was a dumb idea to go in and do the audition because there was no way that I could be an actress. It had never been within my scope and I never auditioned for anything. I wasn't an actress. I had no training. Nothing. I thought it made more sense that I to go to school. I was a receptionist for a company while I was studying psychology. But somehow or other it ended up with my going to the audition.
Who persuaded you?
It was partly my mother and also I have a friend, Henry, who is the assistant director in my local theatre. He called me when they were coming to cast and he thought of me - because they were looking for a very specific girl that I look like. After the audition I went straight to work and by the time I got out of the subway, which is literally an hour later, I had the call back.
Apparently, you had an amusing phone call when trying to ring them for the call back...
Yeah, I was still in disbelief, I dialled the wrong number and I got some lawyer office and I was talking to this lawyer and who happened to have the same name as the guy I was meant to be calling. I was like, 'Can I talk to Billy Hopkins?' So they put me through to Billy, the lawyer! He was like, 'What are you looking for?' And I said, 'I have just done this audition and I am doing the call back.' He laughed, and said, 'I hope they actually gave you the right number!' I was pretty sure they did, because I was just one number off so he wished me luck. 'I hope you get it.' he said. So I called the right number and made an appointment to come in the next day. The callback was the next day and I was called within half an hour of leaving, saying Mr. Daniels wants to see you. He wanted to meet me that day but since I had already gone all the way back home - and I think the office at the time was five blocks away from where the call back was - so they said I made the appointment and went back in the next day and was talking to Lee for about forty five minutes to an hour. The whole time I am waiting to do the audition again because I was told I would have to audition for him, but it never happened. He just gave me the part.
Lee Daniels says that you told him things about the character that he had not considered. Do you remember what?
Being a fan of the book, anytime they wanted to do something a little different I would get up on a soapbox, saying, 'No, you can't do that because they didn't do that in the book and we can't change the book.' I am anal and got very serious about the character. I have probably told him a lot of things just because there are so many layers to Precious and he just thought because she was big and dark skinned that she had to be a certain way. But in meeting me, I am big and I have dark skin but I am certainly better than what he thought of me. He thought I would be not so and certainly I changed his idea of who Precious is, based on the way I am.
What were you thinking during the audition?
It was the scene where Precious meets Ms Weiss for the first time, the social worker, and I was given about three minutes with it. I hadn't seen the scene beforehand. For the most part if you have a manager and the manager submits you for the role then they will email you the sides to the audition so you can prepare the night before. But since this was an open casting call I just showed up, no appointment, no nothing. And they had sides available so I was given three minutes with it and I went in and I did it. I remember thinking that it was a complete waste of time. Billy Hopkins was in the room with his assistant director Jessica Kelly and I wasn't nervous at all, because I was feeling pretty stupid for having cut class and I was wondering about what I was missing. That was pretty much all that was on my mind. I wasn't nervous at all because I didn't think I had it all; I thought that I had zero chance of actually getting the part.
There are many layers to character and some very harrowing scenes to film...
I tend to disappear when I am acting as Precious. I am blank, completely, I am just feeling every emotion as Precious would feel it and how she should feel it. I leave my body and I take on this character. It is such a weird thing to describe because at first you do a certain amount of takes for every scene, sometimes more than others and for each time it is all brand new information and it a real revelation. It never grows cold or dead to me.
The film's set in Harlem, where you grew up. Was yours a happy childhood?
I was okay .We were certainly not rich or comfortable or wealthy monetarily and it was a rough neighbour hood but I have never been hurt or fell victim to any societal pressures. I think really it was quite a normal childhood. I also grew up in Brooklyn in a rough neighbour hood and my parents divorced when I was young. Round there, that is pretty normal.
Do you have another movie lined up?
No. You can't believe everything on the Wikipedia. You know that anyone can say anything on that! Roger Ebert was telling me about it. He said, 'It looks like you're a Tyler Perry movie next?' I said 'No!' He said you need to Google yourself!' But anyone can edit Wikipedia!
Do you worry that because of the attention lavished on the film, your rise is happening too fast?
It worries me because even my manager has never seen it happen like this. I have never been to a class or to an acting school so it is a weird situation and I am confused all the time, but it has certainly fallen into my lap in such a huge way that I have to do something with it. I have to. I owe it to myself. I love the idea of bringing a person alive who is just on paper and to blow life into that character is amazing. Since doing this press for the film, I have become so gobby. But it is amazing. Sometimes I am afraid by every bit of good news because I know that this happened this easily and I realize that. I totally appreciate the fact that this is special and that this doesn't happen to everyone. I don't know why this happened to me but I am just ecstatic that is. I know it won't last either.
Precious dreams about the red carpet in the movie. How are you finding it?
Red carpets are more fun in the film. Photoshoots are more fun in life. That's the way you split that. Red carpets. They don't suck but they are actually more fun to film than to actually do. Photoshoots are really awesome because sometimes they give you the clothes you are wearing. They give you free shoes and stuff like that!


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Win passes to see an advance screening of RINGS!
If you live in one of the cities below you can enter for a chance to win movie passes to see an advance screening of RINGS courtesy of Paramount Pictures! Screenings will take place on Wednesday, February 1st, 2017.
Screening Details:
Show Time: 7:00PM
Cinema Banque Scotia Montreal
Show Time: 7:30PM
Scotiabank Theatre Vancouver
Show Time: 7:00PM
To enter is simple. Fill out the form below and submit your info!
Oops! We could not locate your form.
Winners will be chosen at random and will be notified via e-mail. This contest is open to Canadian residents only. Good luck!
BONUS ENTRIES if you RETWEET the tweet below or LIKE our contest post on our Facebook page!
CONTEST: Win passes to see an advance screening of RINGS! https://t.co/9uvnxmMiXv pic.twitter.com/JfqR3hgmcm
— Scene Creek (@SceneCreek) January 16, 2017
A new chapter in the beloved RING horror franchise. A young woman becomes worried about her boyfriend when he explores a dark subculture surrounding a mysterious videotape said to kill the watcher seven days after he has viewed it. She sacrifices herself to save her boyfriend and in doing so makes a horrifying discovery: there is a "movie within the movie" that no one has ever seen before…
RINGS – In theatres February 3rd, 2017
Distributed by: Paramount Pictures
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- The suspected Cat Killer has received numerous threats, forcing police to investigate them. [CBS4]
- Meanwhile, the Miami Herald and CBS4 won their crusade to have the kid's arrest affidavit unsealed -- kinda. It'll be released in July. [CBS4]
- Adam Kaufman, the Aventura developer accused of killing his wife, is out on bail. [Herald]
- Live eco-friendly, die eco-friendly. Now you can make sure to have a green afterlife. [NBCMiami]
- SoFla hospitals are losing money and seeing big declines in investments. [Herald]
- Alltell and Sprint will refund Florida cell phone owners up to $30 million for charging them for services they didn't want. [NBCMiami]
- Two men and a woman were found dead inside a Kendall apartment. Police suspect murder-suicide. [CBS4]
- Cops are looking for a teen who shot and robbed a taxi driver. [Herald]
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LBTT6001 - Leases
Chapter 6 of the LBTT legislation guidance covering lease transactions.
This chapter of guidance refers to the taxation of non-residential leases, including agricultural leases, and mainly covers the provisions of schedule 19 to the LBTT(S)A 2013.
Residential leases are generally exempt from LBTT (see LBTT3005) apart from certain long leases which are 'qualifying leases' for the purposes of section 1 of the Long Leases (Scotland) Act 2012 nd which are not exempt. Qualifying leases are therefore taxed in the same way as non-residential leases.
See LBTT3001 for further guidance on determining whether or not tax is payable. For further information, please see our worked examples.
Separate guidance covering transitional arrangements for SDLT and LBTT is available.
Application of LBTT to leases
The application of LBTT to leases reflects the principle that the transfer of an effective economic interest via a leasing arrangement should be taxed in a similar way to the transfer of an effective economic interest in a conventional sale. In other words, the tax position should not distort commercial choices as to whether to lease or purchase property.
The method of calculating the tax due for leases under LBTT works in much the same way as it did under SDLT. The net present value (NPV) of the rent payable over the term of the lease is used to calculate the tax chargeable in respect of rent, although for LBTT the NPV is arrived at using the actual rent payable for each year of the lease (using estimated rent if the actual rent is not yet known, for example because of future rent reviews).
Licences to occupy property
Licences of any type (whether residential or non-residential) are not within the scope of LBTT. No tax is due and a LBTT return does not need to be made.
In practice, some licences are so like leases that they seem practically indistinguishable. However a key difference is that leases generally confer a 'real right' to the tenant, meaning that the tenant cannot be ejected from the property even if the landlord changes (e.g. following a sale of the property), or if the landlord becomes insolvent.
Licences, by contrast, confer only a 'personal right' over the property to licensees. Licensees whose 'landlord' changes or goes bust face being ejected from the premises they occupy.
Three-yearly review of leases
In a change to the approach adopted for SDLT, the tax position for a lease that was subject to LBTT will be reviewed, and a further LBTT return must be submitted on every third anniversary of the lease (see LBTT6015) to take account of any changes that have taken place in the previous three years, for example to the rental payments and any extensions or variations to the lease that have been agreed during that three year period.
The guidance for leases covers a number of topics and is structured as follows:


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If you know me, or follow me on social media, then you are fully aware of my obsession with the iconic Beverly Hills Hotel. So when a good friend wanted to stay for her 25th birthday, I knew it'd be a memorable staycation, and that it was! Enjoy.
Birthday = champs and yes, The Beverly Hills Hotel has their own champagne label, rightfully pink and served with delicious chocolate covered strawberries. We decked the room with pretty pink flowers and put on our white robes stat before getting ready for a fun night out.
The definition of luxury to me is a hotel robe and champs! We all spent the afternoon getting ready, catching up, like an adult slumber party. It was probably my favorite part of the night and I definitely need to make "girls night in" more of priority with my friends from now on!
After taking loads of pictures, primping and polishing off, we headed out to Malibu for a dinner and night on the town! These balloons are amazing by the way for any occasion, but especially birthdays, and make the best photos. And the Martinique wallpaper made famous by the BHH doesn't hurt as backdrop either!
As pictured, the photos went on forever, and I just couldn't help but get some swinging shots of my fringe J.O.A. two piece ensemble I happened to score at the major Bloomies sale!
I've always had a special love for retro diners and the Fountain Coffee Room is one of my absolute favorite places in Los Angeles to eat. As I've mentioned before, I love ordering a classic grilled cheese sandwich and chocolate milkshake at the 50's style counter. It's one of the best places to grab a coffee and some breakfast, but also the perfect Sunday night grub. And after a big night out, this latte was a latte appreciated!
The pool is perhaps one of the most infamous spots for seeing some downright glamorous swimwear and high profile people getting a luxe dose of vitamin D. It's got the sweetest cabanas and has a very old school Florida country club feel, just like the rest of the classic hotel.
Some people dream of table service at a trendy nightclub, I'm dreaming of a banana leaf cabana with free flowing margs! If I ever celebrate here again, grabbing one will be a top priority!
The tables at the Cabana Cafe are a bit easier to come by and open to the general public. I've been to the Polo Lounge and Fountain Coffee Room many times but never wandered down to this prime pool viewing spot. It's a great place for lunch or breakfast and they even have a nice little outdoor bar set up for pool guests. Can you spot the little lemonade stand behind the gate? How adorable is that!
Is it summer yet? I guess you'd never need to know at The Beverly Hills Hotel. Do you see why I love this place so much?


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Peristalsis, or rhythmic intestinal movement, is needed to promote proper digestion and avoid constipation, which is an embarrassing and sometimes painful problem that happens to most people occasionally. While there are many over-the-counter medications available to treat constipation, some herbal remedies also promote peristalsis and relieve constipation. As with all natural remedies, consult a health care professional before using herbs for constipation.
If you are experiencing serious medical symptoms, seek emergency treatment immediately.
Senna is a naturally occurring stimulant laxative. Along with being available as an herbal supplement in most health food stores, it is also the primary component in many over-the-counter laxatives. Senna is generally considered more gentle than its counterparts aloe and cascara, but should only be taken for occasional relief of constipation without the advice of a physician.
Aloe vera is a succulent plant that is most widely known for its skin soothing properties. In addition to gel -- used most often for skin disorders -- the aloe's leaves are lined with a bitter, waxy substance that is used to relieve constipation. The University of Maryland Medical Center reports that aloe may produce cramping and discomfort and instead recommends the use of other gastrointestinal stimulant herbs.
Cascara sagrada, also known as buckthorn, is made from the dried bark of the cascara tree and was available for many years as a laxative in liquid form. Though it is still available as an ingredient in some herbal remedies, it was removed from the market as an over-the-counter agent by the Food and Drug Administration in 2002 due to concerns over safety. Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center also states that cascara should not be used by those with intestinal obstruction or undiagnosed gastrointestinal problems 2. It also should not be used by pregnant women or nursing mothers.
While not a traditional herbal medication, the use of bulk fiber is often the first line of treatment in cases of constipation. Fiber works to promote peristalsis by holding water in the intestines and ensuring that there is plenty of bulk in the stool to produce natural intestinal movement. Psyllium husks are the primary component in most fiber laxatives. Kelp is another bulk-producing agent that may help to relieve constipation. Bulk laxatives should always be consumed with plenty of water or otherwise they may actually trigger constipation.
- Drugs.com: Senna
- Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center: Cascara
- Prescription for Herbal Healing; Phyllis A. Balch
- Iromaya Images/Iromaya/Getty Images


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Happy Halloween friends! I hope you all have a chance to get into the festive spirit! We are a little late to the game buuuut will be carving pumpkins hopefully before the first Trick or Treater comes to our door. And you can bet I'll be eating pumpkin seeds by the handful (or will it be candy!?)
How far along: 24 weeks!
Gender: Unknown … my gut says GIRL, everyone else says BOY.
Weight gain: Guesstimated 15+lbs (the Halloween-sized chocolate bars are probably NOT helping!)
Maternity clothes: YES. Actually so much more comfy than regular clothes at this point. ALSO, what is it with pregnancy pants not having front pockets!? Do they just assume we will not need front pockets?! I think I will be investing in way more leggings at this point.Super comfy and can be dressed up or down! … I tried on my winter coat and it's S N U G already! Have to start researching alternatives before the cold weather hits … and STAYS.
Stretch marks: None
Belly button in or out: Still hanging IN there!
Sleep: SO MUCH. I am waiting for the pregnancy insomnia to hit.
Best moment this week: Hubs and I finally knocked Pumpkinferno at Upper Canada Village off our Fall Bucket List (actually has been on our bucket list for a few years now). The night was beautiful and it was such a spectacular display!
Also, GETTING MY FLU SHOT! Not. Actually, I spent that morning taking a little time for some self-care; I normally don't get the flu shot but I have heard the flu will be bad this year … so I did that in the morning, then treated myself to a white hot chocolate downtown before walking around and window shopping in our beautiful city. It was a great way to just relax and take some time for myself.
Miss anything: S T A R B U C K S L A T T E S. I KNOW those Holiday drinks will be making their appearance coon. All I can think about are Caramel Brulee Lattes!
Movement: I honestly don't even know if this tiny human sleeps? Always poking and prodding me. I think he/she likes to hang out on the left side of my belly … of that's where his/her arms and legs like to hang out at least! I have caught a few glimpses of movement on the outside as well — AMAZING and soooo weird.
Cravings: Anything and everything sweet — trying to consume more fruits than candy. (Seriously though … do I stock up on cheap Halloween candy tomorrow when it's all on sale or just let it go?)
Queasy or sick: None
Aversions: No food aversions — just smells; cooking eggs and cooking ground beef (BLEH!). I can eat them though!
Looking forward to: NOVEMBER. There is SO MUCH happening — baby showers, CHRISTMAS SHOPPING, and a sweet little babymoon staycation for hubs and I! If time could just slow down, that would be great!
Hope you all have a great Halloween friends!


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I am in one project that using logistic regression to predict phone number from fraud. The engineers in my team are using python(maybe c++ later) library for logistic regression to do machine learning.
I wonder how to implement this in newlisp, any basic functions from newlisp can be used in this case.
I am new to machine learning, but want to have a try with newlisp myself.


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A mortgage is a loan used to finance the purchase of real property. A mortgage consists of several important variables, such as mortgage points, the interest rate, and fees. These factors determine the mortgage payment as well as how much the borrower will pay over the life of the loan.
Shopping for a home loan can be confusing because mortgages differ depending on the lender and interest rates tend to change daily. The interest rate on a mortgage is the rate the lender charges for borrowing the money. The rate varies depending on factors like the borrower's credit history and economic conditions such as inflation, housing prices, and the demand for mortgages.
Mortgage points are a type of fee paid by the borrower to reduce the interest rate. A borrower makes a one-time lump sum payment in exchange for a lower interest rate. One point, for example, is equivalent to 1% percent of the mortgage amount. For a $100,000 mortgage, one point is equal to $1,000. In general, the more points a borrower pays, the lower the interest rate. Points usually range from 0% to 3%.
Different lenders charge various settlement fees for a mortgage. Typical fees include:
Since the amounts of the fees vary from lender to lender, shopping around for the most competitive mortgage will help reduce these fees.
Federal law requires that mortgage lenders disclose the annual percentage rate, or the APR. The APR is the annual cost of the mortgage. The calculation of the APR includes interest, mortgage insurance, and fees. A loan with a lower APR may indicate a better value than one with a higher APR. However, since lenders make these calculations differently, it may be an unreliable indicator of the better loan. APRs are a less important way to assess a loan for a borrower that intends to pay off the loan early by refinancing or selling the property prior to the full term of the mortgage.
Paying mortgage points for a lower interest rate is not advantageous in every situation. Consider the following when deciding whether to pay more points or a higher interest rate.
Contact a real estate attorney to help you navigate mortgages or home equity loans.


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5 Reasons You're Not Losing Weight on Paleo
Are you just not losing the weight that you want on Paleo? It is possible to lose weight on paleo, but you have to adjust things a bit. You may be doing one (or more) of these 5 things…
1. You're Not Eating Enough (Good) Fat
Fear of fat is still very prevalent in our society, but don't buy into it! Most people need a higher percentage of fat daily than you think, and this especially is true for those that are metabolically challenged and who have problems losing weight. Get a lot of good fats every day and DO NOT eat low fat processed foods. Have some real butter, ghee or coconut oil in your cooking. Take a swig of MCT oil in the morning for extra energy, and for goodness sakes, use olive oil or butter on your vegetables and real mayonnaise or salad dressings on your salads, not the stuff in the bottles.
I am eating the most fat I ever have in my life (about 70-75% of my total calories daily) and I've never felt better in my life!
2. You're Eating Too Many "Sweets"
Paleo desserts are amazing, and so much healthier than what we all used to eat! Even though they are made with healthy sweeteners such as grade B maple syrup and raw honey, they're still sweet and some people can tend to lean on them too much. Sometimes it's just best to go cold turkey with sweet things in general for awhile and give your taste buds a chance to adjust. If you want to sweeten something, try a small amount of stevia.
Sweets, no matter how healthy, prime some of us to want to eat MORE at our next meal or later that day. Also even healthy sweeteners can cause blood sugar swings even in those that are not diabetic or even pre-diabetic.
3. You're Not Tracking What You Eat
Tracking food doesn't mean you bring a scale to restaurants like the olden days. It's never been easier to keep track of what you're eating with all of the online tools out there. Tracking is great to do at least one week per month to 'check in' with yourself and make sure that your fats and carbs are on target for your goals. Until you track your food, you don't really know how much you're eating.
I found that once I started tracking, I could make adjustments really quickly from day-to-day and my weight loss increased.
4. Your Carb Level is Too High
I hate that this is true for me, but I've found that some people, especially those that are metabolically challenged (like myself), just cannot eat a lot of carbs in one day and lose weight, no matter how healthy the food is. It also doesn't even matter especially how many calories one eats, if the carbs are too high, your body may decide to hold onto the weight.
Everyone has a 'sweet spot' carb level that they will want to adhere to, and it's different for everyone. A good place to start is under 50 grams per day, and go from there.
5. You're Not in Ketosis
And the last reason you're not losing weight on paleo is that you're probably not in ketosis! What is ketosis you say? Well this is when your body is running on ketones for fuel and not glucose. When your brain is running on ketones, it's more efficient and you'll lose weight as well as have reduced or eliminated inflammation. When you're in ketosis, your hunger between meals drop and your satisfaction with foods increases. Your mental fogginess will clear and your energy level will increase, along with the quality of your sleep, and life in general!
Check Out my eBook "Kick the Weight with Keto"
Are you intrigued by the above? Have you had problems losing weight on paleo? If so, you'll be interested in my book Kick the Weight with Keto – How to Lose Weight and Feel Great with a Paleo Ketogenic Diet. YES you CAN lose weight on paleo – a paleo ketogenic diet!
Here's what some people have had to say about my book:
I just wanted to THANK you so very much for the time and effort you put into "Kick the weight with Keto." For the first time i feel like i finally have a "go to" resource, and solid info …and am no longer in "keto-confusion". You have made this journey SO much easier, truly. — Chloe S
Kim, thanks for writing this book. I had done a bunch of internet surfing and research and didn't find half of the info that I found in your book. — Brian
I was so excited to get your book, and to learn from your experiences and cook the recipes. I am hypothyroid and became allergic to starches 6 months ago and quickly had to flip from carbs to proteins which was really difficult as a carb addict. I am grateful you wrote this book for all of us who struggle and to give us hope. Heartfelt thanks. — Katherine
Buy Kick the Weight with Keto – How to Lose Weight and Feel Great with a Paleo Ketogenic Diet. 100 pages of information and over 30 recipes to get you started on a ketogenic diet. Also, a free update to come out at the end of 2013 to all buyers!


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BEIJING � August 8, 2008 � NBC's primetime coverage of the Beijing Olympics begins Saturday at 8 p.m. ET/PT with men's 400m freestyle and 400m individual medley gold medal finals, as well as women's 400m individual medley and 4x100m freestyle relay. Michael Phelps begins his quest to make history in the 400m individual medley, and 41-year-old mom Dara Torres leads Team USA in the women's 4x100m freestyle relay. Also live in primetime, defending Olympic beach volleyball gold medalists Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh take on Japan (Saiki/Kusuhara). Men's gymnastics competition will also heat up the night.
Saturday's coverage continues with the following:
The live women's volleyball match between USA and Japan highlights NBC Daytime. Team USA's coach "Jenny" Lang Ping, helped lead the Chinese Volleyball team to a gold medal in 1984 in Los Angeles and a silver in 1996 in Atlanta, and at this Olympics looks to lead the USA to gold.
Also on the volleyball front, live in latenight the USA men's team takes on Venezuela.
Live on USA Network, the USA women's soccer team goes head-to-head with Japan, after a disappointing loss to Norway. In women's basketball, Team USA takes on Czech Republic live on USA. CNBC kicks off its first night of live boxing. MSNBC features two live women's soccer games and women's fencing individual sabre gold medal finals.
Highlights for Saturday, Aug. 9, 2008, include:
NBC and NBC HD
10:00 a.m. � 6:00 p.m.
Women's Volleyball � USA vs. Japan (LIVE)
Men's Beach Volleyball � Rogers/Dalhausser (USA) vs. Samoilovs/Plavins (LAT)
Women's Beach Volleyball � Branagh/Youngs (USA) vs. Kadijk/Mooren (NED)
Men's Cycling � Road Race
8:00 p.m. � Midnight
Swimming � Gold Medal Finals (LIVE)
Men's 400m Freestyle, 400m Individual Medley
Women's 400m Individual Medley, 4x100m Freestyle Relay
Women's Beach Volleyball � May-Treanor/Walsh vs. Saiki/Kusuhara (JPN)(LIVE)
Men's Gymnastics � Team Competition
*Note: LIVE Swimming Semifinals Men's 100 breaststroke & Women's 100m Butterfly
12:30 a.m. � 2:00 a.m.
Men's Volleyball � USA vs. Venezuela (LIVE)
USA and USA HD
2:00 a.m. � 2:00 p.m.
Women's Soccer � USA vs. Japan (LIVE)
Canada vs. China
Women's Basketball � USA vs. Czech Republic (LIVE)
Equestrian � Eventing Dressage (LIVE)
Men's Beach Volleyball � Nummerdor/Schuil (NED) vs. Laciga/Schneider (SUI)
Women's Beach Volleyball � Barnett/Cook (AUS) vs. Uryadova/Shiryaeva (RUS)
Women's Fencing � Women's Sabre Quarterfinals
Women's Shooting � Air Rifle Gold Medal Final
Women's Badminton � Lee (USA) vs. Rice (CAN)
Women's Weightlifting � Flyweight Gold Medal Final
CNBC and CNBC HD
2:00 a.m. � 5:00 a.m.
Boxing � 75kg, 81kg Competition (LIVE)
5:00 p.m. � 8:00 p.m.
Boxing � 75kg, 81kg Competition
5:00 a.m. � 5:00 p.m.
Women's Soccer � Nigeria vs. Germany (LIVE)
Brazil vs. North Korea (LIVE)
Women's Volleyball � Italy vs. Russia
Poland vs. Cuba
Women's Fencing � Individual Sabre Gold Medal Final
Women's Handball � France vs. Angola
Russia vs. South Korea
Badminton � Singles competition
7:30 a.m. � 2:00 p.m.
Women's Soccer � USA vs. Japan (LIVE)
Men's Beach Volleyball � Heyer/Heuscher (SUI) vs. Conde/Baracetti (ARG)
Women's Volleyball � Poland vs. Cuba
6:00 p.m. � 8:00 p.m.
Beach Volleyball
Midnight � 1:00 a.m.
24-hour MSNBC & CNBC HD Simulcasts and Coverage
2:30 a.m. � 2:30 p.m.
Women's Qualifying Round
2:30 a.m. - 4:15 a.m. Spain vs. China (LIVE)
4:45 a.m. � 6:30 a.m. Brazil vs. S. Korea (LIVE)
6:30 a.m. � 8:00 a.m. Belarus vs. Australia
8:00 a.m. � 9:45 a.m. USA vs. Czech Republic (LIVE)
10:15 a.m. � 12:00 p.m. Russia vs. Latvia (LIVE)
12:00 p.m. � 1:45 p.m. Mali vs. New Zealand
1:45 p.m. � 2:30 p.m. USA vs. Czech Republic 2nd half re-air
5:00 a.m. � 5:00 p.m.
Women's Preliminaries
5:00 a.m. � 6:45 a.m. USA vs. Japan (LIVE)
7:45 a.m. � 9:30 a.m. Brazil vs. N. Korea (LIVE)
9:30 a.m. � 11:00 a.m. Nigeria vs. Germany
11:00 a.m. � 12:30 p.m. China vs. Canada
12:30 p.m. � 2:00 p.m. Sweden vs. Argentina
2:00 p.m. � 3:30 p.m. New Zealand vs. Norway
3:30 p.m. � 5:00 p.m. USA vs. Japan (re-air)
NBCOlympics.com - LIVE STREAMING BROADBAND COVERAGE:
Men's Archery
Women's Archery � Competition & Quarterfinals
Women's Fencing � Individual Sabre Semifinal & Gold Medal Final
Men's Fencing � Individual Epee Competition
Women's Field Hockey
Men's Judo � 60kg Competition & Gold Medal Final, 66kg Competition
Women's Judo � 48kg Competition & Gold Medal Final, 52kg Competition
Men's Shooting � 10m Air Pistol Gold Medal Final, Men's Trap Competition
Women's Shooting � 10m Air Pistol Competition & Gold Medal Final
Women & Men's Basketball
Equestrian � Team Dressage
Women's & Men's Handball
Women's Soccer
Men's & Women's Tennis
Women's Weightlifting � 53kg
Men's Weightlifting � 56kg
Cycling � Road Race
�The opening night of competition shifts the attention from the magnificent Bird's Nest to the National Aquatics Center. Nicknamed the "Water Cube", it is an awe-inspiring translucent structure that gives spectators the sensation of being under water while looking up at its roof.
�Fittingly, one of these Games' most spectacular venues is the host to unquestionably one of the greatest swimmers ever, 23-year-old Michael Phelps. He begins his chase for history LIVE in primetime in the 400m Individual Medley, an event in which he shattered his own world record at the Olympic Trials and is favored to win. By the end of the week, Phelps could break the record for most career gold medals by any Olympic athlete ever, summer or winter. The current record is nine, shared by Finnish distance runner Paavo Nurmi, Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina, American swimmer Mark Spitz, and American track star Carl Lewis. Phelps, who already owns six gold medals from Athens, could swim as many as eight events in Beijing if all goes as planned. Fellow American Ryan Lochte is the second fastest of all-time in this event and should make this the fourth straight Olympics in which Americans go 1-2 in this event.
�Dara Torres leads Team USA in the women's 4x100m freestyle relay Gold Medal final versus Australia. On the women's side, world champion Katie Hoff could bring the USA its second gold of the night in the 400m IM in what could be a classic duel with Australia's Stephanie Rice -- Hoff broke Rice's world record at the Olympic Trials in June.
�The USA Men's Gymnastics Team looks to qualify for the eight-team final and earn a chance at a second straight team medal. Host China has won the last two world championships and will be the team to beat.
�The greatest cyclists in the world take to the streets of Beijing in the men's road race, an event that provides the perfect introduction to the Olympic city. The 150-mile race begins in the center of Beijing, passes through Tiananmen Square and other historic sites before reaching its conclusion at the grandest of finish lines, the Great Wall of China.
�The USA Women's Volleyball Team begins its medal quest against Japan LIVE on NBC. The eyes of China will be on Team USA's coach "Jenny" Lang Ping, who helped lead the Chinese volleyball team to a gold medal over the USA at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, and later coached the Chinese team to a silver medal in 1996 in Atlanta.
�The USA Men's Volleyball Team plays its first match of the Olympics LIVE against Venezuela. In Athens, Team USA made an exciting run to the bronze medal game after a thrilling quarterfinals comeback against the favored host, Greece.
LIVE coverage of two medal contending USA women's teams. The USA Women's Soccer Team faces Japan in game two on the road to gold. Later, the USA Women's Basketball Team begins its Beijing schedule against the Czech Republic.
�The first gold medal awarded at this Olympics will be either shooting's women's air rifle final or weightlifting's women's flyweight final, and whichever event it is, host nation China is heavily favored to capture the first gold medal at the Beijing Games. Three different Chinese lifters have won the past three women's flyweight world championships, while Du Li is the favorite in the women's air rifle.
�CNBC's comprehensive coverage of the Olympic Boxing tournament begins, with LIVE elimination bouts in the overnight hours and comprehensive coverage of the second session in the afternoon.
�Welcome to an Olympic hoops dream -- The NBC Olympic Basketball Channel will feature complete coverage of all 76 games (38 Men's, 38 Women's) in the Olympic Basketball tournament in spectacular high definition, from the early round games through the men's and women's gold medal finals, featuring many of the world's best players suiting up in their national colors.


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Well...not really sure how I feel about this one. Wasn't exactly what I was expecting, which isn't to say it wasn't good...it actually was. I just didn't see the Leviathan twist coming. But then that's par for the course with the Leviathans. They've been confusing all season long.
At any rate...loved the first half of the episode, with the cursed objects. Felt like an old school case, complete with some total gross out moments and a few good lines.
But as soon as they were locking up the last object and we still had half an episode left, you knew there was more to come.
Which led us to the second half with the Leviathans. As I said, they're really frustrating the hell out of me...can't get my head around them as bad guys. But the brilliant thing is that's exactly where the guys are with them, so I'm assuming it was intentional on Sera and the writers' part to leave the audience in the same position. Kudos Sera!
Can't figure out exactly what Dick is up to, short of setting up a made to order smorgasboard for himself. Guess we'll find out soon enough.
I didn't see the ending coming...figured they'd end by setting off Sam's breakdown somehow...but that was cool too. I'm thinking, blood notwithstanding, we may not have seen the last of Frank yet.
So bottom line...this was a head scratcher, but a good one. Not really looking forward to next week, at least where Sam's concerned, but I'm intrigued to see how it all pans out with Cas. This show always leaves you thinking...no wonder we love it so much!
I'm giving this one a 9 out of 10...a tiny point off for leaving me STILL confused.


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We writers hear it all the time "Five Books Every Writer Must Read" or "Young writers should read past bedtime and write things down in notebooks when they are supposed to be doing something else."
And there's also a lot out there about why we should read (we'll learn to start in the action, that tragedy makes triumphs greater, or that heroines don't have to be beautiful).
But how does any of this help me? Why should I spend as much time reading as I do writing?
Because I just keep learning. No matter what I think I know, there's always so much more to know.
Here's a few things I learnt in the last four weeks.
1. Being pretentious
I realised how easy it is to think everyone will be patient while I indulge myself in a pretty turn of phrase, a technical explanation, or a long description. Or, as Stephen King says in the foreword of 'The Gunslinger' to think making scenes obscure makes them more exciting, or gives the reader something to re-read with avid interest.
I struggled through The Gunslinger and only persisted because Stephen King is the master and I trust him when he says the books get better. And the purple prose of Distopia did its utmost to detract me from what was a brilliant story.
I can't wait to attack my own manuscript and make sure I treat my potential readers to a good read, not a lecture on the English language. Stephen King, Robert Kroese: thank you. You both taught me this through your respective brilliance.
2. Scene-sequel structure
I found more beautiful examples on how to put what I've learned about scene-sequel into practice. Thea Welsh used a personal style, creating the sense of a private diary, which allowed her to openly disclose coming twists and turns with a natural ease yet stunning effect.
The events in The President's Wife follow the motivation-reaction sequence in a way I hadn't considered. Thank you Thea Welsh, I could not have learnt this any better way than by taking the time out to read.
3. Verbosity
While reading Christopher Moore's Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Friend, I was struck by the author's bravery – wouldn't the strongly religious find it offensive? Wouldn't the non-religious find it too biblical?
But I'm wrong, of course, because this book has a huge following.
Moore's biblical references, while being perfectly true to the Good Book, are melded into conversation and brought to life, with less of a scriptures feel and more of a human-as-Son-of-God feel.
And Alexander McCall Smith's The No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency used passive voice to bring an element of honesty and sweetness to the Batswana characters.
Thank you to Moore and McCall Smith for showing me how to incorporate technicality and specialty into a story without overpowering the story or making it difficult to read.
4 Scene transitions
Marathon Man by William Goldman starts slow. No doubt about it.
But wow when it gets under way at about page 120!
I'm still learning my craft, so I still find it hard to show the suddenness of an event from a character's point of view. Sure, I can say 'suddenly' but that doesn't make you bite your nails, or sit straighter on your chair.
William Goldman made me sit up and curse out loud in shock. I did not see it coming, yet I had all the facts. I didn't have to stop and think, or re-read anything, I was just caught up in the sudden excitement. And that wasn't even close to the climactic moment.
The only other author to do that to me recently is, yep, you guessed it – Stephen King.
This is just one example from The Drawing of the Three: King depicts a drug-runner on a plane. The drug-runner is in the toilet, trying to dispose of the drugs. Airline staff are outside, trying to get him to come out. King first shows the events from the perspective of the airline staff, then from the far more dramatic perspective of the drug-runner.
He could use re-telling to show time running out for the drug-runner. He could ignore the ticking clock and bore us. Instead he uses snippets of overheard conversation and lets me see for myself. I'm on the edge of my seat, my heart racing as I curse the drug-runner for being what he is, and hope like crazy he gets away with it – come on, come on; hurry hurry; not like that you idiot – and I don't even like this character.
So thank you William Goldman and Stephen King, for showing me how to not use 'sudden' to achieve real sudden, and for showing me how to evoke compassion and empathy for even the sleaziest of characters.
What do you think? Have you read anything lately that made you want to master that skill too? I'd love to hear from you!


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1) Any fun plans for New Year's Eve?
Hmm.. This is still up in the air. We might go see a friend's band play, only thing is the friend is my ex so I haven't introduced this option to FI yet. It's been many years and we've both moved on (obviously), but I'd like to go because the band is good! Another option is to have a low key get together at my MOH's house, playing cards, and just hang out.
2) Do you have any New Year's Eve or New Year's Day traditions?
No, but now I want one.
3) Are you happy to see 2009 go, or was it a good/memorable year for you?
I'm so happy to say goodbye to 2009! It's been a great year, but bring on 2010! I'm having so much fun planning our wedding and can't wait to get married.
4) Any New Year's resolutions?
To join a gym and tone up.
5) If you make resolutions, did you keep last year's?
I didn't make any last year.
6) Best and/or worst New Year's Eve/Day memory?
The best NYE I ever had was when a couple friends and I threw an end of the world party for 2000.
7) What's for dinner?
Not sure yet. Probably something soft for FI, he has a toothache.
8) Totally random: When eating leftover pizza, do you reheat it, eat it at room temperature, or eat it cold?


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Apparently I am not good at goodbye's, because I totally bounced on you guys. I returned back to reality today. My husband and I just got back from Vegas. It's been an entire 6 years since we have vacationed (alone). Gasp, I know. Let's blame the children for that one! It's been 8 years since I had been to sin city. Honestly though, I have had no desire to leave my sweetie pies for more than a few hours. And my husband had the mutual thoughts, missing opportunities to vacation. Our youngest is almost three and we got the itch a few months ago. The cards fell into place for us and whoa Christmas came, went, and it was time to board a plane and head to Las Vegas for the weekend and most importantly a UFC fight.
My husband is a HUGE UFC fan, I'm a random one. He can tell you everything you could possibly need or want to know about every fighter around. For me, I have a handful of favorites, I watch The Ultimate Fighter and am a huge Ronda Rousey fan. This fight was a treat for me and my husband and it did not disappoint. We witnessed the break seen around the world, watched my girl scrap it out, and armbar Misha Tate (priceless).
As if the trip wasn't freaking awesome enough, we ran into Ronda Rousey Sunday morning by chance. She was kind enough to let me get a photo with her. I've decided my 2014 year has been made!
I discovered quite a few things about doing Las Vegas as a 30-something.
I'm thirty-three, yeah… yeah…. I have embraced the fact that I am not a youngster anymore. But nor do I feel in the least bit old. I think thirty-three has been very kind to me.
Vegas isn't what I remember. There are still the flashing lights, lots of opportunities to blow money, and LYCRA… a crap load of lycra. I'm not above any of those guilty pleasures of Vegas, in fact I look forward to them. I even packed my own lycra. When in Vegas, right?! But, Vegas for me totally changed my perspective.
Maybe it's all of the responsibilities I have, that I didn't have in my twenties, and the fact that I am not in my twenties.
My husband and I ended up doing a ton of people watching.
A few take aways from Vegas:
I'd rather people watch and hit a hot spot for dinner, Vegas Clubs are sooo not my scene – anymore.
Gambling is cool, but the shopping is way more fun.
Stylish but comfortable is a must! It's all about the right pair of shoes.
Oh Vegas, you where kind. I had fun, lots and lots of fun. There is no place I'd rather be right now than in Texas. Three days in Las Vegas is more than enough for me.
Until next time…


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Can Your Database Run a Four-Minute Mile? Understanding Health vs. PerformancePosted by mandevil Dec 21, 2017
Jogging is my exercise. I use it to tune out noise, focus on a problem at hand, avoid interruptions, and stay healthy. Recently, I was cruising at a comfortable nine-minute pace when four elite runners passed me, and it felt like I was standing still. It got me thinking about the relationship between health and performance. I came to the conclusion that they are related, but more like distant cousins than siblings.
I can provide you data that indicates health status: blood pressure, resting heart rate, BMI, body fat percentage, current illnesses, etc. Given all that, tell me: can I run a four-minute mile? That question can't be answered solely with the data I provided. That's because I'm now talking about performance versus health.
We can also look at health metrics with databases: CPU utilization, I/O stats, memory pressure, etc. However, those also can't answer the question of how your databases and queries are performing. I'd argue that both health AND performance monitoring and analysis are important. They can impact each other but answer different questions.
"What gets measured gets done." I love this saying and believe that to be true. The tricky part is making sure we're measuring the right thing to ensure we're driving the behavior we want.
Health is a very mature topic and pretty much all database monitoring solutions offer visibility into it. Performance is another story. I love this definition of performance from Craig Mullins as it relates to databases: "the optimization of resource use to increase throughput and minimize contention, enabling the largest possible workload to be processed."
Interestingly, I believe this definition would be widely accepted, yet approaches to achieving this with monitoring tools varies widely. While I agree with this definition, I'd add "in the shortest possible time" to the end of it. If you agree that you need to consider a time component in regards to database performance, now we're talking about wait-time analysis. Here's a white paper that goes into much more detail on this approach and why it is the correct way to think about database performance.
We can only get to the right answer regarding root cause if we're collecting (measuring) the right data in the first place. Below is a chart with some thoughts on data collection requirements. Adapt as needed, but I hope it provides a workable framework.
Remember: don't stop with asking "What can we do?" Take it to the next level and instead ask, "What should we do?"


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Our Naturopathic Doctors:
Dr. Allison Patton
Dr. Galina Bogatch
Dr. Caleb Ng
Physiotherapist/ Osteopath:
Sarah Stevens
Chris Walker, M.A.
Chris has his M.A. in psychology from California Southern University and he is a Canadian Certified Counsellor (CCC) through the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association. His modality of therapy is eclectic, with strengths to cognitive emotive behavioral therapy, integrative and analytical therapy. These styles focus on "relationships"; how we build them, maintain them, or destroy them. This includes the relationship to our spirituality and ourselves. He works with youth, adults, families, individuals, and couples.


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The Climbers Access Society of Alberta (CASA) has been working hard for the last several years to maintain and re-instate motorized access into the Ghost River area. Currently, vehicular access is allowed as far as the Banff Park boundary at Devil's Gap and Junction 39 on the Ghost River on a year-round basis, allowing access farther west from December 1 to March 31 annually.
The Advisory Committee, advising the government on the South Saskatchewan Regional Plan, appears to be proposing that the Ghost River Valley, with all of its world class ice and rock climbs, be designated a "primitive recreation" zone. This means that motorized access to ice and rock climbing staging areas and to random camping locations will not be allowed. Many other ice, rock and mountain climbing areas along the Eastern Slopes may also be impacted if the Advisory Committee's recommendations are accepted. It is possible that nobody will be able to drive beyond the base of the Big Hill. Hikers will not be able to drive to the Blackrock Mountain trailhead.
Climbers and hikers are being lumped in with a small number of rogue off-highway vehicle users who don't stick to the designated OHV trails. We need to stress to the government that our priority is having reasonable vehicular access to our climbs and hikes, and we are not out to tear up the land.
There is a government survey for the South Saskatchewan Regional Plan that you can fill out and submit by December 21. It is a huge survey (more than 200 questions!). The Climbers Access Society has provided a summary of the pertinent questions you need to answer in order to help maintain access to the Ghost River and other areas along the Eastern Slopes.
For those of you who have not filled one in, the survey can be found here. Only a few more days left to have your say.


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CPH LEX Advokater of Ny Vestergade 17, Copenhagen, Denmark is an integrated cooperation between presently 8 independent law firms. The cooperation began in 1986 and has since then developed continuously.
|Kjeld Fruensgaard
– advises in matters concerning company and commercial law issues including intellectual property (copyright, trademarks, design and patents) and competition and marketing law.
Carsten R. Christiansen
– primarily advises in matters concerning letting of real property, administration of foundations and estates, civil litigation and a provides a wide range of services to private clients, including conveyance of land and family law.
Michael Nathan
– primarily advices on commercial matters including construction law, marketing law, intellectual property, employment law, contracts, litigation and mediation.
|Lene Diemer
– specializes in advising private activity centers, shared dwellings, foundations, institutions, companies and associations dealing with social activities or educational activities. Lene Diemer advises on foundation law, company law employment law, property law and applications to local communities and other authorities in relation to area of specialty.
Ingrid Brix Jensen


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The AVB Study is an international, multicenter trial that randomly assigned 238 patients with refractory or high-risk glaucoma to implantation of one of two glaucoma drainage devices (Ahmed-FP7 Valve, New World Medical or Baerveldt-350 Implant, Abbott Medical Optics). After 2 years, both devices were effective in lowering IOP and the need for glaucoma medications.
The Baerveldt group had a significantly lower failure rate than the Ahmed group (33% versus 48%) and required fewer glaucoma medications (mean 1 versus 1.8), but required a greater number of interventions. Vision deteriorated from baseline on average in both groups, and both devices had high rates of complications and interventions, although most were transient or minor.
"Although these two glaucoma drainage devices are used frequently, all comparisons to date have been retrospective, nonrandomized, and compared different device models and patient populations using different criteria for success," said Christakis, a fourth-year medical student at Yale University, New Haven, CT, and study director and lead author of the AVB Study.
"This has made the results difficult to interpret," he said. "We hope that our results, as well as those of a concurrent multicenter randomized trial (The Ahmed Baerveldt Comparison Study), will provide insight into the relative efficacy of these devices."
The AVB Study is under the leadership of Ike Ahmed, MD, assistant professor, Department of Ophthalmology and Vision Sciences, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. James Tsai, MD, chairman, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science and the Robert R. Young Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Yale School of Medicine, is a consultant and co-author of the AVB Study and Christakis' thesis advisor at Yale.
About the AVB Study
Seven clinical centers and 10 surgeons are participating in the AVB Study. A standardized surgical technique was employed that included ligating the Baerveldt implant with a releasable suture. The option to place proximal fenestrations was made at the discretion of the surgeon in patients with advanced glaucoma requiring immediate IOP reduction. No additional procedures were performed at the time of implantation, and the rate of significant intraoperative complications was 4% in both groups.
At baseline, both groups were similar in demographic and ocular characteristics, although there were more women in the Baerveldt group. Mean patient age was 66 years, mean IOP was 31 mm Hg, mean glaucoma medications was 3, and median Snellen acuity was 20/100. About half of the eyes had open-angle glaucoma, 20% had neovascular glaucoma, and 10% had uveitic glaucoma; 40% of eyes had a previous failed trabeculectomy and 25% had undergone laser trabeculoplasty.
Complete success was defined as an IOP of 5 to 18 mm Hg with a reduction of at least 20% from baseline at all visits beginning at 3 months, with no significant loss of vision, significant complications, or additional glaucoma procedures required. Success was qualified if glaucoma medications were required in order to achieve no two consecutive visits after 3 months in which the IOP criteria were not met. Progression to no light perception vision, devastating complications, and additional glaucoma surgery were considered failures. High IOP was the most common cause of failure in both groups, accounting for about two-thirds of failures in the Ahmed group and half of failures in the Baerveldt group.
In the early postoperative period, the Ahmed group had lower IOP and required fewer medications than the Baerveldt group, which can be attributed to the Baerveldt tubes being ligated. By 2 months, the Baerveldt group had a lower IOP and required fewer medications, a trend that continued through 2 years. Although the mean IOP-lowering effect was similar in both groups at the 2-year visit (48% Ahmed, 54% Baerveldt), the Baerveldt implant reduced the need for glaucoma medications more than the Ahmed valve (69% versus 43%). Visual acuity data showed a similar worsening in the two treatment groups, corresponding to a decrease in median Snellen visual acuity from 20/100 at baseline to 20/200 at 2 years.
The overall complication rate was lower in the Ahmed group, but not significantly different from in the Baerveldt group (49% versus 61%). Devastating hypotony-related complications occurred only in Baerveldt eyes (7% versus 0%), resulting in poor visual outcomes for these patients. The Baerveldt group also had a significantly higher rate of corneal edema (12% versus 5%), while bleb encapsulation was significantly more common in the Ahmed group (11% versus 3%). Interventions were performed significantly more often in eyes receiving the Baerveldt implant than the Ahmed valve (47% versus 32%), driven by a greater need for paracentesis to control IOP spikes in the early postoperative period (14% versus 4%) and also by a higher number of tube revisions to address tube obstruction (12% versus 6%).
"Follow-up in the AVB Study will continue until all patients reach 5 years, but the interim data show that each device has advantages and disadvantages," Dr. Ahmed said. "Consequently, selecting a device should be individualized, taking into account the profiles of each device, the surgeon's experience, and the patient's treatment goals."
Published papers on the AVB Study include one reviewing the design, baseline patient characteristics, and intraoperative complications [Ophthalmology. 2011;118:2172-2179] and another reporting the 1-year results [Ophthalmology. 2011;118:180-189].
Study compares drainage devices
April 1, 2012