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Based on empirical evidence, Fraggle Rock is where Democrats go when they die. Daily sing-alongs. A thirty-minute work week. And an omniscient trash heap who could very well be the personification of Chicago.
Or New Jersey, one supposes, but c'mon – that's low hanging fruit.
Regardless, my daughter is fond of Fraggles, presumably because she does not yet fall into any sort of Fraggle subsidizing tax bracket. It is for this reason my wife and I were dismayed when it appeared briefly that Netflix had ceased to stream the series and in its place left the following:
This was presumably recommended because it's early May – you know, practically Christmas. And because there is, in the eyes of Mother Netflix, no difference between a series about a race of tiny benevolent communists and a Christmas special starring a man who's 78% pectoral muscle and who routinely thrusts sharp objects in the air while bellowing, "I have the power!"
Based on the last point, I'd be inclined to assume both He-Man and She-Ra are teamsters, but Eternia is definitely a Republican district. Furthermore, I'm not entirely convinced He-Man and She-Ra aren't the elected representatives given their vigorous exercise of second amendment rights. And if one needs further proof that Eternia operates with relatively little government oversight, I also submit the apparent lack of indecent exposure statutes and Mr. Man's subsequent tendency to do battle in nothing but his Fruit of the Looms.
Of course, until now, I was unaware that Mr. Man and Ms. Ra had a Christmas special at all. Again, I suspect this is a result of their choice in apparel. Hailing from the upper Midwest, I just naturally assumed no one goes outside in December without first using their lightsaber to hollow out a bantha. Since neither He nor She, if I might get on a first name basis with our protagonists, appeared the parka sort, I just sort of assumed they hibernated until spring. Leaving Skeletor, the most sensibly dressed of the lot, a well deserved opportunity to go on a ski trip.
However, this is not so. Instead, they loose Orko upon our world. Don't remember Orko? Well, PTSD will do that.
Yes. Him. The character with a voice like a fly next to your ear. And what does Orko do when left to his own devices? Near as I can figure, he is brought up on at least two charges of kidnapping and a few dozen more relating to felony child endangerment, but why don't you be the judge? Here's the Netflix synopsis of He-Man and She-Ra: A Christmas Special:
"After accidentally landing on Earth, Orko returns to Eternia with a Christmas tree and two children who explain the holiday's meaning. Fearing the Christmas spirit could thwart his evil, Horde Prime orders Skeletor to kidnap the little Earthlings."
Here's a tip. When visiting Earth, shopping for souvenirs, and spotting unattended children, the correct response is not, "Oh! I'll take two! They're small!" Allow me to illustrate why. Pardon me, but…Orko? Someone is here to see you.
Yes, Merry Christmas to you, too. Why don't you take a seat over there?


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Mom to 11-month-old Bear Blu and author of the vegan cookbook The Kind Diet, this former Batgirl is Clueless no more.
Describe your parenting style in one word: Attuned.
Favorite TV family of all time (real or fictional): The Taylors from Friday Night Lights.
What's always in your refrigerator? Vegenaise, Earth Balance "butter," and umeboshi plum vinegar—yum! We also eat a lot of flaxseed oil and kale.
Last meal you made for your family: Healing Miso Soup from my book, The Kind Diet.
Behavioral/physical trait you hope your child doesn't inherit from you: Being a workaholic. I want to support a relaxed, confident, and deeply loved passionate little being.
Favorite place on earth: Breastfeeding my son and staring into his eyes, while holding his little tush.
Best piece of parenting advice you ever got: It passes so quickly, so enjoy every moment.
First word that pops into your head when you hear the word "mom:" My heart just melts.
What is your favorite green/natural product? The EcoTools cosmetic bags I designed. I love that being green can also mean being beautiful and chic.
Is Bear Blu vegan? I breastfeed, so yes, he is vegan. And he will be vegan as long as I'm feeding him. I want him to have the healthiest start as possible in life, and I hope he's inspired and excited by how we live.

subset: commoncrawl


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Student or Learner
hi, english is my second language so I always stuck on the grammar.... Thank You!!!!
In the past decade, Yahoo Finance datashow the CAD highest value is in January 2002 which is $1.6121US. I will use$10,000 as my investment fund to calculate earning profit. The data will beshowing from October 2001 to October 2012 which makes up a total of ten years. Furthermore,I need to calculate every month and year earning. Therefore, the following twoparagraphs will calculate the first five years and the next two paragraphs willcalculate the last five years. My expectation of where the CAD will trade overthe next coming decade is between $1.00-1.20US since the Canadas economic isgrowing strong.
Despite whichrules I apply on my investment, I found out it really work well. The most obviousrule is investing that you do not want to move in and out when the value dropone or two points. Every investment needs a long time to see how this stock goingbefore making decision to leave or not. It comes true. Obviously, if thosepeople who bought the shares in the past decade in which the CAD highest rateis $1.6121US. Currently, the rate isdrop to 0.99US which they can choose to sell or keep the share to make a maximizeprofit. However, many investors including myself think the CAD will keepdevalue so we can maximize our profit for few more years.
Which phrase or sentence is causing the difficulty?


text: Pubdate: Wed, 18 Mar 2009 Source: Bend Weekly (OR) Copyright: 2009 Bend Weekly News Contact: http://www.bendweekly.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4514 Author: Allan Erickson Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n311/a10.html LEGALIZING MARIJUANA IS SANE, HEALTHIER ALTERNATIVE TO DRUG WAR MADNESS The column by Debra Saunders, The Drug War Body Count, (Mon, March 16, 2009) is a necessary read. The time has come to end this drug war madness. We now have cartels operating with impunity in every major city in the U.S. When legalization is the subject it is not just the pot smokers. Three former Latin American presidents are not lightweight figures by any means. Even the Obama administration is now taking steps, making needle exchanges a priority shift over previous administrations punish-at-all-costs priorities. Yet here in Oregon drug war madness still has a lot of momentum. Dan Harmon and his group Associated Oregon Industries are trying to eliminate the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program. Grants Pass Rep Ron Maurer wants to have the state grow cannabis, taking that right away from patients. In reality complete legalization will eliminate not just the hassle imposed on patients and citizen tokers but will drive the cartels from the pot industry in Oregon. Legalization is the sane, healthier alternative to the societally crippling disease of drug war madness. Allan Erickson, Drug Policy Forum of Oregon - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom


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Hotspot Shield provides secure and private access to a free and open internet. Enabling access to social networks, sports, audio and video streaming, news, dating, gaming wherever you are.
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If you want to change your IP location and protect your
private data, this is the app you want!
I've been using it for several months on my PC, Mac, iPad,
and iPhone. Works smooth in the background.
As an English sports fan in America I've got this app to keep an eye on BBC 5 Live sports.
Join over 650 million users already enjoying absolute Internet Freedom around the world by downloading Hotspot Shield VPN.


text:
VesaV needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 213 designs submitted by 28 freelance designers.
menestysvoima --(is Finnish and combines two words: menestys=success, voima=strength)
I'm a professional Business and Life Coach. Part of my work is also doing trainings. For corporate clients my mission is to unleash their human potential. For Life Coaching clients I'm passionate about helping them create quality of life with inner and outer success balanced.
In my work there are always two aspects:
1) Bringing more clarity to the goals
2) Creating and sustaining energy and strength to achieve their goals.
The logo is to reflect those qualities.
Both corporate and private clients interested in utilizing more of their potential through the use of coaching and training services. My customers are both male and female. Ages vary usually between 30-50.
They are interested in making themselves and their community (family, company, etc.) a better place.
The logo may incorporate only text or it can use images in addition to the text.
Note: Please work on this project without browsing the other design submissions first. I'd love to see your unique ideas!
Suggestion for qualities that the logo can communicate: simplicity, energy, movement, expansion, wave, focus, clarity, strength...
I like simple and original designs.
Some examples of simple and widely recognizable logos:
The designed logo will be used on the web and in printed materials(brochures and business cards).
Two versions will be required from the winner: one on white background AND one on black background.
The files required are:
Print file format - .ai (CMYK)
Web file format - .jpg and layered .psd (RGB)
I will provide feedback to all designers and will be happy to answer questions if you have any.
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


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By Andrew Liszewski
Inspired by the music video for Michael Jackson's Billie Jean, designer Roberto Paoli created these faux backyard stepping stones that are lit from within. Their soft glow can be used to illuminate or draw attention to a garden area, or simply make it easier for someone to navigate your backyard in the dead of night. Unfortunately unlike the magical tiles in Michael Jackson's video these steps don't specifically light up when stepped or danced on, but they are a slick alternative to the more traditional individual lights that landscapers often use to illuminate walkways. As for pricing and availability? According to Ballerhouse you should be able to get them from Serralunga, an Italian design shop, but I haven't had much luck finding them on their site.
[ Robert Paoli – Jacko Steps ] VIA [ Ballerhouse ]


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About this font family
Le Monde Livre Classic is a Renaissance style typeface that works beautifully on text and titling settings.
Designed as an extension of Le Monde Livre, this family distinguishes itself by its historical forms and by its stylistic effects. Le Monde Livre Classic's italics follow the models of the Renaissance and feature italic capital and lowercase swashes. In 2012, this family was fully rebuilt from scratch.
Le Monde Livre Classic works beautifully for book typography, magazine settings from text to display. This family brings more exuberance in your designs.
- Basic text strings
- Random text strings
- News feeds
- Pangrams
Available formats
available in all of the styles:


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krazy kanji
Added Mar 8, 2009
Paris, France
The hardest thing about making this shirt was downloading the pattern!
Once you figure out that the pattern is the front half joined to the back half at the shoulder, the rest is unbelievably simple! So simple in fact that I didn't think I'd get anything out of it. This is my first attempt with cheap fabric and made fast and I love it! Next time I'll spend more on the fabric and spend more time making it. I would probably cut real sleeves instead of using the pattern ones.
If you feel like giving it a go, don't be put off by the kanji, you just paste the link, download files A-M the instructions are 1-7 (You have to download each page separately). This pattern is surprising but really great, and it's FREE!
Material Notes
Ribbed cream coloured cheap lycra.
Sakko for providing the link and inspiring me to give it a try!
21 Comments Sign in to add a post
Jun 4, 2016, 11.56 PMby Jennifer Todd
I love your top! Do you have a link for this pattern?
Mar 2, 2013, 10.40 AMby Marisol Castañedagreat shirt! something I've been looking for. unfortunately none of the given links work! help!
Apr 28, 2010, 08.50 PMby doudou
Thank you so much – you and Sakko – for having found and shared the link !!!
Apr 8, 2010, 06.07 PMby jacceber
So, it's a year later but the shirt is still fabulous…any chance you can post the pattern? TKS!
2 Replies
Apr 10, 2010, 09.17 PMby sunflowerinski
Thanks for your comments but I don't have the pattern files anymore, just the paper cut-outs.
I'll ask around and see if I can get ahold of them, if not I'll try and post the measurements, it's a really simple pattern.
Apr 28, 2010, 12.02 PMby sunflowerinski
Thanks to wonderful Sakko for finding the new link. Here it is : http://www.polkadrops.com/category/free-pattern/properly/ppf14.htm
Apr 3, 2010, 08.03 AMby doudou
So beautiful ! I love it ! But the link does not work anymore… can I ask you to send me the files ? it'd be so nice !!! Many thanks and bravo !
Jan 6, 2010, 04.17 PMby mommy2three
Love this, but was wondering if someone had a link that works…it looks like it has been removed from the above site. :(
Jun 22, 2009, 08.21 AMby ink
Beautiful! I can imagine that this was very difficult to sew. Looks flawless.
Mar 13, 2009, 08.27 PMby nglalala
Adorable! I love it! Thanks for the hints about downloading the pattern!
Mar 10, 2009, 06.54 AMby sewbissy
Great job! Beautiful.
Mar 9, 2009, 10.13 PMby thecuriouskiwi
I love it! Thank you so much for posting the link, I have just downloaded and I'm looking forward to having a go myself. I think you've done a great job and your fabric choice and colour look beautiful on you. I especially like the length, thanks again :)
Mar 9, 2009, 04.50 PMby mjb14
Beautiful top – well done.
Mar 9, 2009, 04.12 PMby harmony758
I was just lurking around for something comfy and cool to make. Your shirt looks great! I think I've found my next project! Great job!
Mar 9, 2009, 02.13 PMby TerezaSews
oh that's adorable! I'm going to try that sometime! Thanks!
Mar 9, 2009, 11.41 AMby xxmarsha
Wow this looks great! Good job
Mar 9, 2009, 09.42 AMby polychromatin
Great job, beautiful top!
Mar 9, 2009, 06.28 AMby bussey
I agree with IchiGoGirl about the look of your top. Maybe I'll have a look at the pattern…
Mar 9, 2009, 04.08 AMby ichigogirl
Aaaah, a downloadable japanese pattern, thank you for the link! Your top looks great, stylish. I like the material too (doesn't look cheap at all).
Mar 9, 2009, 01.46 AMby sakko
wow, I like you variation!!! It looks so different and really looks nice! I love to try your variation too!
Mar 8, 2009, 12.02 PMby jem1022
This is totally stylish and looks like alot of work went into it…..love it..
Mar 8, 2009, 11.25 AMby amandamargaret
it looks fabulous and comfy. i've seen something similar in anthropologie catalogs lately. very romantic. you did a great job! sweet that it's free! i'm going to go take a gander…
Mar 8, 2009, 11.09 AMby camilaustral
it looks great!! i'm taking a look
Add to Favorites 80 people added it


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William Levy Is Clearly the New 'Dancing With the Stars' Stud – Hunk of the Day
William Levy was at the top of Spanish PEOPLE's 50 sexiest men of 2011, starred opposite Jennifer Lopez in her music video for 'I'm Into You,' and now we'll be seeing him on the upcoming season of 'Dancing with the Stars.'
ABC needed at least one heartthrob, and quite frankly Jack Wagner and Roshon Fegan just didn't cut it. And what a heartthrob it picked.
Levy was offered a spot in the hunk-filled cast of 'Magic Mike,' where he could have starred as a sexy male stripper alongside Channing Tatum, Joe Manganiello and Matt Bomber. But no, Levy had to turn it down (you know, 'cause he's obviously too sexy for the role) in order to pursue different projects in Hollywood.
Clearly this was a bad move on his part because only celebs on the B List and below are asked to dance on the show. Taking your shirt off and becoming an international sex symbol? Or shaking your butt to ballroom music alongside Cheryl Burke for a television audience? Is the better choice not clear?


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A few days ago, Jeanne was kind enough to give me an award for this blog. It's called the A Hoy award and is named after athlete Chris Hoy - with his permission, apparently. Now, I know you all have thousands of these blogosphere awards, but this is my first one, so bear with me.
The rules (copied below as per the instructions) state that, of the five people I can pass this on to, two of them have to be ones I don't have on my blogroll. Tricky, because if I find another blog that I like enough to give the award to, I'll immediately also want to add it so I can keep up!
This is also tricky because there are no particular criteria to follow, so I've decided to go for cookery blogs because:
a) recipes are fab and useful,
b) it's easy to find new ones to investigate, and
c) people who are posting regular recipes are working much harder than I am at this whole blogging malarkey!
So, in no particular order, the new winners are:
- Johanna at Green Gourmet Giraffe - awarded for colour as she is constantly posting the most beautiful, colourful food photos I've seen on the web (or in most cook books for that matter).
- 365 Days of Pure Vegetarian - awarded for her enviable strength & stamina as she has inspired me with her veggie, Indian recipes even while heavily pregnant (so undoubtedly blogging is not her top priority at this very moment).
- Ricki at Diet, Dessert & Dogs - awarded for leaning towards the sweet-and-sticky, husband-pleasing end of the recipe spectrum.
- The Cupcake Project - awarded for believing that the best things come in small packages and for daring to suggest, in our diet-obsessed times, an innovative way to make an unhealthy snack even more unhealthy!
- Sophie at Flour Arrangements - awarded for the witty title, and because a source of gluten-free cake recipes will come in handy for my mum's birthday (shh, don't tell her!)
The Rules (for passing on this award)
- Pick five blogs that you consider deserve this award based upon any criteria - for example, the quality of the commentary, wit, humour, artwork, overall design, value to you of the information being provided, and so on.
- The awarding blogger should choose at least two blogs not on his or her own blogroll, the purpose being to encourage variety of reading matter, and to have the person making the award think about what they like to see and read.
- Your five choices must be published in a dedicated post on your own blog. This post must contain the name of the author (which may be their logon name), and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone. This post should contain brief details of what attracted you to the blog. Details may also be posted in the comments section of "What is a Hoy?"
- In the same dedicated post, each winner has to show the award and acknowledge the blog that has given him or her the award.
- Both those awarding and receiving A Hoy must show the link to A Hoy blog, so that everyone will know the origin of this award.
- When publishing details of the blogs to which you have made your awards, these rules must be published for recipients to follow.


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Legends at their clubs because of their loyalty, one-club players are becoming increasingly rare because of the money now involved in football.
Here is a list of the top 10 one-club men - only including those players still at their respective clubs.
10. Victor Valdes | Barcelona
The Spanish keeper is at number 10 on the list as, although he has been loyal to the Catalan giants, he is expected to leave the Nou Camp by next summer.
9. Iker Casillas | Real Madrid
Casillas may not have played much for Real Madrid last year, but he is undoubtedly a legend at the Bernabeu.
8. Steven Gerrard | Liverpool
The loyal midfielder is the only Englishman on the list, even though he was linked with a move away from Anfield several years ago.
7. Igor Akinfeev | CSKA Moscow
The Russian keeper remains, to this day, loyal to CSKA Moscow - and helped them win the league and finish runners-up in the Russian cup last season.
6. Daniele De Rossi | AS Roma
The midfielder is still at Roma but his loyalty may have to soon be questioned if big clubs continue to pursue his signature.
5. Bastian Schweinsteiger | Bayern Munich
The 28-year-old has long been a regular in both the Bayern Munich and Germany midfields.
4. Andres Iniesta | Barcelona
The gifted Iniesta has remained loyal to Barcelona throughout their finest years and scored the winner in the 2010 World Cup final for Spain.
3. Francesco Totti | AS Roma
Yes, he is still playing - and yes, he is still at Roma. He is arguably Roma's greatest ever player.
2. Xaxi | Barcelona
The master of the pass has spent his entire career at Barcelona and is a vital part of their style of football.
1. Carlos Puyol | Barcelona
Yes, Puyol is officially the greatest current one-club man in the world of football. He has lifted many titles and looks set to lift many more before retiring.
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DISCLAIMER: This article has been written by a member of the GiveMeSport Writing Academy and does not represent the views of GiveMeSport.com or SportsNewMedia. The views and opinions expressed are solely that of the author credited at the top of this article. GiveMeSport.com and SportsNewMedia do not take any responsibility for the content of its contributors.


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Europe's Week Ahead: FOMC Expected to Color Sentiment
With forward guidance failing to have the desired impact in the U.S., the euro zone and the U.K., financial markets will be looking to the latest FOMC minutes and Chinese activity data to drive risk sentiment.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
I ... the the ... who has seen its leases Chinese PMI is I liked it on the markets and the next week ... what does this mean that global risk sentiment ... will improve again ... yet until I was beat us a glimpse of the week ahead of us bought me a ... lot it looks like ... they're all convinced the faith that it was to come up the next data by state well maybe not ... while it's ... true this offers only last for too much in place even think that common smoke on Idol said but this well ... a new ... Fed officials Fed officials about in the province ... in fact it's a ... taper ... in September of TiVo or even a space of December ... but what they did agree on is the perfect resume up its mind getting screens content to watch what they think it's neat to the following weeks ... of all they have made up in one market seemed to me that the money the ... Treasury quick trip to Israel sexy Anheuser and assigning so it's it's like to talk to leave it solution tied up ... to balloons and kills twelve level contract I am ... setting thinking next to the FOMC minutes will meet with a more dovish than the stock set of comments that their tapering will essentially ... change the whole world as we know and I guess in a decisive role does he think I think that of the things that has forced twentieth September tapering joking ... when to use its policy over the Fed ... system will be on the US what's he on the time is just as important is that in fact the side ... of the London Fed tapering is in everyone's mind what's going on what's going on ... it now assumes the Suffolk and we haven't been on an idea what's going to actually happen ... China's going to come back into it began to focus in ... life if it still doesn't talk about a month ... to conceal his true seemed to ... be quite so it might be stabilizing to get people to do it this year my sweet yet next week and got back HSBC Flash PMI ... not that off one side of cycling talk to the official figure for the HSBC was ... shut contraction official biggest regret summertime to see which one ... is going to be penciling was the very top ... a deal with people's trust that they can ... I see that that's the question masa with and without the Chinese authorities to actually start to perhaps ... try to stimulate the economy ... from the suburbs without too much okay ... the a aam ... then this is the euro zone audience on GDP data this week has suggested that maybe it's coming out of that recession as people think about ... what we like it makes me ... lean cuts with some of the recovery of the things on on my face Love effects of expected but still makes me cry ... of in place for next week we have PMI flash PMI surveys ... for years and handle said of the Gemini plays that pay as well ... now ... Jenny Frost CCB doubling times the GDP data Sara Adelson milestones PMI surveys to expect more to say next week ... but if it doesn't deliver the years as the holders and to never ... again it's going to cost out in this this this makes a recovery that we see the displaced because as you said you two IPOs in the way but the same time although the season so they ... don't look it this is this of this to us today ... I think that ... in years and itself is not ... saying I want ... China Recovery but was still on the descent how much recovery showing itself ... I think this is no policy still remains effective the scope of the pumpkin second plan is still stubbornly high credit conditions are still quite weak said off ... as for reasons because ... this week we had a pretty that I love it okay that this for guidance that the scope of the new Gov that isn't necessarily what you tried so great stuff was ... basically don't seem to think that the Fed me entertain you kill your climb to highest level since August twenty eleven ... I mean investor confidence and forgotten it's not that strong ... the recent data from the UK has been showing improvement fire and ... received the continued improvement could slice of the labor market also in France ... I'm and ... any kid in the debates are them and this is can be watched for more improvements I ... wasting my wising ever all we that Fed officials believe in the Northwest who directs the Yukon thing for me I'm still a question and ... it's ... not that simple ... corporates ... you need anything there for them they also lead the conflict ... hi I'm calls but Mexican far as I'm fracas Heineken is facing pressure from Boeing signed on to Western Europe ... I'm keen much marketplace like ... Vietnam like Shari'a and Eastern Europe are also showing signs of weakness in the past the pressures are increasing ... now calls the Bolsa faces simple things in your right to have a stronger foothold in Asia ... becoming increasingly important part of the grade three phone calls but ... I miss expects double digit rates because the effect ... that may stem from nations that actually but other than to the exclusive insight to the FSA of thank the much indeed ...


text:
More of Randall's Favorite Learning Resources
What questions might you ask a taxi driver before and after you board the taxi?
Listen to the conversation again as you read the Quiz Script.
Read the Explanation
of Answers.
Practice the conversation with a partner. Also write your own conversation involving a driver and a passenger. What types of questions do people often ask a taxi driver about the ride or about the local area? Do people tip taxi drivers? If so, how much do you give the driver?
Imagine that you want to travel from your house or apartment to the nearest airport (or other destination of your choosing). How much would it cost to hire a taxi or shuttle to make the trip? Use the Internet to identify companies in your area that provide such a service, the cost per passenger, and any other associated fees.
Want to Tell People About This Listening Activity?


text:
Genome Statute and Legislation Database SearchStart a New Search Glossary of Terms
|Citation/ Title
(link to state's page)
|South Dakota
|State Statute:
|Health Insurance Nondiscrimination
|A health carrier may not require or request an individual or his/her blood relative to take a genetic test or consider the fact that a genetic test was refused in determining eligibility for coverage, establishing premiums, limiting coverage, renewing coverage, or any other underwriting decision in connection with the offer, sale, or renewal of health insurance. The insurance director may promulgate rules concerning genetic information and group health benefit plans. In individual, group and blanket health insurance plans, genetic information may not be treated as a pre-existing condition in the absence of a diagnosis. Small employer carriers may not establish rules for eligibility or continued eligibility based on a health status-related factor, including genetic information.
Last Reviewed: May 25, 2018


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Outdoor Kitchens in Bayonne, New Jersey
Want an Outdoor Kitchen In Bayonne?
Building an Outdoor Kitchen & Increase the Value of Your Home
Adding an outdoor kitchen to your Bayonne home will not only increase the value of your house, but the quality of your life. Everlast Construction & Painting LLC has been building outdoor kitchens, decks, and fire pits in Bayonne for 19 years. Put our many years of experience in backyard improvements to work for you. Everlast Construction & Painting LLC is the obvious choice for making an outdoor living that suits your needs and matches your dreams.
Bayonne Backyard Enhancements Offered
Many Everlast Construction & Painting LLC customers have gorgeous New Jersey evenings in their own beautifully crafted outdoor kitchens in Bayonne. Here are a few of the outdoor living enhancements offered by Everlast Construction & Painting LLC in addition to outdoor kitchens Bayonne, NJ residents can enjoy.
- Fire pits
- Stone pathways
- Patios
- Decks
- Pergolas
- ...and much more!
Customer Service is Our Priority
Since 2000, Everlast Construction & Painting LLC has developed a long-standing reputation in Bayonne for installing outdoor kitchens, decks and other outdoor enhancements as promised, and within budget. Not only are our customers pleased with our work; they're delighted with how we work. During each step of the process, we make sure you are pleased with the results. We take great pride in building Bayonne, NJ outdoor kitchens and living areas, and we want you to be as happy with our work as we are.
When it comes to outdoor kitchens in Bayonne, NJ, no one does it better than Everlast Construction & Painting LLC. We have a passion for our work and our customers that is second to none. Our outdoor living professionals have the passion and expertise to make your dreams a reality. All it takes is one call from you. Call now: (973) 333-4540.
Call for FREE Outdoor Kitchens Quote
(973) 333-4540
★★★★★ - "I bought a house from the auction and I was looking to hire a contractor for my interior and exterior remodeling and I was so pleased to hire Everlast Construction and Painting. Jerry and his crew were honest and friendly. They were showing up always on time,very skilled and professional. I would highly recommend Everlast Construction and Painting."
Edi in Lodi, NJ2018-03-01


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Getting a Visa
If you will study at Marquette with an F-1 or J-1 student visa and you are currently living outside of the United States, we suggest that you arrange for the appropriate visa as soon as possible with the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate. Security procedures may require extra visa processing time.
The visa application process can differ from country to country. It is important to research the application process at the embassy or consulate where you will apply. For more information about visa application requirements, visit the U.S. Department of State student visa website.
If you currently live in the U.S. and have questions about your visa or status, please email your OIE adviser.


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We want to thank the 5,000+ people who took the time to tell us about your experiences of online pornography. We hope that your willingness to trust us with your feelings about this will be repaid by the way we use them.
It will take us some time to carry out our analyses of this very large and complex set of responses. We will be exploring both the statistics these generate, and the (often very long) answers to our open questions – and the relations between these. We will then be presenting and publishing our findings in a variety of ways. We will publish a digest of our main findings here on this website, you can find preliminary results here and the original questionnaire is available here.
This is very important to us. One of the main motives for our research was that porn research has been dominated by completely artificial, and highly judgemental ways of investigating, that simply won't ask ordinary people what they enjoy about porn, and what it means to them. Instead, such research judges from afar, and effectively presumes them (you) to be incompetent, and damaged. It also aims its results towards moral campaigners and policy-makers, not the people it is claiming to talk about. We belong to a different research tradition which believes that people who contribute to knowledge should have the chance to think about and learn from that knowledge. So, we aim to make what we learn as available and accessible as we can to you, our participants.
Thanks again.
Clarissa Smith, Feona Attwood & Martin Barker


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Sakura is a glitter topcoat made up of spring green circle, square and hex glitters, pink circle glitters, hot pink circle glitters, translucent white square glitter, iridescent glitters of various sizes, and pink flower shaped glitter. This is two coats of Darling Diva Polish: Sakura over 2 coats of Zoya: Kennedy. The glitter applied pretty well, I didn't have to fish at all for the flower shaped glitter. Formula was actually really great!
You can find Darling Diva Polish on their Facebook here, Etsy here (on vacation until May 3rd), and on Llarowe!
Don't forget to follow us on Facebook and to enter in my giveaway for Llarowe gift certificates!
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April 15, 2006
A violent spring thunderstorm ripped through campus late Friday night, falling several trees and ripping the roof off Kingery Hall. No injuries from the storm have been reported.
Kingery Hall will be closed through the remainder of the school year. Campus services crews, along with faculty and staff, quickly moved out boxes of books, computers, and phones before more storms arrived in Montgomery County on Friday night.
More than a dozen trees fell across the Wabash campus, including one of the largest white oak trees in Montgomery County; several pine and hemlock trees; and a maple tree fell on a College-owned house on Crawford Street.
Crews worked overtime through the weekend, and continued on Monday cleaning up from one of the worst storms to hit Wabash in decades.
Click here to see Photos
Click here to see More Photos


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In the end, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio will be the Democratic nominee for mayor after Bill Thompon this week opted to bow out of the race, avoiding a costly runoff election. Not that we think Thompson would have had much chance if it came to that, anyway.
To win outright, de Blasio needed at least 40 percent of the vote in a crowded race that featured five viable candidates. De Blasio got just over 40 percent – barely, he didn't even get 41 percent – and Thompson, who got about 26 percent of the vote, was clinging to the chance a recount and the additional paper and absentee ballots would swing the percentages slightly in his favor, and cause de Blasio to dip below that 40 percent threshold.
But even if that had happened, de Blasio still would have had a commanding lead and it would have been unlikely he would have lost in a runoff given the support he garnered from such a wide demographic of voters, although crazier things have happened. (Just ask Mark Green, who came in second in the primary, only to defeat Fernando Ferrer in a runoff in 2001.)
But there will be a runoff for the Public Advocate seat, as neither Councilwoman Letitia James or State Senator Daniel Squadron is poised to drop out. The two were neck and neck in the primary, with James falling just below the 40 percent mark and Squadron not far behind.
The person who came in third in the race, Cathy Guerriero, endorsed Squadron for the job on Tuesday morning, so he's got that going for him.
An interesting side note about the runoff is that it will cost the city about $13 million to figure out who Democratic voters want representing them in the general election for a post that most people don't even know exists, let alone what it does.
To put that in perspective, the annual budget of the public advocate's office is about $2 million, so we are going to spend about six times the amount to figure out who might (remember, there is still a general election) be our next public advocate than said public advocate will spend during their first year in office.
Go democracy!
Another race, albeit on a much smaller scale, that is still technically up in the air is the race to replace Dan Halloran, who chose not to seek another City Council term given the bribery scandal surrounding him.
At last tally, Paul Vallone was leading Austin Shafran by just 136 votes, but there were still 1,000 paper ballots still to be counted.
Vallone, whose brother is Councilman Peter Vallone, Jr. and whose father is former City Council Speaker Peter Vallone, Sr., claimed victory on election night, but Shafran has yet to give Vallone the obligatory concessionary phone call, so this race is still up in the air.
"Whether you pulled a lever on Election Day or filled out a paper ballot, we are fighting to make sure your vote is counted," read a statement from the Shafran campaign.
Stay tuned!


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The Woodside School Foundation in Woodside, Calif., is a fantastically successful local education foundation (LEF). Since 1983, it has been raising money for the Woodside School District, which is made up of a single public elementary school that enrolls fewer than 500 students. Between 1998 and 2003, the last year for which data are available, the foundation collected more than $10 million, adding several thousand dollars per student per year to public funds for the school. Woodside Elementary uses that money for programs in music, art, physical education, and technology, says Superintendent Dr. Daniel A. Vinson. The school has won the top rating on California's Academic Performance Index (API) for the past six years.
Less than 10 miles away in East Palo Alto is the Ravenswood City School District. Ravenswood does not have its own school foundation, although it could use more funding. The district, which serves 4,500 students in grades K-8, regularly struggles to provide such basics as textbooks, classroom supplies, and building maintenance, says interim Superintendent Maria de la Cruz. Families are not in a position to help, since 94 percent of Ravenswood students currently qualify for free or reduced lunches, as compared to fewer than 10 percent in Woodside. (Median household income in East Palo Alto was $45,000 in 2000, as compared to $171,000 in Woodside.) Ravenswood schools are among the lowest performing in the Bay Area, with half of them earning the lowest rating on California's API.
It's not surprising that wealthy school districts like Woodside can raise substantially more money for their students than can poor school districts like Ravenswood. Across California, for example, LEFs in wealthy suburban school districts generate vastly more charitable dollars per pupil than do LEFs in poorer urban school districts. (See graph, p. 27.) And who could fault wealthy parents and townspeople for wanting to do best by their children and local institutions? That their efforts may widen the gap between their own children and children growing up in more disadvantaged districts is an unfortunate, yet unintended, side effect of their generosity.
What is surprising is that public policies governing philanthropy encourage and reward this gap-widening. Laws grant the Woodside School Foundation's status as a 501(c)(3), and laws allow donors to deduct their contributions to the foundation from their income. These deductions constitute a kind of federal subsidy for charitable giving – a subsidy that is greater for wealthier people than for poorer people.1 The effect of these unequal subsidies is to increase inequalities between the rich and the poor, not only in education, but also in other domains of charitable giving.
If public policies governing philanthropy, such as tax subsidies, are indeed worsening social inequalities, then American philanthropy is failing. For isn't charity supposed to remedy inequalities by assisting the poor and disadvantaged?
Why Give?
Of course, there are many reasons to support the philanthropic and nonprofit sector other than helping the poor and disadvantaged. A robust sector can decentralize the production of public goods, so that the government does not solely decide how to spend tax dollars. It can support those institutions in civil society that mediate between individuals and the state. And it can produce public goods that are more sensitive to local demand and delivered with greater efficiency than would governmental institutions.
Yet a primary motivation for charity has always been to provide for the poor and disadvantaged, and to attack the root causes of poverty and disadvantage. Certainly this is true of the world's traditions of charity – think of almsgiving in various religious traditions. One of the world's first laws concerning philanthropy, the Charitable Uses Act of 1601 in Elizabethan England, also strongly connected philanthropy with relief for the poor.
Today, philanthropy continues to imply, at least to most people, some kind of charity, where "charity" is defined as "the kindly and sympathetic disposition to aid the needy or suffering" and "an act or series of acts of aid to the needy."2 Beyond simple definitions, the connections between philanthropy, charity, and helping the needy can be seen in the "thousand points of light" arguments, which favor the nonprofit sector over the welfare state as the purveyor of social services.
Given charity's historical roots, dictionary meaning, and conventional usage, state policies governing the philanthropic and charitable sector would seem to be obliged to help the needy. At the very least, the state's generous incentives for charitable giving and philanthropic aid should not hurt the needy, as they do in the case of local education foundations. It is one thing to defend the liberty of individuals to give their money away as they please; it is quite another to provide public subsidies for it.
Tax Policies Encourage and Reward Giving
Though philanthropy may be as old as humanity itself, in modern society it is firmly embedded within the political institutions of the state. Laws govern the creation of nonprofit organizations and spell out the rules under which they operate. In the United States, laws not only confer upon nonprofit 501(c)(3) organizations the privilege of not paying taxes on income, they also grant tax deductions to those who make donations to 501(c)(3)s.3 Put simply, public policies shape – through regulations and incentives – philanthropic behavior.
The abstract language of the tax code makes it hard to appreciate how much the state subsidizes charitable contributions. To get a better picture, consider the example of a wealthy woman who made a $1,000 donation to her city's modern art museum. Because of her affluence, this woman occupies the top tax bracket – in 2004, her income was subject to a 35 percent tax. The deduction, however, permitted her to subtract her donation from her income, which meant that she paid less tax than if she had not deducted the donation. Since the money she saved by making the donation was $350 (that is, 35 percent of the $1,000 she could deduct), her donation actually "cost" her only $650.4 The federal government effectively chipped in the other $350. Likewise, going back to the example of the Woodside School Foundation, because most Woodside households are easily in the top tax bracket, the federal government paid approximately $3.5 million of the roughly $10 million in donations collected between 1998 and 2003.
If the federal government had not allowed the woman to deduct the $1,000 donation from her income, it would have collected an additional $350 in tax revenue. And if it had not allowed the Woodside School Foundation's donors to deduct their contributions, it would have collected an additional $3.5 million.
Instead, the state gave up this revenue. And so tax incentives for philanthropy are a kind of spending program, or "tax expenditure."5 Just as a direct spending program – defense spending, for example – has an effect on the annual budget of the United States, so too does a tax deduction affect the national budget. In fact, the fiscal effects of direct spending programs and tax expenditures are exactly the same.6 Seen in this light, tax incentives for philanthropy amount to state subsidies for the individuals and corporations who make charitable donations.
Those subsidies add up. As economist Charles Clotfelter writes, the U.S. has "the world's most generous tax concessions" for philanthropy.7 Economist Burton Weisbrod similarly notes that "no other nation grants subsidies at such a high level or across so many types of activities."8 (See chart.)
Evelyn Brody, a legal scholar, estimates that in 2000 the charitable deduction alone cost the U.S. Treasury nearly $26 billion in forgone income tax.9 That amount is expected to jump to $36 billion in 2005, according to the 2005 U.S. federal budget. By way of comparison, the U.S. government spends more on subsidizing charitable contributions than it does on TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, the successor to Aid to Families With Dependent Children), one of our nation's largest welfare programs, which received $25.4 billion in 2002. Moreover, the charitable contributions deduction is the fourth largest (out of 130) tax expenditure given to individuals, after deductions for mortgage interest, contributions to 401(k) plans, and state and local taxes.
Not All 501(c)(3)s Are Created Equal
Donors receive these massive tax subsidies only for their contributions to 501(c)(3)s. And so one place for our public policies to encourage helping the poor through philanthropy would be in selectively granting 501(c)(3) status. Yet the way our government confers that status seems remarkably indifferent to aiding the poor.
To qualify as a 501(c)(3), an organization must serve some public good, such as religious, charitable, scientific, public safety, literary, or educational purposes. As a result, the 501(c)(3) sector includes a broad rainbow of organizations – churches, social service agencies, foundations, institutions of higher learning, arts organizations, think tanks, neighborhood associations, and hospitals, to name a few.
From the perspective of the state, the benefits produced by a nonprofit puppet theater are as valuable as those produced by a soup kitchen. Indeed, one of the most familiar criticisms of U.S. policy is that its tax subsidies fail to differentiate between the public benefits produced by various nonprofits. For example, assuming that we are in the same tax bracket, your $1,000 donation to baldness research is worth exactly the same as my $1,000 donation to Pakistani earthquake relief. U.S. tax policy encourages us equally to give to these two causes, because we will receive the same rewards in the form of tax subsidies.
Who Gets Americans' Charitable Dollars?
Perhaps because American policies governing philanthropy are indifferent toward helping the poor, American individuals and institutions likewise fail to funnel their money to those in need. Charitable and philanthropic giving in the United States comes from four sources: living individuals, individual bequests, corporations, and foundations. Of the $248.52 billion given in 2004, an impressive 76 percent came from living individuals. Within this lion's share of the giving, the majority goes to religion (see pie chart, below) – as it has for more than 20 years, says Melissa Brown, managing editor of Giving USA.10 These donations are not going to religious schools or to faith-based social services, whose funding has been sectioned off and assigned to the appropriate categories of education and human services.
Instead, the largest piece of America's charitable pie is going to the sustenance of religious groups – for their facilities, their operating costs, and their clergy salaries.11 In this sense, religious groups look less like public charities and more like mutual benefit societies (i.e., other nonprofit organizations whose supporters are not entitled to tax deductions for their donations).
Some observers, like sociologist Robert Wuthnow, argue that at least some of this religious giving should be understood as assisting the needy. But Wuthnow, who writes admiringly of faith-based social services, nevertheless observes that "the amount spent on local service activities is a relatively small proportion of total giving, probably on the order of 5 percent."12
Others argue that charitable contributions to religion are redistributive in the sense that wealthier congregants support the spiritual activity of poorer congregants.13 This function is by no means irrelevant, but it does depart from usual understandings of the richer helping the poorer. Overall, then, private giving to religion does not seem to redistribute wealth in any significant way.
Even if we ignore religion – an elephant in the room of charitable giving – the remainder of Americans' contributions likewise seem not to serve the less fortunate. Social welfare groups receive only 2 percent of charitable dollars and human services only 9 percent. A larger amount goes to education, health, and science (13 percent), which is potentially redistributive but not obviously so. If we look simply at the distribution of individuals' charitable donations, the bulk does not seem to flow from haves to have-nots. Clotfelter similarly concludes that "relatively few nonprofit institutions serve the poor as a primary clientele."14
Private foundations likewise do not seem to be redistributing wealth. Foundations account for only 11.6 percent of the charitable universe in dollars given in 2004.15 Although foundation dollars are certainly distributed more evenly across grant categories than are individual charitable contributions (see pie chart, p. 31), the grant categories do not reveal whether the donations are redistributive or not. Take the education category: Almost half of foundation dollars to education go toward higher education. But we have no way of knowing if these dollars are funding boutique centers for research, the endowment of a professorial chair, or scholarships for disadvantaged and poor students. The other grant categories are similarly opaque when it comes to revealing whether their funds are going to help the less fortunate.
Even if we were to conclude, as does Julian Wolpert, that foundations are at best "modestly redistributive,"16 their effect would not tip the scale of the whole of charity to the side of redistribution because they are responsible for such a small share of giving in the United States.
Finally, for all forms of charitable giving – from individuals (living and dead), foundations, and corporations – the money given away is subsidized through tax concessions. Had the money not gone to charity, the IRS would have collected taxes on it. And so the question becomes: Do charitable donations flow more sharply downward than would government spending? In other words, does philanthropy do a better job of redistributing wealth than the state would if it had fully taxed the charitable donations in the first place? Answering this question is extremely difficult, but at least it is the It must be more redistributive than the state would have been. Given the evidence already presented, philanthropy does such a poor job of channeling money to the needy that it would not be difficult for government to do better.
The Costs of Virtue Are Uneven
American tax policies regulating philanthropy promote inequality in two additional ways. First is the fact that a great many people are capriciously excluded from enjoying the charitable tax deduction simply because they do not itemize their deductions.17 In 2000, for example, 89 percent of American households made a charitable contribution. Yet only 30 percent of them – the itemizers, who tend to be wealthier than those who take the so-called standard deduction – were rewarded for doing so. The remaining 70 percent of all taxpayers did not receive a tax subsidy for their charitable contributions.18 To give a concrete example: A low-income renter who made a $500 donation to her church, but did not itemize her deductions, received no tax concession; a high-income homeowner who made the same $500 donation to the same church and itemized her deductions received a sizable tax subsidy.
One may argue that the standard deduction rewards the charitable contributions of nonitemizers. But nonitemizers receive the standard deduction whether they make a charitable contribution or not. And so the standard deduction cannot be properly viewed as a reward for charity – let alone an incentive – because one need not be charitable to get it. Likewise, if the tax deduction is meant to stimulate greater giving, its availability should not depend on whether people itemize their taxes.
A second way that public policies regulating philanthropy may contribute to inequality is that the wealthiest people garner the largest tax advantages for philanthropy, and the poorest the smallest – what is known as an "upside-down effect." Because the amount of the charitable deduction is based on the percentage at which one is taxed, those in the highest tax bracket (35 percent in 2005) receive the largest deduction, and those in each lower tax bracket receive an increasingly smaller deduction. In other words, "the opportunity cost of virtue falls as one moves up the income scale," as two scholars wryly noted.19
As a result, identical donations to identical recipients are treated differently by the state depending on the donor's income. A $500 donation by the person in the 35 percent bracket costs the person less than the same donation to the same place by the person in the 10 percent bracket. Because the same social good is ostensibly produced in both cases, the differential treatment appears unjust. If anything, lower-income earners would seem to warrant the larger subsidy and incentive.20
Both of these features of the tax code benefit the well-off, either excluding nonitemizers (who tend to have less income than itemizers) from the benefit of a deduction, or giving poorer itemizers smaller subsidies for their donations. This is so because the tax code, as applied to charitable and philanthropic donors, arbitrarily discriminates between individuals on the basis of a characteristic – status as itemizers or tax bracket position – that is unrelated to the purpose of the tax incentive in the first place.
Should We Change Public Policy?
The philanthropic and nonprofit sector is often described as separate from the state – the "independent sector" or "third sector." And yet the public policies designed to support it represent a wide-scale, costly governmental intervention. As things currently stand, this intervention does not do much to enhance equality through helping out the less fortunate. And in some circumstances – such as local education foundations, like the Woodside School Foundation, which inadvertently augment the disparities between wealthy and poor school districts – our public policies reward individuals for creating inequalities. The state is therefore implicated in these philanthropic harms, unjustifiably.
Public policy can do better, and sometimes quite simply. For example, to equalize the tax benefits of giving for more and less affluent Americans, Congress could allow all donors – itemizers and nonitemizers alike – a tax credit that is linked to the amount donated, rather than a tax deduction that is linked to the donor's tax bracket. This fix would be of the greatest value to lower-income people, but would still provide a subsidy for all. Congress has at times debated this remedy, but it has never become law.
In order to channel charitable giving toward equality-enhancing organizations, Congress could give additional tax advantages for programs redressing poverty. In 2001, President Bush urged Congress to adopt such a measure – a targeted tax credit to individuals who make donations to organizations that spend 75 percent of their budget on direct services for the very poor. (Bush also suggested, unfortunately, taking money from TANF to offset the cost of the tax credit.) Alternatively, Congress could make subdivisions within the 501(c)(3) category – poverty-redressing organizations in one subdivision, others in another – with smaller incentives for giving to the latter. Furthermore, organizations that tend to worsen inequalities might be removed from the 501(c)(3) category altogether. People could still make donations to them, but they would not receive any public subsidy.
In the end, public policy changes are limited only by our creativity. And so when we think about philanthropy, we must not limit ourselves to justifying the current arrangement. Instead, we must aim to identify what role the state should play in the creation and operation of the philanthropic and charitable sector. Though pursuing greater equality is not the only aim of social policy, it is certainly one of the central aspirations of social justice. If the massive tax subsidies given to philanthropy do not enhance equality, then either the political regulation of philanthropy will have to change, or the justifications for state-supported philanthropy will have to lie elsewhere. It is very possible that justifications do lie elsewhere, but we should then stop kidding ourselves that charity and philanthropy do much to help the poor.
1 As discussed later, tax deductions for charitable contributions are subsidized at the same rate at which a person would have been taxed, had he not made the donation. Since wealthier people are taxed at a higher rate than poorer people, their charitable contributions are also subsidized at a higher rate.
2 Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged (Merriam-Webster, 2002). Webster's also notes that the meaning of charity is rooted in Christian doctrine.
3 This latter provision is perhaps the most well known institutional incentive for charitable activity, and some version of it has existed since shortly after the creation of a federal income tax by the U.S. Congress in 1913.
4 Similar incentives exist for the creation of private and family foundations, and for contributions to community foundations.
5 The "tax expenditure" concept was pioneered by Stanley Surrey in the late 1960s, and it applied to every tax concession in the tax code. Surrey equated tax expenditures with direct spending programs in terms of their impact on the federal treasury. For a comprehensive overview, see Surrey S.S. & McDaniel, P.R. Tax Expenditures (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1985).
6 The idea that the charitable contribution deduction constitutes a tax expenditure is not without critics. Some scholars assert that a person's taxable income quite legitimately ought not to include donations to charity. This view is to me, however, rather implausible, given that so much of charitable giving looks like some form of consumption.
7 Clotfelter, C. "Tax-Induced Distortions in the Voluntary Sector," Case Western Law Review 39 (1988/1989): 663-694.
8 Weisbrod, B. "The Pitfalls of Profits," Stanford Social Innovation Review (Winter 2004): 45.
9 Brody, E. "Charities in Tax Reform: Threats to Subsidies Overt and Covert," Tennessee Law Review 66 (1999): 687-763.
10 Brown, M.S. (ed.) Giving USA 2005: The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2004 (50th ed.) (New York: Giving USA Foundation, AAFRC Trust for Philanthropy, 2005).
11 See Brown, Giving USA 2005: The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2004.
12 Wuthnow, R. Saving America? Faith-Based Social Services and the Future of Civil Society (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2004): 49.
13 Biddle, J.E. "Religious Organizations," in Who Benefits From the Nonprofit Sector? ed. C. Clotfelter (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992): 92-133.
14 Clotfelter, Who Benefits From the Nonprofit Sector? (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992): 22.
15 Giving USA, p. 79.
16 Wolpert, J. "Redistributional Effects of America's Private Foundations," in The Legitimacy of Philanthropic Foundations, eds. K. Prewitt, M. Dogan, S. Heydemann, & S. Toepler (New York: Russell Sage, forthcoming 2006).
17 Independent Sector, "Giving and Volunteering in the United States, 2001."
18 Calculated from the Internal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income Bulletin, Table 1 (Individual Income Tax Returns: Selected Income and Tax Items for Specified Tax Years, 1985-2002) (Fall 2004). Available at: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irssoi/02in01si.xls.
19 Musgrave R.A. & Musgrave, P. Public Finance in Theory and Practice, 4th Edition (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1984): 348.
20 The upside-down phenomenon is not specific to the tax deduction for charitable donations, of course. Deductions in general overwhelmingly favor the wealthy. In 1999, 50 percent of all tax deductions were claimed by the wealthiest decile of earners.
ROB REICH is an assistant professor of political science at Stanford University and is affiliated with the Center for Social Innovation at the Graduate School of Business. Reich is working on a book on ethics, public policy, and philanthropy. He may be reached at [email protected]


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May 9, 2009
IRVINE, Calif. -- Barbara Nwaba finished third in the heptathlon at the Big West Multi-Event Championships, which concluded Saturday at Anteater Stadium at UC Irvine.
Nwaba's day two marks were 16-3.75 (4.97m) in the long jump, 93-4 (28.46m) in the javelin and 2:25.35 in the 800 meter run. She finished with an even 5000 points, making this the second time she has broken the 5000 point barrier. She picks up six points which will be applied to the team scores in next weekend's Big West Championship Meet.
Tayler Willams picked up a point for the Gauchos by finishing eighth with a score of 4487, which is a new personal best that moves her up to sixth on the UCSB all-time list. Maureen Ajoku also set a personal best with 4258 points, which was good for ninth in the meet.
Sherrina Lofton of Cal State Northridge was the winner of the heptathlon with 5224 points, with Shelese Ruffin of Northridge taking second with 5023.
The top UCSB finisher in the decathlon was Derek Masterson, who placed ninth with 5980 points. Mike Larocca was 10th with 5976, and Jacob Maus was 11th with 5946.
James Nunno of Cal Poly was the winner of the decathlon with 7208 points, his second Conference Title. Nunno previously won the decathlon in 2007. His teammate, Corbin Duer, placed second with 7135 points. Third place went to Robert Robinson of Cal State Northridge with 6830.
The Gauchos also had entries in the Occidental Invitational. Results were unavailable at press time, so an additional recap will be released tomorrow.
Gaucho Track and Field Alumni -- We will be hosting an alumni bash at the Big West Championships next weekend! Click here for all the information.
-- UCSBgauchos.com --


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web commit by jym: Comment about MS IE Kerberos support.
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Edythe Abdullah, Luther Coggin, O'Neal Douglas, Tom Foran, Willie Gonzalez, Steve Halverson, Ann Hicks, Wanyonyi Kendrick, Judith Solano, Carol Thompson, Kevin Twomey
Toni Crawford, Bruce Taylor In opening the meeting, Chair Thompson asked for a motion to approve the minutes. A motion was offered, seconded, and unanimously approved.
Chair Thompson began the meeting asking everyone to keep the victims of Katrina in their hearts and minds. She also thanked the members of the Board for making themselves available for this conference call meeting. She stated that because of the single item agenda she would forgo any further comments.
In his report, President Delaney updated the Trustees on the current state of contract negotiations between the administration and the United Faculty of Florida. He also alerted the Board to the fact that some members of the faculty had called for a demonstration expressing their frustration over the lack of closure on their contract. The demonstration was scheduled to occur following the University's fall convocation In his report, President Delaney discussed the University's response to Katrina. UNF was currently enrolling college students who had been forced to evacuate their home institutions in Louisiana or Mississippi. The University had also hired a faculty member who was an evacuee from New Orleans to teach a UNF course. In addition, the University had worked with the Jacksonville Fire Department to collect food for individuals in shelters and had cosponsored a toy collection and distribution program for children in shelters. As his final point of discussion, the President provided preliminary data on the fall 2005 class. Preliminary SAT scores for entering freshmen were at 1158 and the entering GPA was at 3.59.
The sole action item on the agenda was the proposed ratification of the AFCSME contract. President Delaney described the provisions in the current agreement that had been re- or newly negotiated. These changes provide for (a) a 3.6% across-the-board raise mandated and funded by the State and 0.7% across-the-board increase funded by the University, effective retroactive to August 1, 2005; (b) increasing the transportation benefit to $69 per year, which is the amount that would cover the cost of the least expensive on-campus parking permit; and (c) the inclusion of a new certification-program benefit. Under this new benefit, non-professional employees who successfully complete a UNF sanctioned certification program associated with their job responsibilities would earn an additional 5% salary increase. Members of the Board asked several questions concerning these proposed changes to the agreement. In response to questions on the purpose and scope of the certification program, Associate Vice President Campbell stated that currently the University was using this program to encourage skill development among custodial staff. They have been required to pass a test at the completion of the different training programs offered by UNF. The University is examining options for expanding certification programs to other employee groups. In response to questions on the increased salary, President Delaney pointed out that employees covered by this agreement were among the lowest paid in the University and last year they received a bonus from the State which did not carry over to this year's salary. He also pointed to the turnover among some the lower paid employees. After a complete discussion of the proposed changes, Chair Thompson asked for a motion to ratify the contract. Trustee Twomey offered the motion, which was seconded by Trustee Coggin. The motion passed unanimously.
Chair Thompson adjourned the meeting.
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Darrell Hazell spent most of his coaching career telling others to "be great." Now he'll try to live up to that message at Purdue.
Boilermakers athletic director Morgan Burke hired the 48-year-old Kent State coach on Wednesday to lead the school dubbed as the Cradle of Quarterbacks out of mediocrity, back into national prominence and presumably back to a Rose Bowl.
"I'm extremely excited to work with the players at Purdue, and I look forward to experiencing a lot of success in the future," Hazell said in a release issued by Purdue. "It's a wonderful opportunity."
Hazell broke the news to his players during a Wednesday morning meeting after a day and night filled with speculation about his future.
He told reporters he accepted the job at about 9 p.m. after seeing conflicting reports that he had taken and turned down the job.
Purdue has scheduled a 7 p.m. news conference to introduce Hazell.
Hazell won this season's Mid-American Conference coach of the year award after leading Kent State to its first winning season since 2001, first bowl appearance in more than four decades and the brink of a BCS bowl game.
Hazell grew up in New Jersey, but played football at Muskingum College in Ohio. He has strong ties to the Buckeye State, including a seven-year stint on the staff of former Ohio State coach Jim Tressel.
Kent State hired Hazell in December 2010 and led the Golden Flashes to a 5-7 mark (4-4 MAC) and a third-place finish in his first season as a head coach. This year, Hazell's squad went 11-2 (8-0) and won the MAC East, and he risked losing the Purdue job when he told school officials he would wait to discuss the vacancy until after the MAC championship game.
The Golden Flashes are set to play Arkansas State in the GoDaddy.com Bowl on Jan. 6 in Mobile, Ala.
Hazell fits the mold of coach Burke outlined during a Nov. 25 news conference to announce the firing of Danny Hope.
"We are an offensive-minded program. That's where we've made our mark over the years. I don't see that under the circumstances changing," Burke said during the news conference.
Hazell rebuilt Kent State's program in just two years, largely on the strength of a strong ground game spearheaded by star Dri Archer. Purdue has preferred the up-tempo, fast-break style offense Joe Tiller brought to West Lafayette and that Hope kept.
Hazell spent seven seasons coaching Ohio State's receivers, has a reputation as a strong recruiter and players have spoken glowingly about the passion and excitement he's brought to the locker room.
The question is whether Hazell is a big enough name to fill the other area Burke wanted to shore up - attendance, which has steadily declined over the last five years, the last four under Hope.
"We've lost a third of the fan base. We've gone from about 54,000 paid attendance in 2007-08 to 37,000 this past year," Burke said. "We can't do what we need to do resource-wise with losing a third of the fan base.
Fans initially were clamoring for another MAC coach with Big Ten experience, Northern Illinois' Dave Doeren, who took the North Carolina State job after beating Kent State in the MAC championship game.
Burke also brought Cincinnati coach Butch Jones to campus Sunday afternoon, the day after the Bearcats clinched a share of a second straight Big East title. The next day, Jones flew to Colorado and was reportedly offered a five-year deal worth $13.5 million. Hope earned a Big Ten-low $950,000 in guaranteed compensation last year, though Burke acknowledged he was willing to spend more on his next coach.
Details of Hazell's contract were not immediately available. He made a base salary of $300,000 with the Golden Flashes.
As word leaked of Colorado's offer, Burke and a contingent of Purdue officials reportedly flew to northeastern Ohio, where they met with Hazell.
Hazell is the first black coach in Boilermakers history and will take over fulltime duties later this month. The Boilermakers (6-6, 3-5) are scheduled to play Jan. 1.
Hazell also has been an assistant at Rutgers, West Virginia, Army, Western Michigan, Penn, Eastern Illinois and Oberlin College in Ohio. He was inducted into the Muskingum College hall of fame in 1993.
Burke had already said receivers coach Patrick Higgins will coach the Boilermakers in their bowl game.


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What begins as a promising peek into the tragic cycle of waylaid promise that's crippling broken inner-city families is itself dispiritingly pulled sideways in the Baltimore-set indie "LUV."
When temporarily mom-less 11-year-old Woody (Michael Rainey Jr.) spends a day with his recently paroled Uncle Vincent (Common) as he tries to get a loan to set up his own business, the uncle's notions of manhood by example become distorted as his criminal past quickly intervenes.
The problem is that co-writer-director Sheldon Candis' all-in-a-day construct -- the leap from a cheery morning visit to the bank to Woody being enlisted in a role-playing confrontation with gang members that night -- is hard to swallow.
PHOTOS: Hollywood Backlot moments
Rainey and Common are good enough in quieter moments exploring the queasy ground between an ex-con's edgy humiliation and a boy's desire for a father figure. But the clichéd scenes of explosive violence – a far cry from how "The Wire" handled the nexus between children and gang life -- do little to strengthen the movie's themes.


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The Vice Prime Minister of Israel Was Just Hacked on Twitter and Facebook
Silvan Shalom, the Vice Prime Minister of Israel, just had his Facebook and Twitter accounts completely compromised by a group that calls themselves the ZCompany Hacking Crew.
The hackers behind the Veep's Facebook account posted pro-Palestinian messages like this one:
His cover photo was also changed from a picture of a meeting between Israeli heads of state, to a banner featuring the phrase "Free Palestine":
Looks like @silvanshalom lost control of his facebook page, too.Some group called zcompany? twitter.com/nycsouthpaw/st…
— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) November 21, 2012
But Twitter was where the hackers hit Shalom the hardest. They posted 18 messages over an hour which included such phrases as "Palestine we love you" and "The Medias lies don't work anymore."
Earlier this week, The ZCompany Hacking Crew broke into the website of the English Defence League, a far-right British organization. They put up anti-Israel messages like "Fuck Zionist Jews! – Boycot israel! – Fuck the American Government! - Fuck fascist Organizations like EDL."
[Image via AP]


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One excellent organization is the Guide Dog Foundation, founded in 1946. This nationwide organization trains and places Golden Retrievers and Labs when the puppies are about seven weeks of age. The puppy is placed with a family and lives with them for about a year. The family fosters the puppy, which includes housetraining, socializing to different environments, teaching the puppy good house manners, and giving him or her all the attention and affection a healthy puppy needs. The puppy is then given back to the Guide Dog Foundation
for further training and placement.
According to the Guide Dog Foundation, these "dogs undergo a comprehensive training program, and only the best of the best complete the training and become working guides."
The dogs who are placed go through a training program with their new owner. It costs about $25,000 to train a guide dog, but training and dogs are provided free of charge. This organization is supported by contributions from individuals, foundations and corporations.
For further information on the Guide Dog Foundation, click onto www.guidedog.org.
While in training, Shadow is never off leash unless in a fenced area. He spends the majority of his time with Ulrike, even accompanying her on trips to the grocery store and any other place a service dog would need to go with his owner.


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Kinetic Road Machine | Smart Trainer
Turn your basement into a hellish winter sweat cavern as you dream of summer climbs and fitting back into your spandex. With a little help from the Kurt Kinetic Road Machine | Smart Trainer, you'll be creating puddles beneath your stallion and engaging in endless suffering of your own free will. With on-board power training, the Road Machine Smart App links up with Siri (or the faceless automaton Android AI) to make sure you ain't kidding yourself with those intervals you're "throwing down." When you're screaming, "There's no more?!" at your television after binge-riding through all four seasons of Battlestar Galactica, the Road Machine | Smart Trainer will even hold your interest with tailored workouts. So, let's not hear anymore of that "It's too cold to ride" business. The Road Machine | Smart Trainer will have none of it!
- Stable, durable trainer frame
- Unconditional lifetime warrantly
- Frame fits 22-inch to 29-inch wheels
- Large diameter roller
- Pairs with devices using Bluetooth Smart
- Ergonomic rubberized knobs and feet
- Progressive fluid resistance
- Fully assembled
- Folds flat for easy storage
Kinetic Smart Power Trainers
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- Quiet
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This trainer is smooth and quiet. The ap works well; but sometimes it does not sync with my phone. I need to turn off the blue-tooth and then turn it back on; then it syncs. I like having a record of my workouts. when it works; the ap is easy and it appears to be accurate. the trainer itself is rock solid
- Quiet
- Easy To Set Up
- Additional Purchase Neces
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To prepare for winter months I wanted to buy a quiet(er) smart trainer. I wanted to try Zwift. The Kinetic trainer was quick and easy to set up although I needed to purchase an additional axle (skewer) for $50, to put my 2016 Raleigh on the trainer. Once that was squared away, I was off to the races. It's a solid ride, no sway, no creaking...just solid. Although I'm somewhat of a beginner, I've sprinted up to 500 watts and this rig didn't wiggle or creak a bit. I also purchased the kinetic pad that goes under the trainer and I think it was also worth purchasing. The only reason I didn't give this a 5 star rating is because I have yet to experience the wheel off model that runs for $1000+. I imagine that's gotta be as realistic as it gets.


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Outside my window rain is pouring down and the thunder rumbling through the mountains brings to mind the tale of Rip Van Winkle and the giants bowling in the hills. It may be raining today but we are glad of it. It's been clear, warm and sunny for over a week and our plants could use the type of long, slow, drink they are receiving today. Summer has begun in Asheville, North Carolina, and our Bed and Breakfast is filled with guests who have come to enjoy the many festivals, amazing food and wonderful outdoor activities of the surrounding area. And last night, James and I were fortunate enough to enjoy all three of these activities at the same time.
Earlier in the day we had stopped in town, and bought some over-the-top good goat milk Camembert from Goat Lady Dairy , some crusty bread from Dough (which makes amazing baguettes), a rotisserie chicken and some tabbouleh from Greenlife, and a bottle of rose wine for a picnic. We put out some hors d'oeurves and wine for our guests, left the inn in the capable hands of Sara, our assistant, and made the short walk over to the Hazel Robinson Amphitheater. Yes, you guessed it–we were going to the first summer production of the Montford Park Players, Shakespeare's The Tempest. I can almost hear you thinking "Shakespeare again? Why does she keep going on about this? I'm not a fan of Shakespeare!" But I beg your indulgence and ask you to stick with me just a little longer.
It was a beautiful summer evening with the sun low in the sky and not too hot. When we arrived, the crew was busy putting finishing touches on the set. We found John Russell, Managing Director, setting up "Shakespeare's Bar" and slipped him a check for our annual contribution to the Troupe. ( Did I mention that the performances are free? You can bring your own chair, sit on the grass, or rent one for $2. You can bring your own picnic or
purchase food and drinks from the concession. They do pass the hat during the intermission but the choice to donate or not is up to you.) John was instrumental in the conception and creation of the Montford Park Player's Special which James and he cooked up for the Carolina Bed & Breakfast as well as the Asheville Bed & Breakfast Association. When our guests opts to take part in the performance, John is there to welcome them and guide them through the process. His warm and gracious personality is as much a part of the evening as the show.
This evening was a special one. Ashleigh Millett, who has studied theater both here and in the UK, has teamed with the Players to offer a series of acting classes for young adultsages twelve to fifteen. The series culminates in a Shakespearean performance; in this case, they were performing "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (abridged) as a pre-show to the evening's play. My friends know that I spent many years in Singapore working with teens in theater and have a deep love of the process and belief that the experience of working together on a show can be vastly rewarding so it's no wonder that I made a point of being there to show my support. It was completely worth it. The kids clearly had worked hard and loved what they were doing and the audience support was strong!
The brief pre-show being over, James and I tucked into our picnic while the stage was set for The Tempest. From the minute Prospero (Jim Slautich) began to speak, I knew this production would be a special one. His deep and sonorous voice filled the amphitheater and his talent was evident from the beginning. As an English Major in College, I am embarrassed to admit that not only had I never seen The Tempest I also had not read it. I was coming to the performance with as little knowledge of the story as I imagine at least some of the audience but the acting was such that it was easy to understand and follow and it moved quickly with much humor and great staging.
There is something special about walking home at night after a performance outside. You may have felt it when leaving a firework display or a concert. As you get farther from the venue, the crowd thins and the evening closes around you. Home beckons down the round and there is a feeling of contentment from an evening well-spent. James and I both hope that you will consider devoting one of your evening in Asheville to the Montford Park Players and Shakespeare in the Park.
Montford Park Players 2013 Season: Outdoors at the Hazel Robinson Amphitheatre Fridays-Sundays May 9-September 14. Winter Season at the Asheville Masonic Temple October and December.


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Since we live in Colorado you can find a ton of ski wear, outdoor gear, warm parkas, and jackets. Many of them have the tags still on them. But you have to think "thrifty" you might find them in the summer, so look "out of season".
What the heck is wrong with this camera.....This is a Banana Republic sweater. But it was an "XS" don't buy it just because it is a good deal.
No one wants to be choked by a sweater all season!
Banana Republic suit size 2. It could have come in with the sweater above that is an XS.
Which leads me to my next point. If you find one thing in your size from Banana Republic for example look for more. Rarely does anyone take the time to donate from your wardrobe one piece at a time. If you see something that you like in your size look for more from that donation. You never know
This says Halloween Costume to me. But someone could come in and say Perfect for Fall! There is something for everyone, and A Lot of things that won't be to your liking. Keep trying. I find amazing things because I enjoy the hunt!
1. People who donate from their wardrobe DON'T do it a piece at a time. If you see one thing that you like keep looking you will probably stumble across many more from the same donation. I have never seen a person drive up and hand over a shirt or a pair of jeans. But I have seen giant stacks of clothing on hangers. (When I see a huge section of men's shirts and suits all with tags or in the same size, I think someone has gotten himself in trouble. (I may or may not know someone who took her husbands entire side of the closet to the G-Dub) His loss your gain. (REALLY good stuff!!) There may have been some golf clubs in that donation as well.
2. Buy out of season, or if you have children buy the next size up.
3. Go with names you trust. Levi's, Gap, Old Navy......(especially for boys).
Banana Republic, White House Black Market, Lucky.....You just have to look.
Good Luck and go today!


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Tuesday, July 29, 2008
The Andy Sturmer Demos
11 comments:
- Anonymous said...
Thanxalot! Jellyfish was quite an experience. Saw them in Hamburg, Germany. Quite a show it was. What a pity they didn't last longer.
- July 30, 2008 at 5:54 AM
- KingSizeMong said...
Another excellent share!
- July 30, 2008 at 11:17 AM
- Peter said...
Technical problem: I've downloaded the tracks, but can't get iTunes to play or import them. Is it the ".rar" extension, or something else? Any tips?
Thanks a lot.
p.s. enjoying the Pop Fair radio now
- August 2, 2008 at 6:30 PM
- Peter said...
Oops. Meant the Absolute Powerpop radio. I get tired or iTunes shuffle play sometimes.
- August 2, 2008 at 6:32 PM
- Blurred said...
Interesting SOngs but not the ones for the COver included, some missing unfortunately :(
- October 30, 2008 at 12:09 PM
- Anonymous said...
Thanks A Million!!
Pop Fair's Andy Sturmer Demos
1. Holding Out For Something Better
2. Angel Made Me Do It
3. Widower's Song
4. Turn Turn Turn
5. I Built Me A Bridge
6. Sweet Wingless Angel
7. Love So Pure
8. We Are The Champions
9. Beginning Of The End
10. Liquid Casanova
11. Gregory And Me
12. 4th Of July Parade
13. Marcel's Animal Friends Theme
14. Gregory And Me Underneath The Sea
- April 22, 2009 at 7:36 AM
- 9inch said...
Jellyfish = super fantastic. I wish there were more people into music like this. I'm a songwriter and it's very frustrating to work so hard and just not have people get it/pay attention. I don't blame Jellyfish for calling it quits at all.
- September 17, 2009 at 3:45 PM
- Anonymous said...
Thanks so much for posting this! I am constantly turning friends on to Jellyfish and those two great albums from the early 90's. Probably my first blatant slap in the face experience of how frigging lame and idiotic and lowest common denominator the taste of the American public generally is. Rap, hip hop, grunge, tween pop, hair metal, melodicless "alt rock" - alternative to melody is what it is... all pure crap. Meanwhile a talent like Jellyfish can't get a break - some blame it on the leap between the first and second album - I liken it to going from Meet The Beatles to Sgt Pepper - both brilliant but perhaps some people weren't ready for such a great leap. I sure was. Spilt Milk was a masterpiece - as was Bellybutton. I saw them three times - Santa Cruz, SF Warfield, and SF Tower Records in store performance. Thanks for this great blog!
Derek in Santa Barbara
- February 12, 2010 at 1:59 AM
- Anonymous said...
I'm thinking of selling the bass Andy Sturmer gave me on my birthday in May 2000, a Gibson Victory Standard Bass.
I used that bass, and I also played guitar, piano and organ on the song "Love So Pure" and two other songs that Andy produced on the japanese girl band Puffy's album "Spike".
Anybody interested? Bids?
/Thomas, Stockholm, Sweden.
- February 20, 2010 at 11:38 AM
- pennie said...
I made anaccount to inquire about the bass possiy fir sale. Email me: email@example.com
- March 15, 2010 at 10:10 PM
- slackwave said...
Any chance for a re-up on the Andy Sturmer Demos?
- November 27, 2016 at 8:21 AM


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Survival as a function of HbA1c in people with type 2 diabetes: a retrospective cohort study
Two cohorts of patients aged 50 years and older with type 2 diabetes were generated from the UK General Practice Research Database from November 1986 to November 2008. We identified 27 965 patients whose treatment had been intensified from oral monotherapy to combination therapy with oral blood-glucose lowering agents, and 20 005 who had changed to regimens that included insulin. Those with diabetes secondary to other causes were excluded. All-cause mortality was the primary outcome. Age, sex, smoking status, cholesterol, cardiovascular risk, and general morbidity were identified as important confounding factors, and Cox survival models were adjusted for these factors accordingly
Low and high mean HbA1c values were associated with increased all-cause mortality and cardiac events. If confirmed, diabetes guidelines might need revision to include a minimum HbA1c value."
What has saddened but not surprised me is that the reaction in on-line medical discussions has been much the same as that when the ACCORD and ADVANCE studies appeared. No-one has questioned the methods used to attain targets, all appear to accept that there may be a problem with attempting to aim for tight targets for type 2 diabetics. Thus, the targets are bad and should be eased.
I was not going to write about it because so many others have, but eventually I responded in Present where a doctor posed the following question based on this study: "Are we treating our patients to death?"
This was my response to the doctors.
The answer depends, of course, on the method of treatment and the individual nature of your patient's diabetes.
All of these studies, including ACCORD, ADVANCE and these recent ones have a common thread. They presume that the only way the physician can reach lower A1c and blood glucose goals in a patient is by medication. None of them consider using lifestyle – diet and exercise - changes to complement minimal medication or insulin to achieve those goals.
You all presume that a patient would not use diet and exercise. And, of course, to some degree you are correct, especially when the most generally prescribed diet is directly counter-productive for achieving better A1cs and blood glucose levels.
So you prescribe diet and exercise, the numbers go up, you presume non-compliance and prescribe metformin or a sulf or add insulin, they keep going up so you increase those and add more meds. But you also stress that the patient should eat more carbohydrates – and less fat - to be absolutely sure there are no hypoglycemic episodes as a result of the sulfs or the insulin and so the cycle continues, chasing it's tail.
Lower blood glucose and A1c targets do not cause higher mortality and morbidity. I have read success stories from many thousands of pro-active diabetics of all types on many forums since I was diagnosed eight years ago who have clearly demonstrated the opposite is true.
On the other hand, over-medication to attempt to counter poor dietary advice DOES cause higher mortality and morbidity; that is the consequence these studies are showing.
The solution? First, stop promoting the terrible "heart-healthy" high-carbohydrate AHA diet to your patients, or allowing the dieticians you send your patients to to do so. Instead, suggest that the patient use their meter at their post-prandial peak blood glucose timing to find out what foods are killing them and they will quickly reduce those foods, and their levels, and substitute others. The technique is described here: http://loraldiabetes.blogspot.com/2009/04/test-test-test.html
Some patients will do that and succeed; some will need further medication, but much less than you usually prescribe. And others will be non-compliant whatever you prescribe. They are the ones to prescribe higher medication to – but they are also the ones you should set easier targets for. Because they are the ones dying from over-medication.
Cheers, Alan.
Everything in Moderation - Except Laughter.


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Changes in ocean currents and temperature affect biology on every level of the food chain.Revealing these impacts of climate change on marine organisms requires understanding of several conditions:
- The physical environment and its variability at different time and space scales
- How the organisms respond to different environmental conditions
- How they interact with each other in the food chain
Depending on human will and abillity to regulate future emission, there are several CO2 scenarios.A moderate future scenario will give these temperature changes for the Nordic Seas in 2050.
The natural variability is expected to continue into the 21st century overlaying a global warming. The question is wether this will result in a local transient stabilization of temperatures before a massive warming in the mid 21st century. Natural variability on top of the global warming trend will result in temperatures beyond those of the 20th century.


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[Illinois] CSE 2013: N-body Algorithms for Multiscale Simulations
Published on
N-body algorithms are the computational cornerstone for many problems in mathematical physics. In this talk, I will present (1) a brief history of N-body algorithms and their application to multiscale problems with an emphasis to fluid dynamics simulations; (2) give a brief overview of the most basic N-body algorithm, the Barnes-Hut method; and (3) conclude with applications of N-body algorithms to the simulation of Stokesian particulate flows.
Stokesian particulate flows are mixtures of a high viscosity Newtonian fluid and deformable capsules. Simulations of such flows require algorithms for infinite dimensional, highly stiff, nonlocal, and nonlinear dynamical systems. I will discuss some recent developments on numerical methods for such problems and I will report simulations with up to 260 million deformable capsules on the Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Cray XT5 "Jaguar" platform. The largest simulation amounts to 90 billion unknowns in space on 200,000 cores.
Prof. George Biros, The University of Texas at Austin
George Biros is the W. A. "Tex" Moncrief Chair in Simulation-Based Engineering Sciences in the Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences and has Full Professor appointments with the departments of Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Texas at Austin.
From 2008 to 2011, he was an Associate Professor in the School of Computational Science and Engineering at Georgia Tech and The Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University. From 2003 to 2008, he was an Assistant professor in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, Bioengineering and Computer and Information Science at the University of Pennsylvania.
He received his BS in Mechanical Engineering from Aristotle University Greece (1995), his MS in Biomedical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon (1996), and his PhD in Computational Science and Engineering also from Carnegie Mellon (2000). He was a postdoctoral associate at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences from 2000 to 2003.
Biros has research interests in Computational Science and Engineering. In particular, he works on numerical methods for integral and differential equations, parallel algorithms, and inverse problems. Applications include blood rheology, soft tissue mechanics, medical image analysis, electrophysiology, and forward and inverse scattering problems. Biros was among a team of researchers that won the IEEE/ACM SC03 and SC10 Gordon Bell Awards for special Achievement. His work has been further recognized for its importance with the IEEE/ACM SC03 best student paper (advisor), the IEEE/ACM SC02 best technical paper, and the IEEE/ACM SC07 best student paper finalist (advisor). In 2005, he received an Early Career Young Investigator Award from the U.S. Department of Energy. He serves as an Associate Editor for the SIAM Journal on Scientific Computing since January 2007 and as an Associate Editor for the ACM Transactions of Mathematical Software since 2011.
Cite this work
Researchers should cite this work as follows:
NCSA Auditorium, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign


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Flaming red-haired comedian Carrot Top enjoyed a girls night out in Las Vegas on Friday. Fire klatch!
The meticulously plucked muscle man let his hair down at Treasure Island's hip burlesque club Tangerine -- with a bevy of equally made-up beauties. Fierce!
Hopefully, partying the night away in Vegas won't lead Carrot Top to hit bottom.
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