text:
Show All Answers
The following table is a side-by-side comparison of reconstruction, reclamation and rehabilitation:
The City identifies streets to be improved annually in the Five Year Capital Improvement Plan (CIP). Improvements are prioritized based on a variety of factors including age, street condition, utilities condition and functional classification. Street reconstruction and reclamation are generally chosen for streets in poor condition. Street reconstruction is generally chosen where water main is being replaced. Street rehabilitation is generally chosen for streets in moderate condition.
In addition to City notifications, during the construction process, the City's contractor will distribute door flyers for construction impacts such as parking restrictions and water service interruptions during the project. Street Reconstruction & Rehabilitation website
Garbage service will be maintained throughout the duration of the project. The Contractor will provide access to garbage haulers to make garbage pickups.
The City will repair most above-ground features impacted by construction activities (i.e., landscaping rock/edging, fencing, retaining walls, etc.) and will restore all maintained turf areas with sod (reconstruction projects) or seed (rehabilitation or reclamation projects, and projects in areas of parks and unmaintained grass areas). The City will NOT replace individual plants, shrubs, or trees that are in the right-of-way and impacted during construction activities. The City will NOT replace invisible dog fencing wires, private electrical wires, or outlet boxes, but will install plastic conduit sleeves under driveway aprons for property owners if they request for wire replacement purposes.
Starting in 2017, the City will NOT replace irrigation system components located in the street right-of-way that are damaged as part of the construction contract, but will provide reimbursement to property owners who repair their systems following construction work and submit a contractor invoice or material receipt after completing the work. The maximum reimbursement values for irrigation system components is as follows:
Residential Lot (single street frontage): $300 per propertyResidential Lot (multiple street frontage (i.e., corner lots)): $500 per propertyCommercial/Retail/Multi-Family Lots: $0.75/Foot of Street Frontage, up to 1,000' ($750).
Detailed information regarding irrigation system reimbursement procedures will be sent to property owners in impacted project areas as part of the Neighborhood Meeting notification process.
1) Municipal State Aid Funding for designated higher traffic routes where possible.
2) Ad Valorem taxes via the Infrastructure Trust Fund (for approximately 60% of street improvements if Municipal State Aid Funding is not available)
3) Special Assessments (for approximately 40% of street improvements)
4) Sewer and Water Utility Fund (for 100% of sanitary sewer and watermain improvements)
5) Storm Water Utility Fund (for 100% of storm sewer and drainage improvements)
The City of Burnsville's Special Assessment Policy provides a standard method by which assessments are calculated for street reconstruction, rehabilitation and reclamation projects from year to year. Assessments are calculated by abutting street footage and are based upon land usage. Street footage is adjusted to account for irregularities in lot sizes and shapes. For instance, residential corner lots will receive reductions in street footage to reduce the burden, while lots in cul-de-sacs will receive increases in street footage to account for irregular lot shapes.
The assessment amount for the entire current year's street reconstruction, rehabilitation or reclamation project will be the lesser of the two scenarios below: 1) Average of the last three years of assessment rates for reconstruction or rehabilitation, or2) 40% of the current year's project cost for street reconstruction or rehabilitation work (does not include utility work, which is not assessed)
1) February – Preliminary Report: Estimated maximum front footage assessment based on proposed improvement method, preliminary design data, and budgeted cost estimates. You will receive notice of the assessment rate, and have an opportunity to view your estimated assessment.
2) September – Final Assessment Hearing: Final assessment rate is based on actual construction costs, and may be lower than the rate proved in the Preliminary Report. The final assessment rate cannot be higher than the estimated assessment rate provided in February. Formal notices with individual property assessments are sent via U.S. Mail to each assessed property owner.
Assessment value of $1-$199.99: 1 yearAssessment value of $200-$999.99: 5 yearsAssessment value of $1000-$1999.99: 10 yearsAssessment value of $2000 and over: 15 years
Assessments paid off through property tax statements are subject to interest over the period of the payoff. The assessment can be paid off early, but the property owner must work through Dakota County to do this. The City of Burnsville only accepts assessment payments for the entire amount during the first 30 days after the assessment hearing as described earlier in this section.
It is common in street reconstruction areas for independent contractors and companies to solicit their services, either through door-to-door or mail marketing. These services may be of any type, but the most common services are for driveway replacement, landscape work, and sewer and water repair services. The City of Burnsville DOES NOT solicit any of these commercial services to residents. If residents are interested in any solicited service, they are encouraged to verify a contractor's licensing and registration status with the State of Minnesota by visiting the Minnesota Department of Labor & Industry website. Additional information regarding door-to-door solicitation rules for the City of Burnsville are available by entering the search term "solicitor" at www.burnsville.org.


text:
I am having a small squabble at work with our admin regarding a colleague's laptop. The laptop is bordering on unusable. The admin tidied up some temp directories and defragged the HDD a few months back and that bought the laptop some time but things are back to normal (sloooow) service now.
Right from the start I pointed out that the laptop is several years old and on its' original Windows build (plus updates) and it would be advisable to back up the data and rebuild it from the recovery image.
My reasoning is based on an observation (backed up by others) that Windows degrades over time. I cite clutter in the system folder, the registry and temp directories as factors. Additionally this laptop has had a lot of software added and removed over that time.
Couple of specs, though my question is a bit broader than the specific machine:
- IBM Stinkpad R52 (I think)
The thrust of my question is:
- can anyone confirm or refute the idea that Windows degrades over time ?
- if confirming, what factors contribute to the degradation ?

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Hi everyone! ^.^
I traveled to Japan recently, and I had the chance (or the horror) to see some terrifying pasta sauce commercials. I never tasted it, so I can't recommend you to do so, but I do reccommend you to watch the commercials!
Did anyone know about this thing??
And to close the show, here is the theme song music video! Enjoy!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=kooS8iTqo1w& ... ed&search=
Tarako! Tarako! Tsbu tsubu tarako!
Tarako, the Evil Pasta Sauce
Recommend restaurants, dishes, cuisines, etc.
Post Reply
2 posts • Page 1 of 1
- lifelibertyland
- Posts: 105
- Joined: Thu Mar 31, 2005 5:50 pm
- Location: bucktown, NY
- Contact:
Post Reply
2 posts • Page 1 of 1
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 14 guests


text:
Joanne, aka PixieGIrl4, is a video game "photographer" in the same vein as guys like Duncan "Dead End Thrills" Harris.
She is very, very good at what she does.
Below you'll find some of her best "screenshots" (click to embiggen), which are captured using tools and tweaks that can - and often does - melt hardware. So if you're wondering why your copy of Game X doesn't look as good, well, that's because you play games to play them, not with the specific goal of turning them into beautiful pictures for the internet.
If you're wondering how each was made, the link below will take you to her Flickr page, where each image contains a description of the settings employed.
PixieGirl4's photostream [Flickr, via @deadendthrills]


text:
A Picture is Worth What Now?
I know, I know, sometimes you're in a hurry, and you have to grab just any ol' cake off the shelf for your party.
Why this one?
If you're fishing for a compliment, then that's strike one.
And if you bring this home to celebrate your sixth anniversary?
Well, let's just say there are other fish in the sea. Who can spell.
Wow, I'm so glad they remembered the glass slipper on Dad's cake!
The pink purse alone was just a little too cliché, you know?
It's not always a case of last-minute cake decisions, though; sometimes people choose this stuff intentionally.
And you thought dinosaurs were agnostic.
This cake was part of a Breast Cancer Awareness display:
Is that Coraline's creepy button-eyed Other Mother?
We can only hope.
Speaking of cakes that will blow your mind, how about a dust mite encouraging you to have healthy digestive regularity?
And darned if I just don't want to disappoint the little fella, too.
Thanks to Wreckporters Kati, Theresa G., Mark R., Danielle N., Anony M., & Kaitlin.


text:
Choosing the best domestic plumbing service provider may be difficult. They must be productive in all of the parts of pipes. You must make certain once they correct your problem, it is going to be fixed efficiently and quickly so it doesn't crack once more. You don't need to have to generate a secondly get in touch with to allow them to profit and get to try and remedy it once more. Plumbing Contractor
You need to ensure your plumbers are friendly, professional and delighted to be there for yourself. They will be clothed properly and become thoroughly clean with arrival. Choosing a plumbing service provider with excellent customer service who seems to be delighted about his job is very important when coming up with sure your home is in very good hands and wrists. They should offer you professional services for home plumbing, business pipes, drain cleansing, normal water tubing cleaning up, and water home heating solutions.
- You want to make sure your.
- They assist you with your hot water heaters. They may install,.
- In industrial properties they are doing exactly the same thing..
- In household plumbing they need to offer you deplete cleaning solutions, pre-planned upkeep visits that may stop.
- Burglar Alarm Systems.
In residential domestic plumbing they should provide strain washing professional services, pre-timetabled upkeep visits which will avoid troubles from occurring for your pipes techniques, setting up back again-flow units, septic aquarium solutions and effectively pumps, fridge h2o supply, watering systems, normal water range fix and examinations, and of course baths sinks and lavatories. Burglar Alarm Systems
Range fix and examinations and of
In commercial complexes they actually do exactly the same thing. Some of the things may possibly consist of sewer and septic process repair, restoration on urinals, repairs of leaking slabs, pipe fitting, water strain tests, drain washing, installation and upkeep solutions and they can do all of it around the clock to make sure your emergency situations are noticed and cared for straight away. They are going to really make an attempt to maintain your commercial and in addition manufacturing work areas safe. They worry about their clientele and wish them with an operational method so everything is running openly to give rise to the achievements your business the best they are able to. Fire Alarm Systems
Your commercial and in addition
Pipes building contractors are not only there for when one thing fails. They are there to help stop future difficulties and to be certain all things are operating correctly. They may be like normal water collection physicians. They come and make sure your normal water line is clear so you don't possess blockages or water leaks.
Like normal water
They can assist you with your hot water heaters. They are able to put in, change and repair fuel and electronic water heaters. They are able to do the same for boiler systems for industrial or manufacturer situations. These people have a industrial water heater sizing plan, they already have tankless hot water heaters, very hot water moving pumps and a lot more. Commercial home heating and plumbing are complex techniques that you will need to obtain a skilled to help with. Doing it your self without instruction could be a large chaos. It is recommended to let it rest approximately the trained experts. Property Management
- In business properties they do the exact same thing. Several of.
- Plumbing contractors are not just there for when something goes wrong. They can be there to help you.


text:
The media's marathon meltdown
The fast-moving news out of Boston on Wednesday snared some of the most respected reporters and news outlets in the country into offering false or conflicting information about whether a suspect had been arrested — leaving CNN and the Associated Press, among others, scrambling to clean up their reports as the day went on.
The flood of conflicting reports, confusion, and subsequent criticism reminded some of June 28, 2012, when many media outlets — most notably CNN — incorrectly reported the Supreme Court's Obamacare ruling.
Story Continued Below
Now as then, many of the nation's most trusted, established media organizations raced to broadcast breaking news, only to find themselves eating their words minutes later. Now as then, those who resisted the temptations of getting the story first were rewarded with getting the story right. And now as then, the media's failures were widely mocked across social media.
( PHOTOS: Boston Marathon bombing and aftermath)
As in June, no single news outlet on Wednesday bore more criticism than CNN (the network that describes itself as "the most trusted name in news") and no single news outlet received greater priase for its restraint than NBC News — a fact that matters greatly not just to the reporters responsible (CNN's John King and NBC's Pete Williams) but to the executives in New York, who understand that the integrities of their respective brands are at stake.
When the dust settled, CNN released a statement defending its initial report of an arrest in the bombings: "CNN had three credible sources on both local and federal levels. Based on this information we reported our findings. As soon as our sources came to us with new information we adjusted our reporting." (As in June 2012, Fox News did not respond to a request for comment.)
( Also on POLITICO: Boston tests post-9/11 confidence)
This was not the same as the apology the network had issued after the Supreme Court ruling, and it earned them more criticism on Twitter: "[The] problem with CNN, FNC saying sources led them astray: NBC News was RIGHT all day," Bill Carter, who covers the television industry for the New York Times, wrote on Twitter. "Good sources WERE available."
The media's coverage had been in conflict from the beginning, even before CNN and NBC's reports. At 1:42 p.m., the Associated Press, citing a law enforcement official, reported that an arrest was "imminent" and that the suspect would be brought to court. One minute later, Reuters, citing a government source, reported that investigators did not yet have the name of a suspect and made no mention of an arrest.
Then, at 1:45 p.m., CNN's King - who had earlier broken the news the a suspect had been identified on video - went on air and said that "an arrest has been made." King cited two sources: a local law enforcement source he had spoken with, and another unnamed source who had spoken with his colleague Fran Townsend, former President Bush's terrorism advisor. Not long after, Fox News and The Boston Globe were issuing similar reports. CBS Boston, citing a law enforcement official, reported that an arrest had been made, but then quickly pulled that report from its website.


text:
NLG Observes Improper Use of Force by Law Enforcement
Posted by Bail Out the People Not the Banks on Friday, September 25, 2009
National Lawyers Guild Observes Improper Use of Force by Law Enforcement
For Immediate Release-September 25, 2009
Contact: Paige Cram, Communications Coordinator, 609-668-0645
Pittsburgh-National Lawyers Guild members witnessed first-hand yesterday the unwarranted display and use of force by police in residential neighborhoods, often far from any protest activity.
Police deployed chemical irritants, including CS gas, and long-range acoustic devices (LRAD) in residential neighborhoods on narrow streets where families and small children were exposed. Scores of riot police formed barricades at many intersections throughout neighborhoods miles away from the downtown area and the David Lawrence Convention Center. Outside the Courtyard Marriott in Shadyside, police deployed smoke bombs in the absence of protest activity, forcing bystanders and hotel residents to flee the area.
Later, while some protests were ending, riot-clad officers surrounded an area at the University of Pittsburgh, creating an ominous spectacle that some described as akin to Kent State. Guild legal observers witnessed police chasing and arresting many uninvolved students.
Among other questionable tactics, officers from dozens of law enforcement agencies lacked easily-identifiable badges, impeding citizens' ability to register complaints.
Heidi Boghosian, executive director of the National Lawyers Guild, said: "Accountability and chain of command is virtually impossible to establish given the lack of visible individual identifying badges on officers. The small, paper armband badges that law enforcement are wearing are difficult to read, and many wore black chest coverings with absolutely no identifying information. We've seen many law enforcement personnel, including Pittsburgh Police Department officers, deliberately covering up the arm IDs by rolling their shirt sleeves up over them."
The National Lawyers Guild is a progressive bar association, founded in 1937, with chapters in every state. Its national mass defense program includes education about laws and practices that affect individuals engaging in dissent, criminal defense of protesters and civil litigation to curb unconstitutional police practices, and its legal observing program. Resources detailing police tactics are available on the Guild's website, www.nlg.org, including Punishing Protest and The Assault on Free Speech, Public Assembly, and Dissent.


text:
These are the year's most expensive homes on the market as provided by Trulia.com. They're not necessarily massive; some of them are spacious New York penthouses without enough square footage to even qualify as a mansion.
We'll start with the number 10 home, a penthouse priced at $60 million, and work up to the most expensive mansion of the year. What features are included in such dearly priced homes? One of them has a 24 karat-gold-lined swimming pool. Another is on 90 acres of untouched California land. One was designed by an award-winning architect; another employed master craftsmen to install custom features. Click ahead to see them all.
By Colleen Kane
Posted 21 Dec. 2012


text:
Ex-Beatle needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 83 designs submitted by 26 freelance designers.
Logo needed for new company (MAVECOM) providing Cabling Solutions for networks. With Cabling solutions I mean designing and installing cables like Fiber Optic, UTP, FTP, COAX, VOIP... Also providing customer with things like patchpanels etc...
Looking for company Logo with attraction. Must also fit for business cards, payment papers towards customers etc...
- Item 1... Words like Fiber, Cabling, Cables... may be included.
- Item 1... Nothing related to Electrical Cabling.
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


text:
The Seattle Seahawks locked up No. 2 receiver Doug Baldwin for three seasons.
The two sides agreed to a two-year extension on top of the restricted free agent tender, NFL Media Insider Ian Rapoport reported Thursday, according to a source involved in the process. The deal is worth $4.3 million a year for a total of $13 million, with almost $11 million in new money.
The Seahawks targeted this week to have a deal done, per Rapoport.
Baldwin showed up for voluntary OTAs without signing his restricted free agent tender, making good on his promise not to hold out.
"Doug has been a tremendous player," coach Pete Carroll said following Tuesday's OTAs, per ESPN.com. "When you go back and look at the last few years, and you look at the significant plays that have happened, he's been a part in a lot of big stuff."
According to Rapoport, one reason behind the three-year deal -- compared to other receivers who signed for four or five years -- was so Baldwin, who turns 26 in September, can be a free agent again before the age of 30.
The 5-foot-10 receiver is coming off his best season, with 50 catches for 778 yards and five touchdowns. He also scored the Seahawks' final touchdown in the Super Bowl. In three seasons in Seattle, Baldwin has 130 catches for 1,932 yards and 12 touchdowns.
The latest "Around The League Podcast" breaks down the news and discusses players who could be summertime trade targets.


text:
We're sorry, there is a problem with the page you are trying to reach. If
you were submitting a form please try again!
If this error continues, please contact support at 847-513-6460.
Note: Events.org is optimized for Internet Explorer 5 or later. Click here to go back to the main page.


text:
Department of Revenue News Release
April 05, 2012As April 17 Deadline Approaches, Department of Revenue Offers Tips for Tax Return Filers
JEFFERSON CITY - With less than two weeks before the state tax return filing deadline, the Missouri Department of Revenue has advice for Missourians who have not yet filed their returns.
The state's traditional filing deadline of April 15 is extended for two days this year. The new deadline is Tuesday, April 17, to be consistent with the deadline change for filing federal tax returns. The federal deadline was changed for the District of Columbia's observation of Emancipation Day.
The Department encourages people to file their returns electronically, if possible. This method is more convenient, reduces the chance for errors and usually reduces the time waiting for refunds.
The Department also encourages taxpayers to make sure they sign their returns, double check all math computations and see that all the necessary forms are attached.
If a taxpayer knows that he or she will not be able to file a complete return by the due date, they can file for an extension of time to file their return. If citizens receive an extension of time to file their federal income tax returns, they will automatically be granted an extension of time to file a Missouri income tax return. A copy of the federal extension (Federal Form 4868) would need to be attached to the Missouri income tax return when it is filed. A taxpayer who receives an extension of time to file a return must still pay the tax on or before the original due date of the return. Information about tax extensions and access to the Form 4868 is available at this link http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc304.html.
Filing for an extension does not extend the time to pay taxes that are due. If a citizen expects to owe state income tax, the Missouri extension Form MO-60 should be attached with the tax return along with as big a payment possible. A 5 percent penalty and interest will apply on any unpaid balance not paid by the original due date of the return. A copy of the MO-60 and instructions for the form are available here. http://dor.mo.gov/forms/MO-60_2011.pdf
Many taxpayer questions can be answered at the Department's website at www.dor.mo.gov. Citizens with specific questions about individual income tax returns may call (573) 751-3505 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays or e-mail the Department at firstname.lastname@example.com.
The Department also has tax assistance centers located in seven Missouri cities. The centers are in Cape Girardeau, Jefferson City, Joplin, Kansas City, St. Joseph, St. Louis and Springfield. Office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. Citizens who have questions about their tax returns can call, email or visit the centers, and staff at the centers can also help prepare Missouri tax returns. Contact information and office addresses are available at http://dor.mo.gov/contact/assistance.php.
Missouri tax forms for Tax Year 2011 and other years are available on the Department's website at http://dor.mo.gov/forms/. All the forms and instructions for the forms can be printed on demand directly from the website. Some of the forms can also be filled out on the computer and then printed and mailed to the Department of Revenue. These forms print with a 2-D barcode that helps speed up processing. The Department's individual income tax forms and the Property Tax Credit forms for this filing season also allow taxpayers the option of having their refunds directly deposited into their bank accounts.
A toll-free, automated phone number to order forms is 1-800-877-6881.
The Missouri Department of Revenue is now on Twitter! To follow the Department on Twitter, go to http://twitter.com/MoRevenue.


text:
Record day for women in Senate
Two decades after the original Year of the Woman, female candidates put on quite a sequel Tuesday night.
After wins by five women in Senate races, one of every five members of the chamber will be female come January. New Hampshire will soon have an all-women congressional delegation and governor. And 78 women are on track to be sworn in to the House in the 113th Congress, an all-time high.
Story Continued Below
( PHOTOS: Women in the 113th Senate)
In 1992, history was made when four female Senate candidates were elected, including Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer in California. The election of 2012 is bound to earn a chapter in the next edition of that book.
Democrat Elizabeth Warren will become the first female senator from Massachusetts when she takes the oath of office; ditto for Democrat Mazie Hirono in Hawaii. Rep. Tammy Baldwin's election against four-term Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson will make her both the first female senator from the state and the first openly gay senator.
( Also on POLITICO: Baldwin: It's more than being gay)
Republican state Sen. Deb Fischer got in on the action, too, tamping down a spirited comeback attempt by one of the state's best-known ex-pols, Democrat Bob Kerrey. Fischer will be one of four female Senate Republicans in the next Congress, joining Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), and Kelly Ayotte (New Hampshire). Their ranks will shrink by one because Sens. Olympia Snowe (Maine) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (Texas) are retiring.
But the command performance of women — Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley, who lost her Senate bid in Nevada, was one exception — was mostly a boon to Democrats. And as the results were pored over Wednesday, some said that was no accident.
In almost every race where a Democratic woman won, party leaders argued that Republicans played a role by pursuing a social agenda that jolted women to the voting booth.
( Also on POLITICO: Warren: 'I'll work with anyone')
Emily's List, which works to elect women who support abortion rights, watched its membership quintuple over the past two years and raised $51.2 million dollars to support its mission, President Stephanie Schriock said.
"After 2010, we were a little concerned about whether or not our recruitment was going to be OK," she said. But the GOP's "regressive" platform, she argued, included ideas that "were not just concepts, they were pieces of legislation they wanted to turn into law."
The party successively coined the "war on women" catchphrase in early 2011, shortly after Republicans took control of the House and voted on several anti-abortion bills — including one that would have changed the definition of rape to "forcible rape." The language was subsequently removed. Then came a fight to defund Planned Parenthood and the images of an all-male panel testifying on birth control, followed by Sandra Fluke.
( PHOTOS: Meet the 12 newly elected senators)
Finally, there were GOP Senate candidates Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock making remarks on pregnancy and rape that dominated news cycles for days and probably sunk their campaigns.
"I think it's a combination of women paying attention to whether or not government is going to make critical decisions about their own health care and the economic impact of that," Sen. Patty Murray, chairwoman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, told Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC.
Majority Leader Harry Reid said he is "looking forward to working with so many great, accomplished senators next year. I've talked to virtually every one of them." He added, "When I came to the Senate, Barbara Mikulski was it as far as women. Now, about a third of our caucus is going to be women. Remarkable work done by all these great senators-to-be."


text:
To be kind, it was a less-than-stellar showing by A.J. Burnett in last night's 9-8 loss to the A's. Burnett, who gave up 10 hits and six earned in less than five innings of work, didn't seem to have it working for him at all. We always defer to the Mighty Hale on the location, speed and movement of pitches, but it looked like A.J. threw a lot of fastballs after Mike Sweeney hammered a hanging curve ball for a double in the first.
It's funny that Hale drops a Nuke Laloosh reference in the title of his post, because that's exactly what we thought of when watching the A's crush pitch after pitch in the five-run second.
Other than Brian Wolfe's inning and a third, none of the Jays pitchers looked especially sharp last night.
Looking for the silver lining
Credit the Jays' offense for not rolling over at any point. Aaron Hill continues to impress, going 4-4 with a homer and two RsBI, while Vernon Wells' swing looks scary good, and Frank Thomas seems to have awakened from his spring slumber. One of the many big "ifs" this season revolved around the offense's ability to return to form, but so far (acknowledging the standard caveat that these are early days in a long season), it looks like this lineup could be as potent as we had hoped.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
A.J. tosses BP
3 comments:
- The Southpaw said...
William Safire would be proud of your correct you usage of RsBI over RBIs. Well done, young man!
- April 9, 2008 at 11:21 AM
- Navin Vaswani said...
there will be games like last night's. it's a long season. like Gibby says, gotta maintan that even keel. it's amazing how many people were up in arms last night. the bandwagon hopping makes me sick.
- April 9, 2008 at 12:17 PM
Obviously AJ is having trouble breathing through his eyelids.
- April 9, 2008 at 12:45 PM
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


text:
- Tutoriales
- Graphics
- Probe lighting
Probe lighting
Revisado con versión: 5.5
Dificultad: Intermedio
Having understood that the number of Charts in our Scene is detrimental to precompute times, we are able to make big gains in lighting performance by choosing to exclude certain objects from the precompute altogether. This will reduce the number of Charts generated. Instead, we can use probe lighting on these objects, which is an efficient means of receiving indirect lighting from the Scene. Although probe lit objects will not contribute bounced lighting to the Scene, often this is has little noticeable impact. The objects most suitable for probe lighting tend to be smaller objects which would have little effect on bounced lighting anyway.
What is probe lighting?
Probe lighting is a fast technique for approximating lighting in realtime rendering applications such as games. It is commonly used for lighting characters and other non-Static (dynamic) objects in the game world. Probe lighting is very performant at run time and has the added benefit that it is quick to precompute.
Probe lighting works by sampling the incoming lighting at a specific point in 3D space and encoding this information across a sphere using mathematical functions known as spherical harmonics. These coefficients have low storage cost and can be then be quickly 'unpacked' at gameplay and used by shaders within the Scene to approximate surface lighting. In Unity, this functionality is offered by Light Probes.
There are limitations to using probe lighting. One such limitation is that it is difficult to represent high frequency or dappled lighting across the spherical range without increasing the order (size) of these special numbers. Unfortunately the costs quickly escalate as the precision increases, meaning that for performance reasons we are limited to lower order spherical harmonics.
The fact that we only have one spherical representation of lighting for one 3D position in the world makes probe lighting unsuitable for representing lighting across very large objects where lots of lighting variation could be expected. Another limitation is that - as spherical harmonics encode values on a sphere - they are generally unsuitable for large planar objects or those with significant concavity. Note the Unity Manual offers some information on Light Probe Proxy Volumes (LPPV) if you are considering using probe lighting with large objects.
Despite these limitations, probe lighting will yield suitably convincing results at relatively low cost when used with suitable smaller, convex objects. Later in the tutorial we will explore the setup and placement of Light Probes in more depth, but for now, we need only understand that we can reduce the number of lightmap Charts in our Scene by instead choosing to use probe lighting where appropriate.
Choosing objects to light with probes
While it was broadly useful to set our GameObjects under the Environment group to be Static in order to get our lighting setup underway, there are many objects under this parent which would make good candidates for probe lighting instead. Clearing the Static flags for these objects will mean that they are no longer considered by Unity's Precomputed Realtime GI system and therefore the number of lightmap Charts will be reduced. Remember that reducing the number of Charts in our Scene is key to improving precompute times.
Small, convex debris objects make perfect cases for probe lighting.
Looking at the Hierarchy panel of the Unity Editor, let's examine the children of the Environment GameObject. If we look specifically at the objects we find under Props, we find that many of these are small, debris style objects and Scene 'dressing' such as stones, buckets and wooden planks. These objects are numerous, and many of these relatively small objects would be complex to unwrap. Getting lightmap UVs that are free of distortion would most likely result in a large number of UV shells. More UV shells require extra Charts, more Charts mean more lightmap texels to compute, and so on.
Given that these objects are so small, they are unlikely to contribute much to the indirect lighting within the Scene. Equally, their size means that there is little surface area in which detailed lighting variation can be displayed. This makes these objects great candidates for probe lighting. Not only will our precompute times benefit, but performance at run time will also be improved due to the reduced number of lightmaps we need to store in memory and decode in our shaders.
Select the Props GameObject in the Hierarchy view.
In the Inspector panel, uncheck the Static checkbox.
Choose Yes, change children when prompted.
At this point, if we were to leave the precompute long enough, we would eventually see our lighting results in the Scene view. We would probably notice that our probe-lit, non-Static objects are lit differently to the objects around them and do not match the lighting of the Scene. This is because we have not yet set up our Light Probes and therefore these objects are falling-back to the Scene's Ambient Probe. The Ambient Probe is essentially a hidden probe within the Scene, invisible to the user, which only samples the Ambient Source set in the Lighting window.
Image showing how, without light probes, non-Static objects can look out of place in their environment.
In order to place our non-Static objects more convincingly into their lit surroundings we need to spend some time placing Light Probes around the Scene in order to sample indirect lighting throughout the world.
Placing Light Probes
Non-Static objects receive lighting based on proximity to nearby probes. The decision about which probe an object might 'read' from is made by dividing the space between the Light Probes into tetrahedral volumes and then checking to see which tetrahedron the given object falls within. In order to make these tetrahedrons, the probes must therefore be positioned such that they create a 3D volume, or cage.
Scene showing the placement of Light Probes - visualized in the editor as lit spheres.
Probe lighting is relatively inexpensive at run time and is quick to precompute. However, to maximise performance, some care does need to be taken when placing probes. Although quicker to setup, dense grid arrangements of Light Probes are potentially wasteful as many of these probes will not be sampling much variance in the local lighting conditions. For efficiency, it is better practice to position probes in greater density around areas where there is pronounced change in the lighting. This may include areas where there is transition from light into shadow for example, or perhaps where there are likely to be strong colors created by light bounce.
To set up Light Probes, begin by creating a Light Probe Group from the GameObject menu (GameObject > Light > Light Probe Group).
Now we will begin placing our probes. Select the newly created Light Probe Group in the Hierarchy view.
In the Inspector panel, select Edit Light Probes from the Light Probe Group component.
You can select the probes themselves in the Scene view. Delete all but one of the corner probes from the default cube arrangement which is created.
Position the remaining probe to be just above the Terrain in the environment and then duplicate it by pressing Ctrl+D (Cmd+D on Mac).
Using the Translate tool (W), move this second probe up in the Y axis to be around 2 meters above the first.
Now duplicate the probe again and move the new copy to be much higher, perhaps another 5 meters up in the Y axis.
The Edit Light Probes button within the Light Probe Group component.
The reason for creating a vertical arrangement like this is so that we can sample the indirect lighting bounced from the ground, from around head height and also in the air (it is feasible that objects might leave the ground). When we copy these Light Probes around the Scene in order to create our volumes, we want to ensure objects anywhere in the playable area will fall within one of the tetrahedrons created between the probes. These volumes are visualized as magenta lines drawn between the probes.
Image showing position of Light Probes and the tetrahedrons made up between their positions.
Select all 3 probes you just created by holding Shift and clicking each probe individually, or by dragging a selection.
Duplicate the whole vertical chain we have created and move this to a nearby area of lighting interest in the Scene.
When deciding what is an area of lighting interest, look for areas of shadow, or perhaps where there is a strong change in the color of the Terrain material. Remember we are aiming to sample indirect, or bounced, lighting throughout the Scene. In order to justify the cost of adding a new probe, we must ensure that it is sampling some noticeable change in the lighting. If we were to use our Light Probes to sample areas with general or consistent lighting, then we are unlikely to see much change as the receiving object passes these probes. Like many aspects of game optimisation, we have to ensure every item we include in our Scene offers some benefit.
Continue repeating this process, positioning probes in greater density around areas of lighting change until you have created a sparse cage layout which encapsulates the playable area.
While positioning our probes, always remember to check the bottom-most Light Probe remains just off the ground.
In our example LightingTutorialOptimal Scene we have created two groups of Light Probes: one for the more densely populated village area called VillageLightProbeGroup, and one for the sparse non-playable area outside the village called ExtentsLightProbeGroup. This second group covers the extents of the game world in case any non-Static MeshRenderers leave the playable area. We don't need the same degree of fidelity in these unreachable parts of the Scene therefore this group can be much less dense. Two probes in the vertical axis is sufficient.
Splitting the Light Probe Groups into two GameObjects makes it easier to position the probes. Individual Light Probe Groups can be enabled or disabled to offer a clearer view when working in the Scene. These groups will be automatically combined at run time, along with a de-duplication pass to remove any overlapping probes.
To see our Light Probes lit according to their environment, we must wait for a lighting precompute to complete. If Auto mode is enabled in the Lighting window, this will happen automatically. If Auto mode is not enabled, we must manually begin a precompute by navigating to the Lighting window (Window > Lighting) and pressing the Build button.
Once this process has completed, you will notice that the non-Static GameObjects in the Scene now read from the Light Probes and look better matched to the Scene lighting. To see Light Probes in their lit state, deselect the Light Probe Group in the Hierarchy view.
Now that we have set up Light Probes in our Scene, we get the visual benefits of indirect lighting on our smaller 'prop' objects without the expense of extra Charts created by the inclusion of these objects in the precompute.


text:
Make no mistake, Jays still have hurlers
Trio of Syndergaard, Nolin and Barnes tops for Toronto in 2012
By Andrew Pentis / Special to MLB.com | December 19, 2012 5:00 AM
Four Blue Jays affiliates recorded winning seasons in 2012. In its final year with Toronto, Triple-A Las Vegas, which has given way to former Mets farm team Buffalo, went 79-64 but did not reach the Pacific Coast League playoffs. Class A Advanced Dunedin (78-55) and Class A Lansing (82-55) -- both teams with strong stables of pitching (particularly the lower-level Lugnuts) -- reached the postseason but made first-round exits.
Only Class A Short-Season Vancouver broke through, claiming its second straight Northwest League championship in dramatic fashion.
No Vancouver player -- not even third baseman Balbino Fuenmayor and pitcher Taylor Cole, who came awfully close -- cracked our lineup.
Two of Toronto's top prospects, Travis d'Arnaud and Noah Syndergaard, went to the Mets as part of a blockbuster deal for R.A. Dickey. Plus, the Jays traded three other top prospects to the Marlins last month. Despite all that, the farm still looks strong.
Blue Jays Organization All-Stars
Catcher -- Travis d'Arnaud, Las Vegas (67 games): The Blue Jays' top-ranked prospect during the season didn't have a long one, but it was good. Before tearing the posterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, d'Arnaud posted .333/.380/.595 marks in his first 67 games ever at Triple-A. The .333 batting average was the highest among all Jays farmhands with a minimum of 300 plate appearances. And d'Arnaud's 16-homet and 52-RBI totals were on pace to become career bests until his year ended prematurely.
"I thought he would be challenged, but he started well and was good throughout," Blue Jays Minor League field coordinator Doug Davis said of the prospect's first run through the Pacific Coast League."He showed us what we thought he was capable of offensively -- hitting, hitting for power, driving in runs."
There is more for the new Met to improve upon defensively, though."He needs to improve his game calling, taking charge of a pitching staff," Davis added."And he's a good thrower now, but I think he'll be even better."
First base -- David Cooper, Las Vegas (68 games), Toronto (45 games): Like d'Arnaud, Cooper made our list for a second consecutive year, fending off fellow sluggers Mike McDade and K.C. Hobson. The lefty-hitting slugger also put up a d'Arnaud-like slash line -- .314/.395/.540 -- before doing nearly as well over a 45-game stretch in the Majors, where he appears destined to stay. Davis explained why:"He doesn't go into slumps."
Second base -- Ryan Schimpf, Dunedin (96 games), New Hampshire (33 games): How does a 5-foot-9, 181-pound infielder rack up 22 home runs (a dozen more than his previous career best), 37 doubles and 76 RBIs? By using both hands.
"His top (left) hand is incredible," said his Fisher Cats manager, Sal Fasano."He gets a lot of acceleration and puts a lot of backspin on the ball."
And while Schimpf's aggressive style led to 121 strikeouts, he also batted a respectable .269 and reached base safely in 37 percent of his plate appearances.
Fasano said Schimpf is an adequate defender at second, third base and in left field. But it's his bat that will carry him forward.
Third base -- Mark Sobolewski, New Hampshire (94 games), Las Vegas (23 games): The right-handed hitter earned this honor for his strong play for Fasano. With the Fisher Cats, Sobolewski batted .262 and hit 18 of his 20 home runs, which doubled his previous career high. For the 51s, in what was his first experience above Double-A, the one-time fourth-round draftee batted just .188. That number doesn't have anyone worried.
"I've had Mark for three years, and he's improved the most of all those guys [I've managed] for three years," Fasano said."He's always hit for average, he'd shy away from trying to pull the ball. Now he's learning how to balance power and average."
Shortstop -- Ryan Goins, New Hampshire (136 games): Goins edges Dunedin's .316-hitting Kevin Nolan (and Las Vegas' slick-fielding Adeiny Hechavarria and his .312 average) because his game was more well rounded this year. In addition to posting .289/.342/.403 marks and stealing 15 bases, this four-year pro played strong defense at the infield's most arduous position. (He committed 16 errors in 136 games; Nolan committed 16 in 78 games.)
"He didn't get a lot of notoriety -- Ryan Goins might not be as big a name as the Manny Machados -- but he was as good as anybody at shortstop," Fasano said."If he has the same type of year in Buffalo next year, if he comes on like he did this year, there is a chance he could be a September callup."
Moises Sierra, Las Vegas (100 games), Toronto (49 games): Another Jays farmhand who performed offensively and defensively, Sierra leads our group of outfielders. First, the offense: He batted .289, hit 17 home runs and drove in 63 RBIs -- all approaching the highs of his seven-year career. He was promoted too fast to break his own records.
And the defense? He had 10 outfield assists in the PCL prior to his callup.
"He has an 80-arm, and he showed that at that level," said Davis, citing the perfect score on a scout's 20-80 scale for evaluating tools.
Kevin Pillar, Lansing (86 games), Dunedin (42 games): That's Kevin Pillar -- not Kevin Millar. Though like the former Red Sox standout, Pillar is a right-handed batter who hits well. He amassed a .323 average with 91 RBIs while also stealing 51 bases in 60 attempts. He is a career .331 hitter in the Minors. Not bad for a 2011 32nd-round draftee.
Anthony Gose, Las Vegas (102 games), Toronto (56 games): A third Jays farmhand to receive this distinction two years running, Gose batted a career-high .286 while compiling 36 extra-base hits, 43 RBIs and 34 steals for the 51s. He was less successful in his time in Toronto, but was otherwise impressive in his first season above Double-A. As Davis said succinctly,"He was a threat in every game he played."
Designated hitter -- Ricardo Nanita, Las Vegas (93 games): Bumped as an outfielder on this list, Nanita is a 31-year-old veteran who hits like he's still in his 20s. Despite not being a full-time player throughout the year -- he received only 333 at-bats -- the lefty swinger batted .306 and lifted a dozen longballs.
"He is just a natural hitter," Davis said."He suits the DH role well: He can sit, not play defense and then go produce. He also hits lefties as well as he does righties."
Right-handed starting pitcher -- Noah Syndergaard, Lansing (27 games): Now it gets complicated. Juxtaposing pitchers in Toronto's system in 2012 is no easy task, but Syndergaard stood out for a couple reasons.
"What separates him from everyone else is his command," Davis said of his club's former fourth-ranked prospect."As hard as he throws, he's a command pitcher."
The numbers to go along with his stuff help too. This 20-year-old Texan (8-5, 2.60 ERA) fashioned a 122-to-31 strikeout-to-walk ratio and held Midwest League batters to a .212 batting average. His durability also gave him a slight edge over rotation mate Aaron Sanchez (8-5, 2.49), who also enjoyed a banner campaign.
Left-handed starting pitcher -- Sean Nolin, Dunedin (17 games), New Hampshire (three games): If any of the Jays' top young pitchers went underappreciated this year, it was Nolin, hidden behind the Syndergaard-Sanchez-Justin Nicolino trio at Lansing. Now the Jays' No. 14 prospect, Nolin (10-0, 2.04 ERA) barely edged fellow lefty Nicolino (10-4, 2.46) in this slot. In addition to his undefeated record, the 22-year-old (he turns 23 a week from today) registered a 108-to-27 strikeout-to-walk ratio while holding the opposition to a .218 average.
To paraphrase the scouting report of Fasano, a former Major League catcher: Nolin throws a good fastball, curveball, slider and his changeup is already a Major League average pitch. He's also become more fit since he came out of junior college as a 2010 sixth-round draftee. Now 6-foot-5, 235 pounds, Nolin needs to improve his in-game mental adjustments (i.e., throwing a certain pitch in a particular situation). If he can do that, he could be in the big leagues by next season.
Relief pitcher -- Danny Barnes, Dunedin (50 games), New Hampshire (one game): The Jays' depth in hurlers continues into the bullpen. Barnes (1-3, 1.87 ERA), a 35th-round draftee in 2010 out of Princeton University, struck out 65 batters in 53 innings, recorded a Minor Leagues-leading 34 saves and held the opposition scoreless in his final 15 appearances at the Class A Advanced level.
"He has such a good arm," said Fasano, who also managed Barnes at Lansing in 2011."We see him as a late-inning [prospect] in the bullpen because he throws a really good sinker with good velocity and slider. He has mastered two pitches. He just needs to work on being quicker to the plate."
Andrew Pentis is a contributor to MLB.com and writes the Prospective Blog. Follow him on Twitter at AndrewMiLB. This story was not subject to the approval of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues or its clubs.View More


text:
|Safe Haskell
This module implements the trusted compoenet of DCLabel privileges,
documented in LIO.DCLabel.Privs.
Since privilege objects may be used unsafely, this module is marked
-XUnsafe. Untrusted code may access privileges using the interface
provided by LIO.DCLabel.Privs.
- type DCPrivDesc = Component
- newtype DCPriv = DCPrivTCB {
- allPrivTCB :: DCPriv
type DCPrivDesc = ComponentSource
A privilege description is simply a conjunction of disjunctions.
Unlike (actually minted) privileges (see
DCPriv), privilege
descriptions may be created by untrusted code.
A privilege is a minted and protected privilege description
DCPrivDesc) that may only be created by trusted code or
delegated from an existing
The all privilege corresponds to logical


text:
In southern Illinois, section 10 of the TransAm Trail skirts glaciated terrain, then winds through the ridges and valleys of the Little Ozarks. This small mountain range appears as sandstone and limestone bluffs and escarpments. It is unique in the United States because it runs on an east-west axis. Traffic increases in and near towns. The route crosses the Ohio River on a ferry and also joins the Great River South Route for a short distance. Western and Central Kentucky is horse country and you'll pass many farms with grazing thoroughbreds. The map includes an 87-mile loop southward to Mammoth Cave National Park and ends in Berea.
Map Resources
There are currently no reviews for this product, be the first!


text:
Semetex said we good, then we good then
all d niggas in d back where u hood at?
Tryna buy another sack, where d good at?
Shorty throw it back, and a nigga might luv that!
Yeah! Uh! Green and white flow!
MMG chain, looking like a light show
lot of weed on me, no tobacco
and they hating ass niggas, we ain't like those
No, No, we are not those
haters and I drop top off in a hot cold
....but I got hoes, so fly, we are sayin', we are got those
we exclusive, they be talking but they never do shit
and I be telking about me, I do this
I got d whole darm world on this shoe shit, true shit
semetax said we're good, and we're good then
all the niggas in the back, where your hood at?
I'm tryin' 2 buy another sack, where the good at
shorty throw it back and a nigga might luv that,
fuck that naija get the money
when I arrive the whole town gets sunny
they giving pound and that before get the money
they giving pounds and that's of course gettin' money
niggas hate us, but we famous so I never blame 'em
I'm just sayin' they're mad cause I don't make much
spect of a 100 clear on these trainer they up
break it out, puck it out for a young G
young thing said never been 2 south beach
pack it up thirty minutes 2 d jet leaves
best we smoke, so much it's like jet lee work, work, work, work


text:
My favorite photograph of Neurosis is the one posted on their Wikipedia entry. It's a grainy shot of the band performing in Seattle in 2008. You can make out the band members, but only just. The blue-white eclipse projected on the wall behind them washes out their features.
It's a great picture, despite the graininess, because it captures the way Neurosis the band subsumes its component individuals. Few bands — and especially few metal bands — have achieved their degree of ego-free cohesion. Neurosis is a singular entity; their music is an austere ritual. Lots of songwriters say that they 'channel' their music rather than compose it. Coming from Neurosis, it's a believable claim.
Neurosis formed in Oakland in 1985, rising from the ashes of a previous band called Violent Coercion. Initially, they were a relatively run-of-the-mill member of the burgeoning Bay Area hardcore punk scene. (Neurosis headlined the second-ever show at the legendary DIY venue 924 Gilman Street; Operation Ivy, No Use For a Name, and pre-Green Day punkers Isocracy played the third.)
Neurosis had become something utterly different by their third studio album, 1992's Souls At Zero. This second-tier hardcore band was suddenly hard to describe. A touch of punk remained, but Neurosis also crammed sludgy riffage, gradual dynamic shifts, electronic textures, and a whole clutch of non-rock instruments into their lengthy songs. It was artsy music, by contemporary standards; unlike their didactic and/or goofy peers, Neurosis wrote imposing songs and elliptical lyrics that defied easy interpretation. Drawing on Jungian psychology for inspiration, they started festooning their live performances with disturbing visual projections. (Neurosis finally discontinued the practice a few weeks ago.) Souls At Zero was a rarity — a truly original, unprecedented metal album.
Over the ensuing decade, Neurosis would synthesize a laundry list of influences — Black Sabbath, Swans, Amebix, Townes Van Zandt, Black Flag, Loop, Joy Division, Melvins — into a unique approach. (Unique approaches are rarities to be cherished in the metal world.) By the turn of the millennium, Neurosis's slow-burning shamanism had become its own subgenre: post-metal. Some bands, like ISIS and Mastodon, openly aped Neurosis before pursuing other sounds. Many, many others have tried unsuccessfully to simply imitate them. Post-metal has mostly faded, but Neurosis lives on.
Neurosis toured relentlessly for the rest of the '90s. Upon finding themselves pressured into tours that conflicted with their deep-seated DIY ethics, the band retired both their van and their record label affiliation. Their own Neurot Recordings, which was founded to release music by their ambient side project Tribes of Neurot, became their permanent home. In the decade since, Neurosis has effectively become a self-contained studio act, playing rare live dates while its members lead more balanced lives. (One member, Steve Von Till, is a schoolteacher; it is amusing to imagine him leading a classroom full of unsuspecting children.) At present, they've got five US dates scheduled to support their new release, Honor Found In Decay. Coincidentally, just this morning they announced a rare NYC date, on 1/19/2013, five years to the day since their last NYC show.
Neurosis began as a pact among friends who wanted to do something meaningful with their lives. For Neurosis's most enduring lineup — Von Till and Scott Kelly on guitar and vocals, Dave Edwardson on bass and vocals, Jason Roeder on drums, and Noah Landis on electronics — that pact has been fulfilled. Neurosis is one of the most influential and beloved metal bands in the genre, and for good reason. This is the kind of band that inspires devotion, even obsession.
Here are their full-length albums, from worst to best. You can get lost in here. If you're lucky, you will.
All upcoming Neurosis US tour dates:
12/29 – Atlanta @ The Masquerade (w/Rwake, Primate, U.S. Christmas)
12/30 – Chicago & The Metro, w/ Bloodiest, The Atlas Moth
01/04 – Los Angeles @ The Fonda Theatre (w/ Savage Republic, Ides of Gemini)
01/05 – Seattle @ The Showbox At The Market
01/19 – New York @ Brooklyn Masonic Temple


text:
Some Hospitals Bill Patients Much More Than Actual Procedure Cost
(NEW YORK) -- When Emilia Gilbert fell and went to the emergency room, she was diagnosed with a simple broken nose and released. But a few weeks later, she got the bill and was floored again.
"I knew I would have to pay something, but I didn't think it was going to be $9,000," Gilbert said.
Gilbert's $9,418 bill included a $6,538 charge for three CT scans that the government says should actually cost the hospital only about $800 for all three under Medicare rates.
A Time magazine study found non-profit hospitals routinely bill many patients many times more than what a procedure costs the hospital. In one case, a hospital charged a 10,000 percent markup for a single over-the-counter pain pill.
Time contributor Steven Brill's seven-month investigation unveiled the "Chargemaster," an internal list of what hospitals charge patients.
"It's a price list that is completely happenstance," he said. "Nobody can explain it."
For example, one hospital charged a patient $157 for a blood test that it bills Medicare just $11 for. Another patient was charged $7,997 for a stress test that Medicare pays about $554 for.
"Everybody's making exorbitant profits," Brill said.
The American Hospital Association said a bill reflects not just the patient's treatment but also "what it takes to provide the care — the nurse at the bedside and all the staff who keep the hospital running 24 hours a day."
Brill said what most people don't know is that they can usually negotiate their bills down so they don't pay the price Emilia Gilbert paid.
Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio


text:
Become an Arizona Notary
We're here to help you become an Arizona Notary Public!
Our Mission
Our mission is to make your experience as an Arizona notary public a protected and rewarding one.
We have assisted thousands of notaries in obtaining or renewing their notary public commission and we look forward to serving you.
We are your complete source for Arizona notary supplies, Arizona notary bonds, education, errors and omissions insurance policies, service, and expertise! We will keep you up to date on Arizona notary law with seminars, educational material, membership, and our online newsletter. We are the voice of Arizona notaries.
* Information is based on research conducted by the American Association of Notaries, Inc. in April 2009, on the number of help requests received by telephone, emails, or by mail, and on the number of notary bonds issued between the years 1995-2008.
What We Do
Education - The American Association of Notaries is dedicated to making sure that notaries everywhere understand their notarial duties and powers. We offer a variety of educational materials to meet your need.
Advocacy - The notary laws that govern our duties as notaries public should be revised as economic, technology, social, and other issues that impact the notary industry. AAN is pleased to represent notaries in Arizona as lawmakers consider enacting new laws affecting notary public practices.
Service - We believe that customer service sets a company apart from its competitors. Thats why we strive to offer you top-quality products at reasonable prices and with an emphasis on personal service.
Membership - We urge you to join the American Association of Notaries today and be part of a notary organization that effectively promotes the office of notary public.
Notary bonds and errors and omissions insurance policies provided by this insurance agency, the American Association of Notaries, Inc., are underwritten by Western Surety Company, Universal Surety of America, or Surety Bonding Company of America, which are subsidiaries of CNA Surety. American Association of Notaries, is owned by Kal Tabbara, licensed insurance agent.


text:
Galveston police officer suspended
GALVESTON – A Galveston police officer was placed on indefinite suspension without pay for alleged mistreatment of a woman who had requested police assistance, Police Chief Henry Porretto said Tuesday.
Officer Brandon Nelson's suspension resulted from a complaint by a woman he was called to assist on Halloween, Porretto said.
"He went to a call and was basically rude and discourteous and he was loud," he said. "It's a tough deal but you can't be discourteous to the public."
An investigation into the allegations against Nelson is under way and the results will be given to the District Attorney's Office, Porretto said.
Carolyn Wade, 59, filed a complaint accusing Nelson of using profanity, grabbing her and forcibly handcuffing her after she sought police assistance in handling her granddaughter.
Porretto said other officers tried to intervene before a supervisor removed Nelson from the scene and he was placed on administrative leave.


text:
Tuesday, March 12
PGA Museum of Golf at PGA Village
Port St. Lucie, Fla.
Jimmie DeVoe | Don "Chip" Essig IV | Michael Hebron | Jim Mrva
Bill Ogden | William Powell | Bob Toski | Allen Wronowski
JOIN THE CONVERSATION ON TWITTER: Use hashtag #PGAHallofFame
PHOTO GALLERY: Images from the Hall of Fame induction ceremony
PGA Golf Professional Hall of Fame welcomes seven members of Class of 2013
Celebrated golf instructors Bob Toski and Michael Hebron, the late pioneers in diversity Jimmie DeVoe and William Powell, and PGA of America Honorary President Allen Wronowski head a class of eight inductees to be enshrined in the PGA Golf Professional Hall of Fame.
The 2013 class, which will be honored March 12 at the PGA Education Center in Port St. Lucie, Fla., also includes 2011 PGA Golf Professional of the Year Donald "Chip" Essig of Westfield, Ind.; 2010 PGA Golf Professional of the Year Jim Mrva of Pittsford, N.Y.; and the late Bill Ogden, formerly of Glenview, Ill., who was one of the most prolific player-instructors in Illinois PGA Section history.
"It is with a great deal of pride that The PGA of America welcomes a special eight-member class into the PGA Golf Professional Hall of Fame, who by their life's work have made significant and lasting contributions to our Association and the game of golf," said PGA of America President Ted Bishop. "This class features those who battled social injustice, renowned instructors, and leaders who exhibited a passion for serving others beyond their job description. Their names will be forever inscribed among those who have made golf the greatest game."
Toski, of Boca Raton, Fla., was inducted into the World Golf Teachers Hall of Fame in 1990, and is the first among that elite roster to capture a PGA Tour money title (1954). Toski, now 86, won 11 events between the PGA Tour and Champions Tour, and competed in 21 majors. Leaving the Tour at age 30 to be closer to his young family, Toski utilized his animated style and showmanship to become a premier instructor. His students have included Tom Kite, Bruce Crampton, Judy Rankin and Ken Duke. He was a pioneer in video golf instruction, started the Golf Digest Schools in 1971 with late PGA teaching legend Jim Flick, authored multiple books, and served as a regular contributor to national industry publications.
Hebron, of St. James, N.Y., was the catalyst for the largest educational forum in the golf industry – the PGA Teaching & Coaching Summit – and went on to promote to his peers how to understand learning the game. Hebron earned the 1991 PGA Teacher of the Year Award and in 2008 was inducted into the Metropolitan PGA Section Hall of Fame.
Jimmie DeVoe, who passed away five days short of his 91st birthday in 1979, was the first African-American to be elected to membership following the rescinding of the "Caucasian clause" in 1962. At age 74, DeVoe also became the oldest to be elected to the Association. Among his many accomplishments, DeVoe operated the first African-American golf school in the 1930s in the basement of a pharmaceutical store in Harlem. He would eventually settle in Los Angeles, becoming a skilled player and popular teacher.
William Powell, the 2009 PGA Distinguished Service Award recipient before his death at age 93 on Dec. 31, 2009, remains the only African-American to build, own and operate a golf course in the United States. In 1946, Powell began breaking down barriers by building a "color blind" course, Clearview Golf Club of East Canton, Ohio. Clearview is among the National Register of Historic Places. Powell was 83 when he was granted PGA Life Membership status, retroactive to 1962, a year when The PGA of America dismantled another social barrier.
Allen Wronowski, the 37th president of The PGA of America (2010-2012), first made an impact in the Middle Atlantic PGA Section in business management and governance before rising to national office. Wronowski, the PGA director of member and player development at Hillendale Country Club of Phoenix, Md., joined the facility in 1979. Wronowski was mentored by the late William "Bill Clarke, who served as PGA president from 1973-74. Hillendale remains the only facility in the country to have employed two PGA presidents.
About the PGA Golf Professional Hall of Fame
Originated in 1940 at the suggestion of famed sportswriter Grantland Rice, the PGA Golf Professional Hall of Fame was relocated in 2005 at the PGA Museum of Golf at PGA Village in Port St. Lucie, Fla. The Hall of Fame recognizes all PGA members who have made significant and lasting contributions to the building of The PGA of America and the game of golf. The inductees include PGA Presidents, PGA Golf Professional of the Year award winners as well as those PGA Professionals who also distinguish themselves as competitors while in service to The PGA of America.


text:
Port Arthur man killed in hit-and-run
A Port Arthur man was killed in a hit-and-run auto-pedestrian accident occurring in the 3200 block of 8th St. in Port Arthur Sunday, Dec. 22.
Jesse Ray Ford Jr., 31, was found dead by Port Arthur Police Department officers around 2 a.m. after receiving a call that the man was lying in the road. Port Arthur Fire Department and Acadian EMS responded to the scene as well and determined the man was dead.
After further investigation involving detectives from the Criminal Investigations Division and Accident Reconstruction Team, it was determined that Ford had injuries consistent with being struck by a vehicle.
Justice of the Peace Tom Gilliam arrived on scene and pronounced Ford dead. Ford was transported to the Jefferson County Morgue.
Although officers were able to obtain some evidence from the scene, PAPD has not been able to locate the driver of the vehicle, PAPD Sgt. Scott Gaspard said.


text:
Rayne Delutis
|Christiansburg, Va.
|Previous School:
|Christiansburg HS
As a junior (2011): Placed 56th at the Greensboro Invitational…Finished with a season-best time of 22:59 at the Charlotte Invitational.
As a sophomore (2010): Finished 21st at the Stampede at the Shoals with a time of 18:05.55…Placed 53rd at the Lenoir-Rhyne Invitational.
High School: Graduated from Christiansburg High School in Christiansburg, Va…Coached by Shane Guynn.
Personal: Full name is Rayne Marie DeLutis…Born on January 14, 1990 in Houston, Texas…Daughter of Anthony DeLutis…Has two brothers, Jessup and Gabriel…Majoring in pre-professional biology…Plans to attend dental school.


text:
Hi guys
I've just received a comment on Ride Happy which made me stop and think. I've reproduced the comment below to save everyone having to look it up (comments can be viewed by anyone, but you need to click on the link below the post):
Sounds like you're riding a bit unhappy there. I figure if people are out and about, cyclists, triathletes or what not, they are out and about, and riding their bikes. Why so much negativity if they're not as "euro" as you think people should be. How boring if we were all the same.
I'm not sure who made the comment, but it's a valid one. My previous post was a bit snobbish and you were right to pull me up on it. I agree – whatever your poison, getting out and about on your bike is awesome and there should be more people doing it. If more people rode their bikes instead of driving we would all be better off. And yes, I would HATE it if we all rode Colnagos and didn't get out of bed for less than 100km. I admit, I would prefer it if some people washed their bikes more often but honestly, if you saw my commuter bike you'd say the same to me. (But yes, that's my snobbery again.) The fact is that this weekend was beautiful in Melbourne, sunny and still and perfect bike riding weather. I was stuck having coffee at a café by myself because I've just gotten injured again and on physio's orders I couldn't go ride with my mates. So instead of getting out and about I was moping around feeling sorry for myself. So I think I vented some of that cabin fever in my post. But that's no excuse and I apologise to anyone I may have offended, whether you are a triathlete or not.
Having said that, I try hard to ensure that Ride Happy isn't a skipping-through-the-daisy-fields plain vanilla type place. Life's too short to take too seriously. Yes, I crossed the line from whimsical to cynical in my last post… but if we can't laugh at ourselves what's the fun of it all?
I'm still trying to decide whether to publish my Ali Baba and the 40 Triathletes story. Perhaps it's better left out. Happy to take comments though.
Ride happy – I'll do my best to do the same!


text:
Posted by Doswell on March 26, 1998 at 02:40:32:
In Reply to: Re: W-4's and Employers ???? posted by Common Right Group on November 07, 1997 at 04:59:39:
: : How does one file with a new employer and NOT GIVE a w4 form with a SSN# ???
: "Gee, Mr. employer, I don't have a Social Security Number that I can give you. Is there a law that applies to me that says I have to get one of those things? I don't plan on applying for any welfare benefits under the guise of Social Security, or any other corporate government benefits for that matter. My Religious Creed doesn't allow me to identify myself with numbers." [The EEOC WILL back you up on that last point, but use it only if you mean it.]
: "Uh, by the way, Mr. employer, this W-4 form you handed me doesn't comply with the law. According to the Internal Revenue Laws, the section of code that discusses these things talks about a 'Withholding Exemption Form,' then a few subsections later, discusses these 'Withholding Allowance Forms'. What do the Treasury Regulations say? Huh, Mr. employer?"
: It just might be a good idea to get the job first, that is be fully hired, then when they come after you for that stuff, play dumb. Now, if they fire you, you may have grounds for a wrongful termination suit. That's the short of it. We are assisting in two lawsuits right now covering just this subject matter. One is about an employer, the State of California, unlawfully withholding when there is no number or W-4 on file, therefore no authorization; and their insistence the employee provide a "street address," saying a mailing location and telephone number aren't good enough. The other is over wrongful termination for refusal to file immigration forms, use numbers, and file a W-4. Different parties. The outcomes of these cases should be interesting. One is in federal court (Title 42) and the other in state court.
What actions are available when the employer knows the SSN but is given notice they do not have permission to use it?
Follow Ups:
Post a Followup


text:
by Matthew Dalby, sports information graduate assistant
MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. – The Georgia College softball team (10-27, 5-5 PBC) remained .500 in the Peach Belt Conference (PBC) Sunday afternoon, as they split a doubleheader with UNC Pembroke (15-15, 3-5 PBC). The Bobcats won the first game 5-4 before dropping the second game 3-2 in extra innings.
The Bobcats used a four run seventh inning to propel themselves to victory in game one of the doubleheader.
Freshman Whitney Okvist (Kennesaw, Ga.) got things going in the final frame with a single up the middle. After stealing second, classmate Lindsey Conway (Madison, Ga.) drove in Okvist with a single of her own.
Another single from junior Haley Burnett (Columbus, Ga.) would set the table for Maggie Davis (Roswell, Ga.), who proceeded to belt a three-run home run to left field giving the Bobcats a 5-4 lead.
Junior righty Sabrina Chandler (Covington, Ga.) would finish off a brilliant compete game performance with a 1-2-3 bottom of the seventh. She gave up just three earned runs on the game, while scattering nine hits and striking out two.
Game two was equally as close, with the Braves winning in walk-off fashion in extra innings.
Burnett (1-10) was the hard luck loser, as she went for a complete game, surrendering just one earned run and eight hits.
The 'Cats continued to rely on a pair of freshman, as Okvist went 2-for-4, scoring both of GC's runs and Conway also added a couple hits going 2-for-3 with a RBI.
With just ten games remaining on the 2011 season slate, Georgia College remains in the hunt for the PBC playoffs at 5-5. The Bobcats will look to improve on that conference mark Tuesday, March 22 when travel to take on No. 4 North Georgia beginning at 4 p.m.
The Georgia College Department of Athletics, back-to-back winners of the PBC Commissioner's Cup, sponsors 10 varsity athletic programs at the NCAA Division II level. As a Division II program, Bobcat Athletics prides itself on balancing the life of the student-athlete, evidenced by the teams' multiple appearances in post-season competition as well as documented academic success and community-service involvement. Sign up at www.twitter.com/BobcatSports and www.facebook.com/gcbobcats for up-to-the-minute reports, and visit www.GCBobcats.com for more information, and to nominate your favorite former Bobcats and Colonials to the GC Athletics Hall of Fame.


text:
Independence Police Department
223 N. Memorial Drive
Independence, MO 64050-3013
Public Information Office
Officer Tom Gentry
(816) 325-7258
News Release
For immediate release: July 9, 2013
Identify Armed Robbery Suspect Request
On June 18, 2013, at approximately 5:00 p.m. an armed robber entered the Family Dollar Store at 9120 E. 35th St. Independence, MO, and stole an undisclosed amount of money from the cash register.
The suspect entered the store and tried to create a distraction with other employees by claiming there was a spill of liquid in a back aisle. When the employees responded to the spill, the suspect approached the register clerk, brandished a handgun, took the money from the register, and left in an unknown direction through the front doors.
The suspect is described as a light skinned African-American, Samoan or possibly a Hispanic male, 6' 1" to 6' 2" tall, 250 lbs, goatee, brown eyes, red baseball cap, black zip-up hooded sweatshirt, gray undershirt, and black shorts.
If anyone knows anything about the suspect, recognizes him, or the crime that took place, please call the Tips Hotline at 474-8177 or the Independence Police Department at 816-836-3600.


text:
Animation Art Center Student Work Baseball Book Jackets EDITORIAL Forever Young Jazz ABZ Jazz at Lincoln Center L.A. Sketchbook London Sketchbook Maps Musicians Name That Movie New Orleans On The Road: Illustrated Scroll Paintings Playboy Jazz Festival Postage Stamps Posters Sketchbooks The New York Times
2012 USPS Holiday Stamp
So, it turns out 2012 is the 50th anniversary of the first Holiday stamp issued by the US Postal Service. A couple of years ago, I got a call to design a stamp depicting Santa Claus, the only brief I recieved was that the stamp had to show Santa and his reindeer and that the design was to be "se tenant," a term that means one design that crosses over onto two or more stamps, (in this case four.)
Santa stamps from 1972, 1979 and 1994
The first thing I did was check out past stamps so I wouldn't repeat a design from a previous year. Then I started thinking about how to depict this scene we've all seen so many times in a fresh way, I thought about Louis Armstrong's recording of the poem "Night Before Christmas" and looked at some old children's books I had as a kid. The illustrations from mid-century Golden Books seemed like a style I could deal with and one that had the right vibe for a stamp.
Mid-Century Golden Books
I sent two pencil sketches to USPS Art Director Howard Paine that showed the "se tenant" design with one stamp in color to give him a good idea of what I was thinking. Everyone responded to the design that showed all eight reindeer, no Rudolph, above a snowy village. Howard recommended that I move that last reindeer's ass off the top right stamp. That's the kind of veteran advice you get from a guy who has designed hundreds of stamps over the years.
When I started this design First-Class Stamps had not been changed over to Forever Stamps. Graphically, I miss the USA44.
Final art
An outline view in Adobe Illustrator
The USPS has issued 750,000,000 of these stamps, making it my largest print-run ever. The artwork has been adapted for a lot of additional uses. I worked with Ross Shapland at DraftFCB in Chicago on some POP displays for Post Offices around the country.
Pasadena Post Office
In Hollywood at The Johnny Grant Station.
For stamp enthusiasts
First time I've seen a Christmas ornament made from one of my illustrations.
You can't make this stuff up
The First Day of Issue Ceremony in NYC, I'm third from the left.


text:
No Mean Feet
If you want a simple theme for a baby shower, it's hard to go wrong with cute little footprints.
Unless the baker misses the "little" part, of course:
Good grief, MY feet are smaller than that. Are you trying to give the mom-to-be a heart attack, bakers?
"Suddenly Nicola's plans for a natural, drug-free delivery seemed really, really stupid."
And how's the kid even fitting in there, Nicola? Do you have a TARDIS belly? o.0
Oh, wait, or maybe the kid is shaped like this:
On the plus side, he probably won't fall over much.
Which might be what these are supposed to be. Maybe. Allegedly.
Hey, ever wanted to see a duck with human feet that only walks backwards?
Well, tough. You're going to see one anyway:
And then waddle backwards with it.
And here I thought that was just a figure of speech.
Of course, the absolute creepiest thing you can do with a footprints shower theme is mistake "footprints" for actual feet:
Somewhere a quartet of elves is literally foot-loose and fancy-free*.
And probably pissed.
*If by "fancy" you mean "feet."


text:
06/11/2011 Matt & Kathy Wedding (PhotoStrips)
If you would like to have a photostrip and/or an individual photo removed, please email firstname.lastname@example.com & include the Event Name & Image Number. You may not alter or use these photos for other than personal, noncommercial use without our prior written consent. To download a photo, hover your mouse over the large picture & click on the Yellow Folder Icon.Read More


text:
Prompt service, competitive prices, honesty and a friendly staff are a few reasons Ophthalmic Instruments, Inc. is the #1 California dealer of ophthalmic instrumentation. Founded by Lou Shone, in 1977, Ophthalmic Instruments, Inc. continues to be a family owned and operated business.
For the professional who demands quality, Ophthalmic Instruments, Inc. is here for you. We sell only top of the line, high quality ophthalmic equipment that will save you money by lasting for years and years. We are authorized dealers for Haag-Streit, Reliance, Marco, Topcon, Reichert, M&S Technologies, Heine, Keeler, Welch Allyn, Volk, Ocular, Sonomed, and more.
Once you do business with Ophthalmic Instruments, Inc. you will remain a customer and a friend forever!


text:
Friday, May 27, 2011
The Triumphant Return of the Friday Tweet Bag
Let the tweetbaggery...BEGIN!
Our blogging pals @6thSens present the following quandry: Dilemma: Canada Day in Ottawa or a trip to TO to watch the Jays and Halladay's return?
Indeed, Canada Day in the Nation's Capital is a throwdown of a hoedown, filled with face-painting, bands you've never heard of (in both official languages!) and patios filled with tomfoolery and iniquity.
But let's be serious: You've lived in Ottawa, and you've done this Canada Day thing before. If you stay in Ottawa, you'll spend a lot of time watching nimrods piss on monuments and puke in bushes that were well-manicured by federal government agencies. It's the same routine as last year, pretty much.
If you don't have family coming to town who want to experience this bacchanal of polite patriotism (as some of us apparently do), then get down to Toronto and see the Jays-Phillies series. Even if Halladay doesn't pitch, his presence in the building is sure to make everyone weepy.
Speaking of fun times, @GrubersMullet (party in back y'all!) asks: should the Jays try the Frasor as closer experiment one more time?
How frustrating is it to watch your closer hack up a game? So frustrating that some of us got nostalgic for B.J. Ryan the other night. (Not naming names...) Still: We like Franky Frank's ability to miss bats, and while Frasor can fosh his way through some hitters, Francisco's K-rate is still pretty stellar (10.38 per nine innings versus Frasor's 8.85.)
We like Frasor as a back of the bullpen arm (in spite of his infuriatingly deliberate approach to pitching), but we'd prefer to be able to use him as needed in the seventh or eighth or what have you.
More more more! @Linutor (who is too slovenly to replace his default egg profile pic in Twitter) asks: Is this really a team that can contend in 2012, even with the addition of he who shall not be named?
Wait a second...who shan't be named? We realize that we've turned into a scolding aunt recently, and we've cast aspersions on people who pine for many players. (Sorry about that...Scolding comes so easily to us.)
To the core of your question: This team CAN contend in 2012. We hope. But the 2012 team is going to have to look a lot different from the ramshackle collection of dubious, marginal veterans that are lurching around this team right now. IF Gordie Dougie Lawrie and Travis Snider are fairly productive (let's say 1.5-2.0 WARs) in 2012, and IF there is a bit more of a solid back end to the rotation, they could build around what exists and at least push 90 wins.
Yikes. Did we just get carried away with the optimism again?
On a related note, @cgorveatt asks: is Travis a "change of scenery" guy now?
No, not nearly. Though that is our worst fear, we've actually managed to reel it back and remember just how young Snider still is. Even with some of the struggles we've seen this year, we figure that it'll be a few years before he even approaches his peak, and we've got to be a bit more patient with his development.
We've heard that the Jays are fixing his swing, which had become encumbered with hitches and weight shifts designed to help him hit mistake pitches 7000 feet, but left him unbalanced and unable to adjust to good fastballs or breaking pitches. It seems as though he's hitting well enough at Las Vegas, but we're willing to let him figure out how to hit again down there if it takes all year.
Side thought: Seeing Hunter Pence (who we like a lot) this week, we were curious to know what his progression looked like. Pence was a 21 year-old with college ball experience in a big-time program before he even took his first cuts in low-A ball, whereas Snider was called up as a 20 year-old who'd flown through three minor league levels in one season.
At 24, Pence rounded into shape and became a solid (.899 OPS) contributor, and has acquitted himself pretty well (.816 career OPS) over the past few years. We think Snider can be a better hitter than Pence, so let's see where Snider is next year before we cast him off.
From the man with the plan, @dpriest: If you were the GM, what would you do right now? Assume you have 8 million, but all other real world limits apply.
You can't buy your way out of problems. You can keep your $8 million. Having said that, we'd look to start moving non-performers off the 25-man roster (EE, f'r'instance), and start easing in some of the future roster into big league roles. (Which they've already kinda done.) We'd also be looking at guys like the Reds' Chris Heisey, who might not have a big role with their current team, but who could contribute to the Jays.
Okay, we're a touch loquacious, so we're gonna tighten up the answers from here on out. Quickly!
@jdotwdot asks: Is Josh Roenicke still considered a prospect/valuable? 15 BB in 20IP, 6.30 ERA, coming up to 29th birthday.
Nope. Roenicke's an old righty with control problems. He's fallen way back in the Jays' bullpen plans.
@bfg900 asks: Can we get some commentary on the facial hair with legs that goes by the name of Eric Thames?
Seriously, we had to read this question five times before we realized that you weren't asking about Thames' leg hair. As for what we think of him: We think he'll have decent doubles power in the majors, and we wonder why he's DHing and not getting a regular turn in the outfield. Is he that bad? Or does the org really love Corey Patterson that much? As for his facial hair: Pretty fly. Though we saw a hipster on the street with a similar look yesterday, and we thought he looked like a douche. Conflicted!
@Archizuber (Hi Ar-Kee!) requests: Draw up a scenario in which David Wright ends up in Toronto. Thanks. Rosterbation!
We love David Wright, and we think he'd be a stellar addition to the Jays. But even with the Mets' lunacy in recent months, they are not giving him away without getting a king's ransom back. Who would they want? Snider? Stewart? Gose? All of the above? Quite possibly. Would they take a collection of second-level prospects? Aaron Sanchez and Travis d'Arnaud and Deck McGuire and Asjer Wojciechowski? We'd do that...though mostly because those guys are purely theoretical beings to us. Still: David Wright!
Hurry hard! @wayofthejay asks: What lineup do you want to see tonight?
Versus lefty Mark Buehrle, we'd set it up like so: Escobar SS, Nix 3B, JPA DH, One Man Gang RF, Rivera 1B, Rajai CF, Molina C, Hill 2B, Thames LF. Ask us why in the comments!
One more! @TheAck asks: Are we OK? or am I looking at a potential June 1 DFA?
No, we're okay. This blog is firmly committed to a weekend editor, and The Ack is that weekend editor at this time. (Vague vote of confidence!) Now get ready to spin some gold over the weekend!
Speaking of which: Have a great weekend everyone, and thanks again for the questions. The Tweet Bag is now closed.
12 comments:
- Drew said...
That's a solid lineup, sir. Well played.
- May 27, 2011 at 12:39 PM
- Tao of Stieb said...
Because Molina kills lefties, right? You gotta let him get his cuts in, and worst case is that you lose your DH. Worse things have happened.
- May 27, 2011 at 12:46 PM
- The Ack said...
With everyone pining for a Mets sell-off including Wright for 3B and/or Reyes, pushing someone on the existing roster to 3B.... what of Lawrie? Surely not another position change for the kid.
- May 27, 2011 at 1:27 PM
Doesn't Wright have back problems? And could Aaron Hill be part of a Reyes deal? That way, there's still room for Lawrie and one of Reyes or Yunel move to 2B.
- May 27, 2011 at 1:41 PM
- Tao of Stieb said...
The Mets aren't dumb enough to take the corpse/shell of Aaron Hill and treat it like it's worth something.
Hill for Reyes is the worst sort of fan-initiated trade jibber jabber: Our shite for your jewels.
- May 27, 2011 at 1:46 PM
The Mets are plenty dumb. But don't get me wrong, Tao, I'm not suggesting straight up. Higher level prospects (Stewart, D'Arnaud for instance) would have to be included...not sure what the Mets middle infield situation would be with Reyes out of the picture. Mr. Infield pop-up would be a considerable upgrade on a bunch of teams...we're just jaded because we remember when he used to hit line drives. He could be one of the proverbial 'change of scenerey' guys who turn things around.
- May 27, 2011 at 1:55 PM
Wright's back wouldn't be a concern if he played for the Jays.
He wouldn't have to carry that horrible Mets team.
- May 27, 2011 at 2:12 PM
I think the Jays should look more at prospects who are still trying to adjust from AAA to MLB, but who's teams may have given up on them. Players with serious potential like a Chris Davis in Texas or a Stewart in Colorado. Unfortunately the Jays just have very little trade bait.
- May 27, 2011 at 3:28 PM
- May 27, 2011 at 4:41 PM
ok why the line up as you did it up?
- May 27, 2011 at 4:52 PM
- Chad said...
I'll have to defer to your wisdom --or your reluctance to waste valuable time on my ultimately silly question. I still wonder what the Jays might do if they (struggling not to type "we") remain this close until the All Star break.
- May 27, 2011 at 5:10 PM
- www.navarra-3d.com said...
So, I do not really suppose this is likely to work.
- November 16, 2011 at 11:43 AM


text:
(CNN) -- Some die-hard fans are getting all wrapped up in a campaign to defend Paula Deen.
They're sending cleaned and origami-folded butter wrappers to Food Network and other companies that dropped the popular chef and cookbook author in the wake of allegations of racism and sexual harassment. Deen later admitted to "of course" using the n-word. The wrappers are intended as signs of protest -- physical declarations of "we're sticking with Paula."
John Schmitt, a hotel night auditor in Indianapolis and the man behind the campaign, says he couldn't abide by the "betrayal" of Food Network, QVC and others. He felt he had to do something to express his disgust at the situation.
"She made a mistake 20 years ago," he says. "We all make mistakes. I've said things I regret."
First, he thought about mailing actual sticks of butter. Then he considered two things: the waste of butter (something true Deen fans could never forgive), and the physical ickiness of envelopes steeped in melted butter.
He opted for an empty wrapper on which he wrote in black block letters: "Where is Paula?" and began cooking up a plan.
Deen critics say credit is past due
Wrapping things up
Schmitt created the Facebook page, "We Support Paula Deen," on June 21 and announced the butter wrapper campaign the following week after Deen's now-famous interview with "Today" anchor Matt Lauer.
"People on the page are a lot like me," he says. "They support Paula and who she is as a person."
Schmitt and many others say they have sent wrappers to Food Network, the QVC, Wal-Mart, Ballantine Books and other companies that have dropped Deen. Food Network, QVC, Wal-Mart and Smithfield Foods declined to comment.
The idea for the butter wrapper campaign arose from Schmitt's desire to do something "tangible" as a show of support for Paula, something beyond Facebook posts.
Opinion: Half-baked apology is recipe for racial indigestion
Talking with iReporter Chris Ford inspired him to try something different.
"That's when I said, 'You know, this is actually perfect,'" Ford remembers. "'The butter itself is Paula, and these wrappers are void of butter just like these companies are void of Paula.' And [Schmitt] said, 'My God, that's it. That's our slogan.'"
The slogan that came out of it -- "A corporation without Paula Deen is like a butter wrapper without butter" -- inspired countless posters to pledge their own wrappers for Paula's benefit.
Soon the page was smothered in posts and comments from users, gushing over the cleverness of the campaign and pledging to send their own wrappers to the list of companies Schmitt had posted on the site.
"Perhaps somebody somewhere in mail rooms is keeping track," Schmitt says. "I would've loved to see their face for the first one. Like, 'Ew, is this butter?'"
Schmitt sent his in the first week of the campaign, but he hasn't received a formal response yet, just "canned answers" from Sears and Wal-Mart. He wasn't necessarily expecting one; the campaign, he says, is more intended for self-expression than for results.
Many, like Schmitt, say they weren't expecting personalized responses from Food Network, Smithfield's or any Deen-dropping company.
"I sent a butter wrapper knowing that the chuck-a-lucks down at the Food Network probably wouldn't even open it," wrote Liz Vannah, a supporter from Connecticut, in a Facebook message. "But I felt compelled to do something to show that this kind of railroading, for whatever hidden-agenda-ed reason it happened, is not looked kindly upon by the consuming public."
Comfort food, uncomfortable topics
Paula Love-fests
Schmitt says he's been a Paula Deen fan for years, mainly because it was something he shared with his late mother, Laura Schmitt. They both enjoyed watching the show and shared a deep belief in Deen's "goodness" -- a belief that has not been shaken, even following news of Deen's alleged racism.
"In a lot of ways, she reminds me of my mom -- this funny, gracious lady from a different era," he says. "My mom probably used that word and she wasn't a racist."
He points to Deen's work with the charitable Bag Lady Foundation and the sweet stories people have shared on the page as intrinsic signs of this goodness.
Joyce Dixon, a Deen fan from Claxton, Georgia, says Schmitt's page caught her eye because of its emphasis on personal stories. She joined as fan No. 102 and later became the volunteer manager of the site.
Dixon says she believes the page grew in popularity so quickly because people were attracted to the "lovey-doviness" of the stories, videos and photos shared by fans. Now, the page holds regular "Love-Fest" nights for followers to share their Deen stories.
Dixon has been a fan of Paula Deen since 1997, when she first visited Deen's Lady & Sons restaurant in Savannah, and there met Deen personally.
"She just had black hair with a bit of salt and pepper in it," Dixon remembers. "She wasn't a big personality or nothing. She was very involved with the customers."
Dixon recalls how at the end of the meal, Deen took the time to sit down at their table to ask how Dixon and her friends had enjoyed themselves, even asking if there were any items they'd like to see on the menu.
"That's when she won me over: the one-on-one, the face time," Dixon says. "It's Business 101, and she's got it down."
Since then, Dixon says the characterization of Deen in the media is "so wrong."
"You know what? They're the ones that did this," Schmitt says, referring to the companies that dropped Deen. "People [visiting those pages] were angry and upset and saw something they could get behind."
Paula Deen: From the frying pan to the firestorm
Sticking with Paula
Deen supporters from the page argue this "punishment" has gone too far. They say Deen has become a scapegoat for media attention -- and Dixon says that is why she dedicates so many hours to a mere Facebook page. She wants to correct the public's perception of the former Food Network star.
"It wasn't about the n-word; it was about the extortion thing, about this one crazy employee," Dixon says. "My interest is in Paula's business. To me, it's about a self-made woman. You have to ask yourself, 'If she was a man, would this happen? If she was from the North would this happen?' And you know, I don't think it would."
Follow Julia Carpenter on Twitter and Google+ and keep up with CNN Living on Facebook.
Are you a current or former Paula Deen fan? Do you agree with how she's been treated by sponsors and the media? Weigh in with your comments below.


text:
Rick Warren: Son used unregistered gun in suicide
TUSTIN, Calif. Pastor Rick Warren has tweeted that his son killed himself with an unregistered gun purchased through the Internet.
Warren, who has been tweeting regularly about his grief since his 27-year-old son Matthew committed suicide last Friday, said he forgives whoever sold the weapon.
- Church: Pastor Rick Warren's son commits suicide
- Rick Warren's church offers prayers after son's suicide
Orange County Sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino said Thursday that the gun's serial number was scratched off.
It's illegal in California to buy a gun without a background check and purchasers are supposed to register their firearms. Defacing a gun's serial number is a federal offense.
Rick Warren is pastor of Saddleback Church in Orange County and author of "The Purpose-Driven Life," a bestseller. He and his wife have said their son struggled with depression. They have set up a mental health fund in Matthew's memory.