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Center on Hill a real resource
I am just back from giving a "Downton Abbey Fashion Flashback" talk and luncheon at the Chestnut Hill Center on the Hill. What a fabulous resource we have in this community in the form of the Center on the Hill.
I need to publicly thank CHCH Executive Director Jackie Yorko for troubleshooting computer issues, taking last minute RSVPs, and managing so many tasks with grace and humor.
If you haven't signed up for her newsletter, you should e-mail email@example.com or call 215-247-4654. The center is located in the Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill at 8855 Germantown Avenue, next to the hospital. Plenty of free parking in the rear.
Barb Sherf
Flourtown, PA
Paying for more than power
Once a month I sit down and pay my electric bill. I know that I am paying to power the baby monitor, to charge the computer so my kids can Skype with grandma and grandpa, and keep my family cool during the heat of summer. What I did not realize is that I am also paying for lobbyists to fight against life-saving protections for my children.
Every time I write a check to my big utility company I am ensuring that big energy companies can hire lawyers to fight against clean air standards instead of installing scrubbers on an existing plant or investing in clean energy. Currently, big energy is fighting against EPA's Mercury and Air Toxics standards, which will protect my young children from mercury, a dangerous neurotoxin that harms developing brains, hearts, and lungs. Today I want to demand that the big power companies stop using my family's hard-earned money to fight against life-saving mercury standards.
Jen McIntyre
Mt. Airy


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New To The Silver & Blue: Tyron Smith – OT
By now, every Cowboys fan knows that the team selected offensive lineman Tyron Smith with their 1st round draft pick earlier this year, but did you know that it had been 30 years since the last time the Cowboys drafted that position with their first round pick? It's true, the Dallas Cowboys selected offensive lineman Howard Richards with their first round selection 1981. That was the year that we were all was introduced to Indiana Jones and "Raiders of the Lost Ark" topped the box-office.
Whenever I write something about the newest Cowboy, Tyron Smith, I'm tempted to type in all caps because he is such a monster when it comes to his size! The young tackle out of Southern California checks in at 6'5 and weighs 307 pounds. Tryon's hands were each measured at 11 inches. The former USC star acknowledges his size as one of his main assets:
" My strength is my size," I intimidate other guys because I'm big and I'm working on getting bigger. I want to work on my footwork. Since I'm so big, sometimes I get off balance."
Tyron was born December 12, 1990 in Moreno Valley California. He attended Rancho Verde High School where he played offensive and defensive line. He earned numerous honors. Even as a kid, Rivals.com listed him as the #1 offensive tackle prospect in the nation. They nailed it on this one.
The analysis from USC pro-day reported that his pass blocking is his best trait, saying he's quick off the snap and can catch and turn his opponent away from the play. His athleticism enables him to explode out of the gate and make down-field blocks.
In his last season at USC, the Trojans allowed only 18 sacks, and averaged 189 yards per game in 2010, both were conference bests.
At Pro-day he ran the 40 yard dash in 4.91 and just as impressive for his size was his broad jump at 9-1 and his vertical at 29 inches. The ground must have shook when he landed. 🙂
Smith is very comfortable blocking in an open space. He can sink his hips to counter the bull-rush. He moves his feet well to shadow quicker speed rushers.
It's no wonder Smith was by far the number one offensive tackle in the draft – nobody else even came close. Romo must have been doing cartwheels on Draft Day! (Don't strain yourself Tony!)
Blessed with the prototype combination of size, balance and agility, he has the potential to develop into a top-flight left tackle in the NFL. He emerged as a standout in the Pac-10, winning the Morris Trophy as the conference's top offensive lineman as voted by the league's defensive linemen.
Among his weaknesses (hey, nobody's perfect!) some experts say he needs to develop his football instincts, so that he won't easily be baited by stunts. He must also key in on recognizing the blitz. Right now, they seem to think he can be beat by speed to power rushing moves. But with that said, let me add that the Cowboys defense is known for their speed, so working against them in camp will help him improve on defending against a speed/rush offense. (It's all good!)
Here are some highlights…
- Smith was the country's highest-ranked offensive linemen.
- Smith made a huge impact in his two seasons as the Trojans starting offensive tackle, before declaring early for the 2011 draft.
- Consensus All-Pac 10 first-team choice, named the Trojans' Offensive Lineman of the Year
- The only player in the Pac-10 Conference to register 100 knockdowns for the season, receiving first-team all-league honors.
- Smith had thirteen touchdown-resulting blocks and allowed only one quarterback sack in his final season. He had 23 blocks for touchdowns in his two years as starter.
- Tyron was the recipient of the Pac-10 Morris Award, given to the league's top lineman.
After watching video of him, and with Coach Ryan coming in, it will be interesting to see if the coaching staff can help him with his football IQ and quickly get Smith up to speed and make the improvements that will make him a starter. I believe they will.
There's a lot to like here!


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Once in a great while, everything comes together to create an immortal Olympic memory—lackadaisical NBA stars, bad officiating, anti-Americanism, fat Lithuanians with killer jump shots, and bad luck. Here, the shocking story of the 2004 Dream Team, in their own words
Boys Against Men
**Richard Jefferson (forward, Team USA): **My whole time in Greece depends on one thing. I'm not here to be an ambassador. I'm not here to go see sights or travel around. I'm here to try and win a gold medal.
**Alexander Avramovski (fan, Macedonia): **Before the Olympics, we were watching U.S. play Serbia. We got excited, because the U.S. team are not connected with each other.
**David Stern (commissioner, NBA): **I don't use the words Dream Team, okay? There was one Dream Team and only one Dream Team.
**Tom Tolbert (color commentator, ESPN): **In our first game, Puerto Rico whacked us by nineteen. After that, I think teams stopped being intimidated. It was almost like Rocky hitting Drago over the left eye and Rocky's trainer saying, "See? He's just a man!"
****Carlos Arroyo (guard, Team Puerto Rico): ****The first half, we ended up by twenty-two points. If we were on the other side, we would be frustrated too. We made history that night.
**Carsten Mayer (reporter, Stuttgarter Nachrichten, Germany): **I can't understand why they are so bad. Why are they so bad?
**Jose Ortiz (center, Team Puerto Rico): **Tim Duncan shook my hand and said we deserved to win. Nobody else shook my hand. Eight years ago, we would have been taking pictures with the U.S.A. players. Now we beating them.
**Chuck Daly (coach, 1992 Dream Team): **I was talking to one of the Puerto Rican players—he was 40 years old! Plus, he could play! We are now playing boys against men. Maybe four [players on the 2004 Olympic team] should have been still in college. And some in high school.
**Peter Vecsey (columnist, New York Post): **You could have sent the [NBA expansion team] Bobcats, who've never played, and you should have won this championship. Come on! It's a joke! Puerto Rico. Who'd they have?
Deuce Is Big
**Aaron Goodwin (LeBron James's agent): **The Queen Mary 2 [where Team USA stayed during the Games] is a real nice boat.
**Dwyane Wade (guard, Team USA): **Every time I said boat, they corrected me and said ship. It was like another world on that ship.
**Koustautinos Tsorukoglou (guest, Queen Mary 2): **Carmelo Anthony would call the Queen Mary 2 Deuce. He said, "Deuce is big."
**David Gevanthor (vice president, Cunard Line): **The Queen Mary 2 is 1,132 feet long and has fourteen decks. It's the world's largest ocean liner. There is an onboard art collection worth in excess of $5 million. The largest collection of wine bottles at sea, over 50,000 bottles. The only planetarium at sea. A Canyon Ranch spa. Couples therapy. The cost, normally, on a first-class transatlantic crossing is $27,000 per person.
**Tsorukoglou: **I saw Carmelo get lost. He walked past me, then walked past again twenty minutes later.
**Carmelo Anthony (forward, Team USA): **I was down there with the workers, and they were wondering what I was doing. I didn't know where I was at. I thought I had left off the boat.
**Shawn Mario (forward, Team USA): **There was this huge navy battleship sitting in the water next to us. The guns were drawn. Allen Iverson keeps saying this is the safest place in the world right now. Ain't nobody messing with those guns.
**Carl Marasigan (housekeeper, Queen Mary 2): **I helped Tim Duncan take bags to his room. He gave me two bucks for a tip. I can't believe it—he had pretty big stuff. Coach Brown tipped someone $20, and he left 100 euros for the housekeeper.
**Recel Macapagal (housekeeper, Queen Mary 2): **Their rooms are a mess. It's like they were playing basketball inside, throwing everything everywhere.
The Greek Game Was the Worst
**Tolbert: **I don't know what's worse: not playing as hard as you can and getting beat by nineteen, or playing really hard and beating Greece by six points. I think beating Greece by six points is a little more disturbing.
**Amar'e Stoudemire (forward, Team USA): **The Greece game was probably the worst. People were screaming. There were police in the crowd. Carmelo turned to me at one point on the bench and said, "Man, if we don't win this game, these Greeks are going to tear this place up."
**LeBron James (guard, Team USA): **That was the loudest arena I've ever been in.
**Marion: **Everybody is against us. We're out here all on our own.
**Andrew Bogut (center, Team Australia): **The Greek fans wanted U.S.A. to lose, because they're cocky, pound their chests. You see that in the NBA, but in Europe it's not respected.
**Daly: **Let's be serious. If we take Kobe and we take McGrady and we take, you know, Shaq—I mean, you gotta be kiddin' me. I don't care how good they think their teams are. I really don't care.
**Grant Hill (Team USA, 1996): **I think I'm being honest in saying that the NBA season is the priority [for NBA players].
**Vecsey: **I'd say more than half of the guys that go play in the Olympics wind up with a pretty big injury the next year.
**"Pepe" Sanchez (guard, Team Argentina): **A lot of great NBA players didn't come. Some of my teammates don't even know who the U.S. players are. I had to tell them, "Okay, this guy, he can shoot. That guy, he play defense."
**Wade: **If they hadn't pulled out, some of us guys wouldn't have got the opportunity to go. So my thoughts on them is always just, Thank you.
**Vecsey: **I think Pat Riley said it—we should have sent the Pistons. And he's right. Role player. Superstar. Everything is as it's supposed to be. They have Stu Jackson, who failed with the Knicks, Wisconsin, Vancouver, and now he's in charge of picking the Olympic team.
**Wade: **We were trying to get adjusted to the FIBA basketball. It's just so slippery. Even I can't palm it, and I got big hands. Practice was like little kids was playing at first. The ball was just kicked and slipping out of people's hands.
They Let Their Hair Down
**Anthony: **[Aboard the Queen Mary 2] We play Boo and Bullshit and Bouré and Buddha. That's poker, man. That's all we do on the boat. We play cards all day and all night.
**Wade: **Iverson was always playin' around. Like in your sleep, he gonna put something in your ear. You'll be listening to your headphones, and he'll take the headphone thing out when you ain't looking, and you're like, "What happened?" He's so quick.
**Tsorukoglou: **They also have a basketball court on the ship. Allen Iverson was there by himself, shooting baskets at night in a button-down shirt.
**Goodwin: **LeBron stays in his room a lot. He loves to read.
**Lamar Odom (forward, Team USA): **We got a spot on the boat called G32—a little club—and we all hang out there. I'm usually the DJ. I get the party pumped up.
**Wade: **He got a future if basketball don't work out.
**"JULIAN" (house-band member, G32): **When they dance, they let their hair down, though most of them have bald heads. They were hands off the women, though. They didn't want another Kobe.
**NICK ARISON (assistant, Team USA): **We're sort of in a bubble. We're pretty isolated. The ship's so big, and everyone is spread out. The amount of people is nowhere near the normal capacity.
**Pavlos Kanakis (host and driver, Olympics): **Most of the decks are empty.
**Deimente Staniuliene (fan, Lithuania): **Did you see [Team USA assistant coach] Roy Williams? He has a big tan.
**Tsorukoglou: **I saw him out by a pool. He was there a lot.
**Manu Ginobili (guard, Team Argentina): **The rest of the world is getting better. The U.S. is getting bored.
The Dream Team Is Dead
**Sarunas Jasikevicius (guard, Team Lithuania): **The worst talker on the court was Shawn Marion. He kept saying "miss" when I would shoot. And I kept making them. The ball was coming off my fingers, and he said, "Miss, you fuck. Miss. You're in the NBA now. Miss like you should, fuck." After a while, he stopped, because I kept making them.
**PAUL BRAGNA (waiter, Queen Mary 2): **They ate too many hamburgers. They were always in line. That's why they lose. They cannot jump anymore.
**JASIKEVICIUS: **Nobody wants to sign me. I'm a slow, fat white guy. But those slow, fat white guys beat the U.S.
**SEAN JENSEN (sportswriter, St. Paul Pioneer Press): **At least three times, the PA announcer asked the Lithuanian fans to refrain from blowing whistles. Every time the U.S. touched the ball, they booed and whistled. I don't mean just at the beginning or the end of the game. I mean throughout the entire game.
**JEFFERSON: **I'd rather they be yelling in a foreign language. Then you can't hear if they're talking about your mom.
**STANIULIENE: **The Dream Team is dead. It's over. We play team basketball. You can't be like NBA attitude, not together. People no root for U.S.A. Because nobody likes what U.S.A. is doing rest of world.
Where Is the Disco?
**Stoudemire: **A few of us went out, just to get away from the ship. Didn't matter the night, we just wanted to get away from everything, and we couldn't find a place to go. We ended up walking around for hours. It's frustrating because we just wanted to relax.
**Gregg Popovich (assistant coach, Team USA): **You can't blame the U.S. players who came here. You can't blame them for wanting to sightsee and go to dinner. This isn't their end-all. This was a summer basketball trip.
**Goodwin: **Shawn Marion went to look at real estate.
**Marion: **I did get out a lot. I mean, how long can you stay on the boat?
**Tsorukoglou: **His escort and Realtor took him to see an area that is very old.
**Marion: **I went to an area that was really upscale housing and checked it out. It was like Beverly Hills but older.
**Goodwin: **Carmelo went sightseeing.
**Tsorukoglou: **He said they drove to see many ancient historic sites. I asked him which ones he saw. He said, "I don't know the names, but they were old."
**Stoudemire: **They took us all around, showed us all those old things. It was all right.
**Juliana Mendes (tourist, Brazil): **One night I saw Carmelo and his friend. He told me he played on Denver and also U.S.A. I don't even know where Denver is. He said Denver was like Los Angeles but colder. Carmelo said, "I need to dance, I need to dance." He said he buy all my friends drinks at disco. He danced on the street to show me. And he's not good dancer. He was funny. [Carmelo and Amaré] were just standing there, asking, "Where is the disco?" They smelled like they drinking a lot.
**Anthony: **It's just like back home. Everybody shows us love. People like our personality.
**Anna Vamvoudakis (fan, Greece): **The U.S. players think they're sexy. They try to talk to you. They flirt. They say things like, "I need someone to show me around town." But they don't. What they need is [someone] who can shoot.
As Soon as They Ahead, They Chirping
**Wade: **I'm not the typical point guard who sets up every play, but Coach wanted me to do that. At times I wanted to attack and I couldn't; or I shoulda attacked and I didn't, because I didn't know what Coach wanted.
**Vecsey: **They would have been better off with no coach. In a playground game, you lose, you sit. So you figure out instantly who's the best shooter, rebounder.
**Mario Pesquera (coach, Team Spain): **Against Spain was the first game the United States looked like a team. If they had played the entire tournament that way, they could have won.
**Jorge Garbajosa (forward, Team Spain): **Against us, they look worried. They didn't talk much when game was close. But as soon as they ahead, they chirping. Especially Richard Jefferson. What did he have? Six points?
**Pesquera: **I'm tired about the opinions, the articles, that say the U.S. team is the best. The Spanish team demonstrated that they were the best team, because we just lost one game. No other team did that.
**Stenr: **It seemed that we were making excuses. And Americans don't like excuses. They want you to go out and play and either win or lose. And I think there was a very negative reaction to that.
**Wade: **I felt like a lot of people back in the States was rooting against us to actually not win the gold. And that's sad to say.
**Hill: **There was so much negativity surrounding the team. I just felt people thought, Here's twelve African-Americans, let's talk about their not playing hard, or their not doing this or doing that. Maybe it was a race thing, I don't know. I wanted them to win that semifinal game and win the gold, just to kinda shut everybody up.
There Wasn't a Tomorrow No More
**Ginobili: **I saw their roster and I knew we would beat them.
**Popovich: **Against Argentina, Tim was officiated like he's never going to be officiated in the NBA. There were times he was absolutely knocked to the floor, kicked over, and trampled—and no call?
**Tim Duncan (center, Team USA): **FIBA sucks.
**Sanchez: **How come European players go to NBA and adapt to it, and they can't adapt to us? If you don't make a jump shot that's wide open, how can that be our fault?
**Bogut: **The body language of some players on the bench was terrible. I think they were getting frustrated with not getting playing time. There were guys not even paying attention during the time-outs.
**Sanchez: **They didn't shake our hands after the game. They walk away. We don't care. That's them.
**Tolbert: **They lost to Argentina, 89–81.
**Marco Graeber (Olympic staff security guard): **None of the U.S. players showered after the game. Odom stood outside the bus for a long time. The rest of the players got on the bus. They hurried. The bus was waiting. Odom was just standing there, staring up. I could see some players on the bus looking at him through the window. They were waiting for him so they could go home.
**Allen Iverson (guard, Team USA): **A lot of people don't understand how Muhammad Ali lost a fight. But things happen. Roy Jones got knocked out. Smarty Jones lost a race.
**Graeber: **Dwyane Wade threw his bag. He threw the bag ahead. Then walked to his bag and picked it up. And threw it again, all the way to the bus. He had a bag of ice in one hand. He tore it open and let the ice spill everywhere. My supervisor told us we are not allowed to talk. But how do you not talk about this? How do you forget this? They were devastated.
**Wade: **That was the most disappointed I've been in sports. We didn't go over there just to win a medal. We went over there to win a gold. We lost other games, but there was always a tomorrow, and after we lost that, there wasn't a tomorrow no more. I think I remember Iverson saying this was a worse feeling than even losing in the championship.
**Graeber: **Duncan was on the pavement between two garbage cans, flat on his back. He looked like he was homeless. People had to step around him to pass. He didn't move for a long time. He ended up sitting against the wall between the waste cans, in the dark, with his hands covering his face. He was crying, I think.
**Iverson: **Just understand that first and foremost it's an honor to be selected to this team. I feel like a special basketball player to be selected to a team like this.
**Fabricio Oberto (center, Team Argentina): **We were inside the stadium, waiting to go out to get the medals. We were singing songs, like soccer fans. The Americans were very quiet. It was like two faces—twelve players on one side, singing, and the other guys very quiet, looking at us.
**Wade: **Honestly, I thought the class they showed wasn't good. If we would've won it and we would've been doing things that they was doing, we would have been publicized for being too cocky.
**Massimo Bulleri (guard, Team Italy): **It was really strange to see American players below us on the podium. When we played against them in Germany, a few days before the Olympics, I stepped onto the floor and said to myself, "I am only dreaming. I am playing against my idols."
**Wade: **I was confused. I didn't know—Should I be happy that we won a medal? Or should I be sad that we didn't?
**Oberto: **After the Games, we took a taxi in Buenos Aires, and we didn't pay. They took everybody free. That's unbelievable, because our country got a lot of economy problems. We were walking in the street, and everybody stopped and clapping the hands. They make us feel like gods.
**Hill: **The guys that were there took time away from their summer, knowing that they're going to go into the regular season exhausted. Those guys just wanted to be there. And no one talks about that. No one talks about that.
****James: ****I had no idea what I was getting into. I just wanted to have the experience. Everything on the court I didn't expect. But I think I'd do it again.
**Anthony: **I don't know what's up. I'm busting my ass in practice, I'm doing all the right things, and Larry still won't play me. No matter. Put me down for '08. I'll be back. I ain't worried. I still have '08 and maybe '12.
Additional reporting by John Canzano, Sean Jensen, Patrick Hruby, Greg Veis, and Kevin Sintumuang


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In this multi-day activity, students use infrared and visible images of animals and sort them into broad categories based upon the learner's own reasoning and observations of the images. Further explorations reveal that warm and cold-blooded animals... (View More) can be identified and characterized using infrared images. The lesson features background information for the teacher, pre-requisite skills and knowledge for the student, a mini-exploration of Infrared Image Technology, multiple image sets, assessment information, student worksheets, extension and transfer activities, and additional resources. This is lesson 1 on the Infrared Zoo website. (View Less)
Keywords: Process skills
Audience: Elementary school, Middle school
Materials Cost: $1 - $5 per group of students
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Forty-year-old Baltimore, Md., resident Keith Wayne Edwards faces charges of harassment and disorderly conduct after he argued with a 37-yearold woman from Hagerstown and allegedly pushed her into a truck in the parking lot of Johnnie's Motel in McConnellsburg. The woman reportedly fell to the ground after being pushed on Saturday, November 28, at 1:34 a.m. Charges against Edwards will be filed through Magisterial District Judge Wendy Mellott.
Debit Card Information Used
Debit card account information was fraudulently used to make purchases between 8 a.m. on October 15 and 8 a.m. on November 9. Victim of the identity theft was a 26-year-old woman from McConnellsburg.
Passenger Taken To Hospital
Thirty-seven-year-old Eunice E. Santos of El Paso, Texas, was transported to War Memorial Hospital in Berkeley Springs, W.Va., with minor injuries following a single-vehicle accident along the eastbound lanes of Interstate 70.
According to state police, Eunice Santos was a passenger in a 2009 Ford Focus driven by Eugene S. Santos, 68, of Canfield, Ohio. Eugene Santos lost control of the car on the wet roadway on December 2, causing it to travel up an embankment at 1:50 p.m.
Eugene Santos was not injured, but a second passenger, Evelyn W. Santos, 69, sustained moderate injuries. Evelyn Santos was the only person not using a seat belt. State police were assisted on the scene by PennDOT and Hancock and Needmore fire departments.
DUI Charges Filed
Charges of driving under the influence have been filed through Magisterial District Judge Wendy Mellott against 30-yearold Travis Earl Finks of Chambersburg. Finks reportedly got his vehicle stuck at 66 Hillside Estates, McConnellsburg, on Friday, December 4, at 2:30 a.m. Upon arriving, state police allege Finks had drunk sufficient alcohol to render him incapable of driving safely.
Christmas Presents Stolen
Two Christmas presents placed outside a residence at the Cardinal Glenn Apartments in Ayr Township were stolen on Wednesday, December 2, at 4 p.m. The victim, a 40-year-old McConnellsburg woman, told state police one package contained an assorted fruit basket and the second held assorted candy. Anyone having additional information related to this case of theft should call Fulton County Crime Solvers at 717-485- 5771 or Trooper Sprague at 717- 485-3131.
Bicycle Found
A girl's pink Huffy bicycle was found at 211 Woodside Drive, McConnellsburg, on Thursday, December 3, at noon. The owner can claim the bicycle by contacting Trooper Barnett at the McConnellsburg state police barracks at 717-485-3131.
Argument Leads To Charges
An argument that turned physical has led to charges of harassment being filed against a 69-year-old McConnellsburg man. The man, who was not identified by state police, was allegedly involved in the incident at 214 Woodside Drive, Mc- Connellsburg, between November 27 and December 4. The victim is a 51-year-old McConnellsburg woman.
Car Strikes Embankment
A Big Cove Tannery woman sustained minor injuries when her westbound 1998 Plymouth Neon hit a guiderail and a stone embankment along Route 30. Nineteen-year-old Jeanette M. Pittman was wearing a seat belt when the crash occurred on Sunday, December 6, at 3:55 p.m. Pittman was cited for driving too fast for conditions in connection with the Licking Creek Township accident.
Maryland Man Cited For Harassment
Charges of harassment have been filed against a Big Pool, Md., man in connection with his contacting a local man via the telephone. Fifty-three-year-old Wayne Woodrow Hastings allegedly telephoned a 38-year-old man on Sunday, December 6, at 11:20 a.m. after being told over the phone and in a letter not to contact the victim. Charges against Hastings were filed through Magisterial District Judge Devin Horne.
Vehicle Strikes Trees
A 2008 Honda Civic struck several trees and a large rock along Interstate 70, leaving its driver with minor injuries, according to state police. Nicholas Stiriling of Ashburn, Va., lost control of his car Saturday on the snow- and ice-covered roadway at 12:30 p.m. The vehicle travelled into the median strip where it collided with the trees and rock. Stiriling, 20, refused medical treatment at the scene. He was wearing a seat belt.
Vehicle Towed From Crash Scene
A 2003 Saab was towed from a single-vehicle accident scene along Interstate 70 Saturday evening after having crashed into a guiderail. Jennifer Anne Smith, 28, of Pittsburgh and passenger Christopher Douglas Kohler, 28, Grantville, Md., escaped harm during the 6:39 p.m. accident. Both occupants were wearing seat belts.
Police Search For Driver
State police, McConnellsburg, are searching for the driver of a vehicle that crashed into a guiderail along Lincoln Way East near the intersection of Back Run Road on Tuesday, December 8. The 2008 Toyota Tundra, which is owned by Philip Wallace of Mercersburg, crashed into the guiderail at 1:45 a.m. and drove along it for approximately 60 feet before coming to a rest. The driver left the scene before the state police arrived.


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How dare this man come to my country as a tourist, & behave in that manner!!!!! Guns before questions is a lot of the damn problem with people, & frankly I'm bloody sick of it!!!
American police officer bemoans lack of guns in Canada
by Sameer Vasta
A police officer from Michigan was tempted to pull out his handgun after a seemingly-friendly encounter in a Calgary park. I, for one, am glad he wasn't allowed to have one with him.
Views: 263
A lot of us Americans are damn sick of it too. We have the Second Amendment to our Constitution, which was written in a very different time and culture, and is being misinterpreted by the gun-nuts, who just happen to have a very strong lobby.
And it's only getting worse. Google Florida's gun laws about pediatricians not being allowed to discuss gun safety and storage with parents, and remember the Trayvon Martin case. Shoot first, ask questions later. Yup, we have a lot of problems down here, and our government is NOT on our side.
Well put, Natalie.
What kind of social skills does a person like this have, when he feels so threatened that he has to resort to a weapon to console himself or insure his personal security in a public situation? Is he so dependent on his supposed ace-in-the-hole that any unexpected encounter amounts to a threat in his eyes?
The situation is pathetic, and Mr. Wawra even more so.
My aunt just moved back to Canada; it is comforting to know one of us will be safe, and I'm not referring to myself. I also am an embarrassed US citizen.
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Rural offices to Let | Office space available in South Cumbria, North Lancashire near Kirkby Lonsdale, North West UK.
From 350 sq ft to 4,200 sq ft of high quality office accommodation
Available as a whole or individual units
Underley Business Centre forms part of the Underley Estate – a 3,700 acre country Estate set on the outskirts of Kirkby Lonsdale.
Very much a progressive modern Estate, Underley has a variety of residential and holiday cottages, and has now developed the Underley Business Centre to further diversify the Estate.
Underley Business Centre Manager
6-8 Main Street, Kirkby Lonsdale
Cumbria, LA6 2AE
t: 07557 110885
e: email


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Hard,electronic and energetic corporate club track with a big boost of energy and electronic vibes. Will work perfectly with energy drink commercials,monster trucks and bike races.
Enjoy the music !
Cheers ! Daniel
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Club Life – Positive and motivational dance/club track with sweet melodies and cheerful vibe. Very pleasant sounding and catchy.


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Chevy K5 Blazer - Specialty Top CompanyPosted in How To: Body Chassis on May 1, 2007
Even here in California, it sometimes gets a little too chilly to roll around without a top on. Having no top whatsoever is great for a portion of the year, but when the wind starts whipping around the year, but when the wind starts whipping around the windshield and starts to freeze things that shouldn't be frozen, it's probably time to get something on the roof. Driving up to Idaho and back for the Ultimate Adventure taught us that.
But in cases like our K5 Blazer, a giant fiberglass top can add some serious weight and can certainly make your rig top-heavy. Besides that, the factory hardtop really takes away from the outdoor off-road experience, so we were really looking for the option of a ragtop that we can fold up and throw in the back of the truck, just in case we wuss up and need something overhead.
Remembering back to our youth and the Blazers of yore, there was a company called Kayline that made tops for Blazers and Broncos, but we hadn't seen them around for quite some time. A couple clicks on the mouse, and we found the new Specialty Top Company, a brand of products created from the old Kayline stuff. The name had changed and so had the product, but that was something we would not fully appreciate until trying to install the top.
Specialty Top Company had also branched out to make tops for just about every open-top 4x4 you can think of. All K5s, all Broncos, Ramchargers, Zuks, all Jeeps (even the Jeepster!), and 4Runners are covered in its lineup. The tops can be ordered with a vinyl or denim finish in a variety of colors, and with snaps or STC's Fasttrac system. We went with the Fasttrac K-locks on a black denim vinyl top, as the denim gives the top more of a matte look.
6PhotosView Slideshow
After installing the top in Northern California, we drove through the night back to Southern California, the top keeping the heat in and the cold off us. Sometimes you need something in between you and sub-40 degree temperature (we know Canadians are laughing at us now). We spent the next three days wheeling, flogging the Blazer through mud, and twisting the truck up. The top's upper ribs creaked a little during some extreme twist, but no part of it ever popped off the framing (except when we hit a rock and the tailgate flew open-we're thankful the vinyl top popped off its rail then, or we could have been buying another top). The STC top kept us covered, and mud- and rain-free inside the cab.


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Nov. 3, 2012
LAKE BUENO VISTA, Fla. – The Florida State men's tennis team continued its magically doubles run at the USTA Clay Court Invitational at Disney on Saturday. Three of the four doubles teams won their quarterfinal match to advance to Sunday's semifinals matches in both the Gold and Garnet Doubles Draw. All matches at being played at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Disney.
"I'm happy about today's play," said head coach Dwayne Hultquist. "Having three doubles in tomorrow's semifinals shows the hard work that our guys have done this fall. I'm also proud with Cristian's play in singles today winning tough matches to advance to the finals."
In the Garnet Doubles Draw, the Seminoles started the day off with two wins as senior Andres Bucaro and Michael Rinaldi topped Florida's Proisy and Johnson 8-2 to take on FAU's Neuner and Fantova at 8:30 on Sunday. Sophomore Cristian Gonzalez Mendez and redshirt freshman João Gauer defeated Duke's Levine and McCall 8-5 to play Espejo Sanchez and Kirby of Tulsa on Sunday.
Sophomore Dominic Cotrone and Benjamin Lock continued the run with a 8-2 win over Florida's Federhofer and Watson to play in Sunday's 8:30 semifinals against Duke's Redlicki and Tahir. If any of the Florida State teams advance to the finals, it will take place at 2 p.m.
Gonzalez Mendez won two singles matches to keep extending the magic at Disney to advance to Sunday's Garnet Main Draw Finals. The native of Spain started his day against Russel Bader of Penn State in the quarterfinals and won 6-2, 1-6, 7-5. In the semifinals, he took on Georgia Tech's Nathan Rakitt and lost only two games as he won 6-1, 6-1. On Sunday he plays against David Orces of The Citadel at 10:30.
In the Spear Main Draw quarterfinals, Gauer fought back after losing his first set to defeat Penn State's Roman Trkulja 3-6, 6-4, 6-0. In the semifinals, Gauer lost to Chase Perez-Blanco of the USTA 6-3, 6-0. He plays a consolation match against Tulsa's Tristan Jackson at 11:30.
Also winning in consolation matches today was senior Jordan Kelly-Houston who won 6-3, 1-6, 1-0 (13-11). Bucaro defeated Eduardo Segura of Georgia Tech 6-1, 1-6, 1-0 (11-9) while Rinaldi topped Jose Fantova of FAU 4-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-7).
"It seemed like in all of our singles wins today, our guys fought back from being down to get those wins," continued Hultquist. "To fight back anywhere from a game to a set shows the conditioning and training we've had to end this fall season on a high note."
Competing in the tournament along with Florida State this weekend is USC, Duke, Cal, Florida, Kentucky, Georgia Tech, UCF, Penn State, Columbia, Tulsa, FAU and The Citadel.
For information and the latest news on Florida State tennis, return to Seminoles.com. You can also follow the team at Twitter.com/FSU_MTennis.
USTA Clay Court Invitational at Disney
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Gold Draw Doubles Quarterfinals
Lock/Cotrone (FSU) def. Federhofer/Watson (UF) 8-2
Quiroz/Hanfmann (USC) def. Reed/Kelly-Houston (FSU) 8-2
Garnet Draw Doubles Quarterfinals
Bucaro/Rinaldi (FSU) def. Proisy/Johnson (UF) 8-2
Gauer/Gonzalez Mendez (FSU) def. Levine/McCall (Duke) 8-5
Garnet Draw Singles Quarterfinals
Gonzalez Mendez (FSU) def. Bader (PSU) 6-2, 1-6, 7-5
Spear Draw Singles Quarterfinals
Gauer (FSU) def. Trakulja (PSU) 3-6, 6-4, 6-0
Gold Draw Singles First Round Losers
Redlicki (USTA) def. Reed (FSU) 4-6, 6-0, 10-3
Gold Draw Singles Second Round Losers
Kelly-Houston (FSU) def. Schneider (USTA) 6-3, 1-6, 13-11
Engsted (Cal) def. Cotrone (FSU) 7-6 (3), 4-6, 10-8
Lock (FSU) def. Jomby (UK) inj.
Garnet Draw Singles Second Round Losers
Bucaro (FSU) def. Segura (GT) 6-1, 1-6, 11-9
Rinaldi (FSU) def. Fantova (FAU) 4-6, 6-4, 10-7
Garnet Draw Singles Semifinals
Gonzalez Mendez (FSU) def. Rakitt (GT) 6-1, 6-1
Spear Draw Singles Semifinals
Perez-Blanco (USTA) def. Gauer (FSU) 6-3, 6-0


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Michael Irvin To Host Cowboys Reality Show
In the age of American Idol and Survivor it shouldn't come as a great shock that the Dallas Cowboys are getting in on the action. According to reports Michael Irvin has pitched an idea for a football based reality show that will have the winner taking the last spot on the 80-man roster heading into training camp.
Irvin:"I don't know if you can walk upon any group of guys that wouldn't say they dreamed of playing in the NFL when they were playing in their front yard. So we're going to take a group of guys from their front yard, dwindle them to one and give that guy the opportunity of a lifetime."
I don't like it.
Everyone loves a "rags to riches" story. We all find ourselves rooting for the underdog. Who doesn't watch the movie Rudy and feel a welling deep inside and a desire to chant "RUDY, RUDY!" Stories like that sell. No doubt about it. And the fact that it will sell is the real reason Jerry Jones gave the go ahead. The show will air on Spike TV this summer.
I see it as yet another side show carnival distraction.
"I don't see how you can make this a negative for the Dallas Cowboys," Irvin said. "We all talk of doing good things for the community, for people, giving people opportunities. Jerry has stepped up and said, 'OK, let's do it.' "
Of course he did. Jones loves money. The blue star we all revere so much has turned into a marketing logo. Like the golden arches of McDonalds or bold red logo of Coca Cola. This is more about the money and the exposure of the brand that is the Dallas Cowboys more than it will ever be about fulfilling some guy's childhood dream of playing professional football.
Need more proof about Jones' desire to generate revenue trumps his real desire to put a focused, disciplined championship caliber team on the field? The pimping out of Texas Stadium. From selling the endzones, swatches of the field's turf and actual used stadium seats to selling "Farewell to Texas Stadium" t-shirts, hats and coffee mugs, Jones has proven it's all about the money. Not to mention the utter and complete distraction that was the Farewell to Texas Stadium Extravaganza scheduled immediately after a very important late season game against a stout Baltimore Ravens team. This event could have easily been scheduled for the next day but that wouldn't have given his Cowboys maximum exposure. All about the money. Show me the money.
The HBO series Hard Knocks was a distraction for this football team. The show was very entertaining but was not in the best interest of this football team. I was as excited as anyone when it was announced that the Cowboys were back on board with Hard Knocks. But now I regret that it ever happened.
Stories like this compel me to believe that we are so far away from where we need to be. It's a bleak reminder of the day and age in which we live.
I'll tune in to the latest Cowboys show just like everyone else. That's what Jones and Irvin are banking on. Pun intended.


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The French National Assembly today passed a controversial bill penalizing anyone who denies the Armenian genocide by Ottoman forces almost a century ago.
The bill, which now has to be voted on by the Senate, provoked a furious Turkish reaction. Ankara is recalling its ambassador to France while freezing official contacts between the two countries.
"We are recalling our ambassador in Paris to Ankara for consultations," said Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, Associated Press reports.
Ankara lobbied hard for the French government to shelve the bill and warned of potential retaliatory measures. Earlier this week, a delegation of Turkish MPs and businessmen visited Paris to request that the government of President Nicolas Sarkozy abandon the bill.
"As of now, we are canceling bilateral level political, economic and military activities," Mr. Erdogan said. "We are suspending all kinds of political consultations with France" and "bilateral military cooperation, joint maneuvers are canceled as of now," he added.
Erdogan said that he will annul any permissions given to French military vessels to dock at Turkish ports and would consider on a case-by-case basis requests for military overflights and landings. The Turkish prime minister said that "This decision is cause for concern not only for France where there are efforts to make gains through enmity toward Turks and Turkey, and in general terms, through Islamophobia, but also for Europe and principles defended by Europe."
The French bill requires a prison term of up to one year and a fine of $58,000 (45,000 euros) to anyone who publicly denies the mass killings of the Armenians during World War I. In 2001, France officially recognized the 'Armenian genocide' but a subsequent parliamentary effort to criminalize it was dropped by the Senate.
"It is important, in the current context, that we keep the paths of dialogue and cooperation open," French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said in a statement.
French lawmakers were vexed over what they saw as Turkish interference into the country's internal affairs.
"Laws voted in this chamber cannot be dictated by Ankara," said Jean-Christophe Lagarde, a deputy from the New Center party, the Turkish daily Today's Zaman reports.
The author of the bill, Valerie Boyer, a deputy from Sarkozy's Union For Popular Movement Party (UMP), said her bill "is inspired by European law, which says that the people who deny the existence of the genocides must be sanctioned" and criticized Turkey's threats, according to Today's Zaman.
Although there is little consensus, Armenians say that about 1.5 million people were killed during the mass deportations of 1915-16. The Turkish government acknowledges the death of many Armenians, yet, it denies that Ottoman forces deliberately exterminated them. Turkey considers the numbers as inflated and says that Turks were also killed due to the upheaval that followed the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire.
"I condemn the French parliament, which passed this bill meaning betrayal of history and historical truth," wrote the Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc on his Twitter account, Turkey's Hurriyet reports.
"The French parliament... dimmed out history and truth by approving the bill," Arinc added.
The Armenian foreign minister, Edward Nalbandian, applauded the initiative, saying France "reconfirmed its high place of being the cradle of human rights and once again proved its commitment to universal human values," CNN reports.
"The French people showed that human rights are highest value, and today by adopting this bill, reconfirmed that crimes against humanity do not have a period of prescription and their denial must be absolutely condemned," Nalbandian said.
Zaman columnist Bulent Kenes said the bill constitutes a violation of universal freedom of thought and expression and urged France to first delve into her own history. Kenes, referring to Sarkozy said, "Given his now-well-established interest in creating dogmas via political and legal means over controversial incidents of the past, he should have turned a critical eye to France's unquestionable colonial past instead of peering into Turkey's dubious history."


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For the new 2012 Hurricane Preparedness guide from FEMA and NJ State OEM please go to the below website:
http://www.ready.nj.gov/plan/pdf/081412 hurricane surviveguide.pdf
The Borough of Haledon Office of Emergency Management (OEM) works to mitigate, and plan and prepare for emergencies; educate the public about preparedness, coordinate emergency response and recovery efforts, collect and disseminate critical information ,and seek funding opportunities in support of the overall preparedness of the Borough of Haledon.
To accomplish this mission, OEM maintains a disciplined staff os emergency management personnel, including responders, planners, administrative and support staff, to identify and respond to various hazards.
The staff of this agency is dedicated to ensuring the Borough of Haledon is as prepared as possible for all types of emergencies. We believe City, County, State, Federal, and private entities can achieve better results together then they can alone. Our goal is to make certain that all these organizations, as well as our residents, our most important partners, have the information, resources and plans necessary to respond to and recover from any disaster.
Borough of Haledon
Office of Emergency Management
510 Belmont Ave
Haledon NJ 07508
Office: 973-595-7766
Fax: 973-790-4781
The Office of Emergency Management has set up a Emergency Alert System through NIXLE. This Emergency Alert System will advise residents by text message and /or email of any emergency situations in the Borough of Haledon. Emergency situations such as: serious weather alerts, traffic alerts, missing persons, water emergencies, evacuations, or any other pertinent information. Residents may register by texting 07508 to 888777 or going on to the following website: www.nixle.com. Any questions contact the Office of Emergency Management at 973-595-7766
Mounir Almaita - OEM Coordinator
Lt. George Guzman- Deputy OEM Coordinator


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Former Ann Arbor police chief resigns as Flint public safety chief amid questions about second job
Despite glowing reviews from his superiors, former Ann Arbor police Chief Barnett Jones resigned from his position as Flint's administrator of public safety Thursday, according to a report in the Detroit Free Press.
Jones was working in that position in Flint while also serving as the head of security for the Detroit Water and Sewage Department, according to the report. Jones' superiors in Flint were not aware of the second position until the Free Press asked them about his role earlier this week.
The report stated Jones has been working both jobs since May.
Flint emergency financial manager Ed Kurtz told the Flint Journal Jones resigned Thursday following a short meeting and submitted a one-line letter of resignation.
"He was working both jobs and had failed to tell us he was working for somebody else. We didn't know he was working for somebody else," Kurtz said. "We met with him this morning and he voluntarily resigned. He was very apologetic."
Jones announced in February 2012 he was retiring from his position as Ann Arbor's police chief. In April, he accepted a position as Flint's public safety administrator.
The Free Press reported Jones was making a combined $273,750 in both positions.
He was hired at the Detroit Water and Sewage Department by former city of Ann Arbor administrator Susan McCormick.
To read the full Free Press story, click here.
Kyle Feldscher covers cops and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at email@example.com or you can follow him on Twitter.
Tue, Jan 15, 2013 : 12:23 a.m.
I see no problem with this. The man is just good at his job.
Sun, Jan 13, 2013 : 3:48 a.m.
This TAKES THE CAKE!!! Has the man no shame?
Fri, Jan 11, 2013 : 2:54 p.m.
Like I mentioned back in April when he left A2, he's laughing all the way to the bank.
Fri, Jan 11, 2013 : 9:11 p.m.
@ Sonny, Are you consistent in saying military personal should not be paid after they are no longer WORKING in the military. I wan to see the right wing republicans run on that platform. Go for it.
Fri, Jan 11, 2013 : 6:25 p.m.
You should only get a pension check from a single government entity. You should also only get that pension check when you have actually retired, not simply changed jobs. I get really tired of being told that I have to pay more taxes for "essential services", and then learning of this kind of nonsense. A system that allows this kind of abuse, deserves no additional funding.
Fri, Jan 11, 2013 : 4:45 p.m.
So a person who makes money is now bad? He has a pension, just the same as a person who serves int he military has a pension and might take another job after he retires. Are you suggesting that TAXPAYERS should not pay that military pension to those who take new jobs after retiring?
Basic Bob
Fri, Jan 11, 2013 : 2:09 p.m.
Jones is chief security and integrity officer at DWSD. Clearly integrity is a problem in that organization, right from the top.
Alan Goldsmith
Fri, Jan 11, 2013 : 1:44 p.m.
"Steve Postema gets a cae allowance but bills the city for gas to th tune of $1100.OO for gas. as found in the city's audit" Saw this story in the Ann Arbor Chronicle. Will AnnArbor.com be covering the City Attorney's double billing mileage costs when he gets an automobile allowance? If not, why? http://annarborchronicle.com/2013/01/08/ann-arbor-audit-is-clean-but-issues-identified/#comment-185200
Alan Goldsmith
Fri, Jan 11, 2013 : 2:43 p.m.
Somehow the Ann Arbor Chronicle is reporting the information and got the FOIA release for the documents from the City. If the City or the A2 Public School system is stalling and delaying the open and transparent release of pubic information, they are going to subject themselves to an eventual lawsuit. I guess it doesn't helps to have the Ann Arbor City Attorney overseeing the release of information when it involved something he's done improperly.
Nicholas Urfe
Fri, Jan 11, 2013 : 2:36 p.m.
Investigation reporting is expensive. Also, the a2 government and school system does not release information without excessive FOIA charges. I read that in the a2politico.
Alan Goldsmith
Fri, Jan 11, 2013 : 1:34 p.m.
It makes me physically ILL to hear stories like this. Con artists have ripped off and plundered the Motor City for decades and here we have TWO ex-Ann Arborites joining the looting. Susan McCormick sounds incompetent and Barett Jones should go to jail for this. ENOUGH!
Alan Goldsmith
Fri, Jan 11, 2013 : 1:21 p.m.
From the Freep: "McCormick and Jones worked together in Ann Arbor, where she was administrator of public services and he was director of public safety. McCormick said Jones told her about his work in Flint after joining the water department, but she understood it to be on an "as-needed basis, not full-time." "If he's doing that, you've got a gentleman who's burning the candle at both ends," McCormick told the Free Press. McCormick said Jones' work for the water department has been exemplary." Uh huh....
Alan Goldsmith
Fri, Jan 11, 2013 : 1:17 p.m.
"He was hired at the Detroit Water and Sewage Department by former city of Ann Arbor administrator Susan McCormick." Good to see Ms. McCormick and Mr. Jones fitting in nicely with the political culture of the Motor City. And thanks to the Free Press for their investigative reporting yesterday too. She should be fired immediately and Mr. Jones should go to prison.
Fri, Jan 11, 2013 : 1:14 p.m.
I love how people are quick to condemn somebody for having two jobs (HORROR OF HORRORS). The question should only be DID HE DI HIS JOBS? The first sentence in the article seems to say he did them well "Despite glowing reviews from his superiors". . It is not like he worked in two completely different fields., or worked for a competitor. I always find it funny how people will complain about this, but then if you looked at the board of directors of most companies, they are CEO's of other companies. In fact, the athletic director at the UM has another job as well. It is the CHAIRMAN of Dominos pizza. Another member of Dominos BOD is the CEO of PF Changs. Brandon made $387k as chairman of Dominos and over $700k as AD of the UM. he also sits on the BOD for Burger King, Kaydon, DTE and other companies as well. If the BOD is supposed to provide oversight to these corporations, how much time does he spend doing any of these jobs?
Fri, Jan 11, 2013 : 4:42 p.m.
@Basic Bob, I am a commissioned/salaried person in my job. If I CHOOSE to take another job it is really none of my other employers business what I do with my time off work. What if he were running a side business out of his home? The ONLY question that either employer has is, IS HE DOING HIS JOB. Dave Brandon is salaried from the UM and makes money from Dominos. If negotiating a contract to be the pizza supplier to the school with Dominos is not a direct conflict of interest. As chairman and AD he has access to information that conflicts with his fiduciary responsibility to both. What Jones did has no bearing on his financial obligations to both employers. A salaried position is not paid based on time, It is based on the job. I guarantee there are times Mr Jones is working well before 9 am and well after 5 pm on both jobs. There are week sin my position I work 70-80 hours per week, and then there are weeks where I might work 30. My employer does not care because I am paid to do a job, not put in hours.
Basic Bob
Fri, Jan 11, 2013 : 1:58 p.m.
When you take a salaried administration job, the expectation is that you work well over 40 hours a week at it. Board of director and chairman of the board positions are not full time jobs, and the compensation reflects that. If he was doing some side work that would be acceptable to me, but he was clearly taking two full time checks for part time work. The big problem is that Flint did not know. Brandon's boss knows he is the chairman of the pizza company.
Fri, Jan 11, 2013 : 1:26 p.m.
The other question is, was there a stipulation in his contract with Flint that says "no moonlighting". I think that's the crux of the matter.
Fri, Jan 11, 2013 : 6:52 a.m.
Just like his buddy Sheriff Clayton. Someone ought to see how much money Claytons making on the side with his consulting business.
Basic Bob
Fri, Jan 11, 2013 : 5:36 a.m.
Barnett's supervisor at the DWSD should be in trouble. This was unprofessional, unethical, and probably illegal. That's what you get for hiring double dippers to run your public service.
Fri, Jan 11, 2013 : 3:28 a.m.
This just shows the corruption in our major cities. Flint and Detroit are becoming one in the same....disgraceful pits.
Basic Bob
Fri, Jan 11, 2013 : 5:37 a.m.
Imported from Ann Arbor.
Fri, Jan 11, 2013 : 2:16 a.m.
Ms. McCormick was notorious among employees, while head of the public services division at the city of Ann Arbor, for hiring cronies with whom she had previously worked elsewhere, namely city of Lansing. The employees knew it, and the administration and Council knew it, and did nothing. Ms. McCormick is an intelligent and talented administrator; many of the people she favored with jobs were not: one was absent more than present, another filled a job the city had elminated years before the hire and found unnecessary. These people often already had pensions, came to the city to collect more pension and, importantly, medical benefits. Some are still employed by the city. So I am not at all surprised to hear that Ms. McCormick was involved in this.
Dog Guy
Fri, Jan 11, 2013 : 1:44 a.m.
As a tax parasite for the past half century, I applaud Chief Jones' virtuoso performance at getting paid. I have always told my kids that sucking on government teat beats working for a living, but they have never listened. I'll forward this story to them. Taxes isn't real money, but it spends the same.
Fri, Jan 11, 2013 : 1:37 a.m.
Hmmmm..something is rotten in Denmark..er Flint.I mean.....Detroit..er. Ann Arbor..I'm so confused!
Fri, Jan 11, 2013 : 1:36 a.m.
well O.K, now,the former chief has two jobs working both jobs in the same time frame ,and his good ole buddy cuty attorney Steve Postema gets a cae allowance but bills the city for gas to th tune of $1100.OO for gas. as found in the city's audit.Both of these gentlemen have proved to be unethical.As a matter of fact both of them need to be punished by spending jail time just like the common criminals they are.
Michigan Man
Fri, Jan 11, 2013 : 12:33 a.m.
Dude seems to like public service and apparently the pay is pretty good!
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 11:58 p.m.
http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2012/04/hiring_of_new_flint_public_saf.html "Hiring of new Flint public safety administrator part of bigger plan, emergency manager says" Well it certainly WAS!!!
Rick Stevens
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 11:57 p.m.
So why isn't the Detroit Water & Sewage Dept. looking at Ms. McCormick's hiring and vetting processes? She had to know he already had a full time job? If not, then she's incompetent.
Fri, Jan 11, 2013 : 1:56 a.m.
She surely did know.
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 11:45 p.m.
I hope Flint goes after him for everything they paid him.
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 11:36 p.m.
From the State of Mich website: Snyder applauds local-state partnership to enhance protection for Flint residents "This is problem-solving at its best," Snyder said. "We're working at the community, county and state levels to address a need so that Flint families enjoy greater safety. This is an excellent example of moving our state forward in a cooperative, positive manner. I appreciate the efforts of all who are involved and I commend our Legislature for its support by allocating critical funds." While he commended everyone involved in the partnership, Snyder singled out Flint Emergency Manager Mike Brown, Police Chief Alvern Lock, Public Safety Administrator Barnett Jones..... for their leadership." This is what can happen when political appointees get jobs based on who they know.
Seasoned Cit
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 10:45 p.m.
I'll bet he was just planning on holding each position for a while and then reiire again and he'd them have 4 retirenent payments coming in... Our "Civil Servants" have been learning how to work the system for quite some time now.
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 10:33 p.m.
Let's hope he gets fired from his second job as well; he was clearly only working part-time. Interesting that the Detroit Water Department has plans to out-source about 80% of itsjobs - ex-Ann Arborite, Sue McCormack's recommendation. And, a company is hired to oversee the out-source operation. What will McCormack do? While, it is quite possible the Water Department was over-staffed and lots of redundancies, this is a glaring example. New & expensive hire works part-time and pulls in a full-time salary.
Soft Paw
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 10:25 p.m.
I admire his work ethic, but with so many still unemployed he should be able to survive on one job for a while. Anyone making 273K will be overtaxed anyway.
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 10:19 p.m.
So, neither of those jobs required a full-time commitment? Wow! Huge salary for a couple of part-time jobs. Was either one of the employers aware of the two positions? If not, what a scam.
The Watchman
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 11:39 p.m.
Sue McCormick was.
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 10:18 p.m.
Just another corrupt Kwame-ling.
Fri, Jan 11, 2013 : 1:08 p.m.
That's was going on LOOOOONG before Kwame was on the scene. Kwame was just one of the more recent and incompetent practitioners.
Fri, Jan 11, 2013 : 2:09 a.m.
Corrupt official in SE MI taking chunks of money from poverty-stricken communities, seems pretty Kwame-like to me. If he was a lying dork taking the highest bid from his rich friends for government action against the people I would have said he's a Snyder-ling.
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 11:41 p.m.
Thay are practicing Kwame style politics. The feds might want to look at their text messages.
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 11:17 p.m.
This has zero to do with Kwame. Please explain your linking them...
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 11:06 p.m.
He was the Chief of Police in Ann Arbor and the Ms McCormick was with the Ann Arbor water dept....LONG term and has been in the Detroit water dept short term. . So how is that a Kwame thing? Perhaps we need the media to look at what is going on in Ann Arbor that made these two think they could do this...and get away with it.
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 10:16 p.m.
A tailor made poster for Tea Party recruitment.
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 11:55 p.m.
Appointed after meeting with Snyder..... by Snyders Emergency Financial Manger.... See Mlive article. Pure Republican.
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 11:40 p.m.
I am no member but does not the tea party stand for responsible government spending and accountablity? This mess smells of democrat party politics all the way.
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 10:14 p.m.
Another public "servant" who views us taxpayers as their meal ticket.
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 10:12 p.m.
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 9:51 p.m.
As Lord Acton said, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.". Need I say more?
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 9:48 p.m.
Is it just me or isn't it just a bit hypocritical to be comdemning Detroit and it's part in this fiasco? Both Mr Jones and Ms McCormick are former employees of the City Of Ann Arbor Michigan and we can assume it's that relationship that led to the hiring at the Detroit Water Dept. What they have in common is a background with the City of Ann Arbor....at the same time. Maybe we shouldn't point the finger too far. Shameful, but let's not just put it off as a "Detroit thing".
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 9:33 p.m.
What is it with police chiefs around here?
Nicholas Urfe
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 9:31 p.m.
It certainly looks like this was a way for McCormick to payback Jones for favors. Why else would she dual hire him, knowing of his publicly reported 3 year contract with Flint?
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 9:10 p.m.
If this kind of nepotism was going on during the end of his tenure as police chief, I would guess that Barnett Jones has done some other questionable things. Sounds like a good journalistic research project to me
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 8:49 p.m.
Can a2.com verify that he was also receiving a retirement check from Ann Arbor, too? Where are the usual posters regaling us with stories of "tireless and selfless public servants?"
Fri, Jan 11, 2013 : 2:46 p.m.
A fish rots from the head down.
The Watchman
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 11:34 p.m.
He still gets the same multiplier as any other police officer regardless of union status. Jones is collecting a pension from the following: Oakland County Sterling Heights Ann Arbor
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 11:12 p.m.
This guy was management, not rank and file. BIG difference.
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 8:47 p.m.
what is that water?
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 8:31 p.m.
There has got to be a conflict of interest with his Flint employment contract. That takes some gall. A full time position like police chief and he has enough time for another job 80 miles away.
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 8:25 p.m.
You just can't get enough of that taxpayers money on those government funded jobs. Not bad coin on top of his pension. But, this is the system we have created to enrich our public servants. There are many examples of this kid of stuff but it it never looked at and hardly ever exposed to the public. Want to make a name for yourself as a reporter? Take looking into this kind of stuff as your cause and expose it....................or just remain quite and pay for it with your taxes
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 8:05 p.m.
It's tough making ends meet on only $135000 per year. Needed that extra income to push it to $273750.
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 7:59 p.m.
This is another great example of when annarbor.com should really write their own stories as opposed to simply linking to the work somebody else did. I mean, come on, how do you fail to mention the Sue McCormick connection? He helped her screw over cops and firefighters for years and she returns the favor with a high-paying no show job in Detroit. Nice.
Kai Petainen
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 11:24 p.m.
LOL I can't help but laugh at "Hello Youwhine" hahahhah
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 9:05 p.m.
Only if you read the article, Cindy.
Cindy Heflin
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 8:28 p.m.
Hello Youwhine: The post above does mention that McCormick hired Jones, as does the Detroit Free Press article.
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 7:55 p.m.
Detroit politics at its finest. I expected Kwame Kilpatrick's name to pop up in the article.
Sun, Jan 13, 2013 : 10:58 p.m.
But they are acting like Detroit politicians.
Nicholas Urfe
Fri, Jan 11, 2013 : 2:32 p.m.
Those are ann arbor politicians.
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 7:46 p.m.
Good ol' Sue McCormick.. http://www.a2politico.com/2012/10/former-ann-arbor-public-services-administrator-starts-detroit-fire-then-throws-gasoline-on-it/
Ed Kimball
Fri, Jan 11, 2013 : 5:41 p.m.
That's not reporting. That's editorializing (thinly) disguised as reporting.
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 11:21 p.m.
Thank Pat Lesko... At least someone is doing investigative journalism in Ann Arbor.
Nicholas Urfe
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 9:28 p.m.
That link is a must-read. Thanks.
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 7:45 p.m.
Wait a minute... he was less than honest? How shocking. Once a liar, always a liar.
Nicholas Urfe
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 7:26 p.m.
He's just another person robbing the poor people of Detroit and Flint. You fight that crime Mr Jones! You fight it good. Though I'm not sure how he can look at himself in the mirror.
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 9:44 p.m.
The money to pay his salary at Detroit Water and Sewage could possibly come from the hikes in water prices the people who have their water service from YCUA just got. The money to pay his salary had to come from somewhere and he was robbing far more people than just the residents of Flint and Detroit.
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 9:12 p.m.
Way to miss the point, Mike. This guy isn't the robber, he's the guy the robber handed some of the the money to on the way out of the bank. If the money wasn't handed to this guy, it would have been handed to a different guy. No one is disputing that the taxpayers are the bank. The point was we should stop the robbers, not the guys they are handing off to.
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 8:27 p.m.
He's robbing the taxpayers.......that's all of us last time I checked. The poor don't pay any income taxes so I'm not sure how they are being robbed. The money to fund Detroit comes from the taxpayers.............
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 7:45 p.m.
I don't know the man, and if what the Freep is reporting is true I have no respect for him, but do you blame the person who accepted the salary or the morons who offered it in the first place? They are the ones with the responsibility to do right by the people of their communities. Especially in the case of Flint, where the Emergency Manager inexplicably added more layers of administration, at more than $100K a pop, on top of an incompetent police chief and all while slashing numbers of officers on the street. Why does a bankrupt community need what amounts to two police chiefs? Why didn't they get rid of the one who couldn't do the job, instead of leaving him in place and bringing in another functionary to do what the 1st was supposed to be doing? If it wasn't this guy collecting these salaries, it would be one or two other people...isn't the point more why this kind of money is being thrown around in bankrupt, completely disfunctional and crime-ridden cities more than it is who is collecting it?
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 7:23 p.m.
I bet he collecting a pension in addition to the $274k from both jobs. Unbelievable!
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 7:21 p.m.
I guess the days of Kwamelot live on in Detroit.
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 11:12 p.m.
And yet.....these two were both administrators for the City of ANN ARBOR......have we forgotten where they were trained on how to be administrators and work the system? Neither of them have been gone from here for very long. Neither worked with Kwame but they sure did BOTH work together in Ann Arbor!
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 10:53 p.m.
days of Kwamelot....LOL!
Nicholas Urfe
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 9:20 p.m.
That is Sir Kwamelot to you!
Nicholas Urfe
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 7:19 p.m.
There is never just one roach. I refuse to believe this is the first time he has compromised himself, and his position. I consider this criminal fraud, and I would be shocked if this is the "only roach".
Nicholas Urfe
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 7:14 p.m.
The sewage department is where he truly belongs. I guess integrity is for the little people. Did Detroit know he had a second job?
Craig Lounsbury
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 7:08 p.m.
From the link to your February story... "Jones announced his plan to retire after nearly 40 years in law enforcement through an email sent to employees, sources said." I guess what he really meant was.... "Jones didn't announced his plan to take another job in law enforcement and add a security job on top of it after nearly 40 years in law enforcement"
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 7:05 p.m.
It just shows how little responsibilty people in upper management actually have. Many of them draw huge salaries, attend a few meetings a week and make a few decisions. Try working two 9-5 hourly jobs concurrently in two towns that are 50 miles apart and get away with it for 8-9 months. He cant have been doing both jobs... prosecute him for fraud or embezzlement.
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 9:42 p.m.
I doubt it will happen as one side would have to admit that they had little or no control over their top administrator, nor knowledge of whether or not he was actually ever working. And having seen the recent track record of these two areas civic leaders, this really isn't all that shocking anymore. Which is really depressing.
Nicholas Urfe
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 7:18 p.m.
Agree. Fraud.
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 6:48 p.m.
Milk that system!
Thu, Jan 10, 2013 : 6:43 p.m.
You have got to be kidding. Unbelievable. Or is it?


text:
First thoughts when seeing this pillow? Something reminds us of a girl in the 70s era, blowing bubbles as she roller-skates through the neighborhood. Cadillacs on the street, kids playing with hoses, and our protagonist with the wind in her afro and not a care in the world... You with us? Whether or not you're flashing back to your psychedelic days, there's no denying the cheery quality of this vintage-inspired pillow. Add it to a room for a bit of light-heartedness.
Good in- or outdoors. Hoseable and bleachable. Can be hand-washed in the sink. Air dry. Do not machine wash or tumble dry.
Would you like us to help you find a similar item? Talk with our Design Consultants toll-free at1-800-927-5164.
*Shipping transit time varies based on destination. Free shipping offers are limited to the 48 contiguous states of the USA.
International Customers (including Alaska and Hawaii) please contact a Customer Service Representative if you have any questions about placing an order with PoshTots.
Promotion codes cannot be used for sale item purchases.
*Free shipping offers are limited to the 48 contiguous states of the USA.


text:
ereal needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 89 designs submitted by 28 freelance designers.
Sun and Moon Brew
Sun and Moon Brew is a micro brewery in Miami, Florida that will be creating there recipes for Pale Ale, golden pilsner, traditional bock, red lager, honey wheat, etc.
We would like this brand to target both male and female that enjoy a great beer.
Sun and Moon Brews.
I have placed some color on the attached file, but feel free to change if you feel that it will work better differently.
Would like the sides to go from darkest on the bottom of the moon to lightest on the top of the sun. The sun and moon font in the middle I'd like to look "hippieish". Kind of 60's style.
Use inspiration from Jimmy Hendricks, Led Zepplin, Doors...
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


text:
Pray About It
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. —Philippians 4:4-7
"Just pray about it." How many times have you heard that one? It just makes me crazy sometimes. I will be talking with another Christian brother or sister about something that is really causing concern in my life and they look at me and say, "Just pray about it." And I'm thinking, "Oh, right!" Well, guess what, they're right, sort of.
That's not exactly what Paul is talking about in this passage. He's saying, Let me teach you the right way to pray. You see, prayer is conversing with God about the real stuff. It is sitting on the bench along the path of peace and giving God all those things you are anxious about. It's giving over to Him your fears and wrong thinking. It's letting Him handle those things that He alone can do. And Paul also mentions supplication. That is sitting on the bench with God and believing that when you ask Him to do something about the things you can change, He will act to help you.
So we need prayer and supplication. Together, it's a sincere request and humble appeal to Someone who has the power to grant the request. It's not asking for a general "blessing" on everyone and everything. It's earnest conversation about the real stuff that is going on in our lives and threatening to steal our peace.
God's Word right here says not to be anxious about anything. So that begs the question: What kind of worry can we hold onto? None, my friend. Absolutely none. And what is worry that I hold onto called? Well, it's called sin.
It's called sin because of what we are really telling God in it. We are basically saying, God, I can't trust You. You won't come through for me. I believe the minute that we open our mouth and start to verbalize those words, the Holy Spirit will bring conviction into our life and condemn that kind of thinking. Then I can say to myself how foolish were those thoughts.
God promises to us the strength, wisdom, perseverance, power, and desire to do something about the things we should do something about. And it's also letting go if the things that He alone must handle.
So, is something troubling you? Remember, "In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." —Buddy Riddle
· How do my anxiety levels reflect my trust in the Lord?
· When something is troubling me, how do I usually handle it? What should I be doing instead?
Prayer – Father, You are good. I choose to believe this today. I know that nothing is impossible with You. Forgive my unbelief and help me to truly trust You I everything. In Jesus' name, Amen.


text:
For many companies, phone conversations with clients are critical to their success. Naturally, they need a way to ensure that each call leaves the customer satisfied.
When managers are able to listen in on calls made by employees, as well as influence those calls through coaching or chatting with the customer themselves, they increase the effectiveness of the agent.
This buyer's guide is intended to explain the functionality of call monitoring software, its benefits and how to differentiate it from other systems. We'll cover:
(Click on a link below to jump to that section.)
What Is Call Center Monitoring Software?
Common Functionality of Call Monitoring Software
Differentiating Call Monitoring, Quality Monitoring and Call Quality Monitoring
Benefits of Call Monitoring Software
What Type of Buyer Are You?
Call center monitoring software includes functionality used by call center supervisors to ensure employees are performing as expected and customers are having a useful and pleasant experience.
Call monitoring functionality is typically included within call center software platforms.
Call monitoring functionality offers a few different ways call center supervisors can check on and influence agents. These include:
|Call monitoring simply allows supervisors to listen in on calls without the agent or caller knowing.
|Whispering allows supervisors to speak to agents without the caller knowing. This is useful when supervisors are training new agents or need to coach agents during an important call.
|Barging allows supervisors to join the calls they monitor and speak to all parties on the line.
The features above are so core to call monitoring solutions, in fact, that many users refer to the products as "monitor-whisper-barge software."
If you manage a call center and are looking for a solution to monitor, whisper and barge on calls, you may find some confusing results when searching online.
The problem is that the term "call monitoring" can sometimes refer to other types of systems and applications. Here are the types of systems that may show up during your search and how they are different:
*These are typically full systems or modules, instead of features within a larger system.
Unfortunately, marketing tactics have caused these terms to be used interchangeably. Be sure to check the features offered with each solution to determine which product you truly need.
The ability to view calls on a dashboard and interact with them in real time is beneficial in a few key ways:
A live call list in Talkdesk, with the ability to monitor calls
Call monitoring software applications are useful for many types of call center or customer service organizations, such as:
Our service is simple and 100% free to customers like you because software vendors pay us when we connect them with quality leads. You save time and get great advice. Vendors get great referrals. It's a win for everyone!


text:
Find us on Facebook!
Support the station by making
all your Amazon purchases through our link.
Check out the article on us in the New York Times!
Read about our 5 year anniversary in the Flathead Beacon (click here).
Click here for the YouTube video of The Samples jamming in
our studio
It's all about
the Music.
Jazz, Blues, Folk, Bluegrass and more...
Hi, and welcome to the Montana Radio Café!
The September 8, 2009 edition of the New York Times carried a story on the Montana Radio Cafe, focusing on the station, Scott, and low power FM radio stations. Read it here and watch the slideshow they put together of images and audio. It's a fantastic article and a huge honor.
If you came here via the Times story, welcome and thanks for stopping by!
Our station was born out of the desire for a radio station that plays great music that no one else plays. After around 18 years of playing music that everyone had heard a billion times, and for purely commercial reasons, Scott Johnston seized the opportunity to start a music driven low power station broadcasting from the studio he built on his front porch. He now has a library that comprises over 21,000 songs.
From family and friends to strangers in foreign places, the Montana Radio Cafe has become an infectious hit. Check out the blog posts here from the Flathead Beacon, by Myers Reece.
We are a listener supported radio station, and appreciate the tax-deductible contributions made by friends new and old, near and far. Click here to learn more about how you can help keep us on the air.
If you're
hungry for something different,
try out the menu at the Montana Radio Cafe!
Studio Line
(406) 755-7575
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text:
Autoencoders and Sparsity
From Ufldl
m (minor rephrase)
|Line 1:
|Line 1:
So far, we have described the application of neural networks to supervised learning, in which we have labeled
So far, we have described the application of neural networks to supervised learning, in which we have labeled
training examples. Now suppose we have only unlabeled training examples
training examples. Now suppose we have only unlabeled training examples <math>\textstyle \{x^{(1)}, x^{(2)}, x^{(3)}, \ldots\}</math>,
where <math>\textstyle x^{(i)} \in \Re^{n}</math>. An
where <math>\textstyle x^{(i)} \in \Re^{n}</math>. An
'''autoencoder''' neural network is an unsupervised learning algorithm that applies backpropagation,
'''autoencoder''' neural network is an unsupervised learning algorithm that applies backpropagation,
Revision as of 22:53, 21 September 2011
So far, we have described the application of neural networks to supervised learning, in which we have labeled training examples. Now suppose we have only a set of unlabeled training examples , where . An autoencoder neural network is an unsupervised learning algorithm that applies backpropagation, setting the target values to be equal to the inputs. I.e., it uses .
Here is an autoencoder:
The autoencoder tries to learn a function . In other words, it is trying to learn an approximation to the identity function, so as to output that is similar to . The identity function seems a particularly trivial function to be trying to learn; but by placing constraints on the network, such as by limiting the number of hidden units, we can discover interesting structure about the data. As a concrete example, suppose the inputs are the pixel intensity values from a image (100 pixels) so , and there are hidden units in layer . Note that we also have . Since there are only 50 hidden units, the network is forced to learn a compressed representation of the input. I.e., given only the vector of hidden unit activations , it must try to reconstruct the 100-pixel input . If the input were completely random---say, each comes from an IID Gaussian independent of the other features---then this compression task would be very difficult. But if there is structure in the data, for example, if some of the input features are correlated, then this algorithm will be able to discover some of those correlations. In fact, this simple autoencoder often ends up learning a low-dimensional representation very similar to PCAs.
Our argument above relied on the number of hidden units being small. But even when the number of hidden units is large (perhaps even greater than the number of input pixels), we can still discover interesting structure, by imposing other constraints on the network. In particular, if we impose a sparsity constraint on the hidden units, then the autoencoder will still discover interesting structure in the data, even if the number of hidden units is large.
Informally, we will think of a neuron as being "active" (or as "firing") if its output value is close to 1, or as being "inactive" if its output value is close to 0. We would like to constrain the neurons to be inactive most of the time. This discussion assumes a sigmoid activation function. If you are using a tanh activation function, then we think of a neuron as being inactive when it outputs values close to -1.
Recall that denotes the activation of hidden unit in the autoencoder. However, this notation doesn't make explicit what was the input that led to that activation. Thus, we will write to denote the activation of this hidden unit when the network is given a specific input . Further, let
be the average activation of hidden unit (averaged over the training set). We would like to (approximately) enforce the constraint
where is a sparsity parameter, typically a small value close to zero (say ). In other words, we would like the average activation of each hidden neuron to be close to 0.05 (say). To satisfy this constraint, the hidden unit's activations must mostly be near 0.
To achieve this, we will add an extra penalty term to our optimization objective that penalizes deviating significantly from . Many choices of the penalty term will give reasonable results. We will choose the following:
Here, is the number of neurons in the hidden layer, and the index is summing over the hidden units in our network. If you are familiar with the concept of KL divergence, this penalty term is based on it, and can also be written
where is the Kullback-Leibler (KL) divergence between a Bernoulli random variable with mean and a Bernoulli random variable with mean . KL-divergence is a standard function for measuring how different two different distributions are. (If you've not seen KL-divergence before, don't worry about it; everything you need to know about it is contained in these notes.)
This penalty function has the property that if , and otherwise it increases monotonically as diverges from . For example, in the figure below, we have set , and plotted for a range of values of :
We see that the KL-divergence reaches its minimum of 0 at , and blows up (it actually approaches ) as approaches 0 or 1. Thus, minimizing this penalty term has the effect of causing to be close to .
Our overall cost function is now
where is as defined previously, and controls the weight of the sparsity penalty term. The term (implicitly) depends on also, because it is the average activation of hidden unit , and the activation of a hidden unit depends on the parameters .
To incorporate the KL-divergence term into your derivative calculation, there is a simple-to-implement trick involving only a small change to your code. Specifically, where previously for the second layer (), during backpropagation you would have computed
now instead compute
One subtlety is that you'll need to know to compute this term. Thus, you'll need to compute a forward pass on all the training examples first to compute the average activations on the training set, before computing backpropagation on any example. If your training set is small enough to fit comfortably in computer memory (this will be the case for the programming assignment), you can compute forward passes on all your examples and keep the resulting activations in memory and compute the s. Then you can use your precomputed activations to perform backpropagation on all your examples. If your data is too large to fit in memory, you may have to scan through your examples computing a forward pass on each to accumulate (sum up) the activations and compute (discarding the result of each forward pass after you have taken its activations into account for computing ). Then after having computed , you'd have to redo the forward pass for each example so that you can do backpropagation on that example. In this latter case, you would end up computing a forward pass twice on each example in your training set, making it computationally less efficient.
The full derivation showing that the algorithm above results in gradient descent is beyond the scope of these notes. But if you implement the autoencoder using backpropagation modified this way, you will be performing gradient descent exactly on the objective . Using the derivative checking method, you will be able to verify this for yourself as well.


text:
RBC.com | Français | | Contact Us
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About RBC > Community & Sustainability > News > F.O.R.C.E. in Children's Mental Health
Understanding, information, and support – every family who is touched by a mental health challenge requires these three essentials to navigate their daily lives. When a child is facing mental health challenges, it can be therapeutic and even life-saving to have contact with other families who have faced the same problems.
BC-based F.O.R.C.E. (Families Organized for Recognition and Care Equality) Society for Kids' Mental Health gives families the opportunity to speak with other families who understand and may be able to offer support or advice. F.O.R.C.E also provides families and professionals with information, tools, and tips on how to support and assist children with mental health difficulties.
With the support of RBC, F.O.R.C.E. does more than connect families, it also educates the public. "This is something that affects four to five kids in every classroom of 30, so we are talking about a lot of kids in this country," says Keli Anderson, the F.O.R.C.E. Society's executive director. "And I just don't think people know the impact this has on families and how many families are experiencing this."
F.O.R.C.E. is supported in part through the RBC Children's Mental Health Project, a multi-year philanthropic commitment aimed at supporting community-based and hospital programs that reduce stigma, provide early intervention and increase public awareness about children's mental health issues. In 2011, RBC selected F.O.R.C.E. as one of the local community charity beneficiaries for the RBC Canadian Open.
"There has been way too much parent blaming in the past, so families felt ashamed and isolated," Anderson says. "RBC's support takes us from being alone in the trenches for so many years. They have 'outed' us. They have really been able to help us highlight what the impact is on the whole family and how important it is that people support it."
As well as providing funding to F.O.R.C.E. and other programs, RBC has compiled a network of organizations and experts through the RBC Children's Mental Health Project that are trusted sources of information for parents and health care professionals who may not know where to turn for help.
Since 2009, the RBC Children's Mental Health Project has been our cornerstone "health and wellness" pillar, and to date, we have donated more than $6.5 million to more than 125 organizations across Canada.


text:
Serum immunofixation is a lab test to identify proteins called immunoglobulins in blood. Too much of the same immunoglobulin is usually due to cancer.
Alternative Names
Serum immunofixation
How the test is performed
A blood sample is needed. For information on how this is done, see:
Immunofixation uses antibodies to identify the types of proteins or antibodies separated by
How to prepare for the test
There is no special preparation for this test.
How the test will feel
When the needle is inserted to draw blood, some people feel moderate pain, while others feel only a prick or stinging sensation. Afterward, there may be some throbbing.
Why the test is performed
This test is most often used to check the levels of certain antibodies associated with
Immunofixation has also been used to study changes in protein structure (for example,
Normal Values
A normal or negative result means no monclonal immunglobulins are seen in the blood sample.
What abnormal results mean
An abnormal result may be due to:
- Amyloidosis
- Leukemia
- Lymphoma
- Monoclonal gammopathy of unknown significance
Multiple myeloma
Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia
Other cancers
What the risks are
There is very little risk involved with having your blood taken. Veins and arteries vary in size from one patient to another and from one side of the body to the other. Taking blood from some people may be more difficult than from others.
Other risks associated with having blood drawn are slight but may include:
- Excessive bleeding
- Fainting or feeling lightheaded
- Hematoma (blood accumulating under the skin)
- Infection (a slight risk any time the skin is broken)


text:
The year 2013 is quickly coming to a close and I wanted stop and say hello and squeeze in one last recipe for the year. For so many dumb reasons, 2013 has not been the best year for me and frankly, I really look forward to a clean slate in 2014. You know, you just have to realize that some years are just like that. We've all had those years. Unfortunately, it is what it is. By late spring of this past year, I knew that I had to just had to put my head down, grit my teeth and push through it. And I did. It was hard. I endured a few bumps and bruises, spilled a few tears but I made it through 2013 in one piece and with my chin held high. This next year I plan on devoting more time to my blog, taking a much needed fly away tropical vacation with Bruce and most importantly, focus on simplifying my life. Oh, and I really would like to take a photography class… Sounds like a brilliant idea doesn't it?
Last week, I was thinking about making a batch of teriyaki sauce for some grilled salmon that I wanted to prepare later on in the work week. This time, I wanted to prepare something different than the usual (but, delicious) teriyaki sauce that I make for my family. I wanted a sauce that was sweet, spicy and packed a bit of heat. My Spicy Teriyaki Sauce turned out to be just the ticket. It's great drizzled over grilled chicken, fish, tofu or beef. For even more flavor, marinate your protein ingredients in the Spicy Teriyaki Sauce prior to tossing on the grill. Maybe even use it in stir fried vegetables or noodles. My Spicy Teriyaki Sauce is super simple to make and tastes delicious! With that said, I hope that you will have a wonderful and prosperous 2014! Enjoy! Tessa
- 1 cup light soy sauce
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup mirin
- 3 tsp garlic paste
- 1 tsp ginger paste
- 2 Tbs corn starch
- 2 Tbs garlic chili sauce (or sambal oelek)
- 1 Tbs toasted sesame seeds
In a medium sized sauce pan whisk together all the ingredients. Taste the sauce and add more garlic chili sauce if desired. Place over medium low heat, cook for 30 minutes or so, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, let cool and pour in a clean airtight container. Store refrigerated for up two weeks. Makes about 2 cups.


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BASE stands for the objects the practitioners of the sport jump from: buildings, antennas, spans, earth. Wingsuits are sometimes involved; parachutes, always. ScFri listener and avid BASE-jumper Luke Hively wondered about the physics of wingsuits, and asked if we could look into it. We wondered about the brain science of jumping off cliffs, and so we investigated that too.