text:
This is the monthly report after the usual battles fought in cyberspace and beyond!
Third encounter with AIX
Mauri was playing with hanging puppets and Marti was already eating Spaghetti, but we were all waiting my father for supper on friday evening. The phone rang once, I called back but it was busy. It turned out that my father phoned, however he had to stop the phone call as someone from IBM support finally called him. He explained me that he had a strange black box in a corner of a huge hall full with wine boxes (each with 12 bottles of prestigious wine!) which refused to boot up. On the black box one could read IBM 520, and closer there was a label saying "Type 8203-E4A N/S G5-208 B4". The server went down on friday morning at 9:45 when an electrician doing maintenance work removed fuses to work safely. The whistling UPS run unheard for a while, and the black beast died right after UPS finished its juice.
The whole company could not work without this server through friday. (on which a DHCP server, a file server and a billing software run), so my father decided to keep trying and to skip supper. I could not resist when he mentioned the box was running AIX, so dangermouse mounted in his car and drove to the huge wine hall equipped with ananas pieces, biscuits and the two laptops virgibuntu and andromeda. Intermezzo for the fans: the Calibra car lost the front spoiler in a close encounter with the guard rail, which explains the broken blizzard sign, too.
But back to the problem: the local network was not lying neither on the usual 192.168.x.x IP range, nor on 10.x.x.x. It was between 172.16.x.x and 172.31.x.x which was unusual setting for us, and the confusion was great. On the LCD panel of the IBM 520 one could find out that it was started in modality A which was sort of diagnostic modality. The box did not have neither keyboard nor screen and was silent like the monolith of Space Odissey.
It had a strange HMS port, but we did not know what HMS was. Either the manual of 500 pages we found in Internet about HMS forgot to introduce what HMS was, or we were so tired that could not figure out.
The next day, when the kind technician of IBM came, we learned how to use HMS to revive the server, and learned about the smitty utility, and why one of the hard disk never lighted. For short time, I had the root password of the box, but when I tried to login to have a ride, the software owner already changed it. It is the third time I encounter an AIX, but never had the chance to login and discover its inners! In the end, our job reduced to get the printers back up and running, and to add a samba network name to the host file, which for some reason the resurrected blackbox did not want to resolve. When we left, I glanced one last time at the misterious IBM 520 box, and I felt like it was laughing.
Phantom Computer
I discovered that Virtualbox 4 has much better network support. I used this fact to setup a Fedora Linux 16 with the Sage libraries, a phantastic collection of mathematical software. Additionally, I found out that GPU libraries worked well under Linux, especially the Synapse support made by Lukas Gebauer. There is still some hope for the version II of GPU then! And from the outside, this Fedora thing should appear like a phantom computer on its network segment!
There were two lessons I learned with this puzzle: the first one is "let others help you"! In fact, I could not even solve the first level of the puzzle, while Virgi made it up to level 27. She explained me the rules of the game (we could not see them as we were logged in), and also some of the heuristics she was using, and to which mathematical problem it reduced (this can be found in the forum as well). I had a bad time passing the first level after that, but finally managed to do it! contagious told me that he used an external library to solve the Crossflip challenge. As my brute force solver barely brought me to level 60 and I could not find a way to implement Posa search, I decided to go with external libraries to defeat OneOfUs. I tried out many, including one of an author who made the claim P=NP. He was so kind to provide the C++ implementation, which you can't say of most of so called scientific authors. Still, his library did up to level 460, but then started going very slow. I teamed up with userfriendly, sharing what we discovered on the problem. After our briefing, he then skyrocketed to level 1000.
I kept stucked at level 460 knowing all what userfriendly knew. I worked through the night, but could not find the mistake in my solver implementation. I supposed an obscure error in the POST implementation of Synapse (the submitting part of the solver), but could not find any error after I created a test page to see what I submitted. Defeated, I went to sleep. I thought on all what I observed (including the fact that the "P=NP" solver in its slowlyness passed level 460) and then had the Zen flash, which each hacker.org puzzle hides. It turns out that my solver was in fact correct and it was solving the problem, just it was solving another problem which was not the one expected by hacker.org! I had a nasty mistake in the board generation for level over 242, but this mistake showed up only on bigger boards! The second lesson learnt is "if you think your code is right, it is. Look somewhere else!". For the record, the last level was solved in 20 seconds. The whole story can be seen here, when charting will work again.
Cheat Engine
Cheat Engine is an amazing Open Source tool which you can attach to any running process. Among other things, it identifies where integer variables are held in memory, so that you can modify them while you are playing. This helped me out a lot in a challenge I could not disassemble. I also tried "What in the World" without luck, but knowing what the sequences probably are. And failed on "Slim Image", too. On hacker.org, I often feel at the limit of what my mind can do and also what current software and hardware can do, which is a good introduction for the next section :-)
Geometric Visions
I read the Geometric Visions article of Michael Crawford, which is a great article not only about mental disease, but also about philosophy and about how people mind works in general.
I only had acoustic allucinations once, when i was living in a place close to a noisy rail station where i could not sleep. i never had problems with depressions or so, also because i can't focus on details, i do not care about details (which can be also a problem in life :-)
To tell the difference between voices and real life, i used Occam's rasor principle: if my reasoning started getting too complex, and one easier explanation (which might be hurting to myself) is easier, then i decided to believe the easier explanation and to fix my behaviour in positive ways. I found out that most of the time, complex reasoning was just an excuse to hide my misbehaviour. Occam's principle worked very well through my whole life.
Final notes
I found the OpenFlashChart library for PHP and I am now pepping up deltasql with charts. The hope is that such chart experiments will help the GPU project as well!
As final links the history of Commodore International and of its founder, and a note on the strange Kaprekar numbers.
That's all folks!
mkdir resized
for f in $FILES
if [ $f != "./resize.sh" ]
echo "Resizing $f file down to $1 per cent..."
# take action on each file. $f store current file name
convert $f -resize $1% "./resized/$f"
These are the latest from my hackerland journey. I feared that either me or the challenge site would go down, and in fact hacker.org is now temporarily unavailable since three days. Maybe it is under a Denial of Services attack of some user who is angry because he can't solve some challenge... Who knows?
Close to the last castle
With 190 challenges solved, I am close to the last castle on the upper left corner of the map. The challenges around it are very hard, none of them is solved, and after there will be a super-hard challenge anyway to protect this castle.
Being a dangermouse it was reasonably easy to solve some quests of the serie "Really Small Mouse". I brought the mouse down to 21 instructions, but there are some hackers who can do it in 20 and less! Cool challenges encountered on the road were 'No full ACK in SEPT' which refreshed modular algebra a bit, 'Maelstrom' to train image recognition, 'HVM cipher' and 'Really Simple Access' to revive my reminescences of cryptanalysis. While solving "Shattered and Shuffled" and "Shredded and Scrambled", I felt cold down my neck, it was the breath of the dark side who strucked me.
I suffered deceiving in "Such Much" and only an answer on the forum brought me back on track. I almost brought down hacker.org by submitting huge numbers calculated with Python! I attacked with brute force 'Soviet Intercept' and I almost locked me out of this challenge; now I have to wait one hour between submitting of answers for this particular challenge, though now I prepared a sort of key which should allow the identification of the spies.
For the cryptographic challenges involving unkown codes, I developed a tool to perform the kappa-test, and another one to perform the chi-test on vigeneres which have substitutions in columns instead of simple caesar ciphers. I wrote them according to this article. I found a good tool to perform first image analysis on Steganographic challenges here made by Caesum, the author of the Challenger's handbook. To perform coprime factorization I definitely recommend MSieve. Other discoveries were Binary Coded Decimals (BCD) and Setun, a Russian computer which was working with ternary balanced circuits :-)
deltasql 1.4.2 and beyond
1.4.2 was a tactical release, to get hands on code which I did not touch since three months and also to advertise deltasql through the Mantra of Open Source Release often, release early. The development of 1.4.3 is struggled by technical accidents (the server I am using to test went down, because the friend of mine who kindly hosts deltasql forgot to pay the bill). Additionally, I face now trouble pushing my code with git to sourceforge. But 1.4.3 will be fresh wind with several minor bugfixes, user preferences and the ability to inform users of new scripts via sendmail.
Finally, to remember myself on how to
Set default operating system in Grub
1. edit DEFAULT variable in /etc/default/grub
2. run sudo grub-update
There are many challenge sites on the net, and one to unify them all.
I decided to focus on hacker.org as there are many high quality challenges involving programming, cryptography and maths, and a bit less of ugly exploits and similar. The site organizes challenges on a map. Harder challenges are on mountains, easier ones on grass. Each time a challenge is solved, it opens the road to new challenges. Castles protect challenges that are on crossroads. Winning against a fortified castle opens new possibilities and new areas to be discovered.
From easy to hard or the other way round
Sometimes i get stuck solving a harder challenge. At first time, it looks like i am wasting my time, but the point is that if by chance i manage to solve it, several other challenges suddenly get much easier.
This was the case with the Labyrinth challenge, which forced me to develop new techniques for the HVM. In the end, I invested more than one month of time on it. Once Labyrinth was solved, I could solve the similar Deluge and the sequel "Flash Flood warmup" in one day. Other challenges like "King Mouse", "Brokenest Keys" and "Mus Minutoides" finally found a solution through new ugly techniques (mainly calls with no returns and what i call the statistical approach, to spoil them a bit).
To sharpen my weapons further, I put Caesum's Challengers handbook in my journeyer's backpack. And here I found a good explanation of the chi and kappa test, so that I added the index of coincidence to the magic spells I am aware of.
It was a great satisfaction to besiege the castle protected by 'Spiral bits'! The path following algorithm did his job well, but the decoding part was a complete nightmare, so that i turned the Lazarus GUI into a complete editor for inserting, deleting and flipping bits. I also had an integrated lens on board and a tool to compare the decoding on slightly different paths (which did not work very well though). And a good bit of luck was also part of solving it!
I then succesfully attacked 'No full ACK in HEX' and 'No full ACK in DEC', learning Knuth arrow notation, the tower of powers, and in particular learning Python's ability of computing with large numbers, which is unrivalled. Maple couldn't do what Python did. Now I know why some numeric people I worked with were so happy with Python :-)
And still, there is work to do. My armies failed several times against 'Blizzard' and 'Descartes'. The 'Captcha' prototype needs further refinement as well...
(current ranking on hacker.org is 188 with 180 challenges solved/on Khan 200 challenges solved and Copernicus badge reached, next goal is one million points)
Mauri is born! Marti now has a brother and we are all very happy to welcome him in our family :-) Might the source be with you, Luke.
In the following, some updates on our lone hackerland journey:
Runaway Robot
Probably some smart people go straight to the correct solution. For me, I walked through all stages of enlightment. I first developed a maze parser in Frepascal, then got a brute force solver in place which could solve up to about maze level 120. The solver started taking long times for each new level (up to 6 hours). I am a bit out of gear right now as we moved house, lost connection to civilization for some time, and still have to reactivate the server room, which will move from pavement to cellar. I remembered that spartacusII server got burned in a similar challenge and decided to upgrade the algorithm as soon as possible. With dynamic programming I restricted a bit the solution space. A first attempt with combinations failed, I tried to debug the way I create combinations, but could not find the mistake. I rewrote the algorithm and got a working solver for levels up to 153. Then again, the solver was taking too much time. Finally, I got a sort of Zen flash and found a way to retrieve the solution, as it would be just popping out from the maze. The new solver could solve any maze in less than a second, and easily moved up to level 513. When it solved level 514 (a level noone has solved), and was waiting the one minute delay to avoid server pounding before the solution is submitted, I got very proud. Too much proud, as the server answered: "Your solution sucked, maximum level for this puzzle is 513". This site is amazing, it does not forget to teach you to be modest :-) The whole story can be seen in this graph as well.
I then decided to attack another puzzle, Mortal Coil. Adapting the parser and getting a brute force solver in place was easy, as Runaway prepared the path. But now I am stuck at level 68. I found papers on the Hamiltionian path problem, which is NP-complete and now need to think on how to divide and conquer it.
Other challenges
On the Hack Virtual Machine, I worked out the meaning of the two commands ^ and v and such knowledge lead to some progress: by analyzing the solution of Execution Style, I finally cracked Hello Small World! Also revision 34 of my Labyrinth program could solve the three mazes, though it required several submissions. In fact, the limit of 40'000 cycles is very tight. The version which solved the challenge could solve the reference maze I was using only in about 53'000 cycles. The Labyrinth program is based on a wall following algorithm published in Nievergelt's book about Algorithms and datatypes.
I found in the depths of Internet an almost complete map of the challenges and it is clear now that to achieve some breakthrough, I need to work out Spiral Bits. The encoding is a bit hard, but by printing out the spiral on a piece of A3 paper, it is possible to work it out with some patience. The pathfinder solver I developed follows the spiral but keeps staying on the side, so I have to think a way to balance it a bit. To debug the breadcrumbs left by the program, I use this magnifying glass.
On Khan Academy, I am close to the Copernicus Badge, but the Atlas Black Hole badge moved again out of range from 250 to 500 challenges...
Some other news
Unrelated to the previous topic, a deltasql patch to branch from existing tags for 1.4.1 is published here.
And do not forget to check the Wikileaks Spy Files!
Let me finally point at a news on the Voyager probes measuring Lyman-alpha radiation (here). Amazing piece of irons, the Voyager space probes!
emerge -av tcpdump # to monitor traffic
emerge -av openntpd # to synchronize the clock with ntpd
emerge -av tor # tor itself
torgencert # generates a certificate for your tor node
ntptime # to adjust your clock
ExitPolicy accept *:22 # ssh
ExitPolicy accept *:465 # smtps (SMTP over SSL)
ExitPolicy accept *:993 # imaps (IMAP over SSL)
ExitPolicy accept *:994 # ircs (IRC over SSL)
ExitPolicy accept *:995 # pop3s (POP3 over SSL)
ExitPolicy accept *:6660-6697 # allow irc ports, very widely
ExitPolicy reject *:* # no other exits allowed
ExitPolicy accept *:22 # ssh
ExitPolicy accept *:465 # smtps (SMTP over SSL)
ExitPolicy reject *:* # no other exits allowed
/etc/init.d/tor start
tcpdump -A | grep -i "WHATYOUAREINTERESTEDIN" > captured .txt
New HTML Parser: The long-awaited libxml2 based HTML parser code is live. It needs further work but already handles most markup better than the original parser.
Keep up with the latest Advogato features by reading the Advogato status blog.
If you're a C programmer with some spare time, take a look at the mod_virgule project page and help us with one of the tasks on the ToDo list!


text:
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
44% less fat • 55% less sat fat • 27% fewer calories than the original recipe. Coffee cake is still delicious with an update to canola oil and whole wheat flour.
*To toast pecans, heat oven to 350°F. Spread pecans in ungreased shallow pan. Bake uncovered 6 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until light brown.
We've replaced ingredients with great-tasting alternatives to create better-for-you recipes that are just as yummy as the originals.
We used fat-free sour cream in this recipe, but you can use reduced-fat sour cream instead.
Toasting the pecans is a great way to add extra flavor without increasing fat or calories.
© 2017 ®/TM General Mills All Rights Reserved


text:
|GTA V Latest News | #GTAV | #GTAOnline
2008 More GTA IV artwork appears around New York
Grand Theft Auto IV - General News | @ 11:33 AM MDT | By rappo
Since last week's report of GTA IV graffiti seen in Williamsburg (on the corner of Bedford and North 5th), three new instances GTA IV graffiti art have popped up around New York. Artwork of Little Jacob can be seen in Harlem on the corner of 112th St. and 1st Ave. The artwork of Manny and Elizabeta (along with one other) is located in the Lower East Side on the corner of 2nd St. and Ave. A. The last is of Vlad and the text "Liberty City Bar" is located in SoHo on Lafayette between Spring and Prince St.
Unfortunately these small sizes are all we currently have (provided by Gawker - where some better photos can be seen in the article's comments taken by visitors trying to score a free copy of GTA IV), but we'll keep our eyes out for some higher resolution photographs:
Discuss the graffiti and contest in our GTA IV forums
We have also added some new GTA IV artwork to the site, found by Brotha. From Swedish magazine Level, this new artwork is very similar to an early drawing of another helicopter ride:
Discuss the new artwork in our GTA IV forums
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Each year, the University of Tennessee Alumni Association funds awards that recognize excellence in the classroom. These awards are part of the association's continuing effort to encourage resourceful and creative instruction and to publicly recognize exceptional teaching, especially the teaching of undergraduates.
Selected by the Knoxville Campus Alumni Awards Committee, the winners will be announced at the spring Chancellor's Honors Banquet.
Nominate a current faculty member, complete and return the nomination form. Visit the Outstanding Teacher Award website for more information, including a list of previous recipients of the award. Also, please note that winners of the Outstanding Teacher Award are ineligible to receive the award again for a period of five years.
The deadline for nominations is Monday, November 1, 2010.
For further information, contact Mary Holtman-Reed at firstname.lastname@example.com.


text:
Throw-pillow tutorial using a Pottery Barn table runner
31 Comments
notes of sincerityMarch 26, 2012 at 1:37 pm
Your pillow covers look fabylous. :0)
Thanks for showing us how.
BeckyMarch 26, 2012 at 1:51 pm
These are so pretty! I like the phrase "short attention span project" because that's just about all I do anymore:p Thanks for the tutorial! Hope you have (are having) a great time at your retreat!
Natalia BonnerMarch 26, 2012 at 2:21 pm
Very very cute Amy! Great use of a runner!!!
AnnabellaMarch 26, 2012 at 2:34 pm
I live in Marrakech and that fabric looks so Moroccan! Very cute.
NedraMarch 26, 2012 at 2:36 pm
Nice tut! I will be looking for table runners in clearance sections now.
Have a wonderful time on your get-away!
Melissa CorryMarch 26, 2012 at 3:14 pm
Where are you off to for your retreat?? Next time you are headed to one of these let me know and I will see if I can make it to. I would love to hang out and sew with you for the weekend 🙂
JudyMarch 26, 2012 at 3:42 pm
I did the same thing but with white table runners that I had purchased years ago. I've been doing applique or embroidery on them for different holidays. Never thought when I bought them to find other colors for pillows, my mind went straight to what it already was. I had purchased 3 and I'm now down to my last 1/2. Have fun on your sewing retreat.
KatiMarch 26, 2012 at 4:06 pm
Love these. I'm a bit jealous. I wish I could run out and buy the table runners to make some for myself. I adore the design and the color.
JodiMarch 26, 2012 at 4:58 pm
Love your "runner" pillows. Have a great time sewing at your retreat!
vintage greyMarch 26, 2012 at 4:59 pm
Oh, this is a great tutorial! 🙂 So creative!! I will have to give it a try! I love new ideas. Thanks for sharing!:) Have a wonderful day! xo Heather
lifeinredshoesMarch 26, 2012 at 6:00 pm
I'm glad someone else does this! I also use the placemats. And the napkins make great pillows too 🙂
MarianMarch 26, 2012 at 6:35 pm
GREAT idea! Thank you for sharing, this is brilliant.
A Plain PathMarch 26, 2012 at 6:51 pm
Very nice!! Short attention span projects are a must have for sanity sometimes. 🙂 love your new pillows.
Joanie's QuiltsMarch 26, 2012 at 8:03 pm
Gorgeous pillows. Now I will be on the look out for sale table runners that will make fabulous pillows. Great price too!
ThimbleannaMarch 26, 2012 at 8:23 pm
They're Perfect Amy. And Adorable!!!
Jennifer @ Ellison Lane QuiltsMarch 26, 2012 at 8:50 pm
Amy you are so SMART! 🙂 Buying a table runner that cute on sale was brilliant, and look, your pillows are lovely. Way to go! Hope you have a great sewing weekend coming up!
chrisMarch 26, 2012 at 9:09 pm
Darling pillows…and how fun that old fabric is so NOW. 🙂
Shop GirlMarch 26, 2012 at 10:10 pm
Fantastic pillows! You are so hip using the color Tangerine, little did you know when you kept your orange chairs and orange table runner that you were ahead of the wave! Have fun retreating, wish I was. You will come back all energized and ready for more "Real life". Your awesome!
CynthiaMarch 27, 2012 at 12:19 am
What a great idea!!! The pillows look incredible on your couch!
SameliasMumMarch 27, 2012 at 2:17 am
Fantastic use of a table runner. The colour is amazing! Love, love, love!
Second Hand RoseMarch 27, 2012 at 4:22 am
I love the material its gorgeous! Such a good idea! XxxX http://thesecondhandrose.blogspot.co.uk/
LeslieMarch 27, 2012 at 6:30 am
these look great!!! i love using something like that runner for something new…a year or so ago i used a old curtain to back all my new quilted living room pillows. so much fun. this is a great idea.
LynetteMarch 27, 2012 at 7:57 am
me too! I love getting a great buy and then using it for something other than what it was intended. The orange print is great and just Puuurrr..fect! Have a great time relaxing and retreating!!
MauriMarch 27, 2012 at 9:43 am
Love the quick pillows, I need to make some too because the kids are slowly destroying the ones that came with the couches. Love the pop of orange, you are so on trend! 🙂
Claire JainMarch 27, 2012 at 1:14 pm
These are so cute! And you know I'm ALL about sewing over pins 😉
Katy CameronMarch 27, 2012 at 1:39 pm
Cute, and love the bright orange
Woodland WoolensMarch 27, 2012 at 7:19 pm
Aaahhhh soooooo beautiful EVERYTHING here is!

Love your blog!

Blessings,
Smaantha {Woodland Woolens}
leighMarch 28, 2012 at 6:26 pm
that orange is gorgeous! I with you'd picked one up for me 🙂
J-MoneyMarch 29, 2012 at 1:28 am
My mother picked up a ton of table runners and place-mats after the holidays at a local Dollar General Store. Some of them are really nice and look almost like tapestries. We are going to make a few into pillows and even into wall hangings by adding a tree branch and loops. These literally cost her anywhere from 10-80 cents, yes CENTS!
Aunt SpicyMarch 31, 2012 at 3:28 am
LOL! I used the same table runners for this quilt http://auntspicy.blogsot.com/2010/12/orange-crush.html it must run in the genes!
Selling your diamondsApril 6, 2012 at 3:58 am
Pillows and throws
Belle and June carries an outstanding collection of beautifully designed home. for more info please visit http://www.belleandjune.com


text:
By Tim Wildmon
Well, it is time again for a look at some of more interesting police reports from the Tupelo and Lee County area featuring some of Northeast Mississippi's "best and brightest" in the world of loony lawlessness. The reports listed below I have copied exactly as the officer wrote them down.
• "Commerce at East Main (Tupelo), no driver's license, an officer noticed a stalled vehicle in the turn-around lane about 1 p.m. The driver and passenger were attempting to push it out of the roadway. The driver was pushing forward and passenger was pushing backward. The officer stopped and told them if they pushed in the same direction they would make more progress."
My take: What can I say about this, really?
• "Barnes Crossing, 1000 block, an officer was dispatched to Belk's around 6:30 p.m. Employees watched a black female conceal merchandise in her purse and exit the store. The woman eluded security officers and fled in a white Ford Mustang convertible…In the process of fleeing, the woman dropped her purse and police found cash, two cell phones, McDonald's French fries, tooth brush, tooth paste, makeup, deodorant, and wallet and perfume."
My take: French fries in your purse, lady? You have far worse problems than being a shoplifter.
• "Jeff Homan and Graham (Tupelo), careless driving, an officer spotted a Pontiac traveling about 20 mph weaving on and off the road. He stopped the car and the female driver. He noticed a 12 ounce Natural Ice beer in the cup holder. There was an empty pint of gin on the floor as well as an empty Budweiser bottle. The woman smelled of alcohol and her speech was very slurred. As he was arresting her, the woman asked the officer to, 'Just let me go home 'cause I'm just drunk and I only live right down the road.' She was transported to jail instead."
My take: Well, lady, there the words "just" and "drunk" don't go together when it comes to driving.
• Ida near Lawndale (Tupelo), driving under the influence, an officer met a blue Cadillac that refused to dim its headlights. The driver continued after the officer turned on the blue lights and continued into the apartment complex after the siren was sounded. The driver parked and started to get out. The driver was ordered back into the car and responded, 'For what? I ain't did nothing.'"
My take: Instead of community service, this guy was sentenced to English 101.
• "Lumpin, 500 block, malicious mischief, a man said while he was taking his belongings back to West Point, he received a photo on his phone of his ex-girlfriend slashing the tires on his car. Both passenger side tires were flat when he returned."
My take: When you send picture of yourself slashing tires, you are not helping yourself.
• "CR 821, Saltillo, breaking and entering, a couple came home and noticed their front door was open. When they checked, the washer and dryer were missing. They went next door to a relative's house and located the missing items."
My take: Stealing your relative's washer and dryer is bad enough. But then you go and leave the front door wide open?
• "Commerce, Tupelo, contempt of court, a woman was at the jail to file a report against someone with deputies. The police then learned that the woman herself had five outstanding warrants. She was arrested in the lobby and walked around to booking."
My take: If only all police work was this easy…
• CR 140, Tupelo, shoplifting, a store clerk reported a young white female came in around 1:30 a.m., grabbed a 12-pack of beer and ran out of the store. She got in a dark pick up and left. At 4:10 a.m., the same suspect entered the store and stole a case of the same brand of beer. This time, she fled in a white Pontiac."
My take: I'm seeing a new television campaign for whatever brand of beer that was. "Beer so good, it'll make you rob the same store twice in one night…"
Community columnist Tim Wildmon is a Lee County resident. He is president of the American Family Association, but the column represents his personal opinion unless otherwise noted. Contact him at email@example.com.


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Binghamton University offers global information systems workshops
Binghamton University's global information systems (GIS) facility will offer three workshops in June.
"An Introduction to ArcView" will be offered from 9 a.m. to noon Wednesday, June 25. The workshop will introduce new users to ArcView GIS 3.2, the most commonly used GIS software package used for viewing and manipulating spatial data. Participants, who should have basic introductory knowledge of GIS, will learn how to navigate ArcView's documents, menus and toolbars; customize the interface; add files; and create thematic maps and layouts. Considerable hands-on experience is provided through the use of lab exercises. This workshop is a prerequisite for Intermediate ArcView.
"Intermediate ArcView" will be offered from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday, June 26. The workshop covers topics such as learning how to add global positioning systems (GPS) data and other data tables to a project; creating, editing and linking tables; how to plot tabular data containing coordinate pairs or addresses as points on a map; creating attribute and locational queries; creating new data using geoprocessing tools, and analyzing data using a variety of geospatial techniques.
"Introduction to GPS" will be offered from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, June 27. This hands-on workshop will introduce the theory behind GPS and show participants how to use a GPS in the field, from satellite constellations to plotting GPS data. Users will learn how to set up a data dictionary, collect data, post process data and map it as a useable GIS data layer.
All workshops will be held in room 206A in the Student Wing on the University campus. Registration is $50 per workshop or $100 for all three. For more information or to register, call Kevin Heard at 607-777-3536 or e-mail firstname.lastname@example.com
Complete details can also be found on the GIS website at http://gis.binghamton.edu/


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*Also available in 4-Hooks (Style 10) and 9-Hooks (Style 11)
Established in 1971, Jodee® emphasizes superior craftsmanship in their production of mastectomy bras, breast forms, swimwear, and accessories. Only the best quality fabrics, sewn with utmost care to meet the highest fitting specifications, pass their stringent quality control inspections. Jodee believes that the right bra and breast form not only restores balance and assures a comfortable fit, but also fills an emotional need.
We at MidtownHealthOnline.com are dedicated to finding the perfect mastectomy products for our customers and we believe in and stand by all of the products we offer. With a dedication to quality and comfort, we only offer products that pass our own rigorous standards and have been backed by many industry insiders including our professional fitters as well as our customers' feedback and testimonials. We do not offer products that we ourselves would not buy and believe in setting the standard in quality and reliability in the women's healthcare industry.
To speak to one of our caring, experienced Certified Fitters at MidtownHealthOnline.com call 1-866-774-9513.
Please be certain to have been recently fitted for a mastectomy bra prior to ordering.
Overnight or 2nd Day shipping is available at an additional charge. View full Shipping and Delivery Policy.
This item will typically ship via USPS unless shipped with other, larger or heavier items. Please provide a shipping address that can accept deliveries from either USPS or UPS.
Returns and Exchanges: You may try on an item for fit, but it cannot be worn and the packaging must be its original condition as well as all tags still attached when returned. We will not accept returns or issue refunds on items that have been worn, washed, stained, have missing tags, smell of smoke, or are damaged in any way. Please make sure all tags and packaging are exactly how they were shipped to you. The items must be carefully packed to protect the product and the packaging. Items returned with damaged packaging will incur a 20% restocking fee to replace the damaged items.
View Return Policy
While we cannot administer medical advice, our Customer Service Team members are available to assist you with the ordering of any mastectomy garment or other medical supplies. We have trained mastectomy fitters available to help you with your order.Our toll-free number is 1-866-774-9513 Monday through Friday, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm CST (7:00 am to 3:00 pm PST / 10:00 am to 6:00 pm EST). If you prefer to correspond by email, our address is email@example.com.
|Jodee 4-Hooks Bra Extender, Style 10
|Jodee 9-Hooks Bra Extender, Style 11
|Lumpectomy Products
5 Stars
I would recommend this item to a friend.
October 11, 2014
This is an essential thing for when you need a little extra space.
5 Stars
I would recommend this item to a friend.
works great
July 23, 2014
These are very soft on the under side and the hooks stay in place.


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Reviewed By Barrett B (Cincinnati, OH) Reviewed for a 2008 Ford Mustang —9/23/2015 10:03 AM
I upgraded the rear brakes on my GT500 with this kit. The quality is top notch and I got a great price from Auto Anything. It helps if you call them to get your best price as they can usually beat what's shown on their website even if it's already a sale price. Love the upgrade. This is how the car should have come from the factory and now the rear brakes are on par with the looks and performance of the front ones.


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Airwolf Season 1
Journey to the Center of the Earth. The original with James Mason and Pat Boone. It's not a bad flick for it's time.
Surrogates via Netflix Watch Instantly. Good flick, but only scratches the surface of what could have been a great sci-fi movie. It reminded me of I, Robot.
[FONT=Book Antiqua]He passes to Moses - He shoots, he scores![/FONT]
Mummy of the raincoat is a gigantic trollop.
Kick-"Bleep". Was talked into it. Sat here from Netflix for three weeks.
I was pleasantly surprised. I actually found myself sitting at the edge of my chair during the conclusion.
Nowhere in your incoherent ramblings did you come anywhere close to the answer. Thanks to you, everyone in this room is now stupider having heard you. I award you no points and may God have mercy on your soul. -Billy Madison-
Yogi Bear with the kids. Actually "bear-able" movie. Not your "average" G flick.
For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is.
The Other Guys - I don't worship the ground Will Ferrell and Adam McKay walk on, like some (including my roommate, who had this movie) do. Too often it feels like their movies together have them trying really hard to be funny all the time, even when it feels like overkill or is completely unnecessary or is out of character. So it's like their others (Anchorman, Talladega Nights) in that regard. It was still funny and had some cool action but I'd like to see them reign it in a little bit.
Got a question for Hasbro? Ask it here!
My Photos and Reviews: SSG Toy Guide
My Star Wars Fan Film: The Lazy Jedi
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai. Hadn't seen this one in years. Got a copy for Christmas.
Special engagement at AMC Theaters of Airplane! tonight, complete with free poster. There were some laughs from the 30-40 people there, but not as many LOLs as I expected. Maybe some of the scenes and situations are lost on the "younger generation" (Supperware, disco scene, Ethel Merman, etc.). Still worth it.
p.s. I realize that I still own some of the S(T)upperware and clothes hamper props, myself!
I predict that the upcoming Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi film will include the word "and." Multiple times.
Machete. Wow, what a ride! Over the top in every way! I'll be adding this one to my collection.
Bank Heist. An interesting Jason Statham movie about a 1970s bank robbery supported by elements of the British government.
Sahara. The Humphrey Bogart WWII movie. Very enjoyable.
Family Guy: It's a Trap! Enjoyable, but I still think the first one is the best. If I can find a copy reasonably priced, I'll pick it up.
The Other Guys. Another okay effort by Will Ferrell. Had it's funny moment.


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Dunfermline, Scotland: Birthplace of Carnegie and Forbes is Pittsburgh's soulmateNovember 23, 2013 11:46 PM
DUNFERMLINE, Scotland -- They stand just about a half mile between them, door to door. A modest weaver's cottage and a 378-year-old noble estate, where two men emerged from circumstance as different as the centuries they were born in. And while this town is sacred ground to the Scots -- none other than Robert the Bruce is buried here -- it should be nearly as such to anyone who calls Pittsburgh home.
On Nov. 25, 1758, Gen. John Forbes, a native of this ancient capital of Scotland, captured the abandoned French Fort Duquesne at the forks of the Ohio River for the British and renamed it "Pittsburgh" after his boss, the English statesmen who saw Britain through the French and Indian War, William Pitt the Elder, First Earl of Chatham.
Exactly 77 years to the day later, the man who would become father of Pittsburgh steel and philanthropy, Andrew Carnegie, was born here in 1835 in his family's 12-by-15-foot single-room living space.
Of the almost cosmic connection between the two towns, Frank Connelly said in a healthy Scottish brogue, "This is our sheerd hesstray" (shared history). An energetic native Dunfermlinian, and an unabashed civic booster with an encyclopedic knowledge of his hometown (think a Scottish Rick Sebak), Mr. Connelly is the director of Dynamic Dunfermline, an organization among whose principal objectives is strengthening ties between his town and the American city so heavily shaped by two of its most famous native sons.
On Monday, they'll honor Carnegie's 178th birthday with a day full of educational events around the town. Perhaps not coincidentally, the event is being promoted with a colorful, Warholian-influenced poster of Carnegie (that other Pittsburgh Andy, whose work was recently feted in the Scottish Parliament).
Carnegie's humble home
The 30-minute train ride to Dunfermline from Edinburgh includes a breathtaking few moments crossing the massive, cantilevered 123-year-old Forth Rail Bridge, the first steel structure in Britain. Below is the Firth-of-Forth, and on the horizon, the North Sea. Dunfermline straddles a hillside, a strategic location.
There is evidence of settlements here dating to the Stone Age, but the town's "modern" history begins nearly a thousand years ago. The Scottish national hero Robert the Bruce ruled here and is buried in the 900-year-old Romanesque Dunfermline Abbey, now partial ruins.
In his autobiography "The Gospel of Wealth," Carnegie wrote, "Fortunate in my ancestors, I was supremely so in my birthplace," and although he lived there only until age 12 it's clear that the Dunfermline of his youth remained of paramount influence to one of the wealthiest self-made men in human history. And although two Scottish and two British kings were born here (and the lead singer of Jethro Tull), it is Carnegie's impact that is still felt here on a daily basis as it is in Pittsburgh.
The first of 2,811 Carnegie Libraries worldwide was opened here in 1883. Showing the timeless wisdom of politicians, its construction was actually opposed by town councilman who worried about raising taxes to pay for its upkeep. Like so many Carnegie Libraries in and around Pittsburgh, it's a regal structure of a long-gone era, but inside a working modern-day library like any other -- unremarkable in appearance, invaluable in utility.
A Carnegie Hall, constructed in 1937 in Art Deco style, is a hub of the town's arts community. And even at the Guildhall & Linen Exchange, a centuries-old commerce building retrofitted into a modern pub that serves American craft beers, a placard of Carnegie quotes hangs prominently behind the bar. Until this year when it merged with another school, a nearby college was called Carnegie College.
The son of a handloom weaver -- the town was a center for linens prior to the industrial revolution -- Carnegie was born in a tiny house on Moodie Street, which the primary exhibit of the Andrew Carnegie Birthplace Museum. Curator Lorna Owers said it was here that Carnegie absorbed the struggle of poverty, and had many of his lifelong philosophical beliefs solidified by his father and uncle, both staunch "Chartists" who championed the common man and the possibility of upward mobility.
The family's tiny living quarters (the house was shared with another family) are above a room with a working replica of the Jaquard handloom his father used. The downstairs room is where William Carnegie toiled and Andrew learned the trade as a bobbin boy.
The main exhibition hall follows his life from his adolescence in Pittsburgh through the height of his empire, and his later life as a globe-trotting philanthropist. An at-times ruthless businessman yet benevolent benefactor, a pacifist whose steel fueled the wars of the world (and his fortunes), Carnegie is a study in contrasts, Ms. Owers said.
"He was just a dynamo that wouldn't stop," Ms. Owers said of Carnegie's lifelong curiosity about the world, zeal for success and relentless optimism.
Some artifacts show his connection to his powerful or famous contemporaries: a signed letter and photograph from King Edward VII, inscribed photos from Helen Keller and from Czar Nicholas II, a walking stick made from the hide of a rhinoceros shot by Theodore Roosevelt.
Others symbolically reflect the reach of his philanthropy: original Carnegie Hero medals, a Carnegie Mellon football helmet, Sesame Street Bert & Ernie puppets (Carnegie money ultimately helped fund the Children's Television Workshop), and a fossilized dinosaur egg gifted from the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, a Delft plate of the Peace Palace at The Hague, the construction of which he underwrote.
Ms. Owers also has good news for native Pittsburghese speakers: she said that "kar-NAY-gee" -- as is said in Western Pennsylvania -- is the correct pronunciation of the family name, not "KAR-nuh-gee," as is said in New York and elsewhere.
Forbes' fine estate
Forbes was born a short distance away on the Pittencrieff Estate in 1710, but less is known of Forbes' early life in Dunfermline.
The estate grounds date back more than 700 years, the house to 1635. Forbes' father came into possession of it in 1701.
Surrounded by beautifully manicured gardens and wooded passages, the orange-ish 'Laird's" house has a plaque on the outside denoting Forbes' birth there, and a handsome granite and bronze marker commemorates his 300-mile march "through the Pennsylvania back country" from Philadelphia to "the forks of the Ohio River." (The same marker is found at Fort Ligonier.) The house today is a natural history museum.
The narrative on Forbes picks up with his distinguished military career, the culmination of which was the capture of Fort Duquesne. Shortly before his death, he wrote to Pitt of the victory:
"I have used the freedom of giving your name to Fort Du Quesne, as I hope it was in some measure the being actuated by your spirits that now makes us Masters of the place. ... these dreary deserts will soon be the richest and most fertile of any possest by the British in No. America."
Although Forbes died nearly 80 years before Carnegie was born, they are connected by more than simply the town. Forbes' home of Pittencrief had changed hands between various gentry in the subsequent years. When Carnegie was a boy, Pittencrieff's then-current occupants, the Hunt family, had a dispute with Carnegie's maternal grandfather and forbade any and all of his descendents from ever entering the grounds on the one day of the year it was open to the general public.
Fortunes changed. As Carnegie amassed Croesus-like riches, the in-debt Hunt family offered to sell the entire estate to him. In his best-selling biography of Carnegie, David Nasaw writes that taking possession of Pittencrief was among the seminal moments of Carnegie's life.
Mr. Nasaw said that in a letter to a friend, Carnegie wrote, "Pittencrieff is the world of charm to me and has so been since childhood. No title is precious in all the world as Laird of Pittencrieff."
And as the new (and final) Laird of Pittencrieff, Carnegie immediately decided to make it a grand public park for the working classes of Dunfermline. In his autobiography "My Own Story," Carnegie wrote, "Pittencrieff Glen is the most soul-satisfying public gift I ever made, or ever can make, to the people of Dunfermline forever. This is the crowning mercy of my career! I set it apart from all my other public gifts."
Pittsburgh and Dunfermline forever
Today, Dunfermline could be considered a bedroom community of Scotland's capital, Edinburgh, 17 miles to the southeast. But with a population of nearly 50,000 and a charming High Street with gorgeous architecture, it is a formidable town in its own right.
However, Dunfermline has been diminished from its past glories and Mr. Connelly sees the town's connection with Pittsburgh as an important part of the history and as a link to the future as well. After all, if any place knows about reinvention, it's Pittsburgh.
He's visited Pittsburgh several times, most recently this summer, gave a webinar with Robert Morris students just last week and is developing relationships with the British American Business Council and the St. Andrews Society. He'll be here again in January for the Carnegie Museum's annual Robert Burns supper. Furthermore, a large delegation from the Carnegie visited Dunfermline in October during the centenary celebration of the Carnegie Trust UK.
"I want to take on the role of pushing forward the links with Pittsburgh," he said and to "get links across a whole wide range of organizations -- for instance, school links between your schools and our Carnegie Primary School."
After all, Mr. Connelly said, "Dunfermline's history is part of your history as well."
A sheerd hesstray, that is.
Dan Gigler: email@example.com or on Twitter @gigs412.


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Monthly Top Referrers Program
Do you have a website? Do you want more traffic?
NotAlwaysWorking.com has over 1 million visitors per month, and we are in search of high quality sites with which to exchange traffic. If you have a quality site and would like to receive traffic from Not Always Working, we invite you to join our Top Referrers Program.
Joining the Top Referrers Program is easy:
- Link to our site using the HTML code below.
- Every month, we'll measure the traffic your site has referred to us.
- If your site is one of the top 5 sites that sends us referral traffic for the previous month, we'll link to you in our monthly Top Referrers list that appears in the footer of EVERY page of NotAlwaysWorking.com.
Ready to get started? Follow these steps:
- Choose from either a text or banner link, and place it on your site. Links must be visible on EVERY page of your site:
- Once you've added one of the links above to your website, contact us (under "Subject", choose "Business Inquiry") so we can begin tracking your site.
- Check back every month to see if your site is in our Top Referrers section. We select the top 5 sites that send the most traffic the preceding month.
Option 1: Text Link
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That's it! Got questions? Let us know.


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Think of the story lines: Governor Chafee, the unpopular independent, seeking redemption in what may be the final race of his career; Treasurer Gina Raimondo and Providence Mayor Angel Taveras, the two most popular politicians in the state, preparing for a possible heavyweight fight in the Democratic primary; and Cranston Mayor Allan Fung, a potential GOP candidate, offering up the tantalizing prospect of a large Rhode Island city going red.
And that's just the most obvious, top-line stuff.
Behind the scenes, political operatives are already poring over decades of election results, jockeying for donors, and gaming out a race that is shaping up as one of the state's most intriguing in years.
Chafee, an independent, has made his share of mistakes. But aides believe their man — battered in the press and the polls — hasn't gotten his due.
Yes, Taveras brought Providence back from the brink. But the governor, they maintain, can claim a restoration story of his own. Chafee tamed a sizable deficit and major pension problems, too. And the governor, who opposed the disastrous 38 Studios deal as a candidate, has filed a sweeping lawsuit against the biggest players.
As the economy recovers, Team Chafee argues, the governor will be able to make a strong case for able fiscal stewardship.
The trouble, of course, is that Treasurer Raimondo — who authored the state's landmark pension reform law — gets the credit for the central fiscal achievement of the last couple of years. And the governor has proven incapable, to date, of selling the accomplishments he can rightly claim.
Indeed, the Chafee camp will have to improve its messaging — no small task given the governor's indifference to politicking — if it is to take full advantage of its biggest advantage going forward: the power of incumbency.
In the coming months, Chafee will have a natural spot on the front page — submitting a budget sometime in January and, he hopes, signing a bill legalizing same-sex marriage.
A gay nuptials law would anchor Chafee's claim as the strongest progressive in the gubernatorial race. And staking that claim — he'll also emphasize his support for in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants and his executive order establishing an Obamacare health insurance exchange in the face of anti-abortion opposition — is vital to his re-election prospects.
After all, the governor rode a coalition of liberals, Latinos, and labor to a narrow victory in a four-way race two years ago. And he has to build something similar if he's to have any chance this time around.
Chafee deeply disappointed a key part of that coalition — labor — when he signed the pension reform bill into law in 2011. But as one aide put it, public employee unions have no "fair-haired child" in the gubernatorial race.
Raimondo, as the author of pension reform, is on the outs. And Taveras has some bridges to build after pink-slipping every teacher in Providence when the city's budget crisis was at its peak.
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Please help us! Donate
Key Votes
SB 464 - Prohibits The Use Of Tanning Facilities By Minors - Key Vote
West Virginia Key Votes
Doug Facemire voted Yea (Passage) on this Legislation.
Read statements Doug Facemire made in this general time period.
- May 1, 2013 Executive Signed
- April 12, 2013 House Bill Passed
- March 18, 2013 Senate Bill Passed
- March 6, 2013 Introduced
Stage Details
Legislation - Signed (Executive) - May 1, 2013
Title: Prohibits The Use Of Tanning Facilities By Minors
Legislation - Bill Passed (House) (92-7) - April 12, 2013
Legislation - Bill Passed (Senate) (26-8) - March 18, 2013(Key vote)
Title: Prohibits The Use Of Tanning Facilities By Minors
Vote Result
Yea Votes
Nay Votes
Vote to pass a bill that prohibits minors from using tanning facilities.
- Prohibits an individual under the age of 18 from using a tanning device (Sec. 3).
- Requires all customers at a tanning facility to present proof of age with a government-issued identification containing the date of birth and photograph of the individual before using a tanning device (Sec. 3).
- Requires the tanning facility to provide every customer a consent form that includes a warning of the health issues related to the use of tanning devices (Sec. 3).
- Requires every tanning facility to obtain a business registration certificate and register with the local board of health to conduct annual inspections, effective July 1, 2014 (Sec. 2).
- Classifies the owner of a tanning facility who does not obtain a business registration certificate, register with the local board of health, or request an inspection as guilty of a misdemeanor with the following penalties (Sec. 6):
- $500 fine for first offense;
- Up to $2,000 fine and/or jail time up to 1 year for second offense;
- Up to $5,000 fine and/or jail time up to 1 year for third offense; and
- Suspension of the owner's business registration certificate for third or subsequent offense.
Legislation - Introduced (Senate) - March 6, 2013
Title: Prohibits The Use Of Tanning Facilities By Minors
- Robert D. 'Bob' Beach (WV - D)
- Jeffrey V. 'Jeff' Kessler (WV - D) (Out Of Office)
- John Ronald Unger II (WV - D)
- Erik P. Wells (WV - D) (Out Of Office)
- H. Jack Yost Jr. (WV - D)


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The \"No such session: 0\" is displayed when you have exceeded your allotted disk space.
To fix this problem go to \"My NEEShub\" and click on \"Manage\" under \"My Sessions\". This will allow you to manage your home directory space.
Click on the Trash Can icon on the right to delete files. Once you have reduced your space below 100% you should be able to create new sessions.


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Hey All,
Hope everyone has patterned their shotguns, perfected their calls, and have the permissions for where you hunt, time is at hand for our season to start next Wednesday.
I'd like to encourage all on the boards here from Ontario, to get involved and post how you do on your hunts, results, what worked, what didn't. We'd all like to see how our fellow Ontarians do in the turkey woods this spring.


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Dessert ready in 30 minutes! Enjoy these wonderful Santa cookies made in a creative way - perfect for Christmas occasion.
Use your favorite flavored graham cracker for these Santas. Break the graham cracker squares in half at the center perforation.
Use kitchen scissors lightly sprayed with nonstick cooking spray to cut gumdrops and marshmallows.
Kids can wrap individual Santa Grahams in festive colored plastic wrap to leave as a treat for Santa, or to give to grandparents and teachers.
© 2017 ®/TM General Mills All Rights Reserved


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New Funding Opportunity: HIV/AIDS Community Information Outreach Projects 2014
HIV/AIDS Community Information Outreach Projects 2014
The National Library of Medicine (NLM) is pleased to announce the solicitation of quotations from organizations and libraries to design and conduct projects that will improve access to HIV/AIDS related health information for patients, the affected community, and their caregivers.
Projects must involve one or more of the following information access categories:
- Information retrieval;
- Skills development;
- Resource development; and/or
- Equipment Acquisition.
Emphasis is placed upon the following types of organizations or arrangements for developing these programs:
- Community-based organizations (CBOs) or patient advocacy groups currently providing HIV/AIDS related serves to the affected community;
- Public libraries serving communities in the provision of HIV/AIDS-related information and resources;
- Health departments or other local, municipal, or state agencies working to improve public health;
- Faith-based organizations currently providing HIV/AIDS-related services; and/or
- Multi-type consortia of the above-listed organizations that may be in existence or formed specifically for this project.
Awards are offered for up to $40,000.
Quotations are due to NLM on Friday, July 11, 2014.
The solicitation for the 2014 HIV/AIDS Community Information Outreach Projects is posted on the Federal Business Opportunities Web site.
Full and Open:
Small Businesses can apply to a specific set-aside:
Primary Point of Contact:
Elena Leon
Contract Specialist
Phone: 301.435.4394
Fax: 301.402.8169
Secondary Point of Contact :
Robin Hope
Branch Chief, Contracting Officer
Phone: 301.496.6546
Fax: 301.402.8169
Please Note: Refer to the Federal Business Opportunities Web site for notices, updates, and modifications to the HIV/AIDS Community Information Outreach Project 2014 RFQ.


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The Office of Multicultural Life, better known around the SJU campus as OML, seeks to enlighten and educate the university community at large through programming that focuses on inclusion, embracing and understanding our cultural differences. The OML is housed within the Office of Mission and provides a myriad of campus programs and services that stress the importance of a) student advocacy and campus inclusivity, b) provide mentorship relationships and various levels of advising, and c) develop leadership skill sets through campus programming, workshops, and trainings. Serving also as a bridge of support for students of color, the Office of Multicultural Life is central to rooting students to the campus community. Through programming, the office works to bring awareness and inclusion to the forefront of our university. The Multicultural Life umbrella shields seven unique student groups , including, the Asian Student Association (ASA), Black Student Union (BSU), Bridging The Gap (BTG), Caribbean Student Association (CSA), Expressions Of Praise (EOP), International Student Association (ISA), and the Latino Student Association (LSA).
If you're interested in visiting us please note that our offices are now located in the Campion Student Center room 229. Our office hours are Monday through Friday, 9am to 5pm. We have an open door policy , so if you have any questions do not hesitate to stop by. Members of our staff are looking forward to assist you.


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Ruth Ann "Cookie" Malcolmson
Verona-Ruth Ann "Cookie" Malcolmson, age 70, passed away at the University Hospital-Madison Emergency Room at 12:02 a.m. on Sunday, February 3, 2013 after a protracted and extensive lung disorder. She was born in Chicago, IL on September 11, 1942, the daughter of Glennon, Sr. and June Headley. Ruth Ann was married to Frederick C. Malcolmson on November 18, 1961. They were college sweethearts, both attending UW-Whitewater. Ruth Ann was a strong and loving woman, deeply committed to the happiness of her family.
She is survived by her husband, Frederick; their two sons, Brian, Madison and Bruce, his wife Tina and their two children, Ian and Hadley of Waukesha; her brother, Glenn, Jr., wife Jane and their two children, Darren and Mara, and their respective spouses, Dana and Kyle Butler; her cousin, Harold Reid and wife, Lynne and their extended families.
Ruth Ann worked as an Office Manager and Tax Practitioner with H & R Block for many years and as a Senior Tax Practitioner with the Department of Revenue for 22 years until her retirement on October 12, 2006.
A visitation and a celebration of her life will be held at the Cress Funeral Home, Madison on Friday, February 15, 2013 from 6-8:00 p.m. On Saturday, February 16, 2013 from 2-4:00 p.m. the family will gather at Cookie's special place, her cottage on Turtle Lake, W7729 WI Parkway, Delevan, WI 53115. In lieu of flowers, memorials in her name may be directed to the, Arthritis Foundation, American Lung Assoc. of Wisconsin or to the American Diabetes Assoc.


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When I was 12 years old I did my first Punnett square and decided that genetics was absolutely, most definitely the coolest thing ever. When I was 13 years old they started the Human Genome Project. The task of sequencing all three billion base pairs in a person's genome was the most enormous project I ...
Tag: David Altschuler
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November 13, 2008


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Family: Anacardiaceae, Cashew view all from this family
Description Tall, long living tree with a broad crown radius. Leaves evergreen, alternate, simple. Orange-pink when young, rapidly changing to a dark glossy red, then dark green. Flowers produced in terminal panicles each small and white with five petals and a mild sweet odor suggestive of lily of the valley. Fruit takes three to six months to ripen. Seed contains the plant embryo. Pit single flat, oblong can be fibrous or hairy on the surface, and which does not separate easily from the pulp.
Dimensions Height: 35-40 m. (115-130 ft.)
Diameter: 10 m. (33 ft).
Warning Touching broken fruit skin may cause rash.
Habitat Cities, suburbs & towns, Fields.
Range Florida.
Discussion National fruit of both India and Pakistan. Mentioned 4th century songs of Sanskrit poet, Kalidasa. Tasted by Alexander, and Chinese pilgrim, Hieun Tsang (7th century CE). Later in 16th century Mughal Emperor, Akbar planted 100,000 mango trees in Darbhanga, Bihar; now known as Lakhi Bagh. When first imported to the American colonies in the 17th century, mango had to be pickled due to lack of refrigeration.


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Investigative reporter Khadija Ismayilova jailed in Azerbaijan
New York, December 5, 2014--An Azerbaijani court in Baku today ordered the imprisonment of award-winning investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova for two months pending trial after a local man accused her of urging him to commit suicide, according to news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the ruling and calls on authorities in Azerbaijan to stop their prosecution of Ismayilova, who also faces charges of libel in a separate case.
"We call on Azerbaijani authorities to stop gagging reporters through trumped-up charges and arrests, and immediately release Khadija Ismayilova," said Muzaffar Suleymanov, CPJ's Europe and Central Asia research associate. "The politicized nature of the arrest is obvious--an award-winning reporter is being harassed for her work in Azerbaijan."


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News Releases, Media
For Immediate Release: Contact: Ron Harris July 15, 1998 Sharon Snyder Ian Stirton Kelly Huff
WASHINGTON -- John Surina, Staff Director of the Federal Election Commission since 1983, has accepted a newly created position at the Department of Agriculture to oversee the ethics program there.
In announcing his departure, Surina said, "It took a tremendous opportunity at Agriculture to lure me away from the FEC. Few government managers experience the pleasure of working with a staff which is so uniformly bright, motivated and well-focused as it is at the Federal Election Commission."
At the Department of Agriculture, Surina will be director of a new office charged with assuring that the staff in all component agencies is trained in the standards of conduct, that all personal financial disclosure reports are filed and reviewed on a timely basis, and that any needed policies tailored for specific mission areas are developed and promulgated.
"The principal attraction of the job at Agriculture," Surina said, "is the new and exciting professional challenge I will face. We aim to create the means of reaching some 95,000 employees, dispersed in dozens of component agencies and stationed all over the world, with information about the ethics rules and their individual reporting obligations under the law.
"I am pleased to keep my career within the governmental ethics realm," Surina said, "and many of the functional and technical approaches we use in regulating campaign finance transfer nicely to a large agency ethics program.
"I want to thank the FEC Commissioners for giving me the latitude of management action that I have been afforded," Surina noted, adding, "Whomever takes my place here at the FEC will soon discover a truly unique operating environment, a controversial but engaging mission, and an extraordinarily competent and non-partisan staff. The staff at the FEC made me look good for 15 years."
Surina will remain with the FEC through Friday, July 31, reporting to the Department of Agriculture on Monday, August 3.
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You are here
The air was dewy from the fresh rainfall, but no one seemed concerned by the added humidity at the Gaillic-themed Spoleto Hay Fever party. At 9 Limehouse, home of gracious hosts Preston and Christine Wilson, cast and crew along with patrons gathered to celebrate the classic Noël Coward play. A grand tent spread across the spacious lawn. Underneath imported Irish spirits, fish and chips, and a Irish band-complete with harp, fiddle, and drum-entertained the crowd.
High-heeled guests made use of the tables to sit a spell while others snagged an actor to dish about the show. Those who had seen the production were effusive. The Dublin Gate Theatre performers, being no strangers to Spoleto, seemed right at home in the shadow of the 1856 mansion. Lucky ones needing to use the Lou even got a tour. Inside Christine toured visitors through the museum-quality objects and rooms whose plaster molding looked like it had been piped onto an audacious wedding cake. As the evening wore on, partygoers grabbed fish and chips for the road and headed off on foot into the South of Broad moonlight.


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Ok Bon we haven't talked about it but it is time to start making picks. Me? I got no freakin idea and to top it off rain is in the forecast. Gonna download the pp tonight and pick a few superfectas.
I will say this Bafferts Oaks filly, Midnight Lucky, is training like a monster.


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A new report from David Kanter at Real World Technologies has dug into how PhysX is executed on a standard x86 CPU; his analysis confirms some of AMD's earlier statements. In many cases, the PhysX code that runs in a given title is both single-threaded and decidedly non-optimized. And instead of taking advantage of the SSE/SSE2 vectorization capabilities at the heart of every x86 processor sold since ~2005, PhysX calculations are done using ancient x87 instructions.
When in doubt, blame the PPU.
As RWT's analysis shows, however, virtually all of the applicable uops in both Cryostasis and Soft Body Physics use x87; SSE accounts for just a tiny percentage of the whole. Toss in the fact that CPU PhysX is typically single-threaded while GPU PhysX absolutely isn't, and Kanter's data suggests that NVIDIA has consciously chosen to avoid any CPU optimizations, and, in so doing, has artificially widened the gap between CPU and GPU performance. If that allegation sounds familiar, it's because we talked about it just a few weeks back, after Intel presented a whitepaper claiming that many of NVIDIA's test cases when claiming huge GPU performance advantages were unfairly optimized.


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ACHICA > CHARTERHOUSE > CHARTERHOUSE Eco 7 Litre Stock Pot, Pink
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CHARTERHOUSE Eco 7 Litre Stock Pot, Pink
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Returns: Click Delivery & Returns or check your delivery confirmation.
If you are ordering multiple items, ACHICA aim to send as few deliveries as possible for your convenience – you will only pay one delivery charge.
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Dimensions: Dia 24cm
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Product Code CH-9004
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We hope you will be thrilled with your purchases but in the unlikely event that you want to return something, you can find full return instructions on the back of your delivery note or click here


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Greenhouse GH-ERC-DMS
" I compared this ultra sound TwinBA IEM with UE700. UE700 and GH-ERC-DMS, both are dual/twin BA, but different tuned. audio source : iPod touch 4G 32GB and iPhone4G 32GB w/ ALAC or MP3 320KBps , 93~94dB normalized. Outlook and packaging: Oh, poor. outfit made with plastic and inner is seems to urethane. cable is really same as MEElec A151. ( shorter than..." --Raphael K
Jelly Bud Earphones
Amazing jelly earbuds!!! Each is made from silicone and has a in-ear design that is made to fit in your ear! Perfect for Ipods, MP3 players, etc! Each comes in either pink, blue, or black and a 48 inch cord. Excellent sound quality and WAREHOUSE DIRECT! These are CLEARANCE items that are selling for far cheaper that they would at ANY store. Don't be fooled by the cheap Ebay rip offs with...


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BMW's 3 Series—the core model in the German sport luxury automaker's "Ultimate Driving Machine" lineup for 40 years and top-volume model in the U.S. market—is refreshed for 2016. BMW also introduces a redone flagship 7 Series sedan that features the company's latest technology, including Gesture Control for operating infotainment functions in the cockpit. Also for 2016, enhanced Bluetooth with text messaging, extra mic, synching phonebooks, and USB connectivity is standard on more models. In addition, BMW introduces its X1 small premium SUV and updates the 6 Series coupe and convertible models. BMW's first plug-in-hybrid SUV—the X4 xDrive40e—is added to the lineup. And for sport driving enthusiasts, some M variants receive a new Competition package option with handling upgrades and extra power.
Click here to view all BMW years, models & ratings


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Hesitation is failure. Believe. Believe. Believe.
If you want to tie diary entries to a wiki, it may be prudent to set up an AdvogatoWiki before you overwhelm the other wikis with Advogato related material.
Wiki:CliffordAdams' UseModWiki is very good and supports MeatBall:InterWiki. Well, I'm biased, naturally, but it works very well. Maybe this will spur on Cliff to publish 0.88 finally.
That being said, there are many Wiki:WikiClones out there, several that are supported by members of Advogato. For instance, jhermann's MoinMoin or dan's CLiki.
One way that I'm planning on going for MeatBall:HyperPolis is to write static pages (little story snippets) with side links into MeatballWiki. So, if I'm allegorically talking about anonymous identity, I will place a link to MeatBall:AnonymousIdentity on my little link bar. Similarly, you can post a diary entry here and post a link to a discussion site on one of the wikis in the intermap.
Another way is directly linking to pages in your postings inline as I did in the first paragraph. It looks a little kludgy, but you get used to it. (I think)
Looks like I'm now a Journeyer. Thanks to Dan Barlow.
Raph recently mentioned on his 23 August 2000 diary entry that Advogato was added to the InterWiki namespace (more like "InterCommunity" namespace), at least on MeatballWiki. We're happy to make it easier to connect to a good, trusted, high signal community such as Advogato.
Anyway, for those other wiki administrators out there who are interested InterWiki, perhaps we could make MeatballWiki the central name server for InterWiki. If you're interested, you know where to go.
I've written a bunch of indices for wikis and online communities in general. Come take a look and make some comments about them. Having good ways of traversing the ginormous ethereal online datastorm is important, especially if you want to get people to talk to each other efficiently.
Well, I've made Apprentice without even looking. Thanks to Shae and Seth.
My real diaries are, of course, on MeatballWiki. There, you'll find my Meatball diary and my The Programmers' Booklist project journal.
In theory, I should also have a diary for Hyperpolis but I don't. I mostly (ab)use my Meatball diary for that.
Next step: Python mastery. I'm on it.
New HTML Parser: The long-awaited libxml2 based HTML parser code is live. It needs further work but already handles most markup better than the original parser.
Keep up with the latest Advogato features by reading the Advogato status blog.
If you're a C programmer with some spare time, take a look at the mod_virgule project page and help us with one of the tasks on the ToDo list!


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Since he's been flayed on POTUS by the usual mental midgets, how about a story from the other side? Doubt this will slow any of the hot air blowing around, but at least if some are confused and inclined to follow the horses patoots that are always "confidently in the know" about these matters, it's good to hear what's really happening.
Why Fox Is Saying Goodbye to Glenn Beck
Wednesday, 06 Apr 2011 06:56 PM
By David A. Patten
Fox News host Glenn Beck took viewers by surprise Wednesday with the announcement that his 5 p.m. program will transition off the network.
I am going to leave this program later this year, but I am not leaving Fox," Beck told viewers at the top of his TV program Wednesday.
Becks program is the nations third-highest rated cable news program, attracting nearly 2.2 million viewers a night.
Fox News and Beck stated that they will continue to produce a variety of television projects for air on the Fox News Channel as well as content for other platforms including Fox News digital properties.
The news surprised millions of loyal Beck fans, but rumors had swirled for months that Beck might be leaving his 5 p.m. slot. There had been widespread speculation that Beck would be expanding his own subscription-based television programming and might even launch his own cable channel.
The news of Becks departure from the 5 p.m. time slot on Fox triggered mixed reactions from across the media universe.
Liberals predictably took their shots at a host whose ratings dominance was never even close to being challenged by competitors at left-leaning networks.
Glenn Beck is leaving Fox. Wheres he gonna go? The Oprah Network? tweeted The View co-host Joy Behar. She added: I give him 20 minutes alone in a room with Rosie" ODonnell.
Some left-wing activists suggested that their campaign of intimidation targeting Becks advertisers had contributed to the decision not to renew his 5 p.m. show.
TV advertising consultant Adam Armbruster, who has appeared regularly on Fox News, called Beck "controversial, a real lightning rod for many advertisers."
Advertisers, he observed, often prefer to avoid anything controversial.
"But you also have to remember that some enjoy controversy . . . Glenn Beck got a lot of attention for Fox News. The bottom line is that advertisers love attention," he said.
Controversy aside, Beck in many ways has redefined the standard for success in the 5 p.m. time slot. Although his ratings had cooled from the height of his popularity, he continued to provide Foxs prime-time lineup with an extraordinarily strong lead-in viewership.
"I still think if he was not the bane of the liberal media opinion-leader world, there wouldnt be this kind of pressure on Fox," Boston University communications professor Tobe Berkovitz tells Newsmax."I mean, who wants to get rid of someone with those kinds of numbers at 5 in the afternoon? Who the hell else is ever going to pull those kinds of numbers?"
Jeffrey M. McCall, a communications professor and analyst at DePauw University, said the announcement didn't surprise him.
"I think the timing, as we head to some really tough governmental decision that have to be made, and also heading into the election season in 2012, I think Fox probably just wanted to turn the page on this," he said.
Both Fox and Beck made every effort to demonstrate that the two sides look forward to working with each other going forward.
Glenn Beck is a powerful communicator, a creative entrepreneur and a true success by anybodys standards," Fox News Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes said. I look forward to continuing to work with him.
Beck in turn offered kind words to Ailes as well: I truly believe that America owes a lot to Roger Ailes and Fox News. I cannot repay Roger for the lessons Ive learned and will continue to learn from him and I look forward to starting this new phase of our partnership.
Becks rise to media stardom followed a meteoric path since he joined Fox News in October 2008 just weeks before Barack Obama captured the presidency. With his black-rimmed glasses and chalkboard, at times he seemed like the living personification of Howard Beale, the fictional character in the 1976 film "Network," who persuaded Americans to stand up en masse and yell, Im mad as hell, and Im not going to take it anymore.
Beck's accomplishments transcended the ordinary role of media in the early days of the Obama administration, when the presidents popularity was riding so high that many other news personalities were hesitant to subject his policies to the normal level of press criticism.
But not Beck, who became a one-man media empire, with one of the nations most popular syndicated radio programs, a string of sold-out personal appearances, and a bevy of best-selling books.
As his notoriety grew, Beck went beyond merely commenting on the news and began to impact it. For example, he created a grass-roots organization called The 9-12 Project that played a major role in the huge tea party rallies and town hall demonstrations in protest of President Obamas healthcare initiatives.
Becks exposes of radical associations and statements of key administration figures such as green-jobs adviser Van Jones, FCC chief diversity officer Mark Lloyd, and political strategist Anita Dunn, resulted in embarrassing revelations and resignations that blunted the momentum of the Obama juggernaut at a time when it appeared to be virtually unstoppable. In the process, he became the man the left most loved to hate on cable TV.
His "Restoring Honor" rally, which drew up to 500,000 people to the National Mall in August 2010 in support of traditional American values, marked Becks transition from talk host to cultural icon.
In some ways, Becks phenomenal popularity may have ultimately proved impossible to maintain at its apex.
Its the meteor theory of cable talk, Berkovitz said. If youre too hot, you can burn up in the atmosphere. So maybe thats part of it.
Popular New York City-based, syndicated talk show host Steve Malzberg tells Newsmax: I think whatever he does, he will continue to be successful. Hes very unique, and he has a huge, huge following.
Added Malzberg: Hes going to blow them away no matter where he goes, no matter what his next venture is going to be, no matter where hes going to take his media talents.
Beck closed his program Wednesday by saying to his viewers: We will find each other. Im developing other content for Fox there are specials and other things on television and beyond. I will continue to tell the story, and Im going to be showing you other ways for us to connect.
But I have other things to do. And not because its good or bad for business, but I think you out of all the people will truly get this: Our only business is the business of freedom and our country at this time. Its why Ive told you . . . at the beginning of the year prepare to be a leader, educate yourself, be the mouthpiece never rely on anyone else to spoon feed you.
Now today now today, you have to carry more weight, you must know what you believe; you must be prepared to be the person that explains it to others.
Fox is one of the only places you will find truth spread the word, stick together and together, we will do the right thing for our country and for our world.
© Newsmax. All rights reserved.
Read more on Newsmax.com: Why Fox Is Saying Goodbye to Glenn Beck


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Rapala Fishing to Utilise Kinect
Get ready to look even sillier playing your Xbox than you do already when having a go at the dance games. Rapala Fishing is set to get a new title in its line of rod and reel games; but this one will do away with just that, the rod and reel.
Now, instead of winching away on a plastic toy rod, gamers will in fact be just making the motions, with Kinect picking up on them and translating that into you fighting monster fish. I suppose it'll depend on how well Kinect detects the casting and winding actions needed. If mapped well it might allow for more than the last games, and it would certainly allow for the game to be played in less space. You arn't going to hit anything in your game room if you're whipping around imaginary hardware.
Still though. You're going to look dumb.


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By Shuli Ren
The world's largest potash producer Uralkali (URALL) reached a deal with China selling at $305/ton for 700K standard tons. The final price is the midpoint of the two sides' bid and ask.
So does this deal mean the potash industry has returned to rationality? J.P. Morgan seems to think so, upgrading Uralkali to Neutral last week. One argument the broker made was that Uralkali was never the deviant undercutting black sheep to start with:
We remind investors, that Uralkali (at that time, "BPC") had already attempted to raise prices in Brazil in early 2013, publically aiming to increase prices by 6% in the span of three months (from ~$440 in January to $465/t in April). This ultimately failed as Uralkali's competitors undercut Uralkali, forcing the company to lose market share in the region. This, as well as several other causes, ultimately led to Uralkali enacting its undisciplined "maximum volumes" strategy attempting to regain its lost market share, we believe.
Morgan Stanley is not so sure. This deal alone does not mean potash price is on steady recovery, reckons the broker, and all eyes will be on the second half this year, when demand is weak and there is incentive to price undercut again:
Debate will now shift to what happens in 2H14. The first half of the year is the seasonally strongest, and product should flow in earnest to all global markets with confidence in the price they pay. However, as has also been the case for the past three years, bins may be empty again at the end of 1H, which begs the question whether the typical 2H destocking, price weakness, and contract standoff pattern will repeat in 2H14 for the fourth year in a row, or whether now materially lower prices (i.e., 1H12 China contract was $470/mt) will stimulate sufficient demand to make the market buoyant enough to maintain 1H prices and/or potentially see modest price increases heading into 2H14.
Much will be made of a potential BPC 2.0, with Bulls arguing for the return of discipline and higher prices, while Bears argue where's the discipline in $305/mt to China – didn't Uralkali want to wait until March/April last year to settle with China, and this year it settled first, down nearly $100/mt when it just announced a big price increase in Brazil? The Bull retort will be that it is better to get the price floor in place and product moving globally than it is to seize up the market over the Chinese contract price, which is only six months in nature anyway and will move higher with global spot prices.
Year-to-date, Shares in Uralkai rallied 7.6%. Soc. Quimica y Minera de Chile SA (SQM), Chile's largest fertilizer producer, jumped 10.2%. Potash Corp. (POT) rose 3.7%. Mosaic Co. (MOS) advanced 2.7%. Agrium (AGU) gained 2.6%.


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AGENTS OF ATLAS - Returns in Early 2009.
Darth Vader is becoming the Mickey Mouse of Star Wars.
Kylo Ren - came from Space Brooklyn, although he moved to Space Williamsburg before it was trendy.
The use of a lightsaber does not make one a Jedi, it is the ability to not use it.
They're not scheduled to ship until August. Latest news was a pic of them refining the sculpt, so technically we haven't even seen pics of the final production piece.
Darth Vader is becoming the Mickey Mouse of Star Wars.
Kylo Ren - came from Space Brooklyn, although he moved to Space Williamsburg before it was trendy.
The use of a lightsaber does not make one a Jedi, it is the ability to not use it.
I picked up Jor-el Movie Masters from Target today. Armored Zod and Faora are on preorder from Mattelshop so I'm done with the MoS MM's.
Saw the film today and loved it! I'm glad it was no TDKR.
Amazon delivered my Batman '66 Batman & Robin set yesterday. The sculpts on both figures are a touch soft, have some poor expression of human anatomy (mainly overly long legs) on top of realistically-thin arms and legs, each cape has fat wires sewn into the side edges, and each suffers a big ugly white tag sewn into the cape just behind the neck which can be cut free with care. Batman comes with a show-appropriate batarang that sports a small hole in one side for string-based fun. Robin comes with nothing. The base is alright, has a hole in the back to accommodate hanging, both sets of windows open out, and there's a small eyelet at the top to accommodate a batrope. The set's included batrope is just twisted rattan string, like those found in Transformers packaging, but at least it's black.
Batman's the better of the 2 figures, his anatomical proportions are fairly decent and only get tripped up mid-torso with the belt and trunks somewhat higher than they should be. His likeness is good in sculpt although not outstanding; the face is painted and then has the cowl's mask glued over that so the eyes are deep in the cowl for a more accurate look which works well. The cowl has a modest failing in the ears being too low and too far back, and the head seeming a tad bulbous. The belt is rendered less than great, the sculpted shapes get lost in it. The head is a ball joint that is a bit limited by trapping the cape in between, range of motion is otherwise pretty good. The cape isn't wide enough, Robin's cape is wider.
Robin suffers from ridiculously long legs and an elongated torso, everything about him looks a little off at first so it takes a little while to get used to. His face sculpt is very soft and barely sells the likeness at all, even using hair from a promo shot that doesn't remind me too much of the TV show. The head paint is thick and sloppy, the mask and eyes barely making the grade at all. The head is on a rotation joint that sits on top of a hinge that's very tight but does move up and down when pushed hard, I predict breakage here. The cape is attached to the neck below any jointing. Range of motion is pretty good save the mid-torso hinge which is severely limited in both directions; I also don't like using the hip joints only because they expose too much gap. The legs are painted slightly darker than the arms, I guess as tights but the arms aren't consistent enough to sell that.
In the next few days I'll finally put them in the Batmobile and review that.
I also picked up the Batman '66 first issue yesterday at the comic shop, didn't realize that was out yet. The art is stylized to the point of distraction, and some of it seems like it's done on the cheap for the kiddie set, but it gets some things right. The book has Adam West's "Batman" voice down pat, Burt Ward's "Robin" voice is good but not as consistent, Julie Newmar's "Catwoman" voice is pretty generic, Frank Gorshin's "the Riddler" voice is there if you stretch. Likenesses are come and go for those characters due to the style but mainly land when needed, especially Catwoman and the batmobile which both get the most consistent art attention. DC obviously didn't get likeness rights on Alan Napier's "Alfred" which is a damned shame because not only does the character look entirely wrong but he's written wrong as well; they also didn't get Aunt Harriett (or they did and blew it big time). Then there's Chief O'Hara and Commissioner Gordon, the former is so cartoonish that it could be accurate or not, and the latter almost looks like the show character except they drew square glasses on him that neither fit the likeness nor the original character.
As for the writing, the story is pretty basic but takes its time having fun in that universe, adding stuff they couldn't have afforded on the show, and going the places we want to go. The adventure has a little modern feel to it, but not too bad, and it avoids breaking its era most of the time. There are even some William Dozier narration moments, and I'm glad I got it as a floppy instead of digital because there's no same bat time, same bat channel waiting around concerns. It's not too quick a read, they didn't skimp on pages. I may add this to my pull list just for a fun read.
Darth Vader is becoming the Mickey Mouse of Star Wars.
Kylo Ren - came from Space Brooklyn, although he moved to Space Williamsburg before it was trendy.
The use of a lightsaber does not make one a Jedi, it is the ability to not use it.
Owing to Mattel's (and Hasbro's) extreme reliance on generic bucks for their superhero 6" figures, I'm afraid "overly long legs" will be a standard for this line. I was going to go more into this in the 6" Black Series Fett thread but the buck system also does not really accommodate super intricate detailing.
For my experience with mass market retail 6", that Fett looks a lot better than a lot of the DC and Masters of the Universe figures I've bought over the years and at least each figure in Black Series will be a unique mold, reprints notwithstanding of course.
With this '66 Batman line, it seems it's right in line with Mattel's quasi realistic but not realistic enough aesthetic with all their 6" lines.
Ok, so I got out the Batmobile. This is what I expected, it's hollow with details in the cockpit, but there's also detail on the undercarriage which is surprising. The scale feels close to right, can't be sure since the figures cannot sit as naturally as a person but could be. The paint isn't bad, some slop but some good detail work as well; the plastic is shiny and glossy, but also likely a dust magnet. The backs of the fins are rubbery but the integration isn't so bad, a lot of smaller details are rubber as well but either painted or molded in their colors. The canopy design lacks the silver paint in the middle between the 2 bubbles both front and back, I think this was not a cheap out but a design error, someone misunderstanding the role of the middle (it's all glass over a solid beam), it looks ok without that though, but the silver paint used on the front canopies is too thick. Some sculpt is quite tight, other areas are a tad sloppy, nothing is a deal killer unless you were hoping for working doors, which this doesn't have. Figures sit well in their seats, the seatbelts are oversized a tad but have the general idea right and plug easily into the center console. The steering wheel doesn't have its central gauge detailing, but does rotate and fits in Batman's hands. The phone is not removable, and the upper T-handle emergency bat-turn lever is Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Film despite its label being the only one on the car. The wheels are painted silver and sport a rubbery Bat symbol, although without its white border.
I would have liked to have seen opening doors, trunk, and hood, but am not surprised we didn't get those. However, what they should have done at this budget was at least block off the hollow engine bay so you couldn't see through the wheel wells or the nose, you can actually see Batman & Robin's feet through the nose in one of my pics. Also, since it's hollow I would have liked independent suspension and tires that aren't hollow on the inner edge just to keep it from feeling too much like a dolled-up dime-store toy.
Anyway, below are some quick photos I took on my phone, some with flash and some without. Atomic batteries to power, turbines to speed.
EDIT: Oops, I accidentally left my TF site's watermark on when I batched them, oh well.
I've gotten used to ArtFX+ figures from Kotobukiya being a modestly high quality mid-priced item, Gentle Giant's quality as well in that range. If that Fett is a lot better at $20 than those others at $15, the scale should be thrown out entirely and refocused because the seam lines, the dodgy sculpting, the budget joints, and especially the seam lines everywhere, that stuff is such weak sauce compared to what that price should be.
Darth Vader is becoming the Mickey Mouse of Star Wars.
Kylo Ren - came from Space Brooklyn, although he moved to Space Williamsburg before it was trendy.
The use of a lightsaber does not make one a Jedi, it is the ability to not use it.
I found '66 Penguin and Riddler at TRU this morning BUT they were 21.99 each.
Meanwhile, Amazon has them at only $15.99.
The DC Matty subscription did not meet the minimum number so I guess I'll be using that money towards something else.
I have been holding off on posting to the "what are you collecting" thread but this definitely alters the trajectory of my response.


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This is a timely poll for October's bewitching holiday:
Who are you going as for Halloween?
Is it a store-bought, custom-ordered, or home-made costume?
What kinds of accessories are you carrying? (i.e. Parks Sabers, Master Replicas, Hasbro or Rubies weapons?)
Is this a costume you only recently got for Halloween 2002, or do you wear this costume to conventions like the Star Wars Celebrations?
Do you wear your costume within a group of friends who will dress as other Star Wars characters?
Can you post a picture of your 2002 Halloween? Let's collect them here!
From all of us at SirStevesGuide.com : HAPPY HALLOWEEN!


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I haven't written anything here for a while (Father, its been 3 months since my last confession :) ).
Seriously I've had many second thoughts about how I was going about developing Neudist. I was very reliant on Java and various other opensource projects, that just weren't quite as stable yet as they should be. I know that I should have spent time trying to debug these, but it became much more of a chore than I wanted it to be.
Also I decided that what is really needed for something as radical as Neudist, is real applications and not just a framework hoping someone will use them. So now I'm rewriting one of my first real Perl projects TravelTalk in Perl as Yet another Community Framework. Now, why don't I just use one of the many others that are available today? Well, none of the ones I've tried really fit in with my vision of what I want, also it's more fun doing all of this from scratch anyway. So I'm doing this thing which will someday be available on http://talk.org. in Perl, mod_perl, Mason and using the Postgresql database as the underlying source.
Let me tell you after having spent several years doing Java and working with clueless commercial appserver vendors, coming back to Perl is like returning home. I absolutely love it, having forgotten how productive you can get in this environment.
So what exactly am I doing that is so different with Traveltalk. Well the current version that is up, was written many years ago (1994-95) and you know the web has changed since then. One of the things I found was that many users of the system in the Caribbean, who were in the travel trade were using it as an important way for them to reach new customers, whom they thought more about like there friends than customers. Having read the Cluetrain Manifesto, with their statement that markets are conversations, I realised that my 2 great app interests (online communities and digital commerce) are closely related. What would be more perfect than to use TravelTalk as an experiment to combine the two. I wont go into too many details right now, but I think it could be quite cool.
So technically speaking I'm putting the final bit of coding on the actual community part now, should be live the end of Feb. Then slowly I will be adding NeuDist functionality to it, allowing people to setup small online businesses. Soap and RSS will be important parts of this. I was glad to see Dave Winer on Advogato. Even though he sells closed source software, he has been really important in building up protocols such as XMLRPC, Soap and RSS. He also pretty much invented the idea of Weblogs. He has also always supported Opensource vendors using the protocols he's been developing.