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Garmin seems to be on a miniaturization kick this season; it's a habit we're glad they got in on. Their Forerunner 310XT is much less obtrusive than the other watches in the Forerunner series, but seems to have more features, and they're features the multi-sport crowd will love.
Garmin brags about how this is a GPS (global positioning system) device that can swim and dive down to 50 meters. That is pretty cool, and yes, triathletes and duathletes should be swooning, but for us, it's the flexibility to use it as a power meter (when paired with a ANT+ enabled power meter), a speedometer, a pedometer, and at the gym and not having a huge hunk weighing our wrist earthward that gets us excited. Have it on the bike for most riding, on the wrist for cyclocross and running.
As a GPS, this watch will record speed whether walking, running, riding, or even driving. It will record altitude and gradient, too. And as a watch, it can time it all and give you averages galore. But it's when you add in the heart rate monitoring (strap not included), and the power data that this gets really interesting. Not only can you have all this info recording and accessible, but there's also a programmable virtual partner who can keep you on your toes (if you can keep up) or can make you look like a Tour winner (if you program it to be slower than you).
The 310XT, while GPS-enabled, does not have mapping capabilities on the watch, so you can neither see a map nor have it dictate a route. It will, however map your coordinates so you can see the ride, run, or swim after it's over.
Not having the map choices makes it easier for the screen to be watch-like. But it's a pretty flexible watch, with four programmable training screens, each displaying one, two, three, or four lines of data. And each data line can be one of 40 different options, provided you're getting power, heart rate, and cadence.
Another great thing about the 310XT is that you can start small and expand. You can add heart rate strap, cadence, power (one second sampling rate), even a foot pod for tracking your run on a treadmill.
The watch works with Garmin's own Garmin Training Center program. The program is a free download from Garmin's website and is compatible with PC's running Windows XP or newer and with Intel-based Macs running OS X 10.4 or later. The data can also be uploaded to the Garmin Connect website for free, and to both WKO+ and TrainingPeaks.
The Garmin 310XT comes with a USB ANT Stick for wireless uploads. Just have the computer on and stick in and when your 310XT is in range, the data will automatically upload. There is also an AC charger, a charging clip, an owner's manual on CD-ROM and a paper quick start guide. You can add a handlebar mount for putting the 310XT on your bars while you ride, a foot pod, speedo, Garmin GSC10 speedo/cadence meter, or any number of ANT+ powermeters. You can pick up your body info from the Tanita BC-1000 scale -- from which your 310XT can record weight, body fat percentage, body water percentage, muscle mass, daily caloric intake, metabolic age, bone mass, and visceral fat. Some things in there, you might not want to know.
The watch is 2.1" wide by 2.2" tall by .8" deep (5.4x5.6x1.9cm). The display is 1.3" wide by .8" tall (3.3x2.0cm). The display resolution is 160x100 pixels. The battery is a rechargeable lithium-ion battery that will get up to 20 hours on a charge. The color is Grey. The claimed weight is 2.5 oz (72g).
Note: Heart rate strap is not included.
- Item #GRM0088
- Dimensions
- 5.4 x 5.6 x 1.9 cm
- Display Dimensions
- 3.3 x 2.0 cm
- Mapping
- (not in real-time) yes
- Display Resolution
- 160 x 100 pixels
- Waterproof
- yes, 50 meters
- Battery Type
- Lithium ion
- Battery Life
- 20 hours
- Claimed Weight
- 72 g
- Recommended Use
- training, crushing old records
Tech Specs
What do you think about this product?
March 1, 2014
Really nice product but connectivity = 2
- Familiarity:
- I've put it through the wringer
- Fit:
- True to size
Was really excited to get this and use it with Strava - at first it worked fairly well - getting it to sync with Connect or Strava was a bit challenging but it would go eventually after pushing buttons or doing whatever. Over time it got harder and harder to get it to sync and now it won't sync at all.. .really disappointed. To top it off there is no wired option so its wireless or nothing. I think the ANT agent software is buggy and intermittent. I tried to call Garmin, they wanted to put me on hold for 30 minutes +, who's got that kind of time. Going to send it back and try something else. Was definitely not impressed. My cell phone and the Strava App work a lot more reliably.
June 27, 2013
It does everything
- Familiarity:
- I've put it through the wringer
I am very very happy with the Forerunner 310XT! At $250, I have a cycling computer with ANT+ compatibility, plus an awesome running computer! The thing can even be used for open water swimming if you put the unit in your swim cap. This is simply the best GPS device for the money. I would choose this over the Garmin Edge 500 even for just a bike computer. I installed the adapter for the wrist band so that I can snap the unit from by bike stem to my wrist band and back in a second. This device and the Garmin connect software have both become vital training tools for me. The unit is light and the battery lasts 8+ hours during activities. The vibration alert is a nice feature, even on the bike. The heart rate monitor works every time, and the customizable screen displays four data fields. I think Garmin nailed it right on the head with the Forerunner 310XT.
May 13, 2013
Great functionality
If you are getting serious about logging your miles and quantifying all that hard work, this is a great tool. Easy to use and incredibly functional. I would definitely buy this again.
B.A. Beck
April 12, 2013
February 13, 2013
Great GPS
- Familiarity:
- I've put it through the wringer
I really liked this watch. Especially since it was only $250. I used it for running mostly, and the bike and swim features were also used for my triathlon training. The only bummer about this watch is that the swim isn't what I thought it was. It doeesn't keep track of the laps indoors at the pool and has a tough time tracking even outside. In summary, it's a great watch for the beginner triathlete who swims outdoors, however, if you are doing advanced training, you will want the features of the 910xt. Spend the money
January 19, 2013
Lots of functions, easy to use
- Familiarity:
- I've used it several times
I purchased this to replace a broken 205. There's no way to give a thorough review here without taking tons of pages - and good complete reviews are out there. here's one: http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2009/09/garmin-forerunner-310xt-in-depth-review.html But here are my impressions: The real time data available on the screen is customizable and you can set several screens with the data you want (e.g., elapsed time, pace, average lap pace, elevation gain/loss, distance, etc.) Very nice to be able to set this up to your desires. You can also get many optional accessories like HR monitor, bike cadence sensor, power meter, giving a wide range of options. It is very easy to customize. The battery life is considerable better than the 205 (20 vs 12 hours) and the 20 hours seems pretty accurate from my use. It has a ton of nice features - one I like is the customizable lap feature - you can set a lap distance or a lap time. Its pretty cool to say, set a one mile lap, then go for a 10 mile run, and compare the average pace for each of the 10 miles. Also, the online data analysis is great - providing a nice summary and history of your workouts. It connects to the computer wirelessly through a usb device. And, the whole device is truly waterproof. Overall a very slick device.
Patrick McMurtry
February 12, 2012
Garmin Forerunner 310XT GPS
Great GPS. I have several Garmins and this one's as good as if not better than the others. I also purchased the heart rate monitor and it works better than any other monitor I have tried. The only thing that would improve this GPS is a longer battery life. The 310 will go for about 18 - 20 hours which is not long enough for me to complete a 100 miler in the mountains. I run with the Wasatch Speed Goat Mountain Running team here in Utah.
The Old Slow Goat
January 31, 2012
Garmin Forerunner 310XT GPS
Great piece of kit. I run a trail running company in the UK. (www.jelleylegs.co.uk) until now my most sophisticated piece of equipment was my compass...so this is a huge leap forward. My main complaint is that it does not yell at me as I go out the door to remind me to put it on...(it is too big to wear as a watch, unlike some of the other Garmin's) but assuming I remember to charge it and put it on my wrist, it is great. I get back, wander near my computer and it downloads - I name the route and that is it - I can tell my runners everything they need to know about where they have been, when they were slacking going up the hills, when they ate their sandwich and how fast they ran that last mile when the pub was in sight. So get one today - but if you live in the UK, watch out I had to pay $100 when it arrived - no fault of Backcountry...stung for import tax
October 25, 2011
310xt Review
I have had this unit now for about 2 years after owning the Garmin 205 for about the same time frame. I run ultramarathons and when I wear a watch, this is it. I can honestly say that I only have one issue with it and that is the battery life. Just remember that you will need to be diligent about turning the unit off after you use it, otherwise you start your next run, bike, snowshoe, etc...with a low or dead battery (it does charge quickly though). I seem to get 18-20 hours of watch time before it will need another charge. Battery aside...this is an all out great gps watch. I don't have issue picking up signals under tree cover, I use the elevation, Heart Rate, Virtual Partner, back to start, pace, laps, and the wireless upload to Garmin connect as well as the training software. I've swam with it, cycle with it, and run in various parts of the country and it always works. I've used it to set/measure running events as well. There literally are more features on here than you probably could truly utilize, but with all these features you are able to customize the multiple screens, watch/gps settings etc. Bottom line is that it's simply a very powerful & durable training tool.
July 11, 2014
Does the 310 XT display GPS coordinates...
Does the 310 XT display GPS coordinates on the screen? I just need GPS display, distance and speed for offshore surfski / kayak training.
December 11, 2014
There are no maps on the device, but it records it to map out later. Check this article I found it helpful. I also am looking for a kayak tool. http://distressedmullet.com/2013/05/30/how-to-set-your-garmin-310xt-the-basics/
November 25, 2012
Is this watch decent for backcountry skiing?...
Is this watch decent for backcountry skiing? I've read alot of GPS watches count arm swing to your vertical. Any use this for ski touring?
Seth D.
Eric Carter
December 26, 2012
Yup - its pretty sweet. I ditched my handheld unit for this and have never looked back. I find it is pretty consistent when you use the barometric altitude correction. It compares well with my Suunto t6.
April 8, 2012
When is Backcountry going to get the...
When is Backcountry going to get the 910XT?
James Jenden
April 8, 2012
You can get onto the "chat" box in the top right, and ask one of their staff. They'll be able to check for you.
January 9, 2012
I've lost my old garmin 301 with rate of...
I've lost my old garmin 301 with rate of climb in degrees. I fly ppc and hang gliders and need this function. Any wrist models that still give me altitude and degrees of slope. oldchuter


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Hope College has presented an honorary degree to author Susan Howatch of England for her rich and authentic exploration of the spiritual journey as her characters wrestle with their lives and consider the role of the Christian faith as they do so.
Howatch, whose 20 novels have sold more than 20 million copies worldwide and have been translated into 23 languages, received the Doctor of Letters (Litt.D.) from Hope on Friday, May 25, in London, England. It was conferred by President James Bultman, presented during a gathering that included the students and faculty of the college's London May Term Program as well as alumni and friends of Hope from the London area.
Emeritus faculty member Dr. Charles Huttar has conducted scholarly research focused on Howatch and her work for several years. He noted that her thematic focus, informed by thorough research and deep insight, matches well the college's own on-going emphasis on preparing students for life in a complex world through an education informed by faith. He sees a concern with moral issues and issues of knowledge across her work, especially in "Starbridge Series," set in a fictional cathedral town, and the "St. Benet's Trilogy," set at a fictional modern healing center in London.
"They explore with great honesty the struggles of credible characters against the lures of world, flesh and devil made more acute by the burdens of childhood family traumas," said Huttar, whose publications include the 2005 book "Scandalous truths: essays by and about Susan Howatch," which he co-edited with Bruce Johnson of James Madison University, as well the entry about her in the 1998 volume "An Encyclopedia of British Women Writers." "They are compelling narratives that display profound insight on both the psychological and theological levels."
The citation presented at the award ceremony further praised Howatch's work in other forms, including essays and public presentations, as well as her reflection on the relationship between Christian faith and scientific inquiry and for modeling authorship as a kind of Christian service. The latter is particularly meaningful for Huttar, who retired in 1996 after 30 years on the Hope English faculty and appreciates the college's success in preparing students with the same sensibility.
"We turn out quite a number of successful writers, including people who go on to get an MFA, to teach creative writing, and are recognized and receive major awards as poets," he said. "The idea of writing as a Christian vocation ties in well to the college's educational mission."
Howatch, who is 71, was born in Surrey, England. She earned a law degree at King's College in London in 1961 and clerked for a year, but subsequently turned to her primary interest of writing.
She moved to the United States in pursuit of her career as a novelist. Her first six books were romantic mysteries, starting with "The Dark Shore," published in 1965, and continuing through "The Devil on Lammas Night," published in 1970. She next wrote several "family saga" novels focusing on multiple characters and generations, starting with "Penmarric" in 1971 and continuing through "The Wheel of Fortune" in 1984. "Penmarric" was adapted to BBC television in 1978.
Howatch relocated to Ireland in 1976 and then back to England, near Salisbury Cathedral, in 1980. Her conversion experience followed, Huttar noted, and informed her subsequent books. The six-volume "Starbridge Series" began with "Glittering Images" in 1987 and continued through "Absolute Truths" in 1994. The three-volume "St. Benet's Trilogy" began with "A Question of Integrity" (titled "The Wonder Worker" in the U.S.) in 1997 and continued through "The Heartbreaker" in 2004. In the 1990s, she provided an endowment to establish the Starbridge Lectureship in Theology and Natural Science at the University of Cambridge in England.
Since the publication of "The Heartbreaker," Howatch has been retired from writing. She lives again in her birth town of Leatherhead in the county of Surrey.

subset: commoncrawl


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Not all cups of tea are created equal. When brewing tea, it's important to follow the proper steps to get every bit of the tea's benefits—and all of its flavor—into your cup. Here is an easy guide to help make the perfect cup of Bigelow Tea.
"The tea police won't come to your house if you don't do it right." Cindi Bigelow
Two ingredients. And they both have to be pretty terrific.
Cold water. Warm teapot. And never wring out the teabag.
All you need is water, tea and ice cubes. And maybe a hammock or porch swing.


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Storylines/Things to Watch:
No Rest for Racers -- It has been less than a week since the Hoosier Super Tour wrapped up festivities at Hallett Motor Racing Circuit in Oklahoma. Now it's time to get things cranking again April 13-15 on the 3.27-mile, 18-turn VIRginia International Raceway. Weekend activities at VIR mark the midway point of Hoosier Super Tour's 10-race 2018 season.
VIR Classes – There are usually pretty stout fields for SCCA events at VIR, and this year is no different with more than 300 entries. As usual, you won't want to miss the Spec Miata race with nearly 50 cars, or the Spec Racer Ford Gen3 event featuring nearly 55 entrants. The Touring 1, Touring 2, Touring 4, GT2, Super Touring® Lite, Super Touring® Under, F Production, Formula Enterprises, Formula F and Formula Vee® races also have good-sized fields that will likely put on one heck of a show.
Say High to the Helpers – The largest single group entry for the Hoosier Super Tour weekend at VIR goes to the nearly 170 SCCA members who have signed up as volunteers. SCCA is a membership organization and, as such, utilizes volunteers to put on events. These people organize, register, score, officiate and work flag stations during race weekends. No event is possible without the help of selfless volunteers.
Ya Gotta Be There -- The Hoosier Super Tour visit to VIR is open to spectators. Three-day tickets are $25 in advance or $35 at the gate. Two-day tickets are $15 in advance or $25 dollars at the gate. Single-day tickets for Saturday or Sunday are $10 in advance or $20 at the gate. Children 16 years old and younger are free with a paying adult. Advance tickets can be purchased at VIRNow.com. For those who can't get to the track, follow all the action at www.scca.com/live with live timing/scoring, trackside video cameras and Super Tour Radio presented by Hoosier Racing Tire.
Hoosier Racing Tire SCCA® Super Tour
April 13-15: VIRginia International Raceway; Alton, Virginia
Hoosier Racing Tire SCCA® Super Tour
Round 5 of 10 - Races 9 and 10 of 20
VIRginia International Raceway: 3.27-mile, 18-turn circuit
Eight Groups: 20-min. sessions Friday morning
Eight Groups
Friday: 20-min. afternoon qualifying sessions
Saturday: 15-min. morning qualifying sessions
Eight Groups
Saturday: 25-min. late morning/afternoon races
Sunday: 35-min. morning and afternoon races
Live Timing and Notes: Live Timing & Scoring, lap notes, live video, Super Tour Radio presented by Hoosier Racing Tire and more via the SCCA® Pit Board available through www.scca.com/live.
Entry lists, full event schedules and more information available at Hoosier Super Tour VIR event page.


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This was published 6 years ago
Silicon Valley nerds seek revenge on NSA spies with coding
Google, Facebook and Yahoo are fighting back against the Nationa Security Agency by using harder-to-crack code to shield their networks and online customer data from unauthorised US spying.
The companies, burned by disclosures they've cooperated with US surveillance programs, are protecting user email and social-media posts with strengthened encryption that the US government says won't be easily broken until 2030.
While the NSA may find ways around the barriers, the companies say they have to assure users their online connections are secure and data can't be grabbed when transmitted over fiber-optic networks or digitally stored.
Microsoft is convinced it must "invest in protecting customers' information from a wide range of threats, which if the allegations are true, include governments", Matt Thomlinson, general manager of trustworthy computing, said in an email. He didn't provide details.
Internet companies including Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Microsoft and Apple are trying to distance themselves from news reports that they gave the agency data on electronic communications of Americans and foreigners or have lax security.
While the companies are trying to prevent the NSA from gaining unauthorised access to their data, they say they comply with legal court orders compelling them to provide the government information.
The NSA has tapped fiber-optic cables abroad in order to siphon off data from Google and Yahoo, circumvented or cracked encryption, and covertly introduced weaknesses and back doors into coding, according to reports in the Washington Post, the New York Times and the UK's Guardian newspaper based on documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.
Game on
Companies are fighting back primarily by using increasingly complex encryption, which scrambles data using a mathematical formula that can be decoded only with a special digital key. The idea is to protect sensitive information like emails, Internet searches and digital calls.
Google has accelerated efforts to encrypt information flowing between its data centres, doubled the length of its digital keys and implemented measures to detect fraudulent certificates for verifying the authenticity of websites, according to a statement from the Mountain View, California-based company.
NSA spy programs have "the great potential for doing serious damage to the competitiveness" of US companies, Richard Salgado, Google's director of law enforcement and information security, told a Senate subcommittee on November 13.
"It's very important that the users of our services understand that we are stewards of their data, we hold it responsibly, we treat it with respect," Salgado said. "We've already seen impacts on the businesses."
Government threat
Google, Yahoo and Facebook generated $US44.4 billion in advertising revenue so far in 2013 in part by mining users' private data, according to Bloomberg Industries.
An August 14 analysis by Forrester Research. analyst James Staten found the US cloud computing industry could lose as much as $US180 billion by 2016 due to the spying disclosures.
Yahoo will make encrypted connections standard by January for all its Mail users with 2048-bit digital keys, Sarah Meron, a spokeswoman for the Sunnyvale, California-based company, said in an email.
Facebook, in addition to moving toward 2048-bit encryption keys, is accelerating a tactic known as "perfect forward secrecy" that prevents the NSA from deciphering the communications of users if it obtains a security code, Jodi Seth, a company spokeswoman, said in an email.
Slow adoption
While Google has led the industry in adopting security practices, "many of its competitors have been slow to follow", Christopher Soghoian, principal technologist for the American Civil Liberties Union's speech, privacy and technology project, said in email.
"Yahoo is waiting until 2014 to do what Google did in 2010," he said. "The National Security Agency is harvesting hundreds of millions of contact lists from personal email and instant messaging accounts around the world, many of them belonging to Americans."
The National Institute of Standards and Technology has determined that known computing power won't be able to break 2048-bit encryption until at least 2030.
Agencies like the NSA use stronger encryption, said Bruce Schneier, a fellow at the Berkman Centre for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School.
Schneier recommends companies encrypt everything even though the NSA can often defeat it by, among other tactics, installing malicious software on computers to steal the security keys that unlock encryption codes.
Backdoor grab
"The NSA has turned the Internet into a giant surveillance platform," Schneier, a computer security and privacy specialist, said in a phone interview.
The companies may not be moving fast enough in a cat-and-mouse game with the NSA, said Kurt Opsahl, senior staff attorney for the San Francisco-based digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation.
"The NSA is one of the largest, most powerful, well-funded intelligence agencies in the world," Opsahl said in a phone interview. "While the government has been misusing its legal authorities to require a set of data at the front door, the NSA has been sneaking in the back door to grab all the data."
The NSA collects "the communications of targets of foreign intelligence value, irrespective of the provider that carriers them," the agency said in an October 31 statement.
'Political problem'
The US uses "every intelligence tool available" to intercept electronic communications of suspected terrorists relying on "the very same social networking sites, encryption tools and other security features" as innocent Americans, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said in an October 4 statement.
Encryption isn't foolproof. The NSA can use hacking attacks to obtain security keys or compel companies to hand them over with court orders, said Jonas Falck, chief executive officer and co-founder of Halon Security, a network security company with US headquarters in San Francisco.
Companies like Google also introduce security vulnerabilities when they decrypt data to analyse user trends for advertising purposes, Falck said in a phone interview. Google spokeswoman Niki Fenwick said the company declined to respond to this concern.
Companies have different levels of encryption, which mean electronic communications sent between them may not be protected from starting point to end point, Opsahl said.
Encrypting data can, at the least, make it harder for the NSA to gain unauthorised access to information, forcing the agency to pick targets or come out of the shadows and go before a court to obtain it legally, Opsahl said.
The other thing companies can do is lobby US Congress to change the law to restrict what the NSA is able to do, according to Schneier.
"There is a technology component, but primarily this is a political problem," Schneier said.


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If you're looking for slim and sophisticated then the Coolpix S100 is the most compact camera from Nikon's new line-up. Coming with a couple of eye-catching features in 3D and touchscreen control, it is destined for the pockets of party people.
Measuring a svelte 99 x 65.2 x 18.1mm, it is almost entirely free from physical controls, it's just a solid-feeling slice of camera.
It's a design move we've seen from the likes of the Sony TX55, with a similar looking feature set on offer here too. Sliding the cover to one side powers the camera up, ready to start shooting.
Of course, as there are no buttons for the controls, you have to change the settings using the touchscreen. We didn't have long to explore the interface or a chance to see how it performs under a true Pocket-lint bashing, but it seemed responsive enough to our exploratory pokes.
One of the headline features is 3D stills capture. This isn't going to give you 3D photography like the Fujifilm FinePix Real 3D W3, but like other compacts offering the latest "must-have" feature, works by lens repositioning.
Essentially after you engage 3D mode you take the first shot with an on-screen guide then it helps you line up the second. The 3D image is created, but without a 3D display, you can't preview it, so you'll need a 3D monitor or TV to see the effects - there is an HDMI on the bottom for an easy connection.
The internal load-out seems typical, a 16-megapixel CMOS sounds a little excessive in terms of pixels, but keeps up with rival models (for better or worse) and the lens offers you a 5x range of 28-140mm (in 35mm terms). The S100 also offers Full HD video capture.
The 3.5-inch OLED display offers up 819k-dots and was nice and vibrant, with good viewing angles from what we saw of it.
It comes in a range of colours - the vibrant pink screams wedding clutch bag to us, while the sombre matte black would happily slip into the pocket of your Anderson & Sheppard suit.
Available on 1 September, it's an attractive £249.99. We'll be getting the Coolpix S100 in soon to give it a thorough reviewing to see if it deserves a place in your pocket.


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The Departments of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Defense (DOD) operate two of the nations largest health care systems, together providing health care to nearly 16 million veterans, service members, military retirees, and other beneficiaries at estimated costs for fiscal year 2013 of about $53 billion and $49 billion, respectively. VAs health care system includes a network of approximately 150 hospitals, 130 nursing homes, and 800 community-based outpatient clinics, as well as other facilities to provide care to veterans. DODs health care system includes approximately 60 military treatment facilities capable of providing diagnostic, therapeutic, and inpatient care, as well as hundreds of clinics, some of which are located in close proximity to VA medical facilities. Both VA and DOD also purchase care from private-sector providers as needed to provide services for their beneficiaries.
As part of their health care efforts, the departments have established collaboration siteslocations where the two departments share health care resources through hundreds of agreements and projectsto deliver care jointly with the aim of improving access, quality, and cost-effectiveness of care. For example, in some locations, one department provides a certain type of specialty care to both VA and DOD beneficiaries, rather than both departments separately providing that care to their own beneficiaries. The departments also have collaborated on the joint construction of medical facilities to serve both departments beneficiaries, which is another opportunity to reduce overlap and potential duplication in the provision of services locally.
In March 2008, July 2011, and June 2012, GAO identified the need for improvement in the evaluation of current and potential VA/DOD collaboration efforts, as well as challenges VA and DOD face in their efforts to share health care resources. In addition, in March 2011 and February 2012, GAO identified opportunities for the departments, which have many common health care business needs (such as the need to record the patient care they provide and to reimburse private-sector providers for care they purchase) to jointly modernize their separate electronic health record systems that they rely on to create and manage patient health information.[1] As GAO has reported for over a decade, VA and DOD lack information technology (IT) systems that permit the electronic exchange of comprehensive patient health information, a significant barrier in their collaboration efforts.[2] While VA and DOD have worked for many years to improve the ability of their separate IT systems to share medical information, most recently the departments have focused their efforts on developing a common, integrated, electronic health record. However, those efforts have not yet led to a comprehensive solution.
[1]GAO,Opportunities to Reduce Potential Duplication in Government Programs, Save Tax Dollars, and Enhance Revenue, GAO-11-318SP (Washington, D.C.: Mar. 1, 2011) and Follow-up on 2011 Report: Status of Actions Taken to Reduce Duplication, Overlap, and Fragmentation, Save Tax Dollars, and Enhance Revenue, GAO-12-453SP (Washington, D.C.: Feb. 28, 2012).
[2]GAO has made recommendations to address these issues. See, for example, GAO, Electronic Health Records: DOD and VA Should Remove Barriers and Improve Efforts to Meet Their Common System Needs, GAO-11-265 (Washington, D.C.: Feb. 2, 2011).
Opportunities exist for VA and DOD to reduce overlap and potential duplication by enhancing their collaboration efforts. GAOs prior work has found that strategic direction is essential for collaboration. As such, defining roles and responsibilities and mechanisms for coordination can help agencies clarify who will lead or participate in which activities, organize their joint activities and individual efforts, and facilitate decision making. In addition, agencies can facilitate and enhance their collaboration efforts by establishing compatible ways of working together across agency boundaries.[1] However, in September 2012, GAO reported that VA and DOD do not have a fully developed and formalized process for systematically identifying all opportunities for new or enhanced collaboration, which may lead to missed opportunities to improve health care access, quality, and costs.
Such opportunities for collaboration could, among other things, reduce overlap in their health care services. Instead, the identification of potential collaboration opportunities is largely left to local medical facility leadership. This occurs, in part, because local officials have more direct knowledge of their locations and are better positioned to determine which collaborations make the most sense, according to VA and DOD officials. While it is important to involve local officials in these efforts, relying solely on them rather than using a systematic process supported at the department level can be problematic for several reasons. For example, officials from both departments acknowledged that collaboration is dependent on local leaders interest in and willingness to collaborate. Further, GAO found that local leaders may not have readily available access to information needed to examine what health care services might benefit from collaboration, such as when providing services through collaboration rather than by purchasing care from community providers might result in significant cost savings. For example, some local officials we spoke with said they encountered difficulties obtaining purchased care information from their collaboration partner, and in one case encountered some resistance internally regarding sharing such information with their partner.
Although the departments do have a process for jointly identifying a select number of sites where there are opportunities for new or expanded collaboration, this process has limitations. For example, the process does not involve a systematic approach to reviewing and identifying all new or enhanced opportunities for collaboration across both health care systems. Further, it is not formalized in guidance, and there is no requirement that identified sites assign responsibilities for and move forward to explore or implement potential opportunities. Instead, the identification of collaboration opportunities is largely left to local medical facility leadership. Without a fully developed process to systematically identify and select additional collaboration opportunities, the departments may be unable to fully achieve their shared goals of improved health care access, quality, and costs, and reduce any overlap or potential duplication of services, such as by using additional resource-sharing agreements. GAO found that additional department-level actions are needed to address challenges faced by collaboration partners, which could incentivize local medical facility leadership to engage in new or enhanced collaboration.[2]
Finally, GAO has reported that interagency collaborationwhich can help address duplication and overlap among agency programscan be enhanced when agencies work toward a common goal, establish complementary strategies for achieving that goal, and use common performance measures when appropriate.[3] GAO also has reported on the importance of developing and using performance measures for effective management and strategic planning, as well as for measuring the achievement of projected cost savings.[4] Further, VA and DOD department-level officials said it is important to consider costs as a part of both departments responsibilities to ensure their collaboration efforts are financially sound and improve care. Performance measures are important to show the extent of progress made in improving access and quality of care, in addition to cost savings achieved, if any, from collaboration. For example, although VA and DOD department-level officials believe that some savings occur when collaboration sites adopt sharing agreements in which partners pay each other less for care than they would otherwise pay community providers, the overall savings are unclear because sites are not required to develop performance measures to assess the extent of their savings.
In September 2012, GAO reported that VA and DOD do not require that all of their collaboration sites develop and use performance measures to assess their effectiveness and efficiency, including any cost savings achieved from their collaborative efforts. Officials cited several reasons for this, including not wanting to overburden sites with measures and monitoring requirements. Although VA and DOD require some limited performance informationsuch as the return on investment for pilot projectswithout comprehensive performance measures, they lack information that could help decision makers assess all collaboration sites overall progress in meeting the departments shared goals, identify areas for improvement, and make more informed decisions. For example, the lack of comprehensive performance measures hinders the departments ability to identify and share lessons learned about how VA and DOD can best work together to achieve efficiencies. Further, the departments cannot quantify the overall cost effectiveness of their collaboration efforts, including the overall cost savings they may have achieved, because sites are not required to develop performance measures to assess the extent of their savings. In the absence of required performance measures for all collaboration sites, some sites have developed their own measures. Officials from one site, for example, told GAO that discounts for inpatient services that DOD provides to VA patients through a resource-sharing agreement had resulted in cost savings. While this type of information may assist local leaders to understand the progress and areas for improvement at their sites, individual sites efforts to assess performance do not provide department-level decision makers with adequate information about the overall performance or results of VA and DOD collaboration, including the extent of any cost savings achieved.
[1]GAO, Results-Oriented Government: Practices That Can Help Enhance and Sustain Collaboration among Federal Agencies, GAO-06-15 (Washington, D.C.: Oct. 21, 2005).
[2]In September 2012, GAO also reported that several barriers, such as misaligned construction planning processes, have hindered the departments efforts to jointly plan construction of medical facilities to serve both departments beneficiaries, which can lead to missed opportunities to collaborate on construction projects. VA and DOD have taken several steps that have the potential to help overcome barriers and improve joint planning, such as efforts to improve data sharing between the departments to better identify collaboration opportunities early in the construction planning process.
[3]See for example, GAO, Interagency Collaboration: Key Issues for Congressional Oversight of National Security Strategies, Organizations, Workforce, and Information Sharing, GAO-09-904SP (Washington, D.C.: Sept. 25, 2009); National Security: Key Challenges and Solutions to Strengthen Interagency Collaboration, GAO-10-822T (Washington, D.C.: June 9, 2010); and 2012 Annual Report: Opportunities to Reduce Duplication, Overlap and Fragmentation, Achieve Savings, and Enhance Revenue, GAO-12-342SP (Washington, D.C.: Feb. 28, 2012).
[4]See GAO-06-15, GAO-12-669, GAO, VA and DOD Health Care: Opportunities to Maximize Resource Sharing Remain, GAO-06-315 (Washington, D.C.: Mar. 20, 2006), and VA Health Care: Additional Efforts to Better Assess Joint Ventures Needed, GAO-08-399 (Washington, D.C.: Mar. 28, 2008).
GAO recommended in September 2012 that the Secretaries of Veterans Affairs and Defense take the following two actions:
The first action would help VA and DOD to fully identify potential opportunities to improve access to and quality of care and reduce costs, as well as reduce overlap and duplication between VA and DOD health care systems. Such department-level action would further support and could create incentives for local-level collaboration. The second action would help VA and DOD assess progress, identify areas for improvement, and make informed decisions about health care collaborations. Currently, the departments cannot quantify overall cost savings as a result of their collaboration efforts because they do not require collaboration sites to collect and report on that information.
The information contained in this analysis is based on findings from the September 2012 report listed in the related GAO products section. GAO conducted site visits to two VA and DOD collaboration siteswhich were selected because they represented a range of collaboration efforts as well as collaboration involving all three military services (the Army, the Air Force, and the Navy, which is responsible for providing health care to members of the Marine Corps and their beneficiaries)and reviewed documents from those locations, including collaboration agreements and performance measures. GAO also reviewed departmental and joint VA/DOD guidance on collaboration options, approaches used to identify opportunities for collaboration, and to the extent that they existed, performance measures used by collaborating VA and DOD partners, and interviewed agency officials responsible for these areas. GAO assessed the status of these collaboration efforts against GAOs prior work on best practices for federal agency collaboration efforts and for establishing evaluation criteria to assess federal programs.[1]
[1]See GAO-06-15; GAO, Limitations in DODs Evaluation Plan for EEO Complaint Pilot Program Hinder Determination of Pilot Results, GAO-08-387R (Washington, D.C.: Feb. 22, 2008) and Tax Administration: IRS Needs to Strengthen Its Approach for Evaluating the SRFMI Data-Sharing Pilot Program, GAO-09-45 (Washington, D.C.: Nov. 7, 2008).
In commenting on the September 2012 report on which this analysis is based, VA and DOD generally agreed with GAOs recommendations.
GAO also provided a draft of this report section to VA and DOD for review and comment. In e-mails received on January 23, 2013, VA and DOD indicated they had no comments on the draft.
For additional information about this area, contact Debra A. Draper at (202) 512-7114, or email@example.com, or Brenda S. Farrell at (202) 512-3604, or firstname.lastname@example.com.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Department of Defense (DOD) do not require that all collaboration sites--locations where the two departments share health care resources through hundreds of agreements and projects--develop and use performance measures to assess their effectiveness and efficiency. Officials cited several reasons for this, including not wanting to overburden sites with me...
Officials at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Department of Defense (DOD) Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center (FHCC) have continued to make progress implementing provisions of the Executive Agreements 12 integration areas, but delays in the information technology (IT) area have proven costly. Specifically, for 6 integration areas, all provisions have been implemente...
The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2010 authorized the Departments of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Defense (DOD) to establish a 5-year demonstration project to integrate VA and DOD medical care into a first-of-its- kind Federal Health Care Center (FHCC) in North Chicago, Illinois. Expectations for the FHCC are outlined in an Executive Agreement signed by VA and DOD in April...
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Defense (DOD) have a long history of partnering to achieve more cost-effective use of health care resources. Their partnerships have evolved to include joint ventures--joint efforts to construct or share medical facilities. VA has maintained eight joint ventures with DOD across the country. VA has also developed partnerships, or affilia...


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Chicken Health For Dummies
- Binding: Paperback
- Author: Julie Gauthier;Ludlow
- Publish Date: 2013-01-29
Everything you need to care for and keep happy, healthy chickens
With directives on diagnosing and treating sick or ailing chickens, as well as general information on how to keep chickens in peak condition, Chicken Health For Dummies is your go-to guide on how to best care for and keep chickens.
Inside, you'll get everything you need to know about chicken health and wellness: an encyclopedia full of common and not-so-common diseases, injuries, symptoms, and cures that chicken owners may encounter. Chicken Health For Dummies provides chicken owners with one handy, all-encompassing resource.
- Helps you identify potential hazards and signs of ill health in your chicken
- Shows you how to properly examine chickens to identify and isolate potential health issues before they spread to the rest of the flock
- An encyclopedia full of common and uncommon diseases, injuries, symptoms, and cures for chickens
Chicken Health For Dummies joins Raising Chickens For Dummies and Building Chickens Coops For Dummies to round out the For Dummies reference library as a must-have resource for both rural and urban chicken owners.


text: Hello, I'm Neo. I am a college student just beginning his experience in the wide universe that is computers. my thought process is to get into networking, or maybe be a DBA but of course all college work involves a little programming even if you aren't headed that route. I am a big beginner but i can pick up on things fast. :cool: hope to see you all around in here often.


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Central Park Zoo's gay penguins ignite debate
2004-02-07 04:00:00 PDT New York -- Roy and Silo, two chinstrap penguins at the Central Park Zoo in Manhattan, are completely devoted to each other. For nearly six years now, they have been inseparable. They exhibit what in penguin parlance is called "ecstatic behavior": That is, they entwine their necks, they vocalize to each other, they have sex. Silo and Roy are, to anthropomorphize a bit, gay penguins.
When offered female companionship, they have adamantly refused it. And the females aren't interested in them, either.
At one time, the two seemed so desperate to incubate an egg together that they put a rock in their nest and sat on it, keeping it warm in the folds of their abdomens, said their chief keeper, Rob Gramzay. Finally, he gave them a fertile egg that needed care to hatch. Things went perfectly, and a chick, Tango, was born.
For the next 2 1/2 months they raised Tango, keeping her warm and feeding her food from their beaks until she could go out into the world on her own. Gramzay is full of praise. "They did a great job," he said.
Roy and Silo are hardly unusual. Indeed, scientists have found homosexual behavior throughout the animal world.
This growing body of science has been increasingly drawn into charged debates about homosexuality in American society, on subjects from gay marriage to sodomy laws, despite reluctance from experts in the field to extrapolate from animals to humans. Gay groups argue that if homosexual behavior occurs in animals, it is natural, and therefore the rights of homosexuals should be protected. On the other hand, some conservative religious groups have condemned the same practices in the past, calling them "animalistic."
But if homosexuality occurs among animals, does that necessarily mean it is natural for humans? And that raises a familiar question: If homosexuality is not a choice, but a result of natural forces that cannot be controlled, can it be immoral?
The open discussion of homosexual behavior in animals is relatively new.
"There has been a certain cultural shyness about admitting it," said Frans de Waal, whose 1997 book, "Bonobo: The Forgotten Ape" (University of California Press), unleashed a torrent of discussion about animal sexuality.
Bonobos, apes closely related to humans, are wildly energetic sexually. Studies show that whether observed in the wild or in captivity, nearly all are bisexual and nearly half their sexual interactions are with the same sex. Females have been observed to engage in homosexual activity almost hourly.
Before his own book, "American scientists who investigated bonobos never discussed sex at all," said de Waal, director of the Living Links Center of the Yerkes Primate Center at Emory University in Atlanta. "Or they sometimes would show two females having sex together, and would say, 'The females are very affectionate.' "
Then in 1999, Bruce Bagemihl published "Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity" (St. Martin's Press), one of the first books of its kind to provide an overview of scholarly studies of same-sex behavior in animals. Bagemihl said homosexual behavior had been documented in some 450 species.
Last summer, the book was cited by the American Psychiatric Association and other groups in a "friend of the court" brief submitted to the Supreme Court in Lawrence vs. Texas, a case challenging a Texas anti-sodomy law. The court struck down the law.
In his book, Bagemihl describes homosexual activity in a broad spectrum of animals. He asserts that while same-sex behavior is sometimes found in captivity, it is actually seen more frequently in studies of animals in the wild.
Among birds, for instance, studies show that 10 to 15 percent of female western gulls in some populations in the wild are homosexual. Among mammals, male and female bottlenose dolphins frequently engage in homosexual activity, both in captivity and in the wild. Homosexuality is particularly common among young male dolphin calves. One male may protect another that is resting or healing from wounds inflicted by a predator. When one partner dies, the other may search for a new male mate.
Male and female rhesus macaques, a type of monkey, also exhibit homosexuality in captivity and in the wild. Males are affectionate to each other, touching, holding and embracing. Females smack their lips at each other and play games like hide-and-seek, peekaboo and follow the leader. And both sexes mount members of their own sex.
Some scientists say homosexual behavior in animals is not necessarily about sex. Marlene Zuk, a professor of biology at UC Riverside and author of "Sexual Selections: What We Can and Can't Learn About Sex From Animals" (University of California Press, 2002), notes that scientists have speculated that homosexuality may have an evolutionary purpose, ensuring the survival of the species. By not producing their own offspring, homosexuals may help support or nurture their relatives' young. "That is a contribution to the gene pool," she said.
Janet Mann, a professor of biology and psychology at Georgetown University who has studied same-sex behavior in dolphin calves, says their homosexuality "is about bond formation, not about being sexual for life."
She said studies show that adult male dolphins form long-term alliances, sometimes in large groups. As adults, they cooperate to entice a single female and keep other males from her. Sometimes they share the female, or they may cooperate to help one male.
"Male-male cooperation is extremely important," Mann said. The homosexual behavior of the young calves "could be practicing" for that later, crucial adult period, she added.
Scientists warn about drawing conclusions about humans. "For some people, what animals do is a yardstick of what is and isn't natural," Vasey said. "They make a leap from saying if it's natural, it's morally and ethically desirable."
But he added: "Infanticide is widespread in the animal kingdom. To jump from that to say it is desirable makes no sense. We shouldn't be using animals to craft moral and social policies for the kinds of human societies we want to live in. Animals don't take care of the elderly. I don't particularly think that should be a platform for closing down nursing homes."
What the animal studies do show, Zuk observed, is that "sexuality is a lot broader term than people want to think."
"You have this idea that the animal kingdom is strict, old-fashioned Roman Catholic," she said, "that they have sex just to procreate."
In bonobos, she noted: "you see expressions of sex outside the period when females are fertile. Suddenly, you are beginning to see that sex is not necessarily about reproduction."


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SUNY Canton Admitted Student Day Draws Record Numbers
SUNY Canton broke an attendance record March 21 when it welcomed 155 incoming students to campus for the first spring Admitted Student Day.
Director of Admissions Bruce L. Smith credited the high turnout to the appeal of the College's career-focused majors and the faculty's reputation for possessing professional, real-world experience.
"SUNY Canton is well-known for providing an affordable, accessible education, as well as a dedication to creating an environment that encourages personal and professional growth," he said. "With more than 40 majors available, students are able to choose from a one, two or four-year curriculum."
During the event, students and their families had the opportunity to learn more about the College through guided tours and meetings with faculty, staff and current students. Guests also were also able to sample campus cuisine and some enjoyed ice skating in the new Convocation, Athletic and Recreation Center, nicknamed Roos House.
The next Admitted Student Days are scheduled for April 11, April 18 and May 2. The College is also hosting an Open House April 25. For more information on all upcoming events, visit www.canton.edu.
About SUNY Canton
SUNY Canton is Northern New York's premier College for career-driven bachelor's degrees, associate degrees and certificate programs. The College delivers quality hands-on programs in engineering technology, health, management, and public service to students in the North Country, New York State, and beyond. Faculty members are noted for their professional real-world experience in addition to their academic credentials. SUNY Canton OnLine offers hundreds of flexible and convenient courses as well as eight exclusively online bachelor's degrees. The College's 14 athletic teams compete in state-of-the-art facilities as provisional members of the NCAA Division III and the USCAA.
Tags: Admitted Student Day, Bruce Smith, record


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The election behind them, U.S. investors dumped stocks Wednesday and turned their focus to a world of problems — tax increases and spending cuts that could stall the nation's economic recovery and a deepening recession in Europe.
The Dow Jones industrial average plummeted as much as 369 points, or 2.8 percent, in the first two hours of trading. The average was on track for its worst decline in a year.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell as much as 40 points, or 2.8 percent.
Energy companies and bank stocks took some of the biggest losses. Both industries presumably would have faced lighter and less costly regulation if Mitt Romney had won the election.
"It does look ugly," said Robert Pavlik , chief market strategist at Banyan Partners LLC. He said it's hard to untangle Europe-related selling from nerves about the nation's fiscal policy, he said.
"It's a combination of all that, quite honestly," Pavlik said.
Stocks seen as benefiting from President Barack Obama's decisive win rose. They included hospitals, free of the threat that a Romney administration would have sought to roll back Obama's health care law, and renewable-energy companies.
With the election over, traders' attention returned to an increasingly sickly European economy, dragged down by a debt crisis for more than three years. The 27-country European Union said unemployment there could remain high for years.
The European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, said that it expects the region's economic output to shrink 0.3 percent this year. In the spring, the group predicted no change.
For next year, the commission predicted 0.4 percent growth, barely above recession territory. It predicted 1.3 percent last spring.
U.S. stock futures were higher overnight after Obama cruised to victory. They turned sharply lower after the European forecasts and discouraging comments from Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank. European markets turned negative as well.
Now that the U.S. election has been resolved, it's natural for traders to focus on Europe's problems, said Peter Tchir, who manages the hedge fund TF Market Advisors.
What they're tuning in to, he said, is the failure of a major European summit last week and minimal progress on the issues that are holding the region back.
"People can only digest one or two stories at a time, and people had put Europe on the back burner" before the election, he said.
Obama's win followed a costly campaign that blanketed markets with uncertainty about possible changes to tax rates, government spending and other issues seen as crucial to the prospects of some industries and the broader economy.
As jitters about the election subsided, traders confronted an ugly reality: The so-called fiscal cliff, which will impose automatic tax increases and deep cuts to government spending at the end of the year unless the president and Congress can reach a deal.
That's no easy task for a deadlocked government whose overall composition has barely changed — a Democratic president and Senate and a Republican House.
If Congress and the White House don't reach a deal, the spending cuts and tax increases could total $800 billion next year. Some economists say that could push the economy back into recession.
"Obama's re-election does not change the bigger economic or fiscal picture," Paul Ashworth of Capital Economics Ashworth, an economic research company, said in a note to clients.
Fitch Ratings offered a warning about the fiscal perils facing the U.S. If Obama does not quickly forge agreement with Congress to avert the fiscal cliff, the credit rating agency said Wednesday, it may strip the U.S. of its perfect AAA credit rating.
Fitch changed the outlook for the U.S. rating to negative last year after Congress and the Obama administration failed to meet an earlier deadline for resolving their differences on fiscal policy. Other rating agencies also have warned of possible downgrades.
Tobias Levkovich, a financial analyst at Citi Research, told clients Wednesday that a compromise on taxes and spending was likely in mid- to late January, but that stocks will probably fall in the meantime.
A deal early next year is much more likely "once the political class begins to negotiate realistically and as the consequences . . . are too costly for either party to ignore," he wrote.
Shortly before 12:30 p.m. EST, the Dow was down 296 points at 12,949, dipping below 13,000 for the first time since Sept. 4. The S&P 500 was down 31 at 1,397. The Nasdaq composite index dropped 68 to 2,943.
European markets closed sharply lower, with benchmark indexes in France and Germany losing 2 percent. Italy lost 2.5 percent; Spain lost 2.3 percent.
As traders streamed into lower-risk investments, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note plunged to 1.64 percent from 1.75 percent late Tuesday. A bond's yield declines as demand for it increases.
Stocks continue to hurt from lackluster third-quarter earnings reports, Tchir said.
"There's been this whole litany of things that have been dragging down the market for a while, earnings chief among them, and that's still out there," he said, adding that those concerns "play as much of a role as anything to do with the election."
Earnings have been relatively weak, with many companies reporting lower revenue and darkening expectations for the coming quarters.
With more than four-fifths of them having reported, companies in the S&P 500 index say earnings are up about 2 percent over last year, the lowest growth rate in three years, according to data from S&P Capital IQ.
Most industries reacted to the election much as analysts had expected.
Hospital companies soared because of expectations that they will gain business under the health care law, known as ObamaCare. HCA Holdings and Tenet Healthcare leapt 7 percent, Community Health Systems 6 percent and Universal Health Services 4 percent.
Not all hospital companies are expected to benefit. Many of the patients who will gain insurance will be covered by Medicaid plans, which generally do not cover the full cost of care provided by hospitals.
Health insurance stocks sank, defying many analysts' expectations. ObamaCare will expand coverage of the uninsured in 2014, giving insurers millions of new customers. But the overhaul also imposes fees and restrictions on the companies, potentially threatening their profitability. Humana slid 10 percent, UnitedHealth Group 5 percent, Aetna 4 percent and Wellpoint 6 percent.
With Obama seeking to restrain the growth of military spending, defense companies could struggle to win government contracts. Their stocks fell sharply: Lockheed Martin Lost 5 percent, Northrop Grumman 6 percent and General Dynamics 5 percent.
Among the 10 industry groups in the S&P 500 index, financial stocks and energy companies fell the most.
Banks figure to face tougher regulation in a second Obama term than they would have under Romney. JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup fell 4 percent, Bank of America and Goldman Sachs 6 percent and Morgan Stanley 8 percent.
The biggest losers were coal companies, which had hoped that a Romney administration would loosen mine safety and pollution rules that make it more costly for them to operate. Peabody Energy dived 9 percent, Consol Energy 7 percent, Alpha Natural Resources 13 percent and Arch Coal 11 percent.
Oil companies fell less steeply.
Alternative energy companies, especially solar manufacturers, outperformed the indexes on expectations that they will continue to enjoy generous subsidies. First Solar was roughly flat and Yingli Green Energy Holding edged slightly higher.
Trading also reflected the outcome of ballot measures decided in Tuesday's election. After two states approved the recreational use of marijuana for the first time, Medical Marijuana Inc., a company too small to be listed on major exchanges, surged 17 percent.
Other notable moves included Apple, the world's most valuable company. IT fell 3 percent to $564.57 and has dropped 20 percent from its all-time high of $705.07, reached Sept. 21.


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|System: PC, PS3, Xbox 360
|Dev: Snowblind Studios
|Pub: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
|Release: November 1, 2011
|Players: 1-3
|Screen Resolution: 480p-1080p
|Blood and Gore, Intense Violence
And though many of the landscapes look great—seeing the Barrow-Downs for the first time is incredible, as is descending into the orc-infested halls of Mount Gundabad—there are visual glitches everywhere, pretty much killing the experience. I played the PS3 version of the game and experienced several places where the animations got choppy to the point that it felt like I was playing a PC game on an incredibly underpowered system. The worst offenders happened during outdoors scenes when it was snowing; perhaps the detailed snow, when coupled with the large quantity of orcs and trolls, was a bit too much of a strain on the PS3's processor.
Audio was a bit glitchy as well. There was one scene in particular where a sound of a chain on a pulley system got stuck in an infinite loop, increasing in volume until it drowned out everything else in the game. I had to restart the game in order to fix it (and give my poor ears a rest.) A similar thing happened with some warg howls later in the game; the audio got stuck on a loop and required a restart before the wargs would stop their obnoxious yowling.
War in the North had enormous amounts of potential with the Lord of the Rings license. The fact that it wasn't set to correspond with any film release meant that the development team had a little more leeway to stretch their legs and make a product superior in to any generic movie tie-in. However, it feels like the developers grinned like giddy schoolchildren after acquiring the license, then just couldn't think of anything at all to do with it. War in the North could have succeeded if it had a decent story, some interesting characters, a deep Diablo-esque loot system, epic boss battles, or even some decent enemy variety. It has not a single one of these things.
The game shares a launch month with two of the highest profile RPGs of this console generation (Skyrim and Skyward Sword), and is here only a month after The Lord of the Rings Online released a major expansion that took players to iconic Isengard. Considering the games it's contending with right now, War in the North doesn't even deserve to be on your radar.
Josh Wirtanen
CCC Editor / Contributing Writer
Game Features:


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The Morning Download: To Hadoop or Not Hadoop
Good morning. We want to know what technology you expect to break out during the coming year. Take our quick poll and tell us whether you have the highest expectations for Big Data, virtualization of mobile devices, tablets as true replacements for laptops, enterprise social networking or gamification. You also can send us an email with your vote. We'll publish the results later this month in our end of the year wrap-up. Participation is strictly anonymous.


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FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The New England Revolution has signed Portuguese central defender Jose Goncalves (pronounced JOE-see gon-CAHL-ves) on loan with a purchase option from Switzerland's FC Sion. Goncalves will officially be added to the Revolution's roster upon receipt of his International Transfer Certificate and his U.S. P-1 Visa, and he will occupy an international roster spot.
Goncalves, 27, most recently played for Swiss Super League club FC Sion and has a total of nine years of professional experience in Europe.
He is the fourth off-season signing – and third international signing – the Revs have announced ahead of 2013, joining Homegrown midfielder Scott Caldwell, French midfielder Kalifa Cisse and Welsh midfielder Andy Dorman.
"We're pleased to add Jose to our squad," Revolution General Manager Michael Burns said. "We've been open about our desire to add another defender this off-season. With experience throughout Europe's top leagues, we believe Jose will come in and be a positive addition to our club's defense."
"What a great start to the New Year," Goncalves said. "I'm happy to play for the Revolution and start a new career chapter in Major League Soccer. The entire organization, along with my new teammates, was very welcoming when I came in November to see the facilities and meet with everyone. It was great to see how the club was run and only further supported my decision to come to New England. I'm ready to join my teammates and to start the hard work to make it a successful 2013 season. I also look forward connecting and to become a productive member of the New England community."
Goncalves began his professional career as a teenager in 2002 with Switzerland's FC Basel. After two seasons of development with FC Basel, Goncalves moved to FC Winterhur of Switzerland's Challenge League (second division) for the first half of the 2004-05 season, before moving to Italy's Serie B side Venezia for the second half of the season. Following his half-season in Italy, Goncalves moved back to Switzerland to FC Thun, where he made 26 appearances, including 10 appearances in UEFA Champions League action with six coming in group play against Arsenal, Ajax and Sparta Prague.
In January of 2006, he signed with Lithuania's FBK Kaunas, but was immediately loaned to Scotland's Heart of Midlothian. He went on to appear in 57 matches for Hearts between 2006 and 2010, while also going on a season-long loan to German 2 Bundesliga club FC Nuremberg for the 2008-09 campaign.
Following a knee injury that kept him out of action in the fall of 2010, Goncalves signed with Swiss Super League club FC St. Gallen in January 2011, where he played out the season while making 17 appearances. At the end of the year, following FC St. Gallen's relegation, Goncalves moved to FC Sion, where he has played since. While with FC Sion, Goncalves also saw UEFA Europa League action against Scotland's Celtic in the qualification round.
On the international stage, Goncalves represented Portugal seven times at the Under-21 level, including a call-up to the Portuguese entry at the 2007 UEFA Under-21 Championship.
For up-to-the-minute information on the Revolution, visit the team's official web site at revolutionsoccer.net, or follow the team on Twitter at @NERevolution, or on Facebook at facebook.com/NERevolution. For more information about the popular multi-game packs – or any other 2013 ticketing option, including season tickets – visit revolutionsoccer.net/tickets.
Transaction: New England Revolution (MLS) – Signed D Jose Goncalves
Full Name: Jose Julio Gomes Goncalves
Pronunciation: JOE-see gon-CAHL-ves
Position: Defender
Date of Birth: September 17, 1985 (Lisbon, Portugal)
Hometown: Lisbon, Portugal
Height: 6-2
Weight: 180 lbs.
Previous Club: FC Sion (SUI)
Nationality: Portugal
Status: International
How Acquired: Signed by the Revolution on January 3, 2013
Jersey Number: 23
Revs sign Portuguese defender Jose Goncalves
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The New England Revolution has signed Portuguese central defender Jose Goncalves (pronounced JOE-see gon-CAHL-ves) on loan with a purchase option from Switzerland's FC Sion. Goncalves will officially be added to the Revolution's roster upon receipt of his International Transfer Certificate and his U.S. P-1 Visa, and he will occupy an international roster spot.


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The Bike Hub at Open House Deli – Open 7 days a Week
Wed 15/05/2019 • 9:00am-4:30pm
- Location: Bike Hub at Open House Deli, Winchester
Bespoke Biking hosts the Bike Hub in our shop at 4a Middle Brook Street (Next to Poundland). We are open Monday – Saturday from 9.00am – 5:00pm Sundays 10 – 4pm.
if you wish to bring your bike down we can assess it and give you an idea of costs and when the bike will be worked on. Contact us by phone or email.
Please be aware that at busy times of year we will need time to get your bike through the workshop. we cannot always guarantee fast turnaround on bikes.


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cheekymunkee wrote:Shouldn't someone access this dog first? I mean my dogs are getting up there, Ollie will be 14 in a few months and still acts like a 2 year old. It would kill me to know she was put down strictly due to her age by people who were not at all familiar with her. Some older dogs are in way better shape than young ones are.
This entire thing is too upsetting for words. I will make DAMN sure that if any of my dogs are still around when I am gone and Amanda cannot take them, they are to go with me. I am writing my will this weekend, I dont have crap to leave anyone but I will make sure my dogs are taken care of even if I have to do it myself.
That may sound contradictory but at least the decision will be made by people who know them.
Ripley is 14 at the end of the month...and I'm guessing he and Daisy are about the same size, and temperament. He wouldn't be willing to be put down just because he's a little shaky in his pins...and he'd go to a new house willingly and get into their crap too.
This is one reason that John's been calling border collie rescues and others in NC, (that no one seemed to give a crap about)...so someone can evaluate her...someone nearby that knows dogs.
If putting her down is the right thing, by all means...I'm behind it 100%. But I need to know that is indeed the right thing.


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If you're interested in scale-out improvements for reporting and read-only scenarios…check this out: KB 910378. This KB is actually a feature release KB and describes a new feature of SQL Server 2005 which allows multiple servers to simultaneously share the same database files on a SAN. This is NOT possible for read/write databases, only read-only databases; however, it does allow you to leverage multiple server's hardware to perform complex reporting locally – using that node's memory, tempdb, etc.
If you implement this – report back (no pun intended) as I'd love to hear your good/bad experiences!
Have fun,


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OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) David Lee had 25 points and 12 rebounds and the Golden State Warriors held off a late charge in the fourth quarter to beat the Philadelphia 76ers 96-89 on Friday night.
Jarrett Jack added 16 points off the bench while Carl Landry had 15 points and 11 rebounds for the Warriors, who nearly blew a 20-point lead in the second half before securing its first win over the Sixers in more than two years.
Philadelphia pulled to 84-80 on Royal Ivey's 3-pointer with 6:23 left to play before Lee scored six straight as part of his 19th double-double this season to help Golden State pull away.
Jrue Holiday had 21 points and 10 assists for Philadelphia. The Sixers have lost eight of 10 on the road.


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Imagine this: You're getting hot and heavy with your guy. You reach over into your dresser drawer to grab a condom… and you don't have one.
Talk about a serious letdown.
Sure, he could just run to the corner store and get one, but that totally kills the mood. So, game over.
Or, maybe not: Condom company Durex just launched a service that will—with a push of a few buttons on an iPhone app—discreetly deliver condoms to you between the hours of 4 p.m. to 4 a.m.
The best part? The delivery guys show up dressed as tourists or even a pizza delivery guy so others don't catch on to your condom conundrum.
We love this idea! Too bad it's currently only available in Dubai.
There's still hope, though: Durex SOS is planning to roll out the web app to countries around the world over the next several months. They've even started a Facebook campaign—push "like" and your city could be the next to get emergency condom delivery.
Tell us: Would you use a condom delivery service?
Want more from Meagan? Follow her on Twitter.


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by Ajai Shukla
Business Standard, 27th Nov 12
Four years ago, after the 26/11 Mumbai attack, the three service chiefs dashed off letters to the MoD listing out the equipment deficiencies that hamstrung their forces. Their barely-disguised accusation to the politicians and bureaucrats: you have failed to equip us, so think carefully about what you ask us to do!
Pakistani generals know well that the Indian Army is unfit to take the field against them. In making this bald statement, I give away no secrets. Every effective military intelligence organisation --- and Pakistan we know has one --- possesses devastating compilations of our army's crippling shortage of tank ammunition; the night-blindness of our tanks; the absence of modern artillery; our obsolete air defence network; and shortfalls in practically every parameter by which an army's equipment readiness is gauged. All this is kept secret only from the Indian people who faithfully support their army, sending sons and daughters to die for the country, often in unnecessary ways.
Of course our army is fit for war, these patriotic citizens will say, pointing to the decades of counter-insurgency in J&K and the north-east that have claimed more soldiers' lives than all the wars fought by independent India. But rolling back secessionism is different from fighting a full-scale war. All that is needed for counter-insurgency is excellent light infantry and India's infantry battalions are equal to that task. Kargil, too, was an infantry job, even if one that took all our reserves of 155-millimetre artillery shells to drive home. But full-scale war requires much more; and our mechanized forces, field artillery, air defence networks, combat engineers and logistics are woefully unequal to the task. This was true during the 1999 Kargil conflict; when India mobilised in Operation Parakram after the 2001 attacks on Parliament; four years ago during 26/11; and it remains true today.
But nobody looks at this cold-eyed, because the generals hide their shortfalls behind the heroism of the fighting troops. Go through the recent media coverage of the 1962 war and, astonishingly for such an abject defeat, the army comes out smelling of lotuses, floating beatifically in the mire. Jawaharlal Nehru, Krishna Menon and BN Malik are blamed for throwing our brave jawans under the Chinese bus! Could this have happened had the generals held fast? When army chief General KS Thimayya resigned in 1959, Nehru personally intervened to minimise the damage. If a chief were to resign today over equipment shortfalls, does anyone doubt the intensity of the political inquisition that would follow?
But there is a two-fold reason why army chiefs do not resign or even thump their boss' tables: firstly, they seem unable to contemplate giving up power and the institutionalized perks and privileges associated with senior rank. Secondly, and this is crucial, the generals know that the military, far more than the bureaucrats and politicians, is responsible for the lack of war readiness.
Take the deplorable state of affairs in the armoured corps, which operates the armoured tanks that are the cutting edge of India's three strike corps. As this newspaper reported on Monday (Nov 26, 2012, "Army scuttles Arjun trials to push through T-90 purchase") the army much prefers to buy equipment off-the-shelf from countries like Russia, rather than painstakingly developing and manufacturing equipment better suited for our own operating environment.
Incredibly, the army has not developed an indigenous armour philosophy in the last 65 years. Every serious army, even Israel, designs its tanks around a custom-made philosophy. Since human resources are a key constraint in tiny Israel, and distances are small, Israeli tanks are heavily armoured, lumbering vehicles where crew protection counts for more than the ability to quickly move long distances. In contrast, Russian tanks, designed to sweep rapidly through the vast expanses of Europe, are mobile, lightly armoured and have a smaller, three-man crew since a tank is expendable. The Indian Army, with one of the world's largest fleets of 4000 tanks, has neither an armour philosophy, nor a tank design bureau that can produce indigenous designs.
The army has more generals than the Government of India has secretaries. But none, from the army chief downwards, has insisted on an armour philosophy, an essential pre-requisite for an India-specific tank. Instead the T-90 tank, designed and built for freezing Russia, is now being air-conditioned (heresy!) so that its electronics can survive the Indian summers. In an incredible moral contortion, those who back the indigenous Arjun are branded anti-national; while the generals who support the Russian T-90 style themselves as patriots!
Crafting an armour philosophy is not an intellectual feat. Three bright armoured corps colonels could do it in a week, given inputs on India's border geography; war termination objectives; likely adversaries; the army's manpower profile and India's industrial capabilities. But generations of armoured corps generals have had better things to do with their time; successive army chiefs, and directors of operations and planning have been too preoccupied, or simply unconcerned, to ask why this is so.
If the army's entire planning hierarchy has ever questioned the absence of any doctrinal coherence in the strike formations' equipment, this has not resulted in any remedial action. But our generals believe the road to salvation passes through Moscow; respond to the challenge of indigenisation by buying more T-90s, just as the air marshals buy more and more Sukhoi-30 fighters. Does this point to Russia's colonisation of our generals' operational thinking, or it is just apathy and lack of professionalism? Either way, the answer is depressing.


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New Inspiron 15 5559 Laptop
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Usage Guidelines
Icon Set3D Cartoon Icons Pack
Divx, Player
- by Deleket
- 3D Cartoon Icons Pack
- May 28, 2011
Available in 2 Sizes
More Icons from '3D Cartoon Icons Pack'
All Icon Sets by Deleket
Software and application icons for your dock or desktop. style inspired by rokey's smooth metal pack. i just did a similar rotation and black outline, and added my own style. 111 total icons. the biggest pack i made so far. both for PC and Mac


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I'm a Registered Dietitian, vegan and endurance athlete living car-free in California. I think fun, adventure and good health go hand-in-hand!
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The author (Orme) describes a hybrid discrete choice method that results in conjoint utilities on a common utility scale (where comparisons across levels of different attributes are supported). For certain research situations and when working with certain types of clients, there are valuable benefits to having commonly-scaled conjoint utilities. The key to obtaining the common utility scale is to employ both MaxDiff and CBC-type questions within the same questionnaire.
Although MaxDiff and CBC utilities are shown to not be equivalent, they tend to be very similar (correlation of about 0.90 or higher). Evidence is presented that MaxDiff scores can perform almost at the same level as CBC utilities in terms of predicting CBC-formatted holdout tasks. Orme suggests that if the goal is to predict CBC-looking holdouts (or real-world purchase decisions), the CBC tasks alone could be used to develop a market simulator. Not surprisingly, fusing MaxDiff and CBC slightly degrades predictions of CBC-formatted holdout tasks. If the goal is to present and interpret part-worth utilities on a common scale, while leveraging the strength of the conjoint approach to preference elicitation, then the fusion of MaxDiff and CBC tasks certainly has benefits.


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Hibbing, MNHome Menu
Job Opportunities
It is the policy of the City of Hibbing to provide equal employment opportunities without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sex or age, marital status or status with regard to public assistance or disability, to all applicants including recruitment, employment, job assignment, training, promotion, transfers, rate of pay and other forms of compensation and benefits.
The City of Hibbing posts all potential job openings with the Minnesota Workforce Center. Applicants can complete an application, attach a resume, and the Workforce Center will forward both to the City of Hibbing for any potential openings.
For information about Hibbing Public Utility job openings visit their website or call 218 262-7732.
For assistance finding other jobs within the community, contact:
Refer to these Application Documents, in addition to those in each job posting:
- City of Hibbing Employment Application
- City of Hibbing Employment Policy #104
- City of Hibbing Veteran's Preference Claim
- City of Hibbing Library Aid Employment Application
- City of Hibbing Summer Employment Application
- Certified Lifeguards
- American Red Cross Certified Water Safety Instructor
- Library Summer Interns
- City Services Maintenance Workers
- Cemetery Lawn Workers
- Type:Full Time
- Salary/Pay Rate:$4,627 monthly
- Posted Date:09/12/2018


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In the time since the break of the Penobscot fraud, there has been much discussion within the Maine Republican Party. Many were oblivious to the fact that something corrupt was going on. Unsurprising, given that the concept of a Rich Cebra reign over the Republican Party was marketed as a union of the factions, which would bring an end to the infighting. After a tumultuous year under Charlie Webster, that was an excellent selling point.
Nobody wanted to return to the chaos.
2012 was hell for Republicans. The caucus was a disaster. Dirty tricks abroad and a complete mishandling of the controversial straw poll vote led to the beginning of a year long civil war within. Washington County's phantom snow storm and the hungry spam filter at Party HQ consuming Waldo County votes were two of the major issues.
This was only the beginning.
The real showdown was the State Convention, where those wronged by the establishment would face the country club leaders again. Dirty trick after dirty trick dragged out the process and made for a real headache. David Sorensen, who Webster would later reward with the position of Communications Director, was not only spreading fake slates, but also nominating people without their permission in order to divide the Ron Paul vote.
The end result was the Ron Paul supporters winning, and Charlie Webster pledging his support to the duly elected delegation. He pledged to fight for them to be seated at the Republican National Convention.
As noted early on in "The Penobscot Heist", talk is cheap.
When sore loser and exiting National Committeewoman Jan Staples joined with failed gubernatorial candidate and Mitt Romney campaign Maine chairman Peter Cianchette to challenge the delegation, the war restarted. Any promise or hope of unity for the general election was destroyed.
Webster failed to fight for the delegation. Beyond that, he would do the same thing the Ron Paul national campaign was secretly trying to do as well: convince the delegation to accept the RNC compromise deal.
The general election was, in every respect, a disaster. A U.S. Senate seat went to Maine's most well known liberal Independent, or "Dem-dependent", Angus King. Also, the majorities in both houses of the Maine Legislature were lost. Jon Courtney and Kevin Raye were beaten, and Mitt Romney demolished. This is what happens when you divide your base.
Imagine everyone's surprise when it appeared the Maine Republican Party had not learned a single lesson in 2012 beyond learning it needed to do a better job protecting the country club.
The Penobscot County Republican Party had its elections for various positions, including County Chair. Bryan Daugherty, a respected leader of the grassroots and a master of new media, was defeated in a rigged vote. Although unclear who orchestrated the master plan, it is clear that something smelt bad.
Penobscot Republican Ken Anderson, husband of Penobscot Count State Committeewoman Michelle Anderson, filed an appeal with the Maine Republican Party of the election. Over the course of five pages, he detailed a number of irregularities and issues that clearly show the election was invalid. His request was simply to hold a fair election.
Is that really a difficult request for the anti-voter fraud crusaders?
Apparently, it is.
Instead of following through with the integrity that Cebra was sold to Republicans on, the tactics of his predecessor were used. Hiding behind lawyers and running a top-down dictatorship lacking any real transparency, the Maine Republican Party got Webstered again.
This wasn't how it was supposed to be though. Governor Paul LePage, who strongly disliked Webster (and the feeling was mutual), endorsed former State Representative Rich Cebra and helped advance the marketing strategy. The future would be open, inclusive, and positive. With the support of the Governor, the last remaining unifying force, who would question this?
The appeal of Ken Anderson was rejected. It wasn't rejected because it was found the election was valid after Chairman Cebra assembled a panel on the State Committee to investigate the matter. This didn't happen.
Anderson was "unaffected." A man who attends the meetings, pays the dues as required by by-laws, and is active, is "unaffected" by having his hard work degraded by the inclusion of those who do not.
With a legal opinion and a letter from Rich Cebra, the State Committee was informed that they would just ignore the entire thing. It doesn't matter. Integrity is still unwelcome in the party.
Bipartisanship is now defined as the Maine Republican Party joining Democratic President Barack Obama in supporting the conversion of illegal individuals to legal, without honoring legal processes, and giving them votes despite the lack of respect for the law. Worse, there is a general agreement that any review of the matter is wrong.
For all the hard work Republicans do to ensure conservative principles can be the governing force and help restore America, they are still being abused by the leaders. The focus is not honest elections and uniting the party, but destroying within in the name of protecting the country club mentality at the top.
The worst part?
Every Republican can be sure that Charlie Webster is sitting somewhere smiling as the party burns, because it's everything he wants. Webster's plan, as noted in "Charlie Webster's Last Stand", is to watch the flames spread and return in 2014 with the restoration plan.
The silence of Governor LePage as Chairman Cebra fulfills the plan for 2014 is interesting. What exactly is going on at the top of the party? Why is Governor LePage enabling the destruction of his own re-election campaign? Or worse, why is Governor LePage enabling the rise of the one person within the party he despises most?
Prepare for it. Charlie Webster is coming back. Everything is lining up for the dark return.