text:
At Lake Norman Detail Shop, we offer convenient self-service car wash options. Most people think of an exterior-conveyor style wash when it comes to a car wash, but there are other types. Our self-service car wash facilities utilize brush-and-hose combinations that distribute detergent and other cleaners to enable you to clean your car with ease. In Huntersville, we understand that having a clean car is essential to keeping it rust- and contaminant-free, and we are the best place for the customers who prefer to do it themselves.
At Lake Norman Detail Shop, we take pride in maintaining well-kept and clean facilities with multiple features that are environmentally friendly for our Huntersville patrons. We even post instructions in each bay to help you choose the correct washing procedure to ensure that the finished product meets your satisfaction. Features, options and highlights available to customize your car wash include:
We consider the safety of our customers. For that reason, at Lake Norman Detail Shop our convenient locations in Huntersville feature safe, bright lighting on the property, in each self-service bay and vacuum stand. Our central vacuums are the best commercial systems available, providing powerful suction to clean the interior of your vehicle quickly and efficiently. For your added and enhanced protection, we also accept debit and credit cards in addition to cash.
To find out more about our self-service car wash options in Huntersville and to find a location close by, contact Lake Norman Detail Shop today at (704) 605-3727.
All information provided is provided for information purposes only and does not constitute a legal contract between Lake Norman Detail Shop and any person or entity unless otherwise specified. Information is subject to change without prior notice. Although every reasonable effort is made to present current and accurate information, LinkNow™ Media makes no guarantees of any kind.


text:
Attached you will find the newsletter from DHS Patentanwalts GmbH, provided to us by Dr. Stefan Danner.
In the last few months, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has handed down several decisions relating to the grant and validity of supplementary protection certificates (SPCs; i.e. patent term extensions). Thereof, the following rulings are generally considered to have significant impact on IP strategies in the pharmaceutical industry.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
If you are looking to buy the ring you should select it very carefully. There are some of the points that you should care for while choosing and ordering your wedding ring making.
- First of all you should give the proper measurements of your finger. This ensures the perfect size of ring which is easy and comfortable to wear. You should ask the professional jeweler to take the accurate size so that you get the perfect ring for you.
- Next there is a need to determine the budget and metal you want for your ring. The metal of the it can be judged by the budget you have. Gold and platinum metals are popular and precious of all. But if you want some cheap wedding rings you can also go with silver or gold polished ring that suits your budget well.
- Then you should also look for the weight and durability of the ring you want. This again is dependent upon the money you want to invest on your ring. Ring is the ring that is not purchased frequently. So if you can afford a bit you should go with buying gold or platinum rings that are most durable.
- You should also choose the weight of the ring according to the size and make of your finger. If you are having thick fingers you should invest some more in your ring so that you should get the ring that looks perfect when you wear.
- Then you should also look for the design of ring you want. You should choose the design that looks great at your personality.


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Mobile Home Parks are allowed in the R-5 Multiple Family Residential Zoning Districts and must adhere to the standards outlined in Section 1203 of the Maricopa County Zoning Ordinancy (PDF).
Show All Answers
Any rural or residential lot in the unincorporated area of the county may be issued a development permit for the placement of one single-wide or multi-sectional manufactured home built after June 15, 1976. The unit must be on a permanent foundation system, which means either on a slab/stem wall foundation or on a state approved system. Re-roofing, re-siding and structural additions must conform to the Maricopa County Comprehensive Building Code. Manufactured homes are also permitted in a mobile home park.
A multi-sectional manufactured home can be placed in any location in which a site-built home is permitted. A single wide mobile home can also be placed in any location in which a site-built home is permitted, in a mobile home subdivision, or in a mobile home park. All that is needed is a development permit.
Call 602-771-1000 to speak to Arizona Department of Housing, Manufactured Housing & Building Division or visit Manufactured Housing & Building Division | Arizona Department of Housing (az.gov)
Once a permit is obtained and a final inspection has been performed, the inspector will direct staff to contact the servicing utility company with a clearance number to initiate this process.


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For their project, Gussie Lorenzo-Luaces and three classmates at Deer Park Elementary in Tampa, Fla., wanted to find out what kind of paper allows a paper airplane to fly the farthest. After five trial runs, they determined copy paper, with its smooth surface and stable weight, worked best.
The boys' exhibit was among more than 1,800 presented at last week's 33rd annual Hillsborough Regional STEM Fair, which featured 2,000 students from district schools, charter and private schools, and home schools.
That diversity was a big plus for Gussie's mom, Susie, who was curious where other students in the county registered on the science track.
"I just feel they don't need separation,'' she said. "I like seeing them all together.''
Increasingly, though, Hillsborough students are not all together in academic competitions.
In the past year, district officials have begun excluding charter schools from some districtwide contests, including Battle of the Books, a reading competition, and the Math Bowl and Math League for elementary and middle school students.
The reasons for the splintering are not clear. But everything from cost, to fear of competition, to a desire for charter schools to be more independent, has been suggested. At the least, the move points to potential pitfalls as school choice options mushroom across the landscape – even in a district with a choice-friendly reputation like Hillsborough.
"They're all our children," said Lillia Stroud of King's Kids Academy of Health Science, a new charter in Tampa. Stroud said she can relate to the district's concerns, but "separation at any level is disheartening."
It's also not clear whether similar trends are happening in other Florida districts. Robert Haag with the Florida Consortium of Public Charter Schools said he had not heard any such stories in his home county of Broward or beyond. Dwight Bernard, who oversees 120 charters for Miami-Dade Public Schools, said the trend in his district is, if anything, "moving toward more inclusiveness."
Meanwhile, Mike Kooi, who heads the school choice office for the Florida Department of Education, said he has heard similar stories across the state – though none had risen to the level of a complaint to his office.
According to Hillsborough district officials, increasing costs to staff the events and the growing number of charters – 43 now, with seven more expected to open by fall – make it difficult to continue to invite them.
As participation in such events has grown, district expenses have climbed considerably, said Jenna Hodgens, who oversees charter schools for the district. At the same time, Hillsborough lost a chunk of state money it receives to monitor charters, she said. A change in law two years ago reduced the administrative fee for "high-performing charters" from 5 percent to 2 percent.
"That does change the landscape a lot,'' Hodgens said. When it comes to charter schools, she said, "we always try to go above and beyond. But I think the bigger we have grown, the more sense it made to let them do for themselves.''
Despite multiple requests, the district did not provide redefinED with district costs for the events, or estimated savings from excluding charters.
For events that are strictly district run, like Battle of the Books, and the Math Bowl and Math League, charters are no longer invited. But the district has provided staff assistance to help the schools create their own events, said Hillsborough Superintendent MaryEllen Elia.
"We want to help them,'' Elia said, but "charters want to be independent, too.''
The charters themselves offered mixed views.
Gary Hocevar, a former charter school principal and past president of the Charter Leaders of Florida, a group that represents charter operators in Hillsborough, said the district's move was appropriate.
"I personally think that MaryEllen made the right decision,'' he said. "She's not anti-choice. They're receiving less funding from the state. When the money was coming in from the Legislature, we were included in many events.''
With recent cuts, "there was not a thing we could come up with for a compromise,'' he said.
Instead, Hocevar advised his charter school peers to grab the opportunity to create their own competitions. "Invite the traditional schools," he told them, "and blow them away."
Charter school operators told redefinED they are pushing ahead. They held their own Battle of the Books last school year and will do so again in May with eight or nine charter schools participating.
"Last year, we had to scramble,'' said Catherine Gorman, media specialist at Advantage Academy of Hillsborough in Plant City. The school, with 300 elementary students and 150 middle school students, had already ordered the books for the contest when they learned they were no longer a part of the district-run competition.
"Somehow we pulled it off,'' she said, noting the experience was "kind of nice. If you … do it on your own, you can see what went well and make the changes you want to.''
Eventually, charter operators hope to hold math competitions and, maybe, form their own sports league similar to the Florida High School Athletics Association.
But some charter leaders, who enjoyed the friendly competition with district schools, are disappointed about the divide.
Tahvia Shaw of Terrace Community Middle School in Thonotosassa said the district notified her a week before last school year's Math League competition that charters no longer were included.
"We were very surprised and disappointed,'' she said. Her parents, whose children has been preparing for months, barraged the district with phone calls. The district relented.
Terrace Community ended up placing first overall.
"This year, unfortunately, we are unable to defend our title,'' said Shaw, who hopes to organize a similar but charters-only event in the spring. The competition was good not only for her school, Shaw said, but for the district.
District administrators said events that lead to state competitions, such as Odyssey of the Mind and Hillsborough's STEM fair, will still include students from school choice sectors.
But even the STEM fair, among the largest in Florida, is feeling a strain.
Five years ago, there were 150 schools participating and $45,000 in the operating budget, said Larry Plank, the district's director of K-12 STEM education. This year, the number of schools doubled and the costs rose to $75,000.
The district pays the rental fees for use of the Tampa Convention Center, Plank said, and its schools each pay a $75 registration fee. Charter schools used to pay the same amount. But to help offset some of the rising costs, they now they pay $150 – just like the private schools, Plank said.
The bulk of other funding comes from the Hillsborough Education Foundation and its event sponsors, which included the Moffitt Cancer Center, Mosaic, Verizon and the Port of Tampa.
Also contributing: John Kirtley, a Tampa businessman who serves as chairman of Step Up For Students, the nonprofit that administers the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship and co-hosts this blog.
The hope, said Hillsborough Education Foundation President Phil Jones, is to be able to raise enough in future donations to offer all the schools a discount.
"We have a real strong belief in including every student,'' Jones said.
This year's STEM fair featured the most private, charter and home school students ever, organizers said.
Teacher Karen Solomon brought some of her students from the private Hebrew Academy in Tampa. The school didn't participate this year, but hopes to next year.
"They are getting ideas and seeing what the judges are looking for,'' Solomon said.
And that's exactly what the fair is supposed to do, organizers said: inspire young minds no matter where they go to school.
"It's kids – kids enjoying science, technology, engineering and math from all walks of life,'' said Pam Caffery, the district's supervisor of middle school science education. "To me, of course it's a positive. It's a positive for any kid.''
When the finalists move on to the state level, they'll be coming from all those sectors, Caffery said.
But "they'll attend as Team Hillsborough.''


text:
Lower Level
In the downstairs great room you can enjoy a recreational atmosphere containing a large flat screen HDTV with surround sound, a wet-bar, which includes a bar refrigerator, dishwasher, microwave and wine rack. There is also a Wii and Play Station 2 with games for the children and adults. The Château Sole' also offers HIGH SPEED WIRELESS INTERNET service which is powered by a cable modem.


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Earn up to 1,245 reward points.
Replacement mic capsule for hand-held wireless transmitters using the PR 35 element.
The Heil Sound RC 35 contains the 1-1/2" large dynamic element of the PR 35, which produces a wide frequency response, natural vocal articulation, and high rejection from the sides and rear.
Heil replacement capsules are interchangeable with any of the screw-on type hand-held transmitters that receive a 31.3mm/pitch 1.0mm. Some hand-held transmitters have a .035 inch hexagonal-head set screw to secure the microphone capsule. If your transmitter has that, loosen the setscrew in the handle of the mic transmitter before attempting to unscrew the original capsule.
Holding the bottom of the transmitter simply unscrew the original capsule turning it counterclockwise. Carefully remove. The three conductor contact board disconnects the contacts. Avoid touching or damaging the gold plated contacts on the transmitter or the contact board. Screw your new Heil RC Capsule onto the transmitter handle and tighten.
For wireless performance with increased vocal articulation, maximized rear rejection, and lower handling noise, order a Heil Sound RC 35.
Our product catalog varies by country due to manufacturer restrictions. If you change the Ship-To country, some or all of the items in your cart may not ship to the new destination.


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As it was with the first men and creatures, so it was with the world. It was young and unripe. Earthquakes shook the world and rent it. Demons and monsters of the underworld fled forth
Creatures became fierce, beasts of prey, and others turned timid, becoming their quarry. Wretchedness and hunger abounded and black magic. Fear was everywhere among them, so the people, in dread of their precious possessions, became wanderers, living on the seeds of grass, eaters of dead and slain things. Yet, guided by the Beloved Twain, they sought in the light and under the pathway of the Sun, the Middle of the world, over which alone they could find the earth at rest.
When the tremblings grew still for a time, the people paused at the First of Sitting Places. Yet they were still poor and defenseless and unskilled, and the world still moist and unstable. Demons and monsters fled from the earth in times of shaking, and threatened wanderers.
Then the Two took counsel of each other. The Elder said the earth must be made more stable for men and the valleys where their children rested. If they sent down their fire bolts of thunder, aimed to all the four regions, the earth would heave up and down, fire would, belch over the world and burn it, floods of hot water would sweep over it, smoke would blacken the daylight, but the earth would at last be safer for men. So the Beloved Twain let fly the thunderbolts.
The mountains shook and trembled, the plains cracked and crackled under the floods and fires, and the hollow places, the only refuge of men and creatures, grew black and awful. At last thick rain fell, putting out the fires. Then water flooded the world, cutting deep trails through the mountains, and burying or uncovering the bodies of things and beings. Where they huddled together and were blasted thus, their blood gushed forth and flowed deeply, here in rivers, there in floods, for gigantic were they. But the blood was charred and blistered and blackened by the fires into the black rocks of the lower mesas. There were vast plains of dust, ashes, and cinders, reddened like the mud of the hearth place. Yet many places behind and between the mountain terraces were unharmed by the fires, and even then green grew the trees and grasses and even flowers bloomed. Then the earth became more stable, and drier, and its lone places less fearsome since monsters of prey were changed to rock.
But ever and again the earth trembled and the people were troubled. "Let us again seek the Middle," they said. So they traveled far eastward to their second stopping place, the Place of Bare Mountains.
Again the world rumbled, and they traveled into a country to a place called Where-treeboles- stand-in-the-midst-of-waters. There they remained long, saying, "This is the Middle." They built homes there. At times they met people who had gone before, and thus they learned war. And many strange things happened there, as told in speeches of the ancient talk.
Then when the earth groaned again, the Twain bade them go forth, and they murmured. Many refused and perished miserably in their own homes, as do rats in falling trees, or flies in forbidden food.
But the greater number went forward until they came to Steam-mist-in-the-midst-ofwaters. And they saw the smoke of men's hearth fires and many houses scattered over the hills before them. When they came nearer, they challenged the people rudely, demanding who they were and why there, for in their last standing-place they had had touch of war.
"We are the People of the Seed," said the men of the hearth-fires, "born elder brothers of ye, and led of the gods."
"No," said our fathers, "we are led of the gods and we are the Seed People . . . " Long lived the people in the town on the sunrise slope of the mountains of Kahluelawan, until the earth began to groan warningly again. Loath were they to leave the place of the Kaka and the lake of their dead. But the rumbling grew louder and the Twain Beloved called, and all together they journeyed eastward, seeking once more the Place of the Middle. But they grumbled amongst themselves, so when they came to a place of great promise, they said, "Let us stay here. Perhaps it may be the Place of the Middle." So they built houses there, larger and stronger than ever before, and more perfect, for they were strong in numbers and wiser, though yet unperfected as men. They called the place "The Place of Sacred Stealing."
Long they dwelt there, happily, but growing wiser and stronger, so that, with their tails and dressed in the skins of animals, they saw they were rude and ugly.
In chase or in war, they were at a disadvantage, for they met older nations of men with whom they fought. No longer they feared the gods and monsters, but only their own kind. So therefore the gods called a council.
Changed shall ye be, oh our children, "cried the Twain." Ye shall walk straight in the pathways, clothed in garments, and without tails, that ye may sit more straight in council, and without webs to your feet, or talons on your hands."
So the people were arranged in procession like dancers. And the Twain with their weapons and fires of lightning shored off the forelocks hanging down over their faces, severed the talons, and slitted the webbed fingers and toes. Sore was the wounding and loud cried the foolish, when lastly the people were arranged in procession for the razing of their tails.
But those who stood at the end of the line, shrinking farther and farther, fled in their terror, climbing trees and high places, with loud chatter. Wandering far, sleeping ever in tree tops, in the far-away Summerland, they are sometimes seen of far-walkers, long of tail and long handed, like wizened men-children.
But the people grew in strength, and became more perfect, and more than ever went to war. They grew vain. They had reached the Place of the Middle. They said, "Let us not wearily wander forth again even though the earth tremble and the Twain bid us forth." And even as they spoke, the mountain trembled and shook, though far-sounding.
But as the people changed, changed also were the Twain, small and misshapen, hardfavored and unyielding of will, strong of spirit, evil and bad. They taught the people to war, and led them far to the eastward.
At last the people neared, in the midst of the plains to the eastward, great towns built in the heights. Great were the fields and possessions of this people, for they knew how to command and carry the waters, bringing new soil. And this, too, without hail or rain. So our ancients, hungry with long wandering for new food, were the more greedy and often gave battle.
It was here that the Ancient Woman of the Elder People, who carried her heart in her rattle and was deathless of wounds in the body, led the enemy, crying out shrilly. So it fell out ill for our fathers. For, moreover, thunder raged and confused their warriors, rain descended and blinded them, stretching their bow strings of sinew and quenching the flight of their arrows as the flight of bees is quenched by the sprinkling plume of the honey-hunter. But they devised bow strings of yucca and the Two Little Ones sought counsel of the Sun-father who revealed the life-secret of the Ancient Woman and the magic powers over the under-fires of the dwellers of the mountains, so that our enemy in the mountain town was overmastered. And because our people found in that great town some hidden deep in the cellars, and pulled them out as rats are pulled from a hollow cedar, and found them blackened by the fumes of their war magic, yet wiser than the common people, they spared them and received them into their next of kin of the Black Corn. . . .
But the tremblings and warnings still sounded, and the people searched for the stable Middle.
Now they called a great council of men and the beasts, birds, and insects of all kinds. After a long council it was said,
"Where is Water-skate? He has six legs, all very long. Perhaps he can feel with them to the uttermost of the six regions, and point out the very Middle."
So Water-skate was summoned. But lo! It was the Sun-father in his likeness which appeared. And he lifted himself to the zenith and extended his fingerfeet to all the six regions, so that they touched the north, the great waters; the west, and the south, and the east, the great waters; and to the northeast the waters above. and to the southwest the waters below. But to the north his finger foot grew cold, so he drew it in.
Then gradually he settled down upon the earth and said, "Where my heart rests, mark a spot, and build a town of the Mid-most, for there shall be the Mid-most Place of the Earth-mother."
And his heart rested over the middle of the plain and valley of Zuni. And when he drew in his finger-legs, lo! there were the trail-roads leading out and in like stays of a spider's nest, into and from the mid-most place he had covered.
Here because of their good fortune in finding the stable Middle, the priest father called the town the Abiding-place-of-happy-fortune.
The Search for the Middle & the Hardening of the World
A Zuni Legend
Katharine Berry Judson, 1912


text:
Game Rules
- Dead or Alive is a 5-reel, 3-row, 9-bet line multiple-coin video slot featuring scatter wins, Free spins, wild substitutes, and a Sticky Wild feature during Free spins.
- You can play 1 to 9 bet lines at 1 to 4 bet levels.
The spin button plays the game at the current bet lines and bet level.- MAX BET plays the game at the maximum bet lines, highest bet level, and the pre-selected coin value.
- AUTO automatically plays the game for the selected number of rounds.
- Winning combinations and payouts are made according to the PAYTABLE.
- A bet line win in coins is equal to the value shown in the PAYTABLE multiplied by the bet level.
- A bet line win in currency is equal to the win in coins multiplied by the coin value.
- Wild symbol substitutes for all symbols except scatter symbols.
- The Scatter symbol does not appear during Free Spins, so it is not possible to win additional Free Spins.
- Scatter wins are paid independent of bet lines selected.
- Scatter wins pay total bet multiplied by the payout displayed in the PAYTABLE.
- Scatter and Free Spins wins are added to any bet line wins.
- Only the highest win per active bet line is paid.
- Bet line wins pay if in succession from leftmost to right.
- Simultaneous wins on different bet lines are added.
- All wins pay on selected bet lines only, except for wins with Scatter symbols.
- Game History is not available in PLAYING FOR FUN mode.
Free Spins
- Free Spins are played at the same number of bet lines, bet level and coin value as the round that activated Free Spins.
- All wins from Free Spins including re-triggered Free Spins, pay X2.
- 3 or more Free Spin symbols appearing anywhere on the reels in the main game activates 12 Free Spins.
- At the end of Free Spins, the total win from Free Spins is added to any wins from the round that activated Free Spins.
Sticky Wilds
- Wild symbols become Sticky wild symbols during Free spins.
- Sticky wild symbols hold their positions on the reels for the remainder of the Free spins session.
- During Free Spins, one or more Sticky Wild symbols appearing on all the reels only activate 5 extra Free Spins.
- Sticky Win symbols on the reels at the end of Free Spins are not transferred to the main game.
- Free spins sessions start with zero Sticky wild symbols.
- Re-triggered Free spins keep the Sticky wild symbols from the triggering Free spins session.
- Free spins can be re-triggered once per Free spin session.
Advanced Autoplay Options
- To set advanced autoplay options click AUTO in the game panel, and then click Advanced settings.
- On any win. Stop Autoplay when you win in a round.
- If Free Spins is won. Stop Autoplay when Free Spins is won.
- If single win exceeds. Stop Autoplay when the amount you win exceeds or equals the amount you specify.
- If cash increases by. Stop Autoplay if cash increases by the amount you specify.
- If cash decreases by. Stop Autoplay if cash decreases by the amount you specify.
- Note: If you are disconnected while playing, all Autoplay settings will return to default when you reload the game.
Game Setting Options
- To access game settings, click the spanner icon in the game panel.
- Sound effects. Turn on or off sound effects played for events.
- Ambience sound. Turn on or off the background soundtrack.
- Game history. Click to view your latest game history
Note: Some casinos may operate without all of the listed game settings.
Return to Player
- The theoretical return to player for this game is 95.03%
Additional Information
- The following game features and settings may be subject to the terms and conditions of the gaming site. For more information on the following, refer to the gaming website:
- The procedures used to manage unfinished game rounds.
- The time after which inactive game sessions automatically end.
- In the event of malfunction of the gaming hardware/software, all affected game bets and payouts are rendered void and all affected bets refunded.
- Dead or Alive Game properties
- Name Dead or Alive
- Variance other
- Max win (coins) 0
- Min bet (Max bet) 0
- Layout other
- Paylines
- Supported devices Desktop, Mobile
- Technology HTML5
- Released 10.11.2013


text:
C-store Industry Urging Congress to Redefine Full-Time Status
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The definition of a full-time employee, at least under Obamacare, could change under a bill currently before the U.S. House of Representatives.
H.R. 2575, the Save American Workers (SAW) Act, seeks to redefine a full-time worker under Obamacare as an employee who works 40 hours a week or more and not 30 hours a week, which is currently the standard. Representatives are set to vote on the bill next week.
Leading up to the vote, NACS, the Association for Convenience & Fuel Retailing, is urging retailers to ask their representative to vote in favor of the measure. According to the association, more than 475 convenience store industry stakeholders have sent more than 580 letters to 248 U.S. representatives.
"This change would make it significantly easier to provide flexible schedules and better manage your workforce," NACS stated.
According to NACS, aligning the health-care law's definition of full-time employee status with current levels would help avoid any unnecessary disruptions to employees' wages and hours, and would provide significant relief to employers.
In addition, NACS said, increasing Obamacare's 30-hour per week definition to full-time status would:
- Make it easier for employers to provide more hours to all employees, thereby increasing their take-home pay.
- Help employers offer more generous health care coverage to full-time employees without making premiums prohibitive.
- Help ensure that lower-income employees have access to more affordable health-care coverage options.
U.S. Rep. Todd Young (R-Ind.) introduced the SAW Act in June 2013 with 113 original co-sponsors.


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Blah! was the famous last words uttered by Blah Blah shortly before Blah Blah's death in 1812 from a weak blah condition.
Grammatical Usage of Blah![edit]
Blah! can be used either as a verb or a noun, just like blah. Examples: "I Blah!", "he decided to Blah!", "it did Blah!", "we done Blah! already, Ma!", "I mone Blah!", and "Blah! fo schizzle, yo!" It can also be used as a word to moiuiooiuoiuoiake friends, such as "blahblahblah" would get you iojijoij'oilthree inanimate friends and "blah" would get you one. Not to mention the fact that Blah! is related to cheeseburger. Another common use of the word blah is in the total reconstruction of sentences here is an example. "Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah" this was a reconstruction of the sentence "I am so damn bored. i feel like I'm going to kill myself. AHHHHH!. I have an idea! I'll go play COD 4". An example is blah, blah, blah. This word is most often used by presidents and teachers.
Possible reasons for original Blah![edit]
Many Blahs have speculated that the reason for Blah Blah to Blah! shortly before death was the sudden realization that Blah Blah would no longer be able to keep Blah blah from fighting with Blah, and that they would no doubt kill each other, bringing an end to the Blah Family line. This line of reasoning states that "Blah!" was meant to mean "Alas! Blah blah shall blah Blah and Blah shall blah Blah blah without I, Blah Blah to blah Blah and Blah blah!"
Also, some conspiracy theorist blahs speculate it had something to do with George W. Blah's War on Terra.
The Mad Blah[edit]
There is a super villain named Blah! sneaking around the white house.It has said to be Al Gore,trying to get into office,but nothing is confirmed.Here is a message from the so called Blah!
Hello Blah!If you do not give me twenty seven million Blah's! in six Blah's!,I will blow the holy Blah!out of you Blahahahahahahahaha!Blahhaha!Blahhahoooooooo!Bl,and then the ah!Oh my God this is so freakin' funny Blah!Blah! Blah! So thats what he says does he. Up yours blah villain. I think that he is dissing the common uses of blah as a word. Let us join together and use the power of blah against him. Oh yes.
Not to mention the grues who BLAH!
Famous Blahers[edit]
Most famous for blahing is an English girl who has migrated to Australia. Her name is Blahde Blahe. She is the most famous "blaher" because she talks unbelievably fast when sober, when drunk or overly excited. As a result all that she seems to say is "blah blah blah.... hahahha.... blah blah blah, init?". Other famous blahers are Hitler, Martin luther king jr. George Bush, Obi-wan Kenobi, and all of the adults in peanuts.


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SRD:Divine Dodge (Divine Ability)
From D&D Wiki
This material is published under the OGL 1.0a. |
Divine Dodge
Prerequisite: Dex 29.
Benefit: Any physical attack or individually targeted spell directed at the deity has a percent miss chance equal to 50 + the deity's rank. Area effects that include the deity have a similar chance to be ineffective.
Notes: The ability is similar to the blink spell, except that it is defensive only and the deity does not move to the Ethereal Plane, but simply exits from reality for a brief moment. This ability never interferes with the deity's own attacks. If an attack overcomes the miss chance, the deity still gets the benefit of a saving throw (if one is allowed).
Suggested Portfolio Elements: Agility, gambling, luck, protection.
Back to Main Page → 3.5e Open Game Content → System Reference Document → Divine Abilities


text:
Summary of Policy
This policy governs the reporting and investigation of allegations of suspected illegal or improper activities concerning the financial assets of the University, and the protection of whistleblowers from retaliation. It describes the procedures for investigating known or suspected illegal or improper activities and addressing complaints of retaliation for raising such issues.
Clark University has a responsibility for the stewardship of University resources and the private support that enables it to achieve its mission. The University's internal controls and operating procedures are intended to detect and to prevent illegal or improper activities relative to its financial assets. However, intentional and unintentional violations of laws, regulations, policies and procedures may occur and may constitute illegal or improper activities. The University has a responsibility to investigate and report to appropriate parties allegations of suspected illegal or improper activities, and to protect those employees who, in good faith, report these activities to the appropriate authority.
A Clark employee may not: (1) retaliate against an employee who has made a protected disclosure or who has refused to obey an illegal or improper order, nor (2) directly or indirectly use or attempt to use the official authority or influence of his or her position for the purpose of interfering with the right of an employee to make a protected disclosure to the University. It is the intention of the University to take whatever action may be needed to prevent and correct activities that violate this policy.
- Any person may report allegations of suspected illegal or improper activities. Knowledge or suspicion of illegal or improper activities may originate from academic personnel, staff or administrators carrying out their assigned duties, internal or external auditors, law enforcement, regulatory agencies, and customers, vendors, students or other third parties.
- Allegations of suspected illegal or improper activities should be made in writing so as to assure a clear understanding of the issues raised. Such reports should be factual and contain as much specific information as possible.
- Normally, a report by a Clark employee of allegations of a possible illegal or improper activity should be made to the reporting employee's immediate supervisor or other appropriate administrator or supervisor within the department. However, when the whistleblower believes there is a potential conflict of interest, such reports may be made to another University official who has responsibility over the department in question or the authority to review the alleged illegal or improper activity on behalf of the University. Should the alleged illegal or improper activities involve the President, Executive Vice President, or another Vice President, such reports may be made to the Chair of the Audit Committee of the Board of Trustees (c/o Trustee Office, Clark University).
- When a person reports allegations of suspected illegal or improper activities to an appropriate authority, the report is known as a protected disclosure. University employees and applicants for employment who make a protected disclosure are protected from retaliation.
- The Audit Committee may enlist outside legal, accounting or other advisors, as appropriate, to conduct any investigation of complaints regarding financial statement disclosures, disclosure concerns or violations, accounting, internal accounting controls, auditing matters or violations of the University's policies.
Any employee who believes he or she has been subjected to or affected by a retaliatory conduct for (1) reporting suspected illegal or improper activity, or (2) for refusing to engage in activity that would result in a violation of law, should report such conduct to the appropriate supervisory personnel (if such supervisory personnel is not the source of or otherwise involved in the retaliatory conduct). Any supervisory employee who receives such a report, or who otherwise is aware of retaliatory conduct, is required to advise the Director of Human Resources of any such report or knowledge of retaliatory conduct. If the employee believes that reporting such conduct to the appropriate supervisor is for any reason inappropriate, unacceptable or will be ineffectual, or if the report to the supervisor has been made and the retaliatory conduct has not ended, the employee should report the incident directly to an Executive Vice President, the President, or the Chair of the Audit Committee of the Board of Trustees.
The University will use its best efforts to protect whistleblowers against any form of retaliation. It cannot guarantee confidentiality, however, and there is no such thing as "unofficial" or "off the record" reporting. The University will keep the whistleblower's identity confidential, unless (1) the person agrees to be identified; (2) identification is necessary to allow the University or law enforcement officials to investigate or respond effectively to the report; (3) identification is required by law; or (4) the person accused of illegal or improper activities is entitled to the information as a matter of legal right in disciplinary proceedings.
Any reports or other correspondence should be sent to the intended person noted in the appropriate section, at Clark University, 950 Main Street, Worcester, MA 01610.


text:
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text:
Piotrek, a fine musican himself, sent us some incredible artifacts from the land of sausage and Solidarity. Today it's The Syntetic: a delightful nut who takes exisiting songs, like "Axel F," and sings his own lyrics over them: " Człowiek Widmo aka The Syntetic (in english - "Hollow Man"). This is the guy from Śląsk, who some years ago recorded funny tapes on his tape recorder for fun and for friends, and this tapes someone put into internet. And Człowiek Widmo one day become very popular. This guy was really startled but later he even had a few concerts :) I don't know if he is freak or no, but this what he's doing we can called incorrect music for sure."
The Syntetic.
"There is his opus magnum (from 2:05 he started to sing:)
"There is his opus magnum (from 2:05 he started to sing:)
He has great lyrics. I translated you fragment on this song: "Hollow Man"
He swimm on albatross
by the Egyptian sea
and he burns like old pig
and he is invisible
Hollow Man, This is Hollow Man, this is Hollow Man, This is.
This is ungrateful man, and very bad
he is from the abyss of the darkness, of the hell
he evaporates like a water
he is invisible like a big stone
he is from the abyss of the light
Hollow Man, this is Hollow Man, this is Hollow man, this is(...)"
Someone has thoughtfully illustrated the Syntetic song "Hollywood" so us non-Polish speakers can get an idea what of he's on about:
Thanks, Piotrek!


text:
Why You Need a Leadership Coach
By John Baldoni, published on Inc., 01/11/2012
Your reports are not your friends. To get the truth about how you're running your company, you'll need someone with an outside perspective. Among the reasons that companies hire executive coaches is to provide senior leaders with a sounding board. While this is something I have long suspected, I was pleased to see it confirmed by the results of a small survey of veteran executive coaches conducted by Alexcel Group, a coaching network to which I belong. Two thirds of the coaches surveyed said their engagements involved being a trusted advisor able to provide much needed objectivity. A reason for serving as a sounding board is rooted in trust. Not too long ago I did a seminar for CEOs of small businesses. In the course of my talk I mentioned that none of the attendees had any real friends inside the companies they owned and operated. That comment provoked a strong negative reaction. I held my ground and challenged the group to consider that each of them had the power to hire, reward, and terminate any employee in their organization. Then one CEO looked to his colleagues and said something like, "He's right! We may not have as many friends as we think we do!" I don't think that I won over any converts but at least they allowed me to continue speaking. Many CEOs with whom I speak talk about it being lonely at the top. They are not asking for pity—when you have access to the corporate jet, life is not all bad. But the wise executives I know realize that being in charge means you are always making decisions that have big consequences for others. Most executives love the impact their decisions have, but at times, they know that decisions they make about opening or closing facilities, promoting this executive over another, or deciding which business to pursue or which to pass on, has real impact on people's lives. As Shakespeare wrote in Henry IV, Part 2, "Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown." To paraphrase the Bard, I would say senior executives do not readily surrender their crowns but from time to time like to take them off. Enter the executive coach. His or her role is to encourage the executive to look less royal. That is, take a frank look at themselves and their roles in the company. Good coaches I know do not pull punches with feedback they deliver. They seek to be honest brokers with ideas, opinions, and suggestions they gather from stakeholders. Coaches also listen and learn from what an executive says, and seek to share expertise in helpful ways, especially to challenge assumptions. The obstacle for the senior leader is the desire for straight talk beyond the coach. The man or woman at the top of the pyramid must work hard to enable people to speak truth to power. That is not easy. None of us likes push-back, especially when we are working hard to get things done right. But for those who report to a senior executive telling them the truth may be what's most important. And so let me close with a story that General Omar Bradley recalled about his former boss, General George C. Marshall, who served as U.S. Army Chief of Staff during the Second World War. In 1939, as America began to mobilize for the eventuality of war, Marshall chastised his junior officers for their failure to disagree with him about his planning strategies. Marshall made it clear that he did not want yes men on his staff; he wanted officers who were not afraid to question his decisions. That's a good lesson for every leader to keep in mind. |


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What is Metra?
You may think there's an easy answer to that question, and in one sense, there is. Metra is the label we've been putting on commuter rail service in the Chicago area since 1984. Behind that simple name, however, lies a convoluted history and a complex, multi-layered system.
To understand how Metra operates, it really helps to know how Metra came about and how Metra is composed.
Chicago has always been the railroad center of the nation, and it has had commuter trains almost as long as it has had any trains. Rail service peaked in the 1930s, when Chicago had the largest public transportation system in the world.
But by the late 1960s and early 1970s, the system was failing across the region, with the CTA, suburban bus companies and freight railroads that also operating commuter trains experiencing big financial losses. To keep the system running, voters in the six-county Chicago area created the Regional Transportation Authority in 1974.
Its mission was to coordinate and assist public transportation and to serve as the conduit for state and federal subsidies needed to keep the system operational. The RTA did not at first directly operate commuter rail service but paid the railroads to do so under purchase-of-service agreements. It also began to reverse decades of disinvestment in the overall commuter rail system, primarily by buying new locomotives and cars.
However, the bankruptcies of the Rock Island and the Milwaukee Road railroads changed the rules of the game. The RTA took over the commuter operations and eventually bought the tracks of those railroads. It created the Northeast Illinois Commuter Rail Corporation to operate those lines in 1982.
The RTA was reorganized by Springfield in 1983, and a commuter rail division was created to oversee commuter rail operations. At the same time, a suburban bus division (Pace) was created. RTA remained as the parent organization for the CTA, Metra and Pace, which are known as the three service boards.
The Commuter Rail Division, which held its first meeting in June 1984, operated the Rock Island line and the two Milwaukee lines directly. It operated the remaining seven lines indirectly, through purchase-of service agreements with Illinois Central Gulf, the Burlington Northern, the Chicago & North Western and the Norfolk Southern.
Due to the complicated and patchwork nature of commuter rail at the time, the division in 1985 came up with the "Metra" name as a service mark for the entire system (short for "Metropolitan Rail"). The idea was to bring a unifying identity to all the various components, no matter who owned or operated them.
That system still is in place, although the ownership and/or operators of several lines have changed.
Metra bought the Illinois Central Gulf's electrified commuter line in 1987 and started operating it directly as the Metra Electric Line. Metra also took over operation of what is now the Heritage Corridor line, which ran on tracks then owned by ICG and now owned by Canadian National.
That same year it also assumed ownership of the Milwaukee lines. It took over operations on the Norfolk Southern line in 1993 and renamed it the SouthWest Service.
Metra still has purchase-of-service agreement with two railroads. The Chicago & North Western was merged with Union Pacific Railroad in 1995, and UP still owns and operates the three UP lines. Burlington Northern, now known as BNSF Railway, continues to own and operate that line.
Under those contracts, the carriers use their employees and own or control the rights-of-way and most of the other facilities required for operations. Metra owns the rolling stock and in conjunction with local municipalities is responsible for most stations. Metra retains overall authority over fares, service and staffing levels.


text:
Because the internet Screenplay - Part 1
Because the internet Screenplay - Part 1 Lyrics
Sdfg-FGSD: CODE: 12.10.13SIXTY
NOTE TO READER: The prelude to this screenplay ("clapping for the wrong reasons") is available on the website youtube for free consumption. It may or may not give CONTEXT TO this work you're reading
SECOND NOTE TO READER: The visuals have no sound. They are meant to be played while the song is playing
You can't live your life on a bus...
A white bus opens its door and a flood of children run off laughing and screaming. After the initial burst, three girls get off laughing. After them, A LITTLE BOY steps off. He's walking slow and somber
All the parents in the parking lot are hugging and kissing their kids. Lots of kids are laughing. The Boy keeps walking until he reaches a black limousine parked at the far end
A chauffeur (old heavyset white guy) stands holding the door open waiting for The Boy
CHAUFFEUR: Ey! Look who it is
He holds out his hand for a high-five. The kid jumps, hi-fives him, and slides into the limo
The Boy's FATHER (Rick Ross) is sitting by the far door. The limo starts off
FATHER: How was camp?
The Boy "shrugs"
FATHER (CONT'D): You make any friends?
THE BOY: No
The father laughs under his breath...but the laugh turns into a smh
FATHER: Elise made you something special tonight
THE BOY: Frito pie
FATHER: I don't know. She didn't say-
THE BOY (cutting him off): It's Frito pie
Silence. Father stares at him, then looks out the window
The Chauffeur helps Father out the car. The Boy jumps out and walks toward the front of his home. The Mansion is dope. Very Big, and not gaudy. It looks classic
An infinity pool lines the horizon in the backyard. A spiral staircase fades up the wall and into the master bedroom upstairs. You can see all of this from the foyer, which has a large Buddha statue in the center of it. The place is very clean. Someone seems to care or is paid to care
The Father's phone rings:
FATHER: Hello
PHONE VOICE: Hello, this is the Califax collection-
Father hangs up. His cell phone goes off
The Boy walks into the kitchen. It's a big kitchen. There's a chef making food. He waves to The Boy. The Boy throws up a deuce. He gets a s'more Pop tart, then walks back out
The Boy walks in and drops his backpack and jacket in the doorway. He kicks off his shoes. They fly across the room, hit the wall, and fall in a pile of shoes on the ground. We see there's a big black/brown stain on the wall where The Boy's been kicking shoes for years. Doesn't look like he ever wears the same shoe twice
The Boy rips the bag of pop tarts open with his mouth as he sits at his desk and opens his laptop. There's a picture of a woman holding a child. She's wearing one of those fly tracksuits from 1995. The ones people wore a lot during the centennial Olympics
He starts checking his mail. His friend "FAM" sent him something that says "this is you" with a link. The Boy clicks the link and a video of a woman blowing a horse comes up. The Boy watches the video for longer than you should watch a horse blowing video. He closes the video
He goes onto HOTNEWHIPHOP.COM. There's a new Rich Homie Quan song out. It's listed as "VERY HOTTTTTTT". The Boy looks in the comment section, reading what people are saying
"This nigga sound like a broke-ass Future! [CRYING EMOJI]" is the top comment
He waits. He takes a bite out of his pop tart
He refreshes the page. People immediately respond with "Fuck U", "You wouldn't say that to my face faggot", and "LMFAO crackers b crazy"
The Boy smiles
The room is an elegant mess. There's shit everywhere, but everything has its place. Classic furniture; someone with old money would invest in, is used for the bed, desk, desk chair. You can see from where most of the trash accumulates that the occupant spends most of his time on the computer
There is a pile of stacked and flattened gummy bear wrappers by the desk. There's a picture of The Boy and his father on the boy's desk, along with a flash drive that has "hackz" written on it. A small vaporizer charges and glows green on the edge. There's a half ounce of weed in a plastic bag to the left of the laptop on the desk
There's a black and white Bill Withers poster, a Gorillaz "Demon Days" poster, and a "Black Dynamite" poster. All framed. Stacks of records are placed on a shelf lining the wall. There are some old 70's soul records by a record player on the shelf. Norman Connors "You Are My Starship" is the album on top of the others
Little hills of dirty clothes grow up the walls from the floor. Same pile of shoes is there. Wall with same dirty spot. The closet is filled with white shirts and flower shorts. There's one very old and tattered Shearling coat that hangs to the right
The Boy (more a man now) is sprawled out on his bed, no shirt and flower shorts. He opens one eye as very faint, dark orange sunlight from the blinds cut his face. He gets up
The Buddha statue again. There's empty old beer and Pellegrino bottles on the bar. The entire back of the living room wall is glass. The boy walks briskly to the kitchen
The kitchen is a slight mess. Things left out. S'mores makings left out. The marshmallows are hard as stones. The boy goes into the cabinet and pulls out a pop tart. He takes out a pop tart and throws it in the microwave, wrapper still on (you're not supposed to do that). He starts the microwave and begins texting someone. The microwave is okay for about 5 seconds, then blue sparks start to pop inside. He turns off the microwave, opens it, grabs the pop tart and tosses it on a plate
The Boy walks onto the little island in the middle of the infinity pool lining the oceans and mountains in the background. The mountains are surrounded by clouds. They're literally above the clouds. It's probably raining down there. There's an orchard with lemon and plums to the west of the wall outside, and a green statue of a golfer further in. Bunnies jump on the lawn in the background
The boy sits under a sun umbrella, opens the pop tart and starts to eat it. He looks off with his face flat. He gets a text message:
FAM: when u wanna paddle out? [PURPLE DEVIL FACE EMOJI]
The Boy texts back: pick me up
An old, red (a gross red. a weak red) Mazda rolls up to the front of the mansion and sputters to a stop. FAM, steps out of the car. Daps up
FAM: Let's take one of yours
THE BOY: Nah
FAM: Really, mane? You want us to drive around in my car? I don't think it'll make it, honestly. It broke down at my mom's. Plus... it looks like my car
THE BOY: Right. It's inconspicuous
FAM: My nigga, who are you hiding from? It's not stuttin. It's your car. Why do you even care?
"...why do you even care?"
THE BOY: Aight
The garage door rises to reveal Fam and The Boy's silhouette. Five cars are in the garage. There's a Tesla Model S, Silver 911, some car no one's ever seen, a Tahoe and some car under a tarp. Looks like it could be an Aston Martin. Fam smiles
FAM (pointing to the car no one's ever seen): That one-
THE BOY: No
THE BOY: The Bimmer
We didn't even see this one. It's in the far corner of the garage. It's a nice car. Older, but nice and sleek. Understated, to some. Its black paint is chipping in the front. Fam shakes his head
FAM: Nah...nah
They get in the 911
The 911 pulls up to a nice condo complex. Fam honks the horn for a while. Like a jerk
SOMEONE FROM A WINDOW: I work nights, dickhead!
FAM: I know. Fuck me, right?
Fam honks more
The Boy checks his Twitter feed. Twitter name "You Are Unimportant - @thegoldmolar" You can see from his feed he just trolls all the time. Politicians, athletes, entertainers, etc. His favorite was simply re-tweeting something someone says. When it was dumb enough to just re-tweet, that was his favorite. He'd gotten a lot of followers that way. Written an article once for a blog. Got more followers. He started posting videos of homeless people and fights
He was looking for something to retweet on his time-line. People say dumb shit all the time...
...someone tweeted "roscoe's wetsuit"
"...what's that?"
The Boy drops "roscoe's wetsuit" into Google. A Yahoo answer comes up for it. The answer to "what is roscoe's wetsuit?" is..."roscoe's wetsuit". Hilarious
SWANK, STEVE, MARCUS (Chance the Rapper), and AJ (STEFAN) walk out of the condo. They have longboards with them and they're eating candy. They stop in their tracks when they see the 911
SWANK (re: boards): How we supposed to get these in there?
FAM: You guys take your car
STEVE: What about your boards? Where are they?
FAM: Can we borrow some?
They all make a face
SWANK: We need a bigger car then. I'ma drive to your house and get the Tahoe
THE BOY: Come on, guys. This is taking forever
AJ: Where we going?
FAM: Dockweiler
MARCUS: I swam into a diaper last time
FAM: I'm GRIMEY. I ONLY SWIM IN DIRTY WATERS! YOU KNOW THIS!
SOMEONE AGAIN: Shut the fuck up!
Fam honks the horn
SWANK: I'm drivin that Porsche the way back. I know that shit
Swank and Steve walk toward their car parked on the street
THE BOY: What's "roscoe's wetsuit" mean?
FAM: I don't know
They drive off
The guys carry the boards through the sand to ocean, making a strange pattern behind them
They setup camp and start changing on the beach
MARCUS: I thought someone was bringing girls
THE BOY: No one wants to get up this early
MARCUS: Did you ask white girls?
THE BOY: I asked every girl
FAM: You a lie. You didn't ask anybody. You don't leave the house
STEVE: Why white girls?
MARCUS: Cause no one is getting up at 6AM to go into the freezing, dirty ass ocean, fuck up their hair-
At that moment, they all notice a girl sitting on her board in the ocean. Waiting for a wave she looks behind her. She is black
MARCUS (CONT'D to AJ): See? This is what I mean about Donnie Darko happening to me
A plane flies low overhead. (Dockweiler is right next to LAX)
MARCUS (CONT'D) (staring at the plane)
It's gonna crush me
SWANK (re: girl): It's like seeing a mermaid
STEVE: Maybe it's a manatee
MARCUS (R. Kelly): I'ma flirt
Marcus runs to the water with his board. They all follow
Marcus swims up to the girl on his board
MARCUS: Sup
GIRL: Hi
MARCUS: I'm Marcus
SASHA: Sasha
MARCUS: It's lookin alright today
SASHA (Australian accent): Yeah. It's the only reason I'm out here
MARCUS: Oh, you're Australian (pause) You ever seen "Kangaroo Jack"?
SASHA (not looking at him): Yeah
MARCUS: Classic
SASHA: ...wha?
MARCUS (not mean...just serious): It's a fucking classic
Silence. Sasha is weirded out. All the guys, except The Boy, swim up
STEVE (to Sasha. Out of breath): Hi. Did Marcus ruin it already?
SASHA: Yes
Steve splashes Marcus
Swank takes a plastic bag with four blunts in it. He takes one out. He lights up a blunt. Talks with it hanging in his mouth
SWANK: How long you been surfing?
SASHA: Ten years. You?
SWANK: Bouta month
AJ: Cops don't come out here. It's a good place to smoke. You want some?
He passes it. She takes a hit
SWANK: What you doin tonight?
SASHA: My friend's birthday in Santa Monica
MARCUS: Yo, we're right around close. We're having a party tonight in a mansion. You should come. And if your friend's a girl or a guy who has weed, they should come too
AJ: I'm Djing. I start off with Jodeci, then the switch over to 90's rap using "Dream Lover" to transition, play ACTUAL ATLANTA TRAP for an hour, hour and a half. Then motown, soul, and house. Girls. Go. Crazy
SASHA: What's your DJ name?
AJ: Twercules. no "DJ". Just Twercules. I got a tumblr where I post my mixes. It's getting pretty popular. I don't know. You sing? Model? Act?
SASHA: I'ma go in
Sasha starts paddling and catches a wave into the beach
AJ: I shouldn't have said "bitches"
MARCUS (thinks): ...you didn't
AJ thinks on this. This is probably saying more about him than he realizes
Sasha carries her board onto the beach. The Boy is sitting there
SASHA: You goin in?
THE BOY: Don't know yet
SASHA: Then why'd you put on your wetsuit?
...roscoe's wetsuit
THE BOY: Everyone else was
SASHA: That's an awful reason
She starts walking
THE BOY: You should come to the party. It'll be fun. (then) They invited you, right?
SASHA: Where is it?
THE BOY: [EDIT]. Text me [EDIT]
SASHA: I'll remember. I'll bring some friends
She walks off
Later that day:
The guys drive down the highway eating In-N-Out. Head nods all around. Swank is now driving the Porsche. Crazily. Fam is with The Boy and the rest of the guys in the other car. Marcus drops his animal style fries on the floor
MARCUS: Fuck
FAM: You see you fuckin up this car?
THE BOY: It's fine
FAM: He's driving crazy. (iphone goes off) And he's textin me
The text says: R E C K L E S S
FAM (CONT'D): This nigga's so lame
The Boy sees a tweet of the lead singer of a boy band tweet "follow your heart and [HEART EMOJI] all who cross your path!". The Boy retweets it with a [LAUGHING/CRYING EMOJI]
FAM (CONT'D): I gotta stop somewhere first
Fam pulls outside of a club. Lots of people are trying to get in. He and The Boy get out and walk to the bouncer, their friend CHEESE. Fam and Cheese dap. The Boy stands on the side next to a line of people trying get in VIP. They look at each other. He is not dressed appropriately to get in
Fam and Cheese do that handshake thing they do. Fam walks in
Some guys in a black SUV rolls by and yell at the dude next to The Boy
MAN IN CAR: Dont let me catch you out here Jay! Don't let me catch you!
The Boy watches this for a second. He looks down for a moment...
Someone has spray painted "roscoe's wetsuit" on the sidewalk. He stares at it
MAN IN CAR (CONT'D): I got yours, muthafucka!
The Boy snaps out of it. Then takes out his phone and starts recording the fight. Fam walks out and sees the fight in action
JAY (I GUESS?): You scared, bitch! That's why you scared!
MAN IN CAR: I got something for yo ho-ass my nigga!
..what's happening?
Jay is bleeding from his stomach. The Boy is seeing this through his phone. It takes a moment for him to realize-
...run. now
Fam is already running. Everyone in the line is screaming and running. The Boy runs
COP: Drop your weapon!
(these are cleaner and succinct) POP.POP.POP
Runs to the side of the building. The SUV that was firing slows down. The driver is dead. Car horn blares as the car slows to a stop, mixing with girls crying and "oh shit!" and "fuck". Jay is very close to dead. The blood on the sidewalk is almost black. A street sign (No parking between 7-9am and 4-7pm) is reflected in the dark blood. He turns to The Boy, looks around. He knows what's happening. He's leaving
That was the end. He'll never read this sentence. Or any sentence. He ended earlier. Before this sentence. As far as he knows, before any sentence. He's back to his/the natural state
The Boy felt something
It's funny, cause this dude is dead. There really isn't a connection...it's more him seeing himself for the first time since-
SOME NIGGA: Damnnnnn.....!
The Boy's phone rings:
THE BOY: Yeah
FAM: Get in the car
The Boy turns and sees the car rolling up to the alley he's hiding in. The Boy runs up and jumps in. They speed off
FAM: That shit was NUTS!
STEVE: I knew something was about to happen. I knew it
MARCUS: Donnie Darko. I'm tellin you
The Boy is looking at the footage on his phone. He's got a death on video. It's looped. Over and over
The Boy touches his shearling coat...there's a hole in it. Bullet hole? He puts his finger through...
...i shouldn't be (here)
He looks at Fam and Steve. They're talking
MARCUS (CONT'D): Bitches high heels everywhere! They ran out they shoes, cuh
FAM: BAP! BAP! BAP! Oooow. That nigga lit up
The Boy just keeps watching the video
FAM: Yo. You got it on video?
THE BOY: Yeah
FAM: Wow...you caught the end of his journey on video. That's dope. (then) We gotta pic up Doc from the jazz club
Fam and The Boy Stand in the back. Doc is on stage playing saxophone with a band. He's doing a solo
THE BOY: Does it weird you out that you almost died today?
FAM: Not really. I'm not trippin on death
THE BOY: I'm not trippin. I'm just sayin, if you think about it, there's no reason for us to be here
FAM: Doc be hanging with the weirdest people. Look at these niggas. They all look like James Blake. Is that who likes Jazz now?
THE BOY: I was thinking about it and I can't offer anyone anything. Like, my job is tweeting at people. That's my job
FAM: That's not your job. You do it cause it's funny. You're rich. We don't have to do anything
THE BOY: Yeah. Isn't that sad?
FAM: Sad? We are making moves. What about that line me and Swank are gonna start selling?
THE BOY: All we did was print shirts for ourselves. Who else is buying that shit? And the whole reason we wanted to make shirts is cause Tre made some and they were dope
FAM: I don't know what to tell you. We are doing dope shit. We are making moves. We can do whatever we want-
THE BOY: But none of it matters cause we're doing it for ourselves! We're just jerking off for each other. No one in the future's gonna give a shit I made a shirt once
FAM: Then don't make a shirt, my nigga
JAMES BLAKEY LOOKING DUDE: Shhh!
The Boy fiddles with the hole in his jacket
All the guys walk in with plastic bags from the grocery store. They have blue cups, alcohol, s'more fixings, and gummy bears
If I was the director, I'd have everyone walk in in slow motion into the house with "Nosetalgia" by Pusha T playing
Walking into bedrooms. Opening drawers. Pulling out bags of weed
AJ walks into his large closet. Pulls out a bowl. There are some prescription bottles there too
A naked Marcus steps out of the shower and goes in his closet and pulls out some condoms
Fam is meditating in the center of his bed. He's floating off the bed by about 4 inches
RAP GENIUS NOTE: This is the end of Part 1, continue on at Part 2
Childish tweeted out a link to the screenplay, formatted magnificently. However, the tweet has since been deleted.
An entire film script inspired and soundtracked by each of the 19 tracks on the album, Because The Internet.
The 72-page script shows off Gambino's TV writing/acting chops and follows the life of a character simply known as "The Boy" (played by Gambino himself), exploring his family dynamics and relationship with technology, high points and heartbreak. Each of the album's tracks corresponds to each of the script's scenes. Some scenes are even supplemented with actual short clips.
(via Consequence of Sound.
The script stars/features artists and friends such as Donald Glover [Childish Gambino], Famuel Rothstein, Jo Swank, Stefan Ponce, Milsa T, Ludwig Goransson, Jhene Aiko, Rick Ross, Chance Bennett [Chance The Rapper], and Steve Glover [Steve G Lover].
All 72 pages of the screenplay are annotated on Screen/RapGenius:
You are currently reading Part 1
Click here for Part 2
Click here for Part 3
Click here for Part 4
Click here for Part 5
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
- 1.Because the internet Screenplay - Part 1


text:
On June 13, George Monbiot devoted his Guardian column to naming and shaming a 'malign intellectual subculture that seeks to excuse savagery by denying the facts'. 'The facts', Monbiot noted, 'are the genocides in Bosnia and Rwanda.'
In a piece that recalled the iconic scene from The Usual Suspects, Monbiot lined up Noam Chomsky, Edward Herman, David Peterson, John Pilger, and Media Lens, as political commentators who 'take the unwarranted step of belittling the acts of genocide committed by opponents of the western powers'.
According to Monbiot, Herman and Peterson are guilty of something called 'genocide denial'. Media Lens got off on the lesser charge of 'supporting genocide denial'. As for Chomsky, Monbiot Tweeted:
'And, to my great distress, as I rate him very highly, #NoamChomsky doesn't come out of it too well either.'
The 'it' in question was Monbiot's own investigation: think a one-man Chilcot Inquiry.
'Genocide belittling' and 'genocide denial' may sound like neutral terms, but in fact they are loaded, and aimed, in a particular direction by mainstream journalists.
Typically, someone is adjudged guilty of 'genocide denial' only when they question accounts of crimes committed by official enemies of the West. No-one is accused of 'genocide denial' if they present Iraq Body Count's (IBC) figure of 100,000 reported civilian deaths by violence since 2003 as the likely total number of Iraqis who have died through all causes. No-one is accused if they favour IBC's current figure over the Lancet study which estimated 655,000 Iraqi dead as a result of the war way back in 2006. The same applies to the many commentators who have rejected, or ignored, claims that US-UK-led sanctions killed more than 500,000 Iraqi children under five between 1990-2003.
Journalists can go as low as they please in estimating numbers killed in Western or Western-backed bloodbaths in, for example, Indonesia, East Timor, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Vietnam, Cambodia, Yemen, Iran and Afghanistan. No-one would dream of charging them with 'genocide denial'.
In his article, Monbiot initially focused on right-wing 'deniers'. He then turned to the opposite end of the political spectrum:
'But genocide denial is just as embarrassing to the left as it is to the libertarian right. Last week Edward Herman, an American professor of finance best known for co-authoring Manufacturing Consent with Noam Chomsky, published a new book called The Srebrenica Massacre. It claims that the 8,000 deaths at Srebrenica are "an unsupportable exaggeration. The true figure may be closer to 800."'
These words do appear in the book, but they are taken from the foreword by Phillip Corwin, formerly the UN Civilian Affairs Coordinator in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Curiously, then, Monbiot began his criticism of Herman by focusing on someone else's words. Different contributors to a book, even editors compiling the contributions, are not normally held to have collectively asserted what any one contributor has asserted.
Monbiot added:
'The leftwing website Media Lens maintained that Herman and Peterson were "perfectly entitled" to talk down the numbers killed at Srebrenica.'
One might, of course, debate what 'talk down' means. But this is what we actually wrote about what Herman (rather than Corwin) has argued:
'Herman and Peterson have also written:
'"There is a good case to be made that, while there were surely hundreds of executions, and possibly as many as a thousand or more, the 8,000 figure is a political construct and eminently challengeable." (Herman and Peterson, 'Milosevic's Death in the Propaganda System,' ZNet, May 14, 2006)
'Herman and Peterson, then, are not denying that mass killings took place at Srebrenica. They also do not accept the figure cited by Kamm and others, but that they are perfectly entitled to do.' (Media Alert, 'Dancing On A Mass Grave,' November 25, 2009)
Arguing that someone is entitled to debate the facts is not the same as arguing that they are entitled to falsify, mislead, wilfully deceive, or whatever 'talk down' was intended to suggest. Monbiot could simply have written: 'Media Lens maintained that Herman and Peterson were "perfectly entitled" to debate the facts.'
Readers may be surprised to learn that we have never written about the Srebrenica massacre - which took place six years before we started Media Lens - other than to affirm that it was a massacre. The whole emphasis of our November 4, 2005 alert, for example, was to show that Noam Chomsky had affirmed, and not denied, as the Guardian claimed, that there had been a massacre at Srebrenica.
With regard to Herman and Peterson's work, we checked our archives - after ten years of work on Media Lens, we found a grand total of two articles by them discussing Srebrenica posted on our website (a third mentions it in passing).
The practical implications of Monbiot's criticism were not spelled out. Were we wrong to post the two articles? Should we delete them? What threat does our posting of Herman and Peterson's work pose, as against the threat to free speech of banning their work from our website? After all, if taken seriously, accusations of 'genocide denial' could be extended to suppress other views that are unpopular with powerful interests.
We found that the US website ZNet hosts literally dozens of articles by Herman and Peterson mentioning Srebrenica. Presumably, then, it is a world-leader in 'supporting genocide denial'. We asked Monbiot why he has not complained to ZNet (to which he is a regular contributor), or even mentioned their role. He chose not to respond on this issue.
To be clear, we reject the right of any court, any government, indeed anyone, to apply labels like 'genocide' to historical events and then, not merely argue but demand that they be accepted. The assumption that human institutions are in possession of Absolute Truth belongs to the era of The Inquisition, not to serious debate. There are rare cases when hate speech which is motivated by racism and likely to lead to violence can be condemned. But presumably Monbiot was not suggesting that Herman, Peterson, Chomsky and Pilger are trying to promote hatred and violence. We asked Monbiot, but again he did not respond. Please click here to see our email to him, and here to see the response he sent on June 17.
Distinguishing Deaths From Executions
Even putting aside concerns with the term 'genocide denial', Monbiot's article contains some major gaffes. For example, as indicated above, Herman does not argue 'that the 8,000 deaths at Srebrenica are "an unsupportable exaggeration"'. Rather, he argues that the 8,000 executions at Srebrenica are an exaggeration. Monbiot wrote to us:
'Given that 6,500 of the victims have already been exhumed and identified, and that there is very strong evidence (as there has been for years) to suggest that a further 1,500 or so await discovery, this statement is demonstrably wrong and without justification.'
But the 6,500 victims 'exhumed and identified' have been identified by DNA profiling that does not identify the cause of death - Herman and Peterson are questioning how many people were executed.
Freelance journalist Jonathan Rooper worked for the BBC for some 20 years. He was a journalist in TV current affairs before moving to BBC TV News where he became head of the News Features department. Rooper wrote to us:
'DNA-based identifications of persons reported missing in wartime does not and cannot address the manner of death in any of those identified. So even if the ICMP [The International Commission on Missing Persons] claimed in an email to George Monbiot on 13 June that it, the ICMP, had positively identified "6,595 of the 7,789 Bosnians [sic] reported as missing" from the Srebrenica "safe area" population after the date of its capture by the Bosnian Serb forces (i.e., after July 11, 1995), this does not support, and cannot be used to support, Srebrenica-massacre allegations [of 8,000 shot dead].' (Email to Media Lens, June 24, 2011)
And yet Monbiot insists that the figure of 8,000 executions is 'accepted by everyone except some extreme Serb nationalists and a small group of wilful deniers as the correct total...'
In his response to us, Monbiot was adamant:
'To describe it as "talking down" the number of deaths [sic – executions] is in fact an understatement: it amounts to the outright disavowal of cast-iron evidence.'
Again, this is simply wrong. Even if we accept that there is 'cast-iron' evidence of 6,500 deaths, there is not 'cast-iron' evidence of 6,500 executions. Some of the dead may have been regular battlefield casualties - the point Herman and Peterson are making.
Note, also, that the standard claim for Muslim deaths in Bosnia from 1993 and for many years thereafter was about 250,000 – a figure offered by the Bosnian Muslim authorities and accepted by many journalists. However, in Bosnian Book of the Dead: Assessment of the Database, Patrick Ball et al., estimate 96,895 deaths in total for the period of the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina, of which 57,696 (59.6%) were military and 39,199 (40.5%) were civilian. Does that make Patrick Ball et al. guilty of the charge of 'revisionism' or 'belittling', or even 'genocide denial'?
The 'Inverted Commas Problem'
A second gaffe is even more remarkable. Shortly after noting that 'genocide denial is... embarrassing to the left,' Monbiot wrote: 'Worse still, he places the Rwandan genocide in inverted commas throughout the text...' The 'text' in question is The Politics of Genocide. The 'he' is Edward Herman, although the book was actually co-authored with David Peterson.
At face value, this does indeed look awful. Are Herman and Peterson denying that there was any kind of genocide in Rwanda? This recalls the worst kind of apologetics arguing that there was no Nazi Holocaust, no gas chambers, no policy to exterminate Jews.
But even a glance at The Politics of Genocide reveals that the authors are using quote marks to refer to what they call 'the standard model' (p.53) of the Rwanda genocide - that there was a conspiracy by Hutu to eliminate the Tutsi from Rwanda. Herman and Peterson claim that this account is 'a propaganda line' (p.51) that 'turned perpetrator and victim upside-down' (p.51). Thus, in writing of 'the Rwanda genocide' using inverted commas, they are referring to a particular version of what happened and proposing an alternative version of events which, they claim, better fits the known facts.
What they are not doing is suggesting that there was no genocide in Rwanda. As Peterson commented to us, if they are to be 'accused' of anything, it should be 'genocide reallocation', not 'genocide denial'. That Monbiot could even make the accusation, which could hardly be more damning, calls into question how seriously he had studied the material he was citing.
This error closely echoes Emma Brockes' infamous comment about Noam Chomsky in the Guardian:
'Chomsky uses quotations marks to undermine things he disagrees with and, in print at least, it can come across less as academic than as witheringly teenage; like, Srebrenica was so not a massacre.'
The Guardian was forced to accept that Chomsky had never put the Srebrenica massacre in quotation marks. Brockes' article was deleted from the Guardian website (which Chomsky, rightly, considered unnecessary). See here.
The prize-winning former Guardian journalist, Jonathan Cook, sent us this comment on the inverted commas:
'It is worth noting that Norman Finkelstein did something identical in his book "The Holocaust Industry". He states in the Introduction:
'"In the pages that follow, I will argue that 'The Holocaust' is an ideological representation of the Nazi holocaust." (p3)
'He also says in a footnote on the same page:
'"In this text, Nazi holocaust [his italics] signals the actual historical event, The Holocaust [his italics] its ideological representation."
'In Monbiot's opinion, does this make Finkelstein, whose parents were survivors of the Nazi holocaust and many members of whose family were killed in the death camps, a Holocaust denier?' (Email to Media Lens, June 17, 2011)
Cook added:
'I thought his response to you was preposterous. He's either suddenly become remarkably dimwitted (eg. not being able to understand the distinction being made by Herman and Peterson between combat casualties and executions) or he's not playing straight. His rationalisations are now such a mess it's actually difficult to disentangle his various arguments and to know whom he's accusing of what.'
As discussed, Monbiot also included John Pilger as part of the 'malign intellectual subculture'. Pilger commented:
'A common recipe for smear is half or quarter truth, conflation, misrepresentation, a pinch of sneer and a dollop of guilt-by-association. Stir briskly. Chef Monbiot is a curiously sad figure. All those years of noble green crusading now dashed by his Damascene conversion to nuclear power's poisonous devastations and his demonstrable need for establishment recognition - a recognition which, ironically, he already enjoyed. Predictably, the born-again attack as "denialists" those who continue to point out Western propaganda's mendacious constructions and omissions. Goodbye George.' (Email to Media Lens, June 29, 2011)
People who care about freedom of speech use the term 'genocide denial' with extreme caution (as discussed, on rare occasions, political commentary that promotes racism and violence can be condemned). It is most often used as a crude device to taint commentators with a version of 'Holocaust denial' employing a similar term.
As used in the current debate, it amounts to little more than saying: 'I charge you with disagreeing with me. How do you plead?' The question has no meaning because it is not a crime to disagree with someone, not least because, Enlightened Beings aside, other people can never claim to be in possession of Absolute Truth (and Enlightened Beings have nothing to fear from open debate).
So why has Monbiot turned on us rather than, say, ZNet in this way? The reason, we believe, is that we have repeatedly challenged his journalism. In November 2002, at a crucial time in a key newspaper, Monbiot advanced a preposterous scheme for overthrowing the Iraqi government. He added:
'But if this option is tried and fails, and if war turns out to be the only means of removing Saddam, then let us support a war whose sole and incontestable purpose is that and only that...' (Monbiot, 'See you in court, Tony,' The Guardian, November 26, 2002)
We pointed out that this was as damaging as it was absurd. There was no way for the British public to 'support' some kind of 'just war' on Iraq in this way – there were no mechanisms for applying that kind of public pressure. Moreover, there was no justification for urging the public to support war on any basis – Britain and the US had no legal or moral right whatever to wage war on Iraq. The only hope in November 2002 was to encourage as many people as possible to oppose war in all circumstances.
Monbiot responded by attacking us in his Guardian column, and we believe he has never forgiven us for pointing out his disastrous error of judgement and for our subsequent challenges of his work on Iran and the media.
It took fully five weeks for the Guardian to publish a response to the claims Monbiot made on June 13. Herman and Peterson submitted separate pieces to different sections of the Guardian, including Comment Is Free (Katharine Viner and Matt Seaton), the op-ed page (Becky Gardiner, Gwyn Topham, Libby Brooks), the response column (Joseph Harker), as well as the Guardian's editor Alan Rusbridger and its ombudsman Chris Elliott. On June 21, response column editor Joseph Harker told Peterson:
'You make a number of assertions, so we'll look into them and get back to you.'
In the lengthy period of 'review' that followed, Herman was told by Becky Gardiner, editor of the Guardian comment pages, 'that too much time has elapsed' to publish his response to Monbiot. Natalie Hanman, the editor of the online Comment is Free (CiF) section, told Herman that there was no space to publish his 760-word response.
On July 5, Harker finally responded with five reasons explaining why he had rejected Herman and Peterson's submissions (see here together with Peterson's detailed responses to each of these points). These five points were presumably supplied by 'experts' on Srebrenica and Rwanda, possibly the same two sources that Monbiot had previously cited in his response to Media Lens. Harker invited Herman and Peterson to submit a joint response under 550 words that would fit 'within our editorial guidelines'.
In the meantime, the Observer had published another critical piece by Nick Cohen on the 'Chomskyan self-delusion' of 'west-hating' leftists, with pointed reference to Srebrenica.
After further Guardian edits and under the slanted headline, 'We're not genocide deniers', Herman and Peterson's response finally appeared on July 19. On the same day, Herman and Peterson posted copies of their original, rejected responses on ZNet.
Guardian readers posted comments below the truncated response from Herman and Peterson, with the majority in support and several providing links to the fuller rebuttals posted at ZNet. The CiF moderators swiftly got to work playing 'whack-a-mole' to remove these comments whenever they popped up. Even a comment by Peterson himself, linking to these longer pieces, was removed. Unusually, this was later restored, most likely in response to public complaints.
Less than a week after Herman and Peterson's condensed response had appeared in the Guardian, a speedy rejoinder was published by James Wizeye of the Rwanda high commission in London. Apparently no extensive Guardian investigation was required for the Rwandan official's claims.
By this point, the Guardian had grudgingly allowed Herman and Peterson 500 words to defend themselves against the ugly and false charges of 'genocide denial' in several thousand words printed by the Observer/Guardian.
Jonathan Cook summarised the debacle:
'This whole episode really has been a fabulous case study of how our most liberal media ensure that certain reasonable views are beyond the pale of respectable discourse. The Guardian has allowed Monbiot to misrepresent the positions of the people he defamed as genocide deniers; then, despite prolonged lobbying, the Guardian has denied DP and EH a proper platform on which to defend themselves; then it has censored those on the talkbacks who tried to inform the wider readership of the pair's much fuller defence, published elsewhere, and the Guardian's role in trying to stop the two from responding; and now it has allowed the pair to be misrepresented again.
'This isn't an isolated stitch-up; this is a strategy. this is how the media - from Murdoch to the Guardian - operate when they want to severely limit the framework of a debate. The Guardian is doing everything possible to ensure its wider readership is not exposed to DP and EH's ideas, and is doing it by labelling and dismissing them as genocide deniers. No one is winning this argument because no argument is taking place. The Guardian is not presenting reasoned criticisms or allowing DP and EH to present their arguments properly. Instead the Guardian is winning the non-debate because it is the one able to dictate the terms of the non-debate. This is trickery, dressed up as a free media.
'That Monbiot is at the heart of this deception reflects very poorly on him.' (Email, July 26, 2011)
The goal of Media Lens is to promote rationality, compassion and respect for others. If you do write to journalists, we strongly urge you to maintain a polite, non-aggressive and non-abusive tone.
Write to:
George Monbiot
Email: email@example.com
Alan Rusbridger, editor of the Guardian


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Allegro CL |
ANSI Common Lisp 7 Objects 7.3 Reinitializing an Instance
7.3.1 Customizing ReinitializationMethods for reinitialize-instance may be defined to specify actions to be taken when an instance is updated. If only after methods for reinitialize-instance are defined, they will be run after the system-supplied primary method for initialization and therefore will not interfere with the default behavior of reinitialize-instance.Methods for shared-initialize may be defined to customize class redefinition. For more information, see Section 7.1.5 Shared-Initialize. |


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(ARA) – Preparing your home for cold weather is important for your comfort this winter as well as your utility bills. When you're making your winterization to-do list, be sure to include these simple updates that will help prevent costly damage to your home and provide you with the peace of mind that you're saving energy, water and money.
Give your Furnace a Tune-up
Schedule an appointment to have your furnace inspected and serviced. Annual maintenance by a professional will help ensure your furnace is in prime condition for the long winter and operating as efficiently as possible. Plan ahead and get a preseason check-up before HVAC crews get backed up during the busy winter months. In addition to a professional inspection, don't forget to inspect the furnace filters on a monthly basis. A dirty filter obstructs air flow in the home and reduces efficiency.
Check your Insulation
Snuggling under a heavy blanket or layering on extra socks and sweaters may feel like a cozy way to watch your favorite holiday movie, but it could also be a sign that it's too cold in your house. You may need more insulation to keep that warm, conditioned air your furnace is cranking out in all the right spots.
A good place to start is the attic. All it takes is a quick peek at the floor of your attic to know if you need more insulation. If your attic floor is insulated, but the floor joists are still visible, then you probably don't have enough. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) reports that the recommended level of insulation for most attics is approximately 10 to 14 inches or an R-value of R-38, depending on insulation type. Check out the Energy Star website to find a chart indicating the recommended level of insulation per region.
Install Energy-efficient Windows
A significant amount of heat can escape through older, less efficient windows. Installing Energy Star-qualified windows can reduce heat loss and increase comfort during extreme weather. According to the DOE, some Energy Star-qualified windows feature more than three panes for increased efficiency and sound insulation. Take the time to research which type of window is the best fit for your climate before making a purchase, as different models are available to fit the needs of different performance zones.
Install a Water-efficient Showerhead
A warm shower during the winter doesn't have to be a guilty pleasure. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency WaterSense Program water-saving specifications for showerheads require a flow rate of no more than 2 gallons per minute (gpm).
As the 2011 WaterSense Manufacturer Partner of the Year, Delta Faucet Company strives to help people use water in smarter and more environmentally responsible ways. A 1.5 gpm Delta showerhead featuring H2Okinetic Technology uses up to 36 percent less water than the industry standard of 2.5 gpm.
"We understand how much people value their shower routine, so we worked hard to develop a technology that can make the showerhead water-efficient without sacrificing the user's experience," says Paul Patton, senior product development manager at Delta Faucet Company.
Patton says the H2OKinetic Technology employs fluid dynamics to produce larger droplets that retain heat longer and create a denser spray pattern. Together, these effects create a feeling of a drenching, luxurious shower while using less water. Using less hot water not only conserves Earth's most precious resource, but also helps manage utility costs by using less energy from the hot water heater.
Prevent Plumbing Freezes
Insulate the water lines that run along any of the exterior walls in your home so the water will be less likely to freeze and cause the pipes to burst. It's also a good idea to make sure your entire family knows where the main shut off valve is located and how to turn it off in the event that a pipe develops a leak or bursts.
Winter forecasts look grim with many meteorologists predicting harsher weather conditions compared to what we experienced in many regions across the U.S. last year. A few updates to the interior and exterior of your home can safeguard it from potential damage and keep you and your family comfortable throughout the season.


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+ | Contents |
54th AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS/ASC Structures, Structural Dynamics, and Materials Conference and Co-located Events
8 - 11 April 2013Location: Boston, MassachusettsVenue: Boston Park Plaza Hotel & Towers
Paper Submission Information
- Important Dates to Remember:
- Website Open for Abstract Submission: 9 May 2012
- Abstract Deadline: 5 September 2012
- Author Notification: 28 November 2012
- Final Manuscript Deadline: 19 March 2013
54th AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS/ASC Structures, Structural Dynamics, and Materials Conference
The 54th Structures, Structural Dynamics, and Materials Conference (SDM) is sponsored by AIAA, ASME, ASCE, AHS, and ASC. This established annual conference is a widely acknowledged event that provides a unique forum dedicated to the latest developments in the collective disciplines of structures, structural dynamics, materials, design engineering, and survivability. This year's presentations will address integration of fundamentals of materials development to structural design to enable accelerated materials technology transition to efficient and innovative flight-worthy aircraft and spacecraft structures.
21st AIAA/ASME/AHS Adaptive Structures Conference
The Adaptive Structures Conference is the premier conference focused on the advancement of adaptive structures technology and its application to aerospace systems. This conference brings together basic and applied researchers from diverse disciplines in academia, government, and industry; as such, the range of relevant topics is quite broad.
15th AIAA Non-Deterministic Approaches Conference
The need for Non-Deterministic Approaches (NDA) to manage uncertainty is well recognized within the aerospace industry. These approaches, which include both probabilistic and nonprobabilistic methods, provide treatment of high consequence of failure events associated with the development and operation of aerospace systems. The NDA conference is dedicated to the development and dissemination of nondeterministic perspectives, methods, and applications.
14th AIAA Dynamics Specialists Conference
The conference theme is emerging structural dynamics technologies that will enable development of the next generation of aerospace vehicle systems including Micro Air Vehicles (including flapping wing approaches), Unmanned Air Vehicles, Rotorcraft and Tilt-Rotors, Composite Business Jets and Transports, Military Aircraft, Quiet Supersonic Aircraft, Hypersonic Vehicles, Commercial Launch Vehicles, Space Exploration Vehicles, Ultralight (thin-membrane or sandwich) Structures, Turbomachinery, and Next Generation Large-Scale Off-Shore Wind Turbines..
14th AIAA Gossamer Systems Forum
An emerging class of large-scale, lightweight structures is enabling a paradigm shift in design, launch, and operation of spaceflight systems. Spacecraft with structural characteristics optimized for operation in space and for the ability to collapse into small packages for launch yield order-of-magnitude reductions in mass, launch volume, and lifecycle cost, as compared to large spaceflight systems. The objective of the Gossamer Systems Forum is to provide an opportunity to discuss recent research findings and newly proposed concepts emerging from this technology.
9th AIAA Multidisciplinary Design Optimization Specialist Conference
Multidisciplinary design optimization (MDO) focuses on optimizing the performance and reducing the costs of complex systems that involve multiple interacting disciplines, such as those found in aircraft, spacecraft, automobiles, industrial manufacturing equipment, and various consumer products, and also on the development of related methodologies. MDO is a broad area that encompasses design synthesis, sensitivity analysis, approximation concepts, optimization methods and strategies, artificial intelligence, and rule-based design―all in the context of integrated design dealing with multiple disciplines and interacting subsystems or systems of systems.