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Review: Apple iPhone 4 (Verizon CDMA, 16GB/32GB)
Company: Apple Inc.
Website: www.Apple.com
Model: iPhone 4 (Verizon CDMA)
Price: $199/16GB, $299/32GB with New 2-Year Contract
Compatible: PC/Mac
Pros: A solid re-release of the most impressive iPhone yet, combining museum-quality design with industry-leading display and camera hardware, video calling software, and third-party applications that are rarely matched by rival devices. Developed primarily for Verizon Wireless, including the iPhone family's first Wi-Fi-based Personal Hotspot data-sharing feature for computers and iPads, and benefitting from enhanced call reliability in some parts of the United States. Battery performance is roughly equivalent to original iPhone 4's, which offered a major jump relative to the prior-generation iPhone 3GS. Still reasonably priced given all of the technology inside.
Cons: Designed for Verizon's large but slow CDMA wireless network, resulting in markedly reduced data speeds in some areas, and always preventing cellular data services from being used while calls are incoming or in progress. Lack of SIM card slot and GSM support preclude this model from being used on majority of international cellular networks. Despite opportunities to fix previously acknowledged enclosure issues, glass and metal body remains unusually susceptible to damage and antenna attenuation unless a case is purchased and used. Other issues from AT&T iPhone 4 persist, including limited space for high-resolution video, photos, and apps in the lowest capacity 16GB version. Released eight months into iPhone 4's life cycle, only slightly ahead of anticipated successor model.
Single-carrier exclusives on Apple's iPhones evaporated one country at a time, eventually leaving only AT&T with a complete lock on the lucrative American iPhone market. The growing wireless provider profited handsomely from its early support of the platform, rising by the end of its exclusive contract to become the United States' largest wireless carrier, but it continued to provide spotty service, turning off untold numbers of actual and potential customers. When Apple finally announced in January 2011 that Verizon Wireless would join AT&T as an iPhone 4 carrier in mid-February, demand for an alternative American iPhone cellular provider had plateaued at a deafening level; plausible estimates suggested that literally millions of devices were just waiting to be sold to Verizon hold-outs and dissatisfied AT&T customers alike. Apart from the three years of unnecessarily bad press it had endured on behalf of its original partner, this was an ideal situation for Apple: it could just release another iPhone—any iPhone—and watch the iOS user base jump dramatically.
So the release this week of the Verizon CDMA iPhone 4 ($199/16GB, $299/32GB) is noteworthy, despite the fact that it is almost identical to the original June 2010 iPhone 4, which Apple now calls the "GSM model." While the Verizon iPhone 4's highly familiar looks and features will instantly render it stale to "early adopters" who want Apple's latest and greatest technology as quickly as possible, and its reliance on the globally unpopular, comparatively slow CDMA EV-DO cellular standard won't endear it to "power users," the Verizon iPhone 4 is a peace offering to potential customers who just want an iPhone that can reliably make phone calls in previously problematic parts of the United States, regardless of the data compromises that may entail. Given that Apple will introduce a fifth-generation iPhone within the next several months, we had considered discussing all of the pertinent changes in a simple asterisks-and-footnotes update to our previous comprehensive iPhone 4 review, but for the sake of thoroughness, we have produced this detailed addendum. Even though the Verizon iPhone 4 feels today like a gap-filler until the next iPhone debuts in mid-2011, it's worth considering in some detail, as Apple will most likely keep it around as a less expensive model through mid-2012.
To directly answer your most likely bottom-line question right now: our general recommendation of the Verizon iPhone 4 is targeted at a very specific group of readers—existing Verizon customers who (a) cannot wait several months for the next iPhone, and (b) do not care what Apple will do with that next-generation device. This recommendation acknowledges the substantial pool of people who wouldn't call themselves early adopters or power users, and also don't want to use AT&T's service. On the other hand, even these customers should go into Verizon iPhone 4 purchases with their eyes wide open. People who buy the Verizon iPhone 4 today and hope to upgrade in the near future will likely discover that its lack of a SIM card slot and GSM support limit its resale value, starting soon after the next-generation iPhone ships. Until then, Verizon iPhone 4 users will benefit from modestly improved call quality and in some cases markedly better call reliability, at the cost of noticeably slower data speeds and certain limitations on simultaneous calling and data use. Using the pages below, as well as our detailed feature-by-feature AT&T iPhone 4 review, you can decide for yourself whether to buy a Verizon iPhone 4 now, or wait a little while for the next model. The pull-down menus at the top and bottom of each page will take you to additional sections of this addendum.
Editors' Note: iLounge only reviews products in "final" form, but many companies now change their offerings - sometimes several times - after our reviews have been published. This iLounge article provides more information on this practice, known as revving.


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In the News
Original journalism from the Center's OpenSecrets News
The usual suspects placed bets on this year's most competitive races
November 28, 2018 | Winning Democratic challengers and losing incumbent Republicans drew from very different sources of funding during the 2018 election.
Major Black Friday retailers and their political influence
November 21, 2018 | Black Friday retail giants like Best Buy, Amazon and Walmart turn their massive profits into powerful political influence.
Quality over quantity: Lobbying expenses continue to rise, but with fewer lobbyists
August 1, 2017 | Note: Since some lobbyists file after the quarterly deadline, visit our lobbying summary for the most recent data. For the past five years — with the exception of a dip in 2016 — spending on lobbying in the first six months has been steadily increasing. Overall spending for the first six months of 2017 amounts…
Amid antitrust talk, Amazon and Google flex lobbying muscle
July 7, 2017 | In May, at a conference for investors in New York, venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya raised eyebrows by calling Amazon a "multi-trillion dollar monopoly hiding in plain sight." Amazon's current market cap is $461 billion; getting to a market cap of $3 trillion, as Palihapitiya suggested it would, will require a nearly seven-fold increase in value. Just…
Fearing border tax, retailers boost lobbying 31 percent
June 23, 2017 | It's been a remarkably tough year for the retail sector. So far in 2017, retailers have set a record pace for bankruptcies and store closings. Household names are faring no better than small shops: J.C. Penney said it would shutter 138 locations in July; Macy's expects 68 locations to close this year; and Sears Holdings will turn off the…
Boycotts ramp up in wake of immigration order
January 31, 2017 | Thinking about ordering up an Uber to get downtown after grabbing your half-caff skinny hazlenut latte at Starbucks? In the wake of #DeleteUber and #BoycottStarbucks, you might want to consider the politically dissonant messages sent by those previously unremarkable actions. Media-marketing specialist Shannon Coulter created the hashtag #GrabYourWallet in October to encourage consumers to boycott businesses carrying presidential…
Big-box stores, big political influence: Happy Black Friday!
November 23, 2016 | For Americans seeking a little retail therapy after a stressful election season, help is on the way. But it's not all about the stampede-inducing sales on Black Friday: Big-box stores and online marketplaces turn some of their profits into political clout through hefty campaign contributions and lobbying. The companies below use a variety of strategies to…
Walgreens, a top retail sales lobbying client, looks to merge with Rite Aid
October 28, 2015 | Two of the country's biggest drug store chains are set to combine, bringing thousands of stores under one red-and-white logo. Walgreens Boots Alliance announced a deal on Tuesday to buy Rite Aid Corp. for $17.2 billion, including $7.8 billion in debt. The companies, two of the three largest pharmacy chains in the nation, are looking…
McCarthy dominates Chaffetz and Webster in fundraising, party giving
October 6, 2015 | House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) may not be the least giving House speaker candidate, but favorite Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) still dwarfs him in fundraising by $22 million. On Thursday, Republicans will choose among Chaffetz, McCarthy and Rep. Daniel Webster (R-Fla.) to replace Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) as leader of the…
Outdoor clothing industry takes a hike to D.C.
June 8, 2015 | Many Americans living and working in our nation's capital will tell you that last week was not a great time to enjoy the great outdoors. It was, in fact, an excellent week to tote an umbrella around, or put on a rain jacket and boots. But the outdoor clothing industry is also trying to weather…
Despite Predictions, Business is Down on K Street
April 24, 2015 | Some K-Street watchers predicted that the first quarter of 2015 would mark a return to boom times for lobbyists, what with a new GOP- dominated Congress digging in to legislation. But success for some of the top firms does not appear to have translated into a pickup overall. Once again, the first quarter of the…
Internet Taxation Bill Brings Lots of Love from Telecoms
February 13, 2015 | Congress is once again considering whether (and how) to tax the ability of Americans to make late-night Amazon purchases in their underwear, and the companies most interested in the outcome have been generous to the lawmakers leading the charge. Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) this week reintroduced the Internet Tax Freedom Forever Act. The bill,…
Waning Influence? Part 3: Ups and Downs, by Industry
December 22, 2014 | This report is the third (part 1/part 2) in a series examining the years-long decline in both spending on lobbyists and the number of active lobbyists. Overall spending on lobbying has been on a downward trajectory since 2010 and the number of active lobbyists has seen an even longer-term and more drastic drop. Previous entries…
K Street: End of the Slide?
November 10, 2014 | It may be too early to call 2014 the year that K Street's long decline ended, but the most recent round of reports suggest at least a leveling off. Third quarter 2014 lobbying expenditures totaled $771.9 million, which is only a bit lower than outlays during the same period in previous years. And spending for the…
Money, Not Morals, Drives Marijuana Prohibition Movement
August 5, 2014 | The following is adapted from OpenSecrets.org's new marijuana issue profile. Read more about the marijuana industry's campaign donations and lobbying efforts as well as relevant marijuana focused legislation. In late November 2012, voters in Washington and Colorado passed ballot initiatives to fully legalize marijuana for recreational use. Coloradans were able to start purchasing recreational marijuana…
Internet Sales Tax Fight Moves to House
July 22, 2013 | The battle over a proposed Internet sales tax has moved to the House, with interests on both sides pouring money into the campaign coffers of potential allies. Major retailers, including some online ones, have thrown their weight behind the initiative, and in the last few days of June a number of their PACs made big contributions to key House members.
Getting the Fix: Lawmakers' Targeted Favors for Top Donors
May 14, 2013 | A mash-up of data on bill sponsorships, campaign contributions and lobbying shows that in some cases, lawmakers have sponsored bills of interest to just one entity -- which happens to be a top contributor to the lawmaker's campaign fund.
A Taxing Choice? PAC Checks May Ease the Pain
April 30, 2013 | Congressional supporters of the Internet sales tax purport to be torn between antitax orthodoxy and helping out the small bricks-and-mortar retailers. It might ease the pain when the gargantuan box stores appear with checks in hand.
Online Sales Tax Brings Powerful Interest Groups to the Hill
March 18, 2013 | Who could be against something called the Marketplace Fairness Act? A few groups that spend a boatload in the 2012 elections.
Farm Bill Still Hanging: More Than 70 Groups Lobby on Food Stamps
December 3, 2012 | This year's Farm Bill, including its food stamp provisions, stalled in the House before the election. But the program has a big constituency, and it's not just poor people -- something lawmakers looking for budget cuts might want to keep in mind.
Capital Eye Opener, Sept. 12: Teachers' Strike Could Affect Dems' Cashflow, Pandora's Box, and More
September 12, 2012 | The Chicago teachers' strike puts a hold on Rahm Emanuel's fundraising for Priorities USA. Will teachers' unions -- among the largest donors to liberal outside spending groups -- shut down their giving?
Capital Eye Opener, July 9: The A.C. Lobby, ESPN Scores Political Ads and More
July 9, 2012 | We assume most Americans won't be sweating this return to more comfortable temperatures this week. Unless, of course, you work as a lobbyist for the air conditioning industry, in which case you may feel the need to turn up the heat on Congress, lest it forget how essential heating and cooling issues are to your average American.
Amazon's Lobbying Push, Ranking Corporate Transparency and More in Capital Eye Opener: Sept. 29
September 29, 2011 | According to research by the Center for Responsive Politics, Amazon spent $2 million on lobbying last year, while Apple spent $1.6 million -- despite its higher revenues and larger size.
Finance Sector Loves Tim Pawlenty, Whirlpool Loves Tax Credits and More in Capital Eye Opener: March 22
March 22, 2011 | Republican Tim Pawlenty, who yesterday launched a presidential exploratory committee, built a massive war chest during the 2010 election cycle to aid fellow Republicans. Who was fueling this money machine?
Google, Facebook Lead New Generation of Technology Companies Pressing Government for Favorable Treatment
February 17, 2011 | For Google and Facebook, the president serving as their pitchman is indicative of their meteoric rise both outside and within Washington, D.C. And it marks how the political landscape has rapidly shifted for computer and Internet companies, with Washington nonentities of just a few years ago now ranking among the most prominent players in the capital.
Who's Backing the New Top Blue Dogs' Bark, Bite?
November 22, 2010 | The Blue Dogs have elevated Reps. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.), John Barrow (D-Ga.) and Mike Ross (D-Ark.) as their new leaders. Which donors and special interests have these men relied upon to fill their war chests?
Tea Party-Loving Republican Senate Candidates Propelled by Cash from Ideological Groups, Small Donors
October 7, 2010 | Thirteen Tea Party-backed Republicans want the U.S. Senate to experience a new brand of political brew after November 2. The question isn't whether they will or won't, but rather, how many of them will be in office? And donations from people making modest campaign contributions appear poised to play an integral role in propelling them into office.
First Lady Michelle Obama, Nutrition Advocates Aim to Navigate Resistance from Agribusiness, Corporate Lobbies
May 12, 2010 | Upon her arrival in the White House, first lady Michelle Obama launched the "Let's Move" campaign, encouraging healthier eating habits and reduced obesity rates -- a campaign for which she formally unveiled the goals Tuesday. Yet as the first lady and lawmakers work to enact these goals, they must navigate substantial corporate interests when making decisions about the strictness of regulations and standards for nutrition.
Federal Lobbying Climbs in 2009 as Lawmakers Execute Aggressive Congressional Agenda
February 12, 2010 | The economy stunk. Corporations slashed jobs. And some firms, once juggernauts of American industry, simply ceased to exist. But for federal lobbyists, 2009 proved to be a year of riches unlike any other, a Center for Responsive Politics analysis indicates.
Commercial Banks Hope for Return on Investment in Congress
November 16, 2009 | Congress often acts as a type of bank for bankers themselves -- a place executives can direct their cash, perhaps hoping to collect interest in the form of a legislative favor. The interest rate on that premium appears to be low these days, however, as commercial banks could face a sweeping regulatory overhaul in the coming months.
Health, Energy and Finance Sectors Dominate 2nd Quarter Lobbying
July 29, 2009 | Want to launch your own investigation into second quarter lobbying expenditures? Start here.
Auto Industry Gives Sparingly to a Skeptical Congress
November 20, 2008 | Why, when Wall Street took the fast lane to grab its share of $700 billion in federal bailout funds, does the auto industry seem stuck in neutral? The carmakers' campaign contributions to Congress suggest one reason: Most lawmakers, especially those on the finance committees that heard this week from pleading GM, Ford and Chrysler executives, don't owe much payback to Detroit.
Retirees Propel McCain to the Fundraising Finish Line
September 3, 2008 | Preparing for a general election in which he cannot collect private donations, John McCain vaulted in front of Barack Obama in fundraising from one of the biggest groups of donors in American politics: the senior set. A new analysis of the Republican nominee's summer fundraising by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics has found McCain leading Obama among retired donors almost two to one in June and July, $8.1 million to $4.5 million.
Professors Spent Their Summer Vacations Giving to Obama
August 26, 2008 | While school was out, college professors and other educators were putting money into Barack Obama's presidential campaign, according to a new analysis of the Democratic nominee's summer fundraising. Educators contributed at least $2.3 million to his campaign in June and July, surpassed only by lawyers, who make up Obama's top-giving industry since the campaign's start, and retirees.
Seeking Stimulation
January 31, 2008 | Industries are sending in lobbyists with their wish lists as Congress and the president debate a package to revive the ailing economy.
Shopping in (Partisan) Style
December 13, 2007 | Capital Eye's holiday guide to buying blue or red.
Exploring Fred Thompson's Finances
August 3, 2007 | Southern donors, lawyers, retirees and investors are major backers to the undeclared candidate's exploratory committee, the Center for Responsive Politics finds.
Feel free to distribute or cite this material, but please credit the Center for Responsive Politics. For permission to reprint for commercial uses, such as textbooks, contact the Center: email@example.com

subset: commoncrawl


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Circuito de Espana - 28 March 2019
Drop off for this event is on the 16th March
"Fast … fun … safe … great value for money."
That's what our customers always say about our Euro events.....but this is the big one.....9.2 kilometres per lap....!
Click here to understand "THE BIG ONE !"
4 days on track !
- 4 nights' accommodation with breakfast (based on two people sharing.)
- Return transport for your bike and kit.
- 4 days on the incredible Circuito Espana.
- Focused Events' Chrono lap timing system.
- Star Riders available - ex-World and British champions who will provide tuition to help you get the best out of your time with Focused Events (additional fee applies.)
- Tyre services and other products available including world-class track photography.
- Noise limit 108db.
Drop off at our premises normally 10 days before the event
UK collections available from Donington Park £39 each way, Manchester £57 each way,
Glasgow £95 each way , Aberdeen £109 each way (please note Northern collections will
depend on demand)
Flights to Almeria events, we recommend Alicante, Murcia, Almeria and last resort Malaga
(as this is a 3 hr drive) Easyjet, Ryan Air, Monarch, Jet 2.com, BA are the advised airlines from
the majority of UK airports) A good source of flight info is Skyscanner.com as this will give
you multiple airport information as a starting base.
Car Hire: we would also advise that car hire is normally more expensive if booked through
the airline, and again of you Google Carhire at the destination airport you will find a number of
service providers offering very competetive rates.
Please note: All bookings are based on 2 sharing, unless you specify a single which will have
a supplememnt chargeOur hotel is ideally located in a Mediterranean seaside town near the circuit where you can relax after a day's riding. With Dinner as little as €15 for a Buffett with all you can eat
Accommodation is included from the night before your first day on track until the morning of your last day.
And if you want to extend your time in the Spanish sun, why not book additional nights and come off-road riding with us?
- 5 Spaces Available
- Star Rider James Hillier will be on this event
- Noise Limit: 110db
- 3 Groups on this event
- Only £599.00 per rider


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Bobbi Brown Orchid Palette Review, Photos, Swatches
Bobbi Brown Color Strips: Orchid Palette
Bobbi Brown Orchid Palette ($60.00) is an eye, cheek, and lip palette from Bobbi Brown's Color Strips Collection, which includes three palette variations. I'm typically wary of any palette that has lip wells in them, but I was excited, for these aren't just the typical lip color, these are Pot Rouges, which are designed for cheeks and lips.
Pot Rouge
- Powder Pink is a creamy rosy pink that can be layered for an opaque look on lips or sheered out for an everyday blusher on cheeks.
- Pale Pink is a cool-toned blue-based pink that feels creamy and goes on fairly opaque.
- Sand Pink is a creamy coral-beige shade. I don't see a lot of pink in this, but it's a muted, played-down coral that will work well on warm skin tones in particular.
- White is a matte white. It's a muted white, so it's not a bright, totally unwearable white.
- Dusty Plum (Metallic) is a mauvey-plum with a shimmery finish. It has that "metallic" feel, like it's almost wet you swatch it.
- Orchid Sparkle is a sheer, sparkly lilac–very light, very sheer, and prone to fall out.
- Mulberry is a richly pigmented royal purple with a matte finish. Like a lot of mattes, it applies better when you use a brush than anything else. I don't have a shade quite like this.
- Caviar is a dark black-brown with a matte finish.
Oddly enough, my favorite part about this palette are the Pot Rouges. After trying Cabo Coral last month, I was curious about the other shades of Pot Rouge, and this is a good way to try out three new shades. All three were very creamy and pigmented, and they're wearable on both cheeks and lips, so they do double-duty.
The eyeshadows didn't get me too excited–I really liked Mulberry, though–I'm not sold on these five together. I can see a few combos, but usually I see a lot of combos in Bobbi Brown's palettes and that wasn't the case here. Orchid Sparkle is a throwaway shade for me, just because I know it's a pain in the butt to use and it's incredibly sheer; to make it work, try wearing it over a dark, metallic base. Dusty Plum Metallic would be my other shade favorite, because it's smooth, pigmented, and versatile.
I like Bobbi Brown's palette packaging, because the palette itself is sleek, but it's practical, too. The cheek/lip shades are separated from the eyeshadows quite well, and each palette also has a clear lid that flips up to further protect the shades from dirt and dust.
If you want to know more about how products are evaluated, read out Rating System FAQ! 🙂
- Product: 26/30
- Value: 8/10
- Ease of Use: 4/5
- Packaging: 4/5
Recommendation: If you've wanted to try Pot Rouges, this is one way to try three at once… and get some eyeshadows as a bonus!
Availability: BobbiBrown.com, Nordstrom


text: The 2014 Chevrolet SS is Chevrolet's first V-8, rear-wheel-drive performance sedan in almost 20 years. The interior of the SS comfortably accommodates five adults. Leather seats are standard, as are eight-way power adjustable front bucket seats with additional side bolstering that hug the driver and front passenger in tight-handling situations. The Chevrolet SS also features Chevrolet MyLink, push-button start, forward Collision Alert, Lane Departure Warning and Side Blind Zone Alert. (Photo by Steve Fecht for Chevrolet)


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French Telcos Point Out How Costly It Is If Sarkozy Forces Them To Be Copyright Cops
from the why-put-the-burden-on-the-telcos? deptWith France still trying to move forward with its plan to require ISPs to remove accused file sharers from the internet via a "three strikes" policy, French telcos and ISPs are protesting the plan, noting that it would cost them millions of dollars to obey the law, and they see no reason why the burden should be on them. This is an important point that often gets missed in the debates over such "three strikes" policies. The problem is that the entertainment industry refuses to adapt its business model to the changing market. There's ample evidence that if they did embrace new business models, they'd do quite well. So why should other companies pay for the entertainment industry's own laziness? And why are politicians (even those who seem to ignore copyright rules themselves) helping to push this through?
Filed Under: france, isps, three strikes


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1979 Jeep CJ-7 - Cold Blue CrawlerPosted in Project Vehicles on May 1, 2010
More often than not, we are amazed at the level of ingenuity that went into a mechanic's/fabricator's rig when we see one on the trail. These impressive rigs and their drivers are what started the grassroots movement of 4x4 modifications over half a century ago, and they have pushed the level of four-wheel technology to what it is today.
It's true passion that pushes a guy who wrenches on others vehicles all day only to toil away on his own rig through the night and weekends until it's complete and acceptable to his personal and exacting specifications. Kevin Fitzsimons of Annandale, New Jersey, is just such a mechanic. He took this '79 Jeep CJ-7 and built it into the very trailable machine it is today. The CJ features a number of unique and very functional modifications that make it stand out from the pack.
Tech Specs 1979 Jeep CJ-7 Drivetrain Engine: Chevy small-block V-8 Transmission: SM-465 Transfer case: Dana 300, 32-spline output Front Axle: Dana 60, 4.56 gears, ARB Air Locker Rear Axle: Dana 60, 4.56 gears, spool
Suspension Springs & Such: Rubicon Express leaf springs, Bilstein 5150 shocks Tires & Wheels: 36X13.5X15 Super Swamper Iroks, 15x10 Allied beadlocks Other Stuff: 1350/1410 and 1350 CV driveshafts, front and rear disc brakes, RCI fuel tank, custom skidplates
The AMC I-6 was swapped out for a Chevy V-8 custom-built with TRW pistons, a Comp cam, Edelbrock intake, and Howell fuel injection. The new powerplant cranks out enough power to push and pull the Jeep through just about any sticky off-road situation.
The ol' Jeep now rests on Dana 60 axles front and rear. The front axle is fitted with an ARB Air Locker, and a spool is in the rear. The steering is designed around PSC hydro-assist components and high-steer knuckles and arms from Solid Axle.
The entire length of the Jeeps frame was boxed for strength, and a traction bar was installed to keep axlewrap in the rear in check. Rubicon Express leaf springs and Bilstein 5150 shocks were used for a dependable performance suspension.
The CJ's interior isn't tricked out with the latest gadgets, but it is fitted with a custom six-point rollcage and PRP seats and harnesses for comfort and safety. Autometer oil pressure, water temperature, and transmission gauges were installed to keep tabs on the Jeep's vitals.
It is handmade garage fabrication like the front and rear bumpers, rocker guards, and corners that always catches our eye. It's great to know that there are still guys out there who take pride in building their own components and not just bolting on foreign-made junk. For example, the front U-bolt plates were made from pieces of steel Kevin sourced from a scrap yard, pieces that were salvaged from the World Trade Center support beams!


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Bar Jokes
Joke: Hippopotamus walks into a bar and asks the bartender for a beer. "That will be $7.50 please" says the bartender. So the hippo gives the bartender his money and starts to sip his beer. "You know we don't very many hippos in here" mutters the bartender.
The hippo replies, "At these prices it's no wonder!"
Our Personal
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We actually found that being funny isn't dificult. Being funny is a SYSTEM!
So discover the tiny secrets that make up that system. You'll be able to repeat them over and over again – and have people around you BURSTING into laughter, at YOUR command!
Just by following a few simple rules, you can become even funnier-
and within days, you'll become a quick witted person.
The comedy legend Max Matterson knows exactly how to train ANYONE to become super-witty.
Matterson claims there is a series
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Learn more >>>


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Canvas Director needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 651 designs submitted by 189 freelance designers.
Canvas Health
We are a high-end homecare services company. We want to portray an image of an efficient, compassionate, caring, reliable and professional company. Canvas Health provides services at home for seniors, new moms and people recovering from medical procedures.
We target the family of older persons, new moms and those recovering from medical procedures who need home care health services.
We target people who expect very professional and reliable care and are willing to pay more to get it.
We need a logo that conveys that we're a highly professional, reliable, ethical company that is compassionate with our clients.
The logo must communicate trust, comfort, reliability and above all, very high professionalism.
Loud colors
Old style script fonts
Very elaborate drawings
Futuristic stuff
"Cutesy" stuff
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


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That '70s Show's Topher Grace and True Detective Actress Are Engaged
Jan 12, 2015 7:21 PM EST
Congratulations, dumbass! Topher Grace, who played Eric Forman in That '70s Show, is off the market. Grace, 36, proposed to his actress girlfriend Ashley Hinshaw in early January, People reports. 2015 Golden Globes: Stars hit the after-parties… Read more


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At this point, it's like being reunited with old friends.
Old friends around whom you should never, under any circumstances, consume Jagermeister. Or marshmallows. Or pretty much any substance that could mask a powerful sedative.
"The Hangover Part III" rarely hits the delirious highs of the original installment. On the other hand, it never falls into the been-there, seen-that repetition of the second.
This time, there's no wedding, no bachelor party, no blackout, no dalliances between Stu and a prostitute, no goofily improvised song from Stu, no Mike Tyson … man, "The Hangover Part II" really was just an Asian spin on the first movie.
Two years after they returned from Thailand, Stu (Ed Helms) — still sporting the faintest hint of his lasered-off face tattoo — is happily married, as are Phil (Bradley Cooper) and poor, neglected Doug (Justin Bartha).
Alan (Zach Galifianakis), though, may be the happiest of them all.
He's first seen, Hanson's "MMMBop" blasting from his stereo, howling his Wolf Pack howl, blissfully towing his newly acquired giraffe down the freeway. (Spoiler alert: It doesn't end well.)
The 42-year-old manchild, who considers 45 minutes of skee-ball a workout, soon falls into a downward spiral that pulls back the curtain on what made him such a freewheeling, lovable character: severe mental illness.
Yeah, that kinda puts a damper on the hijinks for a while, even though viewers must have known all along that, as Hank Hill would say, that boy ain't right.
After a painfully awkward intervention, Phil, Stu and Doug agree to hit the road again, taking Alan to a treatment facility in Arizona, and things fall into a more familiar rhythm. Phil acts coolly indifferent, Alan displays new depths of his man crush on Phil, Stu shrieks hysterically and Doug goes missing for large chunks of the proceedings.
This time, his disappearance is at the hands of Marshall (John Goodman), a violent criminal from whom Chow (Ken Jeong) stole $21 million in gold. After roughing up the boys, Marshall cuts the trio loose with an ultimatum: Deliver Chow within 72 hours or he'll kill Doug.
Yeah, it's still a comedy.
Their pursuit of the diminutive, clothing-challenged gangster, earlier seen Shawshank-ing his way out of a Thai prison behind a "Hang in There" kitty poster, leads them through Tijuana and, ultimately, back to Las Vegas.
Instead of merely aping its predecessors, this final chapter of the "Hangover" saga — once again from director and co-writer Todd Phillips — really feels like the end.
Their current predicament can be traced back to their original drug deal and their original drug dealer, Black Doug (Mike Epps). That's one of several callbacks to "The Hangover," including checking in on Jade (Heather Graham) and Baby Carlos — err, Tyler (Grant Holmquist, one of several infants who played the role in the original).
But "Part III" also is an opportunity for new beginnings. Especially for Alan and Cassie (Melissa McCarthy), who bond in her downtown Las Vegas pawnshop over their shared love of Billy Joel in a mating ritual that's nearly as sweet as it is disturbing.
The Wolf Pack is back, and although each of "the three best friends that anyone could have" gets his turn to shine, this is primarily Alan's journey.
You don't expect character growth in raunchy, R-rated comedies, but it should warm your heart to see him evolve from the weird loner who plays Words With Friends even though his father (Jeffrey Tambor) reminds him he doesn't have any friends. (Alan: "You can set it on random!")
There are some stumbles along the way. Most notably, much like the Wolf Pack, the rest of the movie struggles to get a handle on Chow.
Although "Part III" is the darkest installment yet, there are still more than enough laughs to go around.
Even if the most uproarious ones are saved for the closing credits.
With those final, fleeting moments, though, Phillips and his particular brand of merry mayhem accomplish the oldest of showbiz maxims: Always leave them wanting more.
Christopher Lawrence is the film critic for the Las Vegas (NV) Review-Journal. Contact him at clawrence@


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news 2015.12.01
We Mitigate Data Security Risks for Clients with ISO Certification
HackerAgency has achieved International Standards Organization (ISO) 27001:2013 certification for data security for the sixth year in a row.
blog 2015.11.17
How keeping data secure helps us go faster
We recently renewed our ISO 27001 certification--which is a tech-y way of saying your data is safe with us. We have a long history of respecting our clients' data.
blog 2015.11.09
Using list-driven digital to measure mobile media
List-driven digital allows us to measure mobile campaign results even when the response channel is offline. See how we do it in the final video of our mobile measurement series.
blog 2015.11.02
Competition makes us stronger, faster, better
Our new "normal" is to expect last-minute project requests flowing into the agency. We've implemented Operational Agility to address this.
blog 2015.10.19
Streaming Music: How U.S. Mobility Redefined the Music Business
Digital music platforms offer marketers unprecedented targeted access to the hearts and minds of music lovers on a platform they truly appreciate.
news 2015.09.14
The art and science of customer persuasion
A reasoned argument can change minds. But emotion is what drives action.
news 2015.09.02
HackerAgency to Co-Present with Bing Ads at DMA Conference in October
In this session, you'll discover how context has enhanced content and how productization of marketing has refueled one of Microsoft's biggest products.
blog 2015.09.02
Gender-based marketing: a thing of the past?
With the wealth of consumer data available today, it is archaic to rely on one-dimensional insights like demographics to inform your positioning.
blog 2015.08.25
Using Mobile Location Awareness to Measure Mobile Media
Location is key to mobile marketing. See how knowing location can help you measure the impact of your campaign in our fourth mobile measurement video.
news 2015.08.20
HackerAgency Promotes Tom Reid to Lead New Stand-Alone Health Insurance Business Unit
Affinity Health Plan Signs on as Serum Client
blog 2015.08.17
A ride to an electrifying future
Are new energy vehicles (NEVs) the future of automotive industry transformation?
blog 2015.08.13
Digital agencies are failing their clients.
Many agencies don't react fast enough to change and fail to move at the "pace of the social consumer."
blog 2015.08.03
Look back 1,600 years to see what's ahead
When I read books—no matter the subject—I try to relate them to work and agency life.
blog 2015.07.27
Use Device Graphs for Cross-Device Tracking & Measurement
How can you track who owns multiple mobile devices? Watch our third video in the mobile measurement series.
blog 2015.07.21
TV isn't dead.
TV advertising isn't truly dying. It's evolving. And that's a good thing.
blog 2015.07.13
Click-Click 2 Knock-Knock with Cross-Border Advertising
Geographical factors are no longer boundaries in demand-supply chain.
news 2015.06.16
HackerAgency China Wins 2015 AMES Awards for Data & Analytics
HackerAgency China announced today that it was awarded two bronze Asian Marketing Effectiveness & Strategy (AMES) awards.
blog 2015.06.15
Measuring Mobile Media Using Tracking Tags, aka Conversion Pixels
You want to measure mobile? Learn about tracking tags.
news 2015.06.11
Use a Cookbook Approach to Make Data Mining Easy-Peasy
Business intelligence analysts, marketers, and analytics mavens use many tools and techniques to extract useful information from all the meaningful data people generate every moment in every aspect of life.
blog 2015.06.08
The Call of Constraints
In which we explore the oft-misunderstood concept of work specificity
blog 2015.06.01
5 smart ways to measure mobile media – Part 1 of 5
Don't believe the haters — you CAN measure mobile media.
news 2015.06.01
CEO Adviser: Eastern Exposure
With mobile marketing, it's time to see what's traveleing from the Far East to the West.
blog 2015.05.19
All Aboard!
Data onboarding is breathing new life into the dollars companies have invested in CRM systems.
blog 2015.05.07
Yes, you ALWAYS need to test your email sends
Many variables affect end user experience for email. That's why email QA remains a necessary evil.
blog 2015.05.04
Is your agency as data-driven as it claims?
Typical market segmentation and targeting are no longer adequate for the dynamic task of keeping up with our customers.
blog 2015.04.29
Where Did My Data Go? Real-Time Data Isn't Always Your Friend
In a data environment where data and feeds are updating rapidly, implementing these four key disciplines of data management is critically important for ensuring accurate reporting.
news 2015.04.25
Stop failing at mobile-campaign attribution
How many of your mobile campaigns simply fail to generate the metrics that you really need to justify your mobile ad budget? I am guessing more than your directors would prefer.
events 2015.04.16
HackerAgency's Kristin Flor to Present at MCEI May Meeting
Car ownership used to be an exciting rite of passage. But a shrinking economy made Millennials cautious and even cynical – and automakers have struggled to move them along the path to purchase.
news 2015.04.16
HackerAgency Wins ECI Award in China for Global Marketing Campaigns
Seattle-based digital/direct marketing agency HackerAgency announced today that it is the recipient of a Bronze ECI Award, given by the International E-Commerce Innovation Association (IECIA).
blog 2015.04.14
Sales attribution isn't perfect—but you still need to try.
Aiming for sales attribution perfection can get in the way of getting "good enough" useful information.
news 2015.04.09
HackerAgency exec takes on next frontier of marketing
Putting interactions into the context of the customer journey is the next hurdle for marketers to overcome.
blog 2015.04.09
Connected Cars: The Next Internet Frontier
The Internet of Things has truly arrived for U.S. marketers.
blog 2015.04.06
Customer Lifetime Value – Roadmap to Reality
What is Customer Lifetime Value? And how can we measure it?
blog 2015.03.30
China just launched an important new e-commerce marketing award – and I got to be on the jury
news 2015.03.23
HackerAgency and FCB New Zealand Announce Strategic Partnership
Collaboration to focus on direct response marketing and knowledge exchange
blog 2015.03.20
What Makes Consumers Buy? The Art and Science of Persuasion
A reasoned argument can change minds. But emotion is what drives action.
news 2015.03.20
Size Doesn't Matter: It's How You Use Big Data
To achieve Big Data results, data must first be infused into a company's DNA in an operational way.
blog 2015.03.18
Never. Stop. Testing.
Could testing be a worst practice? Not according to what we've seen.
events 2015.03.12
HackerAgency to present at the 4th Annual Direct-to-Consumer Health Care Marketing Event
Our session will show what persuasive creative looks like—giving real-world examples of the good, the bad and the truly effective.
events 2015.03.11
Tom Reid and Kristin Flor to lead a creative session at the Medicare Marketing & Sales Summit
The best marketing creative builds brands and changes customer behavior. Too many marketers believe great creative work is a matter of good luck, rather than hard work.
blog 2015.03.04
The challenge of sales attribution is getting easier – and harder
Every marketer has been talking about – or at least thinking hard about – sales attribution.
blog 2015.02.20
It's a tag, tag world! The future of tag management systems
Are you squeezing all of the value out of your digital tracking tags?
blog 2015.02.17
3 things we learned during this Medicare marketing season
The digitally savvy have finally become Medicare eligible. Digital channels are at the forefront of our messaging and our results.
blog 2015.02.13
Marketing Transformation: Getting Full Value from Technology Investments
New thinking is required for companies to take full advantage of new technology investments.
news 2015.02.13
4 marketing requirements to make 2015 even more profitable
As a global digital marketing agency representing top brands around the world, we, like every other business, live in a constant state of "betterment." Our clients are never satisfied with the status quo.


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5:00 pm
Assassination: Idaho's Trial of the Century A dream team of famous attorneys converge on an Idaho courtroom in 1907. Idaho's best lawyers - James Hawley and William Borah - matched wits with Chicago's Clarence Darrow and Denver's Edmund Richardson. Re-enactment actors and extras, researchers, crew and others bring more than 200 Idahoans into this project to chronicle the trial of "Big Bill" Haywood, accused of masterminding former Gov. Frank Steunenburg's assassination.G
6:00 pm
Live from the Artists Den "The Wallflowers" It has been seven years since their last album, but the Wallflowers are back in full force for a performance before 600 invited guests at Bimbo's 365 Club, a San Francisco institution for more than 80 years. Frontman Jakob Dylan leads the group through an 18-song set, featuring new songs from their recently released album Glad All Over, and classics such as "One Headlight" and "6th Avenue Heartache."G
7:00 pm
Austin City Limits "Jimmy Cliff" The reggae legend opens the 36th season of the musical series by performing his hits and new songs from his album Existence.G
8:00 pm
Broadway: The American Musical "Putting It Together (1980 - Present)" Legendary as the "Abominable Showman," notorious producer David Merrick reconquers Broadway in 1980 with a smash adaption of the movie musical 42nd Street. But soon the biggest hits are arriving from an unexpected source - London. Producer Cameron Mackintosh redefines the business of show business as Cats, Les Miserables, The Phantom of the Opera and Miss Saigon become international blockbusters. Part 6 of 6G
9:00 pm
Best of Hymns of Thanksgiving Highlights from the annual shows filmed during the past five years include massed choir performances, solos by pianist Del Parkinson and inspirational narratives by Gov. Butch Otter and first lady Lori Otter.G
10:30 pm
Song of the Mountains Slice of Bluegrass; Patent Pending; Skeeter & the Skidmarks. D
11:30 pm
Austin City Limits "Jimmy Cliff" The reggae legend opens the 36th season of the musical series by performing his hits and new songs from his album Existence.G


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Sex Money Education - Who Are You (Detroit Artist) [Inspired2Inspire Submitted]
"Duo group from Michigan State University and Eastern Michigan University. Inspired2Inspire mixtape coming soon. Follow SME @TayDossSME & @DamanikinSME "
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For Mother's Day, we also interviewed another mom on YouTube – Mindy McKnight. She runs the Cute Girl Hairstyles channel on YouTube, which does how-to videos on hair braids.
Like Betty, Mindy the inspiration for creating the channel was from her family because she would spend time in the morning braiding her girls' hair (she has 6 children, 5 girls, 1 boy) and started posting pictures of the braids to her website. She got so many requests for videos showing how to do the braids that she started doing videos.
Mindy's husband is her cameraman, her daughters are the models, and she does the hairstyling… probably the most unique family channel on YouTube!
Mindy's videos have become so popular that Linda Flowers, the lead hairstylist for Hunger Games movie, actually reached out to her to do a Hunger Games style on her channel.
SEW: What's the backstory of Cute Girls Hairstyles? How did you decide to launch a YouTube channel?
Mindy McKnight: The idea for our channel started out really by accident, since I used to take photos of the styles I created on my babies years ago just so I could remember them. We kept them in a small photo album under our bathroom sink. As toddlers, our twin daughters would pick their own styles out of the album every morning. It sure made mornings easier on me and the girls had a vested interest in the hairdoing as well since they chose the hairdo!
After a few years, the photo albums were getting destroyed, so in late 2008 I decided to place my photos digitally on a blog for my friends and my daughters to use. It was also a way to permanently preserve my hairstyling moments with the girls and to hopefully allow them to pass along those skills to their own daughters… sort of like an online journal. I almost could not believe it when other moms took notice of us and began sharing our hairstyles!
When posting step-by-step photos on the website became too tedious, my hubby recommended that I begin filming the tutorials for the blog and use YouTube to house them. That way moms could start/stop/replay at any frame in the video to be sure they understood every step. We uploaded two videos at first and then our fans requested that we go back to using photos.
For several months, and having forgotten about YouTube, we had no idea that hundreds of moms and girls there were searching for those two hairstyles! In January of 2010, YouTube emailed us stating that our two videos were popular enough that they wanted to advertise on them. We were shocked! From that time on we dedicated ourselves to producing at least one video per week, YouTube subsequently invited us into its amazing Partner Program, and the rest is history!
Although it takes time to maintain the Cute Girls Hairstyles channel while taking care of our six children, etc., I honestly know that the true reward is this… helping moms create wonderful "bonding time" with their little girls in the morning! There is something about a mother helping a daughter look "beautiful" that forges a stronger relationship, but also provides the daughter with a greater sense of self-confidence as she receives compliments all day long. I have seen it in my own life, those of my daughters, and receive 1,000's of emails telling me the same.
SEW: Do you have any tips about getting people to discover, watch, and share originally-created videos on YouTube?
Mindy McKnight: As always, great content is the most important driver of success on YouTube. Next, I don't think people recognize that YouTube is the second-most used "search engine" on the Internet. Just as SEO is key in getting your website ranked in search results, highly focused keywords and tags are extremely vital in getting your videos to rank higher in organic YouTube search results.
I think it is also important to master the use the "Annotations" function within the YouTube upload platform to provide in-video comments, reference-link your other videos, solicit subscribers, or link to your channel. It is equally important to interact with your fans in the comment section of the video. Viewers want to connect with the content creator, so a positive comment back from you will make their day and build viewer loyalty.
Lastly… be yourself!
SEW: Do you have any tips about hairstyles for Mother's Day? Would the Hunger Games style be appropriate?
Mindy McKnight: Below are a few hairstyles that mom can do on herself for Mother's Day that take literally 2-5 minutes (and others will think that she spent 30 minutes)… and the styles look very cute!
On Sunday, we will be uploading a video for Mother's Day where my girls will actually do my hair for the first time! They have no idea yet, so it will be interesting to see what they come up with!
Related reading
The big picture: what's next for image and voice search?
Voice search and image search are increasingly becoming more prominent in our society. Wajid Ali from Forward3D investigates how far the technology has advanced and how it will be used in the future.
ICO marketing in 2018: from SEO to PPC
In an increasingly competitive and regulated world, how to market an ICO will be the difference between success and failure.
Three ways to up your video marketing game
Video marketing has been getting huge for a few years now. Videos allow companies to reach a wider audience - thanks to the popularity of powerful video marketing platforms - and to increase their sales and conversions. But how easy it is to really see ROI from your video marketing campaigns?
30 ways to market your online business for free
For many people and businesses, the word 'marketing' conjures up visions of pricey marketing strategies and excessive expenditure. However, it doesn't have to be expensive: there are plenty of free ways to market a business. In this post, we share 30 things you can do right now to market your online business for free.


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Should a project have deprecation policies as soon as it hits CPAN with a development release?
I think the answer should be yes - there should always be a deprecation policy. But this deprecation policy does not need to be the full monty of always keeping the backcompat to at least one major version, using strict deprecation cycles etc - it just needs to be stated explicitely and not relying on the version numbering convention as they are not really universal. There is no negative side to putting a few sentences into the docs, only a bit work to formulate them. And here is my idea:
Let's write some deprecation policies
Let's have a list of well formulated policies covering as much as we can of possible circumstances (from experimental to mature, and from one-person projects to team work) that could be copied to the CPAN distribution docs with minimal effort. For the start - here are some ideas:
- Experimental - no policies at all, use at your own risk
- Experimental with mailing list announcements of new versions and promise to take into account problems encountered by people testing the new code
- Backcompat to one version, with a specific minimal time between versions
- Backcompat to one major version, with a specific minimal time between major releases
In related news mst gives an overview of techniques that can be used for maintaining back-compat - sometimes these are really simple things.


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Joke of the Week
Recipe of the Week
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Zipple - The Jewish Supersite
> The Shofar Shoes
The shofar shoes
By RABBI AVI SHAFRAN
Special to zipple.com
September 29, 2000
When my dear father, may he live and be well, showed me his new "shofar shoes", I was reminded of how uniquely Jews steeped in Jewish tradition look at the world.
It was just about a year ago, several hours before the arrival of Yom Kippur. My family and I had the wonderful privilege of spending the High Holidays in Baltimore with my father and his wife (my wonderful "second mother", as I refer to her; I lost my own beloved mother a decade ago). Father is the rabbi of a small congregation and serves as the recording secretary of Baltimore's widely respected Orthodox rabbinic court.
Before he showed me the shoes, he recounted how his old cloth "Yom Kippur shoes" - leather footwear is forbidden on the Jewish Day of Atonement - had grown uncomfortable. These new "shofar shoes," however, he explained, were much better.
He is someone, without question, who can appreciate a good shoe. As a child in a Polish shtetl, the only shoes he ever had were those first worn and outgrown by older siblings. To this day he attributes his size 6EEE feet to the confining, ill-fitting footwear of his youth. And during the years of World War II, when he and his yeshiva-colleagues found themselves unwilling guests of Josef Stalin in a Siberian labor camp, the frigid temperatures made foot-covering a matter not of comfort but of life or death.
He recalls how he and his friends would wrap long pieces of cloth in layers around their feet for insulation. When he says the morning blessing "Who has provided me all my needs," which Jewish tradition teaches refers to shoes, he surely relates to it better than most of us.
My father richly appreciates so many other things too. He takes powerful pride in his children and grandchildren. None of them is particularly "successful" in the world's gauge of the word, in the acquisition of wealth or property. No dot-com millionaires among his progeny to date.
But they are all, to a person, observant Jews, immersed in the life, texts and traditions of the Jewish religious heritage. And my father knows that the great-grandchildren with which he has been blessed - and, with G-d's help, those yet to come - will grow up in dedicatedly Jewish homes. That, he insists - not what the world thinks - is true success, Jewish success.
So many things, I pondered, are so different when regarded through deeply Jewish eyes. Even what a New Year's day means. To the wider world, January 1 is a day of partying and revelry, an opportunity to get drunk and have a good time. Rosh Hashana, by contrast, is a time of judgment - a time of happiness, to be sure, but of trepidation as well, of regret, of apologies, of repentance.
My father blows the shofar at his shul on Rosh Hashana. The blasts of the ram's horn call all who hear them, in Maimonides' words, to "awaken, sleepers, from your slumber," to reject the "silly distractions of the temporal world" we occupy; to focus on what alone is real: serving our Creator and being good to one another. To see the world, in other words, through Jewish eyes.
No wonder my father was so happy to discover that the comfortable Yom Kippur shoes he had found were "shofar shoes."
I didn't understand at first what a "shofar shoe" was, though, and told him.
He smiled and responded patiently, "Why, each one has a shofar on it."
When I expressed skepticism, he went to his bedroom and emerged triumphantly with the footwear.
And when he held them up for me to see, his Jewish eyes taught mine a lesson.
I don't think I'll ever look at the Nike "swoosh" quite the same way again.
Rabbi Avi Shafran is director of public affairs for Agudath Israel of America and serves as American director of Am Echad.
© Am Echad Resources, 2000. May not be reproduced without written permission.
zipple.com's Guide to Rosh Hashanah
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Robotics Systems Lab
A world-class field operation advancing robotic systems for air, land, sea, and space.
The RSL provides interdisciplinary, hands-on engineering education that engages and challenges undergraduate and graduate students in exciting ways. Systems are designed and controlled by students to meet the specific needs of a wide range of external clients and collaborators from government, academia, industry, and nonprofit sectors.
The Robotics Systems Laboratory was selected by the National Academy of Engineering as a model program for its Real World Engineering initiative and publication.
- Satellite mission control center with distributed radio communication stations on campus, at NASA Ames, and across the country
- Mobile mission control center
- NASA Ames Research Center lab facility
Major Systems
- Several underwater robots, ranging from professional-class 1000' vehicles to pool-grade vehicles
- Several autonomous boats, to include a science-grade bathymetric mapping vessel to a fleet of automated kayaks
- Automated Gator-class ATV
- More than a dozen research-grade wheeled robots
- Ten research-class aerial vehicles, ranging from octocopters to fixed wing drones
- Operational control of multiple on-orbit NASA spacecraft in the end-of-life testing and educational use phase
- Robot manipulator workcell
Testbed Instrumentation
- Ultrawideband tracking system
- Vision tracking system
- A range of marine instrumentation to include CTD sensors, samplers, etc.
- A range of imagers for land and aerial vehicles, to include visual and infrared cameras as well as a multispectral imaging system
- Indoor drone test chamber
- Indoor 100,000 class clean tent
Support Systems
- SUV and pickup truck
- 7 support trailers
Affiliate Access Agreements
- Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute: Access to marine systems, indoor test tank, test equipment, and machine shop
- NASA Ames Research Center: Access to development labs, field test sites, etc.
Alumnus Seeks to Feed the World
Bringing fresh, delicious, nutritious food to the 1.1 billion malnourished people in the world is the mission of Sam Bertram '16, M.S. '18. The technical and entrepreneurial skills he developed at SCU are helping him turn his vision to reality.
RSL staff member Thomas Adamek and graduate students Michael Neumann and Jasmine Cashbaugh led a number of students in an underwater robotics deployment in Monterey Bay as part of the ENGR 180 Marine Operations course. Students learned how to deploy and pilot the Triton tethered underwater robot. Guests included Fr. John Rose Santiago and program mentor Lloyd Droppers.
Contact Us
Director: Dr. Chris Kitts
Santa Clara University
School of Engineering
500 El Camino Real
Santa Clara, CA 95053
Guadalupe Hall, Bldg. 455, 3rd Floor
The RSL UAV team uses one of the Lab's octocopters to map Aver Family Winery in Gilroy, CA.
Robotic Systems Laboratory students Jose Acain and Kamak Ebadi, with staff/faculty co-authors Thomas Adamek, Mike Rasay and Christopher Kitts (mechanical engineering), were awarded the Best Student Paper Award at the 2015 ASME/IEEE International Conference on Mechatronic and Embedded Systems and Applications in Boston, MA. The paper, "A Multi-Robot Testbed for Adaptive Sampling Experimentation via Radio Frequency Fields," reviews the lab's use of configurable, low-power, radio broadcast networks to establish easily sampled scalar fields to provide controlled field experimentation involving the lab's novel, multi-robot adaptive navigation techniques.
Graduate students Matthew Chin and Michael Neumann, with advisor Christopher Kitts received the Best Student Paper Award at the International Conference on Intelligent Automation and Robotics for "Object Manipulation Through Explicit Force Control Using Cooperative Mobile Multi-Robot Systems."
Christopher Kitts and Mike Rasay published "A University-Based Distributed Satellite Mission Control Network for Operating Professional Space Missions," in Acta Astronautica.
Christopher Kitts and graduate student Ashish Nair (mechanical engineering), with Nam Ling (computer engineering), received an equipment grant from nVIDIA to support a project involving the development of a novel 360-degree field of view panoramic 3D imaging and localization system. The system will exploit the GPU capabilities on nVIDIA embedded processing hardware to prototype a high-performance, low-cost robotic vision system.


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A nagging issue for healthcare reformers is the disincentive for many providers to adopt innovative approaches to care that improve health and cut costs. If you're paid a fee for each service you provide in your office, why would you invest in technologies and procedures that led to fewer billable services?
One reason is to achieve better results, and that's good enough for some providers. But the Medicare program is supplying another rationale. It started cracking down last year on hospitals that readmit too many patients soon after discharging them. That penalty has led hospitals to pay more attention to technologies that can keep track of patients' progress at home, according to Anthony Shimkin, a senior marketing director for Qualcomm Life, the healthcare division of the chip manufacturer.
Qualcomm has been working with medical device companies on a platform for remote health monitoring called "2net." The point, Shimkin said, is to enable heart-rate monitors, scales, blood-sugar measurers and other health-monitoring devices from different manufacturers to share their readings with a gateway in the home, which then reports that data back to the hospital or physician's office in near real time.
The approach enables providers to detect and respond to signs of trouble at an early, less serious stage. That makes for more efficient treatment. But Medicare's fee-for-service payment system doesn't reward efficiency. Doctors and hospitals can't submit bills for patients they don't see and treat directly.


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Flow Diversion in Intracranial Aneurysm Treatment (FIAT)
|The safety and scientific validity of this study is the responsibility of the study sponsor and investigators. Listing a study does not mean it has been evaluated by the U.S. Federal Government. Know the risks and potential benefits of clinical studies and talk to your health care provider before participating. Read our disclaimer for details.
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01349582
Recruitment Status : Recruiting
First Posted : May 6, 2011
Last Update Posted : January 31, 2019
- Study Details
- Tabular View
- No Results Posted
- Disclaimer
- How to Read a Study Record
Flow diverters are a recent addition to the range of endovascular devices now available for the treatment of intracranial aneurysms. The FIAT trial aims at comparing flow diversion to best standard treatment in the context of a randomised controlled trial. Best standard treatment may include any of the following and will be left to the treating physician to decide : 1) conservative management; 2) coiling with or without high porosity stenting; 3) parent vessel occlusion with or without bypass; 4) surgical clipping. If the only treatment alternative is deemed to be flow diversion for compassionate use, then randomisation will not be carried out, but patient will enter a registry and her data recorded according to same schedule as randomised patients.
The primary hypothesis is that flow diversion can be performed with an "acceptable" immediate complication rate, defined as less than 15% morbidity and mortality, AND increase the number of patients experiencing successful therapy, defined as complete or near complete occlusion of the aneurysm from 75 to 90%, relative to best standard treatment.
|Condition or disease
|Intracranial Aneurysm
|Procedure: flow diversion Other: conservative management Procedure: endovascular coiling Procedure: balloon parent vessel occlusion Procedure: surgical clipping
|Phase 4
Intracranial aneurysms, particularly large/giant, fusiform or recurrent aneurysms are increasingly treated with flow diverters (FDs), a recently introduced and approved neurovascular device. While some rare cases may not be treated any other way, in most patients a more conventional, conservative, or validated approach such as coiling, parent vessel occlusion, or surgical clipping exists. Early series and registries of the use of FDs in various types of aneurysms have reported treatment-related morbidity and mortality ranging from 0 to 4 and 8% respectively, most often from delayed haemorrhage. Hence, although there is growing enthusiasm to use these powerful new tools, complications are increasingly reported.
Rationale and Hypothesis:
There is an urgent need to offer the new tool afforded by FDs to patients currently presenting with a difficult aneurysm, in a context that can offer protection from over-optimistic perspectives, fashion, learning curves and marketing. Only a randomized clinical trial can offer such protection as well as provide an answer to the question of which treatment option leads to better patient outcomes. The primary hypothesis is that flow diversion can be performed with an "acceptable" immediate complication rate, defined as less than 15% morbidity and mortality (modified Rankin Score > 2 at 3 months), AND increase the number of patients experiencing successful therapy, defined as complete or near complete occlusion of the aneurysm from 75 to 90%.
Compare flow diversion (FD) to Best-Standard Treatment (BST) in the context of an RCT. BST may be any of the following: 1) conservative management; 2) coiling with or without high porosity stenting; 3) parent vessel occlusion with or without bypass; 4) surgical clipping; 5) enter a registry for FD, when the only treatment alternative is FD for compassionate use.
Following randomization to FD or BST, patients will undergo the assigned intervention and be followed for 12 months. Clinical status will be recorded at discharge, at 1-3 months, and at 3-12 months. Angiographic evaluation will be recorded at 3-12 months. Adverse Events will be recorded immediately after the procedure and during the 12-month follow-up period. Patients in the FD registry will similarly be followed for 12 months. A total of 344 patients will be recruited in 20 centers worldwide. The trial is expected to last for 5 years.
Comparability between FD and BST groups will use descriptive statistics or frequency tables, independent ANOVAs or Mantel-Haentzel and chi-square tests. Comparison of primary outcome will use a z-test for independent proportions at 12 months. Safety data will be compared through independent t-tests or chi-square statistics. Logistic regression will be used to find variables capable of predicting success in both groups at 12 months.
|Study Type :
|Interventional (Clinical Trial)
|Estimated Enrollment :
|344 participants
|Intervention Model:
|Parallel Assignment
|None (Open Label)
|Primary Purpose:
|Official Title:
|A Randomized Trial Comparing Flow Diversion and Best-standard Treatment - the FIAT Trial
|Actual Study Start Date :
|May 2, 2011
|Estimated Primary Completion Date :
|January 2020
|Estimated Study Completion Date :
|January 2020
|Active Comparator: flow diversion
Procedure: flow diversion
endovascular treatment with flow diversion including standard management of thrombo-embolic risk
|Active Comparator: Best standard treatment
Other: conservative management
conservative management is watchful observation of the aneurysm until indication for intervention arises
Procedure: endovascular coiling
standard endovascular coiling of aneurysm with any type of already approved coil. High porosity stents may be used as an adjunct technique to coiling
Procedure: balloon parent vessel occlusion
sacrifice of parent artery of aneurysm by endovascular balloon occlusion with or without bypass
Procedure: surgical clipping
clipping of the aneurysm following invasive brain surgery
Registry for flow diversion
Flow diversion when randomization between flow diversion and best standard treatment is not possible and the only alternative is flow diversion for compassionate use. In this case there will be no random allocation but the patient will be entered into a registry
Procedure: flow diversion
endovascular treatment with flow diversion including standard management of thrombo-embolic risk
- rate of success of therapy [ Time Frame: 12 months ]Rate of success increases from 75% to 90%, with success defined as complete or near complete occlusion of the aneurysm combined with a modified Rankin score of less or equal to 2.
- modified Rankin score [ Time Frame: discharge, 3 and 12 months ]modified Rankin score at discharge, and at 3 and 12 months post-treatment (last observation carried forward)
- rate of peri-operative complications [ Time Frame: 30 days ]rate of ischemic strokes and intracranial hemorrhages during the peri-operative period
- rate of Adverse Events [ Time Frame: 12 months ]rate of new stroke, neurological symptom or sign during follow-up
- angiographic outcome [ Time Frame: 12 months ]degree of occlusion of aneurysm as assessed by invasive or non-invasive imaging (last observation carried forward
- rate of retreatment of index aneurysm [ Time Frame: 12 months ]
Choosing to participate in a study is an important personal decision. Talk with your doctor and family members or friends about deciding to join a study. To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contacts provided below. For general information, Learn About Clinical Studies.
|Ages Eligible for Study:
|18 Years to 75 Years (Adult, Older Adult)
|Sexes Eligible for Study:
|Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
Inclusion Criteria:
- Any patient with a "difficult" intracranial aneurysm in whom flow diversion is considered an appropriate if not the best but yet unproved therapeutic option by the participating clinician. Current indications may be (but not restricted to) symptomatic large or giant cavernous carotid, ophthalmic and vertebral aneurysms, fusiform intradural aneurysms, or recurring, persistent lesions after previous coiling. Aneurysm may be a recent rupture, although risks associated with antiplatelet regimens in this context should make this option rarely used
Exclusion Criteria:
- Severe allergy, intolerance or bleeding disorder that prohibit the use of ASA or clopidogrel.
- Absolute contraindication to endovascular treatment or anesthesia.
- Patients unable to give informed consent.
To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contact information provided by the sponsor.
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier (NCT number): NCT01349582
|Contact: Jean Raymond, MD
|514-890-8000 ext 27235
|Canada, Alberta
|University of Alberta Hospital
|Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
|Contact: Tim Darsaut, MD, MSc firstname.lastname@example.com
|Principal Investigator: Tim Darsaut, MD, MSc
|Canada, Ontario
|The Ottawa Hospital
|Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
|Contact: Betty Anne Schwarz firstname.lastname@example.com
|Principal Investigator: Marlise Santos, MD
|Canada, Quebec
|Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal - Hôpital Notre Dame
|Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H2X 0C1
|Contact: Suzanne Nolet 514-890-8000 ext 26359 email@example.com
|Principal Investigator: Jean Raymond, MD
|Sub-Investigator: Daniel Roy, MD
|Sub-Investigator: Alain Weill, MD
|Principal Investigator:
|Jean Raymond, MD
|Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal - Hôpital Notre Dame
Publications automatically indexed to this study by ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier (NCT Number):
|Responsible Party:
|Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM)
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
|NCT01349582 History of Changes
|Other Study ID Numbers:
|First Posted:
|May 6, 2011 Key Record Dates
|Last Update Posted:
|January 31, 2019
|Last Verified:
|January 2019
Keywords provided by Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM):
flow diversion
endovascular treatment
symptomatic aneurysm
cavernous carotid aneurysm
ophthalmic aneurysm
vertebral aneurysm
Additional relevant MeSH terms:
Intracranial Aneurysm
Vascular Diseases
Cardiovascular Diseases
Intracranial Arterial Diseases
Cerebrovascular Disorders
Brain Diseases
Central Nervous System Diseases
Nervous System Diseases


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This brand new musical, inspired by the life of rock legend Marc Bolan, explodes onto stage nearly 40 years after the star's tragic death. Featuring some of the greatest pop songs ever written, 20th Century Boy tells the story of Marc Bolan and his band T Rex, dispersing the myths and taking the audience on a joyful yet poignant journey through Marc's fascinating life.
Rocker, poet, electric warrior, king of glam and godfather of punk, Bolan was arguably the biggest rock star the UK had ever seen. 'Bigger than The Beatles' the media said.
Before his tragic death in 1977, just days short of his 30th birthday, Bolan lived life at breakneck speed, creating a series of iconic images, a string of number 1 hits, and an army of obsessive fans.
Packed with all T Rex's 70s hits, staged by Gary Lloyd (Thriller Live) and with a West End cast, 20th Century Boy is a glorious story and a celebration of Glam Rock at its colourful best.
20th Century Boy: Wimbledon is not available to book, please sign up to our newsletter for updates and offers on forthcoming and available shows.
Find out more about the venue for your show: Directions, Transport options and facilities.


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Solange Throws Mic Stand At Audience Member Or On Stage?
People are saying she threw it at someone in the crowd. other are saying she threw it on stage. Angle makes it look crazy
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Comments will only be displayed by verified emails. No Spamming or Racism.


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Kingdom necesitaba un nuevo diseño de logotipo y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 137 diseños de 38 diseñadores freelance.
Kingdom Customs
We are a high end custom motorcycle company that creates custom choppers for the luxury market. We are a small shop that turns out high quality machines that are engineered for technical excellence and aggressively styled for todays modern look.
Our target audience are mostly male (some female), ages 25-65 with a significant amount of disposable income. These are individuals that appreciate luxury one-of-a-kind products that stand out from the crowd and have an adventurous side that can only be satisfied with speed, power and modern style. Our clientele are not satisfied with the ordinary!
We need a logo that has a powerful and iconic look. It should be sleek, sophisticated, and not overdone. It needs to create an instantaneous statement, without looking like we tried too hard. Sometimes simple speaks much louder than anything complicated. Keep in mind these words as you create... Sophisticated, Contemporary, luxury market, simple. We have included a logo that contains some of the elements we want to incorporate. The use of the crown is very important, and our company name in type is essential. We are open to interpretations of the crown (variations or different styles) and want our company name in a font that is unique. I do not want to the average person to look at the font and be able to recognize it as a common everyday font used by the average person.
We do not want any clip art type design with cheesy drop shadows etc... Also, avoid the typical motorcycle flames, skulls and "biker babes" type of stuff as this does not represent what our company is all about.
Feel free to modify our existing design, or reinterpret these elements entirely, exhibiting them in a new and exciting way. You may use the existing color palette, or introduce me to something new.
The files we will require are:
Print file format - .ai (CMYK)
Web file format - .jpg and layered .psd (RGB)
Descubre cómo funciona un concurso de diseño u obtén más información sobre nuestros servicios de diseño de logo.


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Rick Ross Interview With Ricky Smiley: "He Needs To Take Tony Yayo Shopping & His Grandparents. Lyrically Im Killin 50 Cent" + Says He Aint Buy 50 Cent's Vitamin Water [Audio]
Rick Ross Speaks To Ricky Smiley Morning Show
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Karin Wüthrich
Matthias Waldhart
Noëmi Frey
Jean-René Wyss
Senta Amacker
Stefanie Salzmann
Bettina Gruber
Stunning post, on a stunning blog! Keep rockin'! +thumbs+ReplyDelete
Everything seems to be quite exo-skeleton in inspiration. Did they all have to meet a specific brief for their final show? The exploration of fabrics and textiles is extremely admirable that it utilises fabric with innovation in mind but does not feel like some student collections that produce forced and contrived outcomes whilst they explored their textiles.
Some of them do feel somewhat close in execution and mood but I would suppose when you are working with other students in the same workroom day in day out you may take inspiration from others work. Ultimately they are better for it so all the power to them
It looked like a great graduate collection that the institute for fashion design Basel should be extremely proud of
You're right about sellability straight off the catwalk, although I kinda see what you mean about the Rick Owensy feel of it all... of course with the exception of Stefanie Salzmann I guess.
Wish they had a lower platform for the catwalk, it's a bit weird staring up like this hehee
as far as i know there was no specific brief for their final show, but i might be wrong.
yes the high platform catwalk indeed needed some time to get use to, but i guess it was for the people in the back rows to be able to see something as well, because the seats weren't heightened.
This really impressed me. Katrin Wüthrichs creations looks stunning, I like that surreal-shoulder jacket.ReplyDelete
I really like the collections and compared to Toronto and other cities there is a certain taste level to these students that many Toronto graduates can't seem to grasp. Graduate students create very "wearable" and conventional things that are constructed beautifully but you can find the same thing in fast fashion stores.
I'm generally more of a colour and print person, but I love the shapes and textures of these pieces. I'm interested to see more from them in the future.
I was also impressed by the show. very high level. very creative.
have a look to my own post: chasingskinnyrabbit.blogspot.com
and by the: I was glad the platform was that high (; my seat was on the back row (;
who ARE you? and why are you so wonderful?
come by sometime,
The Ballon Rouge
I think the designers did a great job, they have managed to create some surrealistic shapes and contures!
Committee can find interesting things to my blog now


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Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and crystal sugar until light and fluffy. Add brown sugar while mixing. Add the eggs, flour mixture, and anise seeds. Beat on low just until the dough begins to come together. Add the almonds and mix just until distributed. Do not overwork. On a floured board, shape the dough into a log, flatten, put on a baking sheet, and chill for 2 hours to allow the dough to relax. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Divide the dough into 2 equal portions on a lightly floured work surface. Using your hands, roll each portion into a log about 3 inches in diameter. Top generously with crystal sugar. Place the logs on the prepared baking sheet and press down lightly to flatten slightly. Logs should be several inches apart. Bake until firm and light brown, about 1 hour or more. When poked with a finger, the dough should feel firm to the touch and not collapse or cave in. Remove from the oven. Let the logs cool completely before serving. Variation : Try substituting 1/2 cup of cacao nibs for 1/2 a cup of almonds. They'll add a subtle chocolate flavor.
*Crystal, or sparkling sugar is large-grained, decorative sugar available in both white and colored versions. It gives the cookies a slightly lighter and moister texture since it has a higher moisture content than granulated sugar. You can substitute turbinado sugar, which is also large grained. It gives a slightly coarser texture. You can also use granulated white sugar with very good results. ;


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It may be that is 1 eastern time and noon our time.
It may be that is 1 eastern time and noon our time.
Reminder, ALL remaining MBB and WBB games can be streamed online through ESPN3 or the host schools website. Also, lots of BB and SB action coming up can be watched and/or streamed.
Going to be a busy weekend between Lamson, Cajundome and phone for baseball.
Damned, LHN. Got it free on Cox it's first year on Cox. Not going to buy it for two games. Well three, I guess, as I could tape it Saturday while I'm in Lafayette.
bump. See post#1 for the calendar. Since it is embedded into the post it is ALWAYS current.
Subscribe to the calendar, and you'll always see the updated list on your phone or mobile devices.
Game shows on ESPN3 website, if you have satellite without CST can you still stream?
Anyone else getting event blacked out on ESPN3?
Football schedule has been added to the calendar. I'll add games times and networks as those are announced.
Bump, it's a busy March. Subscribe to the calendar and your phone will always be updated with the latest UL Sports on TV.
I have been loving this calendar since synced to my phone. Only request is that there were reminders before each event.
Just noticed that our baseball series this weekend at Ark St (all 3 games) are on ESPN3. It's been added to the calendar already.


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City of Lincoln
Mayor's Office
Media Release
Mayor Coleen J. Seng today officially opened the new railroad overpass at 3rd and "A" streets at a ribbon-cutting ceremony. She was joined by representatives of the Railroad Transportation Safety District (RTSD), the South Salt Creek neighborhood and others involved in the project, which includes other traffic and pedestrian improvements in the area.
"The City has been working to find a solution to the increased rail traffic in this neighborhood since the 1980s," said Mayor Seng. "With the leadership of the RTSD and the cooperation of residents, we have improved safety, access and the quality of life in this important area of town."
In 1997, the City and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Company (BNSF) began to plan for the addition of a second track along the 3rd Street corridor. (The second track was installed in the last 1990s.) The RTSD initiated the project and worked closely with the City Urban Development and Public Works and Utilities Departments.
"A strong emphasis was placed on public involvement, including a door-to-door survey and a series of public meetings," said Wynn Hjermstad, Manager of the Community Development Division of the City Urban Development Department. "It was very important to everyone involved with the project that the historic character of the South Salt Creek be maintained and that the project help revitalize this area of the neighborhood."
The new overpass extends from 1st Street to just west of 5th Street. To minimize the impact to homes on the north side of "A" Street, the new overpass was constructed south of "A" Street. The street now serves as a frontage road for access to homes along the north side.
Other related improvements included:


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The Olympic Movement is the concerted, organized, universal and permanent family, carried out under the authority of the International Olympic Committee, by all individuals and entities who are inspired by the values of Olympism. Through education and programming, the movement blends sport with culture to create a standard of friendship, solidarity and fair play.
The Olympic Movement represents the belief in grassroots successes and podium triumphs, and the strength of sport to unify communities, nations and the world.
As the steward of the Olympic Movement in the United States, the U.S. Olympic Committee is responsible for preparing athletes for the challenges they face. The USOC is committed to providing the support and training services athletes need to excel and realize their full potential. No matter if U.S. athletes win gold or struggle in its pursuit, the USOC's goal is to make sure they are better citizens for participating in the Olympic Movement.
The U.S. Olympic Movement is built on the following core values:
Excellence: Giving one's best, on the field of play or in life
Friendship: Building a peaceful and better world through solidarity, team spirit, joy and optimism in sport
Respect: Respect for oneself and one's body, respect for one another, for the rules as well as the environment
Olympism is a philosophy of life, exalting and combining the qualities of body, will and mind in a balanced whole. Blending sport with culture and education, Olympism seeks to create a way of life based on the joy of effort, the educational value of good example, social responsibility and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles. The goal of the Olympic Movement is to contribute to building a peaceful and better world by educating youth through sport practiced in accordance with Olympism and its values.
Olympic Creed
The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.
Olympic Motto
"Citius, Altius, Fortius" is Latin for "Faster, Higher, Braver," but is universally accepted to mean "Swifter, Higher, Stronger."
Olympic Rings
The Olympic symbol — five interlocked rings — represents the union of Africa, America, Asia, Oceania and Europe, and the meeting of the athletes from throughout the world at the Olympic Games. The five colors of the rings from left to right are blue, black and red across the top, and yellow and green along the bottom. The colors of the rings were chosen because at least one of these colors can be found in the flag of every nation.


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Morning MarketBeat: Some Bears Refuse to Hibernate
Pre-Market Brief:
MARKET SNAP: At 5:54 a.m. ET, S&P 500 futures up 0.1%. Treasury yields flat. Nymex up at $95.97; gold up 0.1% at $1,660.10. In Europe, FTSE 100 flat, DAX flat and CAC 40 down 0.1%. In Asia, Nikkei 225 down 0.9% and Hang Seng up 0.4%.
Overnight action: Toyota back in top spot; Abe talks tough to Bank of Japan; France says it secures access to Timbuktu.
Watch for: December Durable Goods Orders (8:30 a.m. Eastern Time): seen up 2.0%, after rising 0.8% a month ago. December Pending Home Sales (10:00): seen up 1.0%, after rising 1.7% a month ago. January Dallas Fed Manufacturing Survey (10:30).
Earnings: Biogen, BMC Software, Caterpillar, Seagate Tech, VMware, Yahoo and Zions Bancorp, among others, are scheduled to report quarterly results.
For more MarketBeat and other streaming markets coverage from The Wall Street Journal, point your mobile browser to wsj.com/marketspulse.
The Breakfast Briefing
One noted bear isn't wavering much in his pessimistic views about the stock market.
John Hussman, president of Hussman Investment Trust, says the increasing optimism accompanying the Dow and S&P 500's relentless push back toward record highs is misplaced. In his latest weekly letter to clients published over the weekend — titled "Capitulation Everywhere" — he sounds as downbeat as ever and remains steadfast in his view that the market is overvalued and ripe for a correction.
"The bears are gone, extinct, vanished," he writes. "Among the ones remaining, many are people whom even I would consider to be either permabears or nutcases. And yet, the historical evidence for major defensiveness has rarely been stronger."
Hussman's downbeat assessment has been overshadowed by a wave of bullishness that has engulfed Wall Street. Several strategists have recently turned more upbeat: Deutsche Bank's David Bianco sees the S&P 500 at 1600 by year-end and BTIG's Dan Greenhaus raised the prospect that the index could reach 1650. Mom-and-pop investors have started coming back to stocks and sentiment surveys show market participants are feeling pretty optimistic these days.
Meanwhile, the economy is improving, central banks continue to pump money into the financial system, corporate earnings aren't horrible and turmoil in Washington has waned.
Yet as WSJ's Jonathan Cheng reports, some bears are holding true to their word. At least four prominent strategists have called for the S&P 500 to finish 2013 with either a loss, or to end roughly flat.
Hussman's bearishness also doesn't appear to be going away anytime soon. He throws cold water on the "great rotation" theory, says he isn't impressed by the recent decline in jobless claims (he thinks it's due to seasonal adjustments) and points to what he calls the "overvalued, overbought, over bullish, rising yields syndrome" taking place right now in stock and bond markets.
"Our defensiveness is certainly uncomfortable here, but in my view, the primary risk of investors is the intolerance of missed gains in a mature bull market, impatience with a defensive position, and capitulating against both discipline and evidence," Hussman says.
Earnings season is in full swing this week, with several big technology companies — Amazon.com Inc., Facebook Inc. and Yahoo Inc. — scheduled to report. The economic calendar is full, capped by the monthly jobs report on Friday.
The Dow is less than 300 points away from its all-time high. If the data cooperate, this could be the week investors push the blue chips toward record territory.
Such a prospect likely won't prompt Hussman to hibernate anytime soon. He notes the growing spread between bulls and bears in the weekly Investors Intelligence advisory surveys is a sure-fire warning sign for what lies ahead.
"Nobody cares," he says. "They should."
Morning MarketBeat Daily Factoid: On this day, the actor Alan Alda, who played Hawkeye Pierce in the TV series M*A*S*H, turns 77 years old.
–Steven Russolillo[wsj-responsive-more-in tag="Morning MarketBeat" category="" ]
Stocks to Watch
Caterpillar, part of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, is projected to post fourth-quarter earnings of $1.70 a share, according to the consensus of analysts who follow the manufacturer of heavy equipment and industrial vehicles.
Also on the early side, Biogen is forecast to generate a consensus fourth-quarter profit of $1.46 a share.
Likely to garner the most attention, Yahoo is expected to report fourth-quarter earnings of 27 cents a share, according to a consensus survey by FactSet.
Must Reads
Citi Crafts Comic Push For Survey's Top Ranking: "The head of foreign-exchange sales at the New York bank has created an alter ego, 'Berniman,' as part of an effort to generate votes in Euromoney's annual ranking of foreign-exchange firms."
Surging Stocks Leave Bears on Their Heels: "The rally in U.S. stocks is leaving strategists with bearish views on the defensive, but companies are taking a less optimistic view of the outlook for earnings."
Traders Make Peace With Computers: "Years after an electronic-trading onslaught began decimating their ranks, Wall Street traders are making peace with computers."
Ahead of the Tape: Waiting for Yahoo to Call a Brighter Tune: "Coulda, woulda, shoulda. There is no sense dwelling on the $23 billion in incremental value Yahoo Inc. left on the table by spurning Microsoft Corp.'s buyout offer. That was five years and three CEOs ago. Monday's fourth-quarter earnings report will tell investors how Yahoo is doing today."
Treasury Investors Fret Over Fed Danger: "Ahead of a Wednesday policy statement from the U.S. Federal Reserve, worries are growing over how long the central bank will sustain its bond purchasing and the potential effect on the long-running rally."
Fed Seems Set to Keep the Money Spigot Open: "Federal Reserve officials are likely to continue their easy-money policies when they gather this week to weigh a mixed economic outlook and a recent run of low inflation."
Heard on the Street: Yielding to Bonds' Dark Side: "By keeping interest rates ultra low, central banks including the Federal Reserve may have created a ticking time-bomb for investors in the bond market."
Pfizer Unit Seeks $2.2 Billion in IPO: "A brisk week in the IPO market will be headlined by animal-medicine maker Zoetis Inc., which is aiming to raise as much as $2.2 billion in what would be the largest deal from a U.S. company since Facebook Inc.'s initial public offering."
Heard on the Street: The Key to Oil: Location, Location, Location: "Rising production from inland U.S. fields has overwhelmed the logistical infrastructure that gets oil to market, creating a long list of winners and losers for investors."
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Home Topics Gurmessa Ayano
Gurmessa Ayano
Ethiopia opposition politicians jailed for defying judges during trial
Leading Ethiopian opposition politician Bekele Gerba among a group of four persons jailed six-months by a federal High Court in the capital, Addis Ababa.
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