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Ice-cold champagne was being served when I pulled out my digital camera and scrolled through my photos of the day. "I like this one the best," I said, holding up the LCD screen so my fellow writers could see it.
"My goodness," said the lady sitting next to me, looking in amazement. "When and where did you take those?" "Right across the highway this morning when I arrived," I replied, holding up the photo of poor folks from the Haitian village. "That's the real world, just beyond the gates with the armed security."
We were staying at an all-inclusive resort on the north coast of the Dominican Republic. While the resort was gorgeous, the real purpose of my visit was hidden on the other side of the highway. Behind the barrio where poor Dominicans lived, were even poorer Haitian refugees in tin shacks who did the grunt work that even the Dominicans wouldn't do, like cutting sugar cane in the blazing heat for 50 cents a day.
I had received a last-minute invitation to the Dominican to review some fancy resorts, so I had no time to prepare. I also had no money to spend on buying supplies for any schools or hospitals, the kind of places I like to visit on such trips. So I went down to my basement and dug into my big box of goodies. Whenever there is a rummage sale in my neighbourhood, I buy T-shirts and baseball caps in bulk. Anything with English or Canadian words on them, stuff like Fred's Plumbing and Electric.
A little research on Google Maps indicated that not far from my fivestar resort was a backpacker's hostel. The website of this one-star lodge recommended that guests might want to volunteer at the local school. The owner made arrangements with the Haitian schoolteacher for my visit, and translated my speech into French for the kids.
"Pay attention to your teacher," I said to the class, handing the teacher a dozen baseball caps and T-shirts. "Education will bring you what you need in life. It's very important."
Giving the caps to the kids myself would have diminished the power of the teacher. The caps and shirts, with English writing on them from a faraway destination like Canada, were exotic rewards given for homework and good marks. They represented the outside world, big cities where you might find work and money if you could read and write. I received smiles and "mercis" from the kids all around.
We were nibbling desserts that night at the resort by the time my camera had been handed around the entire table. "You do this kind of thing a lot?" asked my tablemate. "Yes," I said, "Every chance I get."
Anyone interested in making a difference on their journey through life should log on to packwithapurpose.org, a non-profit website that teaches how to maximize your luggage space. If you are allowed 30 kilos on an international flight, and you only bring 20, then you have 10 kilos to spare. With just two kilos, for instance, you could bring 400 pencils, five deflated soccer balls with an inflation device, a stethoscope, a blood pressure cuff and 500 Band-Aids. The local school or clinic will thank you.
This nifty website will also help you find holiday lodgings that support such community initiatives. That hotel will even deliver the supplies to their local projects on your behalf. Hey, you might even want to join or deliver the supplies yourself. Fred's Plumbing to the rescue! Log on www.packforapurpose.org and tell them I sent you.
For information on other travel tips, contact Michael McCarthy at www.intentionaltraveler.com. To listen to Michael's many radio podcasts, log on to www.wgrnradio.com.


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The Scarlet Fire Racing club was started in 1997 by Craig Savage and Darin Marhanka after Craig moved to Indianapolis from Kansas City. From this humble two rider team has grown one of the most visible and prolific master's racing programs in the country.
In 1999 the team was joined by multiple national championship winner Chuck Moll, Tom Lobdell and Bill Bedwell. Moll is now retired from racing but is considered a lifetime member and Lobdell is still with the team. From 1999-2003 the team won over 100 races on both the road and the track including national and world championships.
As the team grew it began to look for and acquire riders from outside the Indianapolis region. In 2005 Illinois Elite time trial and road race champion and National Racing Calendar road race winner Mark Swartzendruber joined the team. 2005 was a fantastic season which saw the team win multiple races throughout the Midwest, highlighted by wins at the Memorial Day Weekend races in Muscatine, IA and Rock Island, IL by Marhanka.
2006 brought still more changes as the team picked up National sponsorship from Delta Faucet under the management of John Singleton and Jeannie Moles. Marhanka moved to Georgia and the team picked up 2005 Masters Points Race champion Kelly Sparks, Chris Mosora and IL Road Race Champion David Stone. Highlights of the 2006 season were national medals in the time trial by Swartzendruber as well as by Sparks on the track and State road and criterium championship by Stone and Sparks.
As the team has grown, we now have riders in 4 population centers. Chicagoland, Indianapolis, Columbus, IN and Champaign, IL. The team also has retained riders who have moved with jobs to Colorado and founding team member Craig Savage resides in South Carolina.
Our riders have a rich history of racing at the very top of the elite level both nationally and internationally and we communicate and race together in a way that is recognized by other teams as a model of pure class.
We require our masters riders to be USAC Category 1 or 2 and to be either a State or National Champion. We also have Category racers and team riders at the club level. If you are interested in joining us, please contact us with a 3 year race resume and how you believe you can contribute to the team's continued success.
We are often asked about the etymology of Scarlet Fire Racing. Savage and Marhanka were Dead Heads back in the day and one of their favorite Grateful Dead jams was when the band performed "Scarlet Begonias" and "Fire on the Mountain" back to back in concert is a set that is commonly referred to as "Scarlet Fire"...

subset: commoncrawl


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Why do some programming languages take over the world while others wallow in obscurity?
Two academics at Princeton and the University of California, Berkeley are combing through mountains of data trying to tackle this mystery of the modern world. They think the answer may lie with how well a language is documented. Or with the reality that the average programmer doesn't have the time or the inclination to learn more than a handful of programming tools. Or even with the age-old tendency of academics to build stuff that's gloriously clever but completely impractical.
But a man named Tamir Kahson has a different answer. He thinks it's all about the beard.
According to Kahson's playful analysis, there's a direct correlation between the success of a programming language and the length of the hair growing on the face of the man who built it. And he may have a point (see photos above).
C is perhaps the most successful language of all time. At Bell Labs, in the late '60s and early '70s, it was used to build the UNIX operating system, which now forms the backbone of modern computing, and 30 years after busting out of Bell, it remains the world's most popular language according to multiple studies. Some attribute its success to Brian Kernighan's seminal book The C Programming Language. Others point to the genius of its designers, Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie. But more than genius, they had really great beards:
The second most popular programming language on the planet is Java. Fifteen years after its debut, it has suffered the ignominy of being closely associated with Oracle, but it remains the language of choice on everything from Android smartphones to cloud services driving massive video applications. And the man who built it, James Gosling, knows how to grow some serious facial hair.
The world's third most popular language? It's probably C++, a derivative of C also developed at Bell Labs. And its developer, Bjarne Stroustrup, rocked some great whiskers of his own. But C++ is still less popular than C, which could have something to with Stroustrup deciding to shave.
Lisp is the second oldest high-level programming language still in use, and it heavily influenced countless other languages over the years. Alan Kay – one of the researchers who practically laid the foundation for modern computing at the Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center in the '70s – calls Lisp the "greatest single programming language ever designed." Its designer? The late John McCarthy, who possessed one of the greatest beards in the history of artificial intelligence.
Perhaps Kay should have paid more attention to McCarthy's beard and less to the design of his scripting language. At PARC, Kay invented SmallTalk, which certainly had a major influence on future object-oriented languages, but it never took hold with the world at large. The trouble seems to be that Kay stopped at a mustache.
You see, a mustache may limit how high a language can rise. Joe Armstrong, the inventor of Erlang, was a mustache man. So was Larry Wall, the inventor of Perl, and Thomas Kurtz, the inventor of BASIC. All were influential languages, and all are still going strong in one way or another. But they could have used more hair.
Of course, a mustache is better than nothing. Kristen Nygaard, creator of SIMULA? Not a whisker. Ada inventor Jean Ichbiah? Clean-shaven. Simon Peyton Jones, the chief brain behind Haskell? You guessed it.
Yes, Pascal creator Niklaus Wirth wore a beard. And Pascal's reach was never that of C or C++ or Java. But it was used on the original Macintosh, a computer the world is obsessed with. And Anders Hejlsberg, who morphed the language into Turbo Pascal, didn't even have a mustache.
Another exception that proves the rule? Grace Hopper, the brains behind Cobol, a seminal language that arrived in 1959 and is still used today. Apparently, if you're biologically incapable of growing a beard, the programming gods cut you some slack.
Clearly, the men who created today's rising stars of the programming language world are well aware of Kahson's beard research. Guido Van Rossum, the inventor of Python, is now trying to look like Ken Thompson, and the Python community has followed suit. And PHP man Rasmus Lerdorf is at least going for the closely cropped goatee/beard look.
When Tamir Kahson first posted his study of programming languages and facial hair in 2004, he apparently sparked a response from none other than the normally clean-shaven Ruby creator Yukihiro "Matz" Matsumoto. It looked like this:
Graphic: Michael Cerwonka


text: LIVE Jay-Z, Coldplay Ring In 2013 With Epic Brooklyn Show 1/1/2013 by Jessica Letkemann FACEBOOK TWITTER EMAIL ME Jay-Z, Coldplay Ring In 2013 With Epic Brooklyn Show Jay-Z took the stage at Brooklyn, N.Y.'s Barclays Center at 11:59pm on New Year's Eve Monday night and rang in 2013 with Coldplay's Chris Martin singing along to "Auld Lang Syne." The singer and the rapper hugged, and then the stage was Jay's. In a double-bill show that took place half in one year and half in another, Coldplay -- who had the night's first set -- had been a riot of color and movement all over the arena, while Jay, in a dark tux, stood mostly alone on stage putting a laser focus on his rapid-fire rhymes. Fans packed in to the arena well before Coldplay took the stage just before 10pm (celebs including Christina Aguilera and One Direction's Harry Styles were also in the house Monday night). Soon Barclays was alight with the synchronized blinking of the multi-colored lights on the bracelets each concertgoer had been given upon entering. Chris Martin, here parked at a piano, there vaulting around the stage, was a blur of energy as the band's 15-song set launched whole-crowd sing-a-longs ("The Scientist," "Paradise"), confetti canons, and even a herd of world-map beach balls unleashed on the audience. For "Princess of China," Rihanna appeared only as a multi-armed image on the screens throughout the space, her part of the duet a mere recording. "Viva La Vida" and "Yellow," meanwhile, won over revelers with just the music itself. Early on, Martin asked the crowd to "please have a good time," and "cherish the people you love." Nearing the end of the 80-minute set, during which Martin name checked Jay-Z a handful of times, the band appeared suddenly on a platform in the middle of the 100 level sections to sing the ballad "Us Against The World," for the times when you and yours "feel like you can take on anything." The group's trek through the fan-filled floor all the way back to the mainstage elicited growing cheers that only increased when they launched into "Clocks," it's circular piano part and Martin's cooing "oohs" drowned out by the audience. But the applause and whistles and yells of approval reached a crescendo when Jay-Z, casual in a white t-shirt, took the stage to join Coldplay on "Lost." LOST DJ Cassidy spun old school jams from Michael Jackson to Journey as the crew converted Coldplay's Technicolor graffiti'd backdrop into Jay-Z's simple, black stage and the clock ticked so close to midnight, the ringing in of the new year was almost an anti-climax. But at literally the last moment, Jay appeared in his dapper suit and counted down the last seconds to 2013. But with 2012 over, Jay was just getting started as he rolled into a non-stop 25-song set that opened with "Run This Town." HAPPY NEW YEAR 2013! • PHOTOS: Stars on New Year's Eve • VIDEO: Justin Bieber NYE Preview • VIDEO: Taylor Swift Performs, Kisses Harry Styles in Times Sq. • VIDEO: PSY Celebrates in 'Style' • TWEETS: Stars Ring in 2013 • INTERVIEW: Ryan Seacrest Talks 'Rockin' Eve,' Dick Clark • VIDEO: Flo Rida NYE Preview • VIDEO: OneRepublic NYE Preview • REVIEW: Jay-Z & Coldplay's Brooklyn NYE Show • VIDEO: The Wanted NYE Preview • VIDEO: Ellie Goulding Q&A • VIDEO: Justin Bieber Rocks NYE • PHOTOS: Inside Lake Tahoe's SnowGlobe 2012 Festival • VIDEO: Greyson Chance Q&A • BACKSTAGE: 'Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve' "I don't know how I'm going to top 2012," Jay said, looking like he wasn't worried a bit and biting into "On to the Next One" as arms waved and yet another cheer went up. As "Hovi Baby," "Feelin' It," "I Just Wanna Love U (Give It To Me)," and especially "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)" sped by, Jay rapped without seeming to take a breath, to barely stop, and making it all look easy, inspiring applause for every break when the music stopped and it was just his voice issuing a torrent of rhymes filling the whole arena alone. "I want to thank you. You could have been anywhere in the world tonight. but you're here in the m***fu**kin' Barclays Center," he said. The native New Yorker is proudly a part owner of the venue's home team, the Brooklyn Nets. The only hint of his exertion was the sweat streaming down his face, but otherwise Hova held sway over the crowd, calling for waiving arms here, shouts there, bringing us up for "Big Pimpin'" before taking it down to quiet a serious moment. "I'm from Brooklyn, just thought I'd remind you we're going to rule the world in 2013. And in order to do that don't let anybody hold you back or put their anxieties or fears on you." And with that he had the whole crowd give the finger to the haters. He brought the mood all the way back up to deafening as he and everyone else boomed into "99 Problems," while he visited the front rows in style to give those fans a New Year's taste of his champagne, saying, "I want you to feel how I feel." His set wasn't even half over. Over two dozen songs crammed into an hour and a half, as he continued with Rick Ross' "3 Kings," "Money Ain't a Thang" (which he originally did with Jermaine Dupri), G.O.O.D. Music's "Clique" and his own "Can I Get A…" and "La La La (Excuse Me Again)." HEART OF THE CITY Jay-Z with Chris Martin, "Heart of the City" at Barclay's Center, New Year's Show Coldplay's Chris Martin joined Jay for a third time for "Heart of The City," Martin's tenor providing counterpoint to Hova's baritone rhymes. Chants of "Hova, Hova" erupted from the crowd unbidden as Jay-Z got to the "I came, I saw, I conquered" line from "Encore." Afterward, he hinted that New Year's Eve live in Brooklyn could become a tradition for him. "Our goal is to do this every year," he said. "2014, you gonna rock with us?" With so many music celebs in town for the holidays and such a long tradition of guest spots at Jay-Z's shows, it was perhaps the biggest surprise of the night held no unannounced performers. Other than singer Bridget Kelly, who did the hook on a couple of tunes including Alicia Keys' half of the set-ending "Empire State of Mind," and the walk-on by Chris Martin, the spotlight was on Jay-Z during his set. That seemed to suit every ticketholder just fine. "I really wouldn't want to be anywhere else to ring in 2013," Jay said as the clock ticked toward 1:30am, Radiohead's "Everything In Its Right Place" played in the background, and the show came to a close. "2012 was a major year for me, it was the birth of my beautiful daughter Blue, it was the birth of this building. Tonight I feel like I'm in the right place. I wish you the best 2013 possible. Peace and love." FACEBOOK TWITTER EMAIL ME


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Flower gardening is an art - the activity and craft of growing plants, with a goal of creating a wonderful & beautiful world around. Fresh air and a waste free environment. Growing flowers is an admiration for many people, a dream for so many and a full-time work for some others like who grow flower gardens for commercial purposes. Growing flowers thus serves the interests of diverse peoples. It's necessitates a lot of patience, love, & care, indeed an exciting adventure. A beautiful garden is truly an affordable luxury, work with nature, rather than fighting it, nature tends to win anyway!
Recycling Old Doors
Old doors is a strong piece of material that can easily be reused into pretty much of anything: add table legs and you've got a center table; add some wheels and you've got a coffee table, add doors behind your bed to create a headboard in an instant, hang it on the wall and you'll have a wall decor or a picture frames. This post features a whole range of reusing and recycling your old doors.
Wall Decor
Center Table
Corner Shelf
House Decor
Picture Frames
Front Entry Coat Stand
Garden Gate
Movable Lighting without Wall Damage
Porch Swing
Potting Bench Design
Sweet Garden Retreat
Room Divider
Amazing Shadow Art Sculptures from Trash
Cautious arranging pieces of junk and scrap waste to create an amazing and detailed shadow art sculptures. A piles of trash you're left wondering why anyone think of them as an art. There's really nothing special about them, just a combination of scrap, waste and junk materials that always seems to represent the same thing. But as soon as you lighted the projector, the real masterpiece magically appears in the background. It's obvious that the artist spends time patiently putting in order every little part of this sculptures, making sure they cast the right shadow when light shines from a right angle.
Recycled Corrugated Cardboard LampShades
This adorable cool design lampshade made from recycled corrugated cardboard are cut into pieces and come together to create the profile of an old lamp and shade. Some are easily flat-packable, and even mountable, this lovely lighting fixture will provide a soft and warm light, ideal for creating a cozy ambience!
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Sure-Grip Roller Skate Rx Toe Stops - pair. Adjustable stops for speed and derby, these 5/8" stems are hollow for less weight. Developed and tested by and for Derby skaters these are just what the doctor ordered for all skating applications where excellent grip and rebound are required. Proudly made in the USA employing a state of the art rubber formula, the Rx toe stop offers exceptional grip and dramatically improved wear over previous products.
- Sold in pairs
- adjustable means you can wind the stopper up closer to the boot or down farther from the boot
- 5/8" diameter shaft


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Classes visit the library each week for a lesson based on the Arkansas Library Media Framework which includes research skills, information literacy, digital citizenship, and growth in literary knowledge and reading strategies.
Students check out two books each week and are expected to return or renew the books weekly. Our library collection includes fiction and nonfiction books on a wide variety of reading levels, genres, topics of interest, subjects to support our curriculum, and award-winning titles.
Follett Destiny is our Online Public Access Catalog. Search Destiny to see what books and materials are available in our Dwight library collection.
Our library incorporates technology through the student use of iPads during library checkout as well as during instruction and extension activities. An interactive SMART Board is also used in library lessons.


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Kelly Clarkson might be celebrating her greatest hits on her latest release, but the cover of the album is all about showing off the singer's gorgeous look.
For Greatest Hits-Chapter One, out November 19, Kelly's face is the main attraction; showing off her lighter locks.
Though Kelly loves her blonde look, she told Us Weekly back in June that the old saying doesn't ring true for her.
"People keep asking me if I am having more fun, being blonde," she said. "But I always have fun! Whether I'm blonde, redhead, or brunette! I always have fun, dammit!"
The singer's upcoming album will feature some of her biggest hits like "Since U Been Gone," "Because Of You," and "Behind These Hazel Eyes." Along with a few new songs, including her latest single, "Catch My Breath."
Learn every word to the singer's newest song, which is about her journey from American Idol winner to international superstar, below.
– Shannon Carlin, CBS Local
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I feel like my head is spinning. The last week has been crazy. Between traveling and church stuff and international students invading my house and little rug-rats all last week and now my friend from the Philippines is here, I can't catch my breath. But wow it has been good. I have seen God at work in so many ways. He even found time to give me a sanity break with my wife tonight.
It is hard to understand how people can say that they get burned out with God.
I understand that you can get burned out if you are serving your church, but maybe that is the problem. Maybe you are getting burned out because serving the church is not always serving God. (Gasp!) That's right, I said it. Serving God and serving the church can be two different things. The church has a tendency of becoming overburdening while Jesus said His yoke was easy and burden was light. God does not cause burn out.
Now this does not mean that you will never have problems if you serve God. But God promises that when we are being productive Christians and serving Him that we will have joy and peace and love and it will be rewarding and there is nothing to get burned out about that. We have been called to ministry. The word minister means to serve. We have also been called to do all things like we are doing them for God. So if you are serving God in whatever you do and you remember that He is the one rewarding what you do, it makes it easier to serve with joy and avoid burnout.
If you are one who is feeling burn out, then maybe it is time to spend a few minutes alone with God to ask why. Be honest about what you are doing and feeling and listen for that still, small voice to say that it may be time to change. It may be time to change your attitude. Perhaps you are doing what God wants, but you are not doing it for His glory. Perhaps what you are doing is not truly a ministry. Maybe it is a church position that hasn't changed in 100 years and is no more a ministry than clipping your toenails. FYI, I grow mine really long before cutting them and then donate them to people whose toenails fall off, kinda like the hair thing people do. Perhaps you are doing too much and you need to let someone else serve. Here is another FYI…your church will not fall apart if you stop doing something.
Burn out can happen to anyone who is not serving God or serving in a ministry of God. Feeling burned out is like when your car begins to backfire. It is a warning sign that something is wrong. The number one reason people's cars quit running properly is because they don't read their owner's manual and follow the instructions for preventive maintenance. The reason Christians face burn out is because they don't read the Bible and follow its instructions. So if you are listening for God's voice and you don't recognize it, it might be time to familiarize yourself with what God sounds like through reading His word.
Don't burn out! Get fired up!


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A Liberal Favors More Guns
Jeffrey Goldberg has a long, provocative Atlantic piece explaining why he, a liberal who favors gun control, has come to believe that America would be safer if more responsible people packed heat. Excerpts:
There are ways, of course, to make it at least marginally more difficult for the criminally minded, for the dangerously mentally ill, and for the suicidal to buy guns and ammunition. … But these gun-control efforts, while noble, would only have a modest impact on the rate of gun violence in America.
Because it's too late.
There are an estimated 280 million to 300 million guns in private hands in America—many legally owned, many not. Each year, more than 4 million new guns enter the market. This level of gun saturation has occurred not because the anti-gun lobby has been consistently outflanked by its adversaries in the National Rifle Association, though it has been. The NRA is quite obviously a powerful organization, but like many effective pressure groups, it is powerful in good part because so many Americans are predisposed to agree with its basic message.
America's level of gun ownership means that even if the Supreme Court—which ruled in 2008 that the Second Amendment gives citizens the individual right to own firearms, as gun advocates have long insisted—suddenly reversed itself and ruled that the individual ownership of handguns was illegal, there would be no practical way for a democratic country to locate and seize those guns.
Goldberg — and this is a remarkably conservative, in the sense of dealing with the world as it really is, thing to say — believes that we would be better off licensing more law-abiding people to carry guns. More:
It is an unexamined assumption on the part of gun-control activists that the possession of a firearm by a law-abiding person will almost axiomatically cause that person to fire it at another human being in a moment of stress. Dave Kopel, the research director of the libertarian-leaning Independence Institute, in Denver, posits that opposition to gun ownership is ideological, not rational. "I use gay marriage as an analogue," he said. "Some people say they are against gay marriage because they think it leads to worse outcomes for kids. Now, let's say in 2020 all the social-science evidence has it that the kids of gay families turn out fine. Some people will still say they're against it, not for reasons of social science, but for reasons of faith. That's what you have here in the gun issue."
There is no proof to support the idea that concealed-carry permit holders create more violence in society than would otherwise occur; they may, in fact, reduce it. According to Adam Winkler, a law professor at UCLA and the author of Gunfight: The Battle Over the Right to Bear Arms in America, permit holders in the U.S. commit crimes at a rate lower than that of the general population. "We don't see much bloodshed from concealed-carry permit holders, because they are law-abiding people," Winkler said. "That's not to say that permit holders don't commit crimes, but they do so at a lower rate than the general population. People who seek to obtain permits are likely to be people who respect the law." According to John Lott, an economist and a gun-rights advocate who maintains that gun ownership by law-abiding citizens helps curtail crime, the crime rate among concealed-carry permit holders is lower than the crime rate among police officers.
Today, the number of concealed-carry permits is the highest it's ever been, at 8 million, and the homicide rate is the lowest it's been in four decades—less than half what it was 20 years ago.
The ideology of gun-ownership absolutism doesn't appeal to me. Unlike hard-line gun-rights advocates, I do not believe that unregulated gun ownership is a defense against the rise of totalitarianism in America, because I do not think that America is ripe for totalitarianism. (Fear of a tyrannical, gun-seizing president is the reason many gun owners oppose firearms registration.)
But I am sympathetic to the idea of armed self-defense, because it does often work, because encouraging learned helplessness is morally corrupt, and because, however much I might wish it, the United States is not going to become Canada. Guns are with us, whether we like it or not. Maybe this is tragic, but it is also reality. So Americans who are qualified to possess firearms shouldn't be denied the right to participate in their own defense. And it is empirically true that the great majority of America's tens of millions of law-abiding gun owners have not created chaos in society.
Please do read the whole thing. Gun control is not an issue that has ever much interested me. I'm someone who was raised in a gun culture, and who never has understood the pathological fear of guns that so many liberals have. I'm also someone who doesn't get the pathological fear of commonsense regulations on weapons and ammo that many conservatives have. I appreciate very much the sensible approach Jeffrey Goldberg takes toward the issue. He made me think. I'd love to know what your reaction to the piece is. Go!


text: Accidents happen. Butterfingers or not, you're bound to slip up and destroy a perfectly lovely device, especially if you use it a lot. But the worst is when you bust that sucker up RIGHT after you've started to fall in love with it. What's your record time for completely and totally busting up a new gadget? A month, a week, a day, an hour? Let's hear some real horror stories.


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About Fathead:
Fathead transforms special events into life-size wall decals. Choose from 100's of officially licensed game time sports images and big screen moments, or make your own with our customizable options. Our wall graphics are way better, bigger and tougher than posters or stickers. Better yet, our vinyl decals are adhesive. This means they're safe for walls, you can move and reuse them without worry, and install them in minutes. Excellent as decorative wall art for yourself or someone else, there's a Fathead for every fan. Decorating your space has never been easier than with Fathead.
What It's Made Of: A Fathead Big Head is printed on high density 3/16 inch foam core and die cut around the player's face. They are not wall graphics or self-adhesive.
Suggested Uses: Fathead Big Heads are designed so you can take them with you. Hold up a Fathead Big Head at the big game to psych out the opposing team! Make a Custom Big Head of your child and show your support at their sporting event! Fathead Big Heads are also perfect for birthday and office parties. However you choose to use them, they are meant to stand out in a crowd.


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4 peaches, peeled and sliced (about 4 cups total)
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon almond extract
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup self-rising flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup low-fat (1 percent) milk
Vanilla frozen yogurt or fresh whipped cream, for serving
Indulge in our decadent chocolate desserts, from cookies and cakes to puddings, souffles and truffles.
Anthony Bourdain and Eric Ripert have teamed up with master chocolatier Christopher Curtin to create the "Good & Evil" chocolate b …
Are you infatuated with ice cream? Do you lust over lobster? Swoon at the sight of chocolate? Here's the best recipe for each food …
Make this classic and elegant French dessert using our step-by-step guide.
Looking for an easy gift idea? Cooking Channel's recipe for Chocolate-Covered Toffee is just the ticket. A touch of coffee in the …
It's officially American Chocolate Week. Check out photos of mind-blowing chocolate creations.
Satisfy that chocolate craving in your very own kitchen. All you need is baking chocolate and a little know-how. It also helps to …
Get our take on the best in food news, recipes and more from around the web, including the best Valentine's Day recipes.
Lots of recipes call for melted chocolate. Follow these step-by-step instructions to do it properly.


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Book your Train ticket to SienaItaly
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The classic beauty of Tuscany
Siena, let the charm work
Horses thunder around the shell-shaped Piazza del Campo in Siena's summertime medieval Palio horse race. Stroll narrow, cobblestone alleyways past the zebra-striped Romanesque cathedral. Or go wine tasting in the Tuscan hills and pick up distinctive bulb-shaped bottles of velvety Italian Chianti.
On the Piazza del Campo, we also advise you to visit the most beautiful palace of the town: the "Plazzo Pubblico" from the 14th century, which houses the "Museo Civico" where you can learn more about the old Government of Siena.
You can also discover "Il Duomo di Siena", the charming gothic cathedral built with white and black marble, and even climb up to its roofs. Don't miss the opportunity to admire the highest medieval tower of Siena, the "Torre del Mangia" and its 44 meters in height.
And let yourself be tempted by the typical recipe of Siena: the "panforte", a cake made with dried fruits, spices and almonds.
Train Station(s)
Trains are a convenient way of reaching many towns and cities throughout Europe. The majority of cities in Europe have a minimum of one train station, while larger, more populated cities have two or more stations. Train stations, in general, are located in the heart of the city. Review the map below to get an idea of where the train station(s) in Siena can be found.
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Beneath some 13,000 feet of Antarctic ice is a world that should be lonely and empty. But, if a new study is correct, this subglacial lake could be teeming with hardy bacteria buried in one of the world's most unusual environments.
Scientists from Bowling Green State University have recovered more than 3,000 gene sequences – some from complex organisms – from the ice of Lake Vostok, the world's largest known subglacial lake. If the samples are found not to have been contaminated, the findings could be revolutionary, altering our understanding of life not only on our own planet but on alien worlds.
Lake Vostok lost contact with the atmosphere some 15 million years ago, and is not thought to be a homey place. The coldest natural temperature ever recorded on Earth – minus 126.6 degrees Fahrenheit – was taken on a mountain near the lake. Below the ice, the water is frigid, except around probable hydrothermal vents that bring it to a boil. The weight of the ice pressurizes the water to a lethal 350 atmospheres at the top of the lake, and even more so down below. The lake is completely dark, with few vital nutrients seeping down to its depths.
But scientists have for years suspected that there could be life there. Astrobiologists – scientists who search for alien life – have suggested that organisms plumbed from those extreme conditions could offer models for what we might find on planets, where similarly unforgiving environments might beg of their inhabitants highly adaptive survival mechanisms that look nothing like the biological processes we know.
In 2008, a team led by Scott Rogers, a biology professor at Bowling Green State University, grew about 800 cultures from cells found in Lake Vostok's ice. Those cultures correlated to about 50 different species and joined a small crop of studies, dating to about 1999, indicating that – improbably – the subglacial lake could have some residents.
"We knew that there was something down there," said Dr. Rogers, in a phone interview.
In his team's most recent experiment, the results of which are published in PLOS ONE, Rogers and colleagues analyzed two ice core sections drilled from different sections of the lake, one from the southwestern region, which is about 10,000 years old, and one from the deeper mid basin, which is about 5,000 years old.
Scientists found 3,507 unique gene sequences – a stunning number for Lake Vostok – in about 500 milliliters of water taken from the ice cores. About 90 percent of the sequences came from the older, southwestern region, which is shallower and thought to be friendlier to life. The researchers were then able to make taxonomic classifications for about half of those sequences using the public gene bank.
Biologists divide all living things into three domains: bacteria, a type of single-cell microbe called archaea, and complex organisms called eukaryotes. The majority (94 percent) of the identified material was matched to bacteria. Six percent of the sequences matched to eukaryotes, a few of which were multicellular and were unprecedented finds for the hostile lake environment. Two sequences were from archaea.
The other half of the sequenced material from the ice did not match any sequences in the public database. Rogers told the Monitor that this material could be viruses, an area in which the database has little information. Altogether, though, those unaccounted sequences are suggestive of our world's apparent infinite capacity to surprise us, he said.
"Even though there's a very large number of sequences in the gene bank, it's still likely less than half a percent of what's out there," said Rogers. "It's an indication of how much scientists still don't know."
The suggestion that life could exist in remote and buried Lake Vostok is controversial. The drills that have been sent spinning down into the lake since its discovery in the 1960s have potentially contaminated the ice with kerosene and other nonnative materials, possibly adding a deceptive wealth of bacteria to an otherwise barren, or at least less populous, ice sheet. Studies that have originated from Lake Vostok samples have historically been plagued with doubt and suspicion, especially since proving contamination, or its absence, is difficult.
And some scientists have expressed concern about the sample used in the latest experiment, drilled from the bottom of the lake's ice sheet in 1998. Contamination could account for the volume and complexity of organisms sequenced from the ice.
"The analyses used accreted ice samples whose integrity has been questioned in the past," said Mahlon Kennicutt II, a professor of oceanography at Texas A&M University, in an e-mail interview. "The retrieval of theses samples was not designed for the purpose the accreted ice is now being used for, raising questions about the introduction of non-indigenous organisms during retrieval, on site sampling, and transport to the laboratory."
"Unfortunately, once the integrity of the samples is called into question, the results will always be suspect, so these results need to be taken with caution and some skepticism," he said.
The scientists acknowledge in their paper the dubious record of samples drilled from Lake Vostok, but also say that high-tech steps were taken during the experiment to eliminate contamination.
"Contamination is always an issue. Putting your fingerprint on the ice could introduce more organisms than are actually in the ice itself," said Rogers. "But I think we've controlled for all those possibilities."
Another controversial point is whether or not there are even more complex organisms in that ice-harbored world. About half a dozen of the bacteria found in the ice are closely associated with fish – so, against all odds, are there fish down there?
"On a scientific basis it is hard to see how [Lake Vostok] is 'teeming with life' – even multi-cellular life, when there is little evidence that the Lake has the requisite energy, nutrients, and/or carbon sources to support such an ecosystem," said Dr. Kennicutt. "Speculating about higher organisms in the lake is fanciful at best and not in sync with our current understanding of the biogeochemical setting of the lake."
Still, other scientists have expressed optimism that fish could survive sealed beneath the ice.
"Until relatively recently the Antarctic continent was farther north with a temperate to tropical climate, so it is highly likely that lots of biota was present as the continent cooled and moved south by processes of plate tectonics," said James Haynes, a professor in the department of environmental science and biology at SUNY Brockport. "The 20+ million years between lake formation and complete ice cover provided a huge amount of time for species to adapt to colder conditions, possibly including living permanently under ice."
He cautioned, however, that there are still serious questions about what exactly the conditions are like beneath the ice and, once that is known, how that life would have adapted to the unusual environment. Only directly sampling the lake water could prove the existence of living fish there, he said.
Rogers, too, is hopeful that fish might be found in Lake Vostok.
"Animal physiologists might say it's impossible for fish to be alive in that lake – but I believe it's possible," said Rogers.


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via press release:
TBS' Exclusive 2013 NLCS Coverage Continues to Deliver Strong Audience Growth
NLCS Averaging 4.7 Million Total Viewers Through Three Games, Up 34%
TBS' exclusive presentation of the National League Championship Series (NLCS) featuring the Los Angeles Dodgers and St. Louis Cardinals continues to generate significant audience increases over the 2011 NLCS – the last time the network aired the NLCS – between the Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers. Through three telecasts, this year's coverage is averaging a 3.1 U.S. HH rating and 4.7 million total viewers, up 35% and 34% over a 2.3 U.S. HH rating and 3.5 million total viewers for the comparable number of games in 2011.
The network's two NLCS primetime telecasts this year have averaged a 3.4 U.S. HH rating and 5.2 million total viewers, up 42% and 37% compared with a 2.4 U.S. HH rating and 3.8 million total viewers for first two comparable primetime games during the 2011 NLCS.
Last night's NLCS Game 3 telecast averaged 4.8 million total viewers and a 3.1 U.S. HH rating, up 12% and 11% over an average of 4.3 million total viewers and a 2.8 U.S. HH rating for Game 3 of the 2011 NLCS. The telecast peaked with a 3.8 HH rating from 10:15-10:30 p.m.
Locally, the game earned a 28.9 HH rating in St. Louis and an 11.4 HH rating in Los Angeles. Through three games, L.A. is averaging a 10.7 HH rating, up 28% from an 8.4 HH rating over the first three games of the 2009 NLCS, the last time the Dodgers appeared in the LCS.
TBS' exclusive coverage of the 2013 NLCS continues tonight, Tuesday, Oct. 15, with Game 4 of the best-of-seven series at 8 p.m. The network will preview the action with the MLB Postseason Pre-Game on TBS presented by Jeep at 7:30 p.m.
Source: Fast Nationals and Metered Market Ratings based on Nielsen Live + Same Day data stream for the dates of the 2013 NLCS vs. 2011 NLCS through Game 3 10/01/2013 – 10/14/2013 vs. 10/09/2011 – 10/14/11.


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Kurt Nimmo
January 21, 2013
It looks like years of non-stop propaganda may soon bear fruit. According to a recent Gallup poll, a staggering 99 percent of Americans believe Iran's nuclear program is a threat to the United States.
99 percent believe Iran's nuclear program poses a threat "to the vital interests of the United States in the next 10 years," the poll states. 83% said it was a "critical threat" and another 16% said it was an "important, [but] not critical" threat. Just 1% didn't consider Iran a threat.
The poll results reveal how effective years of non-stop propaganda against Iran has been. The new poll will embolden the neocons in the United States and the Likudniks in Israel and encourage new calls for the United States to attack Iran.
Under the terms of the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Iran has the right to produce nuclear power for peaceful purposes. The United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency has found no evidence Iran is developing a nuclear weapons program and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told Face the Nation in January that Iran is not currently building a nuclear weapon.
The intelligence community released a National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) in 2007 indicating Iran does not have a nuclear weapons program. "We judge with high confidence that in fall 2003, Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program," the NIE stated. "We assess with moderate confidence Tehran had not restarted its nuclear weapons program as of mid-2007."
"Although Iran continues to enrich uranium at low levels, U.S. officials say they have not seen evidence that has caused them to significantly revise" the conclusions reached in the NIE, the Los Angeles Times reported on February 23.
In November of 2011 an IAEA report failed to indicate Iran has a nuclear weapons program.
"In its February 2012 report, the IAEA confirmed for the umpteenth time that there was no diversion of nuclear material from" its 15 nuclear facilities, including its uranium enrichment plants at Natanz and Fordow, writes David Morrison.
In 2011 it was reported by the United States Institute of Peace and others that Iran was having problems with its nuclear program. In addition to fending off U.S. and Israeli cyber attacks, persistent sabotage of its nuclear facilities and the assassination of its scientists, Iran is finding it difficult to obtain essential parts on the international market and until recently had issues with its centrifuges.
In January, the International Atomic Energy Agency officially confirmed that Iran had started enriching uranium to the 20-percent level. "The IAEA can confirm that Iran has started the production of uranium enriched up to 20 percent using IR-1 centrifuges in the Fordo Fuel Enrichment Plant," the agency said in a statement," RIA Novosti reported.
20 percent uranium enrichment is a long way off from more than 90 percent, the amount required to make an atomic weapon.
"Despite mixed signals from Iran and intelligence claims that it is not seeking a bomb, the real reason the neocon faction of the global cabal continue to harp their bomb Iran mantra has nothing to do with nukes – it has to do with the perception that Iran is too big for its britches and wields to much influence in the neighborhood, especially over contentious Shiites (in particular Hezbollah in Lebanon)," we wrote in February.
Attacking Iran remains a key objective for the global elite. In January we reported comments made by the globalist kingpin, renowned war criminal and Rockefeller co-conspirator Henry Kissinger at the economic confab held at Davos, Switzerland.
"There has emerged in the region, the current and most urgent issue of nuclear proliferation. For 15 years, the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council have declared that a nuclear Iran is unacceptable, but it has been approaching," Kissinger said.
He then said governments will "come to a determination of how to react, or the consequences of non-reaction… [in] a few years."
In November, Kissinger said the U.S. has a "limited time" to negotiate with Iran before military action will be taken against its nuclear program, although he did not address Iran's inability to produce weapons grade uranium.
The Gallup poll establishes another milestone for the global elite as they work to drum up consensus for an attack on Iran. Gaining public support for unprovoked and illegal attacks on sovereign nations is a relatively easy affair over the long term, as the experience with the invasion of Iraq shows. Iraq never had weapons of mass destruction, as the neocons, the Bush administration, and a malleable establishment media claimed.
Our 4th of July Super Sale has been extended! Get double Patriot Points and free shipping on the hottest items!


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Samsung has demonstrated its HomeSync device at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and it's hard to nail down exactly what kind of technology it is.
It's a media centre, network storage solution, media server and home content and files hub all in one - but then it's so much more besides. It also runs a version of Android, and has access to Google Play, so applications can be downloaded. What ones and how they work are yet to be seen, as they weren't on show when we had a gander, but the potential is great.
Small and gloriously rendered in brushed aluminium, it's the first of those elements that will help its adoption primarily. Unlike many other media devices that sit under a TV these days, it's reasonably small - about the size of an Apple TV or flip-box packet of Maltesers (the latter analogy comes from James from Metro, who had us in stitches, but is actually spot on).
Of course, they'd have to be fancy Maltesers, as it looks pretty classy, to be honest.
The rear isn't quite as sexy, but does have plenty of sockets for fans of that kind of thing. There's a Micro-USB port, two USB 3.0 ports, an HDMI socket, and digital optical audio out. Yep, one of its talents is that it can plug into a TV and play content, regardless of whether it is a Samsung set or not.
In addition, while it has a 1TB drive built in, you can also attach further storage in the form of external drives. It can be enhanced dramatically, and, to be honest, even the one terrabyte will be enough for some.
The point of the HomeSync is to be the centre of your home's content delivery, both in the house and out. You can sync that content - video, audio or images - to your mobile devices when you are indoors or anywhere else in the world. And that can be done through streaming or to download for offline viewing, etc.
Of course, there are plenty of NAS drives that offer similar services, but not in the same way - or with the same amount of ease, we should say. The HomeSync supports up to six profiles - one for each member of an extended family - and each of those profiles can support up to eight devices. Pocket-lint had only a brief demo at MWC, but we did find out that those devices - if so endowed - can automatically sync with the box via NFC. Which is groovy.
Another of the HomeSync's impressive feature set that we played with briefly was its ability to mirror the screen of a Samsung handset, and that includes games. It is capable of wirelessly playing your Android games on a flatscreen TV at 1080p (if needed). We played a bit of Angry Birds Star Wars, and it works very well indeed.
Of course, Samsung's HomeSync is probably going to appeal to Samsung mobile phone owners, and few others. But there's a heck of a lot of them, we've heard.
It obviously has others talents we couldn't really touch on in our brief demo, including its Android OS and app compatibility, so we will be reviewing the box in full when it comes to the UK. Initially, it will be available in the US from April, and then rolled out globally from then.
Pricing details are yet to be determined.


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Nokia has certainly gotten into its stride where the Windows Phone 8 operating system platform is concerned, where the Finnish smartphone company has churned out yet another two models, making an official announcement over at the Mobile World Congress event that is current happening in Barcelona, Spain. The first of two new Lumia models to be introduced would be the Nokia Lumia 720, and this particular handset marks a milestone in Nokia's strategy to deliver innovative technologies that are normally found in flagship devices to a wider range of audience, targeting the young and design-savvy crowd as it comes in a sleek and stylish form factor.
The Nokia Lumia 720 has been touted to deliver one of the best cameras amongst the current mid-range smartphone market, coming in a slim profile and tips the scales at a mere 128 grams, which we figure out would not do any harm to Nokia's efforts in popularizing their Lumia family of smartphones across the board.
Its main camera will sport an incredible f/1.9 aperture, which makes it larger compared to almost any other high-end smartphones in the market. With a big aperture, that translates to additional light being let into the camera, and when merged with an exclusive Carl Zeiss optics that is normally found on its flagship smartphones, we have quite a winner here, allowing the Nokia Lumia 720 to snap clear and bright images in low light conditions, while looking dazzling in daylight. There will also be a 1GHz MSM8227 processor, 512MB RAM, 8GB of internal memory with a microSD memory card slot for expansion purposes, a 1.3-megapixel shooter up front, A-GPS, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, among others.
Just how much do you need to fork out for the Lumia 720? It is said to retail for approximately 249 a pop before taxes and subsidies, where it will come in red, white, cyan, black and yellow shades from March onwards. Folks living in China will be able to pick up a TD SCDMA variant, too.
Press Release
[ Nokia Lumia 720 announced copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]


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TomTom use cuts response time by 25%; helps slash insurance rates
Founded in 1994, Veteran's Security began with three dedicated partners providing guard service to apartment complexes in Phoenix, Arizona. Today, with headquarters in Phoenix, and additional offices in Tucson and Las Vegas, Veteran's Security is a force in the security industry in the southwest, employing 500 highlytrained security officers, answering more than 4,000 calls per month. From government agencies and power companies, to hotels, construction sites and warehouses, to property management companies and individual homeowners, Veteran's Security stakes its reputation on its "guaranteed services" pledge, promising the most efficient and most reliable response and protection services, backed with 100% verification of service delivery.
Veteran's Security upgraded to its TomTom fleet management system in 2008. The return on investment has been rapid. Response times have been shaved 25 percent, and the company is saving more than $13,000 on its automobile insurance premiums each year. "Our average response time is down 25 percent from 40 minutes to 30 minutes," Brandon says. "Our dispatch office in Phoenix sends instructions directly through the TomTom system - no more cell phones, no more pulling off the road to record dispatches. We are saving time, providing better service levels, and we are in full compliance with driver cell phone usage laws. "The time and dollar savings are tremendous," Brandon says, "but the overall improvements in efficiency, employee safety, and customer service are even more important." Brandon explains that TomTom provides the company a complete fleet management solution from dispatch to navigation, tracking, tracing, and reporting. "TomTom provides us a complete picture of our business at any given moment," Brandon says. "We know when a vehicle arrives at a location and when it leaves. We know they are traveling the most efficient routes, we know their speed. We know that at any given time we have the information to respond to any customer question or concern."


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SHINE: code for everything
Tim Fitzpatrick, Artist, Scotland
SHINE, 'Code for Everything' is an on-going art work by Tim Fitzpatrick in collaboration with astronomer Anne-Marie Weijmans of the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of St Andrews. The art takes its inspiration from the Anne-Marie's work and the science of spectroscopy and, in particular, through a series of visual and experimental representations of the individual emission spectra of the elements.
Tim Fitzpatrick's principal development of the work is through his fascination with the extraordinary level of detail – and therefore information – contained in the spectrum of starlight. As the work progresses and evolves he seeks to develop the theme of the linguistics of the light of the elements and, by extension, our reading of the light of the universe and our place in it, as described in a series of codes.


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We've seen a lot since we got here. Our use of weekend time has been ambitious and efficient in our rush to realise the wish-list we had compiled in Ireland – in our imaginations – as we strained and waited and held our breath, hoping that it all might happen.
It's happening – we have walked beneath the striped arcades of the Mezquita in Cordoba's Juderia, shielded our eyes from the sun to make out snow on the Sierra Nevada as they rose over the red walls of the Alhambra, evaded peddlars in the network of arteries that is the medina of Tangier, ducked from dark shadow to the white, white light of Malaga's streets, ambled the boulevards of Cadiz.
In Sevilla the blue green tile work of the Alcazar has burned its detail into us along with the gridded plan of its gardens; another Alcazar in Jerez, with its patina of shabby elegance and its teeming sunday market. More


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Release courtesy of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
President Gann cheering on the Athenas
The Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference has named Claremont McKenna President Pamela Brooks Gann as the admirable recipient of the 2013 SCIAC Distinguished Service Award.
The conference will formally present the award to President Gann during the SCIAC Annual Awards Banquet on May 30, 2013.
"Pamela Gann has been an outstanding representative of intercollegiate athletics for the SCIAC and Division III," commented Lorin Huffman, Executive Director of the SCIAC. "It will be an honor to recognize her publicly and provide those who have benefited from her work the opportunity to share in the celebration."
Widely respected among her peers, Gann served on numerous SCIAC and NCAA committees, including the NCAA Division III Presidents Council. During her time on the Council, Division III debated the merits of growth and potential subdivision and she led the development of White Papers on the major topics of consideration at that time.
During Gann's tenure as Chair of the SCIAC Presidents Council, she served on the membership committee and oversaw the conference's decision to expand by adding Chapman University. Additionally President Gann oversaw the establishment of the Executive Committee structure, which includes a President, Faculty Athletic Representative, Athletic Administrator, and Executive Director for conference management. Pamela Gann's commitment to the Conference and the quality of experience for SCIAC student-athletes has been a great gift to the SCIAC.
Gann will step down as President of Claremont McKenna College on June 30, 2013, and will take a year-long sabbatical before returning to CMC to teach legal studies.
The SCIAC Distinguished Service Award was established in 1985 and is presented annually to those individuals who have made outstanding contributions and rendered such meritorious service to intercollegiate athletics at their institutions and to the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Eligible candidates include conference and institutional representatives who have retired or resigned from athletics administration. Nominations are submitted by members of the Faculty Athletic Committee.
The Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference was formed in 1915 and is composed of nine small private colleges and universities in the Southern California area. The Conference, whose fundamental principle is to encourage the highest ideals of amateur sports in an environment of high academic standards, and it's member institutions are affiliated with NCAA Division III. Its current members are: California Institute of Technology, California Lutheran University, Chapman University, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges, University of La Verne, Occidental College, Pomona-Pitzer Colleges, University of Redlands, and Whittier College. Information about the SCIAC may be found at http://www.thesciac.org.


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Tween Reads
October 2016
"I'm Miles Van Helsing… It's nice to meet you, but we've got to turn out the lights, immediately. This is an emergency."
~ from James Leck's
After Dark
Recent Releases
Children of Exile
Margaret Peterson Haddix
Science Fiction. Rosi and her brother Bobo have always known that they -- along with all the other refugee foster kids in peaceful, perfect Fredtown -- would one day return to their biological parents. When the day arrives, however, the reunion is anything but joyful. Rosi and Bobo's biological parents feel like cruel strangers, and they live in a ruined, dangerous, and desperately poor area where Rosi's bright green eyes make her a target for abuse. What happened to make this place so different from Fredtown? Find out in this series opener, which boasts the nail-biting pace and startling twists that make Margaret Haddix's books so popular.
The Mighty Odds
Amy Ignatow
Fantasy. The "League of Incredible Nerds with Nearly Useless Powers" doesn't sound very impressive, but it's a fair description of the mismatched middle schoolers in
The Mighty Odds
. Popular Cookie, bullied Farshad, artsy Martina, and geeky Nick never would have been friends if they hadn't all emerged from a bus crash having developed not-so-super-powers (what's the point of teleporting if you can only travel a few inches?). Now they have to figure out how to trust each other if they want to discover what really happened in that crash. Comics-style illustrations and multiple narrators will keep you turning the pages of this fast and funny adventure.
Raina Telgemeier
Graphic Fantasy. Cat and her little sister Maya have opposite opinions about the rumors of ghosts in their family's windswept new hometown of Bahía de la Luna. Bubbly Maya (whose cystic fibrosis makes breathing difficult) is eager to talk to a ghost, but skeptical Cat just wants to keep Maya safe. Egged on by their neighbor and ghost guide, Carlos, Maya's hopes -- and Cat's worries -- grow as Bahía's epic Dia de los Muertos celebration approaches. If you're among Raina Telgemeier's legion of fans, you won't want to miss the honest emotions and inviting artwork in this bittersweet fantasy.
Top Prospect
Paul Volponi
Sports Fiction. Before he's even started eighth grade, gifted quarterback Travis Gardener's been offered a football scholarship to Gainesville University. It helps that his older brother, Carter, is already playing for the Gainesville Gators, but no amount of advice can prepare Travis for high-stakes games, ESPN interviews, and offers of steroids -- all on top of his everyday problems with his parents, friends, and maybe-girlfriend. Similar to in-the-know sports stories by Carl Deuker or Mike Lupica,
Top Prospect
offers relatable characters and enough authentic action to hook die-hard football fans.
Monstrous Reads
The League of Seven
Alan Gratz; illustrated by Brett Helquist
Steampunk Fantasy. In a steam-powered version of 1875 America, the secret Septemberist Society protects humanity from the Mangleborn monsters imprisoned beneath the earth. When the Septemberists -- including 12-year-old Archie's parents -- are brainwashed, it's up to Archie to save them (and the world). Aided by his wind-up servant, Mr. Rivets, Archie begins to assemble a group of seven heroes, starting with Hachi, a Seminole girl with serious combat skills, and Fergus, a kilt-wearing mechanic. Imaginative and briskly paced, this action-packed steampunk series opener (followed by
The Dragon Lantern
The Monster War
) is perfect for fans of Brandon Sanderson's
The Rithmatist.
Max Helsing and the Thirteenth Curse
Curtis Jobling
Horror. On his 13th birthday, Max Helsing gets an unwelcome present: a curse that makes him a target for vampires, ghouls, phantasms, and every other kind of supernatural creature. As the last member of the monster-hunting Van Helsing family, Max is used to defending the world from paranormal beasts (while befriending the less dangerous ones). But now that ALL of the monsters are determined to take him out so they can take over the world, Max turns to his friends Syd and Wing for help. Fast-paced and filled with epic battles, this "gore-spattered, bone-crunching series opener" (
) will leave horror fans hungry for the next book.
After Dark
James Leck
Horror. After dreaming all year of a beach vacation, lazy, privileged Charlie Harker spends his summer fleeing from monsters instead. Charlie was horrified when his mom dragged him to the poky little town of Rolling Hills and forced him to help her flip the family's dusty old mansion. But he didn't understand real horror until he met Miles Van Helsing, an eccentric neighbor kid whose crackpot theories about supernatural activity and "zompire" sightings prove, shockingly, to be true. Blending sly humor with paranormal peril,
After Dark
is as funny as TV's
Gravity Falls
, but with a snarky, scary edge.
The Rise of Aurora West
Paul Pope with J.T. Petty; illustrated by David Rubin
Graphic Adventure. In Paul Pope's
Battling Boy
, readers were introduced to Acropolis, a city plagued by ravenous monsters. This thrilling prequel shines the spotlight on fierce, feisty Aurora West, daughter of Acropolis' protector, Haggard West. While patrolling with her father one night, Aurora encounters a strangely familiar symbol. Feeling compelled to investigate, she soon uncovers more than she wants to know about her past, including her mother's unsolved murder. Though
The Rise of Aurora West
is a more personal story than
Battling Boy
, the exaggerated black-and-white illustrations give it a similar energy, which is sure to grab the attention of fans and newcomers alike.
Contact your librarian for more great books!
303 Laura St. N.
Jacksonville, Florida 32202


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Check out the latest RPG news | Podcasts | Twitch Streams
Yeah Guild Wars 2 is easily my favorite MMO. I love FF14 but man sometimes it lacks in the content department. Def playing a lot of PoF when it releases next Friday.
Second expansion, first was something of Thorns or whatever. It's a fantastic game if you like freedom and variety of content, but the combat can be a bit tough at times, very action-oriented.
I'll be streaming Path of Fire tomorrow for the site which includes a few GW2 cash shop item giveaways. So if you want a chance at winning free stuff hop on by.
since playing ff14 i have a hard time playing any mmo that doesnt have controller support. just never been comfortable with the mouse and kb setup.


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Renewal Management Reporting
|1. The act or process of providing structured and repeatable data and information (i.e. reporting) on Renewal Management or Renewal related topics, such as but not limited to: activities, status, performance, quality and/or cost.
2. The capability or ability that allows for providing Renewal Management related reports.
Read More
|1) The Semantic Root Noun for this term is: Renewal
2) Semantically Related Terms: The "Renewal Management Glossary"
3) The Renewal Management Home Page covers much more about other related terms and concepts associated with this term or phrase.


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Export 129 results:Author Title [ Type] Year
Filters: Author is Chris Marnay [Clear All Filters]
Journal Article
"Optimal Planning and Operation of Smart Grids with Electric Vehicle Interconnection." Journal of Energy Engineering, Special Issue: Challenges and opportunities in the 21st century energy infrastructure 138.2 (2012) 95-108. LBNL-5251E..
"Optimal selection of on-site power generation with combined heat and power applications." International Journal of Distributed Energy Resources 1.1 (2005) 33-62..
"Optimal Technology Selection and Operation of Commercial- Building Microgrids." (2008) 10. LBNL-63215..
"Optimal Technology Selection and Operation of Commercial-Building Microgrids." IEEE Transactions on Power Systems 23.3 (2008) 975-982..
"Optimizing Distributed Energy Resources and Building Retrofits with the Strategic DER- CAModel." Applied Energy 132 (2014) 556-567. LBNL-6779E..
"Policymaking Microgrids: Economic and Regulatory Issues of Microgrid Implementation." IEEE Power & Energy Magazine May/June (2008) 11..
"Regional Analysis of Building Distributed Energy Costs and CO2 Abatement: A U.S.–China comparison." Energy and Buildings 77 (2014) 112-129. LBNL-6678E..
"The Joy of Stochastic Forecasting: An Overview of the Stochastic Buildings Energy and Adoption Model." 2011..
"Microgrid Modeling Using the Stochasting Distributed Energy Resources Customer Adoption Model (DER-CAM)." 2012. LBNL-5937E..
The Added Economic and Environmental Value of Solar Thermal Systems in Microgrids with Combined Heat and Power. Berkeley: LBNL, 2009..
Ancillary Services Markets in California. Berkeley: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1999. LBNL-43986..
Assessment of Distributed Generation Potential in Japanse Buildings. Berkeley: LBNL, 2005. LBNL-57978..
Assessment of the Combined Heat and Power System "Premium Power" Applications in California FINAL REPORT. Berkeley: LBNL, 2010. LBNL-3563E..
Assessment of the Combined Heat and Power System "Premium Power" Applications in California. Berkeley: LBNL, 2010. LBNL-3563E..
A Business Case for On-Site Generation: The BD Biosciences Pharmingen Project. Berkeley: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 2003. LBNL-52759..
CERTS Customer Adoption Model. Berkeley: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 2001. LBNL-47772..
Chronological Model Comparison. Berkeley: CPUC, 1989..
The CO2 Abatement Potential of California's Mid-Sized Commercial Buildings. Berkeley: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 2010. LBNL-3024E..
Dezentrale Energieversorgung mit Speichertechnologien. Berkeley: LBNL, 2008. LBNL-618E..
Distributed Energy Resource Optimization Using a Software as Service (SaaS) Approach at the University of California, Davis Campus. Berkeley: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 2011. LBNL-4285E..


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Andy is Executive Vice President, global operations, responsible for delivering all services globally while meeting customer performance expectations and consistently improving costs. In addition, he manages the Sungard Availability Services' competency centers in Europe, the Technical Operations Centers, all of operations engineering, recovery services/managed services datacenters, workgroup recovery locations, OS tool development groups, and all related operational groups in India.
Andy joined Sungard Availability Services in May 2014 with more than thirty years of IT experience in product and technology strategy, managed services, and network and computing infrastructure. Prior to joining the Company, he served as senior Vice President, business service delivery at AT&T. Previously he served as President and Chief Executive Officer of AT&T Solutions and AT&T Datacomm, as well as various other roles in customer service, operations, sales and IT at AT&T.
Andy holds a Bachelor of Science in Engineering Sciences from Harvard University and a Master of Science in Computer Science from Stevens Institute of Technology.


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Hot Productivity Tips & Trips To Get You Back On Track
Today's post is all about the struggles of an internet marketer. Why we do what we do…. And how to maintain those productivity levels. When we become dissatisfied change has to happen.
Listen to my Podcast Episode #20 on how to improve your productivity: How To Get Sh*t Done
Luckily, I never miss the days I used to work in the office. I had great times with my colleagues, but those days feel well behind me, and I feel perfectly comfortable working alone now. There are a few things I'm glad I no longer have to be part of. As a full-time online marketer, I spend most of the day communicating with others by email or on online chat. I barely speak to anyone on the phone or face to face that I might forget my own voice one of these days…
But not everyone is like me. Those who are extroverts often crave for hangouts, and a lot of my fellow online entrepreneurs deliberately make time to meet up with friends for lunch to keep their sanity. And I do agree. You need to have real conversations daily (not necessarily verbally), to ensure you're not turning into a weirdo.
I love working out – without my beach running surfing and gym exercise, I would definitely go crazy. If you don't normally move around much, just getting out of the house to walk for 15 minutes should help circulate more oxygen in your blood stream, and release serotonin to motivate yourself. Serotonin is something that your body naturally produces. They help you motivate big time, too.
Working from home means you can work whatever way you want. You can work in pyjamas, or on your bed with your laptop without creating a work environment. Sounds good, right? But there's no motivation factor in that kind of "no boundary" working lifestyle.
Patience is the key to success particularly in online business. Being patient does not mean you have to be agitated or frustrated. Everyone has to fail at some point to be successful, and has to learn from mistakes.
Be patient and stay focused on your goals – that's the way to motivate yourself for business.
How to avoid becoming paralyzed by too many ideas
If you are a creative, you most likely the type that has so many ideas.
While it may seem like a blessing, it often feels like a curse and that you aren't actually moving or taking action. You feel scattered, confused and overwhelmed.
I am no stranger to the overwhelming sensation that too many ideas can bring.
I have loved this journey of starting my business so far, however sometimes I feel paralyzed and pulled too many directions. While it is an exciting place to be, it is best to develop a process to help tame those ideas, and avoid becoming paralyzed.
Keep a running list. Your notes are just for you, so don't allow negativity to creep in! Be bold in your future goals. If I get really invested in an idea up front, I like to get as specific as I can in the brainstorming phase. You can also reference these notes anytime you have a sudden hit of inspiration.
Don't act too fast!
Though your new idea to open up a shop, start an e-course, or offer a new service seems great up front, I encourage you to take a bit of time to meditate on your new idea.
You want to give yourself enough time to do the research and develop a strategy to implement your new idea.
During this time, you can really hone in on the details of this project, as well as develop a marketing plan for it. This doesn't have to be elaborate, but it helps to be strategic in building excitement over your new product/service/idea!
If you run your own business, chances are, you're completely overwhelmed pretty much all the time. I know I am.
Because no matter much you get done, it seems like your to-do list just grows longer and longer. There are blog posts to write, emails to respond to, social media posts to schedule, products to create. You need to be organized, not overwhelmed.
Most overwhelm comes from feeling like you have so much to do that you can't do it all. When your to-do list is swirling around in your head, it can feel like everything you need to get done gets bigger and more urgent by the minute.
The solution? Get your to-do list out of your head and onto paper.
Action, not anxiety!
Have you ever had one of those days where you feel super busy and stressed, but when you look back over your day, you don't even know what you got done? I get so caught up in feeling stressed about everything I have to do that I don't actually do any of it. I'll have a project to start that feels so big and overwhelming that I never start it. And then, like something out of a horror movie, the more I put off the project, the bigger and more overwhelming it becomes.
It's a vicious cycle that only has one solution: action. Just the simple act of starting- something, anything- helps you build the inertia you need to keep going. So when you're feeling overwhelmed and stressed out, look at the list you made and just start. Progress, not perfection.
I struggle with this one every damn day and I know I'm not alone here. As creative entrepreneurs, we put our souls into our work, so of course everything we do should be perfect, right? Wrong. Sometimes (ok, most of the time) perfection isn't about quality work, it's about ego. At least it is for me. I want my work to be perfect because I want to be perfect. Which is obviously impossible (not to mention insane.)
And when we get like that, when we obsess over formatting, or reread the same email seven times, or strain our eyes making sure our blog graphic is centered – it keeps us from doing the real, important work that we're meant to do.
Choose progress, not perfection.
The next time you're stuck in that obsessive cycle of making sure it's absolutely perfect, ask yourself: Does this actually need to be perfect? Or does it just need to be done?
Some things do need to be perfect. When I'm proofreading a document before it goes to print for a client, then yes, it needs to be perfect. But if I'm honest with myself, the majority of my work doesn't require that level of flawlessness, and I doubt much of yours does either.
So yes, it's important that we care, deeply, about putting out quality work. But it's worth the reminder: just because it's not perfect, doesn't mean it's not good enough.
And as I said last week: Progress = Happiness
What are your best productivity Tips and Tricks? What works for you?
I really hope this helped. Hey, have I missed anything here though? Drop me a note in the comments section below and let me know your thoughts.
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p.s. If you enjoyed this, you might also like:
- 37 "Killer" Online Resources – The Tools You Need To Succeed At Every Level
- The 33 Best Business Books I've Ever Read
- 27 Absolute "Killer" Hacks For Building Your Email List Fast
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About Phil
Phil Adair is the host of one of the most downloaded online marketing podcasts on the internet. (Go here to subscribe and listen to The Online Marketing Strategies Show.)
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