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SOURCE: PivotLink
December 17, 2012 11:45 ET
Appoints IBM/Coremetrics Veterans Caroline Waterson and Bill DeLauro
Appoints IBM/Coremetrics Veterans Caroline Waterson and Bill DeLauro
SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire - Dec 17, 2012) - PivotLink, the leading provider of consumer marketing optimization applications delivered as software as a service (SaaS), today announced the appointment of two Cloud marketing software veterans to drive the company's next stage of growth. Caroline Waterson joins PivotLink as vice president of Field Marketing and Bill DeLauro joins as vice president of Operations.
"PivotLink's market-leading analytic solutions allow marketing professionals to understand consumer preferences and behavior across channels and drive meaningful engagement along their path-to-purchase," said Bruce Armstrong, president and CEO, PivotLink. "Welcoming Caroline and Bill to the team caps a tremendous year of customer and partner wins and validation for our new solutions -- all signs that PivotLink is extremely well positioned to capitalize on this market opportunity in 2013."
With over 25 years of experience delivering global field and digital marketing strategies for SaaS and enterprise software companies, Caroline Waterson understands what it takes to deliver revenue. As vice president of field marketing at PivotLink, Waterson is responsible for driving PivotLink's growth by helping retail marketers understand their customers and how to market to them effectively. Waterson most recently led global campaigns and digital best practices for IBM's enterprise marketing management division following IBM's acquisition of digital marketing optimization leader Coremetrics. Waterson previously held senior marketing positions at technology leaders such as Postini (acquired by Google), Borland, Business Objects (acquired by SAP) and Sybase. Waterson reports to chief revenue officer Jeff Schmidt.
Waterson added, "I have three passions: marketing, PivotLink's success and high-performance sports cars like the Aston Martin DB9. It's an adrenaline rush to market a marketing application to marketers knowing we're demonstrating best practices."
Bill DeLauro brings nearly 20 years of technology service delivery expertise to his role as vice president of Operations at PivotLink, where he focuses on innovations that distinguish PivotLink's market-leading SaaS offering. DeLauro most recently lead the Global SaaS Operations & Infrastructure for IBM's enterprise marketing management division, where he managed a three petabyte Private Cloud, deployed its first SaaS applications in China, and launched seven cloud data center offerings. Bill was previously vice president of Operations at Coremetrics, achieving an outstanding service delivery record and award-winning customer satisfaction based on high availability and reliability. Bill previously held senior management and executive roles at companies such as Borg Warner, Loomis, Activant Solutions (now Epicor Software). He has also served his country with a distinguished service record, including many years as an Airborne, Combat Arms officer.
DeLauro added, "I'm very excited to join such a great company and lend my SaaS experience to enhance the superior performance and scalability customers attribute to PivotLink."
About PivotLink Corporation
PivotLink is the leading provider of consumer marketing optimization applications delivered as software as a service (SaaS). PivotLink serves retail and retail-related customers such as: Car Toys; Freshpair; Kelly-Moore; Party City; Rossignol; Shaklee; and Timbuk2. PivotLink's on-demand analytic solutions offer business users a comprehensive view of omni-channel consumer behavior, customer segment performance, marketing program effectiveness and marketing portfolio attribution. PivotLink is a privately held company backed by Trident Capital, Emergence Capital Partners, StarVest Partners and Pelion Venture Partners. Visit www.pivotlink.com. Follow @PivotLink on Twitter at www.twitter.com/pivotlink and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/PivotLink.
PivotLink is a trademark of PivotLink Corporation. Other product and company names may be the trademarks of their respective owners. This press release is for informational purposes only and no offer to buy or solicitation of an offer to sell any securities is made hereby. The forward-looking statements in this release are subject to unknown risks and uncertainties and do not constitute guarantees of future performance. Actual results, performance or achievements of the company may differ materially from results, performance or achievements of the company expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.
Media Contact:
Joanna Rustin
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Joanna Rustin
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Parents Picket Girl With Peanut Allergy!
Lisa16 posted a topic in Gab/Chat RoomThis came up on CNN today. I thought it might m=be interesting to some of us.... http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2011/03/28/parents-picket-peanut-allergic-girl/ They actually want this girl to withdraw from the elementary school because, they say, "she is violating our rights."
gluten-free Status Of Indigo Wild (Zum) Products
Lisa16 posted a topic in Gluten-Free Foods, Products, Shopping & MedicationsI got an email from Indigo wild today (makers of zum soaps, laundry detergent, personal hygiene products,etc.) about the gluten-free status of their products. They tell me that everything except the oatmeal soap and all of their lotions is gluten free. In addition, they confirmed that their vitamin e comes from a gluten free source. Whole Foods carries their soaps.
Eating Inexpensively But Still gluten-free
Lisa16 replied to teacherkd's topic in Gluten-Free Recipes & Cooking TipsThanks for the cucumber ideas! I like the hummus cups. We both like hummus a lot so i will attempt these today. It is kind of like cucumber sushi! If you make the hummus yourself, what kind of tahini do you use? I have been skippimng it and using sesame oil instead, but its not quite the same texture-wise.
Eating Inexpensively But Still gluten-free
Lisa16 replied to teacherkd's topic in Gluten-Free Recipes & Cooking TipsFor me the secret is avoiding processed food as much as possible and buying mostly produce. gluten-free food is expensive! I have two staples which are the yellow cf/gluten-free chebe packets and the nature's path buckwheat waffles. Unfortunately, my sig. other recently discovered Sam's Club and he cannot resist the deals! He is from a country that does not even really have supermarkets in our sense of the word and I think it is very exciting for him to see so much available. So I might ask for 2 yellow onions and he will bring back a 10 lb bag! Or a couple of tomatoes for salad and he will bring home the 5 lb. box of cherry tomatoes. It is very hard for two people to eat the 10lb bag of grapefruit, for example before they go bad. But he seems unable to resist, even though I explain this over and over. And it is a little time-consuming to preserve stuff like that. To make it worse, he is from a culture that abhors throwing away any food at all. "5 dollars!" he will cry, as he places a multi-color rotten cucumber from the dreaded Sam's three pack into the trash. So the pressure is on! He will reprimand me mildly like this (the irony of this is lost on him) if we have to throw out some tomatoes (or whatever). Sigh. So in the interest of domestic harmony, I do stuff like this: -pickle beets (once the man brough a 40lb bag home from a frmer's market. he said the man selling them looked poor-- probably because he was dirty from the field) or bell peppers -fry an entire 10 lb bag of onions into onion rings and then freeze these to cut up and use in curries later. He likes to help. This also uses a ton of eggs. -make vegetable rice or vegetable curry to use vegetables that are endangered -make tomato soup or tomato sauce and freeze it -juice oranges and grapefruit that are endangered -cook spinach and freeze it (he loves those giant tubs!) But I still don't know how on earth to avoid the last dreaded multi-color cucumber from that three pack! Any advice on dealing with Mr. Eyes Bigger than his Stomach?
Celiacs With Gallbladders Removed?
Lisa16 replied to Natascha's topic in Related Disorders & Celiac ResearchI had the same set of diagnoses, but in a differet order than the OP. I was mis-disgnosed with IBS-D at 17, had my gallbladder out at 38 and was diagnosed with celiac disease at 40. The gallbladder surgery was awful for me and it took more than a year to recover-- like somebody turned on the D tap. Then it turns out I may not have needed it afterall. Nowadays they can remove the stone/s with some kind of laser or sonic device. They do this in Italy, for example-- it is considered barbaric to take the whole organ. Perhaps a good solution for the OP would be to find somebody who can just take out the stones. Good luck!
Thanks! It is tough when you have multiple food sensitivities! I use the "naturals" ham with no nitrates. I will check for detrose, but I generally don't have a reaction to that ham (but I don'teat it often). And the peanut butter is okay for sure. The vinegar is another matter entirely, because of sulfites. Still, I usually can tolerate the mustard. At this point, after having the same reaction to the muffins, I suspect the calcium sulfate in the baking soda. I stopped eating anything udis and recovered in a day or so. Then I ate a muffin after about a week of feeling good and it happened again. The calcium sulfate is about the only "red flag" ingredient they have in common. I have to quite eating this brand, I guess. I grew up in a town where they hit gypsum (calcium sulfate) when drilling the well and the city water is heavily contaminated with this. I think I got sensitized to sulfites this way.
Hmm. I know it is not dairy. I ate peanut butter or ham and mustard sandwiches-- no dairy. Intersting about the xanthan gum. I have used it before in baking and it is in lots of cookies and gluten-free preparations. But perhaps it has something to do with quantity or a particular combination of ingredients. I would say the effects were cumulative over a period of several days (a bit over a week.) I see the calcium sulfate in the baking powder. But like the xanthan gum, I regularly use calumet baking soda which has two sulfate compounds in there and which does not have the same effect. But I don't tend to eat my baking every day, so perhaps it is cumulative? I just don't know. Good guesses though!
Udi's Mystery-- Oh No! Help!
Lisa16 posted a topic in Food Intolerance & Leaky GutI recently discovered the wonder of Udi's breads. I bought them (both kinds-- but mostly the white b/c the whole grain one kept selling out and I only got one loaf of that)and I ate it for several days as toast in the morning and a sandwich to take to work. However, I developed progressively worse GERDS symptoms that completely and instantly disappeared when I withdrew the bread (Oh Man! Just when I found something really good too!) I would have acidic burping, some stinky gas and stomach pain. This was not a typical gluten reaction-- I hasten to add. We are not talking multiple bouts of D. But something in this "gets" me. Soplease let me know what are the likely culprit(s) from the list of ingredients? I know am allergic to sulfites/sulfates (nearly impossible to avoid completely, though), nitrates, msg and pistachios and casein intolerant. Ingredients (white bread): water tapioca starch brown rice flour potato starch canola oil egg whites sugar-- *to this point, I believe we are okay. yeast xanthan gum salt baking powder (sodium bicarbonate, cornstarch, calcium sulfate,monocalcium phosphate) cultured dextrose ascorbic acid (microcrystaline cellulose, corn starch) enzymes Thank you in advance! This episode caused many sleepless night and I feel like if I can figure it out, I can solve a big piece of the non-gluten sensitivity puzzle for me. Lisa
Looking For Help With Finding A gluten-free Face Wash
Lisa16 replied to MonKol's topic in Gluten-Free Foods, Products, Shopping & MedicationsYou can also try: juice beauty weleda (for example, the baby cleanser that also works as shampoo) is a great face wash Dr. Bronners Ecco bella and then there are "order online brands" (sephora or skinstore or makeup.com) like: juara sundari 100% pure (foaming face washes-- cucumber and lemon) korres shisheido caudalie NARS dermalogica Let us know what else you find out there!
Udi's Bread
Lisa16 replied to DMarie's topic in Gluten-Free Foods, Products, Shopping & MedicationsEverything people are saying about this bread is true. But do NOT forget the muffins! Four to a pack in the freezer section at 6.29$. expensive, yeah-- BUT WHO CARES?? I like the blueberry ones the best, but there is also lemon streudel. How are they doing this??? They are going to put knickkinick (I can never spell it right) right out of business.
Gluten-free Products You Have Tried And Liked
Lisa16 replied to Lanie940's topic in Gluten-Free Foods, Products, Shopping & MedicationsOoh-- I adore Dr. Lucy's cookies. Cinnamon crisp, sugar cookies, chocolate chip-- all good. But pricey at 4.50 a small box. gluten-free/ CF. And Udis muffins and breads are surprisingly good. Real thing good. How do they do it?? Lifestream buckwheat waffles with little berries in them-- don't get as hard as those vans that tear up th roof of your mouth! And of course, tings (cheetos without the cheese.)
Happy New Year to you too! I followed the e-chatter about this episode, and that's where I saw this come up. Art got a LOT of press with Oprah, but it has more to do with the "persona" they gave him on the show. He was portrayed as the sympathetic chef-- a little bumbling, but the guy who produced great traditional Southern food. They didn't want to alienate his following and they didn't want to offend him because they will use him again on a later show. This is one of those instances where you can see how tv manipulates the viewers' perception of the people on the show. There was a reunion show where you saw the same thing with Marcel. He really didn't want to "play along" and Fabio got mad at him and actually said something along the lines of 'you know how this works. Cooperate with me/ play the game and don't make me look like an ***.' But I still love the show and I will faithfully watch the next season :-) I learn something from every episode.
In fact there was some question about whether or not he used the butter the recipe called for. General consensus at that time was that he did and that he really should have been eliminated. But because of who he is and what the show does, they just ranked him last to avoid embarassment :-) You can make the peanut brittle using walnut oil instead of butter.
Dermalogica List
Lisa16 posted a topic in Gluten-Free Foods, Products, Shopping & MedicationsToday Dermalogica sent me a list of the products to be avoided. They also included hops and yeast. They were very nice and the email came immediately (which I always think is a good sign): Please find a list including all the retail products that contain grain derivatives and should be avoided by those with gluten intolerance. Retail Products that contain Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein include:
What The World Eats
Lisa16 replied to travelthomas's topic in Gab/Chat RoomEnlightening, Thomas. This should be required viewing in Health Ed classes. And I might note that a thoughtful examination of the photos tells us an awful lot about how we all ended up here.

subset: commoncrawl


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Prospect Law still in contention for Giants' bullpen
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Derek Law figured he would be among the first or second wave of players sent to Minor League camp.
Yet he hasn't pitched as if he had modest expectations.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Derek Law figured he would be among the first or second wave of players sent to Minor League camp.
Yet he hasn't pitched as if he had modest expectations.
Law, ranked by MLB.com as the Giants' No. 10 prospect, remains on the active spring roster, possessing a legitimate shot at making the Giants' Opening Night roster. The right-handed reliever has demonstrated the repertoire that stunned club officials during last year's Arizona Fall League, where he made 11 appearances and didn't allow a run in 12 1/3 innings.
Law's competing with left-hander David Huff and right-handers J.C. Gutierrez, Yusmeiro Petit and Jean Machi for one of the remaining three spots in the bullpen. Petit appears to be a lock, and Huff lowered his ERA to 1.13 with a scoreless seventh inning Tuesday. Law had a 1.93 ERA until he yielded two runs in one-third of an inning Sunday against Kansas City to inflate his ERA to 5.40, but he recovered Tuesday by recording the save in the Giants' 5-4 victory over Milwaukee.
Even if Law begins the season in the Minors, he's likely to wear a San Francisco uniform at some point this year.
"He has the equipment to pitch in the big leagues," manager Bruce Bochy said of Law, who benefits from a deceptive delivery in which he turns his back to the hitter. His 94 mph fastball and variety of breaking balls also help, as proven by his six strikeouts in five innings.
At 23 and with three years of professional experience on his resume, Law remains genuinely humble. Asked if he envisioned he'd still be competing for a big league job this late in the spring, he replied, "Honestly, no. I just expected to come here and get the experience of being around all these guys. It's a great opportunity. I'm just enjoying the moment."
Law said he's trying to avoid placing undue pressure on himself to make the team, though he admitted he "tried to have an incredible inning" against Kansas City, which led to his poor outing.
A chat with closer Sergio Romo, who has weathered similar disappointments, buoyed Law's spirits.
"It's always a learning experience," he said. "You learn from it and bring it to the next outing."
Chris Haft is a reporter for MLB.com. Read his blog, Haft-Baked Ideas, and follow him on Twitter at @sfgiantsbeat.


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Did the Face of Jesus Appear in a Woman's Sock? [PHOTO]
Add a sock to the long list of odd places that the face of Jesus (or some kind of face) has appeared. Luckily for the son of God, it was a clean sock. In fact, Sarah Crane of Orpington England only noticed the famous face after she had left her recently laundered foot warmer out to dry overnight.
I'd left the washing out to dry overnight – and it had probably been sitting there a bit too long when I noticed the face in the sock,' Crane explained. "I immediately took some pictures to show our family and friends – they all thought it was hilarious. We think it's a bit of a sign – but for what we don't know.'
While Crane attempted to make a shrine to the sock, the creases began to fade, rendering Jesus's visage less visible, and freeing Him to pop up somewhere else wacky. Get a closer look at the miraculous sock in question below. Is it actually the face of the Lord and Savior, or just an odd wrinkle?
[via Daily Mail]


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CARRABASSETT VALLEY, ME (March 2, 2011) – Snowboarders will return to the roots of their sport and get a chance to test their skills against an Olympic champion on March 19, when Sugarloaf and two-time Olympic gold medalist Seth Wescott host the first ever Sugarloaf Banked Slalom.
Based on the model of the Mt. Baker Legendary Banked Slalom, the Sugarloaf Banked Slalom will be a snowboard-only, open registration event, which will see snowboarders young and old compete on a winding course of banked turns down Sugarloaf's storied terrain.
The Mt. Baker Legendary Banked Slalom is widely considered to be the first organized snowboard competition, and it eventually gave birth to the sport of snowboardcross. Wescott has won the only two Olympic gold medals ever awarded in snowboardcross.
"The banked slalom is something that we've thought would be a great fit for Sugarloaf for a long time," Wescott said. "The Mt Baker Legendary Banked Slalom is a truly unique event, and brings snowboarding back to its roots. The race is a perfect fit for Sugarloaf, and I can't wait to race in a banked slalom here at my home mountain."
The Sugarloaf Banked Slalom will feature five different age categories for both men and women, and prizes will be awarded to the top three finishers in each category. There will also be prizes awarded to the top three overall finishers. And yes, Wescott will be competing.
The age categories will be 14 and under, 15-19, 20-29, 30-39, and 40 plus. (Wescott is 34). Registration will be capped at 100 riders.
The event will be sponsored by K2 Snowboards. Prizes will be provided by K2 and Team Eight Snowboards.
Registration for the Sugarloaf Banked Slalom will close the day prior to the race (March 18). There will be a Registration Party held at The Rack on the night of March 18, featuring a free movie premier.
The race will begin at 10am on March 19, and will be followed by an awards ceremony on The Beach at 4pm.
Registration is open to all ages and costs $25 before March 17, or $30 after that date. The registration fee includes a commemorative Sugarloaf Banked Slalom t-shirt. There will be no day-of registration. To register, go to www.sugarloaf.com and click on "Events & Activities."
About the Sugarloaf Resort– Located in Carrabassett Valley, ME, Sugarloaf is largest ski area in the East, and is home to the only lift-serviced above treeline skiing and riding in the East and one of Golf Digest's America's 100 Greatest Golf Courses. Celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2010, Sugarloaf is a member of the Boyne Resorts family of resorts and attractions. Follow: www.sugarloaf.com, www.facebook.com/sugarloaf, and http://twitter.com/sugarloafmaine.


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Mayor Don Wesely today presented the Mayor's Award of Excellence for June to Floyd Anderson, a Utility Plant Mechanic for the Public Works and Utilities Department. The monthly award recognizes city employees who consistently provide exemplary service and work that demonstrates personal commitment to the city. The award was presented at the beginning of today's City Council meeting.
Anderson works for the wastewater division at the Northeast Treatment Plant and has worked for the city since 1981. He was nominated in the category of loss prevention by co-worker Brad Barber. Anderson devised an improved method of returning lagoon water from the injection facility back to the treatment plant. Previously, a dredge pump or large gas engine pump was used to recycle the water at about 900 gallons per minute. About two million gallons of water was pumped several times a year. Anderson's method creates a siphon and requires no energy.
"Each time the water is returned, we are saving the cost of running a 25-horsepower pump for about two days as well as maintenance costs," Wesely said. "Floyd's method also eliminates the need for plant staff to check the pump, which is especially important since the operation is partially unattended. His method is an example of labor and energy cost savings that are important to the efforts to optimize the facility's operation."
The other categories in which employees can be nominated are customer relations, safety, productivity and valor. All city employees are eligible for the Mayor's Award of Excellence except for elected officials and some managers. Individuals or teams can be nominated by supervisors, peers, subordinates and the general public.
Nomination forms are available from department heads, employee bulletin boards or the Personnel Department , which oversees the awards program. All nominations are reviewed by the Mayor's Award of Excellence Committee, which includes a representative with each union and a non-union representative appointed by the Mayor. Award winners receive a $100 U.S. savings bond, a day off with pay and a plaque. Monthly winners are eligible to receive the annual award, which comes with a $500 U.S. savings bond, two days off with pay and a plaque.
Media Release


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Competitive jewellery acquisition has been going on for quite some time at Grazia HQ. So in honour of the story in this week's issue of Grazia on the new way to wear rings, we thought it was a pretty good time to share our collections with you.
The fashion and beauty teams are big fans of ring layering, but on other departments, Grazia staffers tend to prefer one or two statement rings. We are all fans of colour mixing (gold, rose gold and silver) and there are several pinkie, signet and midi rings on show – for more tips on how to wear these new rings, pick up this week's Grazia.
Click through the gallery below to get a full run down of the office rings and hear the stories behind out finger jewels. And we want to see your ring bling too! Tweet us your pictures at @Grazia_Live using the hashtag #RingBling.
Via: Grazia HQs Ring Bling: Check Out Our Finger Candy And Show Us Your Jewellery!


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rhenslee necesitaba un nuevo diseño de logotipo y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 223 diseños de 31 diseñadores freelance.
Peabody School
Our school is a small private school for pre-k - 8 (132 students). We serve academically advanced students with a curiosity and love for learning. We offer a differentiated curriculum in a warm and caring environment where we embrace each child as an individual.
While we celebrate the academic achievements or our students, first and foremost we celebrate them as children. Our goal is to provide a foundation for students to become life-long learners. Our motto is "Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire" (W.B. Yeats).
Parents (current and prospective), teachers and students
Our community is laid back, well educated, savvy, and seeks the best educational experience possible
Memorable, unique and easily distinguishable
Classic fonts, not too graphically heavy
Clean, crisp, classy with "pop" and/or "punch"
Will appear on letterhead, banners, stationary, website, t-shirts etc.
Speaks to a "love for learning"
A flame image (flame, fire, torch) should appear somewhere on the logo
There should be no mention of "intellectually advanced" in logo
You can incorporate the quote, but only if it blends well with the rest of the logo
Color: WE DO NOT WANT TO USE OUR CURRENT COLOR SCHEME of teal and purple
Our uniform colors are black & white. Would like to see these colors incorporated if there is another color to make it "pop." Also open to using the color gray
Welcome a different color palette that incorporates colors that blend well
Please DO NOT USE the following color combinations as nearby competing schools use them: burgundy & gold, green & white, and navy & white
Opportunity for on-going work as we are looking to totally redo our marketing materials (including website)
Descubre cómo funciona un concurso de diseño u obtén más información sobre nuestros servicios de diseño de logo.


text: In the upper right corner of the page between the search button and the Login/Logout button you can see the letter "A". When you click on the "A" you can increase the font size for everything you see on the board. Two degrees (two clicks) are available. The third click will bring the font back down to the default size.


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What is it with Joe Gibbs labels? Did they only ever employ people who couldn't put them on straight!
There's always a mad dash to lift the needle before it goes skidding over the paper making a terrible noise.
One of the quirks of Ja vinyl I guess.
Mark T


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OneWorld is a non-profit UK-based organisation which innovates new media, mobile and web technologies for social good, helping people across the world to improve their lives and become active citizens.
Democracy and Governance
Real-time election monitoring and citizenship education in some of the world's most fragile states
Women's Rights and Health
eLearning, edutainment and Q&A platforms on sexual and reproductive health rights
Development Data
Real-time interactive maps and visualisation tools to transform access to development data
New app aims to deliver civic education in Myanmar
OneWorld has published online global justice content for over 20 years. Our flagship OneWorld News and OneWorld TV products are currently joined by OneWorld Features, assisting southern journalists to publish in European media. OneWorld Jobs offers a circulation list of over 16,000 job-seekers in the international NGO sector, whilst UK activists enjoy our listing of Global Justice Events in London
……and the tireless Tiki the Penguin remains a favourite for kids ready to learn about global issues.


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1973-87 GM C-10/20 2WD - 3", Rear Exit, 409SS Tubing with 304SS Mufflers
PART# 70501417-RHKRBe the first to write a review
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Full stainless steel exhaust system comes complete with stamped crossover for a broad torque curve, TIG welded stainless steel straight through designed absorption style mufflers, for applications over 450HP; rear exits.
- Each system is supplied with a high-efficiency stamped crossover & high-flow TIG-welded 304 SS absorption mufflers
- OE quality hardware (clamps, hanger rods and rubber isolators) provided to ensure excellent fitment and a leak free installation
- Kits are supplied with rear exits
- 304 Stainless steel straight through designed absorption mufflers for a muscle car sound without the resonance
- Constructed of mandrel bent 409 stainless steel tubing
|Hooker BlackHeart
|Emission Code
|Product Type
|Exhaust Systems
|Part Number
This part is legal for use on Uncontrolled (Non-Emissions Controlled) Vehicles or Racing Vehicles.
The following vehicles are considered Uncontrolled (Non-Emissions Controlled) Vehicles:
- 1965 and older U.S. manufactured California Certified vehicles
- 1967 and older U.S. manufactured Federally Certified vehicles
- 1967 and older Foreign manufactured vehicle
Racing Vehicles are vehicles that are used exclusively for racing or other forms of competition that are not registered and that may never be used on the street.
Tech Resources
*Free Shipping & Handling only offered to the contiguous US on orders over $100.
Some parts are not legal for use in California or other states with similar regulations.


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April 2002
On April 28, 2002, Ana Maria Angel and Nelson Portobanco, both 18, were taking a midnight stroll on South Beach when they were forced into a pickup truck at gunpoint. Five men, according to investigators, abducted the couple robbed them and raped Angel in the back seat. Two men forced Portobanco from the truck near Sample Road and I-95, stabbed and beat him. Apparently believing him dead, they continued north with Angel, shooting her and dumping her body in some bushes off I-95 in Boca Raton. Portobanco managed to flag down a passing motorist and set police on a search for Angel, whose body was found the following day. She had been shot in the head. All five men were apprehended, indicted on murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, gang rape and robbery charges.
Copyright © 2019, Sun Sentinel


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We are the bird store committed to providing:
"all the best stuff for the discriminating parrot."
Our supply store and state of the art boarding facility is located at:
210 South Tustin Street, Orange, CA 92866
Phone Number: (714) 639 - 6039
When you walk into birdStuff™, you will notice the nostalgic, home-like decor. We have created an environment that we hope will make your visit as relaxed and comfortable as possible. Located in a lovingly restored 1950's home, birdStuff™ combines home-like touches, such as the hardwood flooring and sunny yellow paint in the boarding areas, with state-of-the-art animal husbandry technology that you won't find at any other facility in the United States. This attention to detail will make your pet feel at home when you leave town and he comes for a little-or extended-stay.
A few highlights include the use of filtered water, four separate independent HVAC zones with NO recirculated air flow between continent-specific boarding rooms, full HEPA filtration of air, 15CFM constant negative airflow in each room, natural sunlight, and unique, custom-designed enclosures that are thoroughly disinfected between guests.
Our approach to "toys" is different, too. We take special satisfaction in assisting owners who say their bird "won't play with toys". All birds, including finches and canaries, posess natural behaviors that we humans might define as play. Our goal at birdStuff™ is to provide products that develop those abilities, stimulate curious minds and encourage exercise.
At birdStuff™, you will find an amazing variety of toys sourced from all over the world along with suggestions for introducing them and "teaching" your pet to play. A large number of our toys are interactive and refillable, and we offer a unique assortment of parts to build your own toys, including stainless steel kabobs and chains for use as bases. Finally, we will consult with you to be sure the toys you select are safe for your particular bird. We carry hard-to-find hardware in stainless steel and other durable, safe materials.
The professional, experienced staff is here to answer your questions and concerns, and to work with you on an individual basis. We pride ourselves on individual attention given to each bird delivered with a personal touch. It is our stated goal to "send every boarder home in some way better than he came to us". Perhaps that means converting him to pellets, teaching him to enjoy his baths, or training him to stay on a perch stand. Establishing lasting relationships with you and your flock is our top priority.
birdStuff™ has received two wonderful awards-look under "Press and Recognition" for full details. In December 2007, readers of BirdTalk magazine voted us the number one bird store in the US! And in July '08 we were chosen by the editors of Pet Product News magazine (the primary trade magazine in the pet industry) as one of the top twelve pet stores (of all types) in North America! We are very proud of this recognition and want to thank each and every one of our customers without whom we would not exist. We promise we'll keep working every day to continue to earn your trust.


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Specialist Sean O'Shea guarded the most high-profile prisoner in U.S. history.
Everything suddenly went dark as the C-130 carrying Specialist Sean O'Shea landed on a steamy spring night in Baghdad. The pilot killed the lights and the plane dropped—when you're flying into Baghdad, it's like you're falling out of the sky—as if Sean needed to feel any more freaked than he already did.
He had strong feelings about the war. He believed in it, believed George Bush was doing the right thing by liberating a country from an evil dictator, believed he was going to Iraq to fight terrorists. "Nine-eleven was in my head the whole time I was there," Sean says. "That's why I was proud to go over." But he never imagined he'd actually be there. Sean O'Shea? In Iraq? The whole thing felt unreal.
When he'd enlisted two years earlier—signing up in his junior year of high school for a six-year stint in the Pennsylvania National Guard—it was a year before the United States invaded Iraq. The recruiter had reassured Sean's father, Kevin, a security supervisor with the Scranton Housing Authority, "Don't worry, Mr. O'Shea. The National Guard never leaves the state." Leave the state? Sean had barely ever left Minooka, the ten-block-long (but with five bars!) Irish section of Scranton. He'd enlisted mainly to help pay for tuition at Bloomsburg University—money was tight, and the Guard was the best way to get a degree. But he also figured it couldn't hurt his future plans. He wanted to go into politics someday, maybe even run for state senate. Or mayor.
It was just before Christmas 2003—and shortly after the capture of Saddam Hussein—that Sean's unit got its deployment orders. They'd head to Fort Dix for training, then to Kuwait for about a month, then to Iraq and who knew what. "I tried my hardest not to cry in front of everybody," he'd later write in his diary, about saying good-bye to his family in Pennsylvania. His mother, Nanci, a clerk at the Scranton Sewer Authority, had given him the diary because, as she told him, "Who knows what you'll end up seeing over there."
Two months later, here he was, strapped into a C-130, banking over Baghdad in full battle rattle—M4 rifle, sidearm, body armor, and Kevlar helmet, inside of which was tucked a Catholic prayer card: "St. Michael, the archangel, defend us in battle." "He's, like, the patron saint of the military," says Sean. "He stopped Satan from getting to heaven."
He felt a nervous, panicky feeling in his stomach as the plane landed. "I don't want to have to shoot and kill anyone, especially little kids," he'd written in his diary en route. "Sometimes I feel like I'm not going to come back. Sometimes I feel like I might be one of those 'unlucky' soldiers. … I hope that I come back the same person that I left, but I feel I have already changed. Every now and then I look back a couple years and I wish I did things differently, so I can just be a regular 19-year-old going to college and having fun. I feel that I have become a man before I had a chance to be a boy."
Buck up, he told himself as he walked off the plane, helmet on, prayer card in place. He was a soldier now. At that moment, Sean O'Shea still had no idea what he was doing in Iraq, how much danger he'd be in, what his mission was. God knows where they'd put a 19-year-old from the Pennsylvania National Guard.
He spent his first few weeks sitting on his ass in a prison watchtower, hugging his gun, bored to tears, making sure nobody escaped. Which they didn't. He saw more action in Minooka.
Then, one day, out of nowhere, he was summoned by his superiors and told that the FBI wanted to talk to him about a new mission. The facility he was guarding was an HVD—high-value detainee—prison. (The rumor among the soldiers was that Saddam Hussein was in there.) The FBI guy asked him some questions. "The interview was, like, three seconds long," Sean says. "Like, 'What are your plans for the future? What's your background like? What are you interested in? What's your name?' And that was it. Like, 'See ya later.' "
Sean turned to walk out, and the FBI guy stopped him. "The job we're gonna pick you for could be really boring," he said.
"I don't care," Sean said. "I think I know what it is, and I want to do it."
"You're kinda young."
"That's fine. It doesn't matter."
He was in.
Are you ready to meet him?" Sean was led down a long, filthy hallway, over a floor of broken concrete, past a bunch of empty rooms. The walk seemed to take forever—he wasn't sure if he was excited or nervous; probably more excited.
And then he came to Saddam's cell.
Sean could see him, through a small window in the cell door, sitting in his red plastic chair. The door was opened, and Saddam stood up. He was wearing a gray long-sleeve robe that fell to his ankles—a getup the guys would come to call a "mandress" —and dark leather sandals. He had a neatly trimmed black beard and a fresh haircut. He was taller than Sean expected, about six feet, and pretty solid for an old guy.
"He just came out with this big smile and shook our hands," Sean says. Then he put his hand over his heart and told them—in decent English—how good it was to meet them.He was meeting Saddam fucking Hussein!
His charge for the next ten months. For the next 298 days, Sean O'Shea from Minooka would stand guard over Saddam Hussein.* He tried to act unimpressed, tried to muster up his sternest military expression.
"I didn't want to make that face, but I didn't want to smile, either," Sean says. "I just wanted to look, you know, a little intimidating. It was weird."
Later he'd write in his diary: "Part of me wanted to punch him in the face. Another part wanted to know what was going on in his head."
They had strict orders. To treat him with respect, but to be firm if necessary. To not initiate conversation, but to be civil if he did. To not talk about their own families or divulge anything about their personal lives. To run any requests Saddam made through the proper, official channels. To serve him his meals and mop his floors. To make sure his shower wasn't too hot or too cold. To see that he got his ercise every day and had a clean bed to sleep in every night. They were also ordered not to tell a soul—not their families, not their parents, not even other soldiers in the company—what they were doing while they were there. And never to tell where he was being held. By all accounts, the commanding officers did everything by the book. There would be no prisoner abuse-scandal fuckups in the Pennsylvania National Guard, no sir.
"For about the first month, things were awkward," says Sean. "He was getting used to us, and we were getting used to him."
There were days when Sean sat outside Saddam's cell for hours, flipping through magazines, without a word being uttered. Then Saddam started to get comfortable.
He liked to talk about chicks.
"O'Shea, are you married?"
He always called people by their last names, and he learned them quickly. Sean said no. "Then he just started telling me what to do. He was like, 'You gotta find a good woman. Not too smart, not too dumb. Not too old, not too young. In the middle. One that can cook and clean. Then you thank her, and you go—' " And Saddam smiled and made the gesture of bending a woman over and spanking her, as if to say: This is how you keep her in line. Sean tried not to bust out laughing. Then Saddam started laughing, as he often did, and went back to doing his wash in the sink.
Saddam did his own wash. He had been given the option of doing it himself or giving it to the guards to do. "He said he'd rather just do it in the sink. I don't know if he thought we'd mess with his wash or something," Sean says. So they'd hand him the detergent, and he'd wash out his underwear (white briefs), his man-dresses, and his wife-beater undershirts, then hang them up to dry.
He had to be watched every second—and that meant every second. So Sean and the other guys who'd been chosen for the mission got accustomed to watching Saddam Hussein sleep, bathe, eat, shave. One day he slipped in the shower, and panic ensued; no one wanted him to be hurt while being guarded by Americans. (One soldier had to practically carry him back to his cell; another had to go in and pick up his underwear.)
While he was officially under Iraqi control, awaiting his trial for crimes against humanity, it was Americans who watched and tended to him. "We were just babysitting," says Paco Reese, another of the guards.
"It was really like a geriatric center."
A month or so in, they were getting a lot more familiar with each other. It's what happens when you spend this much time with someone, even a mass-murdering tyrant—seeing him wake up, getting him dressed every morning and undressed every night, bringing him breakfast.
But not Froot Loops. Never Froot Loops. Saddam loved Raisin Bran Crunch, but sometimes they'd run out.
It was one of the few times Sean ever saw him defeated—when he'd bring him the wrong cereal. "No Froot Loops!" Saddam would say.
It was torture not to be able to tell anyone. Not to tell his parents, who saw every dead-soldier report on the evening news and worried that it was Sean who'd been killed because they had no idea what he was doing or where he was. Not to tell his only brother, a maintenance worker in the Scranton School District. Not to tell his friends back home, to call them and say, Dude, you won't believe what I'm doing in Iraq!
"They told us not to tell anyone, but who would have believed us?" Sean says. "That a bunch of guys from Minooka and Berwick were guarding Saddam Hussein?"
So they had only one another to swap stories with. This wasn't your typical soldier bond. This wasn't foxhole stuff. This was closeness born of sharing a secret holy-shit assignment (and one that was certainly more entertaining than dodging AK-47 rounds in Fallujah). They referred to Saddam by his code name because it made it easier for them to square this quirky, friendly, and often funny guy with the monster they knew him to be, "the number one villain in the world," the reason they were in Iraq in the first place.
Of course, they all got tight, Sean and the other Pennsylvania National Guardsmen who had somehow ended up smack in the middle of history.
There was Specialist Jesse Dawson, 25, a straight-shooting country boy and son of a forklift operator from Berwick, who had to leave his cow, Buster, and his job at a bottling company behind. For the first several months, Jesse was skeptical that the guy he was guarding was really Saddam. "I knew he had a lotta doubles," Jesse says.
There was Corporal Jonathan "Paco" Reese, a 22-year-old Filipino from Millville, who, prior to being deployed to Iraq, was a cook at the Berwick Armory. Paco also worked at Ruby Tuesday's in Dickson City. "I loved that place," he says. When he told the other waiters and busboys he was going to Iraq, he promised that if he met Saddam Hussein, " 'I'm gonna shoot him!' And then somebody brought up the fact that 'you cook food—you're not gonna shoot him.' And I was like, 'All right, then I'll spit in his food.'… And here I end up actually serving food to him!" (Did he ever spit in Saddam's food? "No, no, no. Definitely not.")
Paco remembers his first meeting with Saddam. "One of the other guys said, 'Do you want to meet him?' And I was like, 'We can do that?' And I just look up at [Saddam], he's a pretty tall guy, and he put his hand on his heart, and he's like, 'Hel-lo, how are you today? Nice to meet you.' And I'm like thinking, What do I say now? 'Nice to meet you, too'? In my mind I'm thinking, Why am I saying it's nice to meet one of the most hated men in the world?"
There was Sergeant Nick Costello, a 25-year-old from Williamsport, who met his current girlfriend while online-dating from one of the prison's computers but couldn't tell her what he was doing in Iraq. ("It would be a sweet pickup line," notes Sean.) "I replied to his personal because he said he was in Iraq," says Shannon, the girlfriend. "Then I said, 'Wait a minute. If you're in Iraq, how do you have a computer?' " In fact, the Saddam guards had one of the cushier assignments in Iraq, especially once the big guy was moved to a nicer, rat-free facility (because, they believed, Iraqi ministers came to visit him, then blabbed to Iraqi newspapers about where he was). They had a gym, clean bathrooms, a Ping-Pong table, PlayStation 2, and free long distance home.
There was Sergeant Casey Dunnigan, a 22-year-old welder from Rock Glen, whose tattoos Saddam greatly admired. Saddam himself has a small tattoo of a four-legged animal on the underside of his forearm. He told Casey that he got it when he was 8 or 9 years old and that he'd "traded ten watermelons for it."
This was the crew Sean became closest to, the guys he knew he'd be friends with for the rest of his life. Because who else could ever understand what it was like to bear witness to history, to meet and get to know the most wanted war criminal of our time, to affect, in some small way, the Course of Human Events? And to watch Saddam Hussein take a dump?
From Sean's diary:
Every day was basically the same with [Saddam]. At 0700 hours he was woken up, and he usually asked to use the latrine. At 0730 was breakfast. At 0830 the medics came and checked his blood pressure and gave him his medicine. Then, recreation, where he would water his plants, wash his clothes, sit and have coffee, a cigar, and talk to us. He would also feed the birds. 1130 was lunch, 1630 was dinner, 2030 was another medic visit, and 2200 was lights out, but he usually went to the bathroom right before that. He had 15 minutes to shower two times a week. He was always giving us fruit, candy, whatever he had. We got so used to him it was like he was one of our friends, but we knew our place and he knew his.
They don't believe he saw the statue of himself being toppled in Firdos Square on April 9, 2003; or if he did, he never mentioned it. He always told them his people loved him—and still loved him. He insisted that everything he ever did was for the "good of his people." Invading Kuwait, for example. "He said the Kuwaitis were a bunch of dogs, raping Iraqi women," Casey says. And he was absolutely certain that he'd someday return to power. "He still thinks he's the president," says Jesse. "He'd always tell us he was still the president. That's what he thinks. Totally, 100 percent." In fact, Saddam liked to say that "when this was all over," he wanted them to "come back and stay in his palace and see how beautiful Iraq was." He asked them to promise that they'd come back and visit when he was restored to power. "I'll show you all around my country," he said. "You are like sons to me." He also told Sean, "It's not beautiful now, but it will be when I'm back in charge."
"He knew we'd destroyed most of his shit," says Jesse.
From Sean's diary:
Day 255. Right now, he is lying in his bed, reading. Didn't have much contact with him, just said hello, and he asked me how I was doing. Today, [one of the officers] gave me an article on all of the mass graves that were dug up, and after I read it, I realized how evil this guy is. But you wouldn't be able to tell, the way he acts around us.
He told them, from his jail cell, about life in the spider hole, where he was captured—bearded and wild-eyed—on December 13, 2003. He complained that he'd been sold out, that "only one person knew I was down there, and he told on me." Even though he'd paid the guy money to be quiet.
"He was really mad about that," says Jesse.
"One day he said, 'Do you know Judas?' " remembers Sean. "He compared himself to Jesus, how Judas told on Jesus. He was like, 'That's how it was for me.' If his Judas never said anything, nobody ever would have found him, he said."
He claimed that when he was in the hole, he had a book to read, and that he didn't stay down there all day, every day; he also hid in a house nearby. "He would get word that the troops were coming, and then he'd get in the hole," Sean says.
When the bombing started, Saddam told Jesse, he'd tried to flee in a taxicab as the tanks were rolling in. "He told the story," says Paco, "that he knew the bombs were coming and so he was packing up all his stuff and trying to flee to his other palace. Well, America bombed the palace that he was running to, he said, and so some of his bodyguards got hurt. But then he started laughing. He goes, 'America, they dumb. They bomb wrong palace.' "
He had his quirks. He was a clean freak who always scrubbed up after shaking someone's hand (but did it the minute the person left his cell, so as not to appear rude). Mealtime was a study in obsessive-compulsiveness. When his meal trays arrived, he would pull out a box of baby wipes. First he would pick up the tray and wipe the table. Then he would pick up the plate and wipe the tray. Then, methodically, he would wipe each piece of plastic silverware and set it back down. Only then would he eat. "He had germophobia, or whatever you call it," says Jesse.
He liked to share home remedies with them. Once, when Nick had a sore muscle, Saddam advised, "Garlic, water, and hot sauce. Just rub it on there." Nick thought that sounded pretty stupid.
All his drinks, from milk to water to orange juice, had to be room temperature. He wouldn't eat beef but seemed to like fish and chicken. Salads were acceptable, but only if they came with Italian dressing, because he liked to use the dressing to marinate his olives. He pretty much got whatever he wanted, within reason. And his favorite food was…Cheetos. He was nuts about Cheetos. One of the guardsmen turned him on to them, and before long he would get grumpy if they ran out (so they started to order extra from the mess hall). Then one day they gave him Doritos instead, and Saddam never went back. "He kept asking for doris," Jesse says. He'd eat a family-size bag of Doritos in ten minutes. When they'd give him a bag, he'd smile, thank them profusely, and retreat to a corner of his cell. Then he'd sprinkle a few drops of water into the bag and eat. They're still not sure if he thought it would somehow be less messy that way or if he just liked them soggy. The Doritos thing he didn't feel like explaining.
Saddam would try, in his own way, to maintain his dignity. Before going to the bathroom, for instance, he would place his red plastic chair in front of the toilet, drape it with a towel, and do his business. Toilet paper was never used. He wiped with his left hand and had a hose next to the toilet that he used to wash himself off. Sean and the others did their best to give him privacy and treat him with respect. ("It's not like we'd be staring at his junk," says Jesse.)
In his cell, he had a bed, a toilet, a chair, a towel, a few books, and his prayer rug. He also had his Koran, which he read every day and proudly showed the boys because it was burned around the edges and had a bullet hole in it. He said he'd retrieved it from some rubble near the hole where he'd been hiding. He prayed five times a day but was sometimes too frail to kneel. "He was a very bad man," says Jesse, "but when we had him, he was also a broken man."
There were days he wouldn't talk at all—days when he'd go silent and pace his cell. Other times, they observed him "singing and dancing a jig, clapping his hands, stomping his feet." But usually he just wanted to talk. His English kept improving, and he liked to tell jokes. There was one about a sheep and three men. "You couldn't always understand him," says Jesse, "but he was laughing, so you'd start laughing, too."
He wrote constantly, on yellow legal pads, in Arabic. All day long, writing. Sometimes it was poetry, which he'd read aloud, translating into English as best he could. "It was always something like, 'The sun and the sky and the stars…,' " says Jesse. "And then he'd just sit there, all smiles, and you're going, 'Yeah! That's…great!' "
"Sometimes, when he translated from the Arabic," says Paco, "it made no sense to us at all. It would be like, 'There's a blender in the street.' And we'd be like, 'Beautiful!' "
He informed them that he was writing his memoirs and asked their permission to use their names. "As long as you say something nice," said Sean. He also told them to go home and tell their stories. "And get some money for it," he advised.
It was all Saddam, all the time. And sometimes it was a bit too much. Sean and his friends loved the hours when all of them were off duty at the same time, when they could take a break from the oddly endearing crazy man down the hall and just be normal guys again. Late at night, usually when he was sleeping, they found other ways to amuse themselves. They got tattooed together, everyone but Paco. A guy in the platoon turned out to be a tattoo artist, and his wife mailed him all his tools and ink. Sean got two: the O'Shea coat of arms and, on the top of his spine, the Irish Cladagh symbol, which hurt like a bitch. They pulled pranks on one another's birthdays—who got duct-taped to the chair, who had to wear the thong. They consoled each other when a girlfriend found another guy in Berwick. But a lot of the time, they would sit around and try not to talk about what's-his-name. Some nights they'd get mortared, but the sounds of mortars, rockets, and AK-47 rounds were nothing to them anymore. They learned to sleep right through it.
Saddam was so unafraid that when the shit started raining down and they'd ask him if he wanted to put on his bulletproof vest, he'd just laugh. "I guess he was a lot more used to it than we were," says Sean.
Sometimes they would just lie in their bunks, relieved that they were no longer in their old facility, where rats crawled into their beds at night. But mostly they dreamed of Daytona. They hatched a plan during those long nights: When they got out of here, they'd drive from Pennsylvania to Florida in two pickup trucks with their motorcycles in tow. There would be life after Saddam.
He tried to give them presents—whatever he'd gotten in packages from his daughters who had been granted asylum in Jordan and who sent things to him through the Red Cross. ("He hated the Red Cross," says Jesse.) Mainly, they'd send him Cuban cigars and sweets. Once, they sent a watch, which he tried to give the guys. They couldn't keep it, but out of curiosity, they looked it up on the Internet that night and were shocked to find that it was worth about $1,000. "Anything he had, he would try to share with us," says Sean.
He told them he had "no family left, no houses left," and that they were like his family now. "He used to call us his sons, his brothers, his friends," Sean says.
Except for the gifts, he rarely talked about his daughters. But he did talk about his sons. Once, he regaled Casey and an FBI agent about the time he got Uday three hookers for the three nights before his wedding. "He said the first night, this girl came and gave it to Uday pretty good," Casey recalls. "So Saddam asked his son if he was ready for the next one. 'No,' Uday told Saddam. 'This one was enough.' Saddam thought this was hilarious."
He was not supposed to know anything about current events. One of the interpreters' jobs was to cut all the news items out of the papers before giving them to Saddam each morning, which didn't leave much to read. He was not given any information on the U.S. presidential election, and the boys aren't even sure if he knew that John Kerry was running against Bush, because Saddam never mentioned him. (At the time he was captured, Dean was the front-runner.)
"I told him Jesse Jackson was president, just to screw around," says Jesse. "And he cracked up."
But he had plenty to say about Bush.
Both Bushes, actually.
"He'd always be like, 'Bush is no good,' " says Jesse. "And then he'd be like, 'Reagan? Reagan and me, good.' "
Paco: "And Clinton was all right. He'd always say, 'The Cleeenton, he's okay. The Bush father, son, no good.' "
Sean: "But he wanted to be friends with them. Towards the end, he was saying that he doesn't hold any hard feelings and he just wanted to talk to Bush, to make peace with him."
Jesse: "He thought that Bush could forgive and forget about what has happened. 'He knows I have nothing, no mass weapons. He knows he'll never find them.' "
He weighed in on everyone from Dan Rather ("a good guy") to Osama bin Laden ("He said he never had relations with him," according to Jesse). But Reagan was his favorite.
"He talked about how Reagan sold him planes and helicopters and stuff," says Jesse.
"And basically funded his war against Iran," says Sean. "He said, 'I wish things were like when Ronald Reagan was still president, and I said, 'Yeah, I wish they were, too, because then I wouldn't be here.' "
When Sean told him that Reagan had recently died after a long battle with Alzheimer's, Saddam got quiet for a minute, then said, "Yes. This happens."
One afternoon, Saddam had a meeting with two officials from the new Iraqi government. Before he went in, Sean asked him if he wanted to wear his bulletproof vest. The Americans weren't allowed to search the Iraqi officials, because Saddam was technically an Iraqi prisoner. For all Sean knew, they could be packing. Saddam just snorted. "I don't need one for them," he said.
This is how Sean remembers the meeting:
"[The officials] said something like, 'We're here to charge you for the crimes against your country.' " They were talking in Arabic, but there was a translator. "And [Saddam] goes, 'Change the subject or I'm walking out.' And the other guy goes, 'You stole all the money from your country.' And he just got up, walked out. That was the end of the meeting.
"When he got back to his cell, he was pacing back and forth. He took his suit off, gave it back, kept pacing back and forth. And he said, 'Ministers? Ministers of what? It's my country! I'm still the president of this country!' "
Jesse helped dress him the morning of his arraignment last July. Saddam wanted to look nice, wanted to wear the one suit he'd been given. It was a gray suit, and he wore it with a pressed white shirt. "Oh yeah, beautiful suit," remembers Jesse. "Not sure what brand it was." He got a haircut and trimmed his own beard—which was getting grayer every day—with the razor they would give him for mere minutes at a time. When he was done, he looked at Jesse and tugged on his lapels, as if to say, "How do I look?" Jesse gave him the thumbs-up and led him down the hall.
From Sean's diary:
Day 270. [Saddam] asked me if I could get him some hot water so he could make himself some coffee. And he told me to get some for myself because he would like to make me some coffee, too. … So I went and got two cups of hot water and he pulled out a bag of instant coffee and put a scoop in my cup. Then he stirred it and told me to try it. I really didn't want to, because he put a real lot of coffee in there, but I did and it was awful. Then he looked at me and said, "Good?" I said, "Oh, yeah. This is great." And he went on about how he makes really good coffee.
Saddam's favorite time was rec time, when he got to go outside and tend to his garden. He grew flowers and saplings and watered them with his hose. He told the guys stories about how his father was a farmer and how he learned to be one, too, before he ran away from home near Tikrit, so he knew a lot about this stuff. He loved his little date tree and would peel petals off flowers and eat them. And he was always concerned about the birds. "He saved bread and cereal from his meals to feed them," says Sean. (But no Froot Loops for the birds, either.)
"A little baby bird fell out of the bird's nest he had," remembers Jesse. Saddam picked it up and threw it straight in the air. The guys all thought it was going to fall back down and go splat. But it spread its wings. "That was kinda neat."
One day the higher-ups decided to put a treadmill in Saddam's rec area. They thought it would be good for him to ercise more. Saddam took one look at the treadmill—and the sneakers that came with it—and laughed. "You get on it," he told one of the soldiers. And sneakers? Please. "It's like putting new tires on a used car," he said. A few days later, Saddam told Sean what he'd really like: a Ping-Pong table. (Request denied.)
Rec time was always eventful. One night, when Saddam was on a break, all the lights went out. "I wish I had a candle and a fine woman," sighed Saddam, who then proceeded to tell Jesse that he had "only been in love twice"—once with his first wife and once with his second.
Outside, Saddam was allowed to smoke all the cigars he wanted. But the soldiers needed permission to light up in the rec yard. One time, Sean snuck a cigarette anyway and got caught and reprimanded. Saddam couldn't believe it. "How you not let soldiers smoke?" Next time, he told Sean, "blame me."
Saddam also used the hose in the rec yard to water the ground because, in between the cracks of the pavement, little plants would grow. That, and he liked everything to be clean. ("Clean, clean, clean," Sean says.) So it was usually pretty wet out there.
One day a black electrical cable that ran along the ground outside started to smoke and short-circuit. Apparently, the tube had cracked and the water from Saddam's hose had flowed into it. Sean didn't see this and almost stepped on it. Suddenly, Saddam grabbed him. Sean was alarmed—not realizing he was a step away from being electrocuted—and responded by cocking his fist. He thought Saddam was attacking him.
"No, no, no! Look!" Saddam yelled. "I saved your life! I saved your life!"
For weeks after, no matter who came by—medics, Red Cross workers, other officers— Saddam would tell them, "I saved O'Shea's life!"
Sean's final diary entry:
Yesterday [Saddam] gave me another cigar. This time I kept it. It is a Montecristo, from Cuba. I am going to find a way to send it home. Today when we were out to rec, [Saddam] asked if it was okay for me to smoke, so I asked the S.O.G. and he said yes. So [Saddam] gave me a cigar and asked me to sit with him. While we were sitting and smoking, we had a conversation. At first he was just saying that it was a lot better to have someone else to smoke and talk with. Then we started talking about the war a little bit which led him to telling me about his sons. As he was telling me about them and how they died, he said, My 3 sons [he included his grandson] died in this war while I was underground. He said when someone came to tell him about it, he was proud that they died for their country. As he was talking more about everything he lost, tears were in his eyes. I didn't know what to say so I just said, Sorry for your losses. He then told me about this dream he was having about a snake and he tried to kill it but he couldn't. Then an American came and killed it for him. … He also told me about the three other times he was in prison and how he tried to assassinate the president that was before him and he got shot in the knee. He was saying something about how the first time he smoked a cigar was with the president of Algeria and he got dizzy and he was laughing.
We talked loosely for a while. Well, he talked and I pretty much just nodded along and tried to put his English together. The way that this guy acts around and toward us makes it hard to picture him doing the things he did. But we just have to keep reminding ourselves of that when we start to get too close.
In late February, Sean, Jesse, Paco, Nick, Casey, and the rest of the platoon began the journey back to Pennsylvania. In his backpack, Sean had his diary, the Cuban cigar Saddam gave him, and his commendations from the military. "SPC O'Shea, you have displayed the highest levels of professional competence. … [You] handled detainee operations of Saddam Hussein with ease. [You] enabled Iraq to take a step toward democracy and gave the people of Iraq the freedom to vote for the first time in fifty years."
When Sean got home to Minooka, there was a parade, with crowds lining the sidewalks and banner coverage in the local papers. The next night, he was up till the wee hours, backslapping his old high school buddies, flirting with the Minooka girls, and drinking Jäeger Bomb shots all down the strip, from Joyce's to Diskins Saloon. "Did you shoot anybody?" they all wanted to know.
"It's a long story," said Sean. He was 20 now, about to start classes at Bloomsburg University, but he'd never be a regular guy again.
The last he heard of Saddam was from the troops that replaced him: Saddam was really hurt that Sean never said good-bye.


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Exchange Server 2010: Install a certificate
You will need to generate a CSR prior to entering the CSR in our online application. Once your certificate is ready for installation, you need to download all of the files we provide. You must install the intermediate and primary certificate to your Microsoft® Exchange server 2010 to complete installation. For more information see Downloading Your SSL Certificate.
Exchange server 2010 requires a Multiple Domain (UCC) Certificate to run all services securely.
To Install an SSL Certificate in Microsoft Exchange 2010
- To install the intermediate certificate, click Start, and then click Run..
- Type mmc, and then click OK. The Microsoft Management Console (Console1) window opens.
- In the Console1 window, click File, and then select Add/Remove Snap-in.
- In the Add or Remove Snap-ins window, select Certificates, and then click Add.
- In the Computer Account window, select Computer Account, and then click Next.
- In the Select Computer window, select Local Computer, and then click Finish.
- In the Add or Remove Snap-ins window, click OK.
- In the Console1 window, click + to expand the Certificates (Local Computer) folder on the left.
- Right-click Intermediate Certification Authorities, mouse over All Tasks, and then click Import.
- In the Certificate Import Wizard window, click Next.
- Click Browse to find the intermediate certificate file.
- In the Open window, change the file extension filter to PKCS #7 Certificates (*.spc;*.p7b), select the *_iis_intermediates.p7b file, and then click Open.
- In the Certificate Import Wizard window, click Next.
- Select Place all certificates in the following store, and then click Browse.
- In the Select Certificate Store window, select Intermediate Certification Authorities, and then click OK.
- In the Certificate Import Wizard window, click Next.
- Click Finish.
- Click OK.
- Close the Console1 window, and then click No to remove the console settings.
- To install the primary certificate, click Start, click All Programs, Microsoft Exchange Server 2010, and then click Exchange Management Console.
- In the Exchange Management Console, click Microsoft Exchange On-Premises, and then click Manage Databases.
- Click Server Configuration.
- In Exchange Certificates, select your certificate, and then, from the Actions panel on the right, click Complete Pending Request.
- In the Complete Pending Request window, click Browse to locate the certificate file.
- In the Open window, select All Files(*.*) as your file name extension, select your certificate (it might be saved as a .txt, .cer, or .crt), and then click Open.
- In the Complete Pending Request window, click Complete.
Note: If you receive the error, "The source data is corrupted or not properly Base64 encoded," check the Self Signed field. If it is True, refresh console by pressing F5 on your keyboard. If it still displays True, create a new CSR and then re-key your certificate.
- Click Finish.
- In the Exchange Management Console, select your certificate in Exchange Certificates.
- From the Actions menu, click Assign Services to Certificate.
- In the Assign Services to Certificate window, select the servers you want to assign services to, and then click Next.
- Select services you want to assign to the certificate, and then click Next.
- Click Assign.
- Click Finish.
Your SSL Certificate is installed. If you have problems, please see Test your SSL's configuration.
Note: As a courtesy, we provide information about how to use certain third-party products, but we do not endorse or directly support third-party products and we are not responsible for the functions or reliability of such products.


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Pushing up Python on Android
A few days ago, I put on the manliest voice I could muster and made an announcement to my wife: "Stand aside, woman! I am going to the gym!"
Needless to say, she was thoroughly unimpressed but somewhat amused when, half an hour later, she found me at the computer, programming.
Despite what she might tell you, I hadn't given up on exercising. You see, I had recently taken up the One Hundred Pushups, Two Hundred Situps and Two Hundred Squats programs. These involve a few sets of a varying number of repetitions each, with timed pauses between each one. So, for instance, on my first day I'd do 10 pushups, rest for 60 seconds, do 12 pushups, rest, 7 pushups, rest, 7 pushups, rest, and finally as many pushups as I can (but at least 9). These numbers of repetitions vary as you progress. My problem was keeping track of how many repetitions of which exercise to perform on any given day.
Now, there are nice PDFs with the whole exercise program on each site, but they're supposed to be printed. On paper. How low tech! Some people use spreadsheets, but... Meh. So I decided I should turn to my Android phone for help.
There is an iPhone app for One Hundred Pushups et al, and at first I considered writing an Android app to match. And I still do, but, of course, that's a full-on project, one that would definitely not be usable in time for me to exercise that night. So: pragmatic program, must be running in a very short time (my wife was laughing out loud, by then) and improve as need arises. This looks like a job for... Python!
Python is not (yet?) a first-class citizen on the Android, but it's a respectable second-class one, thanks to Damon Kohler and his Android Scripting Environment. ASE lets you run several interpreted languages on the Android, amongst them Python, Lua, Perl and JRuby. However, these are limited on what they can access on the Android API. More specifically, you can't build arbitrary user interfaces or create new activities (though you can invoke existing ones).
Still, having a Python interpreter on your mobile can be handy. I needed to input three sets of repetitions (one for each exercise program), and have Android let me know how many repetitions to do next, and for how long to rest between them. I'm still meddling with this code (trying to weigh making it better versus building a proper app versus actually, you know, exercising), this is just a quick hack I cooked up to get going, but it's growing on me. Anyway, here it is:
from time import sleep import android droid = android.Android() # How long to rest between repetitions rest = 60 # Warning before starting next round wake = 10 # One line per exercise set, each number of repetitions separated by spaces # For instance (pushups, situps, squats): # 10 12 7 7 >=9 # 9 9 6 6 >=8 # 19 24 19 19 >=27 user_input = droid.getInput("Series", "Describe all repetition sets in your series:") series = [i for i in user_input["result"].splitlines() if i.strip()] def interval(theres_more=True, rest=rest, wake=wake): droid.makeToast("Rest for %d seconds..." % rest) sleep(rest - wake) if theres_more: droid.makeToast("Ready? %d seconds to start!" % wake) droid.vibrate(500) sleep(wake) if theres_more: droid.makeToast("Go!") droid.vibrate(3000) for s in series: droid.getInput("New series!", "Ready?") sets = s.split() l = len(sets) for n, repetitions in enumerate(sets): droid.getInput(repetitions, '(press Ok when finished)') interval(theres_more=(n+1<l)) droid.makeToast("w00t! Congratulations!")
(you can also download it here)
As explained in the comments, it initially expects lines containing the number of repetitions on each set. So, if I'm undertaking pushups, situps and squats (respectively), I might input:
10 12 7 7 >=9 9 9 6 6 >=8 19 24 19 19 >=27
Of course, ">=9" is not a number, but the script will use whatever you input there as labels for prompting you to perform your repetitions.
You'll notice that the script uses getInput for displaying messages when it expects the user to press "Ok" (even though it doesn't expect any typed input at all). That's because, currently, getInput is the only graphical widget provided by the the Python proxy for the Android API. But more on that later.
So, try it out (if you're willing to exercise at all, or if you're just curious), and let me know what you think! Did it help you exercise?


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Bøker om lederskap
Hva er godt lederskap og hvilke egenskaper trenger en god leder? Les våre bøker om lederskap og få ny innsikt i hva som gjør dagens moderne leder.
Last ned alle "Lederskap" bøker i ett ZIP-arkiv
Vi har puttet alle bøker i denne kategorien i ett ZIP-arkiv som du kan laste ned med en gang
- Vis som eller
- Sorter etter
Ledere som coacher
Denne boken er skrevet med en visjon om at ledere på alle nivåer trenger å lære å bli mer effektive coacher.
Denne e-boken beskriver ti av de mest populære ledelsesteoriene- og modellene i vår tid.
Project Leadership - Step by Step
This is Volume II of two books on how to master Small- and Medium-Sized Projects - SMPs.
Project Leadership - Step by Step
This is Volume I of two books on how to master Small- and Medium-Sized Projects - SMPs.
Denne e-boken tar for seg ti populære ledelsesmodeller.
Supportive Leadership
Leadership in the 21st Century needs a paradigm change!
Creative Problem Solving
This book debunks the perceived mysteries and complexities of creativity and problem solving.
The Art of Leadership
In this collection, you'll find around 500 quotes on the theme of Leadership.
Teambuilding means shaping your people into a productive force.
Bli flink til å delegere
Det finnes ti regler du må følge for å sikre at de oppgavene som delegeres bort motiverer og utvikler den som får dem. Denne e-boken tar for seg disse ti reglene.
High-impact interpersonal skills
This e-book explores how leaders can develop the high-impact inter-personal skills which will make them both more effective and more successful.
Leading From The Middle
A key resource for aspiring leaders, it contains learning exercises and information for middle managers who want to increase their influence. Relevant to all sectors.
The Little Book of Leadership
Good leadership can be learned. With the help of numerous practical examples, this "Little Book of Leadership" points out the guiding stars good leaders should follow to achieve this.
Audiobook: Become the leader you are
'Become the Leader You Are: Self-Leadership through Executive Coaching' is a mini-manual for high-quality leadership, self-leadership and self-coaching. Each chapter gives insight and practical tips.
Leadership in Miniature
This eBook provides a practical and accessible view of leadership for busy managers and leaders. It doesn't only focus on what leaders do, but on who they are, and how they can be more effective.
The Myths and Realities of Teamwork
The book focuses on the key milestones that mark a team's journey to high performance, without being naïve to the challenges and the pitfalls; hence the title The Myths and Realities of Teamwork.
Leading By Example
The first, and most fundamental, behavioural trait of a leader is to set a good example for others to follow.
50 Ways to lead your sales team
Are you the Leader your people deserve? 50 Ways to lead your sales team will give you the tools and opportunity to answer that question.
Models for Managers
This is an A to Z guide of the best management models currently available. Line managers interested in the development of their staff will find it of particular interest to help them reach their full
The adventures of an IT leader
Whether or not you have a technical background, this guide and handbook will offer you many situational challenges, resolutions and lessons for both seasoned and aspiring leaders.
Maximizing People Potential
Is working with, and through, people important to getting results? If so, the aptitudes and skills in this book should be of value to you.
Being Manager, Leader and Coach
A practical book that covers several areas where the new or less experienced manager might have questions and need some guidance. A book where you will find a lot of useful tips, tools and exercises.
Gamification in Business
The book covers the benefits and downsides of gamification. It addresses the need to ensure your gamification design hits the right note with your target audience.
Models for Trainers: A J to Z Guide
This is an J to Z guide of the best models currently available for learning facilitators/trainers. The models range from Kirkpatrick's Training Evaluation model to the VAK Learning model.
Audiobook: 50 Ways To Lead Your Sales Team
In this audiobook, we will share the values, techniques and skills that we believe are necessary to enjoy success in a sales management role.
Personal Leadership - The 7 Leadership Levels
A guide and exercise book for those of you who want more self-awareness. Use yourself as the management tool - and become a leader in your own life.
Team Management & Coaching
A good manager will coach their employees to reach their full potential. Coaching, mentoring, training and counselling are similar but different.
How to get the most from coaching
When you are facing a dilemma, the last thing you need is a bad coaching experience. This book takes a step-by-step approach to understanding coaching, finding a coach and maximising the experience.
9 ways to understand what motivates us
This e-book offers numerous hints and tips to help you better understand yourself and others.
Lift off Agile teams – Team Transformation Process
This book contains a set of tools and techniques to help Scrum Masters, facilitators, Agile Coaches and Agile practitioners to lift off Agile teams.
Working with Humans
The Missing Manual for the Human Being, explains what motivates us and sets out a framework in which people will get on with each other, engage, perform well and be loyal to the company.
There's no "I" in TEAM
Wherever you work, it's almost certain that you'll be part of a team. The ability to work as an effective team member is something all employers look for in their staff.
The Art of Problem Solving
Learn 7 step-by-step techniques and time-tested methods to tackle even the most complex problems, avoid costly mistakes and become a confident decision maker with The Art of Problem Solving.
The Art of Managing People
We all love a good quote. A good quote can do many things. It can sum up in just a few words what it takes a whole day to learn.
How to Train your Mentor
It is hard to know what to do when you are in the middle of a mentoring relationship, as a Mentee, and are uncertain whether you are getting the best value from your Mentor. This book will help you wi
Become the leader you are
'Become the Leader You Are: Self-Leadership through Executive Coaching' is a mini-manual for high-quality leadership, self-leadership and self-coaching. Each chapter gives insight and practical tips.
Leadership Models
This eBook describes ten popular contemporary leadership models.
Emotional intelligence for leaders
Dealing skilfully with emotion is a vital part of any leader's repertoire. This practical guide shows you how to awaken and develop your Emotional Intelligence for everyday use.
Leadership Skills
This textbook introduces the reader to what being an effective leader is all about.
Connected Leadership
This book outlines 12 traits of connected leadership, shows their powerful impact on cultivating a thriving corporate culture, and highlights ways a leader can seek to develop them for maximum impact.
Fundamentals of executive leadership coaching
How to unlock your leadership potential by taking your skills to a new level: Gravitas, Values, Vision, People, Change, Being.
Top Ten Leadership Skills – Book 1
What makes a great leader?
Top Ten Leadership Skills – Book 2
"leadership is action, not position" Donald H McGannon There is much debate on what constitutes essential leadership skills.
Negotiation deconstructed
This book shows that it is not only important to be able to negotiate. It also shows how you can plan and manage the process in order to increase the likelihood of achieving the outcome you want.
The Art of Mindful Leadership
The Art of Mindful Leadership - a new model that helps us do business in an authentic way - an ancient art that breathes new life into your leadership strategy and your company's performance.
Leadership Theories
This eBook describes the ten most popular contemporary leadership theories and models.
HR 2025: The Future of Work – Managing People
This e-book considers the future of work and people management in particular. What will it be like to manage and lead in the year 2025?
Management Briefs
This book is a collection of 500-word essays on a variety of management, leadership, and organizational topics.
Governance Aspects of Duty of Care
This book contains a prologue and the first three chapters of the implementation approach of seven-steps which can be used by managers to care for, manage and protect better the company's assets.
A Clear Mindset
This book provides an updated. no-nonsense framework for understanding and then overcoming the unconscious biases that hinder our ability to deal with disagreements and conflict in a constructive way
The Styles, Models & Philosophy of Leadership
"The task of leadership is not to put greatness into people, but to elicit it, for the greatness is there already". John Buchan When you think of leaders and leadership, what comes to mind?
Values Based Leadership in Business Innovation
This book explores a number of methods and models that can influence and facilitate such innovation and the discovery and establishment of such an ontology.
Empowering Leadership
This book gives you the practical understanding of people and the communication process that will "Empower" or influence the people around you.
Executive Leadership Coaching
How to unlock your leadership potential by taking your skills to a new level: Coaching, Communications, Influence, Gravitas, Values, Vision, People, Change and Goals.
Introducing: The Business of Inclusion
This book presents a radical and timely challenge to business leaders and HR Professionals who are focussed on the equality and diversity agenda.
The Experts Teach: Negotiating Skills
In "The Experts Teach: Negotiating Skills", we bring together 25 articles from the top experts on negotiations.
The way to Revolutionary Leadership
The Way to Revolutionary Leadership book will help you becoming that and add to your existing tools to become the best leader. Learn how to work at making a difference in your life sphere. Enjoy.
The Experts Teach: Managing People
In this book, we bring together 25 articles from the top experts on people management. They will show you how to create excellent one-to-one relationships with every player in your team.
The Experts Teach: Leadership Skills
In "The Experts Teach: Leadership Skills", we bring together 25 articles from the top experts on business leadership.
The 7 Steps to Frontier Leadership
This book is all about how to be a frontier leader. It combines the latest academic research and insight from practice to develop an argument about how to lead, what to lead and who to lead.
Understanding Authentic Leadership
Authentic leadership has been called the gold standard for leadership - but what does it mean, why might it be beneficial for leaders, the organisations they lead and the people that work in them?
How to successfully Delegate
There are ten rules all successful delegators use to ensure you must undertake to ensure that any task you delegate motivates and empowers the individual. This eBook explains those ten rules.
Models for Teams
This is an A to Z guide of the best team models currently available. Line managers interested in the further development of their staff will find it of particular interest when helping groups reach t
Leadership and motivation
This book provides an insight into the interrelationship between leadership and motivation and will be useful to aspiring as well as practising managers.
Models for Trainers: An A to I Guide
This is an A to I guide of the best models currently available for learning facilitators/trainers. The models in this guide range from the ADDIE model to the Input/Process/Output/Model.
The Coach's Guide to the Drama Triangle
This is about the Drama Triangle, a psychological theory that sheds light on our relationships and interactions at work or home. Included are activities to use with employees in a range of situations.


text:
University of Central Florida (Student)
STARTALK:Preparation for a Business Trip to Russia
Grade Level(s)
9-12, Undergraduate
- July 9, 2018 – July 27, 2018: (Face-to-face)
- University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL
- University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL
Program Setting
The theme of the program will be "Preparation for a Business Trip to Russia," focusing on Russian language and cultural understanding in the business world for future business leaders which gives students the necessary skills for a successful trip to Russia by providing learner-centered language instruction using topics and situations related to students' professional goals. This theme will help students explore the use of the Russian language in the professional environment, learn about contemporary business opportunities in Russia, and understand the norms that are prevalent in Russian business culture today. The duration of the program is three weeks, for a total of ninety instructional hours and will be offered to local high school students and UCF undergraduate students, with a target enrollment of fifty participants. The participants will be divided into three groups of Novice Low to Novice-Mid level, with the latter group providing more in-depth content for returning STARTALK participants and those with some knowledge of the target language. The resource materials for future STARTALK Russian language programs will be developed and shared in the future language conferences and publication series continuing " Picturing Russia: A Research Guide to Russian Culture" and "Language and Culture of doing Business in Russia".
Contact(s)(407) 304-0027
Program Website


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For years as a professional wrestler, Canadian Trish Stratus traveled the world. But that doesn't necessarily mean she saw the world.
"People would ask me what it was like to go to a certain place, and I'd say, 'Well, I know about the Hilton and the arena,'" Stratus said. "And no offence, but arenas are all kind of the same.
"I always struggled with the question, 'What's your favourite place to perform in?' So I'd have to say, 'Well, my favourite time was when I wrestled here,' but it was mostly because of the match, not necessarily the place."
But now, through her new TV series Stratusphere, for a change Stratus gets to travel the world and actually see the world, too.
Stratusphere debuts Monday across Canada on the Travel & Escape network.
Every week, Stratus embarks on a trip in search of exotic locations and daring physical challenges. In the first episode, for example, Stratus is in Kochi, India, where she learns the ancient martial art of kalarippayat, progressing from fighting with sticks to fighting with metal swords.
Through the 10-episode run of Stratusphere, Stratus does everything from reindeer racing in Norway to bungee jumping in Bali. Her athleticism obviously sets Stratusphere apart from most travel shows.
"Initially we set out to do an adventure-activity show, and the fact I was willing to do all these cool things, that was the first idea," Stratus said. "But then it kind of evolved into something slightly different, because once we got to these places, we realized these activities mean something really special in these cultures. So I was pleased to make it a deeper show.
"It would have been a neat show just seeing me run around and do fun things, but to actually be able to include a lot of interesting information about how the warriors of yesteryear used these techniques or things like that, it makes it richer."
There obviously are a number of hardcore Stratus fans who will be tuning into this show not because of global curiosity, but merely because Stratus is the host. So what does Stratus want those fans to get out of Stratusphere?
"I guess it's a chance to travel the world," Stratus said. "I'm absolutely blessed -- I still ask sometimes, 'This is a job?' -- to be able to do these wonderful things, but obviously not everyone is able to do a journey like that. So maybe I can show you a little bit of the world and you can live it through my eyes. The narration reads almost like a journal of my experiences.
"I also hope it encourages people to realize there's a great big beautiful world out there, so get out and explore it if you can. It always amazes me to go from one place to another and see how completely different they are."


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Hashi Light Vol 2: When Hashi gets toughMonday, October 24, 2011
Hashi Light Vol 2, a new challenging volume of the most popular Light game to date, is now available from Conceptis. Hashi Light is an addictive brain game featuring Hashi puzzles that get tougher with each level. Now with a new volume of 30 medium, hard and very hard puzzles, Hashi Light will put your logic skills to test and will help you become a true Hashi pro!
Hashi is a Japanese bridge-connecting puzzle also known as Hashiwokakero, Bridges, Ai-Ki-Ai and Chopsticks. The puzzles are solved by connecting islands with bridges according to the rules so that there is a continuous path between all islands. If you are new to Hashi you might want to start off with Volume 1 which contains easier puzzles (See 'More Light game releases from Conceptis' below).
Hashi Light Vol 2 is the second Light series game containing harder puzzles. Stay tuned for more Vol 1 games with easy puzzles and Vol 2 games with harder puzzles in the future.
Where to play?
Enjoy playing our Light games?
Please take a moment to review and rate our Light games on your favorite gaming website. Here are some popular destinations: JayisGames, Kongregate, NewGrounds.
To play Hashi Light Vol 2 on Facebook click 'Go to app' in the Logic Puzzle Starters* profile or go directly by clicking here.
To play Hashi Light Vol 2 as a casual web application visit this page on Jay is Games, a leading online magazine dedicated to casual game reviews. You may also read this JIG game review. If you like competing against other Hashi fans try this page on Kongregate where the game supports the site's High Score system.
Lastly, if you prefer playing offline, you may download the desktop application (Windows only) and install it on your computer.
*Update June 6, 2012: Logic Puzzle Starters app on Facebook has been discontinued. You may continue playing same games on the other platforms mentioned above.
More Light game releases from Conceptis


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Green machines
THE POPULARITY of the John Deere tractor has led to the publication of scores of books on the venerable machines of green and yellow. Entering this library is a new book simply entitled John Deere Tractors written by Scott Webb and photographed by Andy Kraushaar.
The book's compact design allows readers to find a specific John Deere model simply by glancing at the upper-left edge of the pages. Webb's brief but effective surveys highlight the major changes in Deere's tractor design, production and marketing. Kraushaar's color photography is also very crisp, allowing the reader to see how the machines have changed over the last nine decades. Specification charts summarize such mechanical vitals as engine and transmission for every major model.
Ultimately, John Deere Tractors is a good introduction to the subject. The reader can enjoy it whether at home or "in the field" searching for vintage Deere machines.
Price: $14.95. Contact Motorbooks, Dept. FIN, Box 1, Osceola, WI 54020, 800/826-6600, www.motorbooks.com. — John Kestner


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A skier missing after an avalanche in the backcountry south of Keystone Ski Resort in Summit County was found dead Tuesday morning about 11:30, the Summit County Sheriff's Office reported in a news release.
The avalanche was reported at about noon Monday. The avalanche debris field was reportedly around 2,000 feet in length, with depths up to 9 feet.
One man who was caught in the snow slide was able to dig himself out, but he was not able to find the man he was skiing with.
The dead skier was identified Tuesday after as 46-year-old Kevin Kuybus of Highlands Ranch.


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Hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (HH) is a form of hypogonadism that is due to a problem with the pituitary gland or hypothalamus.
Alternative Names
Gonadotropin deficiency; Secondary hypogonadism
HH is caused by a lack of hormones that normally stimulate the ovaries or testes: gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH), follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH).
- The hypothalamus in the brain releases gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH).
- This hormone stimulates the pituitary gland to release FSH and LH.
- These hormones tell the female ovaries or the male testes to release hormones that lead to normal sexual development in puberty.
- Any change in this hormone release chain causes a lack of sex hormones and prevents normal sexual maturity.
There are several causes of HH:
- Damage to the pituitary gland or hypothalamus from surgery, injury, tumors, infections, or radiation
- Genetic defects
- High doses or long-term use of opioid or steroid (glucocorticoid) medications
- Severe stress
- Nutritional problems (both rapid weight gain or weight loss)
- Chronic medical diseases, including chronic inflammation or infections
Kallmann syndrome is an inherited form of HH. Some patients with Kallmann's also have anosmia (loss of the sense of smell).
- In females, a lack of breasts and menstrual periods
- In males, no development of sex characteristics, such as enlargement of the testes and penis, deepening of the voice, and facial hair
- Inability to smell (in some cases)
- Lack of development at puberty (development may be very late or incomplete)
Short stature(in some cases)
- Loss of sexual interest (libido) in men
- Loss of menstrual periods (amenorrhea) in women
- Decreased energy and interest
- Loss of muscle mass in men
- Weight gain
Exams and Tests
Tests that may be done include:
Blood tests to measure hormone levels such as FSH, LH, and TSH, prolactin, testosterone and estradiol
LH response to GnRH
- MRI of the pituitary gland/hypothalamus (to look for a tumor or other growth)
- Genetic testing
Treatment depends on the source of the problem, but may involve:
- Injections of
- Slow-release testosterone skin patch
- Testosterone gels (in males)
- Estrogen and progesterone pills (in females)
- GnRH injections
Outlook (Prognosis)
The right hormone treatment will cause puberty to start and may restore fertility. If the condition begins after puberty or in adulthood, symptoms will often improve with treatment.
Possible Complications
- Delayed puberty
- Early menopause (in females)
- Low bone density and fractures later in life
- Low self-esteem due to late start of puberty (emotional support may be helpful)
- Sexual problems such as low libido
When to Contact a Medical Professional
Call your health care provider if:
- Your child does not start puberty at the appropriate time
- You are a woman under 40 and your menstrual cycles stop
- You have lost armpit or pubic hair
- You are a man and you have decreased sexual interest