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LONGMONT -- Vince Tran, 17, will graduate from Niwot High this spring and plans to attend the University of Colorado in Boulder in the fall.
But he wouldn't mind having some extra cash in his pocket this summer, which is what brought him to the annual career and job fair sponsored by Workforce Boulder County, among others.
Tran stopped briefly by the Noodles & Co. booth to pick up some information Thursday afternoon.
"I've had plenty of different types of jobs," Tran said. "Really, any job that suits my characteristics would be good for me."
It was the first time the annual event was held at the Boulder County Fairgrounds. The fair is part of the Governor's Summer Job Hunt and is targeted at people ages 14 to 21.
"For the career side we had about 50 participants. As far as schools -- colleges and universities -- there are 14 of those," said Niki Brady of the Career Development Center. "Definitely, on our side, we've had more booths this year than we've had in the past couple of years, so maybe that's a sign the economy is turning around."
Jane Ganz, who helps organize the event for Workforce Boulder County, said this year appeared to have more of everything -- booths, volunteers and jobs.
"Last year we had 600 (young people)," Ganz said "I don't know this year. We won't know until we count up registration."
Elevations Credit Union, FirstBank, LegalShield, and the Longmont Clinic were some of the other businesses participating this year.
As in the past, there were counselors conducting mock interviews. New this year was a resume critiquing station. Andrea Blackburn of Workforce Boulder County acknowledged that people often don't associate teenagers looking for a job with resumes.
"That's true. However, there are a lot of jobs that give you a chance to include stuff on your resume that you won't be asked about on an application," Blackburn said -- mentioning volunteer work as one example. "Also, colleges more and more are requesting information structured like a resume."
The armed forces were well represented. This was the first time at the fair for Sgt. Jared Ruger, based at the U.S. Army's Longmont and Boulder recruiting stations. Given he's done a tour each in Iraq and Afghanistan, Thursday's duty was no doubt a little less stressful.
"We're here to talk about the Army -- career opportunities inside the military and how the military can help you outside with college money and job experience," Ruger said. "We even have reporters in the Army that do the same job you guys do."
Tony Kindelspire can be reached at 303-684-5291 or at email@example.com.


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The Slashdot Test: Any submission that includes references to Kickstarter and 3D printing is always posted to the front page.
Anything that implies a new implementation of a Turing Machine also has better chances.
If it looks like an iPhone, and acts like an iPhone, can you prove it's not a Samsung clone?
I don't know, but if you can, you can do so with a Turing machine
The same issues as polygons - they break, leaving gaps when performing complex operations (or even not complex, if you don't do it just so).
It can be made to work, with a lot of effort and experience, but this is a new way that doesn't have those limitations. Not to say it doesn't have others, of course - mostly it's rather slow, compared to surface modelling.
Disclaimer: I work for Uformia, the company running the Kickstarter.
In essence, we're looking at a sort of Post-Script for 3D printers, if I'm not mistaken. I can imagine how this might be slow especially for describing intricate, layered feature sets...
Are you describing the 3D model being printed as parametric cross-section(s) along the printers' vertical axis then?
G-Code is closer to the role PostScript fills in 2d printing, but it's only loosely standardized, and every printer seems to need their own sub dialect of it. That's why there's still a common interchange format being used, with printer specific software/settings being used to produce the G-Code that actually goes to the printer.
We do support outputting to slice oriented formats (Bitmap and another that I've just gone completely blank on), but we don't use these internally. Instead, our software is using 3D
CG artists and designers know very well the limitations and tediousness of modeling with polygons. Mesh models tend to have all kinds of problems such as cracks, holes and self-intersections. This is due to a disconnect between the real world being represented and the modeling software's attempts to represent real, volumetric, complex and "messy" objects by only surfaces.
The attack on polygons is rather unwarranted. True, surfaces are only able to visually represent an actual solid object, but then again for most visual media that's all you need them to do. Ever been on a movie set? The walls are thin wood supported by flimsy frames. Floors are painted on. Props and set pieces are often foam. Materials are cheap, lightweight, and easy to handle. There's no way any of that would work for an actual building, but again, it doesn't need to. It just needs to look like it could work.
Printing real world objects will need to account for much more than simply surfaces, much as a real structure requires more design and construction than a movie set. Developing procedurally generated materials and processes is an important step in making that happen. This goal of this project is to do just that.
In short: It's new media. New media requires new ways of working.
Surfaces are the photo of the real object, the trouble with surfaces is that you have to calculate the deception, and in the end the real thing will need much less energy.
We would not be able to be here if nature wasn't so efficient as it is, so taking natures algorithms and paterns to solve our space/time dilemma's is not such a bad idea.
The trouble is, everyone working with the new media is trying to bring the old workflow directly over. For example, the generic file format for 3D printing models is STL - a truly terrible file format that is a simple list of free floating triangles (no shared vertices or anything nice).
We (the people are Uformia) aren't really aiming for visual modelling. It's the printing we're aiming for. And we think just adding more and more complex methods of describing surfaces isn't enough, especially with the new p
I agree. I'm fairly certain they're simply re-inventing wheels here.
First off, I'd like to know what new way they've decided to define a "pure mathematical volume"... Why, might it be defined by the boundary between its interior and exterior? You know, its SURFACE? Secondly, I'd like to see how a mathematically parametrized surface (used to define a 3D volume) compares to nurbs or subdivision surfaces (both are parametric surfaces already in use in 3D modeling -- the parameters are the relatively spars
Without getting into too much detail:
No, it's boundary is just a side effect of the definition. We use zero value to be the boundary, but that's just a convenient convention.
NURBS and other parametric surfaces still have limitations. It's very difficult to define complex shapes with them, and the boolean operations often break, leaving you with gaps between patches or surfaces that have no matching other side. The staff and beta testers include people experienced with polygon and NURBS, and there are things
"Fabrication at the quality of nature" - A lot of marketing hype right there.
That aside, if you are not modeling something, and we are modeling still (it lives inside a computer dangit!), you have two choices:
1) parametric model (finite dimensional)
2) non-parametric model (infinite dimensional)
Infinite dimensional of course in the sense of as big of a sample sizes you use.
Their blog post disses polygon (a parametric model), but I bet that their product still inherently uses it. It also disses voxels,a volum
It's definitely marketing hype, but that's the kind of thing marketing is about.
There's kind of two processes being described in the product. Mesh repair is working with polygons and adding/modifying the polygons to produce a better mesh. This is intended to make better meshes for the second part, which is mesh mixing. Mesh mixing is functional, so can be sampled at any resolution.
Disclaimer: I work for Uformia, the company running the Kickstarter.
Another ad for a Kickstarter campaign. Yawn.
There many good "organic" modelers. Autodesk Mudbox is widely used by pros. Curved surface volumetric modellers go back a long way. I used one of the very first back in the 1980s, one based on deformable superellipsoids and running on a Symbolics LISP machine.
As for the "physical Turing test", if your demo reel doesn't show that you can pass that, it won't get you in the door at Pixar.
The analogy to the Turing Test doesn't make any sense.
The Turing Test was proposed as a way to tell if a human-made thing is intelligent, based on an inability to distinguish them from non-human-made things that are assumed to be intelligent, after you conceal all the factors that allow you to tell if the subjects were or weren't human-made.
The author is proposing the Turing Test is a way to tell if a human-made thing is human-made, based on an inability to distinguish them from non-human-made things that a
Our instruments are functioning and unable to measure our instruments! *SHOCK*
Using pure mathematical volumes, rather than surfaces or voxels, they are developing a new generation of 3D modelling tools specifically aimed at high resolution 3D printing
So, identical to existing CAD packages such as Solidworlds, Pro/Engineer, Catia, FreeCAD, OpenSCAD etc? Yeah, that's a totally new generation right there, nobody has marketed products for solid modelling physical objects with the intention of producing them with some sort of additive/subtractive machining process before, no siree.
If graphics hackers are so smart, why can't they get the bugs out of fresh paint?

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Aerochamber Plus Discount Card
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MedSaverCard covers more than just AEROCHAMBER MIS PLUS. Although discounts vary, any prescription drug is eligible for this Discount drug card program.
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Tags: AEROCHAMBER MIS PLUS


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A small, impoverished school in an African village is receiving help from halfway across the globe to build a roof and a bathroom through the efforts of middle school students in Taunton.
Friedman Middle School students are nearly finished collecting funds for their "Rebuilding the Village School" project to help provide badly needed improvements to a school in Gbesseh, a village in Liberia. In addition to the efforts at Friedman Middle School, the Taunton school district recently agreed to donate five boxes of old math books, after the district adopted new math curriculum last week, said sixth-grade teacher Nancy LeClair, who helped organize the campaign.
"We thought it'd be good for the students to have some global connection and realized not everyone has what we have here in America," LeClair said.
The effort started last year after a nonprofit called Mission to Liberia first sent a request to the Taunton public schools asking for school books. LeClair said she wanted to take it another step further, with the support of her superiors, and last year the Taunton students raised money to send the village a goat, which was then named Friedman in honor of the Taunton school.
The latest drive ended June 6, with Friedman Middle School students collecting $2,000, which will be used toward roof construction, a latrine and school supplies, LeClair said. Once the school is renovated, it will be named Friedman Africa, LeClair said.
Marisa Gay, 11, who is a student in Wendy Hasson's fifth-grade class, set up a donation center with her friends.
"Basically, everyone chipped in," Gay said. "We wanted to do something to help. We feel we are making a difference in the world. It's good. We like to help."
Courtney Coppinger, 11, one of Gay's fifth-grade classmates, agreed.
"They don't have what we have," she said.
Throughout the school, there are signs on the walls in hallways and on classroom doors, that say, "Rebuilding the Village," and, "We can make a difference." A sign above the water fountain says, "Can you imagine not having clean water to drink?"
Students in LeClair's class and other classes also started to make crafts and sell them to support the campaign, including T-shirts, jewelry and other trinkets. This also served as a sort of "mini-economics" lesson, LeClair said.
Juliana Therrien, a fifth-grader, made bows with classmates to sell to other students to wear and to help raise money.
"I feel good because we got to help people who don't have as many things as us," Therrien said.
LeClair said she hopes to continue the Liberia project next year.
Other Friedman students said that they are now more grateful for the school they attend here in Taunton, and that they are glad to get involved.
"Well, it's a really good idea for kids to get into community service at a young age," said Skyla Nicol, 12. "They (the Liberian schoolchildren) are students like us, but in way different situations from what we are in. We get to discover what the rest of the world is doing other than just here in our own town."
Darcy Coute, another teacher at the school, said that the students in her class took initiative in the project. Especially, she said, because the project provided ice cream socials to classes if they raised at least $100.
"They really took control," Coute said. "They did everything on their own."
Friedman Principal Kathy Perry said the campaign helped bring the school together and promoted strong character traits.
"We talk a lot about integrity and respect," Perry said. "I think this really gets kids thinking beyond themselves and globally. ... The kids here just really embraced it."


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There are certain activities that we already know are evil, but legitimate corporations still do. For example, the "Are you sure you want to close this website window?" is particularly evil, but some people still do it.
Then there are the huge number of music and video spots that start
1. Block Flash. No advertiser needs to run a program on my computer.
2. Allow all other graphical and text ads.
3. If it moves, block the ad system that served it.
I think that provides a reasonable compromise: I continue to be exposed to inoffensive ads and occasionally buy from them. The other advertisers can place ads which conform to what I'm willing to view or not as they choose. If they choose to place motion ads with services that accept motion ads, I won't see them.
I've come to think of advertising as a drunken loudmouth party crasher. Each time he shows up at the door he promises he'll behave and remain tasteful and unobtrusive. But after a few minutes inside, advertising starts talking louder and longer; he simply can't control himself. When advertising sees that people are trying to ignore him, he responds by ever more forcibly interrupting conversations with yet another shouted, pointless story about himself. Not satisfied with having merely degraded the conve
In less than a century, computers will be making substantial progress on ... the overriding problem of war and peace. -- James Slagle


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Law Warehouses to continue with court case against NHLCBy DAVID SOLOMON
New Hampshire Union Leader
October 15. 2013 12:10PM
NASHUA - Law Warehouses will press ahead with a court case challenging a decision by the state Liquor Commission to award a $200 million warehouse and transportation contract to Exel of Westerville, Ohio, a division of German-based logistics giant Deutsche Post DHL.
The state Supreme Court on Sept. 25 rejected an appeal by the Nashua-based warehouse company, which had sought an injunction in Superior Court to block the transfer of the contract, effective Nov. 1.
Warehousing and transportation to supply the state liquor stores will now move to a new Exel warehouse in Bow on Nov. 1, as the court case continues.
"The Supreme Court's recent decision not to hear our appeal asking for an injunction has no bearing on our case before the Hillsborough Superior Court, which is scheduled to be heard in May," said Brian Law, president of the company. "We continue to believe that we twice offered the best deal to the state and the people of New Hampshire. We look forward to presenting the numerous facts that support that statement and demonstrate that the state liquor commission violated bidding laws and engaged in unlawful favoritism."
The Liquor Commission and the attorney general maintain the request for proposals, bidding process and bid scoring that led up to the contract award complied with the state's competitive bidding statutes.
Law said Exel has not hired any of the outgoing Law Warehouse employees, opting instead to hire temporary workers at the Bow warehouse. Exel spokesperson Lynn Anderson said the 80 employees at the site were a mix of full-time Exel employees and some hired through a temp agency.
"There are some employees who will be temps, based on seasonal requirements of the business," she said.
"Our 100-plus New Hampshire employees have paid the highest price as a result of unlawful action by the N.H. State Liquor Commission," said Law. "Unfortunately, the German firm Exel has decided, for some inexplicable reason, to hire none of our well-qualified and trained employees, opting instead to hire temps and others without experience in the liquor industry."


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Having built much of his northwest Calgary home himself, Andrew Kohsel is understandably proud of it.
Kohsel and his wife plan to spend many more years there, but he said a budget cut Thursday to a program that provides property tax breaks to seniors will have an impact on a fixed income already squeezed by rising costs for things like groceries and other necessities.
"Every little bit helps, and this is just one more thing we have to pay for," said Kohsel, a retired SAIT instructor.
"It's just one more thing the government is shoving at seniors to cover their costs."
Although Thursday's provincial budget maintains funding to several programs for low-income and vulnerable Albertans, the province found the money to do it by cutting nearly $100 million from programs for the unemployed and cutting off benefits to tens of thousands of seniors.
Kohsel and his wife are among an estimated 70,000 people who will no longer qualify for the Seniors School Property Tax Assistance Program, which gives rebates to seniors to cover year-to-year increases in property taxes.
This year, the program will be limited to individuals with an income under $31,625, or less than $63,250 for couples.
Provincial officials estimate the change will save the government $12.5 million.
The government is cutting the program altogether in 2014, moving instead to a property tax deferral scheme for seniors that will begin this year.
But unlike the soon-to-be-eliminated property tax assistance program, the tax deferral initiative is a low-interest loan - not a rebate.
Under the program, the province pays property taxes on behalf of the senior, who repays the amount, with interest, when they sell their home.
The government estimates it will pay $3 million in loans this year, with demand for the program growing to $34 million by 2015-16.
But Kohsel said he won't be among the takers, not wanting a hefty tax bill by the time he plans to sell his house.
"It's quite possible I could live in this home for another 20 years," he said.
"It's a bad idea."
Alberta Health, which administers several programs for seniors, also introduced changes to the Alberta Seniors Benefit that will make nearly 10,000 current recipients ineligible under the new rules.
Benefit claimants will no longer be able to exempt alimony payments, workers' compensation benefits and Canada Pension Plan disability payments from their income calculations.
The new rule will push approximately 6,000 seniors above the income cut-off of $25,100 for eligible individuals.
"The threshold should have been increased, but at the very least we shouldn't be kicking people off," said Kerry Towle, the Wildrose seniors critic.
Another 3,000 seniors will be removed from the rolls due to a change that will now require recipients to have lived in Canada for at least 10 years. The government said the rule mirrors federal Old Age Security eligibility requirements.
The Human Services department received a slight cut to its operating funds, shrinking $9 million to $4.258 billion, but funding to many major programs remained intact.
Funding for Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped, which provides benefits to approximately 47,000 Albertans, received a 4.4 per cent boost to $1.1 billion. However, the monthly maximum benefit - raised to $1,588 last year -remains unchanged.
The province boosted its budget for child care subsidies for low-income families to $270 million, a modest $5-million increase. The increase is designed to keep pace with demand for the program, which provides subsidies for families with a household income of less than $50,000 a year.
But these measures came with a cost elsewhere on the provincial ledger.
The government slashed $98 million from Alberta Works, which provides employment training, income support and health benefits to unemployed and under-employed Albertans.
The program provides applicants with grants to pay for educational upgrading, English as a second language classes, occupational training and other services. The total funding for these programs in 2013-14 drops to $883 million, down from $981 million last year.
With an unemployment rate that is the country's second lowest at 4.5 per cent, Human Services Minister Dave Hancock said fewer Albertans need Alberta Works programs and the government can afford to spend less.
"We've got a stronger economy, we have more job opportunities and less demand for some of the income support programs and some of the training supports," Hancock said.
But with Alberta experiencing labour shortages in areas like skilled trades, one advocacy group said it's unwise to cut job training programs.
"Last I heard, we have a labour shortage in Alberta - and there are lots of vulnerable Albertans looking for more job training, not less," said Bill Moore-Kilgannon, executive director of Public Interest Alberta.
"It's bad for vulnerable Albertans and it's bad for our economy."
twitter: jasonvanrassel


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Linked by Thom Holwerda on Sat 11th May 2013 21:41 UTC
"Windows is indeed slower than other operating systems in many scenarios, and the gap is worsening." That's one way to start an insider explanation of why Windows' performance isn't up to snuff. Written by someone who actually contributes code to the Windows NT kernel, the comment on Hacker News, later deleted but reposted with permission on Marc Bevand's blog, paints a very dreary picture of the state of Windows development. The root issue? Think of how Linux is developed, and you'll know the answer.
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RE: old stuff
RE[2]: old stuff
by ilovebeer on Tue 14th May 2013 01:00 in reply to "RE: old stuff"
"Too bad for Microsoft. You had to know that Microsoft is reaching the end. Linux development shows the way to get things done.. No commercial entity can compete with that.
Go Linux, go!
Go Linux, go!
A lot of linux development is done by commercial entities too. "
"A lot" might actually be understating it. Commercial entities are involved is practically every aspect of linux and that fact is such common knowledge it's hard to believe anyone would think otherwise -- unless they have no clue what their talking about.


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Gearbox's ECHOcasts Twitter account is now ostensibly in control of Mister Torgue, who has wrested control from the Mecromancer to confirm indications from last month that Mister Torgue's Campaign of Carnage will be the next DLC for Borderlands 2. Other than confirm the title of the new content for the role-playing shooter, Torgue is generally just throwing around all caps #BADASSITUDE for now. Thanks IGN.
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Diversified Financial Services
Company Overview of Landeskreditbank Baden-Württemberg - Förderbank
Executive Profile
Tatjana Aster
Consulting Member of the Supervisory Board, Landeskreditbank Baden-Württemberg - Förderbank
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Portland Mayor Michael Brennan and Portland Public Schools Superintendent Emmanuel Caulk are on the same page about the proposed fiscal year 2014 school budget of $96.36 million. They're both urging a "yes" vote when Portlanders go to the polls Tuesday to vote on it, and they're holding a news conference on Monday morning to hammer that point home.
That budget represents a 3 percent increase in the education component of the city property tax rate.
Here's what the mayor said in a Friday statement on the topic:
I encourage Portland voters to join me Tuesday in approving the school budget. Without question, this has been a difficult year with a number of challenges thrust upon us. That said, I am encouraged by the opportunities that lay ahead. Through Portland ConnectED and a number of public-private partnerships, we are building an educational platform that will support all Portland kids through graduation and post-secondary education.
This seems like a good opportunity to brush up on school finances, the mayor's ConnectED initiative and outside forces at play. Here's some reading on those topics that may be worthwhile as you're considering your vote:
- City Hall says new charter school will cost existing Portland schools money (June 18, 2012)
- Mayor Brennan, business leaders launch Portland ConnectED to raise graduation rates (Feb. 25, 2013)
- Initial school budget draft invests in STEM, programs for immigrants (March 13, 2013)
- Superintendent Caulk proposes school budget that cuts 50 jobs, seeks additional concessions from teachers union (April 17, 2013)


text:
Providenciales Vacations
Use the quote box at left to price Turks & Caicos hotels.
This small island, only six miles long and three miles wide, provides all the activities sun lovers need. Spend time scuba diving, horseback riding on the beach, playing golf or whale watching (in season).
The hotels and resorts on this page have been divided into two groups. Immediately below are the all-inclusive Providenciales resorts, where lodging, meals, activities and more are rolled into one price. Farther down on this page, traditional hotels and resorts are listed.
|Providenciales Resort Rating Key
|Exceptional (Premier property with finest services,
amenities and exquisite surroundings)
|Deluxe (Prime location with outstanding service, elegant accommodations and a wide array of amenities)
|Good (Tastefully furnished accommodations with
assortment of amenities and services)
|Moderate (Comfortable accommodations with limited
amenities and services)
|Fair (Clean, basic, budget property)
|Very limited appeal


text:
Russell Blaugh, 89
Russell L. Blaugh, 89, of Churubusco, passed away at 11:08 p.m. Saturday, March 12, 2011 at The Oaks, Columbia City. Born Oct. 11, 1921 in Huntington County, he was a son of Roy and Eugenia (Shearer) Blaugh. He moved from Whitley County to Allen County in 1946 and in 1973 moved back to Whitley County. He graduated from Coesse High School with the Class of 1939. On May 24, 1941 he married Jeanne Sprouls in Columbia City who preceded him in death Jan. 9, 1971. On Jan. 19, 1973, he married Louise Barnhart-Egolf in Churubusco. He worked at Dana Weatherhead in Columbia City as a foreman for 43 years, retiring in 1982. He also worked as a general farmer.Survivors include his four children, Ron Blaugh of Churubusco, Kathy (Lynn) Johnson of Fort Wayne, Gary Blaugh of Fort Wayne and Allen Blaugh of San Diego, Calif.; two stepdaughters, Mary Katherine (Charles) Cummings of Columbia City and Norma L. (Dale) Crabill of Churubusco; one stepson, Robert L. (Betty) Egolf of Churubusco; one sister, Geraldine Zumbrun of Columbia City; 18 grandchildren; 34 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild. He was preceded in death by his parents; first wife, Jeanne Blaugh; second wife, Louise Blaugh Dec. 5, 2004; sisters, Dorothy Tripcony and Marjorie Platschik; brothers, Thomas, Edward, Jack and John Blaugh; and infant brothers, Donald and Freddie Blaugh.Visitation is from 3 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at DeMoney-Grimes Countryside Park Funeral Home, 600 Countryside Drive, Columbia City. Funeral service will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday at DeMoney-Grimes Funeral Home with Pastor Jean Ness of Columbia City United Methodist Church officiating. Burial will follow at Eel River Cemetery, Churubusco. Memorials may be given in memory of Mr. Blaugh to Cancer Services of Northeast Indiana or Parkview Whitley Home Health and Hospice. Envelopes will be available at the funeral home. Visit www.demoneygrimes.com to send family condolences or sign the guest register book.


text:
State jobless rate dips to 7%, but work force is shrinking
By David Smith
This article was published December 22, 2012 at 2:09 a.m.
LITTLE ROCK Arkansas' unemployment rate fell to 7 percent in November from 7.2 percent in October, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday.
The rate has bounced up and down this year but has remained below 8 percent since November 2011. The drop is well within the bureau's margin of error of 0.9 percentage point, so it remains statistically unchanged.
The nation's unemployment rate was 7.7 percent in November.
Arkansas' civilian labor force continued to decline, according to the report. There were 1,363,400 Arkansans in the labor force last month, a combination of those employed and those seeking work. That's 12,400 fewer than in November 2011 and 8,700 fewer than in October.
For the past six months, the labor force has dropped in size when compared with the previous month. There were 27,000 fewer people in the labor force in November than in May.
It's impossible to know why the civilian labor force is shrinking, but the most likely answer is that people get discouraged about looking for jobs and give up, said Greg Kaza, executive director of the Arkansas Policy Foundation.
Discouraged job seekers dropping out is the primary reason for declines in the civilian labor force nationally, Kaza said.
Other plausible reasons for the drop are Arkansans who decide to return to school if they can't find jobs or who take early retirement, said Michael Pakko, chief economist at the Institute for Economic Advancement at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
Arkansas' civilian labor force has not been healthy at any point since the recession ended in June 2009, said John Shelnutt, administrator for economic analysis and tax research for the state's Department of Finance and Administration.
November's decline in the labor force is not encouraging, said Kathy Deck, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.
"You certainly like to see the unemployment rate continue to drop, but it would be better if employment was increasing rather than seeing the labor force number be a little weak," Deck said.
Most of the state's employment growth is in Northwest Arkansas, Deck said.
"The rest of the state is roughly canceling itself out,"Deck said. "Central Arkansas is a little positive. Fort Smith is a little bit negative. Of course, we want to see Northwest Arkansas get back on track, but we really want to see broad-based growth across the state."
Pakko said he expects the annual revision of employment data that is released every March to show more positive results for the state. On the basis of some currently available regional statistics, Pakko said, he expects the March revision to show that Arkansas has about 13,000 more jobs than the November report indicates.
Six employment sectors in Arkansas showed job increases in November compared with November 2011, led by the trade, transportation and utilities sector with 6,900 more jobs, Friday's report said. The sector also includes retail and wholesale trade jobs.
Five sectors reported declines in the number of jobs in November compared with November 2011. The biggest decline came in construction, where 3,700 jobs were lost compared with the previous year.
A federal economic report also released Friday included some encouraging construction data.
Home builders in south Arkansas are at the highest level of confidence of any time in the past six years, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis' quarterly report on the economic conditions in Arkansas. The report, released Friday, also said housing construction in Arkansas is "outpacing last year's activity," but it has not been on pace this year with home construction nationally.
Arkansas was one of 45 states that saw unemployment rates drop in November. But Arkansas also was one of 20 states to report a one-month decline in the number of nonfarm payroll jobs. There were 1,100 fewer nonfarm payroll jobs in Arkansas in November compared with October, but there were 9,500 more jobs in November compared with November 2011.
Nevada continued to report the highest unemployment rate in the country at 10.8 percent, followed by Rhode Island at 10.4 percent; California at 9.8 percent; New Jersey at 9.6 percent; and North Carolina at 9.1 percent.
North Dakota again had the lowest unemployment rate at 3.1 percent last month, followed by Nebraska at 4.4 percent; South Dakota at 4.4 percent; Iowa at 4.9 percent; and Utah and Wyoming, tied at 5.1 percent.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 12/22/2012
Print Headline: State jobless rate dips to 7%, but work force is shrinking
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INZ DISTRIBUTORS INC./MAGIC POWER COFFEE INC. of Brooklyn, NY announced June 25 that it is conducting a voluntary nationwide recall of the dietary supplement product sold under the name, Magic Power Coffee.
The Company has been informed by representatives of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that lab analysis of one lot of the product by the FDA found that the product contains undeclared hydroxythiohomosildenafil, similar in structure to Sildenafil, an FDA-approved drug used for the treatment of male Erectile Dysfunction (ED), making Magic Power Coffee an unapproved drug. The hydroxythiohomosildenafil drug ingredient is not listed on the product label.
Hydroxythiohomosildenafil may interact with nitrates found in some prescription drugs such as nitroglycerin and may lower blood pressure to dangerous levels. Consumers with diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol or heart disease often take nitrates.
Magic Power Coffee is distributed nationwide on Internet sites and online auctions by multiple independent distributors participating in an online multi-level marketing program. It is sold in a 2-serving box with UPC 718122686872 and a 12-serving carton containing six 2-serving boxes with UPC 718122686773. All production dates up until 05/08/2010 are being recalled.
To date, no illnesses have been reported to the company or the FDA in connection with this product.
Customers who have this product in their possession should stop using it immediately and contact their physician if they have experienced any problems that may be related to taking this product.
Consumers and health care professionals should report adverse events that may be related to the use of this product to the FDA's MedWatch Adverse Event Reporting program online at www.fda.gov/medwatch/report.htm1, by phone at 1-800-FDA-1088 or by returning the postage-paid FDA form 3500 which may be downloaded from www.fda.gov/MedWatch/getforms.htm2 by mail to MedWatch, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20852-9787 or fax to 1-800-FDA-0178.
Consumers should return any unused product to the place of purchase for full refund or contact INZ Distributors Inc./Magic Power Coffee Inc. at (718) 313-1579, Monday – Friday, 10 am to 6 pm EDT, for further instructions.
Fayette Front Page
Georgia Front Page
Follow us on Twitter: @GAFrontPage
Sunday, July 4, 2010
INZ Distributors Inc./Magic Power Coffee Inc. Conducts a Voluntary Nationwide Recall of Magic Power Coffee Dietary Supplement
INZ DISTRIBUTORS INC./MAGIC POWER COFFEE INC. of Brooklyn, NY announced June 25 that it is conducting a voluntary nationwide recall of the dietary supplement product sold under the name, Magic Power Coffee.
Posted by Georgia Front Page.com at 11:36 PM
Labels: coffee, dietary supplement, erectile dysfunction, fayette front page, fda, georgia, georgia front page, magic power, recall


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Browsing by Subject "Polytechnic of Namibia - REEEI"
Now showing items 1-2 of 2
REEECAP Project 1.3 - Energy efficiency in the tourism sector in Namibia: EE competition 2007. (2007)The objective of this project is to enhance energy efficiency (EE) in the tourism sector of Namibia. This project aims at making as many tourism enterprises aware of the opportunities of more EE and to reward those who are ...
Renewable energy for Namibia, or, How to invest in the future. (Polytechnic of Namibia, Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Institute (REEEI), 2007)


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Interested in applying...DPT Events & Activities
Helpful Links:
Program Approvals
Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE)
The Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE) met Friday, April 20, 2012 in Lexington, Kentucky and officially voted to approve a Doctorate in Physical Therapy at Western Kentucky University.
Southern Association of Colleges and Schools - Commission of Colleges (SACS-COC)
The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools - Commission of Colleges (SACS-COC) officially notified Western Kentucky University (WKU) by letter dated June 15, 2012 of their approval of the Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) Program as the third doctoral program offered by the University. The letter further recognized the WKU - DPT Program as a full-time, 118-credit hour degree program of academic and clinical work to be completed over a three year period.
Commission of Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education (CAPTE)
Western Kentucky University's application cycle to the Commission of Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education (CAPTE) is December 1, 2012 which places the Program in a decision cycle for late April 2013 for a Program start date of Summer 2013.
Western Kentucky University welcomes the CAPTE vetting process as an essential element in our DPT Program accreditation.
More about the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education (CAPTE):
- is the only accreditation agency recognized by the United States Department of Education (USDE) and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) to accredit entry-level physical therapist and physical therapist assistant education programs;
- has been recognized as an independent agency since 1977 and has been the only recognized agency to accredit physical therapy programs since 1983;
- currently accredits over 200 physical therapist education programs and over 250 physical therapist assistant education programs in the US and three physical therapist education programs in other countries (Canada and Scotland);
- has 29 members from a variety of constituencies: PT and PTA clinicians, PT and PTA educators, basic scientists, higher education administrators and the public;
- maintains a cadre of more than 250 volunteers who are trained to conduct on-site reviews of physical therapy programs;
- conducts on-site visits to approximately 70 programs annually;
- reviews information from approximately one-third of all accredited program at each meeting;
- is an active member of the Association of Specialized and Programmatic Accreditors (ASPA) and subscribes to the ASPA Code of Good Practice.
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text: Hey everyone...just wanted to intro myself and all. I'm 25 from Ohio (bout 40 min from Pitt), been a Steeler fan a majority of my life..at least since i been able to understand things/etc haha. And as time went on (esp over like the last 8-10 yrs), i've been following more closely...like draft/fa stuff..you know in more detail than just watching the games. I usually go to at least one Steelers game each yr...for the last like 5 yrs i'd say. I just happened to find this place doing a yahoo search the other night...since i've been waiting for ages to be approved for the board at steelers.com...i figured i'd find some other places to go to also, and thats what has brought me here!


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Vermont woodworkers are among the best in the world, so the furniture making part of our online business at Vermont Woods Studios Fine Furniture is the easy part. It's the shipping and delivery that's our biggest challenge.
All of our furniture is made to order in small and medium-sized woodworking shops around our state. Furniture makers work with great care and precision to make sure their pieces leave the workshop in tip-top condition. The last thing we want is to have to ask them to make something over again because it got broken by a shipper. Not to mention that receiving damaged furniture is a huge let down to our customers and totally unacceptable by any measure.
So over the years we developed a policy where (unless it was something small or a customer absolutely needed a RUSH delivery) we ship furniture via a white glove delivery service. With white glove delivery, furniture is handled by only one company from the time it is picked up in Vermont until the time it's set up in a customer's kitchen, home office, dining room or bedroom.
The delivery crew arranges a convenient time for delivery several days in advance. They arrive at a customer's home in uniform, bring the furniture inside, unpackage it, help inspect it and set it up (including assembly, if any). For fine furniture I've always felt this is the only acceptable shipping solution.
Our new partner, Copeland Furniture, however is beginning to persuade me that it's possible to engineer a successful DIY (do-it-yourself) furniture delivery system that will save customers money. Copeland has made significant advances in the art, science and technology of fine furniture packaging and shipping over the last couple years. They are now the world leader in safe, efficient, economical fine furniture shipping.
So, for Copeland furniture only we now offer free shipping and do-it-yourself (DIY) delivery as a more affordable option for customers who are willing and able to handle their own delivery. With DIY delivery, your furniture is brought to your doorstep where you must unpackage and inspect it yourself, then sign for it. You are responsible to bring your furniture into your home and assemble it, if needed. For chests, dressers and desks, there is typically no assembly required, with the exception of drawer and door knobs. With beds and tables, you must assemble them yourself-- and easy directions are provided.
Customers can save an average of $300 with a DIY delivery. If you're interested, just give us a call or specify DIY as your choice in the pull-down menu for shipping when you're making an online purchase. Of course, Copeland furniture can also be purchased with white glove delivery for an additional fee. You can specify that on the pull-down menu as well. Either way, if you're purchasing furniture online be sure to review the applicable Furniture Delivery and Inspection procedures to protect yourself in case of any possible problems down the road.
We are eager to get your feedback on this new method of shipping.


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Jason Stipp: I'm Jason Stipp for Morningstar. After a strong January, February also saw strong inflows for long-term open-end mutual funds. So where were investors putting their money to work? Here to offer some insights is Mike Rawson, fund analyst with Morningstar.
Thanks for joining me, Mike.
Mike Rawson: Great to be here.
Stipp: January was a strong month; February was pretty strong, but not as strong as January. What was the top line number on the inflows for mutual funds?
Rawson: It was about $50 billion. January was closer to $90 billion. January was the strongest month we've ever had in terms of fund flows. It got everyone excited about this [idea that] now it's a great rotation--people are going to start buying stock funds again after so many years of redemptions and people selling stock funds.
Things moderated a little bit in February, so we have to back off that story. But they were still strong flows, particularly strong again into fixed income and international stock. U.S. stock funds not so much, kind of lackluster, but they were positive, which is a good sign.
Stipp: So bond flows still looking strong, on the stock side maybe not so much. What about when you add ETFs in, though? I know investors have been looking increasingly to passive investments; ETFs are mostly passive. Does that make the story seem better for stocks?
Rawson: ETF flows last month were about $8 billion, [compared with] about $50 billion on the mutual fund side. We've seen this continuation of investors' preference for passive products. So, passive mutual funds and passive ETFs have continued to grow and have had stronger flows. Actually we saw outflows from actively managed U.S. stock funds last month; [they were] small, and those were offset by the flows into passive products. So, investors continue to prefer ETFs primarily because they're passive and they're low cost, low-expense-ratio products.
Stipp: … Can you talk about why you think we're still seeing money go into fixed income? Now that the market has been up, it seems like there is some enthusiasm for stocks. Also, concerns start to creep in about interest rates going up and the Fed being less accommodative. But people still prefer bonds. What's behind that?
Rawson: So, going back to December, there were some hints that some of the members of the Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee were more inclined to cut back on quantitative easing sooner rather than later. Bernanke has come out several times saying, no, we're going to maintain the quantitative easing. But interest rates have ticked up slightly since December, and that [could have] spurred people to think, OK, now we're starting to [see interest rates] rise, so it's time to get out of bonds. We haven't seen that. People still prefer bonds.
What we have seen, though, is people starting to move out of government bonds and move further out on the risk spectrum--whether it be emerging markets or bank loan funds. In fact, historically, intermediate-term bond funds were the strongest category. But last month, [investors] cranked the risk up a little bit more and went into these bank-loan funds.
I think bank loans are kind of interesting, because there you have the potential that if interest rates do rise, bank loans are typically floating rate. So, they could help investors a little bit if rates do start to go up. They also have some credit risk; credit risk products have been doing well, so bank loans have had pretty strong performance, and they saw very strong flows last month.
Stipp: Given the flows that you're seeing into some of these categories that may be more exotic to traditional fixed-income investors, such as emerging-markets bonds or bank loans, do you feel like investors know what they're getting into when they're getting these products? As you said, there is some credit risk involved.
Rawson: Well, I'm not sure if they know what they're getting into, but I wouldn't say that they're taking on too much risk. Still you have the equity market at a reasonable valuation. I think bonds are reasonably valued when you look at Treasury bond rates. If Treasury bond rates are 2%, then you're going to have low rates on high-yield bonds and corporate bonds as well. The whole yield curve is going to come down for all products.
And you have people like Bill Gross of PIMCO out there talking about how you've got to diversify your bond portfolio and get some exposure--whether it'd be non-U.S. dollar corporate or outside of just Treasury bonds.
So I don't think we've seen excessive speculation at this point.
Stipp: And if an investor is moving some of their traditional fixed income into some of these other categories, what would you say [you should] keep in mind if your diversification in bonds is going to include some of these other categories? What might you see maybe in the short term that you should understand?
Rawson: The big thing they need to understand is that when you think about your whole portfolio, your asset allocation, you've got stocks and bonds. The role of bonds in your portfolios really is not to earn an excess or huge return. You're not going to strike it rich investing in bonds. [Bonds are] there to be a counterbalance to market volatility. You want that to really be very stable.
So, if you start to take high-yield or emerging-market risk, those tend to be more correlated to the economic cycle, to equities. So if the equity markets do sell off, those bonds may not hold up as much as you thought when you were designing the 60-40 bond-stock portfolio. So, investors really need to be aware of what is the role of bonds in their portfolios.
Stipp: Mike, let's talk a little bit about some of the fund families that came out well in February. Who is continuing to do well? What are the trends you are seeing there?
Rawson: Sure. Well, as we saw in 2012, all of last year, it's Vanguard and PIMCO across the board; they're just dominating. Vanguard, it's easy to understand. People want index products. Vanguard, of course, is the king of indexing, and they also have a strong ETF lineup, so Vanguard is continuing to gain share on the ETF side.
For PIMCO, it's been investors, again, wanting bond, so PIMCO, of course, has a lot of bond fund offerings. But PIMCO also offers a lot of these alternative, niche, higher-risk bond funds. In fact, last month this PIMCO Unconstrained Bond Fund was very strong; it had over $2 billion in flows. So PIMCO's whole suite of products have had really strong inflows.
Stipp: So despite a strong month in the market, new highs in the market, we're still seeing a certain preference for bonds among investors. Thanks for joining me today and giving me some insights on that fund flow data.
Rawson: Thanks, Jason.
Stipp: For Morningstar, I'm Jason Stipp.


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New "freemium" online MechWarrior game. It's in closed beta atm and I am DLing the client currently. Looks promising so far. I used to be a hardcore MW4 player back in the day. BZ/VL leagues etc. Was kind of fun when I discovered it because I reconnected with old MS zone friends that I had not talked to in 10 years.
Game is still NDA btw so I won't be able to talk details on the beta yet.
Any other old MechWarriors around here?


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Image Via iPhoneappreviews.net
Gone is the era when the television remote control was a fascinating, much cherished device and beloved member of the family.
By conventional standards, the TV remote is old hat - nothing new or exciting. And while still practical and very helpful around the living room, its stature has been steadily diminished by a wide array of much neater, sexier gadgets in recent years.
This summer served yet another blow to the ego of remote controls everywhere, as advancements in the smartphone realm continue at a pace that could very well see the television remote facing extinction before the familiar little gadgets can even brace for it - like an asteroid penetrating our atmosphere to obliterate the dinosaurs before the poor creatures even knew what him 'em.
Okay, maybe that's a little too dramatic. But, still, an article published this morning in the San Francisco Chronicle points to how the iPhone is further adapting to our "control issues" at a quickened pace.
Apple has made it possible for iPhone and iPod Touch users to control their iTunes program or Apple TV through a downloadable application called Remote. Sonos, the maker of multi-room music systems, released a free iPhone app that allows customers to use their iPhone instead of a Sonos remote. And last week, Apple approved an app from iTV that allows consumer electronics makers to easily build iPhone apps that can serve as remote controls. ITV said the first devices to get the support are TiVo digital video recorders.
"You'll see the phone as a remote control more and more," said John McFarlane, CEO of Sonos. "It's better than any infrared device you've picked up. It's a wonderful platform, and you don't have to train someone to work with another device."
As the article suggests, the future is still being written. But electronics-makers and cable companies are endlessly fascinated by this concept. And the newfound emphasis on our smartphones controlling the simple facets and tasks of our life could dramatically change all that we are familiar with in home entertainment.
"I don't know anyone who loves the remote control," he said. "It's either line of sight issues, or for me I have to change the batteries. Or you grab the wrong one. If people are consuming more media, to have an application that eases their burdens makes a lot of sense."


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There is established a West Virginia advanced placement center to provide statewide coordination for the continued growth and development of the advanced placement programs in West Virginia high schools. The center will assist the West Virginia Department of Education, county boards of education, institutions of higher education, the college board, inc., and the West Virginia advanced placement advisory council in all matters relative to the advanced placement in this state.
The specific functions of the center include:
(1) Coordinating advanced placement teacher training institutes;
(2) Establishing a cadre of instructors for the advanced placement teacher training institutes;
(3) Providing follow-up teacher training for advanced placement teachers;
(4) Identifying and obtaining external sources of funding;
(5) Networking advanced placement teachers through an advanced placement newsletter;
(6) Serving as a liaison for the college board and the West Virginia Department of Education, county boards of education, institutions of higher education, the West Virginia advanced placement advisory council, the Legislature and the Governor;
(7) Conducting research and evaluating the state's advanced placement program;
(8) Assisting county boards of education and local schools in establishing, evaluating and maintaining advanced placement programs;
(9) Serving as a clearinghouse for advanced placement materials and correspondence; and
(10) Certify individual courses that meet the established standards of advanced placement programs.


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Assistant biology professor Chris Smith has been awarded an $850,000 National Science Foundation CAREER grant to support his research studying Joshua trees and yucca moths.
The Early Career Development (CAREER) award is NSF's most prestigious award. The grant is given in recognition of junior faculty members who achieve excellence as teachers and scholars through outstanding teaching and research, and by integrating education and scholarship.
Smith is the first faculty member at Willamette to receive a CAREER award.
"When I got the call, the first thing I did was run screaming through the hallways. Then I told my technician and called my parents and my post-doctoral advisor," Smith says. "It feels like a big sense of relief. I finally got some national recognition that the work I'm doing is good."
With the grant, Smith will spend the next five years working with Willamette University students, a post-doctoral scientist and members of the public, studying what he suspects to be the coevolution of yucca moths and yucca trees.
Are yuccas and their pollinators coevolving?
Coevolution is a process of mutual adaptation in which two species evolve in response to one another. For example, over time cheetahs may have evolved to become faster, and thus better able to capture gazelles, while gazelles may evolve to run still faster, and keep away from the cheetahs.
This process of reciprocal evolutionary change is thought to be widespread in nature, and may be important in areas as wide-ranging as managing agricultural pests to understanding diseases like the flu and HIV. However, testing whether coevolution is actually occurring in any specific case is a challenging job.
Smith believes the Joshua tree may offer a way forward for understanding coevolution. What fascinates him about the two species is how the two are dependent on one another for their survival – yucca moths are the only pollinators of Joshua trees, and the yucca moths can reproduce only by laying their eggs in pollinated flowers.
"Without the pollination, the flowers wouldn't develop and there wouldn't be seeds for the baby moths," Smith says. "The intentional pollination is so bizarre. It really is an exciting relationship."
Although the interaction seems on the surface to be a harmonious one, Smith believes the alliance between yucca moths and Joshua trees is an uneasy one. Both the moths and the trees benefit from the interaction, but they also both pay high costs.
The trees receive extremely reliable pollination without having to produce nectar, but in exchange they must sacrifice some of their seeds to the moth's caterpillars. Likewise, while the moths gain access to a highly nutritious food source for their young, in exchange they must gather pollen and undertake the dangerous tasks of flying between trees — a journey that is fraught with potential predators.
Smith speculates both the moths and the trees may be evolving to minimize the costs and maximize the benefits. It appears that the Joshua tree's flowers have evolved over time to limit the number of seeds that can be eaten by the moths, but the moths have evolved to become better at laying their eggs on Joshua trees.
"This relationship is thought to be the holy grail of coevolution, but no one has shown that that's actually happening," Smith says.
Smith aims to learn more about this relationship using controlled experiments, and by studying the organisms' gene sequences to see if the two species are coevolving, and if the right combination of circumstances can lead to the creation of a new species.
Learning Opportunities
To assist in his work, Smith will create a summer research immersion program for Willamette students. Through the program, the undergrads will develop independent research projects and collect field data alongside Smith in Nevada. The program will be open to 12 students per session.
"At the end of the program, students will present their works at national meetings and make connections with graduate schools," Smith says. "This opportunity is typically reserved for graduate students."
Smith will also use grant funds to develop community programming with the Desert Institute at Joshua Tree National Park, based in southeastern California. In Nevada, he will host classes, develop a lecture series and invite community members and Willamette students to collect data that will aid his research.
Finally, Smith will create a post-doctoral training program, which will enable a post-doctoral scientist to spend several years working with Smith and learning how to successfully combine teaching and research. The postdoctoral training program will culminate in a six-month appointment as a visiting assistant professor at Willamette.
"I feel like I'm doing the most exciting research of my career," Smith says. "It'll take a lot more data before we can say what's happening here, but I'm very, very optimistic."


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G49: Red Sox at Rays, 7 PM
2 hours ago
Humorous (and serious) posts about the Pats, Bruins, Celtics, Red Sox and other random topics from some seriously passionate Boston fans.
That was from the 2004 season - Foulke on the mound... I remember this one being passed around, hilarious.
Adam - now that you mention it, I remember that coming up. Soooo funny.


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Mt. Diablo school district interim superintendent responds to arrest of Woodside Elementary teacher on suspicion of child abuse
By Theresa Harrington
Saturday, June 29th, 2013 at 1:21 pm in Concord, Education, Mt. Diablo school district.
According to Concord police, Woodside Elementary teacher Joseph Andrew Martin, who taught fourth and fifth grades at the Concord school, has been arrested on suspicion of repeatedly sexually abusing a child. Here is our story about the arrest:
This morning, the Times received the following statement from John Bernard, interim superintendent of the Mt. Diablo school district, about the arrest:
"The Mt. Diablo Unified School District is saddened and disturbed by the recent arrest of a teacher at Woodside Elementary School in Concord.
Our staff has been working with the Concord Police Department since this was brought to our attention in late April 2013.
The teacher in question was removed immediately and has not returned to the campus.
While we cannot comment on the on-going investigation, our prayers and supportive thoughts are with the victims and their families.
We strongly encourage anyone with information about this investigation to contact the Concord Police Department."
A hotline has been established at 925-603-5836 for those who may have additional information or for any potential additional victims.
Are you satisfied with the district's response?
[You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.]


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LOWELL -- A 45-year-old city resident attacked a 13-year-old girl with an ice pick in a speeding dispute that boiled over on Saturday night, police said.
In Lowell District Court on Monday, James Noel, 45, of 34 Poplar St., pleaed not guilty to a charge of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (steel ice pick).
Lowell police allege in court documents that Christopher Dubey, 27, of 34 Poplar St., allegedly got into an argument over a car speeding down Lincoln Street. Dubey allegedly took a steak knife and slashed a tire on the car.
Police allege that Dubey began to move toward the car's owner and a witness with knife in hand, as Dubey told them, "You think I won't use this?" police said.
Noel, Dubey's stepfather, grabbed a steel pick, walked up to the 13-year-old female victim and stabbed her in the stomach and hand as she pleaded with him to stop. The girl suffered minor injuries.
Noel and Dubey told police that the victims' friends were armed with a wrench, a pipe and other items.
Dubey pleaded not guilty to charges of assault with a dangerous weapon and malicious destruction of property. He was ordered held on $1,000 cash bail.
Both men are scheduled for a pretrial conferences on May 13.


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Foote Receives 2013 George V. Kidder Outstanding Faculty Award
- 03-27-2013
- By Dawn Marie Densmore
Richard Foote, professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics has been named the recipient of the 2013 George V. Kidder Outstanding Faculty Award by the UVM Alumni Association. While many faculty, alumni and students wrote in support of the nomination, the sentiment of the advocates can best be represented in the words of a former student who wrote, "Professor Foote does not teach, he changes lives."
A member of the faculty since 1981, and a previous winner of the Kroepsch-Maurice Excellence in Teaching Award (1990), Foote was nominated for his effectiveness as a teacher, including: his ability to provoke student interest and enthusiasm; his commitment to student advising; and for his effectiveness in motivating students in ways that have a lasting influence on their lives and for his ability to constructively influence campus life beyond the classroom.
"I view this award as really a tribute to all the students, faculty and staff I have had the privilege of working with," Foote says. "I have been especially lucky to have such wonderful and gifted people to first have as students, and then as (often long-distance) colleagues and friends, and to keep in touch with as they go on in life to so many outstanding and diverse accomplishments. I am deeply touched by all their appreciation; and I remember vividly and with enduring fondness the classes, help sessions, meetings, flashes of revelation, hours of struggle, joyful triumphs, and just the simple one-on-one friendly conversations with so many marvelous students over my 30-plus years at UVM."
"This prestigious recognition of Dr. Foote reflects the academic excellence found within CEMS and its faculty," said Bernard "Chip" Cole, interim dean of the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences. "Richard is also well known worldwide for his much-admired advanced algebra textbook, Abstract Algebra, which is co-authored with UVM colleague David Dummit." Now in its 3rd edition, the book is the most widely used abstract algebra graduate textbook in the country.


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Engels house will go on the auction block
Site of 2012 murder-suicide will be sold Sept. 15 on the steps of the Yamhill County Courthouse
The site of tragedy in Dundee is now for sale.
The former home of Randall and Amy Engels at 1325 S.W. Charles St. will be sold in a sheriffs sale Sept. 15.
On July 4, 2012, Randall Engels shot and killed his estranged wife Amy and their two children Bailey, 13, and Jackson, 11. He then shot and killed himself.
In the days after, it was revealed Amy Engels had filed for divorce the month prior and asked for a temporary custody order because she considered her husband dangerous. Although the order was denied by Circuit Judge Cal Tichenor, she cited him as an immediate danger.
My husband has threatened to steal them and not return them, she wrote in an affidavit. He has threatened to hurt them. He yells at them and makes them feel nervous.
The murder-suicide was discovered after a caller alerted the Newberg-Dundee Police Department to a troubling Facebook post made by Randall Engels that day reading If shes gone I cant go on.
Before killing his family, he created a fake persona to text message his wife in the two weeks leading to their death. According to a report released after the investigation closed in August 2012, Randall Engels called himself Brian and encouraged Amy to work things out at home. This continued until July 3 when she made it clear she wouldnt reconcile the marriage. That same day she met with her husband for lunch and apparently discussed her intent to follow through with the divorce.
The family home is now being sold by CitiMortgage, who controls the foreclosure. When the auction begins on the Yamhill County Courthouse steps at 10 a.m. not much information will be disclosed about the property. Tammy Runyon, the Yamhill County Sheriffs deputy responsible for civil matters, said the office isnt required to pass on any information to prospective buyers. In fact, the county isnt told anything about the location either. In some states, sellers are required to disclose if an incident such as a crime occurred on a property, but in Oregon, that detail is left as an option.
The sale details can be viewed online at www.oregonsheriffs.com/sales-yamhill.htm.


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Next Generation Mowers Go Green
In most professions, there is one central piece of equipment that you have to own before you can hang your company sign on the door. For electricians, it's their ohm meter. For arborists, it's a chain saw. For landscape contractors, it's the lawn mower.
Mowing has come a long way from the poor guy who had to use a scythe to smite the tall grass. And although President Woodrow Wilson thought it a great idea to use sheep to mow the White House lawn, most people are not as enthusiastic about having animals grazing in their front yard.
The way things used to be . . .
An English engineer named Edwin Budding invented the first mechanical push mower in 1827. In 1870, Elwood McGuire of Richmond, Indiana, designed a push mower that was lighter, easier to push and had fewer moving parts than the old versions. Almost overnight, every ambitious teenage boy in the country began mowing their neighbor's lawns for money, and an entirely new commercial industry was born.
As these boys (and sometimes girls) became adults, it didn't take long for them to recognize the potential for providing lawn services to an ever growing suburban population. It also didn't take very long for them to recognize the fact that mowing one or two lawns a day on the weekends wasn't going to be nearly as profitable as mowing several lawns every day of the week. In order to accomplish this successfully, "man-power" muscle was soon replaced by gas-powered engines.
Motorized mowers first appeared in the United States in the late 1890s and were powered by lightweight gas engines or small steampowered units. These machines worked quite well but they had one major drawback: they were very difficult to turn. For certain jobs, walking behind a mower is stan dard;
however, changes have been made since the early models of push mowers. As the engineers developed new technology, selfpropelled mowers appeared. This stateof-the-art machine still works today; in fact, you can buy an attachment—a sulky—to stand on and have this self-propelled walk behind mower pull you.
Nearly 80 years later, the zero turn mowers (ZTM) entered the scene and revolutionized the entire lawn mower market. Zero-turns have . . and now . . . what does the future hold?
The demand for eco-friendly equipment and products is ushering in a new wave of power sources which are beginning to replace gasoline engines.
gained in popularity among professional landscape contractors. All of these improvements in the design of the modern mowers were developed with one thought in mind: to ensure that your crew members will stay fit and healthy. Mowers that are more efficient and easy to operate will result in less stress on your workforce, more productivity for your company and an increase in your bottom line.
But a revolution doesn't stop with one victory. What was new and exciting back in the '60s is nothing compared to what is rolling out of lawn mower manufacturing plants today.
While creating a beautiful landscape will always be the number-one selling point for landscape contractors, sensitivity to environmental issues has become just as important in servicing your customers' needs . With increased awareness of carbon emissions and pollution restrictions, legislation is on the rise. The demand for ecofriendly equipment and products is ushering in a new wave of power sources that are beginning to replace gasoline engines.
Thanks to the advances in technology over the last several years, lawn mower engines have become more fuel efficient and eco-friendly. This new technology meets the requirements of the industry by providing a broad choice of alternatives for both efficiency and environmentally-friendly performance.
Up until the early part of the 21st century, the three industry standard engines were gasoline, diesel and propane. Of the three, the most common was gasoline. However, gasoline engines are the least fuel efficient of the three. More importantly, gasoline engines have been reported to be a major contributor to global warming and air pollution because of their exhaust fumes.
The diesel is the engine workhorse. It is built to sustain heavy loads. Diesel engines have routinely produced a higher fuel-efficient performance than gasoline, and had very low maintenance characteristics. Diesel mowers have suffered a bad rap over the years due to their slow ignition and acceleration, especially during cold seasons.
They were also very noisy and emitted tons of smelly carbon dioxide into the air.
However, with the innovation of clean technology, long-time mower manufacturers Grasshopper and John Deere have found a way to use 'clean' diesel engines, so performance has gone up and emission problems have decreased.
"A variety of factors point to clean diesel as the practical alternative fuel," says Ray Garvey, Grasshopper communications coordinator. "Diesel has long made sense from power, productivity and fuel consumption perspectives. Recently, the near elimination of impurities in diesel fuel combined with improved e n g i n e technolog i e s h a s m a d e ' c l e a n ' d i e s e l a reality. Saving 700 gallons of fuel over 1000 hours with diesel while reducing costs and emissions addresses the most fundamental needs of a growing number of clients who are motivated by a practical and cost-effective approach to carbon reduction and greater productivity."
Propane-powered engines are considered to be the 'purest' among the other engine types, because they emit less toxic emissions. Compared to a diesel engine, the propane engine increases burning efficiency by 15 to 20%.
Propane engines also generate 10 to 20% of torque at the reduction of fuel costs.
Propane fuel is also less expensive than either gas or diesel fuel.
According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), recent fuel prices—while fairly close in cost—when compared to performance and efficiency, can vary widely. Gasoline prices rose 98% in one year compared to 50% for diesel and only 22.6% for propane.
While conversion kits have been around for awhile, propane-dedicated mowers are just beginning to emerge onto environmentally-sensitive landscapes across the country. Many manufacturers are now offering a propane-powered commercial mower that will run for up to 10 hours on two tanks of propane.
"The low polluting propane-powered mower is better for the environment," says Bill Shea, vice president of commercial sales for the Briggs & Stratton Yard Power Products Group. "Propane also produces 30% less smog-forming emissions when compared to gasoline and diesel."
The 'new kid on the block' for lawn mower fuel alternatives is compressed natural gas (CNG).
Compressed natural gas unit
Photo courtesy: Dixie Chopper
Propane configuration
Photo courtesy: Ferris
Dixie Chopper introduced a liquid propane mower three years ago. This mower was marketed to ease emissions concerns, then they took the eco-friendly trend one step further by introducing CNG. CNG is made by compressing natural gas, mainly composed of methane, to less than 1% of its volume at standard atmospheric pressure.
Although CNG produces a small amount of greenhouse gases during combustion, it is a more environmentally-clean alternative to gasoline, diesel or propane. It also is much safer than other fuels in case of a spill, because natural gas disperses quickly when released.
Another growing trend in ecofriendly fuels is biodiesel. Biodiesel is an alternative fuel made from new or used vegetable oil. The oil can originate from many plant sources, such as corn, soybeans, rapeseed, palm oil, and coconut oil. The main reaction used to produce biodiesel involves mixing oil, alcohol and a catalyst (usually lye) in approximate ratios of 80%, 20%, and 0.35% respectively. Essentially, it is taking a triglyceride (vegetable oil) and making it into a methyl/ethyl ester (biodiesel).
Electric mowers have zero emissions, no engine noise and low maintenance.
The Toro Company tested everything from soybean oils to French Fries grease as fuels, before they introduced a biodiesel-powered lawn mower a few years ago.
"Toro has branded the equipment "Biodiesel Ready," meaning they can run on 20% vegetable oil and 80% petroleum diesel, a blend known as B20," said Steve Wood, Toro's chief engineer. "These engines are very attractive to municipalities which are enacting environmentally-sensitive legislation."
"Exmark has many customers who are focused on reducing their carbon footprint," said Mark Stin son,
president of Exmark. "We share those concerns. Our goal is to provide products that are environmentally responsible, yet still offer our customers maximum performance."
Garry Busboom, chief development engineer at Exmark, said using B20 to power the models does not negatively impact the productivity of the mower.
"Biodiesel and petroleum diesel fuel have similar performance benefits," Busboom said. "In fact, biodiesel fuels actually offer superior engine lubricity, potentially resulting in less equipment downtime."
Liquids and gas fuels won't be the only source of power in the future. Although not yet as popular as the traditional fuels, manufacturers are looking into an all-electric zero-turn lawn mower. Electric mowers have zero emissions, no engine noise and are low maintenance. Hustler by Excel has introduced a battery-powered zero-turn mower; however, it is limited by the short operating time (about one hour).
The downside is that the current batteries have a short use time before they have to be recharged. Industry experts predict that the technology will get better as time passes, allowing for more use-time between battery charges. Another problem is that, being a new technology, electric mowers are more expensive than other engines. But like computers or flat screen televisions, prices will begin to go down as battery manufacturers develop longer lasting, more versatile products.
Unlike hybrid automobiles, which run on gas and electricity, a hybrid lawn mower combines a DC battery with AC electric power. In some models, the operator can switch between DC or AC power in order to run the motor on either line voltage or battery. During times of battery run-out it can work on the cables, where it has the dual function of putting the equipment to work and automatically charges the battery.
Remote-controlled wireless mowers are the greatest human energysaving products on the market today. The unit is controlled by the operator, much like a toy airplane or truck. The commercial-grade units can handle very steep hills, rough terrains that might be too risky or uncomfortable for humans to go. While not meant as a replacement for the more traditional mowers, they do have a place in the commercial field. The little round units can mow on slopes in place of a bunch of men with weed eaters.
An electric lawn mower that utilizes solar power as an energy source may be the wave of the future. But for some manufacturers, the future is closer than you can imagine. Husqvarna introduced an automatic electric solarpowered hybrid robotic lawn mower in 2008. The residential model will mow for around 40 minutes, and then charge for 40 minutes in its charging station. By using the solar panels on a sunny day, the device will be able to stay out cutting for up to 50% longer. The unit isn't quite "ready for prime time" for the commercial indust r y, b u t t h e technology is well on its way.
Robotic mowers have a long way to go before they're a commercial staple. For one thing, they are rather slow moving. Some robotic mowers are narrower than others, so they take a longer time to cut a whole yard. This is problematic, since your business depends on quantity as well as quality, and no matter how exact a mechanical "man" is, manufacturers have yet to invent one that will completely replace a real human being.
Lasers may sound like something from Star Wars, but they serve a very valuable purpose right here on earth. Laser-guided mowers, although still in early development, hold much promise for the industry. Electric eyes or wires need to be installed around the property to be mowed. The mower can be programmed to mow the turf in what ever pattern is desired. The pattern can be changed according to the job. When the crew person arrives at the jobsite, he/she can take the mower off the trailer or truck, start it up and place it on the lawn. As the mower reaches the end of the lawn, it will break the beam of the electric eye, or come close to the wire, then make a turn as programmed.
"Sensors actually 'sense' when the mower is over grass to cut," says Steve Jones of Probotics. "The Lawnbott robot mower doesn't need wires because it senses obstacles and reverses direction when moving over walkways, curbs, patios and mulched areas."
While the lawn is being mowed, the worker can be cleaning out the beds, checking on the sprinklers, or pruning the bushes.
While the turf is being cut, the crew person is free to perform other maintenance tasks, basically working in two places at once. While the lawn is being mowed, the worker can be cleaning out the beds, checking on the sprinklers, or pruning the bushes. When the mower has finished its job, the crew person would be finished with his as well, then put the mower back on the trailer and move on to the next job. When this becomes reality, one-person crews could become the norm.
As you can see, lawn movers have come quite a long way since the early days of pushing rotating blades by hand. The future will be whatever the market demands and the imagination can create.
Robot mower
Photo courtesy: Lawnbott


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Mr. Selfridge, Part 8
series: Masterpiece Classic
air date: 5/20/13 12:30 AM
This mini-series is a dramatization of the real-life story of Harry Gordon Selfridge, the flamboyant and visionary American founder of the famous London department store that revolutionized the modern shopping experience. Created by Andrew Davies (Little Dorrit) with Jeremy Piven (Entourage) in the title role. Tragedy strikes on the day polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton comes to the store. An even greater celebrity plans a visit, and Harry and Rose attend a shocking play.
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PA Wilds offering grants to help businesses with signage
Businesses in Elk County should take note of a grant program offered through the PA Wilds Planning Team. The team is now accepting applications for its Business Signage Grant Program. Now in its second year, the program is designed to help small businesses in the 12-county Wilds region improve the look of their storefronts, providing "curb appeal" that enhances the overall look of their communities and attracts customers. This is the second year for the program. PA Wilds Small Business Ombudsman Ta Brant said several Elk County businesses were awarded signs last year: Wapiti Woods; Grants Pass Antiques & Wrought Iron; Summit Lodge & Grill; and Old Charm Bed & Breakfast. Additionally, new signs welcoming visitors to the region went up in St. Marys, Benezette, Johnsonburg and Wilcox. "Elk County had some very strong applications last year, and the new signs look great," Brant said.Elk County resident and PA Wilds Planning Team Chair Matt Quesenberry said the program gives businesses a leg up while providing a sense of cohesiveness. "With a business, it helps provide them a way to stretch their dollar for them to make the improvements to their building. What we're trying to do here is provide some way to unify the communities in the region, and having something as simple as signage with the Pennsylvania Wilds logo is just a great way to do that," Quesenberry said. "It's not just a beacon for visitors, but it also helps provide us with a way to better understand the economic opportunities that the Pennsylvania Wilds can provide. Mostly, it helps us form an identity."The PA Wilds Planning Team hopes to make community welcome signage grants available again this year, but for now they are offering the program for business signage."This is a great way for businesses to tie into the PA Wilds effort while improving their visibility and the look of their town," Brant said. "What we've found is a small thing like a new sign can make a big difference -- it can improve a business' bottom line, instill pride in visitors and residents and trigger other investments in a community or business. When the PA Wilds logo is used, the signs also help us brand and market the region. The program works on a lot of levels." Up to $1,500 for each grant is available through a competitive process, with a dollar-for-dollar match required. The deadline to apply is April 15. Guidelines and the grant application are available on the homepage of www.pawildsresources.org. The Design Guide may be downloaded or http://www.pawildsresources.org/design_guide.html. For additional questions about the program or application, contact Val Shelley, local project coordinator, at email@example.com or 814-486-0213. The PA Wilds region encompasses Cameron, Clarion, Clearfield, Clinton, Elk, Forest, Jefferson, Lycoming, McKean, Potter, Tioga and Warren counties.


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The horriffic battle on a small island called Iwo Jima
Just like every other man in America during the time, I too registered for the draft on my 18th birthday in 1942.
I immediately enlisted in the Naval Officer's Training Program and was in school when the Normandy invasion took place.
I had just received my commission a month before the horrific battle on a small island in the Pacific, called Iwo Jima. During that battle, near the end of March and into April of 1945, I was in my final training for duty aboard a 110-foot wooden-hulled sub-chaser.
During that battle while I was training in Florida, America lost 6,621 Marines, sailors, and soldiers, and another 19,217 were wounded, to protect our country, lives and freedom.
A few months later, I was enroute from Guadalcanal to Pearl Harbor to get our ship converted to a shallow water mine sweeper for the invasion of Japan.
We had been told that about 250,000 Americans would die during that invasion.
Fortunately for me, my ship was sunk in a typhoon and by the time we got back to Guadalcanal, they had dropped the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the war was over.
Think for a moment, if someone took away whatever you were learning and doing between the age of 18 and 22.
Those are the most formative years of the lives of most people. You get a job, go to school, get a college degree, start raising a family, but you are not able to plan for anything in advance, except to know that somewhere in a file, there was your number and when it came up, you received a mimeographed piece of paper that said, "Proceed to somewhere else and do something else."
I look back on my days as a Boy Scout and all of the camping trips I took, and the pictures I took with my 39-cent Univex Bakelite plastic still camera with the sports view finder.
I think that was the start of wanting to go places and come back and share stories and pictures of what happened on the trip.
The Boy Scout trips taught me about freedom, but I didn't realize it at the time.
I just took it for granted. Being in the Navy brought it a little more into focus because I obeyed the rules almost to the letter until I got out. Then I hit the freedom trail for the rest of my life.
I spent 55 years with the great job of either going to exotic places in the world, or sending fantastic cameramen to get the images for me.
Wherever we went with our cameras, there were people looking for the same thing that we were documenting, in our case, freedom on the side of a hill.
It did not matter whether it was in Sun Valley, North Africa, Antarctica, Japan or the Himalayas, or a neighborhood rope tow somewhere on the outskirts of Boston.
I was in the process of retiring when I reflected on what I think is the basic instinct of all mankind: The constant search for freedom.
Why else did those people get on such a small boat and risk their lives to come to North America, unless it was in search of freedom?
Then as New England started to get crowded, they started moving west and south and everywhere across this great land we call America.
Almost everything we do is answering to that subconscious search for freedom.
Having the freedom to pursue it whether we know it yet or not, is what made America what it is today.
I would not tell anyone how to vote, except to weigh all of the facts and make up your mind, and then vote accordingly, not just for the most charismatic person on the TV.
Think how lucky you are that you can control your future destiny with your vote.
There are not very many places in the world where a vote means so much, and without your vote the election will be inconclusive.
Warren Miller is an American ski and snowboarding filmmaker. He is the founder of Warren Miller Entertainment and produced, directed and narrated his films until 1988. His annual films on skiing and other outdoor sports are renowned for their stunning photography, witty narrative humor, and the impressive talents of athletes. He has received wide acclaim for his promotion of the sport of modern skiing through his films spanning over 50 years and is an iconic figure in ski movie filmmaking. His column reflects his own views and not necessarily those of the Mammoth Times.


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André Veltkamp was born in Amsterdam. While studying Literature in the 1960s, he made a living as a comic artist. He published stories like 'Het Eiland Bicyclopia' in Soma 8, and 'Ralf' in Jeugdwerk Nu (1972-1973). He then worked as a teacher in Dutch language before becoming a teacher with the Nel Roos Academy and the Academy for Cabaret in 1981.
Velkamp was involved in the Amsterdam Theatre School from the early 1990s and was its director from 1997 until 2010. He developed the school into a breeding ground for professionals in all theatre fields, such as classic or modern dancer, actor, cabaret artist, choreographer, director, teacher, engineer, designer or production manager. He was additionally active as a drama expert for theatre productions by Paul de Leeuw, De Vliegende Panters, Lenette van Dongen, Plien & Bianca, Acda & De Munnik and Javier Guzman.


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Tips & tools for tracking what's being said about your nonprofit
Target audience: Nonprofits, NGOs, cause organizations, social enterprises, businesses, brands, bloggers, social media managers, individuals.
This is part of our ongoing series on how organizations can get the most out of Twitter. Please see below for other installments in this series.
People are talking about your nonprofit, especially on Twitter. Research shows that one out of three Twitter users talk about brands in their tweets. You don't have the time to moniter your organization's Twitter stream all day long, hoping to catch any mentions of your name...


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It was bound to happen to me, sooner or later. After spending over four decades tramping through the deep Adirondack woods, hauling boats over the carries and rowing through the ponds, I've finally been felled.
However it didn't occur in the expected manner. There were no heavy loads involved this time, as there were when I ruptured a disk hauling a guideboat on my shoulders.
I didn't sink into a muck hole, nor fall off a cliff. It wasn't due to a bout of Beaver Fever (Giardia), and there were no firearms involved. I didn't lose my way, nor cast a fly into my behind, where it would be irretrievable to a common man.
It was not a dramatic injury, and there were no bears, coyotes or bobcats involved. I didn't have to sink or swim, nor run and hide. In fact, the culprit was one in a million, or possibly in a trillion, that I've been safely dealing with for years.
I didn't even notice the injury at first, until my ear began to itch a bit. The following day there was a tingling in my ear, which soon turned into a numbness. I repeatedly attempted to pop my ears, as familiar sounds became increasingly dull.
My right ear was fine, and I was able to grin and bear the increasingly scratchy pain in my left. So, I set about doing what I usually do: carrying heavy loads, pulling on the oars, wading the streams and telling a few tall tales inbetween.
However after suffering through a few days of numbness in my ear, which was counteracted by the dumbness in my head, I finally decided to visit a doctor.
Fortunately, I only had to wait a day two for an appointment, which was a good thing since my balance was beginning to deteriorate, and I was beginning to wobble about like a drunken sailor on a choppy sea.
In the time between my appointment and the actual doctor's visit, I became a bit deaf in the affected ear, which itched like a bad case of poison ivy. My equilibrium was noticeably off kilter, although friends have long claimed I've always been a bit off balance.
Finally, the day of the appointment arrived. As the doctor entered the room with a stethoscope around her neck, I was probing my inner ear with my pinky with the intensity of a leatherneck drilling for oil.
She quickly admonished me: "Never put anything smaller than an elbow into your ear canal," she said before she proceeded to stuff a small scope into the very same canal that had recently enveloped two knuckles of my pinky finger.
"Ahh, I think see the problem,"she exclaimed. "Does it feel like you had anything in your ear, possibly a bug or some foreign object?"
"Yeah, I've got something in my ear," I responded. "I've got a lot of pain, and itching and I've begun to lose my balance."
"Well, it looks like there's something in here," she explained. "And you've got an ear infection as well. I'll have to irrigate your ear and see if we can wash it out."
"Irrigate?" I said under my breath. "My mother always claimed I could cultivate potatoes in my dirty ears, but I never believed it was actually possible."
"We'll rinse out your ear," the doctor explained as she put a squirt bottle to the side of my head and began to spray warm water into my ear.
I asked her if I should plug the hole on the other side of my noggin in case water began to dribble out.
She laughed and soon offered up the culprit, asking, "Did it feel like you had a bug in your ear at some point?"
Then I?saw it, floating in the suds that dribbled out of my head. It was a fat black fly.
At this point, I laughed too and explained, "For the past three weeks, I've had nothing but bugs in my ears, nose, eyes and hair. In fact they've managed to enter any orifice on my person that was left open or exposed.
"Well," she explained. "You've got an inner ear infection, and you'll need to rinse the ear daily for a week. I'll also give you a prescription for antibiotics. It looks like you'll be all right."
I settled up with a nice, young lady at the front desk and departed the office without the sizable chunk of cash I had arrived with. By my reckoning, it was a pretty damned expensive blackfly, but it provided a valuable lesson.
In the future, I'll cover up more, spray often and pray. There is little else that can be done to protect against the 'Winged Devils of the North," but as one old timer explained, "Their just the same as the damned tourists! They show up, buzz around for awhile, pester us for a bit; but after a while, we've learned how to live with ''em, so we just swat 'em and scratch 'em and send 'em on their way.
"Look at it this way," he remarked. "Maybe a bug in yer ear was a good thing. With a little luck, you won't be able to hear 'em complain anymore."
A week later, my wounds have healed and there are no more soap suds bubbling out of my ears. I've also retrieved the impenetrable, bug-proof undergarments from the bottom of my dresser and added a bug net to my kit. For I know the blackflies won't quit.
I'll spend a little extra for fresh bug dope, and I'll cover up any exposed skin. The bugs will be back, and I'll be better protected, even if I do look goofy wearing earmuffs in the middle of June!
Now all I'll have to put up with are the annual 'amber waves' of pine pollen, the deer flies, horse flies and no-see-ums. Ahhh . . . the joys of summer.


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grandkids wrote:Hi!
I'm using the "html5=always" URL to find a solution to the following problem:
my thumbnail menu pictures are missing.
The HTML5 console gives me the following information:
ERROR: plugin[thumb_pano528-thumbnailsbar] loading error: indexdata/%FIRSTXML%/main_entrance_528/thumbnail.jpg
how do I resolve this?
the "thumbnail.jpg" files are all in place and this XML reference is accurate.
any ideas for a solution will be appreciated!
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