text:
|View Poll Results: Valkyria Chronicles - Total Series Rating
|Perfect 10
|9 out of 10 : Excellent
|8 out of 10 : Very Good
|7 out of 10 : Good
|6 out of 10 : Average
|5 out of 10 : Below Average
|4 out of 10 : Poor
|3 out of 10 : Bad
|2 out of 10 : Very Bad
|1 out of 10 : Painful
|Voters: 81. You may not vote on this poll
|Thread Tools
|2009-10-05, 14:09
|Link #1
AnimeSuki's Mascot
Join Date: Apr 2006
Valkyria Chronicles - Overall Series Impressions & Total Series Rating
This thread is to be used for discussing the entire episodes of Valkyria Chronicles ... your thoughts about the show, overall impressions, expectations and hopes about the DVD only footage etc.
A few subjects you might want to ramble on about:
And so on.
The poll represents your total series rating. In other words, how you would rate all the episodes combined (1-10)? If you'd rather rate the whole series by technical/artistic merits, you can do so. An example:
Animation Quality: 1-10
Voice Actors: 1-10
Script: 1-10
Soundtrack: 1-10
Editing: 1-10
Enjoyment: 1-10
Emotional Involvement: 1-10
Average = Total Series Rating
Or a combination of the two. Or your general gut feeling.
Feel free to discuss and more importantly, have fun
|2009-10-05, 14:41
|Link #2
Join Date: Dec 2006
The OP and ED were all good. Though the 2nd OP does a wonderful job of spoiling future events...
For the actual anime, there were several unfortunate points, but it proved to be pretty entertaining.
The points of complaint would be:
1. Senjou no Valkyria... Yet there is so little focus on the "senjou"... A lot more romance-focused
2. The disappearance of the Elderweiss... They said Zaka would drive the thing. It never appeared again...
3. A lack of development for the side characters.
Though the most unfortunate thing was the attitude of the "fans". Getting a warning (that didn't have much effect past one episode thread). railing off to a stupid low-leveled argument on a different anime, *insert relentlessflame's post*
I heard the game was really good... But when I see how the "fans" of the game are, it makes me wonder if the game is actually not good and that the peo-... *cough* Nevermind. I'll keep that thought in my head...
Of course, this isn't a con of the anime, just the entire board for this anime was...
The story wasn't the best though. The characters were good enough. Kind of sad to see Welkin, the protagonist? turning into a wimp though.
Anyways, it was fun. The 2nd ED is in my MP3.
( ^ω^) "Fans" attacking from the shadows... As expected.
Last edited by serenade_beta; 2009-10-05 at 18:27.
|2009-10-05, 15:15
|Link #3
Join Date: Mar 2009
Age: 30
There are certainly better adaptations out there. Now I did enjoy the first 10 episodes. From there on, Not so much.
Overall, 5/10
In comparison to source material, 2/10
Last edited by Foreshadow; 2009-10-05 at 19:05.
|2009-10-05, 16:04
|Link #4
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2009
Awesome, been waiting for this topic. But I won't be assigning numbers to the following things, just talking about them.
Animation Quality: It started out really strong! I loved the way they used that pencil filter in the shading, even if it took a bit getting used to because it was static. But as the series went on, especially in battles, there got to be a lot of QUALITY shots. 20-23 were the worst in this, especially after the well done 17-19.
Voice Actors: I enjoyed them, though I'm not good at rating/comparing a JP voice track compared to an English one.
Soundtrack: For anime-only tracks, it's okay. Only a few were really good. All of the awesome tracks were taken from the game. However, I do love Rosie's song from episode 15 and the first OP. 2nd OP is okay, same with both EDs.
Enjoyment: The "fun" I had with this series ranges between actually liking it and making fun of it. When I liked it, I really liked it. I'd be laughing, or anticipating the danger, or whatever. But when it was bad...hoo boy, I loved making fun of things. Male Tsundere being useless, GARdio saving the day, Welkin being a wuss, Squad 7 being useless...
Emotional Involvement: The characters were my favorite thing about the show, though I knew more about them from their game counterparts. Isara ;_;
Other notes...well, for an adaptation, it sure adapted and changed a lot. The ending is so different from what I've heard (haven't played the game yet)! The series needed a lot more action and less romance, though I really didn't mind the love triangle too much. Faldio DID get on my nerves though, being perfect and then not even getting mentioned in the ending. Zaka was also pretty useless once he joined up, since the BFT disappeared. That thing can deflect other tank shells but you don't even use it...riiiight. Also, Ellet disappeared, and that made me sad.
I think someone mentioned here, or it could've been somewhere else, that they wanted to see someone who was seen the anime first without knowledge of the game, and then played the game. It won't be until giftmas time, but I'll be asking my mom's opinion of the game compared to the anime. Yes, I watched this through with my mom XD And it'll be interesting to see what she says when she finishes it...
ANYWAY my overall rating was 6/10. A decent show, mostly because I was attached to the characters.
|2009-10-05, 18:47
|Link #5
Join Date: Nov 2008
Animation Quality: 6/10 Very Good Sometimes, Bad few times
Script: 4/10 so many incoherence to the logical sense, it remind me Code Geass R2. The ending was also rushed. there is also a lack of development for the side characters and a lack of war.
Music: 5/10 good but they are from the game, so...
Emotional Involvement:4/10 some good event (but below than the game however) but many very annoying episode with some very annoying character.
my overall rating is 5/10, average or decent if you are able to ignore the problem of the script.
my rating compared to the game is 3/10.
Valkyria Chronicles is one of the 7 only game I give 9/10 (with the Sakura taisen series , FFVII and 8, Xenosaga 1, Skies of Arcadia and Shadow Hearts)
I have also watched the anime with my mom (who is 60) she have liked some anime (Higurashi, Macross Zero, Death note, the Ghibli and Kanon) but, she found the anime really silly and bad (she give to it 3/10).
I have played to the game with her few time, she found the game decent even if the really dislike the war which is very present in the game.
She give 6/10 to the game.
|2009-10-05, 20:13
|Link #6
Army of One
Join Date: Apr 2007
I gave it a 5
First half of the series 5/5
Showed Welkin as a capable leader and main character.
Battles were interesting.
Characters were developing nicely.
Second half (begining of the love triangle) 0/5
Fabio took over.
Valkyrias fighting DBZ style.
Characters weren't developing anymore instead we got a ridiculously dragged out love triangle.
Cheesy dialogue.
Music - Love 2nd op Kanashimi Rensa
I bet if I played the game I would of hated this series but since I didn't, I'm probably the most non bias guy I know of.
|2009-10-05, 21:17
|Link #7
I gave a 4/10.
I looked forward to VC intensely since the moment we all first heard about it. I looked forward to the anime almost as much as I looked forward to the game. But then things started to go sour before the first episode aired. We began to hear that the story would focus more on the love story than the war story. We saw animation examples. I became wary.
The first few episodes weren't bad, but they showed that several of the characters had been changed in very dramatic ways that may not be offensive to normal viewers but I felt were travesties to those of us who played the game. Alicia's personality became more volatile, Welkin became... dumber... and Faldio became the Best Thing Since... Ever.
I didn't expect the story to be a 1-for-1 translation; that would be dumb. But what I did expect was that the anime would retell some parts of the game while filling in parts of the story we never got to see in the game. The episode specifically related to Selvaria's past (introducing her ADC, I believe) was exactly what I had hoped a lot of the series would focus on; expansions of the game.
Unfortunately, what we saw was a total rewriting of the game. It cannot be treated as anything more than that. While the basic premise might be the same, with how dramatically Welkin and Alicia were changed coupled with how Faldio became the main character (which I don't think many people can deny was the case for a large portion of the series), I felt like I had been cheated. This was not Valkyria Chronicles I just finished watching; this was something that merely masqueraded as a member of the VC family.
What few battles we saw were poorly thought out and given hardly any screen time. What few recruitable characters they bothered to add spoke maybe 50 lines combined throughout the entire series.
I can only hope that they don't make another VC for any succeeding games (or just for the hell of it); I cannot trust that they'll do any better next time around. Now my only hope is that Valkyria Chronicles 2 for PSP does not ruin the series even further by being placed on a system that negates many of the properties that made the original VC such an absolutely superlative game in every manner.
That is all. For now.
|2009-10-06, 05:59
|Link #9
Aimo ~ Tori no Hito
Join Date: Feb 2007
want a hug?
as for my overall score, l'll do that once l 'm done with my doctors appointment.
|2009-10-06, 18:36
|Link #13
Salt Levels Critical
Join Date: Oct 2007
Animation/VA/Soundtrack - Nothing bad, nothing mindblowing, not really anything to say about it except that it was good.
As far as story/scripting goes, I'm just kind of at a loss regarding certain decisions, like making Faldio a main character. Why do that? He's not interesting, and the way certain scenes played out with him being portrayed as perfect almost made it seem like they did it just to spite Welkin. And the fact that nobody was mad at him and he got off scott-free after a couple highly questionable actions made it even worse.
There's also the issue that the squad members were almost entirely irrelevant. Barely any lines or role in the plot at all. If I hadn't played the game I wouldn't even know any of their names aside from Susie who kind of played a role in the first episode.
I've criticized the love triangle as stupid in the past, but looking back it wouldn't feel entirely out of place to me if I hadn't played the game. I'd say I have no opinion either way about it, if not for Faldio being a terrible character.
Aside from that though it would be a pretty decent standalone series with a good amount of drama, action, and suspense. Unfortunately as an adaptation it fails really hard. I can understand and even support the including of things that weren't in the original work, expanding upon others, and skipping some moments that are relatively unimportant, but outright changing a large number of major plot points is going too far. At times, especially scenes featuring Faldio, it almost felt like more of a parody or a Take That than an adaptation. "Hey, remember that awesome thing that you did in the game as Welkin? Nah, Faldio did that."
That said, I was still relatively entertained by every episode, production values were pretty good, and, as previously mentioned, a lot of it was decent as an anime series despite being an extremely poor adaptation of a game, so I'm rating it a 6/10 overall.
|2009-10-06, 20:59
|Link #14
We know in the game that she has a crush on Welkin but it's never fleshed out at all. That would've been the logical extension for the anime to make, I feel. It never did, obviously.
|2009-10-06, 23:48
|Link #16
Natural Born Killer
Graphic Designer
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Roanapur
Age: 27
I just have to say I feel sorry for the people who have yet to watch this if they are planning to. The only reason I could finish this is because I only watched an episode a week, I wouldn't bear watching it in a day or two.
Also, I never played the game. If I did, I may have had a different opinion about it.
|2009-10-07, 07:20
|Link #17
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: USA
Age: 32
It started out really great and had a lot of promise. But boy did it get bad.. so very bad. I only watched the last few episodes since I prefer to finish what I start - there was little motivation to see what happened to the characters.
Such disappointment.
|2009-10-09, 18:09
|Link #18
ARCAM Spriggan agent
Here's the overall vote on the characters of VC based on the show.
|2009-10-09, 18:30
|Link #19
Adeptus Animus
Join Date: Jan 2007
Age: 31
Hmm, what to say, what to say? If I were to describe Valkyria Chronicles, I would say that it is an anime that missed its potential. It is tediously slow to begin, yet has a satisfying end. Unfortunately, it doesnt really pick up until the last couple of episodes, which makes watching it rather difficult. It is clear that Valkyria Chronicles could have been much more had proper attention been given to its script.
One of the main problem lies in that it tries both to be close to the game and different at the same time. This makes the script quite wobbly at times, and only the last episodes manage to get this pace right.
Now, on to a list of the bad and good sides of Valkyria Chronicles:
The bad.
Horrible pacing. There are times when entire fights are skipped, making you wonder what the hell happened, and yet there were times where the calm moments seemed to be dragging on forever. Now calm moments arent bad, if they give good character development. Sadly, lot of them ended up going nowhere, making much of the episodes more filler than content.
Casting. The anime also didnt take advantage of the large cast, most of the squad 7 have tiny little side roles at best, and could easily be replaced with faceless mooks. Again, this does improve slightly in the later episodes, but they should have done this sooner.
Ramal. Poor, poor Ramal. Created for the anime, yet he served no real purpose whatsoever. His connection with Isara seemed to be going somewhere, then was flushed down the toilet. Had he been replaced with a known face from the game, I would think that the advantage of already having a background (albeit a meta one) would have made him seem far less out of place.
The good.
Good things? In this anime? Surely I must be jesting, right? Not quite, this anime does have some bright sides. If you care to look for them.
Valkyria action. One of the greatest disappointments of the game was just how little we actually got to see the Valkyria in action. The anime approaches this differently, and although it throws them in battle later than the game does, it gives us a lot more action with them.
Imperial background. Sure, its not much, but the anime touches upon things hardly touched upon, or sometimes even completely left untouched in the game, such as the Empire itself, Maximillians motivations are given more perspective, Selverias background is explored. All in all nice additions.
Changes. A topic many will disagree with me. Personally, I never saw the value in animating Valkyria Chronicles one on one. After all, the game already looks like an anime, whats the point? Itd just be the game without gameplay. No, I was always looking forward to the changes, and although they were not always executed that well (or sometimes even horrible) they did help me from rolling my eyes and go been there, done that. One of the things they changed or should I say add?- was making Alicia and Selveria know each other. Some may loathe this change, I myself rather like it. It gave their fight a bit more depth. Another was the small action of giving Cordelia a wig, which makes perfect sense, considering shes a queen with a rather large secret to keep. Alicia as a Valkyria was also changed a lot, and too be honest, the way the anime does it makes a lot more sense than the way the game does it.
In short
Valkyria Chronicles is an anime with a lot of potential which, unfortunately, remains untapped for the greater part. While the ending was good, it does not make up for the drag the majority of the series was. As a rating, I cannot give this anime higher than a 6 out of 10.
|2009-10-09, 22:40
|Link #20
|Thread Tools


text:
The total cost of asthma due to pollution is much higher than past traditional risk assessments have indicated and there is growing evidence that exposure to traffic-related air pollution is a cause of asthma and a trigger for attacks, so it should be included, say the researchers. They conducted the study in Long Beach and Riverside, California, communities with high regional air pollution levels and large roads near residential neighbourhoods.
Total additional asthma-specific costs there due to traffic-related pollution is about 18 million Dollars per year, almost half of which is due to new asthma cases caused by pollution, they report. Sylvia Brandt of UM worked with researchers at the University of Basel, Switzerland, and the University of Southern California.
Using updated techniques that count asthma cases attributable to air pollution for the first time and including a broader range of health care costs such as parents' missed work days, extra doctor visits and travel time along with prescriptions, the researchers found that a single episode of bronchitic symptoms cost an average 972 Dollars in Riverside and 915 Dollars in Long Beach. Bronchitic symptoms (daily cough, congestion or phlegm, or bronchitis for three months in a row) are a critical outcome for children with asthma.
Further, people who live in cities with high traffic-related air pollution bear a higher burden of these costs than those in less polluted areas, they say.
Brandt and colleagues say the total annual cost for a typical asthma case was 3,819 Dollars in Long Beach and 4,063 Dollars in Riverside, and "the largest share of the cost of an asthma case was the indirect cost of asthma-related school absences." School absences are an important economic consequence, they add, because "they often lead to parents or caregivers missing work."
Overall, Brandt points out that the results are relevant and applicable to many settings and "families with children who have asthma are bearing a high cost. The total annual estimate between 3,800 Dollars and 4,000 Dollars represents 7 per cent of median household income in our study in these two communities. This is troublesome because that is higher than the 5 per cent considered to be a bearable or sustainable level of health care costs for a family."
Riverside and Long Beach account for about 7 per cent of the total population of California, the authors say, which suggests that state-wide costs of asthma related to air pollution are "truly substantial."
MEDICA.de; Source: University of Massachusetts Amherst

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Role Model, Taking Responsibility: Will Smith "Shine Your Light" Inspirational Clip From The Will & Jada Smith Family Foundation Talking To Students All Over The World
Inspirational video from the Will & Jada Smith Family Foundation
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A third consecutive round of 66 sent Englishman Adam Gee two clear heading into the final day of the 2013 D+D Real Czech Challenge Open.
Gee fired eight birdies en route to his six under par total for a 54-hole aggregate score of 18 under par, bettering by two shots the Moving Day efforts of Spain's Adrian Otaegui and Italian Andrea Pavan – with whom the Londoner had previously shared the lead overnight.
Francois Calmels is one shot further back after a seven under par 65, while England's Matt Ford is part of a three-man tie for fifth place with 18 holes to play after equalling the course record with a stunning nine under par 63 on Saturday.
Gee came flying out of the blocks as two pin-point wedges to six feet handed the 32 year old a pair of birdies on the opening two holes at Golf & Spa Kuneticka Hora.
Two good birdie putts at the seventh and ninth sent Gee clear after turning in 32, before a bogey at the 11th was sandwiched between two further gains at the tenth and 12th as Gee's fine iron-play came to the fore once again.
The putting was solid throughout, too, as Gee negated a second drop of the day at the 14th with two 12-foot birdies at the 15th and long 16th and despite missing a makeable opportunity at the last he was well-pleased with his Saturday efforts.
"It was obviously really nice playing with Rob (Dinwiddie), I know him very well and he's a good friend of mine so we were both fairly relaxed early doors and I managed to get off to a good start," said Gee, whose best finishes on the Challenge Tour previously are two third places in 2010 and 2007.
"I chucked a couple of mistakes at it on the back nine but finished quite well so you can't complain really.
"It was important to start fast. You know there are plenty of birdies out there and tomorrow will be similar. If you're not making any birdies then you're standing still so it was nice to get running straight away."
With such prodigiously low scoring at Kuneticka Hora over the opening three days, Gee knows he will need to go out with aggression and purpose on Sunday.
"It sounds boring but I just want to keep doing what I'm doing," he reflected. "I can't expect to shoot level par tomorrow and still be up there so I know I need to go and get at the course again. A 69 would probably be a minimum.
"It's great to be right up there in contention again; I've been more used to spending my weekends at home recently so I'm going to go out there any enjoy it."
After sharing the lead on 12 under par overnight, Otaegui also began well, firing a wedge to three feet to card an opening birdie but found his progress curtailed at the fifth after a series of wayward shots led to double bogey.
The 20 year old admirably bounced back, and quickly, getting back under par thanks to birdies at the long seventh and ninth, where he struck an eight iron out of the right rough to a couple of inches to turn in 35.
A superb 50-foot birdie putt found the cup at the tenth and despite making bogey at the 11th the San Sebastian man birdied the 12th, 13th and 16th to sign for a four under par 68, just two off the lead with 18 holes to play.
"Anything can happen tomorrow on a course like this," Otaegui commented. "I'll start from zero tomorrow, shoot as good as I can while knowing that someone a few shots behind tonight could go crazy and make nine, ten, 11 under par."
Pavan, meanwhile, made birdies at the third and fifth before a tricky third out of the bunker at the sixth led to birdie. The Roman struggled somewhat for a period after that setback, making seven straight pars before finally finding a third birdie of the day at the 14th.
Another followed at the long 16th before the former Challenge Tour Number Two holed a 20-footer at the last to grab a share of second place on 16 under par.
He said: "It was a bit breezier than the last two days, especially on the front nine and the ball was going further with the heat which made it a bit trickier.
"I spent too much time in the rough today so please tomorrow, let me hit more fairways!"
During his seven under par 65, Calmels, already a winner this season at April's Challenge de Madrid, almost won the Peugeot 308 hole in one prize at the 224-yard par three 17th, hitting an almost-perfect four iron to an inch of the hole.
The Frenchman will start three off the lead knowing that birdies are there for the taking in what promises to be a thrilling finale.
|Player name
|CALMELS, François
|DINWIDDIE, Robert
|WALKER, Sam
|GEE, Adam
|OTAEGUI, Adrian
|PAVAN, Andrea


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LMFAO: 7-Eleven Store Owner Chases 2 Gunmen With His Stick!
CBS reports "the armed robber had tried to hold up a 7-Eleven convience store in Seattle"
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Wanolitto's Musings: Door-to-Door Shuttle for Des Moines Farmers Market!
Wanolitto announces Saturday Door-to-Door Shuttle Transportation to the Des Moines Waterfront Farmers Market this season, which opens on Saturday, June 7!
The Des Moines Farmers Market and the Rotary Club of Des Moines, along with partner Senior Services, are proud to once again provide the HYDE Shuttle that provides local transportation to seniors 55 and older and the disabled of all ages living in Des Moines, Normandy Park and Burien.
Beginning Saturday, June 7 (the opening day of the wonderful Farmers Market), the shuttle will provide door to door services to the Farmers Market! The Saturday Market shuttle will run every other Saturday of each month, through October 25, from 11am-2pm.
To make your reservation to enjoy this wonderful market full of fresh organic produce, artisan and food vendors, call 206-727-6262, at least 3 days before the Saturday Market.
Here are the dates for shuttle rides to the market:
- June 7
- June 21
- July 5
- July 19
- August 2
- August 16
- August 30
- Sept. 13
- Sept. 27
- Oct. 11
- Oct. 25 (Chili Cook-Off)
The Farmers Market takes place in the north end of the Des Moines Marina.


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Phone: (905) 356-2034
Fax: (905) 374-2866
The Econo Lodge® By the Falls is ideally located near many popular attractions, including Niagara Falls, Clifton Hill, the Rainbow Bridge, Queen Victoria Park, the Skylon Tower and Konica Minolta Tower Centre.
Guests of this Niagara Falls hotel have so much entertainment to choose from, including the Maid of the Mist boat ride and the Great Gorge Adventure. Marineland Canada is another great nearby family destination. It's a short drive to Niagara-on-the-Lake, home of the Shaw Festival theaters and centre of the Niagara wine region. Niagara College is minutes away from the hotel.
Cable television is available in each room and non-smoking rooms can be requested. An indoor pool and sundeck are popular features with guests.
This Econo Lodge hotel features a convenient location, affordable rates and clean accommodations at the site of one of the world's great natural attractions.
Additional amenities of this Niagara Falls hotel include:


text:
|Songs from
|Jim Henson Records/BMG Kidz
|Cat no.
| 74860-30023-2
Ol' Brown Ears is Back is an album featuring Rowlf the Dog in new recordings of songs that had all previously been covered on The Muppet Show.
Rowlf, at the piano, gives ebullient introductions and banter as he sings and plays some of his (and the Muppets') hit songs. The album was released on CD and cassette in 1993 by BMG Kidz/Jim Henson Records. The cassette release included a poster depicting Rowlf behind the scenes, recording and prepping for the album.
Although the album was first released in 1993 (three years after Henson's death), the songs were actually recorded by Jim Henson (as Rowlf) and Derek Scott (on piano) almost a decade earlier, in January 1984.
The original recordings by Henson and Scott were re-worked by producer Robert Kraft and associate producer Chris Boardman for the release, adding a backing orchestra to the seasoned vocal and piano tracks. The original intentions for the raw tracks and the reason for the 9-year recording-to-release gap are unknown.
The album's title, Ol' Brown Ears is Back, is a reference to Frank Sinatra's 1973 album Ol' Blue Eyes Is Back.
Rowlf lipsynched to Memory Lane and You and I and George from this album on the The Merv Griffin Show in 1984, while promoting The Muppets Take Manhattan.
Track listing
- Lydia, the Tattooed Lady
- Eight Little Notes
- I Never Harmed an Onion
- Halfway Down the Stairs
- Memory Lane
- Cottleston Pie
- Bein' Green
- Carbon Paper
- Garden Song
- New York State of Mind
- When
- You and I and George
- Wishing Song
- Old Dog Trey
Other releases
- Producer: Jim Henson & Robert Kraft
- Associate Producer: Chris Boardman
- Vocals: Jim Henson (as Rowlf the Dog)
- Piano: Derek Scott


text:
Kate Beckinsale, Lily Sheen, and Len Wiseman at LAX Pictures
Kate Beckinsale Has Lily and Len Along For a Family Trip
Kate Beckinsale held hands with her daughter, Lily Sheen, as they caught a flight with Kate's husband, Len Wiseman, yesterday. Len and Kate took a romantic vacation of their own back in October when they headed to Mexico, and this time around, had Lily by their sides as they left LAX. Kate and Len have been back on the West Coast recently after spending much of their Summer and early Fall in Toronto together for work, filming the remake of Total Recall along with Jessica Biel, Colin Farrell, and others. That film is expected to hit theaters in the Summer, but before that, Kate will return to the big screen in the Underworld franchise. Underworld: Awakening is hitting theaters in just a few short weeks on Jan. 20. Meanwhile, the actress and her family are taking advantage of the holiday lull to head out of town. Safe travels to the trio!


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FF-66-2013 PROCLAMATION RE: BLACK SEA BASS – COMMERCIAL FISHING OPERATIONS - ATLANTIC OCEAN Dr. Louis B. Daniel III, Director, Division of Marine Fisheries, hereby announces that effective at 12:01 A.M., Sunday, December 15 2013, the following restrictions shall apply to the commercial black sea bass fishery north of Cape Hatteras (35° 15.3'N. Latitude): I. SIZE LIMIT It is unlawful to possess black sea bass less than 11 inches total length north of Cape Hatteras. Total length shall be measured along the lateral midline from the tip of the nose to the tip of the tail, excluding the caudal fin filament. II. HARVEST LIMITS During the period beginning at 12:01 A.M., Sunday, December 15, 2013 and ending at 6:00 P.M. Tuesday, December 31, 2013, no commercial trawl, fish pot or hook and line fishing operation, regardless of the number of people involved, may have more than 3,500 pounds of black sea bass taken from the Atlantic Ocean north of Cape Hatteras. The black sea bass fishery will close immediately after the Director issues a public notice that the quota of black sea bass has been landed from the Atlantic Ocean north of Cape Hatteras, or at 6:00 P.M., December 31, 2013, whichever occurs first. III. GEAR RESTRICTIONS FISH TRAPS/POTS: Black sea bass pots or traps must conform with the Federal rule requirements for escape vents specified in 50 CFR 648.144 (b)(2) and for degradable fasteners specified in 50 CFR 648.144 (b)(3)(i), (ii) and (iii). IV. PERMITS Finfish dealers may not buy more than 100 pounds of black sea bass caught north of Cape Hatteras per day per commercial fishing operation unless the dealer has a valid 2014 Black Sea Bass – North of Cape Hatteras Dealer Permit from the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries. Permits will be issued only to those licensed fish dealers holding a valid license as authorized in G.S. 113-169.3. Dealers must abide by all conditions of the 2014 Black Sea Bass-North of Cape Hatteras Dealer Permit as set out in N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission Rule 15A NCAC 03O .0503. Dealers possessing a 2014 Black Sea Bass Dealer Permit shall report black sea bass landings from the Atlantic Ocean through FAX transmittal (252-726-3903) or electronic mail on forms provided by the Division. Black sea bass landings reports for each day's catch shall be reported by noon of the following day.
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Preparing for this first in a series of "Susan on …
- People
- Fashion
- Home & Garden
- Entertaining
- Pampered
- Dining & Nightlife
- Getaway
- Departments
- Events
- Contact
Summer 2012 - View Table of Contents
On the Cover:
Photo by Michael Frost,
styling by Wendy Oswald Kinney,
hair and makeup by Agata Smentek.
Bronte retro bikini in mustard by recent NBC Fashion Star contestant Nikki Poulos, $165 at nikkipoulos.com; beaded bracelets, $38 each at dogeared.com; Missoni hat, $595 at Neiman Marcus in Short Hills; Andean Collection riverbed bracelets, $26 each at andeancollection.com.
Pampered »
Chic Summer Beauty Tips
For "natural" summer beauty, try a little Botox, dermal fillers, Coppola keratin treatments and facials.Read More »
Body »
On the Market…
Treat yourself to the latest makeup and skin-care products.Read More »
Raise Your Glass »
Shop Wine and Dine
Raise your glass along with other local wine aficionados.Read More »
TagsAnthropologie Ashley Cerasaro basking ridge bernardsville Bloomingdale's cosmetics Deborah Carter entertaining Fashion Getaway Gladstone gucci holiday humor J.Crew jewelry Kate Spade livingston Manhattan Mendham Michael Frost Millburn Montclair Morris County Morristown Neiman Marcus New Jersey NJ Pamela Redmond Satran Park Place party Peapack recipe restaurant Short Hills Somerset County style Summit Susan Brierly Susan on Style Tammy La Gorce Tory Burch Valentine's Day Wendy Oswald Kinney West Orange


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Music Comes from Everywhere
In Africa, musicians attach metal strips to a wooden box to make a sansa, or "thumb piano."
All over the world, people who love music use whatever they can find to make great-sounding instruments for their ceremonies, festivals, and just plain fun! Traditional West Indian steel drums are made of ordinary oil barrels with curved metal pans on the ends. To make one correctly, a master craftsman must hammer and shape the metal pan for hours, "tuning" it carefully until it can make a wonderful variety of sounds when played by a skilled musician.
A long, wooden trumpet called a didgeridoo is made with the help of termites! The native people of Australia bury a eucalyptus branch in the ground and let termites do the job of hollowing it out. The didgeridoo makes a deep, growling sound and is used along with beating sticks to accompany chants and songs. To play the pipa from China, a musician plucks its four silk strings. The pipa can be played harsh and fast or soft and slow, to remind listeners of fierce battles or beautiful landscapes.
Buddhist monks in Japan play a bamboo flute, called a shakuhachi, in a traditional manner. They wear a woven basket called a tengai on their heads to show that they will not be distracted by the noise and bustle of the world.
It's fun to make music! What's your favorite instrument?
- What causes a drum to make a sound?
- What causes a pipa to make a sound?
- What is your favorite instrument? What causes this instrument to make a sound? Can the instrument make different kinds of sounds? Write a few sentences about your favorite instrument.


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MASHUPWARE needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 301 designs submitted by 57 freelance designers.
Need a LOGO for a new web service targeting small-medium sized Web dependent businesses that are in need of ways to help automate they operations using the Web. They want to use Webflows. (Work and Data flows using the web = Webflows)
Incorporate/Create a flowing concept, "glyph" - something subtle but very much showing flowing.
Business potential is in the 100s Millions of users since its for anyone looking to automate some part of their "business". For example, following up on whether a client has filled out a form or paid an invoice, qualifies. Key is you, the person who knows the actual business, the workflows, you layout the business logic. NO Info Tech people and/or programming required. That means you could be helping design the next "google"-like logo! :-)
Looking to contract the winner to do Website design work, biz cards, etc.
Logo Goal: Attractive to entrepreneurial small-medium sized business types. Managers who are Web "go-getters" and are into using "cloud" and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS - i.e. SalesForce) type services. NOT marketed to programmers, Sales-Marketing, Executives, etc. - but people responding to operations = "getting things done!"
- Clean - Confident - Smart - Light - Sharp - Professional ( = business efficiency)
- Conveys modern without being futuristic (NOT out of this world)
- Something that says today's progressive style
- Blue - Green - Violet, similar business hues/tones, appropriate color saturations
- short, smart, sharp taglines welcomed
- All in CAPS = too grand, BIG Co. feel (IBM, Banks, Gov, etc.)
- Too bright, Over-colorful, Over saturated Consumer-ish feels
- Fuzzy-cute, Powder-Puff, let's-play styles (Nickelodeon, Disney, etc.)
- Too intense, too busy, gamer-dark, earthy tones, amateur-web colors
- Boring - doesn't pop, and/or stand out in a crowd
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


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Yale Cruises To 104-39 Victory Over Oberlin
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Yale made the most of its final tune up before the start of Ivy League play. The Bulldogs shot nearly 70 percent from the field and 62 percent from three-point range en route to a 104-39 victory over Oberlin before a matinee crowd of 1,006 at the John J. Lee Amphitheater.
All 13 players that dressed scored. Javier Duren and Matt Townsend each tallied 12 points to lead the way. Justin Sears and Greg Kelley added 10 points apiece.
"Everybody should have a positive taste in their mouth," said James Jones, The Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of Men's Basketball. "That will help our energy in practice this week."
Yale (6-11) opens the league season next Saturday at Brown.
Yale's depth was again on display as the reserves combined for 63 points. The Bulldogs' bench has now outscored their opponents reserves in four of the last five games, including last Sunday's loss to 13th-ranked Florida.
"Everyone off the bench can produce," said Duren, who was 6-of-7 from the field and added six rebounds and five assists. "I think that is what sets us apart from other teams."
The starting five was pretty effective as well. Sears, Jeremiah Kreisberg, Austin Morgan, Michael Grace and Armani Cotton combined to make 15-of-22 shots from the field. Morgan was 3-of-3 from three point range to finish with nine points, Kreisberg and Cotton each contributed eight points and Grace had six points and three assists in 16 minutes.
The 65-point margin of victory was the largest in school history.
Any thought of a letdown after the game with Florida was quickly put to rest. The Bulldogs scored the first four points of the game and never trailed. Still, Oberlin was down by only 10, 25-15, with 7:35 left in the first half. Yale, though, outscored the Yeomen 19-2 the rest of the way to take a 44-17 lead at the intermission.
"We've been playing better," Jones said. "Outside of five minutes we played pretty well against Florida and I felt that would carry over. The guys are feeling pretty positive about themselves."
The Bulldogs shot 75 percent (21-of-28) from the field and scored 60 points in the second half.
Geoff Simpson scored 14 points to lead Oberlin (4-10).
Oberlin head coach Isaiah Cavaco, a 2001 Yale graduate and four-year letterwinner for the Bulldogs, was impressed with what he saw from his alma mater.
"It's great to see the level of athleticism and size and strength that Yale has," he said. "Coach Jones does a great job."
NOTES: Freshman Khaliq Bedart Ghani saw the first action of his career. His three-pointer with a minute left put Yale over the century mark. He also grabbed a rebound and had a steal in three minutes… The Bulldogs were 13-of-21 from three-point range… Sears, Kelley and Duren all grabbed six rebounds to lead Yale… The Bulldogs forced 19 turnovers which they turned into 24 points… Sam Martin was 3-of-4 from three-point range and finished with nine points.
Report filed by Tim Bennett, Yale Sports Publicity


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Sapiens IAS is the Best Anthropology Optional Coaching in Hyderabad for UPSC Civil Services Exam. Sapiens IAS providing UPSC Anthropology Optional Coaching, Anthropology Online Classes UPSC, Anthropology Test Series under the guidance of Pradip Sarkar. Pradip Kumar Sarkar is its Director and mentor, he founded it in 2007. Pradip Kumar Sarkar has more than 10 years of teaching experience in the field of IAS coaching.
Pradip Sarkar teaches Anthropology subject for IAS mains and his scientific approach to anthropology has helped students to fetch high marks in the subject within a limited time frame.
Sapiens IAS has launched Live online classes for UPSC Anthropology Optional for civil services exam. Anthropology Online course of Sapiens IAS is in-house production not depending on others. It is the best substitute to the IAS anthropology optional offline class to those who could not come to attend offline class for various reasons; those are office goers having no time to join our UPSC anthropology optional coaching institute in the day time.


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BWW EXCLUSIVE: VIVA FOREVER Begins Previews Tonight; Sneak Peek at the Songlist!
Producer Judy Craymer presents Viva Forever!, the new musical written by one of Britain's most brilliant comediennes and BAFTA winning writers Jennifer Saunders, (Absolutely Fabulous, French & Saunders) and featuring the multi-million-selling songs of THE Spice Girls. The show begins previews tonight, 27 November with the official opening on Tuesday 11 December, 2012 at the Piccadilly Theatre in London's West End.
Leading The Cast is the highly accomplished Sally Ann Triplett and West End newcomer Hannah John-Kamen, who will play Lauren and Viva, the mother and daughter roles which are right at the heart of the musical.
VIVA FOREVER! is a romantic comedy that tells the story of a family thrown into chaos, as Viva (played by Hannah) and her three best friends (Luce played by Siobhan Athwal, Diamond by Lucy Phelps and Holly by Dominique Provost-Chalkley) get swept up in a TV talent show where stars are born and dreams are shattered.
As previews begin for Viva Forever, Spice Girls fan sites are abuzz with the news that some of their most famous hits as a group and as solo artists - and best-loved album tracks - are currently featured in the show.
So far, we're told the song list includes:
Do It
I Turn To You
Let Love Lead The Way
Look At Me
Move Over
Right Back At Ya
Saturday Night Divas
Say You'll Be There
Something Kinda Funny
Spice Up Your Life
Tell Me Why
The Lady Is A Vamp
Time Goes By
Too Much
Viva Forever
Who Do You Think You Are?
2 Become 1
BroadwayWorld will be reporting all the news from the Piccadilly Theatre later tonight and for the rest of the week. Be sure to check back for additional coverage!


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President Obama names Chancellor Fran Ulmer to the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
On June 14, 2010 President Obama announced that UAA Chancellor Fran Ulmer will serve as one of the seven members on the newly formed National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling. The commission is charged with investigating the causes of the explosion and oil spill, and recommending changes to prevent future disasters.
"I'm honored that President Obama has asked me to serve on this important commission," said Chancellor Ulmer. "I have a deep commitment to public service and to improving the way scientific research is included in public policy decisions. Hopefully, I will be able to serve as a bridge between Alaskans, particularly those who have been affected by the Exxon Valdez spill, and those recommending the changes needed to prevent future disasters."
Since this is a volunteer position, Ulmer will continue as UAA's Chancellor until she retires in June 2011. Ulmer's dual role as a commission member and as UAA's Chancellor will allow her to serve as a link between the commission and University of Alaska researchers and area experts in oil spill response and prevention.
During her more than 30 years of working in public service on the local, state and national levels, Ulmer has helped to shape both public and environmental policy. As a state legislator, Ulmer served as a member on the Special Committee on the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Claims Settlement. In addition, Ulmer was the first chair of the Alaska Coastal Policy Council, a member of Governor Knowles' Alaska Highway Natural Gas Policy Council and served for more than 10 years on the North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission.
In addition to serving on the boards of several local organizations, Ulmer also serves on the Board for the Alaska Nature Conservancy, the National Parks Conservation Association, the Union of Concerned Scientists and the on Aspen Institute's Commission on Arctic Climate Change. In order to focus her attention and avoid conflicts, Ulmer plans to resign these positions prior to beginning work on the commission.
The National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling is expected to deliver a report to President Obama within six months.
For additional information about the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling, please visit the White House website at www.whitehouse.gov/deepwater-bp-oil-spill/.


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verb (used with object), no·ticed, no·tic·ing.
Origin of notice
Synonyms for notice
verb (tr)
Word Origin for notice
early 15c., "to notify," from notice (n.). Sense of "to point out" is from 1620s. Meaning "to take notice of" is attested from 1757, but was long execrated in England as an Americanism (occasionally as a Scottishism, the two offenses not being clearly distinguished). Ben Franklin noted it as one of the words (along with verbal uses of progress and advocate) that seemed to him to have become popular in America while he was absent in France during the Revolution. Related: Noticed; noticing.
early 15c., "information, intelligence," from Middle French notice (14c.), and directly from Latin notitia "a being known, celebrity, fame, knowledge," from notus "known," past participle of (g)noscere "come to know, to get to know, get acquainted (with)," from PIE *gno-sko-, a suffixed form of root *gno- (see know). Sense of "formal warning" is attested from 1590s. Meaning "a sign giving information" is from 1805.
see escape notice; give notice; short notice; sit up and take notice; take note (notice).


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Above is a bonus gallery from the Downtown Throwdown event. Below are the bangers.
Recap: T. Bird
Photos: Huggy
Captions: Pat Bridges
When preparing for any North American snowboard event, one is likely to toss on a jacket, and possibly snow pants and a beanie. An umbrella is not necessarily a requirement in most cases. That is, unless your case involves an October rail jam in Seattle.
On Saturday, October 9th, hundreds of people packed into Pioneer Square for the annual Downtown Throwdown presented by Lib Technologies. Local legend Krush Kulesza and his Snowboy Productions team put together a nice little rail setup including a double bar down rail, a flat-down box, an assortment of barrels below the rails and a lexan quarterpipe, gutted, and connected by a rail. Tons of snow was trucked in to provide the riders with a platform to show the onlookers their pre-season best. A slow, gray drizzle didn't deter the spectators, and the two-hour rail jam was a much-needed kick-off to the 2010/2011 Northwest season.
Now, you know how these things go, because I've written it before. Recapping jam session-formetted events (especially rail jams) is harder than squeezing out a turd after eating a wheel of cheese. However, I did see enough action to let you know who I thought was riding at exceptionally high levels. They are (but not necessarily limited to): Forest Bailey, Jake Kuzyk, Ben Bogart, Yale Cousino, Brandon Reis, Ryan Paul, Ted Borland, Scotty Stevens, Nick Visconti, Austen Sweetin, Austin Hironaka, Chris Beresford, Johnny Lazzareschi, Andrew Brewer, Dylan Thompson, Jonah Owen, and…man, I pretty much just listed the entire field, but for good reason.
Snowboarding in the rain can be fun, especially when you're with friends, and all the competitors (though drenched to the bone) looked like they were having a damn good time. Thus, the level of riding was through the roof. Every variation of every rail trick imaginable was attempted, and in most cases, landed. It was such a whirlwind of activity that I could barely keep my eye on one rider's line, because ten or so feet away, something else was happening that was totally and completely radical. MC's Preston Strout and Jesse Burtner called the action non-stop while Pat Milbery, Darrell Mathes, Sean Genovese, and Zac Marben tallied their judges sheets to designate the top five spots to a few of the aforementioned participants. Listed below are the best of show in the 2010 Downtown Throwdown. Make note that this is an event that's as fun to go to as it is to witness. It's controlled mayhem with unbelievable snowboarding. Just the thing you need to get stoked for the upcoming season. Get here next year.
5th: Ted Borland
4th: Jake Kuzyk
3rd: Forest Bailey
2nd: Scott Stevens
1st: Ryan Paul
Hardest Charger: Johnny Lazzareschi


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Michael Clark Proves That (20/10 Vision) Does Exist In The Basketball World
If you don't know Michael Clark then it's about time you get...
NEW YORK — Michael Vick's federal dogfighting sentence is scheduled to end Monday and that is also when he will go back on trial — facing a whole new series of judgments.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, teams, fans and sponsors are among those who will weigh in on Vick's future.
First and foremost, Goodell must decide whether Vick's suspension will end and, if so, when — allowing the former Atlanta Falcon quarterback a chance to play in the league again.
Goodell is expected to act fairly quickly, so Vick and teams know his status for the coming season. Training camps for veterans start opening next weekend.
There has been communication between Vick's camp and the league about the process, although neither side is making substantive comments publicly about where things stand.
"As we said in 2007, when he was indefinitely suspended, Michael Vick's status will be reviewed following the conclusion of the legal proceedings," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said.
Vick has kept silent and probably will continue to until Goodell makes an announcement. While Goodell is declining interview requests on this topic, his position is fairly well-outlined: He wants a face-to-face meeting, and Vick must show serious contrition.
"Michael's going to have to demonstrate to myself and the general public and to a lot of people: Did he learn anything from this experience? Does he regret what happened?" Goodell said in May. "Does he feel that he can be a positive influence going forward? Those are questions that I would like to see when I sit with him."
Once Goodell's ruling is rendered, NFL clubs will have to determine what, if any, interest they have in Vick. Among the questions teams will ponder: What kind of shape is he in? What position should he play? What type of public relations hit might he bring?
"Teams certainly are going to want to know: Where is his mind-set? Going forward, is he going to be a good citizen?
You'd interview him and hope you get a good feel in the interview.
That's the first thing," former Redskins and Texans general manager Charley Casserly said. "The second thing is: You've got a guy two years out of football, with no structured conditioning program."
NFL teams are allowed to initiate talks with Vick, because the Falcons released him in June. He was cut less than five years after signing a $130 million, 10-year contract.
Vick's agent, Joel Segal, would not discuss whether teams have been in contact about his client.
An AP survey of the 31 other NFL clubs in November found that at least a half-dozen teams would not shut the door on the possibility of acquiring Vick at some stage.
At his best, Vick — who turned 29 last month — was as dynamic an athlete as there was in the NFL, a No.
1 overall draft pick and three-time Pro Bowl selection who led the Falcons to the 2005 NFC championship game. He was the first NFL quarterback to rush for 1,000 yards in a season; he also never threw for more than 3,000 yards or 20 touchdowns in any season, and his career completion percentage is below 55.
"His best chance to have success would be a Wildcat formation. He was running the Wildcat before they called it the 'Wildcat," said Casserly, who works for NFL Network. "Would I give him a tryout? Yeah, I'd give him a tryout — assuming the interview went fine."
Vick's release from federal custody comes Monday, when he can stop wearing an electronic monitor as he begins three years' probation. He is finishing a two-month home confinement in Hampton, Va., which completes a 23-month sentence after he admitted bankrolling a dogfighting operation. Court papers revealed gruesome details about the operation, including the killing of underperforming dogs by electrocution, drowning and hanging.
That is why his toughest critics moving forward could be animal rights activists. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals wrote to Goodell in January, saying Vick shouldn't be allowed to return to the NFL unless he submits to a psychological evaluation.
"We haven't taken the possibility of protests off the table, by any stretch of the imagination," PETA assistant director Dan Shannon said Friday. "But at the same time, we have to see how it's handled before we make any kind of determination."
Eventually, if Vick reshapes his public image, and if he gets the OK from Goodell, and if he finds a team, and if he plays football well, there will come a day where there will be one more group that will pass judgment: endorsers.
Vick used to earn millions in sponsorship dollars on top of his Falcons salary, but that all dried up. Vick's actions cost him his fortune and his NFL career, and some fans feel he deserves a second chance.
They have demonstrated their support, shouting encouragement and wearing Vick jerseys when he has made court appearances.
But would advertisers ever come back?
"Over time, a truly apologetic sports star is forgiven easily by the general public," said Bob Williams, CEO of Burns Entertainment & Sports Marketing. "People said Kobe Bryant was persona non grata for product endorsements after what happened in Colorado, and he's done a terrific job rehabilitating his image and getting back into the endorsement market. He could be a role model for Michael Vick."
Williams thinks Vick needs to begin his image-shaping efforts off the field. If that's accomplished, there is one other key factor.
"The American sports public loves winners," Williams noted. "It would expedite Michael Vick's efforts tremendously if he were on a winning team, a team that went deep in the playoffs, a team that won the Super Bowl."
Potential teammates and foes alike will assess when and whether Vick deserves to return.
The general consensus among NFL players appears to line up with the opinion expressed this week on Twitter by Redskin cornerback DeAngelo Hall, who like Vick played at Virginia Tech: "I honestly think Mike has paid his debt to society. I would love to see him play again sooner than later! But I respect the NFL."
As NFL scouting director Gil Brandt put it: "He has to convince both the fans and his teammates that he's a new man."
First things first: It seems quite clear Vick must start the next phase of his life by convincing Goodell of that.


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You almost need a scorecard to keep track of the WWE stars coming in and out of the revolving doors. Some of WWE's biggest stars are on the outside looking in, while mid-carders are suddenly contenders and champions.
The Rock is doing his Hollywood star thing.
Bill Goldberg is looking to wrestle in Japan.
Brock Lesnar hit a minivan with his motorcycle, but hopes to quickly shake that off and earn a tryout with a National Football League team sometime next month.
Stone Cold Steve Austin is out, too, perhaps heading for some appearances in Japan.
Kurt Angle's neck is giving him fits and keeping him out of the ring.
Triple H may take a little time off to resume his acting career. And speaking of Triple H, isn't that belly looking a little bigger these days?
Mick Foley is playing a more prominent role.
Chris Benoit is a champion.
Bradshaw (John Layfield) has suddenly become a main-eventer on Smackdown!
And there are new guys to take into account. Guys like Christian's new Problem Solver, Tyson Tomko.
A lot of changes -- some good, some bad. Time will tell if it'll all work out.
- If I were running TNA:NWA, which airs pay-per-views each Wednesday night, but has no regular TV show, I'd be all over Austin. I'd be buying him Steveweisers and offering him a whole pile of George Washingtons. It would be a big gamble by TNA:NWA, a gamble to be sure, but it could pay off big.
There are also rumblings that Ted Turner would like to get back into the rasslin business. After dishing off WCW to McMahon, Turner, it's believed, has a no-compete clause, which could expire in the next year or two. And you can bet Austin or Goldberg would be in his sights.
- Tickets for Smackdown! in Toronto go on sale on Saturday, at 10 a.m.
- Benoit has another title, tag-team gold. Benoit teamed with Edge to beat Ric Flair and Batista on RAW. That prompted Jerry "The King" Lawler to say: "Stu Hart has got to be smiling in wrestling heaven." To be sure, it was another magnificent moment for Benoit, who spent many long days and nights in the Hart family dungeon.
- The Big Show is out for a couple of months after knee surgery. That explains the "I quit" angle.
- Shawn Michaels teaming with Randy Orton to face Shelton Benjamin and Batista. That's one of the matches listed for a May 22 show in Philly.
- Matt Hardy and Lita together again? Hardy protected Lita from Kane on RAW.
- The Wrestling Observer says McMahon and Bret Hart met after the RAW show.
- A.J. Styles won the NWA: TNA title from Jeff Jarrett.
- TSN will not air tomorrow night's RAW at 9 p.m. It's delayed until midnight thanks to the San Jose vs. Colorado NHL playoff game.
- CPW tag-team champs Thunder and Righteous Rick Sterling defeated Aftershock in the main event of CPW's Breach of Trust pay-per-view last weekend in Gatineau. CPW will present Battle At The Bar 2 today, at 2 p.m. at the Bar de l'Ouest (836 St-Louis St. in Gatineau). The card will be headlined by Sunny War Cloud vs. Wild Dangerous Dan. The next event is Canadian Conflict on May 1 at the CPW Arena (St-Joseph Recreation Centre at 122 Berri St. in Hull). The main event will be Dynamite Tommy Blade vs. Paranoid Jake Matthews. For more details, visit the CPW website at www.cpwinternational.com.
- Aaron Weiss' Pro Wrestling Superstars -- Past, Present and Future is available on Viewers Choice for just $5.99, April 26 and May 11, with several showings. The main event is Amazing Red vs. A.J. Styles. Among the other matches is an IWS classic with Pierre Carl Ouellet vs. El Generico vs. Kevin Steen.
- Results from EWA's Breaking Point show in Petawawa last Saturday: Triple X Sexxxy Eddy beat Ouellet; Notorious T.I.D. beat Shawn Morgan; Soulrage beat Oddyssey; Heavy Maxx Fury beat TNT; James Champagne beat George Terzis; Cody 45 beat Ash and Hornet; Face of Death beat Reggie Marley and The Green Phantom in a Triple Threat tables match.


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Composite construction has its pluses. So do wooden boats. We've all seen advertisements that tout the benefits of boats with no wood used in their … [Read more...]
West System
Boat Construction: The Benefits of Wood
December 22, 2012 By Brett Becker 1 Comment
Filed Under: Boating, Tips for Boat Buyers Tagged With: Brett Becker, Ebbtide Boats, Seebold Racing, West System, wooden boat construction


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A Renaissance Man in the Making
By Bob Grimson '81
September 23, 2013
California native Chris Golden '17 admits he had not heard of Bradley University but relied on his friends' positive impressions of the University when deciding to apply. His first exposure to the Bradley Experience came at a visit day for admitted students, and he liked what he saw and heard.
"Before the presentations began, Dr. Glassman, Bradley's provost, sat down with me to answer the multitude of questions I had prepared," Golden said. "After about a half hour, he excused himself, stood up and began his speech. After he finished, he sat back down at our table and continued talking to us. I wouldn't trade Bradley for any of the 20 other schools I visited across the country."
The mechanical engineering major was active in FIRST Robotics competitions in high school, serving as his team's captain in the nationwide competition his junior and senior years. His team won the event's world championship in 2010, reached the world semifinals in 2011, and was a regional semifinalist in 2012.
"I loved learning about all the mechanics and principles that go into the design of a robot," he explained, adding he hoped to do robotics research while at Bradley and make that field or the aerospace industry his career.
An active hiker and backpacker, Golden is an Eagle Scout and played trumpet in his high school's marching, jazz and concert bands. He also has an artistic side, noting that his favorite hobbies are drawing, painting and ceramics. Golden wants to continue his outdoors activities at Bradley, with plans to participate in the backpacking and skiing clubs.
"I can't believe that a place so far from home could make me feel this included and welcomed," Golden said. "Every day here confirms my decision that Bradley was the right choice for me."


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Coral reefs are home to 25% of all marine life on the planet. In fact the variety of life supported by coral reefs rivals that of the tropical forests of the Amazon or New Guinea. But without urgent action to address climate change, pollution, overfishing and other threats these beautiful and life-sustaining organisms could disappear.
© WWF / Cat HOLLOWAY
Coral reefs: home to 25% of all marine life
Yet some estimates put the total diversity of life found in, on, and around all coral reefs at up to 2 million species. All up, reefs are home to 25% of all marine life, and form the nurseries for about a quarter of the ocean's fish - including commercially important species that could end up on your dinner plate any night of the week.
This biodiversity translates directly into food security, income, and a multitude of other benefits to people. For example, although scientists have only just begun to understand how reefs can contribute to medicine, already coral reef organisms are being used in treatments for diseases like cancer and HIV.
For many coastal areas, coral reefs also provide an important barrier against the worst ravages of storms, hurricanes, and typhoons.
As thousands of communities across the world will tell you, coral reefs are essential not only to ocean health, but also to human health and well-being.
Priority species
Corals are a WWF priority species. WWF treats priority species as one of the most ecologically, economically and/or culturally important species on our planet. And so we are working to ensure such species can live and thrive in their natural habitats.
Where can I find coral reefs?
© Hugo Ahlenius, UNEP/GRID-Arendal
What are the main threats to coral reefs?
Coral reefs have survived tens of thousands of years of natural change, but many of them may not be able to survive the havoc wrought by humankind.Roughly one-quarter of coral reefs worldwide are already considered damaged beyond repair, with another two-thirds under serious threat.
Major threats to coral reefs and their habitats include:
- Climate change: Corals cannot survive if the water temperature is too high. Global warming has already led to increased levels of coral bleaching, and this is predicted to increase in frequency and severity in the coming decades. Such bleaching events may be the final nail in the coffin for already stressed coral reefs and reef ecosystems.
- Destructive fishing practices: These include cyanide fishing, blast or dynamite fishing, bottom trawling, and muro-ami (banging on the reef with sticks). Bottom-trawling is one of the greatest threats to cold-water coral reefs.
- Overfishing: This affects the ecological balance of coral reef communities, warping the food chain and causing effects far beyond the directly overfished population.
- Careless tourism: Careless boating, diving, snorkeling, and fishing happens around the world, with people touching reefs, stirring up sediment, collecting coral, and dropping anchors on reefs. Some tourist resorts and infrastructure have been built directly on top of reefs, and some resorts empty their sewage or other wastes directly into water surrounding coral reefs.
- Pollution: Urban and industrial waste, sewage, agrochemicals, and oil pollution are poisoning reefs. These toxins are dumped directly into the ocean or carried by river systems from sources upstream. Some pollutants, such as sewage and runoff from farming, increase the level of nitrogen in seawater, causing an overgrowth of algae, which 'smothers' reefs by cutting off their sunlight.
- Sedimentation: Erosion caused by construction (both along coasts and inland), mining, logging, and farming is leading to increased sediment in rivers. This ends up in the ocean, where it can 'smother' corals by depriving them of the light needed to survive. The destruction of mangrove forests, which normally trap large amounts of sediment, is exacerbating the problem.
- Coral mining: Live coral is removed from reefs for use as bricks, road-fill, or cement for new buildings. Corals are also sold as souvenirs to tourists and to exporters who don't know or don't care about the longer term damage done, and harvested for the live rock trade.
What WWF is doing
It has been exploring and protecting the Coral Triangle for some 20 years. It helps create policies to ensure responsible environmental management of the area, raise awareness, and promote the sharing of skills for better stewardship of the Coral Triangle's amazing marine world.
We work on major global policy issues facing reefs, particularly climate change, and also with communities, governments and partners around the world to reduce the threats to reefs including in the following regions: ocean.panda.org
How you can help
- Vote Earth by taking part in Earth Hour! As the biggest threat to coral reefs worldwide is climate change, we need to send a message to our leaders that warming must be limited to under 2 degrees Celsius.
- Spread the word! Click on the button to share this information with others via email or your favourite social networking service.
Make a donation
- Facts: Quick coral facts
- Profile: Tropical coral ecoregions
- Profile: Cold- and warm-water corals (UN)
- Article: Ancient coral reefs under attack
- Article: Cyanide: an easy but deadly way to catch fish
Did you know?
- The Great Barier Reef is the largest living thing on the planet.
- A quarter of the world's fish rely on coral reefs as nurseries.
- The zooxanthellae algae which live symbiotically inside the coral polyp give the corals their amazing colours.
- Properly managed coral reefs can yield an average 15 tonnes of fish and other seafood per sq km per year


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Mark Fruhling necesitaba un nuevo diseño de logotipo y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 74 diseños de 33 diseñadores freelance.
I am in search of the right designer to help me launch the first website dedicated to helping friends have fun by talking smack and insulting each other. The logo should be simple, but creative and embody the spirit of having fun with your friends. This website should be responsible for tons of laughs between friends and the logo should remind people how much fun it is to use the website. I will be posting a contest to design the website also, but I thought that the logo should be decided on first. So the top 5 designs will have first chance at the website design, which is only a few pages. I will also be posting a contest for creative and fun icons for the members to send to each other.
The website is in beta and is already getting decent traffic. There are very few pages and surfing around the site should be pretty simple. The website has the persistence of a posting board...the last 500 messages will always be there, and it also has the immediateness of a chat client...new messages appear within seconds. The public pages are for people to vent, ala "Rants and Raves" on craigslist, but the private pages are for groups of friends to interact and have fun messaging each other. The design should support a feeling of a community promoting fun messages between friends, kind of like the facebook funwall without having to sign up for facebook. There is also an idea of "attitude" with the messaging that is different from anything out there.
I need a great logo and creative ideas for a possible mascot or symbol for the idea of shit talking with your friends and having a great time. Use your imagination and style, I want this to be a fun site and that starts with the designer having fun. I have a tentative tagline or "Create, Invite, Embarrass", but everything is still open for your input.
I would love to find someone who shares my vision and I can work with long term. I plan on spending heavily for the creatives of this site.
Descubre cómo funciona un concurso de diseño u obtén más información sobre nuestros servicios de diseño de logo.


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Natural Resources Conservation Service officials are advising farmers that if they don't sign up for the Conservation Security Program during the current enrollment period it may be a while before they get the opportunity again.
Competition for the latest Conservation Security Program sign-up, which runs from March 28 until May 27, is likely to be intense, officials said. USDA estimates that funding will be available for only 12,000 to 14,000 contracts in the 220 watersheds that are included in the current sign-up.
"Due to limited funding, the rotational sign-up opportunity to apply comes about once every eight years," says a NRCS spokesman. "Given the program structure, you could get a toe-hold now in the three-tiered program and expand your involvement later — but you must act now."
Authorized in the 2002 farm bill, the Conservation Security Program rewards farmers for environmental stewardship based on three levels or tiers of conservation activities. USDA says about 45 percent of the contracts in the current sign-up will be in Tier I, 45 percent in Tier II and 10 percent in Tier III.
Most agricultural land uses are eligible for qualified applicants engaging in good soil and water conservation practices, the spokesman said. To determine if you are eligible — or to prepare to be eligible when the CSP rotation reaches you — contact your USDA Farm Service Center to receive a self assessment worksheet.
To obtain more information about CSP and to see if your watershed in currently eligible for participation, go to http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/csp or visit your local NRCS office.
NRCS officials suggest that if you are not in this year's watersheds, you should take the time to learn about the requirements, document your work and possibly tweak your management so that you will be prepared when your turn comes around.
They note the CSP has four payment components beginning with small stewardship and related maintenance payments. New practices can be funded at 50 percent.
"Enhancements are the program's most significant feature," the spokesman said. "They allow participants on all tiers to pursue improvements in soil, water management, grazing lands, wildlife habitat, air quality and energy. Consequently, the largest payment is usually the enhancement payment. Payment caps are $20,000, $35,000 and $45,000 for the three tiers.


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The One that's naturally stylish
The One that's naturally stylish
2016-01-26 - Have you discovered our latest special edition yet? Why not take a look and see how parents are already using their Bugaboo Cameleon³ Blend?View gallery
The One: Bugaboo Cameleon³ Blend
Bugaboo only just introduced the latest special-edition collection – the Cameleon³ Blend – back in November but it's already taking the streets by storm.
New parent Sofie Noyen (Belgium) chose the Bugaboo Cameleon³ Blend for its practicality: "We love weekend trips to cool cities as well as into the woods, sand, and snow. The functionalities continue to surprise me, I especially love the foam-filled tires which need no maintenance, the extendable sun canopy to keep the baby feeling safe and protected while he sleeps, and the matching blanket that harmonizes the feeling of masculine meets soft."
The Bugaboo Cameleon³ is a fully-loaded stroller that breathes the legacy of 15 years of smart design and continues to be a modern-day icon of creativity and innovation that parents love. Continuing in that inventive spirit, the Bugaboo Cameleon³ Blend mix and matches various textures and materials, offering maximum comfort for parents and their child.
Fashionista and mom extraordinaire, Stephanie Zwicky (Switzerland) looks for true comfort in a stroller. Combining her home life in the countryside with regular trips to the cobbled streets and narrow sidewalks of Paris, her stroller has to be: "Extremely maneuverable, ultra stylish, and even fit in my quintessentially Parisian, tiny Smart car!"
Designed for families who enjoy city life as well as trips to the woods, sand and snow, the special-edition stroller is naturally stylish, combining a refined, soft, brushed polyester tweed outer fabric and blue TENCEL® lining. The stroller features a brown, leather-look handlebar and carrycot handle, light-grey quilted jersey mattress and a complimentary chunky knit blanket. An integrated seat pocket provides convenient storage and easy access to daily essentials, and a matching TENCEL® footmuff completes the look!
For mother of two Lucie (Czech Republic), the stroller needs to combine city life with occasional trips to the snow: "I never imagined a stroller could be a fashion accessory but when I first saw the Bugaboo Cameleon³ Blend I knew I wouldn't leave the shop without it! It's super-stylish, cozy and versatile, and thanks to the grey and luxury brown leather details, I can easily combine my outfits with my lovely stroller."
Now you've seen why these parents love the Bugaboo Cameleon³ Blend, get yours here!
the ORIGINAL STROLLER
We introduced the first Bugaboo stroller in 1999, with the idea to create the perfect all-in-one: a stroller that's flexible enough to go anywhere and everywhere. This was the blueprint for today's Bugaboo Cameleon³.
Loved by generations of parents, the Bugaboo Cameleon³ has become the most iconic stroller out there.
It's The One that has it all.
Because great design is timeless.
Related posts
Great gifts for new parentsDecember 06, 2018 - Lifestyle
Whether you're looking for gift ideas for new parents or Christmas gifts for new moms and dads, we've got you covered.learn more
How to get your stroller ready for winterNovember 01, 2018 - Lifestyle
As the leaves continue to fall and you don your chunky knits, it's time to get your wardrobe and stroller ready for winter adventures.learn more
What's in my Mammoth Bag: Barb BrunoAugust 07, 2018 - Lifestyle
Barb Bruno is a mother of four and the co-founder and creative director of Barcelona-based clothing brand Tinycottons. We caught up with her to find out more about her business, family life and what's in her Bugaboo Mammoth Bag!learn more


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Friday, June 30, 2006
Loosening Microsoft's hold over midmarket software vendors
Michael Vizard writes at eWeek's Channel Insider that some application software vendors are growing cool in their attitude toward Microsoft, as the software giant is increasingly moving onto their turf. He says that because the small and mid-size business (SMB) market is dominated by Windows, it has been a natural platform for software vendors targeting that market.But a curious thing is starting to take shape in the SMB market as the loyalty to Microsoft among ISVs in this space becomes increasingly strained. The process that drove a wedge in that loyalty was Microsoft's decision to acquire a number of companies and begin aggressively marketing applications targeting the midmarket space. This naturally set ISVs on edge, with many of them shifting their stance from being pro to neutral about Microsoft to being neutral or against.Vizard points to Cognos and Sage Software as two examples of vendors moving away from the Microsoft camp.
Related posts
Is Microsoft dying?by Frank Scavo, 6/30/2006 01:59:00 PM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Tuesday, June 27, 2006
CDC Software weirdness
Earlier this month, Made2Manage and Onyx Software announced their agreement for Onyx to be acquired by M2M. Now, CDC Software, a Chinese software company based on Hong Kong is making a third offer to acquire Onyx, after having been rejected twice before by Onyx.
Josh Greenberg writes in Datamation about CDC's difficult-to-fathom behavior:Onyx's weird trip started last December, when it received an unsolicited bid from CDC, a Chinese company that previously had bought up two minor companies, CRM vendor Pivotal Software and ERP vendor Ross Systems.CRM News has more on the CDC/Onyx drama.
According to filings by Onyx, CDC embarked on a strategy of mixed messages and seemingly bizarre behavior, setting up meetings with Onyx executives and then putting out press releases claiming that Onyx was avoiding CDC. After a few weeks of this kind of behavior, CDC retracted its bid, only to reinstate it in March.
Even at this writing, with the M2M deal looking like it will gain widespread shareholder acceptance, CDC continues its pursuit of a very unwilling Onyx, claiming publicly that the fees Onyx would have to pay to retreat from the M2M deal were "unusually high" and offering to fight the fees in court. Meanwhile, CDC has written to the SEC claiming that Onyx failed to consider other legitimate offers. And so the saga continues.
Related posts
Onyx CRM to be acquired by Made2Manageby Frank Scavo, 6/27/2006 11:41:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Monday, June 12, 2006
Onyx CRM to be acquired by Made2Manage
Onyx Software becomes the latest catch for Made2Manage, which continues to build out its portfolio of software offerings. Onyx is one of the last remaining standalone CRM vendors.
The deal is worth about $92 million, all cash, and is expected to close in Q3.
In picking up Onyx, M2M is making an exception to its strategy of focusing on niche industry solutions. The deal appears simply to provide M2M with a good horizontal CRM product that it can offer to new prospects or cross-sell to its installed base.
M2M plans to operate Onyx as a separate business unit.
Related posts
Making money in software with a niche-industry strategy (overview of M2M's strategy)by Frank Scavo, 6/12/2006 06:45:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Friday, June 09, 2006
Why organizations choose open source software
Si Chen gave a presentation at the Enterprise Open Source Conference in New York this week on, Why Enterprises Are Adopting Open Source Applications. Chen and his firm, Open Source Strategies, are one of the driving forces behind the open source ERP application Open For Business (or, Open4Biz, or OFBiz), so he's well qualified to talk on this subject.
He's also posted his entire presentation transcript along with the slides on his blog. It should be required reading for anyone wondering what open source is really all about.
Chen starts by listing three companies that have adopted Open4Biz and why they went the route of open source:
Concerning why British Telecom chose open source, Chen says,
- Ameniti Travel Clubs, a subsidiary of UAL Corp and a sister company of United Airlines. They chose open source because it is easy to modify and allows them to move quickly with new business opportunities.
- Snaidero Engineering and Trading, a subsidiary of the Snaidero Group, Italy's number one kitchen cabinet manufacturer. They liked the freedom to customize open source and implement it in many sites around the world without having to pay additional license fees every time they redeployed it.
- British Telecom, one of the largest telecom firms in the world, which is implementing the Open4Biz application to support catalog management and online ordering for mobile products and services. Chen says, that British Telecom "will be serving all 18+ million residential and commercial customers in the United Kingdom with this system. As such, it is a very large deployment: they are scaling it out to support up to 16,000 simultaneous visitors using a cluster of 72 CPU's."When we asked British Telecom why they are going the open source route, we got a very interesting answer. The commercial solutions they looked at were expensive, given their volume and growth rate. It would have been several millions British pounds a year. More importantly, the commercial solutions would have still required a lot of coding and development. So it's like spending a lot of money to buy one of those mail order toys, only to get a box full of little plastic parts that you have to paint, glue, and assemble. Not much fun.The second part of Chen's presentation focuses more generally on the reasons that organizations choose open source over commercial software. Here he has a balanced view. His basic premise is that commercial software is the best choice when user requirements are generally the same across many organizations, there is little need for customization, and commercial software is not costly.
Conversely, with open source, they found that it had a reasonably good fit for their requirements. It still needed work, but they thought it was a good strating point because of a "well thought out data model," and it was "easy to change." Best of all, it was free, so the low cost helped as well.
Conversely, however, when the organizations requirements are unique and there is the need to modify the software and the cost of commercial software is prohibitive, then open source is a good choice.
Although Chen doesn't put it this way, the point I got from this is that open source really shouldn't be viewed as an alternative to commercial software--it is an alternative to in-house custom development. Where companies today are spending much energy and effort to custom develop applications to support unique requirements, they really should be investigating whether there is an open source product that can be used as a starting point. The open source approach gives a head start to the development team and it also has the potential to leverage other development efforts of other organizations that are investing in the same open source product.
Chen has several other good points, which I won't elaborate on here. He talks about how service oriented architectures and the trend toward software as a service are catalysts for open source. He also talks about the current software vendor consolidation trend as reducing the choices in commercial software and thus strengthening the alternative of open choice.
I met Si Chen for coffee late last year and was impressed at the time with his vision for the potential of open source to change how business applications are developed and supported. Now, nine months later, he's still convincing.
Read his whole presentation on his blog.
Related posts
Key advantage of open source is NOT cost savings
Open source: turning software sales and marketing upside down
Buzzword alert: "open source"by Frank Scavo, 6/09/2006 05:29:00 PM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Linux vs. Windows survey results
At Computer Economics, we've completed analysis of our survey on Windows vs. Linux as a server operating system.
For those that participated in the survey, thank you, and the full report will be coming your way shortly.
An executive summary of the Windows/Linux study is available at Computer Economics.by Frank Scavo, 6/07/2006 06:46:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
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In August, the Federal Communications Commission took steps to make some prison phone calls cheaper.
Correction: The Federal Communications Ruling referenced in this article stated that prison phone providers could still charge site commissions, but could not use them to calculate the cost of the call for consumers.
Hampstead resident Brenda Garrison changed her phone number to a 919 area code to make talking to her son cheaper.
Tramaine Garrison has been in Butner Federal Prison for about five years on drug charges, and Brenda Garrison has rented out her son's house to cover the $220 a month she spends on calling cards and care packages.
"You want to always be there. You don't want to turn them down," Brenda Garrison said, adding she speaks with her son three or four times a week.
In August, the Federal Communications Commission took steps to make some prison phone calls cheaper, unofficially placing rate caps on interstate long-distance calls in jails and prisons across the country.
The FCC decision also took steps to limit "site commissions" that are paid back to the facilities, often to support inmate welfare programs, by ruling they could not be used to calculate the cost of calls.
Industry leaders expect a formal order sometime in September, to be put into effect 90 days later.
In North Carolina state prisons, a 15-minute call costs $3.40 if it's prepaid or collect, and $3.06 if it's debit.
That's lower than the cost of long-distance calls in Brunswick and New Hanover County jails, which average $5.64 and $6.28, respectively, for 12-minute calls, according to Securus, the company that provides the service to both counties.
Only about 10 percent of the calls made from each facility are long distance, said Rick Smith, Securus' CEO.
In the Brunswick County jail, local calls, which make up the vast majority, cost $3.59 on average. The same 12-minute call costs $1.70 in the New Hanover County jail.
"It's more than you would think it is, like you and I have a cell phone," said Jerry Brewer, a New Hanover County Sheriff's Office spokesman. "… But it's more because it's more involved because of the equipment there, monitoring all of the calls."
According to an FCC release, the "long-overdue" decision encourages communication between inmates and their families, which studies say reduces recidivism.
The decision has been lauded by advocates, who say telecommunications companies gouge prisoners and their families to the benefit of state governments and private industry.
"It's enormously profitable for both states and the prison phone companies that provide these services at the expense of the prison families and at the expense of a rehabilitation for the prisoners," said Alex Friedmann, managing editor of Prison Legal News, which has been advocating for lower corrections facility phone rates since 1990.
At the same time, the FCC has been roundly criticized by industry leaders, who plan to mount a legal challenge to what they say is an illegal decision that endangers prisoners and their families.
"If you assume that our rates are being cut ... it cuts the revenue to the facilities, it cuts our rates," Smith said. "Clearly the facilities are going to have to do something, meaning cut their programs, cut the security features and that's just not a very good position for them to be in."
Prisons and the phone companies that provide their service could be in a worse position if the FCC decides it has the authority to regulate rates and practices within state lines, something the Aug. 9 order said it will explore.
Friedmann plans to advocate to public utility commissions to cap correction facility phone rates even if the FCC decides it doesn't have authority.
"Now that the FCC has taken action, this is a good starting point," Friedmann said.
The security package for each facility affects the pricing, and Securus' CEO says each of the company's roughly 2,000 contracts is different.
"There's nothing standard in our business so think about it as being in the car business and every single car is custom built," Smith said.
Securus has 100 software development people who have already spent about 550,000 hours developing various software and who put another 50,000 or so hours in every year.
Some of the software that Securus has developed includes biometrics that ensures the prisoner who's supposed to be on the phone actually is and then analyzes calls for key words.
"It's very much like doing Google searches, but you're doing it on 120 million inmate calls," Smith said.
The people monitoring the calls are often employees of whichever law enforcement agency oversees the prison.
At state prisons in North Carolina, for instance, a team working under Trish Deal, N.C. Department of Correction's telecommunications manager, tries to identify any illegal activity that's going on.
"It's pretty important and even more so with the gang activity that every prison is experiencing," Deal said.
Securus' CEO also expressed concern about limiting the commissions, which he says could lead to the elimination of some inmate welfare programs.
"I would suggest that just removing commissions out of facilities is going to cause deaths and I will lay those right at the feet of the FCC when those happen," Smith said.
In Brunswick County, commissions are paid into the general fund and in New Hanover County, they are paid into the revenue fund. The money isn't earmarked for prisoner programs in either county.
On the state level, the commissions are merged with money from inmate canteen sales to support the Inmate Welfare Fund.
That fund supports vocational programs, education programs from the University of North Carolina, chaplains and upkeep of the phone system, among other things.
About 57 percent of the welfare fund comes from phone commissions.
Prisoner advocates say it's unfair to lay the cost of rehabilitation programs solely at the feet of inmates and their families.
"I don't have kids, but my property taxes pay for our school system. We don't just tax people who use the schools, we tax everybody because schools are good for society and good for everyone," Friedmann said. "It's the same thing with prisons. It's a necessary public service. If you want to fund these great services currently funded by phone rates, then everybody needs to pay into it."
Adam Wagner: 343-2096
On Twitter: @adamwagner1990


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Dierks Bentley May Lend His Waiter Skills to Waiting for Wishes Benefit Dinner
Dierks Bentley is no one-trick pony. At the 11th annual Kevin Carter Waiting for Wishes dinner on May 8, it's rumored that Bentley will put away his guitar and show off his waiting skills as he serves attendees. At $500 per ticket -- and thanks to the generous time donations from celebrities like Bentley -- this event is sure to raise a pretty penny for charity.
Proceeds from the event will go to the Make-a-Wish Foundation. The organization grants the wishes of children with life-threatening illnesses to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy. Proceeds will also benefit the Kevin Carter Foundation, which focuses on youth character development and enriching the lives of others.
The '5-1-5-0' singer isn't the only celebrity talent donating waitstaff skills to the event. Other country music waiters include Lee Ann Womack and Sheryl Crow, as well as NFL players and veterans, like Jerome Bettis, Keith Bulluck, Tony Gonzales, Priest Holmes, Derrick Mason and Will Witherspoon. The dinner also includes a live auction and a silent auction with fabulous trips and autographed celebrity memorabilia.
This latest charitable donation continues to prove that Bentley has a big heart. In February, the country celeb appeared on the daytime show 'Ellen' to present a $50,000 check to help military families. He also contributed a song to the Bob Dylan tribute album, 'Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan Honoring 50 Years of Amnesty International.'
For more information about how you can purchase a ticket to the Kevin Carter Waiting for Wishes dinner -- and be served by a country star -- call Paige Dixon at the Palm in Nashville at 615-742-3193.