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NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Coming off a successful first weekend, the newly ranked No. 1 Yale coed sailing team will have the opportunity to showcase its depth, sailing two three-division intersectionals and a third traditional two-division regatta. Yale will send teams to the Hatch Brown Trophy at MIT, the Nevins Trophy at the US Merchant Marine Academy King's Point, and the Boston Harbor Invitational at Boston College.
After the first weekend of sailing, the Bulldogs have moved to No. 1 in the national rankings. Fifty points above No. 2 Stanford, the Bulldogs received 16 first-place votes of the 18 coaches in the poll.
The Hatch Brown is a three-division intersectional sailed on the infamously shifty Charles River. The regatta will be raced in MIT's fleet of FJ's and Fireflies. The three divisions will be switching between classes, forcing the Bulldogs to be versatile between the different boats.
Last year the Bulldogs struggled at the Hatch Brown, specifically on the first day, finishing sixth overall. Yale's home venue often does not provide the opportunity to practice in the shifty style breeze that is typical of the Charles River. Therefore early in the season, a lot of hard lessons about river racing need to be relearned. A focus for the Bulldogs this weekend will be minimizing those early season mistakes.
Sailing for the Bulldogs at the Hatch Brown will be skippers senior captain Chris Segerblom, junior Graham Landy and freshman Ian Barrows, with crews junior Katherine Gaumond, sophomore Charlotte Belling and freshmen Natalya Doris and Meredith Megarry. This event will be the collegiate debut for Barrows, Doris and Megarry.
The Nevins Trophy at Kings Point is also a three-division event. A division and B division will rotate between FJs and 420s, while C division will sail Laser Full Rigs. Junior skipper Morgan Kiss and senior crew Amanda Salvesen will sail A division while senior skipper Max Nickbarg and junior crew Sarah Smith will sail B division. Freshman Mitchell Kiss will make his collegiate debut in the singlehanded C division. This will be Nickbarg's seventh event at King's Point, competing in both the doublehanded and singlehanded fleets, and he will therefore be an invaluable source of advice for the team over the weekend. Depending on conditions, either senior Will Feldman or sophomore Marly Isler will join the team as a crew for heavier breeze.
A third squad will head to Boston College to sail in the Boston Harbor Invitational. Representing the Bulldogs will be crews sophomore Megan Valentine and freshman Chandler Gregoire, with skippers sophomore Eric Anderson and either Feldman or Isler, depending on breeze conditions at the Nevins. This regatta will be Gregoire's college sailing debut as well.
All racing will begin at 9:30 a.m. Follow results online at http://scores.collegesailing.org/.
Report filed by Katherine Gaumond '15, Yale Sports Publicity


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Did you see the BBC's report on how, contrary to what we all thought, the UK actually loves religious values and wants more religious influence on our lives? Now I should start out by saying, for the record, I'm not a big fan of religion and don't think people should have a say in law-making, or how I live my life, simply because they feel more comfortable living by the moral standards of, say, an Iron-Age Middle-Eastern society. I fully understand why people would feel more comfortable with the simple black-and-white morals of an ancient and distant society, which save one dealing with the scary complexities of a modern pluralist society, but then I also fully understand why other historical re-enactors like to dress up as Vikings at weekends.
Anyway, as I wasn't sure I believed the BBC's conclusions - which claimed the majority of Britons wanted much more religious influence over their lives - I thought I'd delve into the source of the data a little, to see if they would persuade me. It turns out the survey was conducted by a polling organization called Comres. Comres, on their website, boast all sorts of big-name clients and proudly declare they are a member of the British Polling Council and the Association for Qualitative Research. Sounds like a group of researchers who know what they're doing.
Looking at their portfolio of 'Social polls' is interesting. Most of their recent 'social polls' have been about religion, and all these were conducted at the behest of Christian-interest groups. Hmm. Why might Christian-interest groups give so much business to Comres? I wondered.
I then went back and looked at the results of the Comres/BBC poll [PDF link]. Gosh, what detailed analysis! The data are there, broken down in minute detail by gender, age, social grade and region. Big pages full of scary numbers: this looks like a thoroughly rigourous and scientific study!
But let's look at these numbers in a little more detail. Down on page 3 we can see how the sample of 1045 people breaks down into religious groups. Of the 1045 people surveyed, it turns out 639 were Christians and 279 were of no religion. Now this immediately sent alarm bells ringing. To show you why, let me digress slightly into some introductory sampling theory...
In human research, an early step is to identify the population of interest. This is the group about which you want to reach a conclusion. For example, if you want to learn something about the opinions of all the people in the UK, your population is 'all the people in the UK'. In an ideal world you would then conduct a census, whereby you speak to every member of this population. At the end of such research you know exactly what are its opinions.
Of course, when you're dealing with really large populations - like the population of the UK - conducting a census becomes logistically difficult so you instead use a sample. A sample is a subset of your population which you hope will behave exactly like the population. In other words, it should be the population in miniature, a microcosm of the population. You are hoping it will behave exactly like the population, whilst being of a manageable size. If it does, that's great: you've learnt something about a big population from studying a convenient number of people. But if your sample is in some way biased, or behaves differently to the population as a whole, you will reach false conclusions about the population. The only information you have about the population comes from your sample, so every effort must be taken to ensure that sample isn't biased in some way. Ideally this is done by keeping the sample large, and using methods such as random sampling to choose the people included.
And this is what first worries me with Comres's sample. This survey is being used to represent the views of the UK population (it certainly is in the BBC article). For it to have any validity, then, the sample has to be a smaller version of the UK population - it has to look just like the UK population, in miniature, or else we can't meaningfully generalize from it. But there's the thing: the UK population isn't 64% Christian and 28% non-religious (I'm ignoring Comres's 'weighted' numbers as they haven't bothered to report what they were weighted by). Nor is the population of the UK 0.02% Muslim, and nor does it have exactly 10 times more Muslims than Jews. This sample is clearly biased. With the majority self-identifying as Christians, whatever the sample 'says' is simply going to represent Christian views (at least to the extent Christians all agree with one another on things). Strange - you'd expect a member of the British Polling Council to be a bit more careful than that.
Where did this sample bias come from? Critically, we cannot know. Any sort of proper scientific report would contain full details of how the sample was recruited, so we could read the report fully informed and judge its findings according to the strengths or weaknesses of its methodology. But Comres's report doesn't bother to say how the sample was recruited. Given the massive skew towards representing Christians, I'm tempted to suspect they did a lot of their polling outside churches, at religious group meetings, or something similar. But I don't know, because they don't tell us. Nor do we know how they defined groups like 'Christian', 'non-religious' and so on. This lack of detail really matters: you're going to see very different results if you define 'Christianity' as 'I actively go to church at least once a week, am born-again and believe Jesus Christ is my personal saviour' or if you define it to include all those people who say they're Church of England as a sort of 'default' option because they don't feel very strongly one way or the other (like my mother), or who choose that option because they feel 'spiritual, like there must be something bigger' and so won't choose the non-religious tag. In this case I suspect Christianity was defined somewhat like the first of these options, and the wishy-washy undecided made up the non-religious group. But again, I can't tell because these crucial details aren't reported.
Moving on from the sampling, let's look at the survey itself. It included questions like "The media reports my religion fairly and accurately (agree/disagree/don't know)". From experience of similar surveys I can tell you this is a very strange question to ask someone who is not religious. It simply doesn't make sense - not having a religion is not a religious position, except possibly for some of the more hard-line atheists. Asking someone who isn't religious about their religion is like asking someone who doesn't own a hat about their hat: what are they to answer other than "Huh? I don't have one"?
But it seems Comres have something of a history here. Let's look at their questions in other surveys. How about their "Rescuing Darwin" survey, conducted at the behest (i.e., payment) of Theos, a Christian think-tank? Here we see questions like "Young Earth Creationism is the idea that God* created the world sometime in the last 10,000 years. In your opinion is Young Earth Creationism: definitely true, probably true, probably untrue or definitely untrue". With 11% saying this is definitely true, again alarm bells are ringing about which particular evangelical church they got their sample from (and again, they don't tell us), but let's ignore that for a moment as we're looking at the questions. How about question 3: "Atheistic evolution is the idea that evolution makes belief in God unnecessary and absurd. In your opinion is Atheistic evolution: definitely true, probably true, probably untrue or definitely untrue" with 30% saying 'definitely untrue'. I'm sorry, is that question dispassionate and scientific, carefully designed to elicit opinion, as it should be, or is it emotive and written in the language of fundamentalist Christianity? There's plenty more of this sort of thing in Comres's oeuvre.
(* 'God' you notice. Not '...the idea that a powerful entity created the world' but 'God', with a capital letter.)
So what's the conclusion? Basically, it rather looks as though Comres have established themselves as the polling organization of choice for religious groups wanting to find the 'right answers' in national opinion polls. With dubious questions which only make sense to a subset of those questioned (seriously: go and read the rest of the Rescuing Darwin questions), and apparently biased samples (which we can't even properly evaluate, without information on where they came from), they seem always to support exactly what the paying customer wants to find - which is nice, as that's a good way of getting repeat business.
I'm tempted to call for important organizations such as the General Medical Council to stop giving their business to such a polling organization, but I think the bigger question here is why on earth the supposedly dispassionate BBC News commissioned this particular organization - with their track-record of questionable polling in the interests of religious bodies - to conduct their snapshot survey of religious feeling in the UK. And I'm also curious as to why the BBC didn't notice the rather flagrant sample bias in the data they eventually received. I would be very very interested in knowing the religious background of the individual who commissioned this 'research'. Very interested indeed.
And this is where I turn all Ben Goldacre: this doesn't really bother me because of its religious aspects, but rather because it is the sort of thing which gets proper and effective researchers a bad name. Public opinion polls can play an important role in testing the Zeitgeist, and also contribute a great deal to our modern discourse about society. But for them to have any use they have to be done properly, and reported transparently. This sort of thing not only breeds distrust of opinion polls in general, but is also a classic example of how you can't just believe any sort of research reported in the media but rather need to go back to the source of the data and evaluate where they came from. I know this for a fact: I learnt it from a rigourous survey of me.
EDIT: Here's something I just typed in the comments to this post. Oh, and there's another issue I forgot to mention in the post, which is a shame as it was one of the things that really bothered me. One of the questions was "Our laws should respect and be influenced by UK religious values (agree/disagree)". Surely that's two questions rolled into one! That question was rolling people who think the law should respect religion into saying they also think the law should be influenced by religion. Because those are really quite separate ideas: personally I wouldn't be too worried by the first part of the question (as I think the law should respect our right to believe what we want), but I'd vehemently oppose the second part of the question. Tricksy, I'd say. I do wish I'd remembered to put that into the main article!

subset: commoncrawl


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2:30 pm
Martha Speaks "Martha Acts Up/Ronald Is In" Martha Acts Up - Mrs. Boxwood offers Martha a part in Alice in Wonderland, and Martha is thrilled at her new chance to become a star of the stage. But when Martha finds out what she's cast as, she's horrified. Vocabulary: (E) character(s), motivat(e)(ation), portray(s), psychology, instinct(ual) (I) part, actors, play, line(s), show. D
3:00 pm
The Electric Company "Madame President" Lisa and Francine face off in the election for Book Club President. Can Lisa's campaign message win out over Francine's dirty politics?. D
3:30 pm
WordGirl "Who's Your Granny?/Win A Day with Wordgirl" WHO'S YOUR GRANNY? - Granny May decides to become more notorious by committing bigger crimes involving crazy contraptions. Meanwhile, Becky is frustrated that she does not appear in any yearbook photos since she always has to escape to fight crime as WordGirl. Will Becky/WordGirl ever be able to get her photo in the yearbook and find time to interact with the new, hi-tech Granny May? Vocabulary Words: Interact, Contraption. D
4:00 pm
Wild Kratts "Fireflies" It's time for the annual Wild Kratt Firefly picnic. Martin and Chris head off into the forest to find some fireflies to join in the fun, but fashion designer, Donita Donata, has been capturing all the fireflies to use in the making of a sparkly, one-of-a-kind dress. The Wild Kratts team has to save the firefly population! Science Concepts: Bioluminescence, Cold light. D
4:30 pm
Cyberchase "Digit's B-Day Surprise" The kids have a really cool plan for Digit's b-day-a surprise party! But in order to keep the secret, they pretend to forget his big day. Disappointed, Digit goes off on his own and runs into Hacker. The vexatious villain is only too happy to take advantage of the situation: If he can convince the dejected Digit that he is his one true friend, he can reprogram the cyboid to gain access to Motherboard! Meanwhile, the kids have a special gift made for their pal-a chocolate "Digit" sculpture. D
5:00 pm
Fetch! With Ruff Ruffman "How Not to Impress A Poodle's Mother" Sam, Harsha and DJ work on sand sculpture at the beach while Jay learns about hair and beauty at a salon. D
5:30 pm
Nightly Business Report Tonight on Nightly Business Report, the Dow aims for 10 in a row. The S&P aims for an all-time high. But, even with stocks climbing to unprecedented levels, there is a tug-of-war going on in the economy that could influence which direction the market heads from here. D
5:54 pm
NewsHour Promo NULL
6:00 pm
PBS NewsHour NULL
7:00 pm
Outdoor Idaho "Idaho's Scenic Byways" Cameras capture scenes from the state's system of more than 2,400 miles of official Scenic, Historic or Backcountry byways. The routes crisscross the state to reveal natural wonders, geologic and historic sites, and the varied topography of Idaho.G
8:30 pm
Outdoor Idaho "Idaho Geology, A Convergence of Wonders" The Gem State's story is written in stone, which reveals the forces that produced a landscape that unites, divides and binds together Idahoans. Geologists Bill Bonnichsen and Marty Godchaux lead a tour through the complexities of the topic. Outdoor enthusiasts play amid unique formations - they ski on sand dunes, kayak through canyons, raft over waterfalls, climb rocky outcroppings, and dive into fossil water. The special includes videos of geologic events and examples gathered over decades.G
10:00 pm
Barbra Streisand - One Night Only at the Village Vanguard Streisand returns to her roots of more than 40 years ago when she was honing her craft and discovering her artistry in New York's West Village. The audience at the 2009 concert is packed tightly in the tiny jazz club and includes friends, celebrities, and 74 lucky winners of various online contests. The singer, backed by a jazz quartet, gives them all a lifetime thrill with songs from her album Love Is the Answer and enduring favorites.G
11:32 pm
Charlie Rose NULL


text:
by Ted Gottsegen
Charlie Creath was, like Fate Marable and Peck Kelly, was a regional band leader. Never traveling to the major jazz centers like Chicago or New York searching for fame and fortune, instead he opted to stay locally and play on the river boats that had proven to be fairly lucrative while relatively hassle free. The only way that Creath made it onto record was through the convenience of Okeh's mobile recording unit.
From 1916 to 1940 Creaths main area of activity was, like Marables,
the riverboats traveling up and down the Mississippi river between St.
Louis and New Orleans. Many New Orleanians who would later become
legends in jazz history could be found in his bands including drummer
Zutty Singleton (who married his sister Marge), bassist Pops Foster and guitarist Lonnie Johnson.
Both Johnson and Singleton recorded with Charles Creaths Jazz-O-Maniacs
from 1924 to 1927.
In 1940, Creath headed for Chicago where he continued to play with
various groups until his death in 1951.


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"I restore myself when I'm alone. " — Marilyn Monroe
Today's resolution: Peaceful wellness of solitude22 Apr
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东京1.5分彩开奖号码 www.oyefk.cn Catfish: The TV Show brings couples together who've interacted solely through the internet. They've supposedly fallen in love -- but what will happen when they meet in real life for the first time?
Hosted by WWE superstar and former challenge competitor Mike "The Miz" Mizanin, this show features 10 of the fiercest champions from past Challenge seasons. The alumni go head to head against 10 celebrity athletes and entertainers in challenge-style competitions to determine who will reign supreme.
First, Dirty 30 sparked the chaos, Then Vendetta's burned everything to the ground, now Final Reckoning will mold the ashes into a new Challenge. This is it. The third chapter to end the epic trilogy saga that pushes our competitors to face the consequences of their actions. All of their recent betrayals, backstabs and wrongdoings will come to head and they must find a way to work together with their biggest vendetta of all! Will they be able to put aside their issues and settle their scores to take home the crown and win $1 MILLION?
Can you ever really be over your ex? In this social experiment, 10 smoking-hot celebrity singles think they're running away to a tropical island for a once-in-a-lifetime romantic vacation full of fun and sun. But just as the party is getting started, unwanted guests arrive to break up their good time. Paradise turns into a nightmare when their exes start emerging, and everyone is left wondering whose ex will be next. Caught in a complicated web of hookups, deceit and revenge, will old loves reignite? Or will the flame of romance be gone for good? Welcome to Ex On The Beach.
MTV gives viewers the chance to conquer their fears head-on with a refresh of Fear Factor. Ludacris hosts this new installment, which is tailored perfectly for a generation that is increasingly empowered -- while also more anxious than ever. Filled with new stunts inspired by urban legends, popular scary movies and viral videos, Fear Factor helps contestants confront their fears while being pushed beyond their comfort zones.
This is the story of eight young adults who spend the summer in the hottest beach town on the Gulf Coast, Panama City Beach, to party it up and put the real world on hold for just a little bit longer. This coming-of-age story captures the very real thrill and angst of being young and trying to figure out the future.
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The iconic series Total Request Live has returned. In this new iteration, the weekly top five music videos are presented, with special guests adding their favorite songs to the playlist.


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Can you work out how many flowers there will be on the Amazing Splitting Plant after it has been growing for six weeks?
In this investigation, you are challenged to make mobile phone numbers which are easy to remember. What happens if you make a sequence adding 2 each time?
Compare the numbers of particular tiles in one or all of these three designs, inspired by the floor tiles of a church in Cambridge.
Cellular is an animation that helps you make geometric sequences composed of square cells.
In this investigation, we look at Pascal's Triangle in a slightly different way - rotated and with the top line of ones taken off.
These grids are filled according to some rules - can you complete them?
Can you predict, without drawing, what the perimeter of the next shape in this pattern will be if we continue drawing them in the same way?


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Rupee plunges to new low of 65.56, recovers to end at 64.55
The rupee remained in the doldrums for the sixth session in a row today, as it breached the 65 mark to reach an all-time intra-day low of 65.56 before recovering to settle at 64.55 against the dollar, still down 44 paise from yesterday's close.business Updated: Aug 22, 2013 19:50 IST
The rupee remained in the doldrums for the sixth session in a row on Thursday, as it breached the 65 mark to reach an all-time intra-day low of 65.56 before recovering to settle at 64.55 against the dollar, still down 44 paise from Wednesday's close.
Even as local stocks recovered, the rupee's declined on dollar sales by exporters and capital outflows. Steps taken by the Reserve Bank and the government to curb volatility in the exchange rate appeared to have had little effect.
The dollar strengthened overseas after minutes showed the US central bank remains on course to start trimming its stimulus before the year end. The dollar index, consisting of six major global currencies, was up 0.32 %.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee resumed weaker at 64.85 a dollar from the previous close of 64.11 and crossed the 65 mark to a historic low of 65.56. It recovered some ground and ended at 64.55, still a fall of 44 paise or 0.69 %. In six straight sessions, the rupee has tanked by 336 paise or 5.49 %.
"A set of RBI and government measures have not helped the rupee to witness a recovery," said Abhishek Goenka, CEO of India Forex Advisors. "The FOMC minutes, which gave a signal of tapering this year, further added pressure on the sinking rupee as the US dollar recovered in the international market." The government is exploring structural measures to narrow
the current account deficit, finance minister P Chidambaram said, adding there is no plan to introduce capital controls.
"We believe that the rupee is undervalued and it has overshot what is generally believed to be a reasonable and appropriate level," he said at a press conference after the market closed.
Recent steps to quell speculation in the rupee will be reversed once stability returns, said Chidambaram.
The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex today rebounded 407 points or 2.27 %. FIIs sold shares worth a net Rs 792.11 crore yesterday, as per provisional data with the stock exchange "The trading range for rupee is expected within 64.10-65.10," said Pramit Brahmbhatt, CEO of Alpari Financial Services (India).
Forward dollar premiums continued to rule weak on persistent receipts by exporters.
The benchmark six-month forward dollar premium payable in January tumbled to 236-240 paise from Wednesday's close of 246-250 paise. Far-forward contracts maturing in July plunged to 445-450 paise from 465-470 paise.
The RBI fixed the reference rate for the dollar at 65.4207 and for the euro at 87.3176.
The rupee recovered slightly to 100.50 against the pound sterling from 100.57 and also rebounded against the Japanese yen to 65.41 per 100 yen from 65.81.
However, it eased further against the euro to 85.94 from previous close of 85.85.
First Published: Aug 22, 2013 19:45 IST


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Coast Guard Foundation is a national nonprofit organization supporting the men and women of the United States Coast Guard and their families. Founded in 1969, the Foundation provides education, support, and relief for the brave men and women, who enforce maritime law, protect our homeland and preserve the environment. The organization is committed to serving these dedicated individuals and their families with high-quality programs and resources that enhance their service and better prepare them for duty. The Foundation provides support to the future officer corps with academic enrichment at the Coast Guard Academy and partners with the Coast Guard Auxiliary to benefit local flotillas throughout the country.
The organization's founding directors were Coast Guard veterans who served together during World War II. The founders, who enjoyed successful careers after their military service, believed the Academy had needs that private funds could fulfill that weren't being met by the Coast Guard's operating budget.
In addition to Arnold I. Sobel, Samuel "Bud" Silberman, and George Holtzman, early Foundation directors included such luminaries as G. William Miller, the nation's 65th Secretary of the Treasury and 11th Chairman of the Federal Reserve; and Fairleigh Dickinson, Jr., a New Jersey state senator and chairman of the university named after his father.
In 1986, the Foundation expanded its charter to support projects that enhance the education, welfare, and morale of all Coast Guard members and their families. Since this expansion, dependents of Coast Guard personnel have received college scholarships, and thousands of cutters, bases, and units across the country have benefited from exercise equipment, learning materials, computers and other various morale initiatives that the Foundation donated.
The first-ever scholarship was instituted in 1990 in honor of Coast Guard Reserve Rear Admiral Arnold I. Sobel, a founding officer of the Foundation who wanted to find a way to support the children of enlisted men and women. The Sobel Scholarship awards $5,000 per year for up to four years of undergraduate studies to a deserving scholar, as long as the student maintains high grades and exhibits good moral character. Following the creation of the Sobel Scholarship, several other generous benefactors have stepped forward to endow educational opportunities for Coast Guard members and their children.
One of the ways the Foundation supports Coast Guard dependents in education is through the Fallen Heroes Scholarship Fund. This scholarship benefits families of Coast Guard personnel who have died as a result of operational duty. The scholarship covers 100% of the student's higher education costs.
For the 2017-2018 academic year, the Foundation has awarded a record 166 new scholarships. Combined with ten multi-year scholarship recipients and three Fallen Heroes Scholars, the Coast Guard Foundation is currently assisting 179 students with a half-million dollars in support this year. In the 27 years of this program, they have paid out more than $4.7 million to more than 780 college-aged young adults to help the families of Coast Guard members achieve their goals of higher education. The Foundation also offers education grants to active duty enlisted personnel and their spouses. In 2001, Roy Vander Putten, a Foundation director and former enlisted member of the Coast Guard, created the Vander Putten education grants, which are $500 renewable grants for up to four years to help enlisted members buy textbooks, school supplies, and other necessary materials that aren't covered by Coast Guard tuition assistance.
In addition to scholarships and grants, the Foundation is dedicated to providing programs that offer vital assistance to the Coast Guard's 50,000 members — especially when they need it most. In these times, the Foundation acts as a lifeline to active duty personnel and their families. When a family or Coast Guard unit is faced with the unthinkable loss of a loved one in the line of duty, they step in and provide immediate financial relief, whether it's a care package or an airline ticket for a family member to attend the memorial service.
Working in partnership with Coast Guard senior leadership, the Foundation also provides items to units on the front lines of America's defense that aren't covered by the federal budget. Over the years, the Foundation has built a number of playgrounds and recreation centers around the country from the Pacific Northwest to the shores of the Gulf of Mexico. These projects offer a safe place to play and form bonds with other families.
The Coast Guard Foundation is headquartered in Stonington, Connecticut, where it maintains a staff of 15, with regional offices in the New York City area St. Petersburg, Florida and San Francisco, California. To learn more about the Coast Guard Foundation or to help support its work, please visit www.coastguardfoundation.org.
Original Source: Sportsmans Lifestyle.com


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Very professional and had our air up and running in no time. Will always use and recommend!
Koryn B., Basking Ridge
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July 2, 1861
House of Delegates assembled at 12 M.
Prayer by Rev. David Hervey.
The Clerk read the minutes of the preceding day.
J. G. West nominated for permanent Clerk G. L. Cranmer. There being no other nomination, the roll was called by Col. Leroy Cramar, when Mr. Cranmer receiving 31 votes (all that were present) was declared elected.
Mr. Moss moved that the election of Speaker be postponed until to-morrow at the usual hour of meeting.
Mr. West moved to amend by specifying the hour of 11 A. M.
Mr. Porter moved to further amend by substituting seven o'clock this evening, which with the motion as amended was adopted.
On motion the Assembly then adjourned.
The House of Delegates met at 7 P. M.
The Clerk read the proclamation of the Governor calling together the State Legislature.
The next business in order was the election of a Speaker.
Mr. PORTER, of Hancock, nominated Daniel Frost, of Jackson.
Mr. CRAMER put in nomination Fontain Smith, of Marion.
Mr. WILLIAMSON, of Pleasants, nominated J. G. West, of Wetzel, but at the request of that gentleman withdrew the nomination.
The roll was called and Mr. Smith received ten votes and Mr. Frost thirteen.
Mr. FROST was therefore declared duly elected Speaker of the House of Delegates of Virginia.
The Speaker was conducted to the chair, and returned his thanks for the honor conferred, in a few remarks.
On motion of Mr. ZINN, a committee was appointed to wait on the Governor and inform him that the House is now prepared to receive any communication he may see fit to send in.
Messrs. Zinn, Crothers and Cramar were appointed the committee.
The committee returned and reported that the Governor would send in his message in a few moments.
The Secretary of the Commonwealth brought in the message of the Governor, which was read by the Clerk as follows:
To the Senate and House of Delegates of the Commonwealth of Virginia:
GENTLEMEN: You have been convened in extraordinary session in midsummer, when, under other circumstances, you should be at home attending to pursuits incident to this season of the year. The exigencies with which we find ourselves surrounded demand your counsels.
I regret that I cannot congratulate you on the peace and prosperity of the country, in the manner which has been customary with Executives, both State and Federal. For the present, those happy days which, as a nation, we have so long enjoyed, and that prosperity which has smiled upon us, as upon no other nation, are departed.
It is my painful duty to announce that the late Executive of the State, with a large part of the State officers, civil and military, under him, are at war with the loyal people of Virginia, and the constitutional government of the United States. They have leagued themselves with persons from other States, to tear down the benign governments, State and Federal, erected by the wisdom and patriotism of our fathers, and under which our liberties have so long been protected and our prosperity secured. They have instituted civil war in our midst, and created a system of terror around us, to intimidate our people.
But while we are passing through this period of gloom and darkness in our country's history, we must not despair, or fold our hands until the chains of despotism shall be fastened upon us, by those conspiring against our liberties. As freemen, who know their rights, and dare defend them, our spirits must rise above the intimidation and violence employed against us; and we must meet and conquer every obstacle these men are attempting to interpose between us and our liberties. If we manfully exert ourselves, we shall succeed. There is a just God who "rides upon the whirlwind and directs the storm." Let us look to him with abiding confidence.
The fact is no longer disguised, that there has been in the South, for many years, a secret organization, laboring with steady perseverance, to overturn the Federal Government, and destroy constitutional liberty in this country. The various conventions held in that portion of the country, for some years past, ostensibly for other objects, have only been the means of feeling the public pulse to ascertain if there was sufficient disease in the body politic for dissolution. The cry of danger to the institution of slavery has been a mere pretext to rouse and excite the people. In abandoning the Constitution of the Union, the leaders of the movement must have known that they were greatly weakening the safeguards and protection which were necessary to the existence of that institution.
It has been urged that secession was necessary to protect the slave interest of the South. As a usual thing, those who are interested in a species of property, are the best informed in regard to their own rights, and the most tenacious in maintaining them. Secession has not originated among the large slaveholders of the South, nor has it found among that class its busiest and most ardent advocates. The sections of the country in which the largest slave interests have existed in this State, have heretofore been the most decided in support of the Union. The votes given at the last November and February elections in Eastern and Western Virginia, will show that the slaveholders themselves considered the safety of their property as dependent upon the maintenance of the Union. Another pertinent fact may be mentioned in this connection. It is, that in sections where slaves are numerous, it is always much easier to introduce a system of mob law and intimidation to control the votes of the people. The constant apprehension of servile insurrection makes the master an easy subject of control in a crisis like the present. Eastern and Western Virginia are illustrations of the truth of this statement.
What affiliations this great conspiracy has had in the Northern States remain yet unknown. The spirit which has been roused throughout the North has carried all opposition before it. But the extent of the treasonable plot has not been fully developed. Before the designs of the conspirators were made manifest, thousand os good men sympathized with the effort as they regarded it, of the South to maintain their Constitutional rights; but these have all abandoned them when the true purpose was ascertained. If there are any in the North, or in the border States, who still adhere to the conspiracy, they will attempt to aid its object by indirect means; by opposing and ____ at the efforts to which the government, in a struggle for existence, may use in its own defence, and by attempting to raise a popular outcry against ____, and advocating a peaceable separation. A bold stand for secession would scarcely be attempted; but those who sympathize with the leaders of rebellion will seek by covert and indirect means to aid the object of the conspirators.
There is only one question now for each American citizen to decide in this controversy: Do you desire to stand by, and live under, the Constitution which has contributed so long and so greatly to the happiness and prosperity of the people, and to transmit its blessings to our prosperity? Or, do you desire the Union broken up, and an oligarchy or military despotism established in its stead? The leaders of the South are striving for the latter. The Government of the United States is exerting its whole force to maintain the integrity of the former. There can be no neutral ground. The secession leaders have declared that they desire no compromise, except the unconditional surrender to them of the objects they have been aiming to accomplish, and the consent of the Government to its own destruction. The very proposition of compromise places a false issue before the country. It implies that the Federal Government has committed some great wrong which ought to be remedied before peace can be restored; when in fact the leaders in the South have controlled the legislation of the country for years, and the laws now in existence were made, or suggested, by themselves, when in power.
The position of this State is a peculiar one at this moment. Last November, at the Presidential election, it gave upwards of sixteen thousand majority for Bell and Douglas, both Union candidates for the Presidency. Their principal competitor was loudly proclaimed as also true to the Union; and throughout the canvass, any imputation of favoring disunion was indignantly denied by the advocates of all the candidates. At the election for members of the Convention in February last there was a majority of over sixty thousand votes given to the Union candidates; and the people by an equal majority determined that no act of that Convention should change the relations of the State to the Federal Government unless ratified by the popular vote. Yet the Delegates to that Convention passed the Ordinance of secession, and attached the State to the Southern league, called the Confederate States; and to render the step irretrievable and defeat the whole object of requiring a ratification of the people to render such acts valid, they put them into effect immediately; and before the vote could be taken on the question of ratification, transferred the whole military force of our State to the President of the Confederacy, and surrendered to him military possession of our territory.
When the chains had been thus fastened upon us, we were called to vote upon the ordinance of secession. The same reign of terror which compelled Union men to vote as they did in the Convention, was brought to bear on the people themselves. Vast numbers were obliged by intimidation and fear of threatened violence, to vote for secession. Many did not vote at all. Many, no doubt, were influenced by the consideration that the measures already adopted had placed the Commonwealth helplessly within the grasp of the President of the Southern Confederacy, and that she could not escape from his power by the rejection of the ordinance.
It is claimed that the ordinance of secession has been ratified by a majority of ninety-four thousand votes. Had the people of Virginia then so greatly changed? The best evidence that they had not is found in the fact that, wherever the vote was really free, there was a much larger majority against secession than was given at the election in February to the Union candidates for the Convention. The means of intimidation and violence, which were resorted to over a large portion of the State, to compel an appearance of unanimity in favor of secession, show that the leaders of this movement felt that the hearts of the people were not with them.
The proclamation of the President calling for seventy-five thousand volunteer troops is commonly relied upon to justify the ordinance of secession. That proclamation was issued on the 15th of April, 1861. It must not, however, be overlooked that on the 6th of March, 1861, the pretended Congress at Montgomery, provided by law for calling into the field a force of one hundred thousand volunteers; and that on the 12th of April the Secretary of War of the Confederate States publicly announced that war was commenced, and that the capitol at Washington would be captured before the first of May. The intention to capture the capital of the Union was repeatedly proclaimed in influential papers at Richmond and other Southern cities before the 15th of April. It was in fact long a cherished object of the leaders in this great conspiracy. Did they expect the President of the Nation to yield the capital, and retire in disgrace, without adopting any measures of defence? Yet Virginia, we are told, seceded, because the President, under such circumstances, called volunteers to the defence of the country.
I need not remark to you, Gentlemen; how fatal the attempted disseverance of the Union must prove to all our material interests. Secession, and annexation to the South, would cut off every outlet for our productions. We cannot get them to the Confederate States across the Alleghanies. The Ohio river and the country beyond it would be closed to our trade. With Maryland in the Union, our outlet to the East would be interrupted; while we could not carry our products across the Pennsylvania line, by the Monongahela or other route. In time of war, we would encounter a hostile force, and in time of peace, a custom house, at every turn.
The interests of the people of Virginia were entrusted to the Richmond Convention. How have they fulfilled that trust? Why, if war was to come, was our land made the battle field? Why was this Commonwealth interposed as a barrier to protect the States of the South, who undertook to overthrow the Union in utter disregard of our remonstrances? In the position in which the Richmond Convention have placed us, our homes are exposed to all the horrors of civil war, while the President of the Montgomery Congress can announce to the people of the Gulf States that "they ____have no apprehension; they might go on with their planting and business as usual; the war would not come to their section; its theatre would be along the borders of the Ohio river, and in Virginia."
Have we done wrong in rejecting the authority of the men who have thus betrayed the interests confided to their charge?
Under these circumstances the people of the State who desired to preserve a Virginia in the Union, by their delegates appointed at primary meetings, assembled at Wheeling on the 13th of May last, to consider the measures necessary to protect their constitutional rights and liberties, their lives and their property. Before a frank comparison of views could be had, differences of opinion were to be expected, and such differences accordingly then existed. That Convention, however, after three day's mature consideration, determined to call upon the loyal people of the State, after the vote was taken on the Secession Ordinance, to elect delegates to a Convention to be held on the 11th day of June, 1861. All who witnessed the assembling of the last Convention, will bear witness to the solemnity of the occasion. Its action was attended with singular unanimity; and has resulted in the re-organization of the State government, as a member of the Union.
Their journal and ordinances will be submitted to you. Plain principles vindicate their acts. The Constitution of the United States was adopted by the people of the United States; and the powers thus derived could be resumed only by the consent of the people who conferred them. That Constitution is the supreme law of the land. The Constitution of the State recognizes it as such, and all the laws of the State virtually recognize the same principle. The Governor, the Legislature, and all State officers, civil and military, when they entered upon the discharge of their duties, took an oath to support the Constitution of the United States. When the Convention assembled at Wheeling on the 11th of June they found the late Governor and many of the other officers of the State engaged in an attempt to overthrow the Constitution they had sworn to support. Whatever they might actually effect, with the aid of their confederates, by unlawful intimidation and violence, they could not lawfully deprive the good people of this Commonwealth of the protection afforded by the Constitution and laws of the Union, and of the rights to which they are entitled under the same. The Convention attempted no change of the fundamental law of the State for light and transient causes. The alterations adopted were such only as were imperatively required by the necessity of the case; to give vitality and force to the Constitution of the State, and enable it to operate in the circumstances under which we are placed. The[y] attempted no revolution. Whatever others may have done, we remain as we were, citizens of Virginia, citizens of the United States, recognizing and obeying the Constitutions and laws of both.
I trust, gentlemen, you will excuse me for dwelling so long upon these important topics.
Immediately on entering upon the duties of my office, I addressed an official communication to the President of the United States, stating briefly the circumstances in which we were placed, and demanding protection against invasion and domestic violence to which our people were subjected; and I am happy to inform you that the President, through the Secretary of War, promptly gave me very satisfactory assurances that the guarantee embodied in the Constitution of the United States would be efficiently complied with, by affording to our people a full protection. I transmit here with copies of these communications.
I also send you here with a copy of a communication received from the Secretary of the Interior at Washington, certifying officially the apportionment of representatives in the 38th Congress, under the census of 1860. Virginia has 13 representatives in the present Congress. Under the new apportionment she will have eleven only. Before the term of the 38th Congress commences, it will be necessary, therefore to redistrict the State, in conformity with the principles established in the 13th and 14th Sections of the 4th Article of the Constitution of the State.
The President of the United States has issued his proclamation convening an extra session of Congress, to meet at the National Capital on the fourth of this month. The two Senators from this State have vacated their offices. It is known to me that they are engaged in the conspiracy to overturn the Government of the United States, and in rebellion to its lawful authority. They have renounced the title of citizens of the United States, claiming to be citizens of a foreign and hostile State. They have abandoned the posts assigned to them by the State of Virginia in the Senate of the United States, to take office under the rebellious government of the Confederate States. I recommend, therefore, the election of Senators to fill the vacancies which have thus occurred.
I beg leave to call your attention to the subject of the Circuit Courts. Those circuits, as now prescribed by law, are too large to enable the Judges to efficiently perform the duties incumbent on them. In investigating this subject, you may find it not only necessary to reduce the size of the circuits, but to increase the number of the regular terms, or make it the duty of the Judges to hold special extra terms, at which the business before them can be disposed of. I would recommend, however, that any alterations you may make for the present, should be confined to that part of State in which the authority of this government is recognised.
I would also request your attention to the ordinance of the Convention to authorize the apprehension of suspicious persons in time of war, and to the provisions of the Code on kindred subjects. When a civil war is raging in the midst of us, an efficient system to protect the loyal people of the Commonwealth against the intrigues, conspiracies and hostile acts of those who adhere to our enemies, is necessary for the safety and good order of the community. Nor will the efficiency of the system be diminished, if it be conceived is a judicious spirit of moderation. I recommend that matter to your attention, trusting that any amendments which may be found necessary to protect the community, will be unhesitatingly adopted, but, at the same time, that all proper precautions will be taken to avoid any measures of unreasonable harshness.
The subject of the revenue will demand your attention. A recklessness has characterized the legislature of the State for the last ten years, that has involved us in a most onerous debt. For many years past the Western part of the State has been contributing, in an unequal and unjust proportion to the revenue, which has been largely expended on internal improvements for the benefit of our Eastern brethren, from which the West has received no advantage in any form. The proceeds of the heavy debt contracted on State account have also been applied to Eastern railroads and improvements from which the West derives no benefit. The leaders of Secession in the Gulf States have adroitly involved Virginia in an immense expenditure in support of their treasonable schemes; and to save their own people and property, have managed to transfer the theatre of war to our territory. Before they are driven out, the whole of the material interests of the State East of the Blue Ridge will probably be destroyed, including the Internal improvements upon which such lavish expenditures have been made.
I can only recommend to you a vigilant attention to render effective the collection of the taxes already imposed, and the utmost economy and prudence in their expenditure. Under the circumstances of our people, no increase of taxation should, I think, be attempted.
The suspension of specie payments by the banks of the State has been already legalized by the Legislature. Under present exigencies, the measure was, I think, unexceptionable. If specie payments were continued among us, during the existence of civil war in our midst, the coin would soon find its way into the hands of those who would board it up. The banks would be deterred from using their own notes by constant demands upon them for coin, while the coin would be concealed and laid away, thus ceasing to answer the purposes of circulation. The Banks too would have to press collections from their debtors, without discounting any; and the result would therefore be a general oppression of the debtor class of the community and a _____ of any kind.
I would recommend you to authorize the banks to issue notes of a less denomination than five dollars but not less than one dollar. There must be some medium of change. I would not limit them, however, for the present, in the amount of small notes, further than the limitations already imposed by law upon their total circulation. The denominations of the notes to be issued, not less than one dollar, may be properly left to their discretion. The demands of business will regulate the matter; and if it be found they are abusing the privilege, proper regulations can readily be adopted to correct such abuse.
There is a great aversion among business men to stay laws. It may be admitted that, under ordinary circumstances, they are unwise. But at this period, the mass of debtors in this State are, from necessity, otherwise engaged than in making money to pay their debts; and none of the debts now contracted were made with a knowledge of the present state of affairs. Rigidly to enforce the collection of them would ruin thousands of worthy men. But I recommend especial caution in reference to any law you may adopt on this subject. It often happens that such laws are so framed as to furnish a strong inducement to the creditor to prosecute suits, and costs are accumulated, so that both creditor and debtor are the losers and nobody benefited but the officers of the law.
The Board of Public Works should, I think, at once be abolished, and its powers conferred on the Executive. Our pecuniary difficulties commenced with its organization. I wish they would end with its abolition. There is nothing in the Constitution to prevent the abolition of the Boards.
You have met, gentlemen, in the midst of civil war, but I trust you may yet be assembled under happier auspices, when the strife shall be over, and peace and prosperity be restored to this once happy country.
All which is respectfully submitted.
Mr. West moved to lay the Message on the table and print 10,000 copies.
Mr. HOOTON, of Preston, moved to substitute 5,000, which motion was adopted.
The Clerk read a communication from the Auditor, which, on motion was laid on the table and ordered to be printed.
The House then proceeded to the election of Sergeant-at-arms.
FONTAIN SMITH nominated Evans B. Fogal, of Monongalia, and there being no other nomination, the roll called, and Mr. Fogal having received 24 votes was declared elected.
Mr. CROTHERS nominated for First Door Keeper, James O. Hawley, of Wheeling. No other nominations being made, the Clerk called the roll, when Mr. Hawley received 23 votes, and was declared elected.
Mr. SMITH nominated for Second Door Keeper, James Musgrave, of Wetzel county. No other nominations being made, the roll was called, and Mr. Musgrave received 24 votes, and was declared elected.
Mr. PORTER moved that a committee of five be appointed to revise the rules of this house, and report them to-morrow; which motion was adopted.
Committee - Messrs. Porter, Moss, Davis, Ruffner and Logan.
Mr. CRAMER offered the following resolution which was adopted:
Resolved, That the Speaker of the House invite the ministers of the gospel of the several christian denominations in this city, to open the sessions each day with prayer. Adopted.
The following order submitted by Mr. Crothers was adopted.
Ordered That the Chair be instructed to procure an authenticated copy of the census of this State for 1860 and report to this House the same, showing the total number of the white, free colored, slave, and total population of each county, and the federal numbers of the several counties; also of the several districts of Northwestern Virginia, Southwestern Virginia, the Valley, Piedmont and Tide Water districts.
The House then adjourned.
The Senate organized permanently by electing Wm. M. Lewis, of Doddridge, Clerk, and Jesse S. Wheat, of Wheeling, Sergeant-at-Arms.
The President of the Senate delivered a brief address.
The Governor's message was read at the same hour as in the House.
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2010-03-31 / Obituaries
Virginia Todaro, mother, grandmother and community volunteer
When Vincenza (Virginia) Todaro moved to East Massapequa in the early 1960s, she became passionate about bringing that portion of the community into the Massapequa School District and Massapequa Post Office. And, she wanted the community to have the same telephone exchange as the rest of its Massapequa neighbors.
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In the winter of 1815, sisters Ginger (Katharine Isabelle) and Brigitte (Emily Perkins) are traveling by river through the Canadian wilderness when their riverboat capsizes, their parents and protectors drown, and they find themselves stranded miles from civilization. As bad as that sounds, things get even worse: they discover an Indian camp that has recently been the scene of a slaughter--huge holes in the tepees, blood and guts everywhere, and the only survivor a mystical old seer whose predictions are (predictably) cryptic and grim. After Brigitte steps into an iron wolf trap, a strong but silent Native American hunter (Nathaniel Arcand) helps the girls to relative safety--a wooden fort under the command of a fur trading company. But the wary unwelcome they receive (and the inch-deep, bloody scratches on the heavily fortified gates) hint that there might be even more dangers in store for our intrepid siblings.
If you're familiar at all with the first two entries in this series, you'll know that the cause of all the trouble is a bad case of Werewolfery, which Hunter says the Europeans brought to their land, just like the plagues of small-pox and alcoholism. Running out of supplies and surrounding by a ferocious pack of man-beasts, the widowed Captain Wallace Rowlands (Tom McCamus) is also hiding a dark secret about the supposed death of his son--a secret that will of course land Ginger right in the middle of the full-moon madness, with Brigitte the only one she can count on to help her break the curse. But given the choice between sisterly loyalty and rescuing future generations from the Horror of the Werewolf, what will the kind-hearted but needy younger sibling do?
I was a big fan of Ginger Snaps (2000), finding it a refreshing, even invigorating entry in the werewolf subgenre, which had been languishing arguably ever since the triumph of 1981's monster masterpiece An American Werewolf in London. I also very much enjoyed the second entry, Ginger Snaps: Unleashed (2004, filmed back to back with its sequel), which in my humble should have been a star-making turn for Emily Perkins in a complex, harrowing role she absolutely knocked out of the park. I thought the movies had some great fresh ideas--I love the relationship between the outcast sisters, and the notion of the transformation as gradual and one-way; in this world, when you turn, you turn forever, making the race to find a cure that much more intense. However, I somehow missed this third installment, and the lukewarm reviews it received upon its release (much of which expressed bafflement at the decision to go period-piece with the story) did nothing to make me rush out and see it.
However, this many years after the fact and able to view it on its own merits, I found Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning a well-made, entertaining, and even thrilling modern werewolf movie. Director Grant Harvey makes good use of the Canadian wilderness and period sets, creating a believable window into the past. And DP Michael Marshall deserves props for his gorgeous shots of some absolutely beautiful scenery, to say nothing of his lensing of the exciting werewolf battles and dream sequences.
But of course the heart of all three movies is the relationship between sisters Brigitte and Ginger, their outsider status and absolute devotion to one another. While I found it extremely difficult to buy Isabelle as an 1800s teenage, Perkins once again turns in a fantastic, emotional performance--one which drew me in and made me concerned for her, and thus frightened and excited by the werewolves' attacks (and the menace from baddies inside the fort: leering Reverend Gilbert and battle-scarred soldier James (Hugh Dillon and JR Bourne, respectively). The other trapped trappers provide good performances as well, and the director gets some mileage out of the religious, racial, and personal tensions their precarious situation brings out.
Standing on its own, Ginger Snaps Back is a well-made period horror film that I think would make a good companion piece to fan-favorite Wendigo-flick Ravenous (1999), and could go toe-to-toe with it, for that matter. Another 2.5 thumb rating.
|"I didn't mean to eat all the jelly donuts! OMG, Brigitte, help me!"


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It is impossible to determine exactly how many high-quality individuals won't join the Navy because they never had the opportunities to witness the awe-inspiring precision of a Blue Angels demonstration or interact with personnel at a now-cancelled air show or Fleet Week event. It is similarly impractical to determine the number of students who ultimately won't pursue a STEM-related college education or career supporting national security because they never had the chance to complete a Starbase STEM curriculum, a DOD program that offers experiential learning at military bases near participating middle and elementary schools. Nonetheless, there should be no doubt that cuts like these have the potential to negatively affect the Navy just as significantly as a comparable financial reduction to a hardware investment program. The Blue Angels 2013 season would have cost $20 million to complete, and the Starbase program costs $24 million per year. The Fiscal Year 2014 DOD weapons acquisitions budget request is $168 billion—nearly 4,000 times the combined budgets of the Blue Angels and Starbase. Programs like these are not unnecessary luxuries; they are investments in the Navy's future human capital, and relatively cheap ones at that.
To be fair, it has not been all bad news for personnel-focused initiatives within the Navy lately. The successful reintroduction of Naval ROTC units to multiple Ivy League campuses after four decades of absence will bring more of the nation's best and brightest into leadership positions within the Navy and Marine Corps. Additionally, Navy leadership has taken a strong public position about protecting funding for sailors' tuition-assistance programs.
However, this year's budget-reduction experience, overall, has been concerning. Many well-established personnel investment programs were among the first to be targeted for cuts with seemingly little regard for their virtues. As pressure to reduce spending continues in the years ahead, the Navy must ensure it adequately prioritizes investments in personnel alongside its investments in weapons. In the future, as in the last 238 years, it will be the Navy's people—not its machines—who ultimately determine the difference between victory and defeat.


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February 16th, 2019
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Last week I mentioned my change of heart on secession. Now I have to backtrack on another long-standing principle: my opposition to recalls.
Actually, I still think that recall elections are absurd and even anti-democratic. Attempting to cast out an elected politician halfway through his term because you disagree with his policies is worse than bad sportsmanship. The threat of recall could prevent leaders from making serious attempts at reform. No, you just have to suffer through the term and hope to vote the sonofagun out.
On the other hand, recall efforts to oust corrupt politicians who refuse to give up their office even in the face of growing evidence that they are borderline (or not even borderline) criminals: I've got no problem with that.
So I am all aboard the DC Recall movement to get rid of Mayor Vincent Gray. For those who have not been following this story (and I suppose that entails just about everyone outside of the metro DC area), this story provides a succinct rundown of why Gray needs to go.
Three of the 12 members of the city council on Wednesday called for Gray to resign after it was revealed that supporters ran a shadow campaign on his behalf during the 2010 Democratic primary race against then-Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, and did not properly report financial contributions.
Then on Thursday, The Washington Post's Mike DeBonis and Nikita Stewart reported that Gray knew about unreported expenditures as far back as January — before federal law enforcement officials raided the homes and offices of consultant Jeanne Clarke Harris and businessman Jeffrey E. Thompson, who is accused of spending $650,000 on the shadow campaign.
In addition, Harris pleaded guilty Tuesdayto spearheading the scheme and now faces three years in prison. She is the third person from Gray's campaign to plead guilty.
We've known for a while that Gray was in trouble; now he's fighting to keep his job.
By all means, please follow the links in the story if you have the time.
Gray is clinging to the argument that he had absolutely no knowledge of the shadow campaign. The mayor is also attacking those City Council members that are demanding his resignation.
Gray (D) appeared Friday morning on NewsChannel 8's NewsTalk. HostBruce DePuyt asked Gray to respond to the resignation calls, which came Wednesday afternoon from David A. Catania (I-At Large), Mary M. Cheh (D-Ward 3) and Muriel Bowser (D-Ward 4).
"I think it depends on which of the three you're talking about," Gray said.
Gray dismissed Catania's critique as politically motivated: "Let's be honest, David Catania is a Republican who became an independent. We forget that we have partisan politics in the District of Columbia. … He never supported me; he certainly didn't support me in the election."
Catania departed the GOP due to President Bush's push for a constitutional amendment protecting marriage, so that gives you an idea of what kind of partisan hound he is. It's true that Catania is the closest thing that comes to being a Republican on the City Council, but that simply shows how far left the Council has become.
That there are only three Council members seeking Gray's ouster is an indictment of the rest of the Council. This was hammered home as I listened to at-large Council member Michael Brown spinning for Vincent Gray this morning on the radio. Instead of addressing the allegations, Brown decided to tapdance around the issue while waxing poetic about all the improvements the city has made. Not only was this beside the point, any credit for the city's improvement must go to the previous two mayors, Anthony Williams and Adrian Fenty, who have been about the only elected officials in the city who have had any sense of fiscal sanity. Listening to Brown inarticulately ramble for ten minutes caused me to quip on twitter that perhaps it's time end home-rule for the District. I was only half-kidding.
So if the City Council is unwilling to do its job, it might be up to the citizens of the nation's capital to throw Gray out on his behind. Then again, this is the same city that re-elected Marion Barry after he had been busted for possession of crack cocaine. Perhaps Washington isn't the same city it was two decades ago, and maybe they are willing to finally let go of their corrupt elected officials.
Hmmm. I wonder what City Council member Marion Barry thinks about that?


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paul_ruksenas needed a new t-shirt design and created a contest on 99designs.
2 winners were selected from 27 designs submitted by 5 freelance designers.
LT News & Dynasty Effect
Part of a content generation company agnostic to platform. It is no longer about the platform, it's about the content. Dynasty Effect manages branded content from inception to consumption with a media neutral disposition.
Dynasty Effect was the catalyst in the creation of LTnews.net. LT News is about Lithuanian driven news in simple form (quickly and effectively).
My Lithuanian heritage is important to me, so I feel very privileged to work on projects like these that hit so close to home. It's fun to enjoy your work! ....if that makes sense.
Based off our numbers, our target audience here is:
50/50 male and female
very much 18-34
Heavy traffic from US and Lithuania
We have a very active member base. Especially on Facebook.
We want a modern looking design graphic that a younger generation of people interested in Lithuanian culture would embrace. Almost like their symbol. A design, that immediately makes a person aware if they understand the meaning behind it.
For example, it is very popular for my parents generation to have a red "Vytis" (Lithuania's coat of arms), on the back of their vehicles. It's very cool and I loved it growing up. Whenever I saw it, I would be curious as to who that person was.
You can see some examples of the Vytis attached. It is generally a version of a knight holding a sword on the top of a stallion inside a shield.
We want this design to be compatible with Cafe Press. We envision this design to look great on clothing, T-shirts and shirts are key. We definitely want the design to have the "Vytis" incorporated some way. We are giving much creative leeway in using the Vytis in the design.
Your help would be greatly appreciated. I love 99designs....it's a favorite site of mine. Met many interesting people here.


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Kris Kendall
From ForensicsWiki
Kris Kendall is a computer security consultant and software engineer. He co-authored the carving tool foremost with Jesse Kornblum, and is currently interested in malware analysis and more effective methods and tools for incident response.
See his (very infrequently updated) homepage for more information about Kris.


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Our man Josh Dougherty has his finger firmly on the pulse of the Seattle Sounders in the 2012 season of MLS soccer. This time out, Josh gives us his match preview of the matchup vs. L.A. Galaxy matchup. A difficult game to call. This will be a even match. Both teams have a lot to play for. They're realistically competing for 3rd place in the west. Christian Tiffert will probably only be good for 30 minutes tonight
MLS Matchup Report: Los Angeles Galaxy vs. Seattle Sounders FC
August 5, 2012 By


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Computer Services
Think of FedEx Office© Print & Ship Center as your "office away from your office" if you're on go. Our computer services are designed to give you access to the right technology at the right time. Mobile workers have a place to take care of business with our computer rental and internet services, free Wi-Fi internet access or plugging into our lapnet services.
Computer Rental
AT&T Wi-Fi
FedEx Office LapNet
FedEx Office makes it easy, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We offer access to computer rental workstations to:
● Edit and print black & white or
● Browse the internet.
● Update your résumé.
● Or just check your email.
We remove your documents and visited websites from our workstations after every session, so you can feel secure. Also save time with self-service pay so you can get in and out quickly.
Get AT&T Wi-Fi high-speed internet access. Free at FedEx Office in most locations.
● Easy to access to start a new FedEx
● Fast, reliable access to the internet,
● Easy connection process.
● 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
Wi-Fi enabled device required. Other restrictions apply.Learn More ►
Make FedEx Office Print & Ship Centers your new mobile office. Connect your PC or Mac laptop to our wired LapNet laptop docking to gain secure access to the internet, your native applications, and our color and black & white printers.
● LapNet installs and runs directly
● Access the internet, check your
Many locations provide computer rental workstations with high-end design software and high-resolution scanners. Here are just some of the popular software packages available:
- Microsoft® Office 2007 Professional Plus: Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Publisher.
- Adobe® CS3 Suite: Acrobat, Illustrator, Photoshop, PageMaker and InDesign.
- Scan® Soft Omni Page.
- Internet software: Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox 2.
- Chat software: AIM, MSN and Yahoo!.
- And more.


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Dusan Pokorny and Jan Rataj have just posted a paper (http://arxiv.org/abs/1209.2305) in which they prove the identity $$ \det (A-B) = \frac 1{d!} \sum_{k=0}^d (-1)^k \binom dk \det((d-k)A + kB) $$ where $A,B$ are $d \times d$ matrices (this is the corrected version of the formula, in response to Paseman's initial incredulity).
This is so simple and beautiful that one is tempted to suspect that it is "known". Has anyone seen this before?
I should mention Pokorny-Rataj's application: if $f,g$ are (nonsmooth) convex functions on $\mathbb R^n$ , then there exists a signed measure on $\mathbb R^n$ that stands in for the integral of the determinant of the Hessian of $f -g$. In fact, there exists a closed integral current (in the sense of Federer-Fleming) in $\mathbb R^n \times \mathbb R^n$ that stands in for the graph of $\nabla(f-g)$ . Using the identity, this follows from the classical fact that this is true of any convex function (e.g. $(d-k)f + kg, \ 0\le k \le d$).


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Bring It home necesitaba un nuevo diseño de logotipo y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 86 diseños de 31 diseñadores freelance.
Bring it Home is a small pick up and delivery service for furniture and household items.
We are seeking a logo design to represent our business name and service.
Bring it home
We are seeking a logo design that will be applied across print, web, business cards, t-shirts and all promotional material.
The design must reflect the nature of the business in a way that is easy to read and recognisable. The core values of the brand are Value, Reliable, Fast, Personal Service.
The target market are value concious consumers such as students, young families and small businesses.
Our business philosophy is to provide people with an honest and down to earth service they can rely on - something that can be hard to find in our industry. We would like our logo design to reflect these values.
- Item 1... It must reflect the nature of our business and appeal to the value conscious consumer - in other words not look like a large expensive removals company. We are small, friendly, honest and reliable
- Item 1.. over complicated logo icons and imagery. Must be simple and easy to read and use a color palette that will not date.
Descubre cómo funciona un concurso de diseño u obtén más información sobre nuestros servicios de diseño de logo.


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Thoughts on War
Peachy Purdie was the widow of Alex Purdie, printer and publisher of the Virginia Gazette.
(Requires Quicktime, or other MP3 player)
"In this year of 1781, you wish to hear my opinion of the war against the British and how it has affected my life. In April of 1779, I did lose my husband, Alexander Purdie, due to an injury he suffered serving this new country.
Later on that same year, my first-born son decided to run off and join Colonel Gage's Monongahela Militia Unit and serve, as his papa would have wanted! He were captured by the British. Less than a year's time past, I lost my son. The British put him on board a prison ship, off the coast of New York in Wallabout Bay. With hundreds of others, he sat there and starved and died. To be thrown overboard when they were through with him. He had not yet reached his 15th year.
My second son Hugh was to join him and fight for the country, as his papa would have wished - knowing the cost his brother paid.
My youngest, little Alex, not understanding anything happening in his life and what were going on about him. Our friends and family no longer around us... because the capital city, as we'd always known it, no longer existed. It had been moved to Richmondtown.
Little Alex and I still try to pull the family together... what is left of us. And pray that things will soon end, and a new life will begin for all of us.
Cindy Gunther interprets the character of Peachy Purdie for Colonial Williamsburg.


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Arc Cosplay Final Fantasy III
Because this is a lesser known cosplay, we don't typically keep it in stock. If you're interested in it contact us via the contact us page. We can custom make it for you ^_^
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Update On I, FRANKENSTEIN: New Image And Discussion With James McQuaide EP And VFX Supervisor!
Had a discussion with my friend James McQuaide recently about I, FRANKENSTEIN - he's Executive Producer and Visual Effects Supervisor on the movie and let me tell you this guy knows his stuff. Last time I saw him was on the set of UNDERWORLD: AWAKENING where he took me under his wing and even showed me his complex previz material for UA on an iPad. Then I had the distinct pleasure in watching them shoot what I just saw in concept.
3D is very important to James and to that end they are again implementing LIDAR (also used on UA) to accurately capture the sets of the I, FRANKENSTEIN production. I saw how they use LIDAR first hand on UA, sweeping around in a 360 degree fashion and digitally representing everything. They move the machine around to various locations on the set to capture all angles of objects too of course. The point is, Prime Focus (who are the 3D post-production conversion house for IF) will not only have the 2D footage to work with but also the LIDAR data, allowing for them to literally see behind objects on set and accurately apply depth. LIDAR not only provides 3D geometric information, but also RGB which can all be applied on the 2D optical image for post-production.
Says James on LIDAR: "Loved it so much that we purchased a Faro Focus 3D (which we used daily on IF)."
I firmly believe this is the future of 3D conversion - LIDAR or some derivative. Mark my words.
Continues James: "We shot and posted it all in Australia (including all VFX). Think it's pretty great. Comes out in January. We're in the process of converting it with Prime Focus and it's looking very good. All of the VFX facilities have provided layers, effects, etc. to ensure that the 3D is spot-on - we have quite a few enormous VFX shots that would be a nightmare to convert without elements. We also LIDAR-ed most every set which is, again, aiding the accuracy of the conversion."
"...Prime Focus has the advantage of working on a picture that is not in flux; they've been working for months now and have (1-2 months) still to go; it was an imperative before we committed to the conversion that there was sufficient time; I, FRANKENSTEIN is a terrific picture and deserves the kind of conversion quality that only time can buy."
By the way, they're already talking about an I, FRANKENSTEIN sequel so I'm expecting Lionsgate is very happy with the results thus far. Can't wait to see it! More when I get it.
Stay tuned for the upcoming I, FRANKENSTEIN trailer dropping on Friday!
I. FRANKENSTEIN opens in 3D on January 24, 2014.
Image Source: Machinima


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With the roll out of Optoma's HD20 DLP home projector last year, the reality of a 1080p projector lower than $1000 was finally realized. As Blu-ray is rapidly growing in popularity, there's no reason that home theater gurus with growing collections of stunning 1080p transfers need to hold off on replacing that old 720p projector. The Optoma HD20 attempts to meet that need with 1080p output, 4000:1 contrast, and 1700 ANSI lumens. The retail MSRP of the unit is $999.99 and can be found slightly cheaper around the web.
The design of the HD20 has a very small footprint, which makes it useful as a somewhat mobile projector. The white body has a sleek finish with silver trim. It can get dusty if positioned on a coffee table and the white finish obviously makes that more visible. The front grill of the projector is sloped forwards and the lens stands out in the silver housing. Frankly, it's not a bad projector to look at especially when paired with white accents.
The rear of the unit contains the following inputs: power cord, 12 volt screen trigger, VGA computer connection, Component video, composite video and two HDMI inputs. You won't find an S-Video connection, but the majority of the home theater population has moved on to the superior component or HDMI connections for recent electronics purchases. In addition, the unit can be paired with a A/V Receiver with tons of HDMI inputs if you required more. On the top of the projector, you will find the standard set of button controls for switching sources and navigating on-screen menus.
If you have used an Optoma projector before, the menu system is unchanged from previous models. There are five preset picture modes including User controlled, Reference, Bright, Photo and Cinema. Switching between them requires a bit of lag time to reset the screen, but it's not overly annoying. For more advanced video calibration, you can dive in to noise reduction, gamma controls and color temperature selection. Within the menu system, you can also utilize overscan, edge mask, image AI and a variety of other modifications. Image AI, while useful, cranks the fan noise into high gear, so beware if the projector is mounted near your audience.
The remote control for the unit has a similar form design to the projector, compact and white. The remote control sensor is mounted on the front of the unit, so you need a fairly direct line of site to modify settings. Pointing it at the back of the unit doesn't work at all, especially in a seated position. I've heard people complain about how bright the remote LED is, but I found that to be more useful than not. It is stunningly bright. In fact, I've used it several times to navigate out of my pitch black theater after a movie is over. Two features I really utilize the most on the remote are the direct input buttons and the aspect ratio modification buttons. If someone in the house was watching a 4:3 DVD on the composite input, I can switch over to HDMI and / or 16:9 in a flash to watch the Lakers game in HD.
Placement of the HD20 is somewhat simplified over previous Optoma models, but positioning may seem limited. The 1.2:1 manual zoom lens has no lens shift and the throw angle is fixed. It works well as a ceiling mounted unit or a coffee table placement. I was using an 80" screen and had about two feet of leeway in where I could place the coffee table. By the way, the lamp inside the unit is rated at 3000 hours in high lamp mode and 4000 hours in low lamp mode, a solid rating for such an inexpensive unit. Replacement blubs hover in the $300 range, but I have seen them as low as $250 on some sites.
I had a stack of 1080p Blu-ray discs to test out from The Dark Knight to Pixar's Up as well as DVD performance, cable box performance (HD and SD) and an Xbox 360 to review gaming performance. One aspect of the unit that really impressed me right off the bat was the lighting performance. I was in the middle of transitioning a family room into the pitch back theater and the HD20 really cranked out a visible picture with ambient and direct lighting hitting the room. Utilizing this unit during March Madness was quite spectacular, ideal for anyone into HD sports. (I was using the Bright mode on the projector for the day games)
The vibrant colors produced by the HD20 also grabbed me, specifically on a few Pixar movies that I was testing out. Sully and Mike in Monster's Inc. really popped off the screen with this projector, more so than other units I've testing in the past. On the opposite end, black level performance really isn't up to snuff compared to other DLP projectors. Scenes with the deepest blacks often look too gray. This was evident in the majority of The Dark Knight as well as the night scenes of the Season 1 of Lost. That being said, this is a position of price versus performance. Those looking for a sub $1000 1080p projector likely won't care as much about below average black levels.
In my testing, I tried out a few of the preset image modes, but found myself wandering back to Cinema all the time. Optoma's preset modes are spot on for the most part. I only found Reference to be lacking in quality, ironically. Also, SD performance (480i) was decent, but wasn't as good as similar projectors around the same price point (likely due to the use of composite connection). It's obvious that the main focus of this projector is to be used with HD feeds, which it performs admirably. In regards to switching between feeds, the Optoma HD20 is very fast when switching between inputs and different resolutions.
In regards to gaming performance with the Xbox 360 via HDMI, I was really blown away. I've recently been testing Rockstar's Western themed title, Red Dead Redemption, and the old West looks quite fantastic in full blown HD. I even fooled a couple friends walking by during a demonstration who through it was Costner & Duvall's Open Range. The Xbox 360 GUI looks great as well along with Netflix HD Streaming content.
One final note on performance; the HD20 does have the oh-so-dreaded rainbow effect due to a 4x color wheel inside the single chip unit. I've never been able to see the rainbows on any DLP projector, but I did get a couple comments from those who were sensitive to it.
The Optoma HD20 isn't without fault. If you are a stickler on black levels and have a hyper sensitivity to color rainbows, the HD20 may not be the projector you are looking for. That being said, the Optoma HD20 packs a serious punch! You are going to be hard pressed finding a 1080p projector with picture quality as good as this for less than $1000. It's really the perfect projector for those first timers looking to build a home theater.