text:
The inventory of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) of the Mediterranean Sea has been recently updated and improved and the online database is freely searchable at www.medpan.org
The database is a result of a collaborative initiative made possible due to the networking activities of MedPAN, the network of managers of Mediterranean MPAs, under the coordination of WWF, and to the scientific and technical networks of IUCN, with the support of UNEP RAC/SPA. It is the first survey of Mediterranean MPAs that includes a data collection of the management characteristics and it is based on questionnaire responds. It involved the participation of MPA management bodies and agencies from 18 countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea.
The database contains accurate data and useful information of individual MPAs. Users can search sites by country and, for each site, find information on its:
- general characteristics (contacts, map, size, geographical coordinates, zonation, IUCN management category, legal references);
- management (plan of management, enforcement and surveillance, equipment, staff, monitoring programme, and illegal activities.);
- habitats and species currently under protection and health status of key ones;
- main threats that affect the Mediterranean MPAs.
The main aim of the initiative was to provide an updated baseline to assess progress towards developing an ecologically representative and coherent network of MPAs in the Mediterranean Sea. It is offered as a resource to MPA managers, institutions, scientists and decision-makers, but also the general public to know better the work done in the region on marine conservation.
For more information, please contact:
Marina Gomei, Project Officer
Marine Biodiversity and Conservation Science
IUCN Mediterranean Marine Programme
E-mail: [email protected]
Ameer Abdulla, Senior Specialist / Group Leader
Marine Biodiversity and Conservation Science
IUCN Global Marine Programme
E-mail: [email protected]
Catherine Piante, MedPAN Project Coordinator
WWF France
Tel: +33 4 96 11 69 40
E-mail: [email protected]


text:
The two Current TV journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling have been hailed as near-heroes here in the United States, but the two are facing criticism in South Korea for being careless during their ill-fated journey.
The New York Times interviewed a South Korean pastor who said police raided his home in China in the days following their capture.
Laura Ling and Euna Lee had visited a secret site where Rev. Lee Chan-Woo cared for the children of North Korean refugee women. They were going to tell his story, but apparently when they were captured crossing the border into North Korea they had some key information with them. That information apparently landed in the hands of North Korean authorities.
Rev. Lee said Ling and Lee had a noble cause, but criticized them for being careless.
"They should have known that if they were caught, they would suffer for sure, but also many others would be hurt because of them," Rev Lee Chan-woo told the paper.
The pastor said he was deported in early April and that his homes for refugees were shut down. He said he had to send the children to family members in China, who could not afford to take care of them.
He said the people who raided his home, said they had seen films taken by the Current TV journalists.
For now, Lisa Ling and Euna Lee are not talking about their mission or what happened to them after they were captured.
A spokesman for Current TV told the Times that Current is "concerned about the situation that has evolved with Lee Chan-Woo and the Durihana Mission." But he added some of what the pastor is saying is not correct.
After being held for five months and sentenced to 12 years' hard labor, Laura Ling and Euna Lee landed in Southern California earlier this month. They were arrested in March after they strayed into North Korea while working on a story.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
[Look for the podcast play button below.]
I have a really swell show for you today. We have a load of very interesting questions from all over the globe. And I respond with an equal number of lively, affable and oh so informative responses! Hey, it's what I do.
- Bob stops by for a spot of heavy breathing.
- Maya's brother is queer and he's all messed up about it.
- Ben's cock curves, so turns down a blowjob.
- E is having trouble with his hole.
- Dave has a knotty prick!
- Sebastian's lace curtains are too tight.
- Johnny has a red sack!
And finally, another installment of our feature, Sex In The News! — This week it's Senior Sex.
Check out The Lick-A-Dee-Split Connection. That's dr dick's toll free podcast voicemail. Don't worry people; no one will personally answer the phone. Your message goes directly to voicemail.
Got a question? No time to write? Give dr dick a call at (866) 422-5680. Again, the TOLL FREE voicemail number is (866) 422-5680. DON'T BE SHY, LET IT FLY !
Look for my podcasts on iTunes. You'll fine me in the health section under the subheading — Sexuality. Or just search for Dr Dick Sex Advice With An Edge. And don't forget to subscribe. I don't want you to miss even one episode.
Say, would you like to become a sponsor for one or more of my weekly sex advice podcasts? As you know, I plug a product or service at the beginning and end of each show. Each podcast has its own posting on my site along with the name of the podcast sponsor and a banner for the product or service.
The beauty part about this unique opportunity is that once a sponsor's ad is included in a particular podcast that sponsor is embedded there forever.
Your sponsorship also underscores your social conscience. Your marketing dollars will not only got to promote your product, but you will be doing so while helping to disseminate badly needed sex education and sexual enrichment messages. Simply put, ya just can't get a better bang for your advertising buck!
For further information, contact me at: email@example.com
Today's podcast is once again bought to you by: Dr Dick's Stockroom.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download


text:
A Comparison of Adefovir and Tenofovir for the Treatment of Lamivudine-Resistant Hepatitis B Virus in People With HIV
|The safety and scientific validity of this study is the responsibility of the study sponsor and investigators. Listing a study does not mean it has been evaluated by the U.S. Federal Government. Read our disclaimer for details.
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00033163
Recruitment Status : Completed
First Posted : April 9, 2002
Last Update Posted : May 21, 2012
- Study Details
- Tabular View
- No Results Posted
- Disclaimer
- How to Read a Study Record
|Condition or disease
|HIV Infections Hepatitis B
|Drug: Adefovir dipivoxil Drug: Tenofovir disoproxil fumarate
|Phase 2
HBV presents a worldwide health crisis and is difficult to treat when a patient's HBV strain is no longer responsive to 3TC. Given the significant incidence of 3TC-resistant HBV in patients receiving this drug as part of an antiretroviral regimen, other agents with anti-HBV activity are needed. ADV has shown promising anti-HBV activity in preclinical assessments and in Phase I, II, and III clinical trials. TDF, developed for the treatment of HIV infection, has in vitro activity against HBV. This study will compare TDF/3TC combination therapy with ADV/3TC combination therapy to determine which treatment regimen is more effective in patients coinfected with HBV and HIV.
This study will include two populations of patients. Patients in Population A are on stable HAART that includes TDF and will either be in Group I (compensated liver disease) or Group II (decompensated liver disease). All patients in Population A will be randomly assigned to one of two arms: Arm 1 patients will receive 10 mg ADV daily and TDF placebo; Arm 2 patients will receive ADV placebo and 300 mg TDF. Patients in Population B are on stable HAART and have never taken TDF as part of their HAART. Population B patients will receive 300 mg TDF daily during the course of the study.
Study visits will occur every 4 weeks for the 96-week study period. Targeted clinical and medication assessments and blood work assessing clotting time, liver function, and blood chemistry will be conducted at each study visit. HIV and HBV DNA viral load will be tested every 12 weeks. CD4 cell counts will be tested at Weeks 24, 48, 72, and 96.
|Study Type :
|Interventional (Clinical Trial)
|Enrollment :
|90 participants
|Intervention Model:
|Parallel Assignment
|Primary Purpose:
|Official Title:
|A Randomized, Phase II, Controlled Trial Comparing the Efficacy of Adefovir Dipivoxil and Tenofovir Disoproxil Fumarate for the Treatment of Lamivudine-Resistant Hepatitis B Virus in Subjects Who Are Co-Infected With HIV
|Actual Study Completion Date :
|May 2005
Choosing to participate in a study is an important personal decision. Talk with your doctor and family members or friends about deciding to join a study. To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contacts provided below. For general information, Learn About Clinical Studies.
|Ages Eligible for Study:
|18 Years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
|Sexes Eligible for Study:
|Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
Inclusion Criteria for All Participants:
- HIV infected
- HBV infected
- Serum HBV DNA of 100,000 copies/ml or greater
- Positive for serum hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) within 12 weeks prior to study entry
- Agree to use acceptable methods of contraception
- Serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) of 50 ng/ml or less within 30 days of study entry. If AFP is greater than 50 ng/ml, the patient must have an imaging study of the liver showing no tumor within 30 days prior to study entry
Inclusion Criteria for Population A:
- Uninterrupted stable HAART regimen at study entry for at least 12 continuous weeks prior to study entry
- HIV viral load of 10,000 copies/ml or less within 12 weeks of study entry
Inclusion Criteria for Population A, Group I:
- Compensated liver disease
- Child-Pugh-Turcotte (CPT) score of less than 7
Exclusion Criteria for Population A, Group I:
- Excess fluid in the space between the membranes lining the abdomen and abdominal organs (ascites)
- Gastrointestinal (variceal) bleeding
- Brain and nervous system damage as a result of liver disease
- Abnormal blood clotting time
Inclusion Criteria for Population A, Group II:
- Decompensated liver disease
- CPT score of 7-12
Inclusion Criteria for Population B:
- Prior HAART regimen
- Never taken TDF as part of HAART regimen
- Serum HBV DNA of 100,000 copies/ml or greater within 12 weeks of study entry
- HIV viral load of greater than 10,000 copies/ml within 12 weeks of study entry
- CPT score less than 13
Exclusion Criteria
- Serious kidney problems within the last 12 months
- Allergic or sensitive to ADV or TDF
- Active hepatitis C virus (HCV) disease or unknown HCV status within 24 weeks of study entry
- Any medical or mental illness that, in the opinion of the investigator, would interfere with the protocol
- Past or current alcohol or drug abuse that would affect the protocol
- Malignancy that, in the opinion of the investigator, would make the patient unsuitable for the study
- Certain anti-HBV drugs within 90 days of study entry or expected use of these agents during the course of the study
- Drugs that may damage the kidneys within 8 weeks prior to study screening or expected use of these agents during the course of the study
- Systemic corticosteroids within 90 days of study entry
- Current use of drugs containing pivalic acid
- Certain investigational anti-HIV agents
- Pregnant or breastfeeding
To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contact information provided by the sponsor.
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier (NCT number): NCT00033163
|United States, California
|UC Davis Medical Center
|Sacramento, California, United States, 95814
|Univ. of California Davis Med. Ctr., ACTU
|Sacramento, California, United States
|Ucsf Aids Crs
|San Francisco, California, United States, 94110
|United States, Colorado
|University of Colorado Hospital CRS
|Aurora, Colorado, United States, 80262
|United States, Illinois
|Northwestern University CRS
|Chicago, Illinois, United States, 60611
|Cook County Hosp. CORE Ctr.
|Chicago, Illinois, United States, 60612
|United States, Maryland
|Johns Hopkins Adult AIDS CRS
|Baltimore, Maryland, United States, 21287
|United States, New York
|Beth Israel Med. Ctr., ACTU
|New York, New York, United States, 10003
|NY Univ. HIV/AIDS CRS
|New York, New York, United States, 10016
|Cornell CRS
|New York, New York, United States, 10021
|Weill Med. College of Cornell Univ., The Cornell CTU
|New York, New York, United States
|United States, Ohio
|Univ. of Cincinnati CRS
|Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, 452670405
|MetroHealth CRS
|Cleveland, Ohio, United States, 441091998
|United States, Tennessee
|Vanderbilt Therapeutics CRS
|Nashville, Tennessee, United States, 37203
|United States, Washington
|University of Washington AIDS CRS
|Seattle, Washington, United States, 98104
|Study Chair:
|Bruce Polsky, MD
|St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center
|Study Chair:
|Marion Peters, MD
|University of California, San Francisco
Publications of Results:
Other Publications:
|Responsible Party:
|National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
|NCT00033163 History of Changes
|Other Study ID Numbers:
10678 ( Registry Identifier: DAIDS ES )
|First Posted:
|April 9, 2002 Key Record Dates
|Last Update Posted:
|May 21, 2012
|Last Verified:
|May 2012
Antiviral Agents
Hepatitis B
Drug Resistance, Microbial
DNA, Viral
Hepatitis B Virus
Adefovir dipivoxil
Tenofovir disoproxil fumarate
Treatment Experienced
Hepatitis A
Hepatitis B
Liver Diseases
Digestive System Diseases
Hepatitis, Viral, Human
Virus Diseases
Enterovirus Infections
Picornaviridae Infections
RNA Virus Infections
Hepadnaviridae Infections
DNA Virus Infections
Adefovir dipivoxil
Antiviral Agents
Anti-Infective Agents
Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors
Nucleic Acid Synthesis Inhibitors
Enzyme Inhibitors
Molecular Mechanisms of Pharmacological Action
Anti-Retroviral Agents
Anti-HIV Agents


text:
The Needles
The Needles
The Needles, Isle of Wight.
Quality four colour print on 230gsm uncoated art paper. All posters are printed at the highest quality using archival quality pigment inks.
Size: 400mm x 500mm
All prints are signed open editions.
Additional sizes can be printed upon request. For such requests please get in touch via email.
Add To Cart


text:
ALBANY, N.Y. — With the arrest Monday of another former state Senate majority leader, Albany has seen 32 state-level officials snared in corruption cases in the past seven years.
The fourth arrest in the past four weeks came as the Legislature and Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who campaigned to clean up Albany, had repeatedly insisted that state politics has shed its dysfunctional past.
"They can't continue to go forward saying Albany is working great and it's no longer dysfunctional," said Bill Mahoney of the New York Public Interest Research Group. "This is clearly not true."
New Yorkers seemed to doubt it, too.
Two weeks ago, more than 80 percent of New Yorkers in a Siena College poll predicted another indictment. On Monday, a federal prosecutor accused Democratic Sen. John Sampson of Brooklyn of funneling funds into his failed campaign for Brooklyn district attorney.
The latest spate of arrests has sent fear throughout the Legislature because two lawmakers working as informants for federal prosecutors secretly recorded years of conversations in Albany and New York City.
"I've never seen anything like it," said Maurice "Mickey" Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University poll and a journalist who covered New York politics starting in 1960. "It's one thing after another and it amazes me.
"The idea of not one but two legislators would wear a wire, it's disgraceful," Carroll said. "I'm not usually one short of comment, but, honest to God, this takes your breath away."
The arrests "made a bad situation worse," said Cuomo, who pushed through what he'd called a historic ethics reform in 2011. He said in a radio interview that the charges should energize New Yorkers to back his latest reforms, which include public financing of campaigns and what he would consider an independent enforcement headed by his appointee, with Senate confirmation.
"The governor loses an important part of his narrative in that he has made Albany work better and helped to make Albany a better place," said Steven Greenberg of the Siena College poll.
"Do I think people will potentially look at statements he's made and say, 'You were wrong on that one?' Yes, I think that's possible," Greenberg said. "But I don't think anyone can hold any governor responsible for the illegal acts of legislators. ... That's where the blame lies."
Other officials in corruption cases include:
• In April, Assemblyman Eric Stevenson, a Bronx Democrat, is accused of bribery. Assemblyman Nelson Castro, another Bronx Democrat, was indicted on a charge of perjury in connection with a campaign crime and has worn a wire as an informant in Albany since 2009.
• Also last month, Sen. Malcolm Smith, a Queens Democrat and the former Senate majority leader before Sampson, is charged with conspiracy and extortion. He is accused of scheming to buy the Republican line to run for New York City mayor. He had been part of the Independent Democratic Conference that shares control of the chamber with Republicans.
• In 2012, Republican Sen. Nicholas Spano of Westchester was convicted of tax evasion.
• In 2010, Democratic Sen. Pedro Espada, a Bronx Democrat who had been chosen by Democrats and later Republicans to a top leadership post, was indicted for on corruption and pleaded guilty to tax evasion.
• In 2010, Republican Sen. Vincent Leibell of Putnam County was convicted of corruption.
• In 2008, Republican Sen. Joseph Bruno of Rensselaer County, who was a long-serving Senate majority leader, was convicted of corruption, but that was vacated and he faces a new trial.


text:
Register Now
Already registered? Login
Sign in to take advantage of all this site has to offer. Save your favorite listings and searches – also receive email updates when listings you like come on the market for free!
*Contact Information is NOT Shared*
The best seller is one who is highly motivated. A highly motivated seller is more likely to sell at a price that is less than his or her house is actually worth. And it matters that you find out why. Learning the reason why can help you get the price you want and help the seller get what they want: a timely sale.
When given the opportunity to meet with sellers, ask them why they are selling. The reason could be anything, such as a job change to a new location or financial problems. If you can solve their problem, whether it is cash related or time related, do so. For example, if the sellers are highly motivated because they need to move quickly, give them a fast sale - and a lower price. If you can make an offer, even a low one, that gives them cash in a short time, they are more likely to accept.
There are also some sellers that you should avoid. Not every seller is as genuinely motivated as they make themselves to be. Some possible hints:
It is impossible to find the perfect seller. But it is possible to find out which sellers are legit and which ones aren't.
505-913-9393 | Contact Us
Santa Fe, NM 87507
Copyright © 2017, All Rights Reserved
Privacy Policy |
© 2019 Santa Fe Association of Realtors
All rights reserved. Information deemed to be reliable but
not guaranteed. The data relating to real estate for sale on this website
comes in part from the Broker Reciprocity Program. Real
estate listings held by brokerage firms other than Santa Fe Trail Realty are
marked with the BR logo and detailed information about them includes the
name of the listing brokers. Listing broker has attempted to offer accurate
data, but buyers are advised to confirm all items. Information last updated
on 2019-09-17.


text:
The edTPA Online Community provides a forum for edTPA community members to collaborate by sharing ideas and resources, problem-solving issues in support of implementation, and asking questions of staff and peers. Here you can share information with the edTPA project management team, edTPA leadership, experienced professionals, and your colleagues across the country. The site has been built and is maintained by AACTE as a forum to support the implementation of edTPA and issues directly related to its implementation.
AACTE is not responsible for user posts and other user content appearing on the Online Community and does not endorse or guarantee the perspectives, advice, or users. First-time users must accept the Terms of Use and should read and follow the Community guidelines, which outline acceptable behavior for participation.
Log in to the Community using your AACTE/edTPA username and password.
Forgot your username or password? Click Here
Don't have an account yet? Create new account


text:
Takamba wrote:But see what you did there? You changed the game so that you could find an answer, but that was the answer to another game.
Ah ha! Yes of course - that's the whole point, changing the game - altering the environment into something collaborative and removing the false ideas and delusions of the ego (me vs you).
Let's clarify however that changing the game does not mean ignoring the problem of the previous one. This is confronting the problem and bringing it into proper harmony shall we say.
A good answer, but how does one convince the brother who is mistaken that he is mistaken? If it is perceived by him that his will is to have the orange, and the other one correctly knows it is his will to have the orange, there's no game answer that says they share it (because that will is not perceived except by the outside observer, and neither one of them would will it). The brother who has the resources (knowledge & skills in say horticultural spotting and maintaining) to recognize survival of the species is the one that should have the orange. So how do you win out when the other brother, the one who only has the knowledge & skills of table crafting, insists the orange is his?
There is only one way to ultimately win - only one. And that one way is to develop a system of distribution of oranges so there are plenty for all. Oranges, just like liber al - 'is for all'. (sorry couldn't help the giggle there).
There is no need to argue about it with the first brother.
Success is your proof
You fight as brothers. It's a must in this game of the table and the orange and two brothers each convinced.
There is no answer to be found there. It's just logic and zero sum. All zero sum games will lead to brothers fighting, like dogs - for the single resource.
However the single resource is an illusion. It's an illusion you're using in this 'game' as that game between one orange and two brothers is just an abstraction, not a real world problem.
In real world problem solving - all resources intelligently managed are replenishing.
is a god to live in a dog (and thereby fight like one for the orange)?
And I don't think of it as survival of the "fittest," it's a battle where I believe right wins all the time, because the will of the species, the will of all the Universe, will verify it.
I think you're suggesting here that there is only 'one' game the universe plays and that's the ol brother vs brother orange game? I don't think historical record supports you there! Survival of the fittest is a 'muscular' perspective, and even though you don't like the phrase - that is what you're suggesting brother vs brother to mean. Who has the true will for the orange? which ever one wins the fight for it. That's not going to get us very far nor past 'survival of the fittest.'
Humanity is a collaborative species, we evolved through collaboration. There is only one way to solve zero sum games destroying our global collaborative and that is by creating non zero sum games where brothers don't fight for the orange - they both challenge each other to see who can come up with the best idea for distributing oranges for everyone.


text:
If you know how to be a friend, you know how to share the gospel.
Sharing the gospel with your friends doesn't have to be scary or complicated. Often, the best gospel discussions start naturally out of everyday situations with friends. For that matter, being a good friend or providing helpful service is its own form of missionary work even when actual gospel topics never enter your conversations.
Here are 15 different ideas to consider—each with an example of youth who used them successfully—for sharing the light of the gospel with those around you.
1. Try texting. Why not text a few lines to your friends about the gospel rather than just talk about your bad hair day? Here's a story of a young woman who had great gospel discussions with a friend through texting.
2. Invite a friend to a Mutual activity. An evening of volleyball, a cookout, or a trip to a corn maze can seem a lot less intimidating than attending Sunday meetings.
3. Set a good example. People pay close attention to your words and actions a lot more than you might suspect. Even choosing not to gossip can be enough to impress others.
4. Attend seminary. Learning about the scriptures and other Church doctrine can help you answer questions. For one young woman, her attending seminary ultimately led to her father joining the Church.
5. Live your standards. When temptations come, and they will, stand strong for what you know is right. People will notice and remember.
6. Make friends. When you have something in common with another person, such as a sport or other hobby, it can be easier to strike up a friendship. And friendships are the best foundation for missionary work, even if you and a friend happen to be on rival football teams!
7. Read your scriptures. If you have a few spare minutes while you're waiting somewhere, why not use that time to read your scriptures? You never know; it could spark a conversation.
An Apostle has invited you to pray for missionary opportunities. Are you ready to take the challenge?
8. Help your friends listen to good music. Good music can lift us up and inspire us. Watch a video about a young woman in Hawaii who started a glee club at school. She enjoys sharing the joy of uplifting music with her friends.
9. Bring hymns to your music lessons. Taking music lessons? You might consider asking your teacher to help you learn some Church hymns. There's a special spirit about the hymns that is easy to feel.
10. Use social media to lift others. Many use social media sites for complaining or even being mean. But it doesn't have to be that way. You can use social media as a way to compliment and encourage your friends.
11. Invite a friend to a ward party. Ward parties can be a great place to introduce your friend to multiple people in the ward. After enjoying a nice evening, your friend might be open to gospel discussions.
12. Sit next to someone new at lunch. If you see someone sitting alone during lunch at school, taking the time to sit and visit with them can make a world of difference in their life, even if you don't ever end up talking about religion.
13. Give away a Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon provides spiritual strength, guidance, and hope. If you see someone struggling with grief or other challenges, a Book of Mormon might just be the best comfort they can receive.
14. Make an awesome sandwich, and then share it. When life gets tough and disaster strikes, a tasty sandwich can brighten even the darkest day.
15. Stand and testify when the time is right. Most of the time, sharing the gospel takes place in small conversations with friends. But every now and then, you might just have a chance to teach a large group all at once.
Remember, the measure of success is not whether your friend joins the Church. That can take time. When it comes to sharing the gospel, every effort we make to befriend and invite another person to learn more is its own triumph.
The number of ways we can share the gospel and be better friends is truly endless. However, if you're still stuck for ideas, here are a few more to consider.
16. Invite your friend to participate in Scouting.
17. Invite your friend to play on a Church sports team.
18. Listen closely to your friends when they want to talk about their own beliefs.
19. Help someone learn about his or her family history.
20. Visit temple grounds with a friend.
21. Bring someone a plate of treats.
22. Study Preach My Gospel.
23. Invite someone to family home evening.
"There is a way for everyone … to participate in this great work. We can each find a way to use our own particular talents and interests in support of the great work of filling the world with light and truth." —President Dieter F. Uchtdorf
24. Offer to tutor a friend in a subject that's challenging for him or her.
25. Smile at everyone you meet.
26. Remember names and use them.
27. Compliment at least one person every day.
28. Invite your friend over for family dinner.
29. Plan a Mutual activity geared around the interests of your friend, and then invite the friend to the activity.
30. Help your friend wash his car or tune up his bike.
31. Help your friend finish her chores one Saturday.
32. Invite your friend to sacrament meeting.
33. Invite your friend to seminary.
34. Put up a picture of the temple in your locker.
35. Wear a CTR ring to school.


text:
0day 0:0:0 Left
People who love this item are also interested inSee More >>
Vivilinen 3D Fiery Skeleton Drummer Printed 5-Piece Comforter SetsUSD $ 112.85
3D Two Tigers Playing in Water Printed 5-Piece Comforter SetsUSD $ 113.84
3D Classic Tai Chi Icon Yin Yang Printed 5-Piece Comforter SetsUSD $ 111.86
Vivilinen 3D Black Kitten and Butterflies Printed 5-Piece Comforter SetsUSD $ 112.85
3D Purple Rose Printed Polyester 5-Piece Comforter SetsUSD $ 102.95
Vivilinen 3D Stars and Multicolored Galaxy Printed 5-Piece Comforter SetsUSD $ 112.85
Vivilinen 3D Manta Ray and Orcas in Ocean 5-Piece Comforter SetsUSD $ 112.85
Vivilinen 3D Moon Phases Printed Simple Style 5-Piece Comforter SetsUSD $ 112.85
Thread Count: 400
Technic: Digital Printing
Suitable Season: All the Seasons
Fabric: 50% Tencel and 50% Cotton
Thread Count: 800TC
Filling: No
Wash Method: Machine Washable & Hand Wash
Size: Twin(Duvet Cover 150*200cm; Flat Sheet 180*230cm; Pillowcase 50*70cm)
Full(Duvet Cover 200*225cm; Flat Sheet 230*245cm; Pillowcase 50*70cm)
Queen(Duvet Cover 240*225cm; Flat Sheet 230*250cm; Pillowcase 50*70cm)
King(Duvet Cover 260*225cm; Flat Sheet 280*245cm; Pillowcase 50*70cm)
Notice: Please follow the next steps to insert the comforter into duvet cover.
1: Lay the comforter flat on top of your mattress.
2: Take your duvet cover and turn it inside out. Insert your hands inside and find the two top corners. You should now be holding one corner in each hand.
3: With your hands inside the duvet cover, reach down to grab hold of the comforter's top two corners.
4: Holding the top two corners tightly, flip the duvet cover right side out over the comforter. Give it a shake and a fluff until the duvet cover falls down to cover most of the comforter.
5: Zip it up.
Why Choose Beddinginn?
High quality with the best price
Worldwide shipping with the lowest cost
Paypal helps taking care of the whole transaction
Providing customers with unique design products is our pursuit.
Due to differences in monitor settings, there may be a slight variation in color on screen,versus the actual material.
|Shipping Time
|Shipping Cost
|Standard Shipping
|4--8 Days
|Expedited Shipping
|2--5 Days
No one has posted a comment, it's your time to start now!
Do the Polar Bear comfort sets come in Cal King size??
|E-mail Address *
|This will be used to sign into your account.
|Password *
|Must have 6 to 30 characters and no spaces.
|Re-type Password *
I accept
Terms of Use
Security and Privacy
of Beddinginn.com


text:
Before you begin
Update to the latest version of iOS and Find My iPhone. To update Find My iPhone, tap App Store, then tap Updates.
If you need help locating your device, playing a sound, displaying a message, or remotely locking or erasing your device, try these steps to get help with Find My iPhone.
If you can't sign in to Find My iPhone
Try to sign in again after each of these steps:
- Make sure that you're signing in with the Apple ID that you use with iCloud.
- Go to iCloud.com on your computer, sign in, and select Find My iPhone.
- Tap Settings > General > Date & Time on your iOS device, then check the date and time.
If you set a passcode on your iOS device, you'll be asked to sign in only the first time you open Find My iPhone. To set a passcode, go to Settings > Touch ID & Passcode (on devices with Touch ID) or Settings > Passcode (on other devices), then tap Turn Passcode On.
If you get the message "No devices registered"
If you still have your device, go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud and make sure that Find My iPhone is turned on. If you're using iOS 10.2 or earlier, go to Settings > iCloud.
If you get the message "Your device is no longer locatable"
This message means that Location Services was turned off on your device while you were using Find My iPhone to locate it. Find My iPhone won't be able to locate your device, but the last known location will appear for up to 24 hours. You can still use Find My iPhone to make the device play a sound, display a message on the device's screen, lock the device, or erase the device.
The ability to use Find My iPhone to locate your device on a map isn't available in all countries or regions. Locating your device on a map requires Maps data to be available in that area. All other Find My iPhone features will still work.
If you still need help, try the steps to get help using Find My iPhone. You can also visit the iCloud Support page.


text:
Npc leader (I think his name was horice or something) finally amasses a huge army to takeover the players. They all march into one of the major cities, and just as they go through the gates and charge with vigor they realize that the town has already been slaughtered.
They look around the town, nothing to be seen, just pieces of wood and cloth everywhere, with little broken wood swords.
Finally they storm into the kings room, only to find that there is a army of mechanical training dummy's sitting at the throne. with one of the characters in the comics kneeling to him with the something witty about how they wont beat on them anymore.
next frame. Npc's tied to posts with a flag hanging from thier back and a sword and shield of wood in their hands.. NPC follower "Storm the castle you say"


text:
About rabbit wise
good lord, just wait until everyone realizes that rochester's nicknamed changed to "the flower city" ...in the 1850's...
see, i took it to a whole new level that was low even for me.
7am local news - they kept talking about how the gunman had posted threats on myspace. i swear, the anchor said "myspace" 17 times in a minute. people had died and all i could think was, seriously, is myspace still around????
I believe that is a cost savings effort brought to you by your fiscally responsible government. After all, we've shown quite dramatically that it is way cheaper to be the terrorist than fight terrorism.
....this is all so simple, I don't understand why you all don't applaud them for this.
Didn't we get into this whole situation by people coming up with "reasonable alternatives" to the Constitution?
anti-lady byng trophy winner?
i can't tell if you are being sarcastic here. :|
farmers have been "researching and developing" better crops since the beginning of time which is why you only save your seeds from your best crops and not the stunted little plants that don't produce.
one word - infragard.
yet more proof about what this legislation is absolutely not about.
You know what I believe?
offensive to morality or decency; indecent; depraved
abominable; disgusting; repulsive
I believe that I should be getting my obscenity from good ole Larry. I miss that world.
In the words of Robert Heinlein, "You have attributed conditions to villainy that simply result from stupidity"
[Press here to "Report Senator as Idiot."]
Um, so what would this issue be defined as?
Identity theft (badly impersonating a person with a brain?)
Endangered Species (people with brains?)
Civil Liberties/Civil Rights (not discriminating against people without brains?)
Ethanol (sniffing it?)
You tell them the exact same thing that someone in the private section is told when they go into a niche field and there are no jobs. Reskill and stop whining.
What about just giving me information about the products that are actually in the store? Start simple. Reviews are great but they do not help me at all if the item is not in the store.
Business at large seems to be focused on how much money will I spend. In my life, that is not necessarily the first question I ask. My first question is how long is this going to take? How long am I going to have to wander through a store, find out they don't have what I need and then wander through the endless succession of other stores (only to find out that I'm apparently very weird or so untrendy that no one has it).
Clue to business - I pay 1 cent more for gas because the cheaper place has the slowest pumps imaginable. I might pay a little bit more for groceries but the store I go to doesn't have food on one side of a giant store and paper and pet products all the way on the other. Convenience.
and it comes down to it.
honestly, i don't have any major issues with my self-imposed boycott of the movie, publishing and music industries because, let's face it, most of what they produce is complete crap. on a day-to-day basis, it is not a hardship for me to not subscribe to starz.
i have no issues with *content producers* going after infringing *content*.
but this, this is something that i love. i love hockey. i am a season ticket holder for the stars. season 18, 205 days, 82 games. my life goes on hold when hockey season starts. i want to support my team. i buy their merchandise, support the arena and drag non-hockey folks to games.
this is disgusting in the very sense of the ideals that made this country great. made even more so when you take into account the horrendous efforts of the dallas stars organization in particular and the nhl in general to sell their product in a market that was just named as one of the top sports cities in the country. "connect with your fans" is not even in their vocabulary. their radio partner's afternoon drive time duo thinks that joe lewis arena is in st. louis and their mid-day broadcasting team can't be bothered to talk hockey while broadcasting at a stars event while talking to a stars hockey player. they want people in the seats. so do i. (it is freaking cold in the aac when only 2000 people show up!) but the folks on defending big d, you morons, are not the people you are trying to bring into the arena because they are all ready there if they can be (they are in my section).
so, it is time. put up or shut up. and i hate that it was the nhl that made that time come.
it freaks me out to know that ours is not the only household in texas that has center ice for sabres games.
(yes, yes, it is)
As a former resident of Rochester (who misses Abbott's terribly), I can tell you that Thomas lives on a desert island. I know this for a fact because he is unaware that nitwits infect every level of the public and private sector and the only way he could not know that is if he lived on a desert island.
*sigh* how did i miss that this was in my old home town?
and the next time anyone wants to make an absurd definition as to who is or isn't a journalist - techdirt and the online sources had this story before all of the rochester news outlets did.
I read an article on Monday and despite a rabid search for the past two days, cannot find it again but the particular journalist's take was that breaches are on the rise because companies are so busy jumping through the hoops of SOx, PCI and the like. Those that understand the technology understand that most of the requirements of those ... things are really best practices that should have been being done in the first place and may have nothing to do with the current threats. People who do not understand the technology are yelling at their IT people with, "But I thought we were compliant?!".
Probably an unreported factor in these breaches is the lack of understanding that if your employees are on Facebook or can actually figure out how to send an email, then they are technically savvy. That is a huge assumption. And it is wrong. I have fielded complaints from a user that they cannot input their password because there are x's over it and they can't see what they are typing. Having 2 million friends on Facebook means nothing.
I don't personally know if breaches are up or not. April of 2010 was a pretty rough month if I remember correctly. I would bet a pretty dollar that while some high value targets have been very, very public, it is still the tip of the iceberg. There are too many detriments to reporting a breach unless you absolutely have to.
btw - I am an (employed) (overworked) application security engineer.
It does not have a thing to do with embarrassment. It is all about the money. Shareholder confidence crumbling. Legal repercussions. Etc. Etc. Money. First. Last. Always.
Question: Who has determined that "almost everyone" who uses files posted in a "public, easily-discoverable area (e.g. a public forum)" are unauthorized? (citation please)
Considering that even the copyright holders can't determine in most reported cases whether or not the file is itself authorized or not, I think the generalization regarding users of public files needs to be nipped in the bud.
Now that we've got people actually looking at the RIAA and MPAA's numbers, maybe the next thing to combat is the idea that every single person out there is using publically available files for nefarious reasons.


text:
I am really happy about this one and I really hope I will be able to make some mug or others accessories with this design
A home for thoughts on papercutting and illustration by Ellie Chaney
Fitness, MMA and Nutrition Blog UK
Author: The Timbre of Sand, Still Dandelions, A Ranch Bordering the Salty River. Alum: Palomar College, Columbia University, Bennington College. Follow on twitter @SmpageSteve on Instagram @smpagemoria on Facebook @steven.page.1481
a messy collection of art projects, crafts, and various random things...
Celebrate every week with pretty finds
"Creativity Never Retires..."
Shooting photographs, drawing lines...
The things I love and make
Original Oil Paintings And Drawings By Sergey Gusev
crochet is my favorite fiber art and my goal is to become a real artist...
little house in a field
Mixed Media Art by Melanie Rietveld
The visual experience


text:
No, You Cannot Bring Your Pony on the Train
Ponies are small, yes, but they are not small enough to bring on a train with you. And yet this did not seem to stop a man in Wales, who attempted to board a train at the Wrexham General station over the weekend, only to be rebuffed by the conductor. It did not end there, either; the man then attempted to buy two tickets from the ticket booth (one for him and one for the pony), and was turned away again. He was later seen at the Wrexham Maelor Hospital (for humans), asking for treatment for the pony from a doctor. [BBC]


text:
Six months ago the Nokia Lumia 920 launched as an exclusive on AT&T here in the United States. A lot of users on Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile felt a little shafted not having access to the high end Windows Phone from Nokia. Well if you happen to have a Lumia 920 from AT&T in your possession you should be able to unlock the device now.
Erzhik, a Windows Phone Central reader, let us in on a little chat he had with an AT&T rep online. Since the 6 month window of exclusivity has ended with the Lumia 920 and AT&T he was able to unlock his device. It took him less than 30 seconds chatting with a representative to get the unlock code.
Why would you want to unlock your device? There's a handful or reasons, but most people like to unlock it to increase resale value and for international use. Though, it wouldn't make much sense for T-Mobile customers to run out and try and get an unlocked Lumia 920 with the rumored Catwalk around the corner.
Update: Fearless leader Daniel Rubino has successfully contacted AT&T and unlocked his Lumia 920. As can be seen in the image above, it's now running a T-Mobile SIM.
Anybody thinking of doing this with their device?
Thanks for the tip Erzhik!


text:
100% cotton, woven in England. A sturdy cotton canvas, washed for a broken in, more casual look. The weight is good for spring to early fall. Classic slim fit. Flat front. Three button closure. Loop to secure belt buckle. Two piece/curtained rear-split waistband and interior piping of blue oxford cotton. Coin pocket. Zip fly. Lined to the knee. Unfinished.
Made in USA


text:
- عن الشركة
We are pleased to anounce that PORĘBA, a renowned machine tools manufacturer with over 200 years of tradition, has been given a chance to make a return to global markets after it had joined the family of the Polish heavy-duty machine tool factory, the RAFAMET group. The development of heavy-duty two, three and four guideways TCF and TCE horizontal lathes, as well as heavy-duty floor type TZL lathes will become particularly emphasized. We will also modernize the TCG lathes. The Poręba's experience in the field of the TR, THC, TRB, TRP and TOK lathes will not be neglected.
View Listing
تواجه رؤوس
الولايات المتحدة الامريكية
الولايات المتحدة الامريكية


text:
My third piece in a series of Halloween-themed (but mostly Carter-themed) pictures.
This is for all those people who requested it (two). This has been the quickest one to draw. Originally, it was supposed to be based off one of the original Dracula posters (that's why Liesolette is that font), but Carter could never harm Lucy!


text:
First-time user? Click here to register and setup your login username and password.
Please enter:Bookmark this page!
Forgot your password?
Click here and enter your username or email.
Important Note: It is essential that you do NOT use the BACK button on your browser in the following pages. If you do, you will probably see a message that says "Warning: Page has Expired." This will not happen as long as you use the buttons provided. Thus, there's really no need to use the BACK button.


text:
The inner city suburb of South Brisbane has undergone a renaissance in recent years to become one of Brisbane's most popular areas.
Once full of warehouses, factories, and wharves, South Brisbane underwent an incredible metamorphosis when the derelict industrial area on the banks of the Brisbane River was transformed into the site of the World Expo in 1988.
Now the suburb hums with the sounds of cosmopolitan coffee shops, fashionable wine bars, quality hotels and multi-ethnic cafes and restaurants. South Brisbane is bordered by South Bank, the city's premier recreational destination. At South Bank you can swim in the placid waters of the man-made Streets Beach, enjoy stunning views and beautiful parklands, treat your taste buds to a delicious array of dining options and catch some theatre, ballet, opera, a concert or an art exhibition.
A number of beautiful old buildings still punctuate the South Brisbane landscape. Worth a look are Saint Andrew's Anglican Church, the former Municipal Chambers and a number of old pubs that have withstood the tests and trends of time.
The Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre can also be found at South Brisbane. This large centre regularly hosts exhibitions, charity balls, gala dinners, events, seminars, comedy performances, and concerts by big name acts.
South Brisbane is a two minute drive or ferry ride across the river from the Brisbane City Centre. Accommodation options include hotels, motels and self-contained apartments.
Note: Information on listed products and services are provided by the operator and were correct at the time of publishing. Rates are indicative based on the minimum and maximum available prices of products and services. Please visit the operator's website for further information. All prices quoted are in Australian dollars (AUD).


text:
General Community > Site Comments, Issues and Concerns
Policy Change: User Signatures
<< < (16/16)
Due to the fact that some signatures are, now, somewhat on the huge and overly distracting size.
The team has had an argument a discussion about this and the general consensus that an overall size of 600x200 pixels is adequate. That includes all images and text.
We'll give everyone a week, or so, to make reduce their sigs to this size.
After that, any sigs that are bigger will get zapped, without notice.
Let's make it as from Monday the seventeenth of September. (Which is generously more than a week away).
The SMF team.
[0] Message Index
[*] Previous pageGo to full version


text:
The first task is to write generic code that can serialize a Data instance to JSON. This has probably been done somewhere else, but I need to learn, right? So I took a deep breath and dived into Data.Generics.
I quickly rounded up the issues I would face. Most notably, Strings and lists are accessed without any syntaxic sugar, so to speak: Strings are lists of Char, and lists are made of two fields, the head and the rest. Of course, you say, but from that I need to regenerate String and lists of JSON Value objects.
So, to start, how to recognize Strings to treat them differently than other algrebraic types:
isString :: Data a => a -> Bool
isString a = (typeOf a) == (typeOf "")
There's probably better ways to do that, just tell me (-:
Lists (that are not strings) can be recognized with abstract representations of constructors, which are equals regardless of the actual type of elements in the list
isList :: Data a => a -> Bool
isList a
| isString a = False
| otherwise = (typeRepTyCon (typeOf a)) == (typeRepTyCon $ typeOf ([]::[Int]))
Now, transforming a list of the form (head,rest) to [head1,head2...]
jsonList :: Data a => a -> [JSON.Value]
jsonList l=
concat $ gmapQ f l
where f b
| (isList b)= jsonList b
| otherwise = [objToJson b]
For each element (the actual number depends on whether we're the empty list or not) we either reapply the same method, if it's the inner list or we simply transform to JSON
And then the actual method on objects:
objToJson :: Data a => a -> JSON.Value
objToJson o | isString o=JSON.String (fromJust $ ((cast o)::(Maybe String)))
objToJson o | isList o=JSON.Array (jsonList o)
objToJson o | otherwise=
c=toConstr o
case (constrRep c) of
AlgConstr _-> JSON.Object (Data.Map.fromList(zip (constrFields c) (gmapQ objToJson o)))
StringConstr s -> JSON.String s
FloatConstr f -> JSON.Number f
IntConstr i -> JSON.Number (fromIntegral i)
We first handle Strings, then list, then general objects using constrRep to distinguish between algebraic types that create JSON objects with the proper field names (using constrFields) and other types for JSON primitives.
And that's it for the serialization! The Generics package is not that hard to use but you have to look up examples to figure out how actually use the functions like gmapQ and such...
Now, I have to work on the opposite process: given a type and JSON data, reconstruct the objects... More Haskell fun!


text:
Carl Schaper
Bonga Perkins
Schaper / Logreco Range
5'7'' Fish
5'10'' Fish
6'1'' Fish
Schaper / Bonga Range
6'6'' Bonga
6'10'' Bonga
7'2'' Bonga
7'6'' Bonga
8'0'' Bonga
8'8'' Bonga
9'1'' Bonga
9'1'' MII Bonga
Tatsumi Kawai wins Akatei Classic 2009
South Point japanese team rider Tatsumi Kawai finished first at a SUP wave riding contest at Kamogawa/Chiba on a Bonga 9'6". Condition was typhoon swell day.
more >>
Extreme SUP in Alaska
7 x Molokia Paddle Board Champion Jamie Mitchell Stand-Up Paddle boarding on a SouthPoint 11'6'' in Yakutat / Alaska.
more >>
Bonga Perkins is World Champ
"Perkins proved to be unstoppable throughout the event's entirety and defeated Delpero 16.95 to 13.90 in the Final. The 2008 ASP World Longboard Title came down to the wire, with both surfers having to win the event in order to earn longboarding's top honors, but it was Perkins who jumped out to an early lead in the Final, holding his lead throughout the heat."
more >>
6'1'' Logreco Fish
New Model in 2009 Southpoint Range
more >>
Bonga/Schaper SUP Line
Bonga Perkins and Carl Schaper presenting the new SouthPoint Stand-Up Paddle boards.
Bonga SUP Oahu
Bonga Perkins tuberiding on a 10'' SouthPoint Stand-Up Paddle Board.
Bonga rocking Pipeline
"Super Thursday"
North Shore, Oahu 2008
Bonga / Schaper Funshape
Carl Schaper and Bonga Perkins presenting the BP Funshape Range.
Schaper Tech Talk
Carl Schaper talking about the SouthPoint SPEC+ Technology.
Schaper / Bonga 9'1'' M2
Carl Schaper and Bonga Perkins present the High Performance Longboard Model by SouthPoint.
Bonga / Schaper SUP
Bonga Perkins and Carl Schaper on the 10'' SouthPoint Stand-Up Paddle board.


text:
TORC, RallyCar To Partner On Rallycross Events
U.S. Rallycross Championship Events Added To TORC Calendar In 2011
The inaugural U.S. Rallycross Championship debuts in the United States in 2011 with a six race slate, three of which will be combined with the TORC Off Road Racing Series at some of the greatest venues in off-road today.
Rallycross is an extreme action-motorsport using World Rally Championship type race cars competing on a closed, short course…similar to TORC's Off Road Truck race courses! With strong roots coming from the Nordic countries such as Netherlands, Belgium and France, the FIA European Rallycross Championship is the largest of its kind.
The new debut of the U.S. Rallycross Championship will be included as part of a newly announced GLOBAL RallyCross Championship, an ESPN partnership with races leading and including the ESPN Summer X Games.
The U.S. Rallycross Championship will make three stops on the TORC Off Road Championship tour in 2011, at the famous off-road facilities Bark River and Crandon International Raceway. Rallycross will also compete with TORC at Chicagoland Speedway in September as part of the tracks large NASCAR weekend, the first race of NASCAR's "Chase" Championship run.
"We are very excited to combine the synergies of short-course off-road racing of TORCs trucks series and RallyCar. We are building a great partnership with RallyCar and look forward to welcoming their strong field of competition at some of America's finest off-road venues in 2011" stated Kevin Miller, CEO of the United States Automobile Club and the sanctioning organization behind the TORC Series.
"I've been stoked since the moment Kevin approached me about partnering with TORC! The opportunity to bring this new-to-America sport to the huge TORC audience at legendary venues like Crandon is an awesome opportunity for RallyCar, our teams, and their sponosors."
Race Schedule:
August 13 -14 at Bark River, MI
September 3-4 at Crandon, WI
September 15 at Chicagoland Speedway, IL
TORC, RallyCar To Partner On Rallycross Events
- Tags: rallycar, RallyX, Short Course Racing, TORC


text:
Greek Sun Holidays
Established 1964
Holiday Search
call us:01732 740 317
Booking Enquiry
After selecting your Greek Sun holiday, complete this booking enquiry form, telephone or visit our shop in Sevenoaks to check the availability. Having ascertained the availability of your chosen holiday, or an acceptable alternative, we will hold the holiday for you for one week by which time we must receive a completed booking form and deposit. For more information about our booking process please click here
© 2012 Greek Sun. All rights reserved | Privacy Policy | Site MapWebsite by Accord


text:
How Google beat the feds
Google escaped from a nearly two-year federal antitrust probe with only a few scratches by proving that the best defense is a good offense.
Instead of ignoring Washington — as rival Microsoft did before its costly monopolization trial in the 1990s — Google spent about $25 million in lobbying, made an effort to cozy up to the Obama administration and hired influential Republicans and former regulators. The company even consulted with the late Robert Bork and The Heritage Foundation and met with senators like John Kerry to make its case. In other words, these traditional outsiders worked the system from the inside.
Story Continued Below
( PHOTOS: 13 people to watch in 2013)
This calculated and expensive charm offensive paid off Thursday when the Federal Trade Commission decided not to challenge the company's dominance of the Internet search business in court and settled the investigation with what critics allege is a slap on the wrist.
"It was a multiyear campaign focused on this very moment, knowing as the company grew these issues were going to come up," said Alan Davidson, former head of Google's office in Washington who left last year for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "We had the benefit of watching those who had come before us, and we saw the mistakes that were made. We didn't want to replicate what they had done."
( Also on POLITICO: EU crackdown could change Google)
The results — a voluntary pledge to change some search and ad business practices and a legal agreement to stop using patents as weapons against foes — are a far cry from the lengthy federal antitrust throttling Microsoft endured at trial in the 1990s. Some say the government's antitrust fight with Microsoft permanently clipped its wings in the technology sector and paved the way for companies like Google.
Google wasn't about to accept the same fate — and rather than come late to Washington, as its predecessor did, the search company girded for a fight.
Google's game plan was to work the refs early and play nice with regulators rather than to plunge into an unpredictable federal court trial. It was a strategy that worked in other entanglements — especially over online privacy — between the company and the FTC.
( Also on POLITICO: Top Google searches in 2012)
In doing so, Google's actions reflected the overall maturation of Silicon Valley's relationship with Washington. Where the tech world had been dismissive of the meddling bureaucracy, Google's actions signified an industry more willing to shape the rules rather than to fight the regulators.
To ward off an antitrust case, Google relied on alliances with The Heritage Foundation and liberals like free-speech advocate Eugene Volokh and former FTC staffer David Balto. They helped raise public doubts about an antitrust probe of a company that had received praise in the president's State of the Union address. The company also flew in its billionaire impresarios from Silicon Valley for meetings on Capitol Hill and at the FTC.
The influence campaign also worked its magic at the agency, where Chairman Jon Leibowitz had fought the Justice Department to take on what was thought to be a case of a lifetime. Google hired former FTC lawyers and staffers to help plead its case and recently brought CEO Larry Page in for an interview. Two years later, Leibowitz announced — amid speculation he was leaving the agency — that the FTC didn't have enough proof to go for a more robust case.
"I think that Google took advantage of the chairman's desire to go out in a blaze of glory, and they tried to assure him that this was going to be good enough — and this was not good enough," Commissioner J. Thomas Rosch told POLITICO on Thursday. Rosch voted to close the search case but did not signal in his dissent that he would have backed a robust set of search penalties against Google.
As the FTC wound down its Google probe in November, Google even dispatched Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt to meet with Sens. Kerry, Mark Udall (D-Colo.) and other key lawmakers, some of whom later produced letters and statements that hammered regulators' approach to antitrust enforcement — including press leaks about the commission's work.


text:
Miami Heat
Miami Heat's LeBron James, Dwyane Wade make side trips before Bulls game
Amid one of the Heat's worst two-game stretches of the season, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James took some time to celebrate Saturday.
Following an intense practice session in suburban Chicago, James boarded a private jet bound for Cleveland and Zydrunas Ilgauskas' jersey retirement ceremony. Wade said he had plans to attend his sister's wedding. Throw in one less hour for the overnight time change and Sunday's noon tipoff (local time) at United Center, and the Heat's road-trip finale against the Chicago Bulls has all the makings for another sluggish start.
The Heat allowed 39 points in the first quarter of Tuesday's loss to the Houston Rockets. On Thursday, the San Antonio Spurs scored 37 first-quarter points against the Heat. Poor defensive effort in the first quarters of those games was a point of emphasis by coach Erik Spoelstra.
"When we're successful on the road against good teams, we're able to impose our will on the game early on with an effort, a focus, a disposition that clearly wasn't the case the last two games," Spoelstra said. "We know we have to put together a complete game, which we haven't done on this road trip."
Sounds great in theory, but the Heat hasn't displayed much urgency recently despite an excellent opportunity to move into first place in the Eastern Conference. The Indiana Pacers have lost their past three games — the team's first three-game losing streak of the season — but the Heat has failed to gain any ground.
The Heat trailed the Pacers by a game in the loss column to begin this road trip, and that's still the case. Home-court advantage throughout the playoffs goes to the team with the best record in the conference, but Spoelstra said the Heat isn't worrying about the Pacers' record.
"We're more concerned with how we played the last two games," Spoelstra said. "It's not about what they're doing."
The Heat couldn't match the Rockets' energy level, and the game against the Spurs went down as the worst loss of the season. The Heat trailed wire to wire in both games, lost the rebounding battle 46-33 against the Rockets, and committed 21 turnovers, including 10 in the fourth quarter, against the Spurs.
"We have the No. 1 offense in the league," Spoelstra said. "You can't go on the road and bank on that. You have to give yourself a chance and impose your will on the game, and weather tough stretches.
"You can't expect to shoot 55 to 60 percent every game against quality opponents in their building. You better be able to defend and grind out possessions, and we haven't done that the last two games."
Sunday will be another battle. The Bulls (34-27) are fourth in the Eastern Conference, and have won 10 of their past 13 games despite point guard Derrick Rose out with injury and former starting forward Luol Deng traded away to the Cleveland Cavaliers. At the Bulls' resilient core is center Joakim Noah, the live-wire act who led the Florida Gators to back-to-back NCAA championships in 2006 and 2007.
"He's a hell of a player and he plays with a motor that not too many guys have," Wade said. "It's a special gift that he has and he gives that team a chance to win every night and every game."
• Heat reserve DeAndre Liggins signed his second 10-day contract with the Heat on Saturday. When this contract expires, the Heat will either waive the young swingman or sign him for the rest of the season. Liggins played for the Heat's D-League affiliate in Sioux Falls, S.D., before his call-up.
"He's a worker, and we like his defensive toughness," Spoelstra said of Liggins. "There's a lot about his fabric and qualities that we like out of an NBA player, and like more specifically to our system.
"He makes our guys better. He's got a lot of energy and a lot of toughness to him. He doesn't back down from anybody, so on a day like [Sunday], it's actually valuable to have a guy like that."
• Spoelstra on James and others in the organization traveling to Cleveland on Saturday for the retirement of Ilgauskas' jersey:
"Yes, it's a business and there is competition and that competition is fierce, but there are special moments in this league and you have to be able to acknowledge that. That's what makes this league special is great individual and great teams and cool nights like that. We'll work around it and they'll get some rest. They're not going commercial."


text:
Parker a versatile power source in Rockies' pipeline
The Colorado Rockies are hoping that 6-foot, 200-pound Kyle Parker may add some power to their lineup in hitter-friendly Coors Field.
Just when Parker will be ready to contribute at the Major League level is yet to be determined.
The Colorado Rockies are hoping that 6-foot, 200-pound Kyle Parker may add some power to their lineup in hitter-friendly Coors Field.
Just when Parker will be ready to contribute at the Major League level is yet to be determined.
Parker recently was added to the Rockies' 40-man roster as an outfielder. When I saw him in the Arizona Fall League, he was playing first base. The versatility of being able to play outfield and first base is a real plus for the Rockies.
Parker's road to the Rockies was a bit complicated and a bit anxiety-producing, as well.
Parker is such a good athlete, he could have pursued a professional career in football or baseball.
Parker played both sports in high school. In fact, he left high school early to attend Clemson University, where he played quarterback for the Tigers in the 2009 and '10 seasons. He also continued to play baseball, becoming the only player in NCAA Division I history to throw 20 touchdowns and hit 20 home runs in the same year.
Parker was selected by the Rockies with their first-round pick in the 2010 First-Year Player Draft and chose to follow a career in baseball.
Parker is ranked ninth among the Rockies' top 20 prospects, according to MLB.com.
Assigned to Asheville in the Class A South Atlantic League in 2011, Parker hit a very fine .285 with 23 doubles, a triple and 21 home runs in his first year of professional baseball. He drove in 95 runs in 117 games and 516 plate appearances. Parker was on the map as a promising power hitter at age 21. The only negative was a high strikeout total of 133.
The following season, Parker hit even better, hitting .308 in 102 games for Class A Advanced Modesto in the California League. Again, his bat was booming, as he hit 23 homers to go along with 18 doubles and six triples. He reduced his strikeouts to 88 and increased his walks from 48 the previous year to 66.
This past season, Parker was promoted again. He played for Double-A Tulsa in the Texas League, hitting .288 with 23 doubles, three triples and 23 homers. His strikeouts increased a bit (99) and his walks declined (40). Against tougher competition in 21 more games played, Parker produced a third consecutive solid season.
Parker is not a huge man, for having a nice power stroke. In fact, his strong forearms and wrists are major contributors to him generating power.
As a right-handed hitter, Parker's arms are strong enough that he can be a bit tardy on a pitch and still drive the ball to the right-center-field gap with minimal effort. His raw power is aided by a short, measured stroke that is compact enough to take advantage of very quick hands through the ball.
The tardiness comes from late pitch recognition, not slow hands.
Once Parker is more aware of pitchers changing speeds, altering eye levels and moving the direction of throws, he will hit even better for average. And he's already pretty good.
Parker is not that fast, and he may play well in left field where he has less ground to cover. But he has enough arm strength to play in right. And of course, he was playing first base in the Fall League.
Clearly, Parker's raw power provides the Rockies with the potential of future versatility.
Bernie Pleskoff has served as a professional scout for the Houston Astros and Seattle Mariners. Follow @BerniePleskoff; on Twitter.


text:
Great Basin scientists unleash new weapons to fight invasive cheatgrass
This guy is lovely!" ecologist Beth Leger exclaims, falling to her knees. A tiny, energetic woman in her mid-30s, Leger hovers, bee-like, over a teensy grass with blue-green blades. It is, she tells me, a "cute" native called Poa secunda.
It's early May, and Leger, graduate student Owen Baughman and I are crouched on Peavine Mountain, a scrubby rise near the University of Nevada, Reno, where she is an associate professor of plant ecology. The ground around us is covered with the invasive annual Bromus tectorum, also known as cheatgrass. This is not surprising; the Great Basin is a disturbed landscape, and cheatgrass is now its dominant inhabitant. Around the little Poa though, there is no cheatgrass at all, just a foot of bare, pebbly dirt. "We did some trials to see what native perennials were the most competitive with cheatgrass, and it was this guy," says Leger.
Leger scoops away the soil around its base, digging carefully underneath it. "I don't want to kill him, but it's instructive to do that because his roots are super fine and they go out really shallowly, all through this area," she explains, gesturing at the bare circle. "Cheatgrass (also) has super-fine roots and this is about the only native plant I've ever seen that has the same sort of roots." That allows the Poa to take up space and use nutrients the weedy invader would typically claim. Determined to show me its root structure, Leger finally pulls the demonstration plant out of the ground, sacrificing it for the sake of knowledge. "Sorry, dude," she tells the grass. "You'll be famous."
The ancestors of Leger's beloved Poa first encountered cheatgrass, a native to parts of Europe and Asia, in the late 1800s. Western settlement had brought widespread livestock grazing to the Great Basin, a Texas-sized area that covers 180 million acres in southeastern Oregon, southern Idaho, western Utah and Nevada. That was a shock to native bunchgrasses like Poa and Indian ricegrass, which, in that part of the West, had evolved in an environment unused even to bison. Cheatgrass seized its opportunity. The weed hitchhiked from Europe in contaminated seed, straw and ship ballast, and crisscrossed the West with the railroads, which spread it with the straw used for livestock. By 1930, cheat was everywhere. As Aldo Leopold wrote in the 1949 classic A Sand County Almanac, "One simply woke up one fine spring to find the range dominated by a new weed."
That new weed would drastically change the region's fire ecology, among other things. In a typical Great Basin shrubland, forbs and grasses grow patchily underneath a canopy of well-spaced shrubs like sagebrush and shadscale. In contrast, cheatgrass masses in a smothering mane. Its survival strategy is to beat out other plants, Red Army-like, through its sheer numbers: It can drop 50,000 seeds per square meter. An annual, it dies off every year, leaving a thick thatch of flammable material. Even the smallest spark can set off fast-moving fires that kill off any remaining native shrubs. Then, next growing season, those millions of cheatgrass seeds outcompete any surviving natives. After the first burn or two, the fire cycle is forever changed. Normal fire frequency in the Great Basin is every 30-70 years; cheatgrass monocultures burn every three to 10. The bare soil left after fire can blow away in spring and land on snow in far-away mountains, causing quicker melt-off. With nowhere to hide and no shrubs to browse or nest in, wildlife -- including mule deer and the imperiled sage grouse -- quickly move out.
For many years, the Bureau of Land Management, which manages much of the land in the Great Basin, more or less ignored cheatgrass. In the mid-1980s, though, a number of large fires swept through sagebrush communities, and land managers began investigating how to protect and restore the habitat. Then, in the summer of 1999, the Great Basin burned as never before, with fires marching across almost 2 million acres. That forced the agency to take a more aggressive approach to fighting cheatgrass. Yet so far, many restoration efforts have come up short, as native soil erodes after fires, planted seeds fail to establish, and cheatgrass returns en masse. Today, ecologists estimate that it has expanded to between 20 to 50 million acres in the region, and forms a near monoculture in at least 10 to 12 million of those acres.
Cheat isn't even the worst thing that could happen to the Great Basin. Now that the ecosystem is essentially shattered, new invaders have an easier time moving in. Plants like medusahead wildrye, thistles and knapweed lurk in the wings. Unless cheat-altered landscapes can be made more resilient, one of these may become the next great invader, says Mike Pellant, a rangeland ecologist who coordinates the BLM's Great Basin Restoration Initiative. And, Pellant warns, "we don't know which one and where and how fast. So if you think of a downward spiral, cheatgrass is not the bottom of the ecological barrel in the Great Basin."
That's the dark side, he says. "The bright side is we've got great scientists working on the problem." Of course, even the best science can't give the BLM the ability to treat 50 million acres of invaded land, especially when funding for reseeding comes primarily in a reactive rather than proactive form, tied to post-fire restoration. Pellant says any efforts to fight cheat will be mostly focused in sensitive places like wilderness study areas and important sage grouse habitat. A silver lining to the bird's decline is the federal money dedicated to keeping it off the endangered species list, which enables the agency to do more restoration.
Those priority areas can use any help that Leger, and her cheatgrass-fighting native plants, can give. And she's not alone; the effusive scientist is working alongside an Avengers-like posse of restoration scientists, all raring to put into practice new knowledge about the best way to fight Great Basin cheatgrass.


text:
Bloomington Jefferson junior Tyler Johnson beats Prior Lake goaltender Nick Vidmar for the winning goal 55 seconds into the third period. Photo by Loren Nelson
Junior forward Tyler Johnson seized the moment for Bloomington Jefferson to break a tie early in the third period against Prior Lake.
After a fumbled pass by Prior Lake in the Lakers' defensive zone, Johnson scooped the puck and attacked goaltender Nick Vidmar. Johnson pulled the puck through the crease and scored backhand to give undefeated Jefferson (4-0-0) its third, and game-winning, goal in a 5-2 triumph on Tuesday, Dec. 11 at the Bloomington Ice Garden.
"I took advantage, and ended coming up with the game-winner," Johnson said. "Which I think is special."
Johnson has played well all season scoring goals in three of four games. In the game in which he didn't register a goal, against Chanhassen, he had two assists.
He was rewarded Tuesday by being moved up to first line against Prior Lake, joining seniors Jono Lindquist and Colin Hernon.
"Tyler's been playing good for us all year," Bloomington Jefferson coach Jeff Lindquist said. "He's got about a goal a game, so he met his average tonight."
-- Trevor Squire, MN Hockey Hub staff
Bloomington Jefferson junior Tyler Johnson scored the winning goal on Tuesday against Prior Lake. Photo by Loren Nelson
Junior Tyler Johnson, recently promoted to the first line, scored the game-winning goal 55 seconds into third period as Bloomington Jefferson used a strong finish to beat South Suburban Conference rival Prior Lake 5-2 on Tuesday, Dec. 11, at the Bloomington Ice Garden.
The score was tied at 2 entering the third, but Jefferson rattled off two more late goals after Johnson scored to put the game out of reach.
Senior Jono Lindquist scored with 1:32 remaining for the undefeated Jaguars (4-0-0), and senior Ben Daggett scored 16 seconds later to account for the final score in a game that was tightly contested until the final minutes.
The teams traded goals throughout the first and into the second, with senior Colin Hernon opening the scoring on a power play 1:44 into the first period.
Sophomore Charlie Straus also scored for Jefferson.
Seniors Ben Keckeisen and Joey Kleven scored for Prior Lake (0-3-0).
Prior Lake junior goaltender Nick Vidmar stopped 31 shots, while junior Grant Martens made 34 saves for the Jaguars.
-- Loren Nelson, MN Hockey Hub editor
1. Colin Hernon, Bloomington Jefferson
The gritty senior scored the game-opening goal, added an assist, threw his body around with abandon and flashed his exceptional speed on a Jaguars first line that accounted for three goals.
2. Tyler Johnson, Bloomington Jefferson
The junior came alive early in the third, scoring the goal that would prove to be the winner just 55 seconds into the period. He was recently promoted to the first line with Hernon and Lindquist.
3. Nick Vidmar, Prior Lake
The junior goaltender racked up 31 saves, 19 of them coming in a second-period onslaught by the Jaguars. Vidmar stopped at least two breakaway chances and kept the Lakers in position to pull out a win – or at least force overtime – until the closing minutes.
-- Loren Nelson, MN Hockey Hub editor


text:
"The Contractual Obligation Implementation", Episode 18 of Season 6
Leonard (Johnny Galecki), Sheldon (Jim Parsons) and Wolowitz (Simon Helberg) speak to junior high girls about careers in science, on THE BIG BANG THEORY, airing Thursday, March 7th on the CBS Television Network. Photo: Michael Yarish/Warner Bros. ©2013 Warner Bros. Television. All Rights Reserved.


text:
Cookie Policy
For the members areas of the site to work, a cookie will be used to allow this functionality. You must accept cookies to be able to login and access the member features.
This site uses Google Analytics which will leave a cookie.
To manage cookies select your browser from the list below to be taken to the website for that browser.


text:
How effective is your sales force? Are your teams achieving consistent results? Is your investment delivering the returns you need?
Our four-phase analytics-based approach uses rigorous research to transform your sales and services. We make improvements by integrating all three components of an effective sales force: competencies, behaviors and personality. We tailor our services to fit a variety situations and roles, and to accommodate your specific success drivers.
High performance relies on an efficient sales force; we can help you identify opportunities and improve your customer service productivity.


text:
Web research
Freelancers in category of work administrative and secretarial
Overview of all profiles from freelancers and contractors from different categories of work. As a company with a freelance project or temporary vacancy, or as an private individual with a job in your home or garden, you can compare quotes and hire expert freelancers. As a freelancer, you can create a profile or online portfolio with your company which you can be found online by clients.
Post a project Create a profile


text:
Why Video?
Schedule a call
Mike Kepka
video strategies that work
Why Video?
Schedule a call
A recent Wednesday at 2:01 p.m.:
Clutching the worn leather briefcase he's carried with him through the Tenderloin for 30 years, Deleano Seymour pointed out architecture at the corner of Turk and Taylor streets to a small group of local professionals. He also told them the corner is thought to be one of the country's most violent. His guests hung on every word.
Next, after stepping over more than a few sleeping sidewalk inhabitants, Seymour guided his curious crew through St. Anthony's soup kitchen. Later, he showed them where, if you're homeless, you can safely stash your belongings for up to six months. He pointed out intersections where he witnessed four murders and shared fond memories of Original Joe's Italian restaurant, where he worked as a maintenance man for eight years until the day it burnt down.
Julie Mielich was among those on Seymour's "A Walk on the Wild Side" tour. She said having a guide helped ease the fears of being in the gritty neighborhood. Tim Murakami agreed.
"You never hear about the history of the TL. It's always glazed over," he said.
Seymour, 65, was born in Chicago but has lived in the Tenderloin for more than three decades. "I've lived in the homeless shelters. I've eaten in every soup kitchen. I've experienced a lot of ghosts and devils in the Tenderloin," he said.
For 15 years, he gave mini tours of the city from the front seat of the cab he drove. Two years ago he began his Tenderloin walking tour, hoping to make people more aware of the troubles facing his beloved neighborhood. The 90-minute tour is free, although Seymour eventually wants local companies to sponsor his efforts.
"This is not a business venture. It's a love affair," he said.


text:
People who struggle with basic arithmetic may get a boost from a tool that electrically stimulates the brain, according to a study that appeared November 23 in Current Biology.
Researchers at the University of Oxford and University College London studied people with normal math skills using a noninvasive technique called transcranial direct-current stimulation, in which scalp electrodes emit current that modulates neural activity. The team focused on the right parietal cortex because it contributes to spatial and mathematical thinking. This brain region shows abnormal responses in children with developmental dyscalculia, a learning disability that affects math skills.
Over the span of six days the investigators applied current over the volunteers' right parietal lobe for 20 minutes at the beginning of training sessions in which subjects learned to associate numbers with arbitrary symbols, such as triangles or cylinders. After practicing, subjects were rapidly presented with pairs of symbols of different visual sizes (using larger or smaller fonts), and they had to choose the physically larger one as quickly as they could. In some of the pairs, the physically larger item represented a smaller magnitude—for instance, a huge symbol meaning "two" was paired with a tiny symbol representing "five"—and that mismatch could cause a delay in reaction time because subjects must override their impulse to choose the greater number.
By the fourth day subjects who had their right parietal cortex stimulated became slower for mismatched trials as compared with matched trials, just as adults are when they respond to real digits. But participants who did not receive the same pattern of stimulation showed no difference between these trials, suggesting they had not internalized the symbols' meaning. The results indicate that right-hemisphere stimulation helps people learn numerical symbols.
The superior performance lasted for six months—a long effect that suggests the method may someday benefit those with developmental dyscalculia, says study co-author Roi Cohen Kadosh, a cognitive neuroscientist at Oxford. "This was the first step in finding a way to improve numerical abilities," he says.


text:
Profile: Battleground States in the 2004 Presidential Election
National Public Radio
Poll Focuses on Democratic Primary Voters
National Public Radio
Primary Preview: Surveys in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina
Summary of Findings Voter opinion is still fluid in the early Democratic primary states of Iowa, New Hampshire and especially South Carolina. As with the candidates themselves, there are significant disagreements among likely primary voters in these pivotal states on such key issues as how to deal with the postwar situation in Iraq, gay marriage […]
Divided Nation
NewsHour with Jim Lehrer
The 2004 Political Landscape
Over the past four years, the American electorate has been dealt a series of body blows, each capable of altering the political landscape. The voting system broke down in a presidential election. A booming economy faltered, punctuated by revelations of one of the worst business scandals in U.S. history. And the country endured a […]
Once Again, Voters Say: It's the Economy
Introduction and Summary President Bush is facing an electorate that is almost as focused on the economy as it was in the fall of 1991, when rising economic concern began to unravel his father's reelection chances. In an open-ended format, nearly half (49%) of Americans volunteer the economy or jobs as the single issues they […]
66% Expect Bush Victory, But Democrats More Optimistic Than In '91
Summary of Findings Most Americans believe President Bush will win reelection next fall, but Democrats are holding out hope for their party's chances for success in 2004. Overall, two-thirds of registered voters (66%) think Bush will be reelected, compared with 22% who expect the Democratic candidate to prevail. In the fall of 1991, more than […]


text:
Breivik, The Press And The Ongoing Myth Of The 'Violent Gamer'
from the tragedy-as-soap-box deptAnders Breivik's trial for the murder of 77 Norwegians had barely commenced before Breivik gave the press something they could work with. During his opening statements, Breivik referred to two video games, World of Warcraft and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, both of which he referred to in his sprawling manifiesto. Despite making two completely different comments about these games, the press lumped both games together, resulting in misleading headlines such as this one from the Montreal Times:
Anders Behring Breivik trained on video games World of Warcraft, Call of DutyJohn Walker at Rock, Paper, Shotgun swiftly dismantled the reports, most of which were seemingly based on an early Reuters article, which swiftly spread to other news sites with a minimum of fact checking.
Today the Times (paywalled) ran an even more sensational headline.This year of gaming, supposedly to train for his killing spree, was actually a "gift" to himself, which helpfully doubled as an alibi for his withdrawal from his social life. Simply quoting Breivik's own words would have dispelled any notion of World of Warcraft serving as some sort of terrorist training grounds."Breivik played video games for a year to train for deadly attacks"Despite Breivik's ranting describing his year with World Of Warcraft, which took place between 2006 and 2007, as a "gift" to himself, something he wanted to do before he gave up his life, the reports in multiple stories are claiming he was using the game to "prepare" for the attacks. It's a not particularly imaginative reinterpretation of Breivik's words, which really only suggested he played the game because he wanted to have some non-social fun because he believed he deserved it."I deserved to take a year off to do what I wanted to do, especially with the upcoming so-called suicide action - I wanted to have no remorse for what I would lose out on. I wanted a martyrdom gift, so I wanted a sabbatical year."For the usually rambling man, he's oddly clear here about the purpose of playing. It was a break from his obsessive planning. If anyone is unfortunate enough to have read through his 800,000 word manifesto, they'll know quite how much "work" Breivik put into his actions, albeit mostly nonsensical and convoluted, and rarely as he intended. The result is a terrifying tome of this peculiarly clear-minded madness, an exhausting collection of his beliefs, theories, and a diary, on his collecting of guns, bomb equipment, and his attempts to acquire the ingredients for chemical warfare. And from this, he now says, he took a year off. Or as he called it, a "sabbatical". And what did he actually say about it during the trial, that almost no paper is reporting? He said World Of Warcraft was,"pure entertainment. It doesn't have anything to do with July 22."
Breivik's statements about his time spent playing Call of Duty were a bit more disturbing:
"It is a war simulator. It gives you an impression of how target systems work," he explained.First-person shooters have carried the dubious title of "murder simulators" since the days of Doom and the title of "scapegoat" ever since the Columbine Massacre. To hear a defendant casually refer to the game's ability to do exactly that is somewhat surprising. Usually this is attributed to the killer post-facto. Perhaps this caught some of the journalists by surprise, which would explain the baffling conflation of the two games and their intended use.
And it's of course far more widespread. Headlines have appeared in the last 24 hours like,Walker predicts this is only the tip of the iceberg. There's more where this came from and if past experience is anything to go by, it's only a matter of time before legislators and policy makers begin taking turns on this particular soap box in hopes of pushing their agendas through.
CNN: Admitted Norway killer Breivik says he trained on video games
They then mention the games for 51 words out of nearly a thousand.
London Evening Standard: Anders Breivik: Online games helped me plan killings
This article includes the extraordinary line, "He said his training on World of Warcraft, an online game, focused on situations where he would be flanked by two commando teams." Which means the reporter, Bo Wilson, not only didn't bother researching about the game, but didn't even listen to what Breivik said.
The Star Online/Reuters: Breivik used computer war games to plan attack
Repeats the refrain that Breivik can't distinguish between WoW and real life.
Al Arabiya News: Breivik: Playing 'World of Warcraft' helped me prepare for the attacks
During which they count the months between November 2010 and February 2011 to be sixteen, to give Modern Warfare a better showing.
The Irish Times: Breivik used games to plan attack
Yet another article that deliberately suggests that playing WoW was part of his training, rather than the holiday from it that Breivik so clearly states. It's also a hasty rewrite of the Reuters piece.
But remarkably, most reporting (at least, any "reporting" not simply composed of juicy misquotes from the Reuters piece) has been even-handed. One can only hope that with Jack Thompson safely disbarred and Baroness Susan Greenfield having yammered her way to irrelevance, the reactionary "violent video games beget violence" trope may be reaching the end of its life cycle. Time Magazine's Techland blog delivered this to-the-point headline: "Norway Killer Played World of Warcraft, Which Probably Means Nothing At All." Norway's own Dadbladget rounded up gaming experts to get their opinion on Breivik's claim that he used Modern Warfare 2 as a killing-spree trainer. Their statement (roughly translated)?
If so, there are millions of experts on the war in front of TVs out there.CNN tried a different tactic, lobbing an underhand(ed) grenade into the fray with the headline "Norway mass-shooting trial reopens debate on violent video games," swiftly abandoning the debate in favor of trotting out gamers' arguments in favor of violent video games as some sort of "let's have a bit of a chuckle at these hot-headed gamers and their predictable arguments." Enlightening, it isn't but at least it's not another writer leafing through a dodgy "Violence & Video Games" study and drawing his or her own conclusions based on the lack of evidence therein.
The problem with this sort of headline is that Breivik's statements don't actually reopen the debate on violence in video games. It doesn't because the debate never goes away. It just lies dormant until a tragedy like this brings it back to the surface. The noisiest "debates" will likely be located in several countries other than the one in which the tragedy actually occurred. Countries with a historical resistance to violent video games like Australia, Germany and of course, the US, tend to make the most noise.
Gamers and gaming have been a popular scapegoat for most of the last 20 years. Most legislators, already gleefully ignorant of the internet's inner workings, are also on-the-outskirts-peering-in when it comes to the subject of video games. Between these outsiders-with-power and many members of the mainstream media, the image of gamers conjured in response to situations like these is that of a dangerous fringe element who prey on impressionable minds of pliable teens and tweens. This is despite the fact that the average gamer is now 37 years old, most likely off doing useful and proactive stuff like paying taxes and raising kids of his or her own.
Trading on fear and ignorance to present gamers as automatons one flip of the switch away from a killing spree is still altogether too common. Not only is this representation insulting, it's also blatantly false. Gaming is the fastest growing sector of the entertainment industry. As the number of gamers continues to swell, the likelihood of the next sensationally violent criminal also being a gamer increases as well.
For the sake of argument, here are a couple of diagrams:
The overlap of "gamers" with "violent criminals" is due to the fact that even violent criminals have downtime. Gaming culture is very much not a fringe sector, even if someone like Breivik clearly is. It's not impossible to imagine a future where gaming's ubiquitousness has managed to engulf the entirety of the subset "violent criminals."
At this point, the statement: "All violent criminals are gamers," is true, but what is often ignored is the fact that "violent criminals" remains the subset, rather than the other way around. Even if you play devil's advocate and accept the assertion that violent games can be used as "war simulators" and help desensitize gamers towards violence, you still have to accept the fact that violent games are only a small part of a much larger toolset (so to speak).
Breivik, for example, also had several hours of live weapons training, a fanatical hatred for Islam, an obsessional focus on preventing "dilution" of his "culture," and most importantly, the willingness to kill fellow human beings. These additional "tools" are simply not "available" to 99.9999% of gamers. Hanging Call of Duty (and games like it) out to dry because of Breivik's actions is as repugnantly stupid as asking Microsoft to "dumb down" Flight Simulator because the 9/11 terrorists used it to train for their mission.
The problem with various entities (including the press, special interest groups, politicians and prosecutors) playing along with the "violent gamer" myth is that now even the criminals themselves are getting in on the act, citing violent games as an "I'm-not-really-a-bad-person-but-for-the-games" deflection/defense or injecting them into the conversation simply to up the level of controversy. Either way, it clouds the issue at hand and sends feckless "do-gooders" down well-worn paths, all leading away from the uncomfortable fact that evil acts belong solely to the person performing them and not the entertainment surrounding them.
Consider the case of the teen who brutally beat a homeless man to death, saying it was like a "violent videogame." Penny Arcade covered the story and found themselves on the receiving end of an eye-opening letter from the stepmother of the murder suspect. Included in the long, harrowing letter (which details the teen's other activities, including stealing cars, setting fires, beating up handicapped kids, having his parents detained on false abuse charges, etc.) was this statement:
The thing that really gets me with this whole thing is that the kid knows full well that by equating what he's done to a video game, that he will generate controversy and media coverage. It makes me sick that the media is jumping all over this, because that is exactly the result that he wants.Maybe the brief flareup of stories hyping Breivik's gaming past will be nothing more than that: a flareup. Perhaps the media and other interested entities are finding fewer and fewer members of the public willing to humor these bits of conflation and moral panic, especially in the face of an anomalous (and horrific) tragedy of this magnitude. In the end though, what really matters is how society moves on from this and what lessons are learned. The Norwegians themselves have certainly set the example with their reaction to Breivik's massacre, choosing "openness and love," rather than allowing "cowardice and fear" to take hold. Hopefully, the rest of the world will choose to do the same, rather than returning to business-as-usual witch hunts and scapegoating.
Filed Under: anders breivik, call of duty, modern warfare, video game violence, world of warcraft


text:
Customer Support
What is your goal?
Not sure where to start to achieve your fitness goals?
Choose your gender:
Exchange your ProzisPoints for gifts
You can do so within 14 days after receiving the package.
*See Conditions
All our website transactions are secured by mechanisms that detect and prevent actions that indicate fraud.
Should you have any questions or issues, our customer service is always available.