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In an attempt to curb runaway inflation that threatens to get Argentina kicked out of the International Monetary Fund, the government has imposed a bizarre, unofficial ban on advertising, businesses and publishers have told the Wall Street Journal and The Associated Press.
Inflation in Argentina is likely near 26 percent, but the government of Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner claims it is much lower.
It's not clear how a halt to advertising spending would lower inflation. The WSJ reports:
... retail executives say price-control czar Guillermo Moreno pressured them earlier this week to agree to freeze prices for two months. Executives say Mr. Moreno then told them to pull all newspaper sales ads in hopes this would somehow curb inflation. "This was an imposition, not a request. He simply decided that nobody should publish any ads. It's not sustainable and will be hard to comply with," said one retail-sector executive.
The government officially denied the ban to the AP.
One theory is that the ban is intended to punish newspapers which have published stories about inflation, the WSJ said:
The Buenos Aires Newspaper Editors Association said the order was a reprisal against those who publish independent inflation estimates. "This is another display of how far authoritarianism can go in a context that is dominated by discretional policies and bullying," the group said in a harshly worded newspaper ad Friday.


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Alumna's Passion for Traveling, Learning Sparked by Study Abroad Opportunity
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.—A study-abroad opportunity through the College of Education helped fuel a passion for travel and diverse cultures for one alumna. Claire Joseph, who earned her B.S. in secondary education, said that her experience in Strasbourg, France, broadened her view of the world and provided perspective for her life.Joseph, the managing director of administration for Optcapital, LLC, in Charlotte, North Carolina, said her Penn State experience offered a study abroad opportunity that provided enough structure for her to build independence and find success.
"The program required a number of Penn State courses—art history, political science, literature—that helped students prepare for the experience and develop a wider perspective," said Joseph. "Once in Strasbourg, the program included classes that built language proficiency and confidence for someone who had not traveled in a foreign country."
Joseph said that the program offered her a safe base from which to explore all of Europe with a group of students.
"Every weekend," she said, "we were on the train."
Joseph said she learned a lot about herself and her country from that study-abroad experience.
"I was grateful to have seen how others live and grateful to come home to the U.S.," said Joseph, who added she believes that all young Americans should have an experience abroad to help them appreciate the good things about the U.S. as well as the good things about other countries.
Another educational travel opportunity Joseph took part in was Semester at Sea, where she traveled the world, exploring numerous countries including India, China, Egypt, Turkey, Greece and Sri Lanka.
"Four months at sea, circumnavigating the globe, took me out of my comfort zone, kept me (literally) off balance in rough seas and broadened my horizons," said Joseph. "The voyage exposed me to people whose lives and lifestyles were vastly different from mine."
While the ship was moored off the coast of India, Joseph said that the ship's air conditioning failed, and students and staff slept on the ship's deck for four nights in the 90-degree heat.
"It seemed fitting after seeing many Indians sleeping on the streets in parts of Mumbai," she said.
Back in the U.S., with her background in education, Joseph responded to a call for tutors to help an immigrant population that settled in Charlotte.
"The Montagnard are an ethnic minority who have been persecuted for many years in Vietnam," said Joseph. "I helped them learn to speak English as well as assimilate into our culture and prepare for citizenship. They were eager to become American citizens."
Joseph said she received even more than she gave as a tutor, including wonderful friendships that have lasted 20 years.
As Joseph considers her next path in life, she believes it will involve tutoring and teaching English as a second language.
"We have so many immigrants who come to this country for a better life, and many of them struggle to find their way," said Joseph. "I know from experience— both tutoring refugees here and traveling in other countries where I don't speak the language—that even a little bit of help and kindness means so much in a foreign country. It's important to me to help others who bring diversity and who contribute so much to our country."
--by Kevin Sliman (September 2014)

subset: commoncrawl


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Cost conscious doesn't mean uninteresting. Take advantage of Starwood's great selection of on-site events that will give attendees a memorable experience, while meeting your over-all budget.
Discover a wide range
of on-site specialty events:
Food and Wine Pairing and Preparing
Dinner in the Green
Bordeaux Blending
Rock'n Roll Diner
Wii Tournament
Building for A Cause
Beyond the Velvet Rope
Wild Hogs
It's Game Night For Everyone
Rock Star Karaoke
Back to Home
Discover a wide range of exciting specialty events!
Choose from a variety of offerings which provide both cost effective and highly engaging events. From team building and interactive events to charitable turnkey offerings, Planner's Edge on-site specialty events create a social and memorable experience that is unique.
Save time. Save money. Save the planet.
Give your attendees more time to relax and unwind with our Planner's Edge on site specialty events. By eliminating transportation needs, the Planner's Edge can reduce your carbon footprint and have a positive impact on our environment - what a great way to be green and enjoy a great event.
So, how do you get the "Planner's Edge"?
To learn more about incorporating Planner's Edge events into your existing or upcoming meeting
view our participating hotel list
, then contact your Starwood Sales or Convention Service Manager to inquire about on-site specialty event availability.
For more information about meetings at Starwood Hotels and Resorts visit
, or email
Food & Wine Pairing and Preparing
A cooking event with a twist! After hearing from our Executive Chef and wine expert about the elements needed to prepare a complete dining experience, your group will be surprised to learn that they're preparing that night's meal! Partnering with our Chefs, attendees are broken into groups to prepare each course. Surprises will emerge, but once they meet the challenge, the group gets a chance to relax and enjoy their creation. Wine is served during the preparation to keep things interesting.
Dinner in the Green
An organic food experience. Learn about sustainable and organic foods through interactions with our Chef and a local organic farmer. This event provides insightful information about growing and raising foods in a sustainable and organic environment.
Bordeaux Blending
Who will be the next Robert Mondavi? During this team building seminar, guests learn the nuances of the five Bordeaux varietals. Then it gets creative as participants taste a Bordeaux blended wine and get the opportunity to create their own blend. Let the judging begin!
Rock'n Roll Diner
Music is the inspiration - each course is perfectly paired with a rock'n roll song and video. Guests interact with a live VJ who spins tunes in between courses. For entertainment and memories they will always treasure, guests can jump into the Photo Cabina for impromptu photo opportunities and take home instant 4x6 photos that print in just 8 seconds. Or try "Head Noggins" which applies guests' faces to animated bodies as they sing their favorite songs, all of which is broadcast to your audience and can be taped.
Wii Tournament
A true competition, complete with brackets and officials. Teams compete in their favorite Wii games during your official Wii tournament. The excitement grows heading into the final rounds which are played on the main event big screen in front of the entire crowd. Watch your attendees cheer on their favorites as they enjoy great food and beverages and see who will be crowned champion of Mario Cart, Tennis and other Wii sporting activities.
Building for A Cause
Working with a local organization, assemble and donate bicycles to underprivileged children. Your group will assemble bicycles to be donated after completion. Make it personal by arranging for the children to receive the bikes during your event. Attendees will be touched by the children's genuine surprise when they find out the bikes are for them to keep. Then everyone joins in for a sumptuous dinner with comfort foods and kid-friendly menus.
Beyond the Velvet Rope
Welcome to the place to be and be seen, create a hot club atmosphere designed for your group. Bouncers closely guard the club's "velvet rope" entrance where a long line has formed. As attendees arrive they are quickly whisked inside to enjoy the exclusive bar where they see celebrities relaxing. Or they can lounge on comfortable sofas and enjoy the tapas style buffet. For those interested in hitting the dance floor, the club boasts the hottest DJ who is renowned for a participative style - guests will never know if they will be invited to spin a few tunes to the envy of the crowd.
Wild Hogs
Experience the past, present and future of a true American icon. Harley-Davidson represents an expression of the human spirit enjoyed by no other vehicle, whether two or four wheeled. The spirit of the open road encourages your attendees to let their hair down and become a Biker for a night, or maybe more! Enhancements include a giant juke box, "Born to be Wild" photo keepsake station with costumes and authentic Harley-Davidson motorcycles, pool tables and a tattoo parlor, all the while classic biker movies play on video screens. Guests can also dance to classic biker tunes.
It's Game Night For Everyone
Don't let the 'big' game conflict with your event! Ever wonder what to do when a 'big' game takes place during your event? Game Night for Everyone engages both sports fans and those who quite frankly don't care. Big screens in strategic locations feature key games and classic TV shows while the room set includes a variety of games: air hockey, pool, knock hockey, basketball and cocktail tables topped with classic board games like Pictionary, Trivial Pursuit, Poker or add pinball machines. The menu features a game theme, beer bar and waitstaff dressed in referee or your favorite team attire.
Rock Star Karaoke
Get your team rolling as they rock with a live band. Your guests can live their rock star dreams singing along karaoke style with the band to the sound of their cheering fans. Teams can also create their own lyrics to classic songs. Watch your teams really get into the groove preparing not only costumes, but also choreography for their performance. A sumptuous buffet and multiple bars await your teams upon their arrival as they get ready to ROCK!!!


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TUNESTUDIO – Multi-Function Polyline TunerCAD Design Software
Digitally signed app
This is probably the most advanced polyline tuning app there is, and we're not kidding! CAD Design Software uses its expertise as an EDA company to bring you this amazing app. This app gives you five different tuning ( Accordion, Trombone , Serpentine and more) options and comes packed with eight powerful post processing (editing, reporting and much more) options to give you complete editing and reporting control. The unbeatable combination of tuning options and post processing features will make this the last tuning app you will ever need. Download your free trial and get TUNESTUDIO working for you today!
This application will start in Trial-Mode and allow 15 trial runs or 1 day, whichever comes first.
$20.00 to purchase from within the app using a Paypal account or make a one-time purchase with a Debit or Credit Card on Paypal
Note: This app uses a custom installer (and not the standard App Store installer).
App contains these individual apps from CDS: ADDCURVE | TACCOR | ACCORDION | TROMBONE | DISPLAYLEN | POLYOFFSET | POLY2BOUND | PARALLELSEG | POLYEDITOR


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Rate This Movie SYNOPSIS: Five years ago a group of students played several April Fools Day jokes on young Marty; the last joke went horribly bad. Now it's the five year class reunion, but the school is abandoned and then there's that crazy guy running around in a jester mask knocking off the alumni who have returned. Is Marty taking …Read More »
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The speech was loaded with understatement. Donald Trump was never mentioned by name, a tactic which served both as slight and sleight-of-hand. Before you knew what was happening, she'd delivered critique after critique. but failed to name the outsized egotist who puts his name everywhere. That might be the ultimate insult, but not mentioning his name also may have serve a useful purpose in giving the crowd fewer opportunities to boo during her speech. Unlike many other prominent speakers, her speech was relatively free of interruptions other than cheering.
Here's a great example of the understatement in this speech: Obama opened talking about how she and the President have tried to raise their daughters, who essentially grew up in the White House. And in listing the lessons for her daughters, she was listing lessons for the nation:
How we urge them to ignore those who question their father's citizenship or faith. How we insist that the hateful language they hear from public figures on TV does not represent the true spirit of this country. How we explain that when someone is cruel or acts like a bully, you don't stoop to their level. No, our motto is: 'When they go low, we go high.Most-quoted was the part that begins "I wake up every morning...", but as powerful as that is, its true power momentum came from the words that preceded it. Here it is in full:
The story of generations of people who have felt the lash of bondage, the shame of servitude, the sting of segregation but who kept on striving and doing what needed to be done so that today I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves. And I watch my daughters, two beautiful intelligent black young women, play with the dog on the White House lawn.I often tell you to aim for a signature talk, one that only you can give--otherwise, we are doomed as listeners to hearing the same thing over and over again. Well, here is an intensely personal passage, one uniquely spoken by the first black First Lady of the United States to a world not used to hearing the White House described in just that way. That adds to its power. As actor Mia Farrow tweeted:
Most important of all, this speech did what it set out to do--unlike many convention speeches--and gave a full-throated endorsement of the candidate. The quote above about living in the White House and its point about people of color "who kept on striving" is echoed in this passage that artfully tackles every criticism leveled at the candidate, from how she looks to why she didn't leave her husband when his affair was found out:One can completely understand why people plagiarize Michelle Obama- Mia Farrow (@MiaFarrow) July 26, 2016
And look, there were plenty of moments when Hillary could have decided that this work was too hard, that the price of public service was too high, that she was tired of being picked apart for how she looks or how she talks or even how she laughs. But here's the thing -- what I admire most about Hillary is that she never buckles under pressure. She never takes the easy way out. And Hillary Clinton has never quit on anything in her life.Michelle Obama's role as First Lady means she mostly has to stay above the political fray; there are legal limits to how much, where, and when she may campaign. So when she had the opportunity to do so, she made this political speech frankly feminist, in favor of making a woman president, and unabashedly patriotic, saying, "So don't let anyone ever tell you that this country isn't great, that somehow we need to make it great again. Because this, right now, is the greatest country on earth." It was the perfect riposte, rhetorically and emotionally, to the Trump campaign's "Make America great again" slogan. This speech prompted an enthusiastic response in the hall and around the world, from all political sides; some called it a "speech for the ages." Let's also give credit to Obama's speechwriter, Sarah Hurwitz; their partnership is described in this article. What can you learn from this famous speech?
- Be a uniter, not a divider: In addition to standing in stark contrast to the negative themes of last week's Republican Convention and the protestors on the floor of her own convention, Obama was able to unite the audience--in the hall and beyond it--with an upbeat, briskly paced talk that emphasized areas of commonality. Read the text a couple of times: You'll notice lines that appeal to, but don't mention, specific audiences, and describe what "we" do, so the message that "we're all in this together" comes through clearly.
- Don't pull your punches: Despite not mentioning the opponent, there's nothing hesitant about this speech, which levels its criticisms in an artful way. It takes extra effort to write a speech this way, but it is all the more powerful.
- Remember the job of your speech: The road is littered with endorsers who come to convention and barely mention or endorse the candidate. But as we coaches like to say, every speech has a job to do. By accomplishing what she came to accomplish, there was none of the anxiety and drama around Obama's convention speech--and that meant we were free to hear her words and their meaning. I wish more politicians would take this approach.
Join me in Edinburgh, Scotland, on October 20 for a new workshop, Add Meaning with Metaphor: Improve your Speeches with the Most Powerful Figure of Speech. It's a pre-conference workshop at the Edinburgh Speechwriters and Business Communicators Conference, designed to help both speakers and speechwriters use this powerful tool. You can register here for just the workshop, the conference, or both, and you'll get the best discount if you sign up by August 1.


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You are here
Bank of Pennsylvania (Drawing)
Artist/Maker: Robert Mills (1781-1855)[1]
Created: c.1802
Origin/Purchase: Washington, D.C.
Materials: ink and wash on paper
Dimensions: 23.2 x 18.9 (9 1/8 x 7 7/16 in.)
Location: Dining Room
Provenance: Thomas Jefferson; by descent to Virginia and Nicholas Trist; by descent to a private collection; by gift to Thomas Jefferson Foundation in 1956
Accession Number: 1958-28
Historical Notes: The most important advancement of Mills's career came in 1803, when Jefferson introduced him to the British emigre architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe-whom he had just appointed surveyor of public buildings in Washington. Mills later told Jefferson that when he began working with Latrobe, "I began first to imbibe the true and correct principles of Architectue,"[2]
"My present ideas of the nobel art and science, which are dramatically opposite to those I enter'd Mr. L[atrboe]'s office with, I trust are founded on the dictates of Reason and nature, because these are the only true foundations of correct taste and realy beauty."[3]
Mills worked under Latrobe for five years as a draftsman and clerk. When Mills entered his office, Latrobe's Bank of Pennsylvania, completed about two years earlier (1801), was commanding enormous attention. Latrobe's goal for the building had been "to produce a pure specimen of Grecian simplicity in design, and Grecian permanence in execution."[4] It quickly became a landmark in American architecture and furthered the Greek Revival.[5]
Mills's drawing of the Bank of Pennsylvania was sent to Jefferson at Monticello in October 1808.[6] Jefferson also owned an engraved perspective of the bank that was part of William Birch's the City of Philadelphia.
When Mills's decided to leave to Latrobe's office in 1808 to establish a practice in Philadelphia, he wrote a characteristically complimentary letter to Jefferson. In seeking his help, Mills appealed to the president's well-known belief in the ability of the citizens of his country:
"My wish to endeavor to shew to the European who visits us from the metropolis of his country that the American talent for architecture is not a whit inferior to the Europeans, under the same advantages."[7]
He also reminded Jefferson of his own "anticipations on the future of American architecture as described in Notes on the State of Virginia:
"perhaps a spark may fall on some young subjects of natural taste, kindle up their genius, and produce a reformation in this elegant and useful art."[8] Mills believed himself to be one of the "young subjects" of which Jefferson spoke. His architecture helped set in motion the Greek Revival that Jefferson and Latrobe so vigorously championed.[9]
- ↑ This article is based on Stein, Worlds, 156.
- ↑ Robert Mills to Thomas Jefferson, October 3, 1806. Thomas Jefferson Papers, Library of Congress. Recipient copy available online.
- ↑ Ibid.
- ↑ Cited in Charles Brownell and Jeffrey A. Cohen, The Archictural Drawings of Benjamin Henry Latrobe Part 1, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994), 2:188.
- ↑ Ibid.
- ↑ Mills left the drawing with John Woodside;who then sent it to Jefferson. John Woodside to Jefferson, Washington, October 11, 1808. The Thomas Jefferson Papers, Library of Congress. Recipient copy available online.
- ↑ Mills to Jefferson, Philadelphia, June 13, 1808. Ibid. Recipient copy available online.
- ↑ Notes, ed. Peden, 153.
- ↑ For an overview of Mills's career, see Bryan, ed., Robert Mills, Architect.


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Your current site
Hudson global locations
At Hudson, we believe that talent management means
selecting the right people, developing their potential and fuelling their enthusiasm, building their commitment, and also supporting them through periods of change.
Understanding and evaluating people is at the heart of our business, creating a solid foundation for our products and services and enabling our clients to make fact-based decisions and smarter investments in people.
Every year we invest in research and development, creating powerful solutions and tools to help you get the most from your talent. With experience in all corners of the globe, we complete more than 10,000 face-to-face assessments and 20,000 psychometric tests each year.
Our clients look to us for support when they need to:
Hudson can help you to develop a customised talent management strategy that's right for your business so, whether you need help with assessment and selection, organisational design and management, developing and enhancing your people or support with change and transition we can help.
The greatest asset any organisation has is its people. As such, the task of finding, selecting, and retaining the best people is paramount in both an organisation's day-to-day performance as well as the achievement of broader strategic objectives. We help you to improve your selection processes to deliver
better quality talent, faster more positive candidate experiences, fully informed hiring and promotion decisions and identification and selection of future leaders.
Read More
Organisation strategy is communicated top down by leadership but delivered bottom up by your people.
Hudson's approach aligns your people with your
organisational strategy, skills your leaders to effectively engage and inspire their people, enhances internal mobility, minimises turnover.
Identifying key talent at various levels of your organisation and implementing talent development programs is critical to unleashing the potential of your workforce and building your organisation's bench strength. Hudson will partner with you to
identify and develop high potentials at all levels for succession, focus and individualise development programs for high potentials, emerging and critical leaders and to help build your organisation-wide leadership capability.
Organisational change must be handled in a professional and supportive way to ensure productivity remains as high as possible for those remaining in the organisation and those transitioning employees feel supported and able to deal with new changes. We offer a personalised and flexible approach to
career transition and outplacement, using established programs and developing close working relationships with employers to ensure a smooth process.
Hudson is a talent solutions company. We help transform the workplace and unleash the full potential of organizations and individuals. Our expert team and assessment tools provide you with unique insights and services that help you maximize your success. Across APAC, we deliver a range of recruitment and talent management solutions to get you and your business where you want to be.


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Back to Basics Vol 1 - Goggles & Specs (2010-08-10)So you are a recent recruit / convert to our beloved culture world that is Airsoft, congrats!
You know the basic safety and facts, congrats. So now you are in the early grey area time between discovering Airsoft and starting to get your act together; thats right, that first research phase every new guy goes through to get a handle on specific information and those first decisions like what gear to get or which gun to buy.
If you are this person, or know someone like this, then you are probably fed up of those super-basic 'Airsoft 101' articles floating around our world and you are OH so ready for lesson 2 and onwards but instead all you can find is article after article about specific guns or your first gun which is great but hardly everything you need to know. So Redwolf Airsoft proceeds to do our best in giving you a brief yet broad set of ideas to give you a peak at the big picture. This article is not suppose to give you answers but rather for making sure you are asking the right questions. The first part in our miniseries, this article talks about the essential protection of masks and their alternatives.
Eye and face protection often not the first thing new recruits think of, instead rushing onward and upward in search of that first gun only to settle for any old thing for basic protection. Indeed, any basic facemask or pair of goggles is effectively enough but a pause for thought is worth your time and money all the same. After all, the new guys wear those distinctive plastic masks where as the older players will have traded up to either tactical goggles, more expensive masks or the daredevil operators choice of ballistic spectacles so there must be something to it.
Masks stop pellets from obliterating eyes and wrecking teeth which is the most important thing so as long as you have any kind of protection then you are good to go. If you push the thinking a little harder however then you will find a few more questions; many players do not think about it until after they have been playing a while or even until the discover the problems that arise in the field.
One of the biggest tactical FUBARs that pop up when using masks can often occur after you have bought your first gun and have started using your first mounted optic. When holding a weapon correctly, one should achieve a proper cheek-weld and whilst this is critical when shooting real rifles which actually buck, in Airsoft its more about establishing good habits to maintain a cool, realistic aesthetic to your play behavior. In Airsoft, a proper cheek weld is not actually necessary so often the position of the new guys head while firing is a balance between getting his head low behind the sights as easy as possible but kept away from the stock by the bulky mask.
Without even realizing it, a new player may be establishing a bad habit of an incorrect cheek weld due to the mask he is wearing and right off the bat no one bothers to correct him because it does not matter all that much. Having established this basic habit, the new player then purchases and begins using his first optic (often a simple red dot sight) and when he proceeds to use it he now finds it damn fiddly to line his eye up with the scope with his mask getting in the way. New players become frustrated and so start looking at higher mounts or changing their masks.
So, our main point in this article is to stop and consider this point. Arclight and many of his teamsters, along with countless players around the world, prefer the choice of ballistic specs. They offer no more physical presence then a pair of shades and so this option allows the proper cheek-weld position allowing comfortable lining behind an optic even when mounted low on the weapon. Specs have the added advantage of being more comfortable then masks with the minimal contact with the face allowing for less irritation and superior air flow. The clearance also allows sighting right down to low mounts and iron sights which means you do not have to compromise your aiming setup by using a higher mount bracket.
That said, at the price of freedom comes exposure. Specs protect the eyes great but they offer nothing for the rest of your face. Face shots hurt a whole lot and unlucky shots to the mouth can crack and even knock out teeth. This is rare enough that many players operate with specs as they consider its worth it but still there are cases of spec wearers taking that one in a million shot, breaking a tooth. Some spec wearers combat this by adding face coverage like a shemagh or a lower face mask (and even gumshields) but of course this begins to combat the comfort and freedom issue and partial masks begin to cause positional issues again. So, give it some thought; some players wear masks, some wear goggles, some wear specs.
Which one are you?
Written by Arclight


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Ringo's new book "Photograph"
Ringo's new book "Photograph"
'We made some incredible music. It's great how well it holds up. The songs are still relevant; the kids are listening to the music today. It worked. And there were many, many magic moments, when it really worked. When you're together, the band is together and the audience is together, it creates a magic moment. It's a spiritual moment.' Ringo Starr
We are running a mini-serialisation of Ringo's new book "Photograph" over the next week to show some of the incredible photographs that Ringo took during his life in The Beatles.
The images are a unique perspective on his life and the band that could never be captured from the outside.
This first image was taken at Abbey Road studios in 1964. Find out more information about the book go to http://RingoPhotoBook.com/


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NFL Legend Dan Marino Has a Secret Love Child
The New York Post is reporting that former Miami Dolphins quarterback and CBS NFL analyst Dan Marino fathered a child with a former CBS Sports production assistant and then paid her millions to keep it quiet.
Donna Savattere, a then-35-year-old production assistant at CBS Sports' Manhattan studio gave birth to Chloe in June of 2005, the same year Marino was inducted into the Hall of Fame:
According to the New York Post:
They had an affair, and she had a baby," said a source. "Everything was on the down-low and secretive."
This news comes just days before Marino is supposed to co-host CBS' coverage of the Super Bowl.
Marino has admitted to the affair. He and his wife have been married for 28 years and have six children together. He said:
This is a personal and private matter. I take full responsibility both personally and financially for my actions now as I did then," he told The Post in a written statement. "We mutually agreed to keep our arrangement private to protect all parties involved."


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Silk Jewel #0515
100% mulberry silk hand-dyed and embellished with crystal beads. Price shown is for one 100gm/3.5oz skein. 325m/355yds. 24 stitches measures 4 inches on 3 to 4 mm needles (US size 3 to 6) Hand wash and lay flat to dry. Dyed and packaged in Canada by Sweaterkits.
One free pattern per skein of silk yarn. Go to Patterns/silk yarn and add a silk pattern to your basket. Note that due to the handmade nature of our Silk Jewel yarn there could be a couple of knots in a 100 gm skein.
Note that you will receive yarn from the specific colour shown on the web site. The web site will track available inventory.
Free shipping on orders $100 and higher. Under $100 shipping is $10 flat rate for Canadian customers and approximately $7USD for US customers.
For US dollar shoppers please note that at checkout you will be charged the equivalent in Canadian dollars.


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ImYaBoyBigD - Extensions (2 Chainz I'm Different Remix) [SOA Submitted]
ImYaBoyBigD exercised his 2nd amendment rights on this one and gave fair warning to potential adversaries that they better come correct or stand down when it comes to rap beef turning into some street controversy.
Follow Big D on Twitter/Instagram at ImYaBoyBigD
Download G.A.S.(Grind Ambition Success) from Datpiff and Livemixtapes SEARCH= (ImYaBoyBigD)
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For booking or features call 7065366372 or email at firstname.lastname@example.com
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Here is an interesting article by wellness coach Carolanne Wright who firmly believes that in order to see change in the world; we need to be the change. She reaffirms the effectiveness of laughter as one of the important tools for body - mind wellness. One of the many ideas she advocates to spark laughter in ones life is to join a Laughter Club and do Laughter Yoga which helps people to learn to how to laugh unconditionally, without any jokes, humor or comedy.
A young child can laugh over 300 times a day whereas an adult will chuckle a fraction of this amount -- often much less, if at all. It's no joke. When life is taken too seriously, we are missing out on one of the greatest health boosting habits around. Feel good endorphins, pain management, lower blood pressure, protection from illness, a sharper mind -- just a few perks a little mirth can supply. Laughter makes people smarter, more productive and more positive in dealing with lifes challenges.
As it turns out, a good sense of humor is essential for thriving health. Not only is it pleasurable; laughter stimulates the heart and lungs, relieves stress and strengthens the immune system. It even enhances the intake of oxygen, stimulates circulation and relaxes the muscles -- benefiting major organs and triggering the release of endorphins. This, in turn, leads to more happy states of enjoyment. Having a lively laugh also relieves discomfort by prompting the body to produce natural painkillers and interrupts the pain-spasm cycle of muscle disorders as well.
Research has shown that laughter sharpens the mind and broadens thinking - allows for adaptation to changing circumstances and spurs creativity. With all the doom and gloom these days, it is important to offset the negativity with a guffaw here and there. A good dose of comic merriment and camaraderie will lighten life, improve the mind and relax the body. It may even make you healthier to boot.


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01 / 01
CORRECTION Sinkhole Swallows Man
CORRECTS REFERENCE TO CONTACT - Hillsborough County, Fla., Fire Chief Ron Rogers speaks to the media in front of a home where sinkhole opened up underneath a bedroom and swallowed a man Friday, March 1, 2013, in Seffner, Fla. Jeff Bush screamed for help and disappeared as a large sinkhole opened under the bedroom of his house, his brother said Friday. Jeremy Bush told rescue crews he heard a loud crash near midnight Thursday, then heard his brother screaming. There's been no contact with Jeff Bush since then, and neighbors on both sides of the home have been evacuated. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)


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|Written by
| Christopher "Brody" Brown
Peter Hernandez
Cee Lo Green
Philip Lawrence
Ari Levine
| Bug Music, Inc.
Chrysalis Songs
EMI April Music, Inc.
God Given Music
Warner/Chappell Music
"Fuck You!" is a 2010 hit pop song recorded by Cee Lo Green. Censored versions of the song also exist: one entitled "Forget You" and another entitled "FU". Each version differs in lyrical content, with "Fuck You!" being completely uncensored, "Forget You" removing major profanities, and "FU" censoring all profanities.
The censored version of the song, "Forget You," is covered by Camilla and the chickens in The Muppets. The song also appears on the film's soundtrack.
An instrumental version of the song also appeared in several promos for The Muppets that appeared on television and online.
Elmo also sang the song when he appeared on Greg James, as "Forget You."
Music video
To promote the release of the film's soundtrack, Walt Disney Records released a music video of Camilla's performance of "Forget You" featuring an extended version of the song's performance from The Muppets intercut with clips from the film (and added video effects).
External links
- For the 2011 Grammy Awards performance featuring the Henson Company puppets, see the Henson Alternative Wiki's article on The 53rd Grammy Awards.


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'Vampire Diaries,' 'Arrow,' 'New Girl,' 'Parenthood': EW's TV Jukebox
Happy finale week, Jukeboxers. With the holiday season in full swing, it wasn't surprising that the Christmas-y start to last week's column carried through to this edition. Unlike the average week at Jukebox, you probably recognized most of these songs in your favorite shows. But did you know which au courant artists were covering them? We're here to tell you! Check out our picks and the full Spotify playlist below. (Warning for those still catching up on DVR: SPOILERS ahead!)
NEW GIRL (Fox)
The song: Fitz & The Tantrums, "Santa Stole My Lady"
The episode: "Santa" (211)
The hook: Newbies were digging the DIY caroling by Winston (Lamorne Morris) during the roommates' last party on Tuesday, and, though an impromptu lap dance tutorial from Nick (Jake Johnson), Angie (Olivia Munn), and Schmidt (Max Greenfield) was probably the most primed-for-music moment of the ep. But we enjoyed the not-meant-for-laughs, neo-soul vibe of L.A.'s Fitz & The Tantrums. It was the icing on a charming episode — and with an adorkably New Girl-approriate title to boot.
THE VAMPIRE DIARIES (The CW)
The episode: "O Come All Ye Faithful" (409)
The hook: TVD's midseason finale was chockablock with brilliantly twisted Xmas tunes. Original vamp Klaus (Joseph Morgan) proved the ep's anti-MVP as he sacrificed 11 hybrids he'd sired to the tune of Cary Brothers' "O Holy Night." Later, still covered in werevamp blood, he vengefully murdered Mayor Carol Lockwood (Susan Walters) because her son Tyler (Michael Trevino) had plotted a rebellion against Klaus. Most unsettling, Klaus didn't kill Carol by drinking her blood; he did it in an utterly human way — drowning her like any of Mystic Falls' human residents could. The message was loud and clear: This is personal. When Judy Garland first performed "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" in 1944's Meet Me in St. Louis, the tune had an inherent sadness. Nearly 70 years later, hearing those iconic lyrics ("Some day soon we all will be together, until then we'll have to muddle through somehow") play as life escaped Carol, knowing that only Tyler's death could bring about this reunion, the song's ominous undercurrent was starker than ever. Merry Christmas? More like scary Christmas!
The song: Melissa Etheridge, "Glorious"
The episode: "What To My Wondering Eyes" (411)
The hook: Many of this week's Jukebox tunes struck a more cheerful chord. Because, what are the holidays about if not family togetherness? So it was appropriate this week when Braverman patriarch Zeek (Craig T. Nelson) ignored hospital rules to assemble all 14 members of his clan to exchange gifts with Kristina (Monica Potter) as she recovered from surgery.
THE MINDY PROJECT (Fox)
The song: Wham!, "Last Christmas"
The episode: "Josh and Mindy's Christmas Party" (109)
The hook: Then again, not every family is of the nuclear variety. Mindy (Mindy Kaling) threw a Christmas party to show off her boyfriend Josh (Tommy Dewey), only to be publicly embarrassed when she learned Josh was a cheater — and that she was the other woman. A cheeky nod to Mindy's mortification, George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley's 1984 hit played Tuesday as Jeremy (Ed Weeks) rallied the troops to cheer up their colleague.
ARROW (The CW)
The song: Kari Kimmel, "Christmastime"
The episode: "Year's End" (109)
The hook: The Boca Raton-born singer's ditty about an unorthodox Christmas ("don't see snow, it's 85 degrees out") underscored a scene in which Thea Queen (Willa Holland) explained to her brother Oliver (Stephen Amell) that their family had stopped hosting an annual Christmas party when Oliver and his father were lost at sea. But the song's overarching message — it's the people around you, not the snow or sleigh bells, that make Christmas — was fitting for Oliver's first holiday back home.
HART OF DIXIE (The CW)*
The song: Shelly Fraley, "For the Holidays"
The episode: "Blue Christmas" (210)
The hook: Brrrr! After The Head and the Heart's "Winter Song" accompanied a bitter blow-up between Lavon (Cress Williams) and Lemon (Jaime King) on Tuesday, we needed something to warm us up. Happily, Zoe (Rachel Bilson) and Wade (Wilson Bethel) obliged. Nashville singer-songwriter Fraley's gentle strum and sugar-cookie-sweet lyrics ("String the lights around the tree. There's no place I'd rather be than here with you on New Year's Eve, Christmas day, and in between") were comforting but not cloying as the doctor and bartender finally made it official. Took 'em long enough!
The song: Tal & Acacia, "Silver Bells (Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy)"
The episode: "Run, Baby, Run" (909)
The hook: Sugar & The Hi Lows' "Jingle Bells" (which also appeared on this week's Vampire Diaries) fit squarely in Grey's indie wheelhouse as the revamped classic opened Thursday night's ep, but we were more amused by what played out an exchange between Callie (Sara Ramirez) and
blushingstressing bride Bailey (Chandra Wilson). Callie dropped a bomb — advising Bailey to leave her husband-to-be at the altar — and these Maine-born Christian sisters dropped some beats on a holiday standard. A sister act after some sisterly (albeit terrible) advice? Priceless.
Honorable Mentions: Non-Holiday Category*
Jukebox's Twitter followers also kept their ears open for several other just-plain-good songs on TV this week, including Tegan and Sara's double-barrel performance of "Closer" and "Now I'm All Messed Up" on Monday's 90210, Gossip Girl's penultimate episode finale set to Ellie Goulding's "Hanging On," and Charlene Soraia's cover of "Wherever You Will Go" on last night's Beauty and the Beast.
*Readers' Choice! Thanks to @ElphabaWeasley, @OnlySarine, @E_84, and @Popgoestheworld for their suggestions!
Want to be featured in the next TV Jukebox? Tweet your pick using the hashtag #tvjukebox to @EW!
In the meanwhile, make sure to look for TV Jukebox's Best of Fall 2012 gallery in our extensive Best & Worst of 2012 hub.
Read more:


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American Wind Energy Association (AWEA)
The AWEA website strives to provide information on all facets of the wind industry, from small wind for individuals to large wind farm development.
Arava Institute for Environmental Studies
Regional center for environmental leadership offering an interdisciplinary graduate/undergraduate environmental program for Middle Eastern and international students.
Center for Carbon-free Power Integration, University of Delaware
The Center for Carbon-free Power Integration (CCPI) at the University of Delaware (UD) fosters interdisciplinary and collaborative scientific research; engages decision makers, industry and civil society and acts as an "honest broker" among them; and enhances the education of the present generation of students with the goal of facilitating the transition to power generation using carbon-free geophysical flows. These power sources include surface wind, geostrophic winds, and ocean currents.
Central Bureau of Statistics
Central Bureau of Statistics – (engl.)
DSIRE Database
Established in 1995, the Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency (DSIRE) is an ongoing project of the North Carolina Solar Center and the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC), Inc. It is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), primarily through the Office of Planning, Budget and Analysis (PBA). The site is administered by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), which is operated for DOE by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC.
econet china
econet china is an information, networking and marketing platform for building, energy and environment in China. Its goal is to position German sustainability companies even better on the Chinese market. Interested companies are provided with market intelligence, and are actively supported in their market entry, partner search and market research.
Ecoseed, the Information Bridge to Tomorrow's Economy.
We are a leading source for global green news, finance, and other resources in delivering green and renewable energy to mainstream business.
The green sector has grown in recent years from the foundations of advocacy into a cornerstone of the world economy. Sustainable development continues to transform from an ideology into a necessity. Business conducted in the green marketplace is expected to continue growing exponentially.
Ecoseed's mission is to provide global, complete, innovative, and up to date news, information, resources, and opportunities, catalyst to incorporate environmental awareness and responsibility into lifestyle, and in business practices. This world-wide platform is the place to find the latest and most relevant in-depth news and data covering the entire spectrum of the renewable energy industry and the low-carbon sector.
Greentech Media
Greentech Media (GTM) is devoted to covering emerging green and clean technologies. As renewable energy becomes an increasingly large sector, the business community needs a source with up-to-the-minute news on solar, smart grid, enterprise energy solutions, wind energy, electric vehicles, biofuels, water, batteries and storage, finance and VC, and policy throughout the sectors.
Israel Cleantech Ventures
srael Cleantech Ventures was established in 2006 to provide value added growth capital to exceptional entrepreneurs building Israel's energy, water and environmental technology leaders.
ICV's investment professionals combine industry expertise gained through decades in senior management positions at Israel's standout cleantech companies, with proven abilities making, building and exiting investments in VC-backed companies.
Israel Ministry of Environmental Protection
Until 1973, responsibility for the environment was divided among several ministries in Israel. Within a year of the Stockholm Conference, the government established the Environmental Protection Service as a first step in the creation of a comprehensive and modern environmental administration in Israel. In December 1988, a Ministry of the Environment was established in Israel. This proved a landmark in Israel's environmental development and in the government's determination to tackle environmental issues.
In its decision number 193 of June 25, 2006, the Israel government endorsed the request of the Minister of the Environment to change the name of the Ministry of the Environment to the Ministry of Environmental Protection. Minister Gideon Ezra explained the rationale for his request as follows: "The change in name better reflects our current perception of the ministry's aims. The environment in Israel needs protection and we do this day by day, hour by hour."
As of June 25, 2006, wherever and whenever the name Ministry of the Environment appears on the website, the intended reference is to the Ministry of Environmental Protection. The logo of the ministry has also been changed to reflect the change in name. Both logos appear on the website and both are valid.


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I don't often blog keynotes anymore; there are lots of reasons, but that's not my point here. I wasn't planning to blog Ann Handley's talk this morning at Confab, but she is talking about something that is so important to me:
Embrace that you are a publisher.
Every organization today is in publishing. If you're talking to your customers on a website or social media, you're publishing. Handley compares it to having a child: You are now a parent, and it's expensive and time-consuming and sometimes heart-wrenching, but it's all worth it. Content is one of the most valuable assets you can create.
She quotes Joe Pulizzi saying, "The one with the most engaging content wins."
Handley is showing some data from the great content marketing study that Marketing Profs and CMI put out last year, showing that 56% of B2B marketers struggle with creating valuable content or creating enough content — but the vast majority of B2B marketers are using content in their marketing.
From me: There's not one right way to meet this challenge. Sometimes, the right answer is, re-structure your internal marketing department. Sometimes, you need to hire someone to add editorial talent to your team full-time. And sometimes, you should outsource to pull in resources as you need them. Regardless of how you staff your content need, you need a strategy to get started and ensure your success.
Many marketers think in campaigns, and one of the challenges people have when they get to the web is that there is no inherent end date. By creating a campaign framework for your content strategy, you'll make it easier to fill in the blanks. Think about this pattern for your content strategy:
- Business goal
- Plan
- Execute
- Measure
- Analyze and Repeat
Need help getting started? That's the kind of thing we love to help with at Creekmore Consulting. Give us a shout.


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The buncee team is heading to Brooklyn tomorrow to attend and support this year's 'Hello Etsy' conference being held at the Pratt Institute. We can't wait to show the Etsy Shop owners how fast and easy it is to use buncee.com to produce interactive digital postcards, slideshows, and 'lookbooks' to help them sell their products online via email, social networks, or even via SMS text message using buncee's mobile app!
Here's a sneak peek at some of the awesome examples we pulled together featuring our favorite shops!
Create Interactive 'LookBooks'
(Click on the image to see the buncee and start shopping!)
Customized Order Confirmations
(Click on the image to see the buncee!)
Host an Event ~ RSVP Your Customers
Quick Tips & Ideas:
- Create beautiful collections of products with direct links to buy from your Etsy.com store.
- Show off your latest creations by designing a showcase graphic with buy links and share on your favorite social networks.
- Create interactive visual images for your blog posts.
- Collaborate with other Etsy Store Owners and combine your product offerings to present a themed collection. buncee.com makes it easy for everyone to share to their fans and followers!
- Create unique thank you's and order confirmations for your clients, or cross promote other products with links for future purchase recommendations.
- Planning a local event, craft fair, or flea market? Create a buncee invitation with date, time, and location – even include images and interactive links for directions, RSVPs, and details.
- Host a party for your Etsy Shop, and invite your best customers – buncee lets you manage the RSVPs so you'll know exactly what you need for supplies and products.
- Stay in touch with your clients, send custom birthday greetings or congratulations for their special events. Perfect for brides and new Moms!
- Selling craft supplies or cooking tools? Create buncees with 'how-to' or recipe ideas, include a YouTube video and buy links all in one place.
- Explore your creativity by designing your buncees to reflect your shop's look and theme.
- Create buncee 'lookbooks', send them out to your customers regularly and include them on your blog or in your email marketing efforts. Share them on social media and watch the comments, shares, and orders arrive!


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The Hollywood sign, perched on the hills above, may guide tourists to the Sunset Strip and movie-making studios, but there is more to the Los Angeles area than star tours and celebrity sightings. Located south of La La Land is The O.C. — Orange County. Whether you have one, two or three days to spend, the communities hugging the scenic Pacific Coast Highway have their own stories to tell.
Sweat and sand
It's easy to see why Huntington Beach is known as Surf City USA. Wet suit-clad pedestrians — surfboards tucked under their arms — are as common a site as shopping bags and Starbucks coffee cups. A four-block radius located on the PCH and Main Street sets the scene for this city, but there are 8.5 miles of sand to play in. Start your day with breakfast at Michelle's Sugar Shack Cafe on Main Street, before heading to the International Surfing Museum. It opens according to surf time. That's 11 a.m. or noon, unless wave conditions are too good to ignore. If it's closed, you can still check out the names of those honored along the Surfing Walk of Fame at Main and the PCH, including musician Dick Dale for adding to board culture. Spend your afternoon playing beach volleyball or catching waves along the beach. Stroll along the historic Huntington Beach pier that juts into the Pacific. At its end is Ruby's Diner, a 1950s-inspired local restaurant chain. Before nightfall, stake out one of the fire pits located on the beach for an evening spent sitting on the sand and listening to the surf break on the shore.
Shop and sip
Located south of Huntington along the PCH are tony Newport Beach and artsy Laguna Beach. While Fashion Island is home to big brand stores, Laguna's downtown features a number of smaller shops, showcasing local artists and handcrafted goods, all set against a backdrop of green hills. No afternoon is complete without sipping a cool cocktail at The Cliff . Offering a 180-degree view of the ocean, you can sit on the patio watch sunning locals on the beach below or scan the big blue for passing whales. You can also grab a treat at Gelato Paradiso in Peppertree Lane and take a stroll in Heisler Park located high on the bluffs above the Pacific. The popular Las Brisas, with its beckoning margaritas menu, offers a fusion of Californian and traditional Mexican cuisine, with fresh seafood offered each day. The building the restaurant is located in started life as the Victor Hugo Inn in the 1930s, before being converted in the late 1970s.
Sea and sanctuary
Located at the southern end of the O.C., Dana Point is a nature-lovers paradise. With a number of migration routes passing by, whale watching is in order. Dana Wharf has a fleet of 12 vessels that often encounter sea lions, blue and gray whales or even the occasional mega-pod of a few thousand dolphins swimming and playing in the wake of boats. Exhausted after a day at sea? Pamper yourself at The Ritz Carlton, Laguna Niguel. The hotel is located 150 feet above Salt Creek Beach and offers stunning coastal views. You can take them in while sipping wine on the 180blu patio — a perfect sunset spot — or enjoying a yummy meal at Raya, with its Latin-inspired menu of sustainable seafood, local produce and organic meat created by chef Richard Sandoval. Spend an afternoon walking through the grounds of the hotel and feeding the rabbits that hop around the property. Use the Ritz's beach butler service to be carted down in a buggy from the resort to the beach below. They will set up chairs and umbrellas, provide recreational equipment and even build you a sandcastle to enjoy.


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Group D - India, Pakistan, Scotland.
Schedule -
Wed 12 September 3rd Match, Group D - Pakistan v Scotland
Kingsmead, Durban
Thu 13 September 7th Match, Group D - India v Scotland
Kingsmead, Durban
Fri 14 September 10th Match, Group D - India v Pakistan
Kingsmead, Durban
There is little hope for Scotland to get past the might of the other two. The only interesting match in this group , and probably the most widely watched match ever in the history of 20/20 will be no doubt Friday the 14 th when the neighbours clash and 1 1/4 billion people will probably be interested in the result.


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|Gay Head, Martha's Vineyard, taken 2011.
Since I hadn't used ebay, I had to set up an account, then the fun began. I won't bore you with the bidding war that went on for several days between novice me and two pros. I am positive that neither was after the letters written from Martha's Vineyard, and mailed from Falmouth, MA, but they were after the 1837 envelope. I want to get word to the new owner, and let them know I'd love a photocopy of the letters because I knew all the individuals mentioned, so I am hoping that this blog post will find it's way to the letter owner who paid $39.00.
The seller had quite a few other envelopes to sell, and I was very pleased that he did an abstract, with just enough information for me to know these people were mine. Mentioned were my two cousins 4x removed, Eliza Bishop and Phebe Bishop Jenkins, news that my 2nd great-grandaunt, Flora Bishop Colegrove was married and had a 1 1/2 year old daughter (died the following year), and several others were mentioned.
Several lines from the seller, "Our dear Ct relatives are few & scattered, this renders them doubly near & dear to us ...." and "We often speak of your dear family, although we have little knowledge of you. The fact that there is an Elisa Bishop among your number conveys additional interest to my mind ..." Of course I want to know who Elisa Bishop is too, I haven't a clue.
Now that I have an account, I plan on setting up alerts for letters and envelopes. There is a current offering for a letter written by J. Low in Hartford on December 15, 1828 and addressed to Mr. T. W. Gibb in Hinesburg, Vermont. The letter is sad, because it informs him of the death of a brother Ephraphrae Hull of Typhus Fever.


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The Other 26: Week 9Posted by KDoyle on January 14th, 2011
Kevin Doyle is an RTC contributor.
The non-conference is often times a good barometer for determining how strong a team will be and how they will perform within their respective conferences during league play. There are times, of course, when a team will challenge themselves by scheduling many BCS opponents and tough mid-majors, and compile a poor OOC record. Despite the lackluster record, they still may be a quality team. In some instances, however, it simply takes teams longer to gel and come together—conference play is when they finally peak. Likewise, there are always a handful of squads that will play nothing but cupcakes with extra frosting on the top, and run up many wins throughout the first half of the year, only to flounder during conference play. After witnessing teams play several games against conference opponents, let's take a look at who may be exceeding expectations based on a struggling OOC record, and who has fallen flat on their faces after soaring through the OOC:
- Binghamton (6-10, 3-0)—Although they have beaten three of the weaker teams in the America East, the Bearcats are out to a nice 3-0 start nevertheless and have one of the best pure scorers in the league in Greer Wright. If Binghamton can knock off Vermont and Maine—two of the top teams—then they will be taken as a serious threa
- Hofstra (11-5, 5-0)—Any team with Charles Jenkins has a fighter's chance. Jenkins has the Pride as the last unbeaten team in the CAA, but a crucial game looms with ODU this weekend.
- Wagner (8-8, 4-1)—Don't bet against the Hurley family. Dan and Bobby Hurley are both in their first year with the program, and have already brought in some great recruits and wins to go along with it.
- Holy Cross (3-13, 2-0)—Gone are the days where the Crusaders would breeze through the Patriot League en route to the NCAA Tournament. Now, Milan Brown has the daunting task of building Holy Cross back into the mid-major power they once were. After a disastrous non-conference, HC has won their first two league games.
- Cleveland State (15-3, 4-2)—The Vikings look to be a notch below the upper tier teams of the league. After winning their first 12 games, Cleveland State had a rough weekend this past losing to Butler and Valpo.
- Loyola Chicago (10-8, 1-6)—Similar to Cleveland State, Loyola Chicago looked like they could be a force in the Horizon League, but have lost all their games to the top five teams in the Horizon. They began the year 7-0, and their first loss was only by two points to Butler
- Northern Iowa (12-6, 3-3)—After defeating New Mexico to win the Las Vegas Classic, UNI looked like they would challenge Wichita State and Missouri State in the Missouri Valley. They are just 3-3 in their last six games, with the most disappointing loss coming in a lackluster effort against Indiana State where they lost 70-45
- San Jose State (9-7, 1-4)—Adrian Oliver, a transfer from Washington, may be the best player in the WAC, but his Spartans have not been able to follow suit. San Jose State went 8-3 in the non-conference, but have gone onto lose four of their last five games.
Granted, conference play is still very young, and no team has even gone through the first go-around of games against their counterparts, so there still is ample time for many things to happen. With that being said, the preceding 10 teams certainly did stick out when analyzing their play in the non-conference and comparing it to their performance in their league.
The Other 26 Rankings


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The Forex world is constantly evolving and during its weekly trading hours there is a wealth of news a trader must keep on top of if they want to make the most money possible. Indeed, because the market can be affected by a number of dynamics, it is essential they know exactly what's happening at all times in order to avoid any unprofitable deals.
For example, let's assume the US Dollar is trading well against the Great British Pound during the first half of the week. This would be a good time to invest some money and reap the benefits of a positive market condition. However, by Wednesday a series of negative news stories emerge from the UK and affect the country's economic performance. These dynamics then adversely affects how well the two currencies are trading. At this point it's important to know what's just happened because it will influence whether or not someone should cease trading this currency pair for a while or continue.
Knowing the value of each currency based on various internal and external factors is crucial and the reason why FXBrokerSearch.com's Forex news centre is a vital resource. Drawing on a number of resources, our information section provides the latest information and data from which users can refine their trading activity.
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The prospect is so terrifying that it's prompted central bankers around the industrialized world to pour trillions of dollars into their economies to prevent a sustained ..
The European Central Bank agreed on Thursday to embark on a quantitative easing (QE) programme that will see it print money to buy up 60 billion euros worth of sovereign bonds ..
In their own version of quantitative easing, Europe has announced a €60 billion monthly bond-buying program that aims to boost their low inflation. ..
The Chicago-based carrier forecast a pre-tax margin between 5.0 and 7.0 percent for the first quarter, a departure from previous years when winter storms and flight cancellati ..
Oil prices pared gains on Thursday after the European Central Bank (ECB) said it would start buying government bonds, a move which could push the dollar to new highs and put d ..
Low oil prices may increase economic growth by 15-20 percent this year, but some countries will still lose out, said the head of the World Bank. ..
As some of the most powerful people on the planet meet in Davos, Switzerland, quantitative easing is the hottest topic of the day. ..
The U.S. Federal Reserve will struggle to raise interest rates this year amid weak economic growth abroad and slow inflation at home. Their comments challenge expectations in ..
Hyundai Motor Co announced its biggest-ever dividend on Thursday to appease shareholders angered by a $10 billion property buy, but the payout failed to distract investors fro ..
"We are in currency wars," Cohn told a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. ..
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fxBrokerSearch.com does not support nor encourage the execution of any investments. Trading with a margin is high risk endeavour and not suitable for everyone, therefore, each investor should carefully consider all relevant trading conditions, such as experience, risk and cost, before taking part in any type of trading, including Forex.
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This means advertised prices may not be accurate and could differ from the actual market conditions. For this reason it is not appropriate to rely on any data presented by fxBrokerSearch.com for the purposes of trading.
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A fund of hedge funds run by two members of Vice President Joe Biden's family was marketed exclusively by companies controlled by Texas financier R. Allen Stanford, who is facing Securities and Exchange Commission accusations of engaging in an $8 billion fraud.
The $50 million fund was jointly branded between the Bidens' Paradigm Global Advisors LLC and a Stanford Financial Group entity and was known as the Paradigm Stanford Capital Management Core Alternative Fund. Stanford-related companies marketed the fund to investors and also invested about $2.7 million of their own money in the fund, according to a lawyer for Paradigm. …
Clusterstock added this line from the text behind the wall.. In case you were wondering if "family" are Bidens far away and long ago. Oh no.
Paradigm Global Advisors is owned through a holding company by the vice president's son, Hunter, and Joe Biden's brother, James."
Just remember! Joe is the poorest senator! Obama has never been to Chicago! Soon he'll say he's never been to Washington DC! Just watch.
Riding right at the top of Clusterstock is an article on the Monday Slide… with this opening line:
The Good News… We are all losing hope.
And then:
Other good news: We barely heard the term "bottoming process" at all on CNBC today, which means that, perhaps, the bulls have lost all hope. That may or may not be a sign of a bottom.
Charlie Rose has on John Mack of Morgan Stanley… Couple of N Carolina boys shoring each other up, is all I see.


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C++ Ninjas Needed in Santa Clara, California
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This is Meg Whitman's new TV ad, just out this morning, attacking her Republican gubernatorial rival Steve Poizner (see below).
It's a thoroughly unfair ad, claiming that Poizner sought to hurt seniors and homeowners without bothering to mention the name of the measure or what Poizner -- and a host of business leaders and Republicans -- were trying to do.
So here's the back story. A decade ago, California's school facilities were, by all accounts, in shambles. Prop 13's provision requiring a two-thirds to raise taxes had made it very difficult to win approval for school bonds. (A slim minority of the community -- yes, often the seniors and older homeowners mentioned in this ad -- could block new school construction fairly easily).
So business leaders (including several in the Silicon Valley, where Poizner had built companies) and unions got together to qualify Prop 39, a ballot initiative that asked voters to reduce the Prop 13 two-thirds rule to 55 percent, thus making school governance more democratic. (Why not all the way to a simple majority? Polling suggested that it would be easier to convince voters to adopt the change if a small supermajority was preserved).
And you know what? Prop 39 worked. The past decade has seen a surge of school construction around the state. Take a drive around Los Angeles sometime, and you'll see new school buildings. Prop 39 also helped spark the growth of charter schools -- public schools that are held exempt from some regulations in order to promote innovation -- by giving charters a shot at facilities fund that had previously been reserved for regular public schools.
Charter schools, by the way, are championed by none other than... Meg Whitman. So how should Poizner respond to this misleading ad? Why not fight fire with fire, and put up an ad showing the sad state of California's school facilities in the 1990s and saying, "Meg Whitman wants to keep your kids in decaying schools. Steve Poizner donated some of his time and money to give them better places to learn."


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David Letterman marks his 30th anniversary in late night TV comedy Wednesday, matching his hero, Johnny Carson, if only in terms of durability.
After three decades of trying to become the next Carson, the irascible and endlessly self-critical Letterman should allow himself a moment to savor a unique career with enough highlights to fill a slew of Top 10 lists.
Not that he's celebrating. Save for CBS promos mentioning Letterman's 30 years as post-prime time TV comedy force, the only apparent nod to what should be a big day is the booking of Howard Stern, a favorite guest whose role as a radio comedy groundbreaker has run on parallel tracks as Letterman's TV reign, in time and influence.
In the weekday late-night comedy continuum, there's Carson and then everybody else. But his most direct descendant, Letterman, arguably has exerted a greater influence on the current late-night landscape, one he helped expand far beyond "The Tonight Show." If Carson is the granddaddy of them all, then Letterman is the cranky, favorite uncle who is both inspiration and competition for his younger peers.
Letterman's "the guy who lives under the seats" is a forbearer of recurring characters like Conan O'Brien's bear with a self-gratification obsession. Letterman's CBS Mailbag is a chain letter leading to Jimmy Fallon's Audience Suggestion Box. Letterman's penchant for sarcasm is channeled through the loose lips of Jimmy Kimmel and Chelsea Handler. The filmed reports and interviews on "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report" owe a debt to the days when Letterman regularly would venture outside 30 Rock and The Ed Sullivan Theater (remember his visit to Just Bulbs?). And musicians across late night TV should be grateful to Paul Shaffer for bringing talk show music into the post-Big Band era.
Over the years, Letterman, who famously feuded with the one-named stars like Oprah, Cher and Madonna, has become somewhat more tolerant of others, if not necessarily kinder. He still managed to infuriate Sarah Palin, though, with cracks about her family in 2009. Nearing 65, he's not donning Velcro and Rice Krispies suits anymore, but still drops things off the roof and chucks footballs at the giant meatball atop his Christmas tree. The show no longer carries the dangerous air of unpredictability once fanned by Andy Kaufman's attack on Jerry Lawler, Crispin Glover's high kicks and Penn and Teller's roach stunt. But who could have guessed Letterman would have become the victim of an extortion attempt that revealed his own surprising sexual peccadilloes?
Unlike Carson, Letterman's gotten through his 30-year stint without guest hosts, save for during his recovery from heart surgery in 2000, a life-changing experience that clearly made him more introspective. His finest moment came a little over a year and a half later, in his first show after the 9/11 attacks, in which he eloquently echoed the confusion, sadness and fury of a nation. "If you live to be a thousand years old, will that make any sense to you?" he asked. "Will that make any goddamned sense?"
Perhaps Letterman's greatest entertainment accomplishment is becoming the first late night TV comedy host after Carson to establish an enduring career in the genre, paving the way for others, including the smart and quirky Craig Ferguson, who occupies the spot after "Late Show With David Letterman." Letterman had the benefit of honing his own irreverent act for a decade in the slot after "The Tonight Show," beginning with the first "Late Night with David Letterman" on NBC February 1, 1982.
Jay Leno, a formidable force himself, got the post Letterman desperately wanted after Carson stepped down nearly 20 years ago. Even after Letterman moved to the 11:30 p.m. spot for CBS in 1993, Leno bested him in the ratings – and generally continues to do so after getting his old job back from O'Brien nearly two years ago.
Letterman never wanted to be Leno. He'll never be Carson. Just being Dave, after all these years, is an impressive human trick that may never satisfy him, but is enough to keep us watching.
Hester is founding director of the award-winning, multi-media NYCity News Service at the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. He is the former City Editor of the New York Daily News, where he started as a reporter in 1992. Follow him on Twitter.


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Archive for January, 2012
Installing Windows 8 Developer Preview on a Dell Inspiron e1505
We have a laptop that's currently running Windows XP. We have had no complaints about XP and was satisfied with the OS, but Apple recently released iCloud and it wasn't compatible with XP. Originally, we were thinking of upgrading to Windows 7, but since Windows 8 preview is available, we can test if the new version of windows will work with the laptop.
Laptop Specification and Challenges
|Dell Inspiron e1505 / 6400
|Core Duo T2500 1.7 Ghz
|2 Gb
|1280 x 800
|ATI Mobility Radeon X1300
|Optical Drive
|Broadcom 440x 10/100 Ethernet
|Broadcom Corporation BCM4311 802.11b/g
|Dell 350 Bluetooth
|Conexant 56K Modem
|Card Reader
|Ricoh R5C822 SD/SDIO/MMC/MS/MSPro Card Reader
|Other Connectors
|ExpressCard Slot, USB and 1394a Firewire
The Dell Inspiron e1505 (also call Dell Inspiron 6400) is really not all that old. It uses a Core Duo, a predecessor of the Core2 Duo. The CPU is more than fast enough for everyday use. The CPU however is 32-bit and will not run 64-bit windows. I believe there are later versions of Dell e1505 with 64-bit Core2 Duo processors.
The challenge to installing Window 8 is that the machine is not even Windows 7 Certified. Dell does not support running Windows 7 on it. It is however Vista Certified so we at least have Vista drivers.
Despite not being Windows 7 certified, Dell e1505 worked mostly out of the box for Windows 7 except for the video card, the card reader and bluetooth. Since Windows 8's internal are similar to Windows 7, this would be a good indication of what windows 8 would be like.
Installation Experience
I downloaded Windows 8 Developer Preview and burned it to a DVD. I swapped out the laptop's hard disk with a blank hard disk. The installation was fairly uneventful.
- Install blank hard disk into the laptop.
- Insert Windows 8 Developer Preview into the laptop and press the on button. Immediately press F12 to go to the boot menu. Select boot from DVD and when prompted on screen, press any key to boot from the DVD.
- Follow the instruction and install Windows 8 using the default options. What was a surprise is that by default Windows 8 by default partition the drive into two partition, reserving a small 350 Mb partition for what appears to be for recovery. The instruction also prompts you for a Windows Live ID so it can integrate your login with a windows live ID account, but a windows live ID is not necessary to continue.
The OS boots into the new Metro interface. However, when I examined the screen closely, the screen appear to be running at 1024×768 instead of the usual 1280×800 and there are some devices missing.
|Core Duo T2500 1.7 Ghz
|2 Gb
|ATI Mobility Radeon X1300
|Not working
|Video card not detected. Using basic VGA
|Optical Drive
|Broadcom 440x 10/100 Ethernet
|Broadcom Corporation BCM4311 802.11b/g
|Dell 350 Bluetooth
|Conexant 56K Modem
|Card Reader
|Ricoh R5C822 SD/SDIO/MMC/MS/MSPro Card Reader
|Sort of working
|SDHC card can be read, but device manager shows problems
|Other Connectors
|ExpressCard Slot, USB and 1394a Firewire
|I was only able to test the USB, but device manager does not show errors. I assume that they are working.
Basically, everything appears to work except for the video and the card reader. Actually, the card reader appears to be working too but the device manager shows 2 "base system device" as not working.
Fixing the Video Card
Dell does not provide any Windows 7 drivers for the x1300 card. Windows 7 does have a x1300 in their windows update, but forum posts indicated that that version has a bug where the video driver will crash after resuming from hibernation (I believe they are using version 8.561.0.0 ). Based on the post, I should be using the drivers provided by AMD.
The lastest AMD driver for the card is AMD Catalyst 10.2 legacy display driver, but it appears to be available only for Vista. The Catalyst installer will not work on the Dell e1505 because Catalyst won't install on Dell laptops, but you have to run a tool call Mobility Modder to make the installer work. The instruction for modder instructs the user to download the driver and then run the modder on it to fix the configuration file and then run the modded installer. Rather than messing around with this, I notice that Donotargue.com has already created a modded version of the driver. You can download that driver here. Make sure you download the 32-bit version and not the 64-bit version.
The drivers are Vista 32-bit drivers and won't install normally. You have to run them as Vista drivers by doing the following:
- Right-click on the Installer setup application and select Troubleshoot compatibility.
- After it runs through the compatibility detection, select "Troubleshoot program".
- On the screen "What problem do you notice", check to make sure that the option for earlier version for windows is checked. Press the next button.
- On the screen "Which version of windows", select Window Vista and press Next.
- On the screen "Test compatibility", press the Start the Program button. Press Yes when you get a UAC prompt.
- Now follow the instruction to install. I used the option for express install.
The installer appears to crash at the end of installation, resulting in a blank screen. However, when I rebooted the machine, the screen was now in 1280×800. The device manager correctly identified the display adapter as "ATI MOBILITY RADEON X1300" with a version of 8.593.100.0 and indicate that it's working correctly. I attempted to play some youtube video at 720p and it displayed properly. Running 3dmark05 displayed a score of around 1027, which sound about right. Resume from hibernation appears to work, as does the Catalyst Control Panel.
Fixing the Card Reader
Windows 8 does intall a SDA Host Adapter and when I plug in a SD card, it appears to work. However, the device manager still report that there are two base system device that are not working. Perhaps the built-in Windows 8 driver only enable SD card, and not other formats.
To fix this, I install the Ricoh driver from Dell, which you can download here.
Other than the video card, installation of Windows 8 on Dell Inspiron e1505 has been mostly trouble-free. The system seems to work properly most of the time, but sometimes lockup or behaves strangely. Since Windows 8 is beta, it's hard to tell if the crashes are due to old video driver or due to the product being beta. In addition, this is no guarantee that the release version of Windows 8 will work with Dell Inspiron e1505, but based on what we know there's a really good chance that it will.


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Let's get this out of the way up front: those who aren't too thrilled about the idea of the Syndicate reboot being an FPS will find little beyond the game's co-op mode to change their minds. In fact, there is little on offer here that those familiar with modern shooters haven't seen before in some shape or form. Despite this, Starbreeze's controversial reimagining of Bullfrog's seminal 1993 squad-based dystopian blaster is remarkably well-crafted and delivered with such assurance that it's hard not to enjoy what's here rather than pine for what could have been.
The year is 2069, and nations have long been surpassed by corporations, the top half dozen or so of which are fighting for control of the globe. Aided by unprecedented technological developments, industrial espionage has escalated into something resembling barely-contained warfare, with cybernetically-enhanced, remotely-controlled agents acting as super-soldier puppets for their Syndicate overlords.
The player assumes the role of Eurocorp agent Miles Kilo who is more super-soldier than most, having been the recipient of an experimental neural implant known as the DART-6 chip. Kilo is tasked with getting to the bottom of an information leak that has threatened to give rival syndicates access to the bleeding edge tech in his head, and what follows is a solid if predictable story set in a well-realised world that is certainly above average quality for the genre, however backhanded that may sound.
The DART-6 chip isn't just a plot device – it also allows for some impressive gameplay options. A press of the right bumper activates a visual overlay application that triggers a bullet time mechanic while highlighting the position of any enemies that have been previously spotted, even if they are now behind cover or otherwise out of sight. Exploding barrels and other items of interest such as enemy grenades or switches are also emphasised, and for the seconds that the effect lasts, Miles takes less damage from direct hits while dishing out more of his own. That Starbreeze has managed to conjure up a fiction that adequately explains these abilities without veering into the ridiculous is a feat in itself, even if the bulk of the fiction can only be read via a codex that is bereft of charm.
A choice of three slower-to-load applications (or 'breaches') are selected with the d-pad and activated with the left bumper; backfire, suicide and persuade. Requiring enemy line of sight only for the instant it takes to begin activation, these apps take perhaps a second to kick in but the results are worth the wait. Backfire stuns enemies by detonating the round they have chambered, forcing them out of cover and rendering them vulnerable for precious seconds; suicide does exactly what it says it does; and persuade makes an ally of an enemy soldier for up to twenty seconds, at which point he will turn his gun on himself.
The left bumper also controls context-sensitive actions; it is used to defuse grenades (some of which may be then hurled back, rearmed), hack turrets and deactivate armour, for example. The time required for the latter two depends on the strength of the targeted armour, and so ranges anywhere from a couple of seconds to up to half a minute. Fortunately for the player, once again line of sight is only required to initiate the hack, after which the prudent will seek cover, or run in large parabolas in an attempt to avoid a hailstorm of lead. Heavily armoured foes become more numerous as the game wears on, and soon the rhythm of breaching armour while dodging fire by sliding between cover before picking off weaker assailants becomes second nature.
While the overlay app recharges after roughly seven seconds (or faster if kills are registered in the meantime), only the spilling of blood regenerates the backfire, suicide and persuade apps. The exception to this rule occurs if the bumper is released in a sweet spot when a breach attempt is 80-90% complete, resulting in a "breach spike", which partly recharges the app instantly. Further recharge bonuses are attained when enemies are killed in rapid succession too, thus rewarding aggressive play.
Pair these powers with some weighty, immensely satisfying gunplay using upgradable weapons, a smooth and intuitive cover mechanic, gorgeous visuals and great audio (including the voice acting), and brutal melee, and you have the blueprint for an excellent FPS.
In execution though, some niggles keep the campaign from being a masterpiece. Most irritatingly, the player is never trusted to work anything out for herself. The whole thing is spectacularly linear – there are no alternate routes through levels, only the door behind the current group of bad guys, and even then other agents will guide you via intercom or in person. This is a common complaint when it comes to shooters, but given the creativity that can be unleashed during combat using combinations of powers and weapons, it's too bad the level design doesn't follow suit.
Speaking of weapons, the perfect weapon for defeating any enemy type is always found right before the player runs into said enemy, but then is generally taken from the player once that enemy is destroyed. Further, an ability Kilo has to crash through walls can only be used at a few select points and the game tells you exactly where – this could have been a great option for the player to have at their disposal more frequently rather than what amounts to an excuse for a cutscene. In short, there isn't much wriggle room for creativity when it comes to choosing how to play or which tools to use, the best option is always staring the player right in the face.
Things improve in the second half of the game's seven to eight hour campaign, mainly because the sheer weight of enemy numbers make for some hairy firefights, and because Kilo's powers are at their peak. This doesn't prevent some bosses from being frustratingly hard, but pushing through these moments is worth it.
Smaller annoyances are some blinding lens flares throughout that, fortunately, the player is never walking directly into, and some pointless button mashing to prise open doors that always seem to be conceitedly located right after a checkpoint.
The game's co-op mode is a joy, however. With nine levels playable by up to four agents on the same server, the co-op represents Syndicate at its best. The story is non-existent, replaced by simple mission objectives played out in levels inspired by those in the original game. Players may create their own Syndicates that gives them a unique clan tag, makes them easy to find online and also provides some in-game bonuses. The progress of an entire syndicate across a number of stats compared to all others in the world can also be viewed, a great addition.
The sheer amount of customisation available is also commendable. Not only are all guns deeply upgradable in terms of power but also accessorising, extra team-based abilities are available for unlocking too, including squad healing, shielding, damage boosting, and so on. It soon becomes apparent that specialisation is a good idea, and so a smart syndicate will have distinct roles for each agent as the missions quickly become challenging making teamwork and flexibility essential. Nine levels may not seem like much, but they are much more open than their singleplayer counterparts and their replayability factor is high. Besides which, while on mission, weapons and upgrades may be researched as they were in the original Syndicate.
On the negative side, the co-op as it stands is pretty unstable, and lock-ups are a too-frequent occurrence. It's a testament to the strength of the gameplay that most players will patiently reset their consoles and dive straight back in following these, but that's hardly an ideal scenario. Limited drops per level also mean that there is competition for those precious upgrades. Fortunately in most of the online games we played there was a good deal of sharing, and private games can be set up to keep out the greedy anyway.
Starbreeze's Syndicate may be a far cry from the isometric squad-based tactical shooter of yestercentury, but it delivers a solid campaign and great co-op. Sadly, civilians cannot be gathered for use as meat shields using a persuadertron, and there are no comical car-related deaths to be found, but what is on offer here is - for the most part - slick, violent and most entertaining.
Review scores are provided as a rough guide only. Read the Gameplanet review policy


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GILFORD — Meadowbrook is bringing two legends to one stage for one unforgettable night! Willie Nelson and the Charlie Daniels Band hit the Meadowbrook stage Friday, June 14 for a spectacular night of outlaw country you won't soon forget.
As a songwriter and a performer, Willie Nelson played a vital role in post-rock & roll country music. Nelson spent the '60s writing songs that became hits for stars like Ray Price, as well as releasing records that earned him a small cult following. He borrowed from a wide variety of styles, including traditional pop, Western swing, jazz, cowboy songs, honky tonk, rock & roll, folk, and the blues, creating a distinctive hybrid. Following the breakthrough success of The Red Headed Stranger, Outlaw Country became a sensation.
Willie continued to have hits throughout the 1970s and 1980s. He had major crossover success in 1982 with a cover of Elvis Presley's hit "Always on My Mind." After the release of Across the Borderline, Nelson continued to work steadily, releasing at least one album a year and touring constantly. In 1993, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, but by that time, he had already become a living legend. Nelson's most recent release, entitled Heroes, debuted in the summer of 2012.
From his Dove Award winning gospel albums to his genre-defining Southern rock anthems and his CMA Award-winning country hits, few artists have left a more indelible mark on America's musical landscape than Charlie Daniels. An outspoken patriot, beloved mentor to young artists and still a road warrior at age 76, Charlie has parlayed his passion for music into a multiplatinum career and a platform to support the military, underprivileged children and others in need.
Over the course of his career, Charlie has received numerous accolades including induction into the Grand Ole Opry and Musicians Hall of Fame. He's been presented the Pioneer Award by the Academy of Country Music and was honored as a BMI Icon in recognition of his songwriting. He's also received a star on the Music City Walk of Fame.
Tickets go on sale Friday, Feb. 15 at 10 a.m. Call 603-293-4700 or log on to www.Meadowbrook.net.


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Apr 01, 2014 | ISBN 9780345545053
"In a story filled with adventure, intrigue, and great quotes, there's a lot to like in this book. Tim Lebbon dives into his very first Star Wars story with a great deal of success. He manages to spin a tale that feels like Star Wars, but also feels different from other stories that have been told before. While there is some threat of system wide destruction, the point is never pushed to being ridiculous. The characters feel believable and provoke interest. The attention to the characters never takes away from the plot. There's also a remarkable balance between world building, plot and character development, and action. When it comes down to it, Dawn of the Jedi: Into the Void is just great storytelling."—Roqoo Depot
"A nice, compact Star Wars tale that both acts as an introduction to the Dawn of the Jedi period and a standalone story."—Club Jade
"A solidly enjoyable read . . . a nice addition to the Expanded Universe."—Tosche Station
"A good solid Star Wars adventure story with heart."—Knights' Archive