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Decadent, vibrant and glamorous describes the Wow! Creations Lifestyle Oscar Gifting Suite 2012 held on the rooftop of The L'Ermitage Hotel in Beverly Hills. The Harris Brothers of Wow! Creations produced this Gift Bag and Gift Suite to celebrate the 84th annual Academy Awards.
Celebrities, VIP's and media enjoyed an exclusive and upscale environment with gifts, beauty services, lively music played by DJ Runaway ([email protected]) and spectacular panoramic views under a hot, sizzling sun.
The Oscar Gifting Suite included a plethora of luxurious and innovative companies who shared their products and accomplishments with attendees. Celebrity and media were gifted with a wide range of treats from refreshing drinks, cosmetic gift bags, chocolate wine and luxury soaps.
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Celebrities, VIP's and media also received gift bags of cosmetics and skincare. BeautiControl (www.beautipage.com/yahrasiel) Truffle Collection is a sweet treat of three moisturizing, super-shiny lip balms giving lips a sweet kiss of color and a hint of tantalizing flavor while the indulgent White Chocolate Peppermint Instant Manicure makes your hands feel deliciously smooth. Top-of-the-line mascara, primers, concealers, foundations and lipsticks were displayed.
Patricia Saint James (www.saintjamescosmetics) sported a fun hat and an amazing line of cosmetics. Saint James Cosmetics is an opulent line of products designed especially for women of color by Patricia Saint James of Beverly Hills. The collection is of the highest quality and the most vibrant of colors.
Lather and Luxury soaps (www.latherandluxury.com) smell divine. These beautiful soaps create the feeling of being in an enchanted place, by evoking the nostalgia and romance of an iconic destination. They come in unique fragrances evoking charm, romance and passion.
B.foxy (www.bfoxy.com) accessorizes the world with foxy necklaces, bracelets, rings and earrings. B. Foxy Jewelry & Accessories offers the hottest new styles and trends in Fashion Accessories.
Visible Treasures (www.visibletreasures.com) showcased sterling silver and fabulous fashion jewelry of Baltic Amber, Murano, Amethyst, Onyx, Quartz, Agate, Pearls and more from around the world.
Stella Singleton-Jones' Sculptures By Stella (www.sculpturesbystella.com) featured stunning stone sculptures. Stella had presented a sculpture entitled "Unity" to the White House and received a letter from Michelle Obama extending her deepest thanks and appreciation for the generous gift.
Rajesh Khanna M.D. of Khana Vision Institute (www.khannainstitute.com) offers Lasik surgery. Khanna is the Eye Surgeon to the stars in Beverly Hills!


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The Forex world is constantly evolving and during its weekly trading hours there is a wealth of news a trader must keep on top of if they want to make the most money possible. Indeed, because the market can be affected by a number of dynamics, it is essential they know exactly what's happening at all times in order to avoid any unprofitable deals.
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U.S. stocks ended lower for a fifth session on Tuesday as data showed slower growth in the U.S. service sector and oil prices fell further. The S&P 500's losing strea ..
It's been the most reliable trade of the past 18 months. The VIX surges past 20, and stocks soon rally, and rally hard. ..
The controversial Bond King said Tuesday the long bull market for many asset classes may be coming to an end, or at least cooling dramatically, as the financial market as a wh ..
Investors may want to hunker down because the remainder of January is jammed packed with market moving events that will likely keep volatility elevated and trading choppy. ..
Evoking a possible Greek exit from the euro zone, Germany and France are taking a coordinated and calculated risk in the hope of averting a leftist victory in Greece's ge ..
(Reuters) - Verizon Communications Inc Chief Executive Lowell McAdam said the company is not planning any major acquisitions, following a report that Verizon had approached AO ..
The White House says President Barack Obama would veto legislation approving construction of the long-stalled Keystone XL oil pipeline. A bill that would have forced Obama ..
Coach Inc will buy women's luxury footwear company Stuart Weitzman Holdings LLC, as it looks to expand its high-end offerings to better compete with fast-growing rivals s ..
Perusing the list of the biggest stock-market losers since the price of oil peaked in June yields some predictable results. ..
Growth in the U.S. services sector braked in December and new orders for manufactured goods fell for a fourth straight month in November, signs the economy lost some momentum ..
Risk Disclosure: fxBrokerSearch.com will not be held liable for any financial loss or damage caused by users acting upon any information contained within this website, not limited to and including: all numerical data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals. Moreover, please be advised that Forex trading is one of the most volatile investment forms in the world and all trades should be placed with full consideration of the risks and costs.
fxBrokerSearch.com does not support nor encourage the execution of any investments. Trading with a margin is high risk endeavour and not suitable for everyone, therefore, each investor should carefully consider all relevant trading conditions, such as experience, risk and cost, before taking part in any type of trading, including Forex.
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subset: commoncrawl


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87 Oxford Street, Levin
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The new Neon is here: What does the Neon-Lightbox merger look like?
Felicity Frockaccino returns home to smalltown NZ after drag scene crash
David Walliams' children's books 'like Little Britain for kids'
Nick Cordero dead at 41 after coronavirus battle: Zach Braff and more stars pay tribute
Kasabian singer Tom Meighan quits band over 'personal issues'
Tom Cruise gets green light to resume Mission: Impossible filming due to new quarantine exemption
The Chase star Bradley Walsh warned he could die of heart disease
Amazon's Hanna, TVNZ's Transplant among eight great shows to stream this week
Spaghetti Western movie composer Ennio Morricone dead at 91
L.A.B. to play 'one-off special show' in Taranaki
Not everyone is laughing at Kanye West's unlikely presidential campaign
Scoob! Beloved cartoon gets a crowd-pleasing, modern, star-studded makeover
Flume, L.A.B and other Aussie and Kiwi acts to headline Bay Dreams
Chris Hemsworth to undergo major body transformation for new film
Broadway star Nick Cordero dies of coronavirus complications
To have your Event appear on Stuff Events, go to www.eventfinda.co.nz who supply the event listings for this site.Click here to add your Event now!


text:
Been kinda annoyed with your man lately? You might want to watch less TV.
A new study from Albion College found that the more realistic people think their favorite TV characters' love lives are, the less likely they are to be happy with their own relationships.
Researchers interviewed more than 390 married couples for the study, and asked them questions about how satisfied they were with their relationship, what they expected from the relationship, how committed they felt to each other, how realistic they thought certain TV romances were, and how often they watched TV.
What they found: The more a person believed a TV romance was realistic, the more they thought they were sacrificing a lot in their own relationship, like giving up their personal freedom. They also were more likely to zero in on their spouse's unattractive qualities and thought other people were more attractive in comparison.
Um…yikes. So, just keep that on the back burner if you notice you feel less thrilled with your man after watching Marshall and Lily on an episode of How I Met Your Mother. (Really, no one is that perfect.)


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Water SA
versión On-line ISSN 1816-7950
versión impresa ISSN 0378-4738
Water SA vol.35 no.3 Pretoria abr. 2009
Practical application and statistical analysis of titrimetric monitoring of water and sludge samples
SWH Van HulleI, II, *; S De MeyerI; TJL VermeirenI; A VergoteI; J HogieI; P DejansI
IResearch Group EnBiChem, Department of Industrial Engineering and Technology, University College West Flanders, Graaf Karel de Goedelaan 5, B-8500 Kortrijk, Belgium
IIBIOMATH, Department of Applied Mathematics, Biometrics and Proces Control, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, B-9000 Gent, Belgium
Titrimetry offers the possibility of simultaneous measurement at low cost of several (buffering) components. A first step in the study towards practical application of the titrimetric technique was the titrimetric analysis by up- or down-titration of standard solutions, standard mixtures, solids digester samples and water samples coming from autotrophic nitrogen-removal reactors. The resulting raw data were further processed with an Excel-based program. This program first converts the raw data into a buffer curve upon which a linear buffer capacity model is fitted to the experimental data by estimating the (buffer) concentrations and corresponding pKa values. As such the type of component and the concentration can be determined. As a second step the resulting calculated concentrations were analysed statistically to assess the accuracy and precision of the titrimetric technique. For this purpose, the data were paired, i.e. the difference between the concentration obtained with titrimetry and the concentration obtained with another technique such as colorimetry or gas chromatography was calculated. First the normality of the paired data was assessed. Then, a paired t-test (normal data) or a paired Wilcoxon test (normal data) was used to statistically compare the results obtained with the titrimetric technique to either the stock solution concentration or measurements with another method (colorimetry or gas chromatography). The statistical tests showed that, depending on the titrant concentration, concentrations from 50 mg/ℓ to 3 000 mg/ℓ could adequately be measured with the titrimetric technique.
Keywords: titrimetric monitoring, water treatment, modelling, statistical analysis
Titrimetry offers the possibility of simultaneous measurement at low cost of several (buffering) components, such as ammonium, volatile fatty acids, phosphate and nitrite, in wastewater and sludge samples. Titrimetry can therefore be used in aerobic, anaerobic and physicochemical wastewater treatment. This study demonstrates the practical application of titrimetric monitoring of samples originating from anaerobic water and sludge treatment reactors. The anaerobic processes considered here are anaerobic solids digestion (ASD) and nitrogen removal by the autotrophic nitrogen-removal (ANR) process.
The ASD process offers the possibility of transferring waste streams into biogas (mainly a mixture of methane (66%) and CO2 (33%)). This biogas can be transformed into electricity and heat. Examples of waste streams that can be treated by anaerobic digestion are livestock farm waste (e.g. various manures, slurries and waste waters), agro-industrial waste (from abattoirs, wineries, vegetable-processing plants, etc.), animal dung, human sewage and crop residues (Hilkiah Igoni et al., 2008).
The effluent from such ASD reactors contains high amounts of nitrogen (1 to 5 g N/ℓ). About 80% of this nitrogen is in the form of ammonium and about 20% is organic nitrogen. The nitrogen content of this effluent needs to be decreased in view of further valorisation of this stream as for example agricultural fertiliser. Normally this reduction is accomplished by applying a nitrification/denitrification process (Metcalf and Eddy, 2003). An efficient and cost-effective alternative for the traditional nitrification/denitrification process is the autotrophic nitrogen removal process. This process is also known as the SHARON-Anammox process (Van Dongen et al., 2001) or the OLAND process (Kuai and Verstraete, 1998). In the autotrophic nitrogen-removal process a highly loaded nitrogen stream is first partially oxidised in a reactor that is operated in such as way that ammonium oxidisers are maintained in the reactor, while nitrite oxidisers are washed out and further nitrification of nitrite to nitrate is prevented. The SHARON (Single reactor system for High activity Ammonium Removal Over Nitrite) reactor, for example, can produce an almost 1:1 ammonium to nitrite ratio depending on the ammonium to bicarbonate ratio in the influent of the SHARON reactor. The effluent of the partial nitrification reactor is then sent to an Anammox (Anaerobic ammonium oxidation) reactor where the remainder of the ammonium is oxidised anoxically with nitrite as electron acceptor (Van Hulle et al., 2005).
Both anaerobic processes are very sensitive to inhibition and frequent monitoring of the reactor is essential for stable operation. This paper demonstrates the practical application of monitoring certain key components in the ASD and ANR processes using titrimetric measurements. For the ANR reactor, the key components are ammonium and nitrite. For the ASD reactor, ammonium, bicarbonate alkalinity and volatile fatty acids are the components of concern. Similarly to previous studies the complete and detailed titration profile (typically 50 measurement points) is used for model-based interpretation and concentration determination (Van Vooren et al., 2001; Zaher and Vanrolleghem, 2005). Classification of different titrimetric techniques (Zaher et al., 2004) has shown the use of this detailed titration profile is an advanced technique for improving the accuracy of the titrimetric measurement (Zaher and Vanrolleghem, 2005). This is mainly because up to 50 data points are used in contrast to other titrimetric techniques, which typically use up to 8 data points recorded at certain pH levels (Lahav and Loewenthal, 2000; Moosbrugger et al., 1993). As such the detailed titration profile method was applied in this study.
Material and methods
ASD and ANR reactors
A first series of samples for titrimetric analysis was taken from the anaerobic solids digestion reactors operated at the biogas lab of the EnBiChem research group (www.biogas-labo.be). Several solid waste streams are treated in batch (1.5 ℓ) reactors and semi-continuous reactors (50 ℓ) at 37°C or 51°C. Biogas production from these reactors was monitored on a daily basis.
A second series of samples for titrimetric analysis was taken from the autotrophic nitrogen- removing reactors present at the BIOMATH lab at the Ghent University. These 2 ℓ reactors, fed with synthetic influent, are described in detail by Van Hulle et al. (2005) and Van Hulle et al. (2006).
Chemical analysis and standard solutions
Concentrations of ammonium, nitrite and phosphate were analysed according to standard methods by the colorimetric method (Standard Methods, 1992). Volatile fatty acids were analysed by gas chromatography with an FID detector (Grob and Barry, 2004). Further, concentrations of ammonium, nitrite, volatile fatty acids and phosphate were also analysed with a titrimetric set-up. A Metrohm titrino 716 (Metrohm, Switzerland) was used for the ANR samples. The collection and interpretation of these data is discussed in detail by Van Hulle et al. (2006). A Metrohm titrino 775 (Metrohm, Switzerland) was used for the ASD and standard solutions.
Three types of titration were performed. Up-titration was performed when samples were acidified to pH 2 with a 37% HCl solution. As such the CO2 in the sample was stripped. The pH of the sample was adjusted to 12 when down-titration was performed. No acid or base was added prior to titration when a neutral titration was performed. No sample pretreatment (e.g. filtration or centrifugation) was performed.
The titrant (NaOH or HCl) was prepared by adding an appropriate amount of NaOH pellets or concentrated HCl (37%) to distilled water. Standard solutions were prepared by appropriate dilution from freshly prepared NaNO2, (NH4)2SO4, acetic acid, butyric acid and Na2HPO4 stock solution.
A preliminary study revealed that the optimal titrant concentration is a function of the component concentration as described in Table 1. The samples analysed in this study are in the concentration range given in Table 1. As such this study aimed at demonstrating the feasibility of the titrimetric technique for measuring samples in the 50 to 3 000 mg/ℓ range.
Buffer curve calculation and pKa and concentration estimation
The buffer capacity (β) curve is calculated from the titration curve, which is obtained by measuring the pH as function of a stepwise addition of base. From this measured titration curve (typically around 30 to 50 data points) the buffer capacity at each pH point is calculated as the derivative of the amount of base needed (meq/ℓ·pH). The area of each peak of the buffer capacity curve is related to the concentration of the component, while the position is depending on the pKa value(s) of the component.
The buffer capacity curve in fact consists of the sum of the buffer capacities of individual buffering components in the solution (Van Vooren et al., 2001). Based on this additive property of β, one can write a general equation for the buffer capacity of a sample containing l monoprotic, m diprotic and n triprotic weak acids (Van Vooren et al., 2001):
Β: buffer capacity (eq/ℓ pH)
[H+]: hydrogen ion concentration (mol/ℓ), equals 10pH
[HB][H2B'][H3B"]: concentration of respectively a monoprotic, diprotic or triprotic weak acid (mol/ℓ)
Ka: acidity constant
The acid concentrations and acidity constant values in this buffer capacity curve can be considered as parameters that can be estimated by minimising the sum of squared errors between calculated and measured buffer capacity curve. Such an algorithm was developed in MS-Excel using the solver function. This solver minimises the sum of squared errors by changing the values of the acid concentrations and acidity constants. The minimum value is found using the Generalised Reduced Gradient (GRG2) nonlinear optimisation algorithm (Fylstra et al., 1998), which was implemented in Excel.
The buffers presented in Table 2 were considered. Further, the initial value of the acidity constants is given. The estimated value of the acidity constant after minimisation of the sum of squared errors varied from sample to sample because this acidity constant is affected by different factors such as ionic strength. All in all the final value was always within a 10% range of the initial value.
The last component in Table 1 was introduced to take into account unknown buffers that could be present in the sample.
The algorithm also took dilution effects into account, originating from acid or base addition during titration. As an example, the titration of a water sample containing volatile fatty acids and ammonium is presented in Fig. 1.
Statistical analysis
For every experiment, the normality of the paired data (difference between the concentration obtained with titrimetry and the concentration obtained with another technique such as colorimetry or gas chromatography) was tested with a normal probability plot (Brereton, 2003). This was done because a paired t-test, the standard test for testing the hypothesis that 2 measurement methods cannot be differentiated, can only be used if the data are normally distributed. In case of the data not being normally distributed a paired Wilcoxon test should be used (Currell and Dowman, 2005). If the paired data are normally distributed, then the normal probability plot should be linear. The R² linear correlation coefficient can be used to determine this linearity. If this R² value is below a certain value (depending on the number of measurements), then the normal probability plot is not linear (Filliben, 1975). For every experiment discussed below this critical R² value is given.
The theory of paired t-testing and the Wilcoxon test is described elsewhere (Brereton, 2003; Currell and Dowman, 2005) but basically comes down to the following: The test statistic (t, W- and W+) is calculated starting from the difference between the concentration obtained with titrimetry and the concentration obtained with another technique such as colorimetry or gas chromatography. If the calculated t-value is below the tabulated t-value or if the calculated W values are above the tabulated W-value, than the titrimetric method cannot statistically be distinguished from the other technique.
For every experiment, the student t-value, the Wilcoxon W+ and W- value and the R² linear correlation coefficient for the normal probability plot were calculated for the paired data. A 95% confidence interval was used in this study.
Results and discussion
Standard solutions and mixtures
A first series of samples for titrimetric analysis consisted of standard solutions and standard mixtures. Initially up-titration of 20 mℓ samples with a titrant concentration of 0.1 M was performed. However, the t-test that evaluated the hypothesis that volatile fatty acids could be measured by up-titration revealed that this hypothesis could be rejected. This non-agreement was probably caused by volatilisation of the volatile fatty acids when applying up-titration. As such it was decided to use up-titration for the determination of phosphate and ammonium and neutral down-titration for the determination of volatile fatty acids. The titrant concentration remained 0.1 M.
The q-q plot presenting the results from the titrimetric measurements of the ammonium, phosphate, acetic acid and butyric acid standard solutions is given in Fig. 2. In this q-q plot, the points have as abscissa the standard concentration and as ordinate the sample concentration obtained with the titrimetric method. In case both methods gave the same result, then all points should lie on the bisector.
In Table 3 the corresponding student t-value, the Wilcoxon W+ and W- value and the R² linear correlation coefficient for the normal probability plot are given. From this table it can be seen that for ammonium and butyric acid the R² value is below the critical R² value, indicating that the data are not normally distributed. As such non-parametric techniques such as the Wilcoxon test should be used. The other data can be considered normal. However, both the t-test and the Wilcoxon come to the same conclusion: the hypothesis that both methods are the same cannot be rejected.
Measurements performed with standard solutions of ammonium, phosphate, acetic acid and butyric acid resulted in the same conclusion: it can be stated with statistical confidence that these components can be measured by titrimetric analysis. Further, Fig. 2 demonstrates that the procedure can be applied to a wide range of concentrations. Measurements with mixtures of the tested components have resulted in the same conclusion.
The technique can now be evaluated on actual water and sludge samples.
ANR reactors
The raw experimental data obtained from the ANR reactors described by Van Hulle et al. (2006) were re-used in this study. First the components (ammonium, phosphate and nitrite) present and the related concentrations were calculated from the buffer capacity curves. These curves were obtained by up-titration of a 50 mℓ sample with a titrant concentration of 0.05 M. The values obtained with the titrimetric method were compared to measurement results obtained with a colorimetric method. The corresponding q-q plot is presented in Fig. 3. The excellent agreement is obvious.
In Table 4 the corresponding student t-value, the Wilcoxon W+ and W- value and the R² linear correlation coefficient for the normal probability plot are given. From this table it can be seen that the R² value is below 0.94. As such the data cannot be considered normal. However, both the t-test and the Wilcoxon come to the same conclusion: the hypothesis that both methods are the same cannot be rejected.
In addition to cost-effective ammonium and nitrite measurements, the titrimetric measurement also offers the determination of phosphate, a component that was present in the influent of the ANR reactors. On average the phosphate concentration determined titrimetrically was 244 mg P/ℓ. This concentration is somewhat higher than the one present in the influent, possibly because of the concentrating effect of evaporation that occurs in the ANR reactors (Van Hulle et al., 2005)
ASD reactors
The experimental data obtained from the ASD reactors operated at the biogas lab was used in this study. First the components (ammonium, phosphate and volatile fatty acids) present and the related concentrations were calculated from the buffer capacity curves. For the volatile fatty acids, it was assumed that 2 monoprotic volatile fatty acids were present.
The curves for determining the volatile fatty acids concentration were obtained by performing a neutral down-titration of a 20 mℓ sample with a titrant concentration of 0.1 M. The curves for determining the ammonium concentration were obtained by performing an up-titration of a 20 mℓ sample with a titrant concentration of 0.1 M. Simultaneous determination of both concentrations with 1 up-titration was not possible.
The volatile fatty acids values obtained with the titrimetric method were compared to measurement results obtained with a gas chromatograph, measuring acetic acid, butyric acid and propionic acid. The sum of these 3 volatile fatty acids was taken as the measured volatile fatty acids concentration.
The ammonium values obtained with the titrimetric method were compared to measurement results obtained with a colorimetric method. The corresponding q-q plot is presented in Fig. 4. The results are somewhat more scattered than the results obtained with the ANR reactors, probably due to matrix effects as synthetic influent was used in the ANR reactors while real influent was used in the ASD reactors.
In Table 5 the corresponding student t-value, the Wilcoxon W+ and W- value and the R² linear correlation coefficient for the normal probability plot are given. From this table it can be seen that the R² value is above 0.95, but that ammonium is not normally distributed. Both the t-test and the Wilcoxon come to the same conclusion: the hypothesis that both methods are the same cannot be rejected.
These results show that titrimetry can be used as a low-cost and time-efficient alternative for gas chromatography for the determination of volatile fatty acids.
This study illustrates with different practical cases that titrimetric monitoring is a useful technique for efficient analysis of water and sludge samples. Furthermore, the results of this study were subjected to a thorough statistical analysis. Care should, however, be taken to use the appropriate statistical technique for data interpretation as not all data are normally distributed.
The titrimetric technique was first applied to standard solutions and revealed that, ammonium, phosphate and volatile fatty acids could be measured. It was demonstrated that nitrite and ammonium could be measured in samples from ANR reactors and that ammonium and volatile fatty acids could be measured in ASD reactors provided the correct titrant concentration is used.
This study was partially supported by the EU Interreg III project 'Master of Science in Water Management' and by the Institute for the Promotion of Innovation by Science and Technology in Flanders (IWT, contract number 080126).
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VAN HULLE SWH, VAN DEN BROECK S, MAERTENS J, VILLEZ K, DONCKELS BMR, SCHELSTRAETE G, VOLCKE EIP and VANROLLEGHEM PA (2005) Construction, start-up and operation of a continuously aerated laboratory-scale SHARON reactor in view of coupling with an Anammox reactor. Water SA 31 (3) 327-334. http://www.wrc.org.za/downloads/watersa/2005/Jul-05/1836%20new.pdf [ Links ]
VAN HULLE SWH, ZAHER U, SCHELSTRAETE S and VANROLLEGHEM PA (2006) Titrimetric monitoring of a completely autotrophic nitrogen removal process. Water Sci. Technol. 53 (4-5) 533-540. [ Links ]
VAN VOOREN L, VAN DE STEENE M, OTTOY JP and VANROLLEGHEM PA (2001) Automatic buffer capacity model building for the purpose of water quality monitoring. Water Sci. Technol. 43 (7) 105-114. [ Links ]
ZAHER U, BOUVIER JC, STEYER J-P and VANROLLEGHEM PA (2004) Titrimetric monitoring of anaerobic digestion: VFA, alkalinities and more. In: Proc. 10thWorld Congress on Anaerobic Digestion (AD10). 29 August - 2 September, Montreal, Canada. [ Links ]
ZAHER UE and VANROLLEGHEM PA (2005) Automatic initialisation of buffer composition estimation for on-line analysis of unknown buffer solutions. Anal. Bioanal. Chem. 383 605-618. [ Links ]
Received 18 September 2008; accepted in revised form 6 February 2009.
* To whom all correspondence should be addressed.
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text:
You could be forgiven for thinking that a chief executive who had just delivered a 150 per cent rise in profit and had $170 million of bullion stacked at the Perth Mint might be trumpeting his triumphs from the rooftops.
Not the bashful Anton Billis.
You could also be deluded into thinking that the chief executive of a company trading on a PE ratio of just three – ostensibly the best value in the sharemarket – would be doing a song and dance about it.
After all, it is customary for a public company to spread its good news in order to inflate its stock price; equally to spin its bad news as good news to stop its stock price from falling.
Not Anton Billis. When it comes to the former prospector in charge of gold mining twins Rand and Tribune Resources, there is no one more demure, no one more reclusive in corporate Australia.
When Tribune filed its annual report the other day, an alert reader had to trudge through 11 pages of "stoping" and "graphitic phyllites" before noticing this furtive observation: "The profit for the consolidated entity after providing for income tax and non-controlling interest amounted to $27,775,577."
Here is a stock with 50 million shares on issue, a market cap of $151 million. It has not raised money since 2001, it spits out more than $500,000 in cash per week at a gold price of $A1400, and has $170 million in gold gathering dust in the Perth Mint. Its 51 per cent partner in the East Kundana Joint Venture – which produces 140,000 ounces of the yellow stuff each year at 12 grams per tonne – is the juggernaut Barrick Gold.
This is one pulsating cash cow. The mention of its 150 per cent lift in profits is the first and only mention of it and it precedes a note on page 60 – only discoverable by balance-sheet archaeologists – that part of the inventories have a market value of $145.653 million at a spot gold price of $1303, from which it can be deduced that the timorous Anton Billis is holding sway over some 111,780 ounces of gold (last year it was $131.674 million at $1574, therefore for some 83,655 ounces of gold).
The note refers to the balance sheet inventories reference of $111.157 million – gold held at cost.
On top of the $27.8 million of net profit after tax then, Rand and Tribune stored a further 28,125 ounces (at today's gold price of about $1400) or an extra $39 million in net profit before tax.
Here is one of the only gold companies in the country not to concede heavy write-downs in the past three months, indeed one of the only to enjoy a rising share price.
The first and last time we wrote a story about the enigmatic chief executive of Rand and Tribune, their share prices shot up 30 per cent and 60 per cent respectively. It is tightly held. And this is the problem, especially for minorities, that is, who are feeling a little oppressed.
That was back in April. The twins were then trading on a PE multiple of two. At $85 million, their combined market cap was described by Anton Billis as "about right". "The market is the best barometer of value", he said – it's now twice that and still cheap.
This time around, Billis was not available for comment. When asked for their perspective however, some of his shareholders were not as reticent. The reason the stocks were so cheap was that they were largely immune to takeover because Billis controlled them via people he has described only as "Europeans".
Who are these mysterious Europeans behind Yarri Mining Ltd, Transglobal Capital, Sierra Gold, Lake Grace Exploration, Resource Capital?
The reason we ask is because the enigmatic Anton Billis declares that he owns only $40,000 or some 0.03 per cent of the stock in his own name but he has managed to control both companies with an iron grip for 20 years.
Part of it comes down to the interlocking shareholdings. Tribune owns 44 per cent of Rand, and Rand owns 23 per cent of Tribune, and together with the aforementioned holdings, appear to deliver the chief executive an influence over some 57 per cent of Tribune and some 70 per cent of Rand.
While Perpetual seeks to unravel the cross shareholdings between Soul Pats and Brickworks, and unlock value for minorities, this little tiger seems like Soul Pats on steroids.


text: We've scoured booths. We've muscled our way into meeting rooms. We've even peeked under a table or two, scouting for engineering samples and other hardware unmentionables. We've been looking for not only the best CES gear -- you know, the obvious stuff like phones and tablets -- but also the coolest, quirkiest, most curious gadgets the Las Vegas mega-show has to offer. Are all the gadgets in this gallery triple-A products? Only time and Gadget Lab testing will tell. But we did play with each of them for at least a few minutes, and they all pegged our nerd meters damn hard. Product reviews of shipping hardware will bring each story full circle. Stay tuned for closer scrutiny in the coming weeks and months. Nokia Lumia 900 Don't call it a comeback. Nokia hasn't gone anywhere, per se. The company has enjoyed huge market share since the days when cellphones were as big as bricks. But they're mostly low-budget feature phones. Until, that is, Nokia joined Microsoft to make a kick-ass line of new Windows Phone-powered smartphones. The Lumia 900 is Nokia's flagship for the U.S. market. It boasts full 4G connectivity and will be exclusive to AT&T's soon-to-expand LTE network. It's powerful, it's punchy, and frankly, it's damn good looking. It's wrapped in polycarbonate and soon to be available in several funky colors. The Finnish mobile giant is making itself known here in a big way with the new 900. No price or exact release date yet, but expect to hear more in February. -- Mike IsaacThumb drive: Victorinox 1TB Swiss Army Knife - $3,000 While "the cloud" has made sharing and moving files a relatively simple process, large files can still choke a network. In fact, once a file hits 1GB, it's usually quicker to grab a thumb drive. But if a file hits 1TB, it's time to grab a knife. The Victorinox 1TB Swiss Army Knife will not only hold every digitized season of Dallas, it also sports a knife, scissors and file. The USB 2.0 thumb drive detaches from the knife so users won't have a blade hanging off their computer, potentially stabbing people as they walk by. If you're in the market for 1TB of walk-around data, the knife with be available later this year.Huawei Ascend P1 S The world's thinnest smartphone isn't from Apple, or Samsung, or even Motorola. It's from a Chinese manufacturer you've probably never heard of. Huawei is a relative newcomer to the U.S. smartphone scene, and its wafer-thin Ascend P1 S handset caught our eye — but just barely. It would be easy to miss. This baby is a mere 6.68 mm thick, or just a hair or two over a quarter inch for the metrically challenged. Outside you're looking at a 960x540, 4.3-inch Super AMOLED touchscreen. Inside you'll find a 1.5GHz TI OMAP 4460 A9 processor. Both cameras — 1.3 megapixels on the front, 8 on the back — can shoot HD video at 720p and 1080p, respectively. Best of all, the Ascend P1 S runs Ice Cream Sandwich, Android's tasty new OS flavor. The Huawei Ascend P1 S will be available in April. — Christina BonningtonHP Envy 14 Spectre As expected, a raft of ultrabooks debuted at CES. HP's new ultrabook is the most visually stunning of the bunch. The HP Envy 14 Spectre has a lid coated almost entirely in glass — when closed, the top of the computer shines like the surface of a reflecting pool. Looking at the guts, the new Envy sits in the middle of the ultrabook pack: Intel Core processor, up to 8GB of RAM and up to 256GB of SSD storage with two additional mSATA drive slots. It's rather heavy at around 4 pounds, but HP's claimed battery life of 9 hours is impressive. But it's the glass-covered design that makes the Envy truly stand out. It looks like a sleeping tablet when it's sitting closed on a table in front of you. Were it not for the bright, glowing HP logo in the corner, you'd expect to see the lid spring to life as a touchscreen. The notebook runs Windows 7 and will be available in the U.S. on Feb. 8. Base price is $1,400. It rolls out in other countries in March. — Michael CaloreFitbit Aria Wi-Fi Smart Scale Fitbit already has a home run gadget in its eponymous activity tracker — you toss the little plastic clip in your pocket, and it records every step you take, every mile you walk, every stair you climb. It can even monitor your sleep cycles. But what about your weight, body mass index, and even body fat percentage? How do these key health and fitness stats change over time? The new Aria Wi-Fi scale picks up where the Fitbit activity tracker leaves off. It provides detailed reports of your most personal body measurements. Step on the scale and it sends your stats to a secure online home via Wi-Fi. Open your Fitbit profile in a browser window or iPhone app to view rich visual snapshots of your burgeoning (or diminishing) avoirdupois. Motivating, yes? And how's this for a group weight loss challenge: Up to eight family members can share one. The Aria Wi-Fi scale will sell for about $130 and ship sometime this spring. — Jon PhillipsHTC Titan II This is the sort of handset Windows phone fans have been waiting for. The world's first 4G LTE Windows Phone is the supercharged sequel to the original HTC Titan announced last fall. It's called the Titan II, of course, and gets its name from the mini-tablet-like 4.7-inch super LCD capacitive touch display. It packs a whopping 16-megapixel digital camera loaded with features so you can kiss your point-and-shoot goodbye once and for all. The phone also shoots 720p HD video and, unlike most Windows phones, boasts a 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera for video chatting. The processor is a Qualcomm 1.5GHz Snapdragon S2, and a 1,730 mAh battery provides plenty of juice. Look for the Titan II "in the coming months" from AT&T. — Christina BonningtonLenovo IdeaPad Yoga Here's a thin, full-featured notebook with a twist: A funky two-point hinge that lets you fold the screen around, turning it into a tablet. The stylish Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga runs Windows 8, so the 13.1-inch touchscreen takes advantage of the operating system's 10-point multitouch capabilities. Flip it around into a tablet and the desktop switches to the Metro UI. Peek under the hood and you'll find an Intel processor. The Yoga can be configured to hold up to 8GB of RAM and up to 256GB of SSD-based storage. The whole package is 0.67 inches thick and 3.1 pounds, on par with most ultrabooks. It's handsome, too, with a leather palm rest, leather trim and the typical Lenovo Chiclet-style keyboard. Look for the Yoga later this year with a starting price of $1,200. — Michael CaloreMimoco MimoMicro Flash Drive Storage is boring. And if you're to believe all the talk of "cloud computing" we hear these days, local storage is on its way out. What better way to make storage sexy again than by masking it in the paradigm of geek pop culture? USB storage maker Mimoco embraced that formula with its Mimomicro flash drives, a line of keychain-sized MicroSD card readers dressed up as your favorite Star Wars characters. Aside from the novelty of having a wookie in your pocket, the new Mimomicros are made of sculpted plastic and coupled with an LED, so you know when you're plugged into your USB port. They're cheap, too. At only $13 bucks a pop, this piece of Star Wars memorabilia won't break the bank. Unfortunately they won't be here until March, so you'll have to make do with your tired old Batman USB drive for now. Until that day, may the Flash be with you. — Mike IsaacOLPC XO 3.0 tablet Of all the tablets we've seen here at CES, this prototype from OLPC has the best intentions: Deliver inexpensive computing to those in need. The XO 3.0 comes from One Laptop Per Child, the same folks who developed a dirt-cheap laptop. It's got a lot to like. The lime-green plastic case features a solar panel on the cover that can generate four watts, enough for two hours of run time, in about an hour. Working at night? Working indoors? Spin the crank. Six minutes gets you enough juice for an hour. The prototype, with its 1024x768 Pixel Qi display, features Marvell's PXA618 ARM-based system-on-a-chip as well as Marvell's Avastar Wi-Fi tech. It runs either Android OS or OLPC's Linux-based Sugar desktop OS. No word yet on price, but we're hearing $100 or less. — Mike IsaacZIK Parrot by Starck These wireless Bluetooth headphones aren't just great sounding, well built and ultra stylish. They've also got very cool technology hidden inside — the entire surface of the right earcup is touch-sensitive, letting you adjust the volume with a vertical swipe of the finger, or flip through tracks in your smartphone's playlist with a horizontal swipe in either direction. Equally cool, internal sensors detect when you slide them off your ears and place them around your neck, then pause your music automatically. Put 'em back on and the music starts up again. The ZIK headphones come to us courtesy of Parrot, the French wireless hardware company best known for the AR.Drone, the flying quadrocopter you control over Wi-Fi using your smartphone. The company unveiled these Philippe Starck-designed headphones here at CES and hopes to bring them to market in the U.S. and Europe later this year. No word on price just yet, but considering the luxurious materials and the hefty tech involved — in addition to the touch-sensitive earpiece and the placement sensors, they utilize an on-board DSP chip and four noise-canceling microphones — we suspect the cost will rival a good Domaine de la RomanÄe-Conti. — Michael CaloreTagg Pet Tracker This is designed to help locate stray or stolen pets, but we don't see why it couldn't be attached to children as well. You affix the lightweight fob to any cat or dog (or child) over 10 pounds, and then establish a "Tagg zone" — essentially a geo-fence — where your pet (or child) spends most of its time. It could be your own home, or even backyard. If your pet (or child) somehow leaves the Tagg zone, you'll get a text or e-mail notifying you that you Fido (or Timmy) is on the loose. You can also monitor your runaway's whereabouts on an iPhone or Android app. Isn't GPS wonderful? Just one gotcha: the price. For $100, you get the hardware and one month of service. Each additional month is $7.95. That may be a fair price for tracking Fido, but if Timmy is going to run away just because you took away his Xbox, do you even want him back? — Jon PhillipsYurbuds Inspire Pro Earphones When you hit the gym or run the trail for a grueling workout, the last thing you want is your earbuds getting sloppy with sweat and slippy from your ear canals. Yurbuds, which has been making athletic in-ear buds since 2008, not only guarantees its buds won't fall out but swears the patented TwistLock tech ensures a contoured fit. That means pain-free listening even after extended usage, no matter how gangly and misshapen your ears might be. This year, Yurbuds is featuring a new line of buds optimized for iOS devices with three-button functionality for on-the-fly music control and playback. A higher-end model, the Blaze, allows users to curve the elongated cords, which are strengthened for the wear-and-tear of endurance athletes, back around their neck. All models are water resistant, sweatproof, and filter out ambient noise. That way, when you're blowing past the pack in your next triathlon training run, you won't hear the moans and groans of flailing competitors. — Erik MalinowskiPhotos: Jim Merithew/Wired.com


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New Spawned
Kill all humans
2 cool 4 kindergarten
New Spawned
New Spawned
Vanilla Server Manager
New Spawned
Mr. Moderator
I'm sure their marketing department only wanted to add Bruce Lee to their commercial. And they were right for doing so. Bruce Lee adds at least 241,7% of extra awesomeness to any ad campaign.
Although I do supposed they could have just hired a Canadian to pronounce it, eh? ^^
Steams holiday sale has started. Get your stockings ready and be prepared to make your wallets cry, because the season of great spending has arrived!
Or has it?
As the number of games in my Steam profile has risen well beyond 600, my lust for new games seems to have subsided. There are a ton of games I still haven't played, and a lot of games I haven't finished playing yet. Why would I want to buy any more games?
GLUED is a short film about a mother who tries to deal with her video game addicted son. He's so addicted at some point he tries to control real life objects with a joystick. Although at the end I'm not exactly sure which one of the two is more crazy
Watch and have fun


text:
Talk about your close encounters.
TV talk show host Ellen DeGeneres and partner Portia de Generes received a scare last week when they discovered a woman "lying in wait" underneath cushions on a chair on the couple's deck, reports US.
Karen Grace Sjoden, 49, was detained in the early morning hours of February 10 after a private security firm was contacted by one of the home owners. She was later turned over to the police.
U.S. & World
The case took a more sinister turn on Valentine's Day when Sjoden was formally charged with trespassing in a Beverly Hills court. According to prosecution sources cited by Radar Online, she allegedly was found with a list of names and addresses of other Hollywood stars as well as what was described as a "rambling letter" that referenced Secreatary of State Hillary Clinton. Initially jailed on $5,000 bail, the judge upped the amount to $200,000. The case is set to go to trial March 7.
During her arraignment, Sjoden contested the arrest, saying that she being "set up" before telling the court that she was there working as a private investigator.
Selected Reading: US, Radar Online, Reuters


text:
Six-Guns (iPad)
Published by
Developed by
Also For
DescriptionSix-Guns is a free-to-play third person shooter set in the old west. The player takes the role of Buck Crosshaw, an outlaw who has been forced to fake his own death and flee to Arizona. Now he finds himself in a new land but he is all too familiar with the violence he encounters. The game starts with the player rescuing a lady from an assaulting gang of bandits and from thereon he gets to take on many different missions around the country. Although it might seem like a traditional western story, there are also many super natural elements in the game such as the night walkers, undead creatures similar to a mix of zombies and vampires.
The game features an open world consisting of Arizona and Oregon that the player can explore either by foot or on horse back. While travelling the country there are various missions to take on. These involve shootouts, dungeon crawling, horse races and collectible hunting. Once a mission is completed gold and experience is awarded. The player then levels up after a while and gets increased health and new unlocked items. The only problem is that enemies get harder too. Gold can be used to buy new equipment such as guns, clothing. horses etc. Part of the game's currency are also sheriff stars that can be bought for real money and then traded for in-game items. It's also possible to buy gold, experience and health boosts.
Controls are similar to other smartphone games. The left part of the screen has a v-pad that is used to move around while the camera is moved by dragging the screen. Zooming can be done by pinching the screen. When shooting it's possible to enter an aim mode for better precision. It's also possible to take cover behind objects. When taking damage in combat the player can instantly get a healing kit from the game shop. Even when health reaches zero the player can still choose to buy healing. If he chooses not to, he will fail the mission and has to restart it. Missions can also be autocompleted by paying sheriff stars. Outside of missions health automatically recharges.
There are no iPad user screenshots for this game.
There are 45 other screenshots from other versions of this game or official promotional screenshots.
Promo Images
There are no promo images for this game
Alternate Titles
- "六发左轮" -- Simplified Chinese spelling
- "Шесть стволов" -- Russian spelling
- "シックス・ガンズ" -- Japanese spelling
- "식스건" -- Korean spelling
Part of the Following Groups
User Reviews
There are no reviews for this game.
Critic Reviews
|Dec 12, 2011
There are currently no topics for this game.
There is no trivia on file for this game.
Kabushi (244623) added Six-Guns (iPad) on Aug 14, 2012
There are no game credits on file for this release of the game. Everything in MobyGames is contributable by users.


text:
Ksplice, a system that makes it possible for you *not* to have to reboot a computer every time a new update is installed, took top honors in this year's MIT $100,000 Entrepreneurship Competition. Ksplice enables running systems to stay secure without the disruption of rebooting. Specifically, Ksplice creates rebootless updates that are based on traditional source code patches. These updates are as effective as traditional updates, but they can be applied seamlessly, with no downtime.
The Ksplice project had its roots nearly three years ago when Jeff Arnold was working on MIT's servers and had to deal with a security update that arrived midweek. He decided to delay installing it until the weekend to avoid downtime while the servers were in heavy use. Unfortunately, the delay resulted in a security breach that required reinstalling all the system software.
After the unfortunate experience, says Waseem Daher, co-founder and COO of Ksplice, Arnold worked on developing a solution to the problem, which became the basis for his master's degree thesis. While rebooting after every update is an annoyance for individual computer users, it can have a significant impact in lost time for those operating large server farms or for corporate or institutional IT departments, where hundreds or thousands of computers need to be updated at a time. "The need is ubiquitous," Daher said.
The Ksplice 0.9.7 utilities are available for Linux as an x86-32 binary distribution tarball, as an x86-64 binary distribution tarball, as a source code tarball, and in a Git repository.


text:
Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt
from the example-39 deptAlana rocked the most insightful comment of the week according to you, the voters, with a comment on our story about how much of the popularity of Psy's Gangnam Style came about because no one was trying to enforce copyright restrictions on people:
Funny story, yesterday I was thinking of pointing to Gangnam Style as an example of what would happen if things WEREN'T region blocked all to hell.We're only up to 39?
Imagine if it were only available in Korea. Would it have blown to this level of popularity? No.
Example #39 why region blocking is a stupid idea.
Coming in a strong second was a comment on the same post by an Anonymous Coward, who had a very simple, but very accurate statement about the popularity of Gangnam Style:
This got popular because he let people make it popular for him.Exactly.
Moving on to editor's choice, we'll start with this excellent response by Dark Helmet, to the story we had about the couple and photographer who were suing an anti-gay marriage organization, PAUS, for using one of their engagement photos in bigoted campaign ads. While we found the use despicable, I wrote that I was concerned that the emotional response might blind people to the legal questions, and that's how bad precedent gets set, and DH expanded on that point:
That's the important part. It's very easy to allow emotional reactions to dominate, and those emotional reactions are almost always, to some degree, wrong due to the coloration of emotion. The appropriate avenue for attack here is NOT copyright, though, like you, I'm less appalled by it or the likeness rights plea.And then we've got fogbugzd's very accurate explanation for why some people still can't recognize that people use online services because they get value out of the, and not because they're being exploited:
But again, the appropriate attack vector is to highlight the bigotry and pure idiocy of PAUS. I would simply request, in a public forum, "why did you feel it was okay to use this picture of two private people this way?"
I suspect, unfortunately, that the true answer lies somewhere in the realm of "because we don't consider them people". And FUCK PAUS for that. But in an age of relative enlightenment when it comes to gay rights, better to simply highlight the stupid and make them toxic than soil the morality of man by getting our stupid legal system involved in it....
Modern business executives see everything as a zero-sum game; if someone else is making money then I must be loosing. Zero-sum thinking and the failure to understand basic economics are the hallmarks of the modern board room.Over to the funny side of things, because I can tell you could use a good laugh today, we've got an Anonymous Coward responding to the Maine Republican Party insisting that a Democratic candidate for state senate must be lazy because she plays World of Warcraft. AC had only a slightly different line of reasoning:
Clearly she is a lazy person though. This World of Warcraft character demonstrates it beyond a shadow of a doubt.Coming in a very close second is DannyB discussing his thoughts on WIPO brand toilet tissue:
I mean, she's playing an Assassination rogue. That's the easiest spec of the most cheap-sauce class in the game. What a lazy, lazy player.
Now if she was playing a protection warrior or a healer or something though - that would be a different story.
I always immediately think, just for a moment, that WIPO must be a brand of bathroom tissue until I remember what it stands for. Then I remember that it is not something that is worthy or deserving of being elevated to such a usage.Moving on to editor's choice, we've got Josh in CharlotteNC responding to Attorney General Eric Holder's claim that shutting down Megaupload was "one of the largest criminal copyright cases in US history" in that the DOJ "indicted two corporations and seven individuals." Something didn't add up:
2 companies and 7 people is the largest ever criminal copyright case?Stay patient, Josh, I'm sure it's coming.
Wow, sure sounds like piracy is such a staggering problem that has destroyed an entire industry. This certainly justifies the millions of government tax dollars being spent on it.
Just imagine when we get more than New Zealand to help! We could go after 3 companies and 9 individuals! That will be a case for the record books.
And, finally, we've got an Anonymous Coward comment responding to Rep. Mike Rogers claiming that he can't sleep at night, because he's learned of a top secret super scary "unusual source" that is trying to threaten the country, which is why we all need to pass his overreaching CISPA law. The AC took a pretty good guess at who this "unusual source" might be:
Does he mean the public?Seems like as good a guess as any... So, while you, the public, keep Mike Rogers up at night, we're getting back to work on new stories that will (I'm sure) keep someone else up all night this week...


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This vehicle is located at Ron Tonkin Alfa Romeo & Fiat. Please call 503-203-4600 to learn more! 2017 Fiat 500X Lounge SUV, White, Warranty, Navigation, AM/FM/HD Stereo, Premium sound, SiriusXM Satellite, Bluetooth wireless, Backup camera, Heated seats, Power seat, air conditioning, cruise control, 4-Cylinder engine, 9-speed automatic transmission, power steering, windows and door locks, tilt wheel, hill start assist control, traction control, stability control, 4-wheel ABS, dual front and side airbags, front and rear head curtain airbags, keyless entry, rear spoiler, fog lights and Alloy wheels. Call today and schedule your test drive 503-292-0662!
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text:
Hey guys,
Tomorrow, I'll be guest blogging over at TJ Bennett's place. http://tjbsopinion.blogspot.com/
And I'll be blogging about … "What a woman really wants." So make sure you pop over and learn what some hot looking bad boy, named Calvin, taught me about romance. TJ is also giving away a fabulous Valentine's Day giveaway of a Romance Roundup Gift Basket of autographed books. So pop over to check out the contest. See ya there!
But this blog isn't about me. Nope. Today, I'm gonna share a story about my son. Poor guy. Of course, I think the duck is really the one I should be offering my sympathies to.
You have to know that my son is an animal lover. I can't even begin to tell you the number of injured animals we've taken in. Today, I have a rabbit because someone at my son's employment was going to make stew out of the domesticated, but stray hare who had mistaken the plant store as an all you can eat buffet. When my son worked at the feed store he brought home a pet chicken that someone dropped off. He wasn't about to let Ramon take it home because it would have been de-feathered and deep fried. So we found the pet chicken a home at a private school that boarded farm animals—thank God neighborhood regulations refused to let us keep it, or I would have a chicken keeping the rabbit company.
Kittens, dogs, turtles, birds, and then there was the caged raccoon that he bought home in my husband's car. Have you ever smelled caged raccoon? That stench doesn't go away for a long, long time. But this story isn't about him bringing home the raccoon or that stench.
A couple of weeks ago, my son went fishing. He bought himself some worms and went to a local pond. Sitting on the banks, a group of ducks came up. One duck that my son named Ol' Frank was especially friendly. Now according to my son, Ol' Frank was . . . well . . . old. He sort of looked gray around the bill area. Son took a liking to Frank and no doubt about it, Frank took a liking to my son's worms.
Every few minutes my son would toss the ol' guy a worm. Then after something snagged my son's bait, he pulled his reel out and baited his hook. Before he could pick up the pole and toss it back in, Ol' Frank spotted the worm.
Do you see where I'm going with this?
Frank was hooked, running away, dragging my son's pole behind him. Son felt terrible. He grabbed his pocket knife, chased down the duck and pole and cut the line. He tried to convince himself that the duck would be okay, but poor Frank had started running around in circles, quacking to the duck gods, with a hook in his mouth.
Remembering that the duck was old and could die if he stopped eating, Son manned up. He knew he had to get the hook out.
He chased the duck, in circles, finally caught the very upset, unhappy fowl with a fishing wire hanging from its mouth and brought him back to his tool box. Now, Frank wasn't too keen on being picked up. He started quacking up a storm, flapping his wings to hell and back and feathers were flying everywhere. Son sat down on the grass, locked the pissed off bird between his legs, and tried to figure out how he was gonna get the job done.
Of course, it wasn't as easy as telling the poor bird to open wide. Son finally gets the duck's month open, saw the hook had gone completely through the poor duck's tongue. To say Frank is unhappy is an understatement. Son was trying to be gentle, trying not to cause a scene, but that's hard not to do when you have a squawking duck locked between your legs, your hand in his mouth, and the feathers are raining down all around you. Son was sure if Frank had been talking English, there would have been a bunch of four letter words involved but who could blame him?
Then son heard something behind him, he hoped someone stumbled by to help, but nope. We Craigs are never that lucky. Instead, the entire duck population had come to Frank's rescue. Yup, standing behind my son was at least a dozen of Frank's homies. Fearing being flogged by a bunch of ducks, Son took out his wire cutters and got busy. The pack of ducks were holding guard, as if debating whether or not to attack. Son claimed it was sort of like one of those westerns where they tell the doctor if the patient dies, they'll do him in.
Finally, the hook was removed and Frank was released. Of course, son claims the darn bird wasn't a bit appreciative. Son packed up his fishing pole, tossed Frank all the leftover worms, and came home. Once he arrived, he asked the question. "Why does weird crap always happen to us?"
I sighed and told him he should be happy he doesn't have false teeth. And if he ever does, don't ever get on a plane.
So there you have it. My son's fishing trip gone bad.
Anything happening around your neck of the woods? Do you think I could add this to a book? Speaking of books, have you read any good ones lately? I need some recommendations; life around here has been too crazy.


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For many in Congress, a big goal in the push to curb gun violence is a reinstatement of the assault weapons ban that expired in 1994. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has introduced a similar bill, which President Barack Obama will likely mention this afternoon during remarks on gun violence in Minneapolis, Minn.
Feinstein's proposal is already being met with harsh criticism from gun-rights groups, including the NRA.
A recent report from Mayors Against Illegal Guns attempts to address some of these critiques by outlining mass shootings that have occurred in the U.S. since 2009.
A primary criticism of the proposed assault weapons ban is the idea that the vast majority of gun deaths in the U.S. aren't performed with the aid of assault weapons. Critics of the ban hold that it will not have a notable effect on gun violence while taking away what they perceive as a right to own semiautomatic weapons.
For the most part, proponents of the ban agree. When Americans kill one another, statistics show that a handgun is typically the weapon of choice.
But an assault weapons ban is designed for an entirely different subset of homicides. It targets the mass shootings that have occurred roughly once per month since 2009, according to the Mayors Against Illegal Guns data.
When assault weapons or high capacity magazines are used in a mass shooting — 23 percent of the time since 2009 — more people are shot and more people are killed.
Mass shooters who use an assault weapon or a high capacity magazine shoot more than twice as many people than those who use handguns, according to the MAIG data. The data also shows them to be 54 percent more lethal.
This chart shows the average number of casualties at a mass shooting event since 2009. When a shooter doesn't use an assault weapon or high capacity magazine, he or she shoots 7 and kills 5.4 people on average. When a shooter is using a high capacity magazine or an assault weapon, he or she shoots 15.6 and kills 8.3 people on average.


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Up To $500 Off Tires and Wheels | Shop Now
Up To $500 Off Tires and Wheels | Shop Now
New! Contoured ergonomic design. Large padded arm rest with no skid catch all tray. Large deep front cup holder will fit most jumbo cups. Locking storage area is fully lined, with removable 6 can cooler and console has 2 large cargo net map pockets.
Do you have the dimensions in inches for this armrest? I have a unique application Im looking to fit, thanks.
Asked by Snowcat from Coolerado on
Snowcat, the VDP Padded Locking Catch All Console is 10" wide. Hope this helps!
Answered by Zach O. ext 4939 from Coolerado on
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Asked by Bexty from Texas on
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Long Beach, California-based Vertically Driven Products makes Jeep accessories for JKs, TJs, CJs and YJs. Their line of Jeep exterior products includes full and brief tops, cab covers and stubby bumper kits and interior ones include sound bars and wedges, locking consoles and storage vaults. VDP accessories have a reputation as affordable, reliable and highly functional and they are known for their off-road capability. Chose from nylon mesh tops with American flag and pirate designs, black neoprene grab handles, tube coolers and a host of other accessories to make wheeling more enjoyable. Shop Vertically Driven Products Now


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MWC 15 Special
Also at CES, Huawei unveiled the Huawei Ascend D2. The company latest hero product in its Ascend series of smartphones which runs on Android 4.1 and features a 5" FHD IPS+ 443 PPI Super Retina LCD display, Huawei's K3V2 1.5 GHz quad-core CPU and a 13 megapixel BSI camera. With its 3000 mAh battery and Huawei's proprietary Quick Power Control (QPC) and Automated Discontinuous Reception (ADRX) battery efficiency technology, the Ascend D2 has a stand-by time of six days on WCDMA . The Huawei Ascend D2 5" Super Retina fast response IPS panel display has a HD resolution of up 1920 x 1080. It's protected by the anti-scratch Corning Gorilla glass, and the dust and water resistant IPX 5/4, the Ascend D2 is tough enough to withstand everyday use.
The Huawei Ascend D2 features a 13 megapixel BSI rear-facing camera with detail capturing technology and an ISO sensitivity level higher than other smartphones in this category. Huawei Ascend D2 also has a tailored manual color temperature adjustment function to provide a professional-level photography experience.
Huawei Ascend D2's 3000 mAh battery is optimized by Huawei's QPC and ADRX smart power-saving technology. Leveraging Huawei's more than 20 years of telecommunications know-how, QPC technology lowers battery consumption by automatically turning off the transmitter circuit when data transmission is not in use. Its ADRX technology identifies and automatically adjusts the DRX cycle based on the network status, reducing power consumption during standby mode by over 20 %. In addition, Huawei's proprietary fast battery charging technology enables the Huawei Ascend D2 to be fully charged in 30 % less time than its takes other smartphones under the same electricity conditions.
The Huawei Ascend D2's 'swift sharing' makes it easier than ever to share. With a Wi-Fi connection, uploading pictures, videos and other files is two- to three-times faster with the Ascend D2 than other smartphones in the market. Its 'super hands-free' function transforms the Ascend D2 into a conversation sharing portable to receive sounds within a radius of 1.5m. The Ascend D2 also supports Dolby surrounding sound and stereo recording.
The Huawei Ascend D2 has a stylish and elegant design with an aluminum body and metal frame. Weighing just 170 g and measuring 9.9 mm thin, its curved design fits comfortably in the hand. Available in pure white and crystal blue, the Huawei Ascend D2 will also be produced in a 4.7" screen version. The Huawei Ascend D2 will be on sale in China in January 2013, and in Japan in the future.
Cheers ~ Arne
Article Source
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This article is about a group or individual that may no longer be active in solar cooking promotion. It is retained here for archival purposes.
News and recent developmentsEdit
- March 2008: Princeton University's informal motto ends "… in the Service of All Nations," an ideal being pursued by two undergraduate engineering students spreading solar cooking skills in Kenya and beyond. In 2005, Ishani Sud and Julianne Davis traveled to Laikipia, Kenya to introduce solar box cookers designed by Sud and classmate Lauren Wang, and to build solar cookers with appropriate local materials. To facilitate technology transfer, Sud and Davis chose to work with primary school students and hold special events to spark interest with parents. Covering topics in science, conservation and renewable energy, Davis taught elementary students in the Mpala Research Centre school, while Sud taught middle school students at the Lekiji public school. Lessons for the older students included a series of experiments, such as comparing black metal and white metal temperatures when exposed to sun, that helped them understand how solar cookers work and select appropriate construction materials. The locally available materials chosen for these cookers were Cyprus wood, aluminum sheet metal, glass, and black cloth as a box liner to absorb sunlight. Time was set aside each week for students to work on constructing their own solar cooker. More recently, Sud has returned to Kenya to continue her work on the project, and has launched a similar project at the Aang Serian school in Monduli, Tanzania.
External linksEdit
- April 2007: Ishani Sud wins Princeton award 'Scholars in the Nation's Service' - News@Princeton
- Fall 2006: Mpala, Kenya: A Summer of Teaching, Research, and Learning - Ishani Sud
Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.


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[anti-abuse-wg] How Not To Ask For A Website to Be taken Down
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Kostas Zorbadelos
kzorba at otenet.gr
Thu Dec 23 08:17:20 CET 2010
On Thursday, December 23, 2010 08:59:43 am Ronald F. Guilmette wrote: Now, let me see if I get this right... This post contains more than a 1000 words, to argue about NOT using abuse contacts, in the real world, and this is how reports should be sent? I am definitely missing something here... Regards, Kostas > My apologies for not following up on this sooner. It's definitely the busy > season... > > In message <97C58E22-A243-4A57-9602-7184B5D3522A at blacknight.ie>, > > "Michele Neylon :: Blacknight" <michele at blacknight.ie> wrote: > >>What is it, exactly, about that message that caused you to have any > >>difficulty in "working it out"? > > > >To start with it was sent to just about every single contact point > >imaginab le except our abuse contact. The only reason it made it to our > >abuse team a t all was because one of our sales staff asked me to look at > >it. > > Well, OK. Arguably that was bad form on their part. But having been > "in the trenches" now myself for over 15 years, I can well and truly > understand why they didn't even bother to CC: abuse@ (even though I > myself would have done so). > > In fact there are many reasons why an intelligent and an _experienced_ > person would never even waste the bits to even CC: abuse at . Here are > justr a few of those reasons: > > #1) On a large number of commercial ISP networks, abuse@ has been aliased > to /dev/null. This isn't speculation. This is fact. > > Certainly, a lot of commercial ISPs make a business of catering especially > to the lucrative spamming trade. Thus, these ISPs in particular they have > less than zero interest in _anything_ anybody might send to abuse at . (And > some, like several in Russia... or that one in "Belize" I already posted > about... are run by folks who are criminals themselves. So they don't even > care even if you have a non-spam related "abuse" issue.) > > Even for the vast majority of commercial networks that are NOT specifically > going out of their way to cater especially to spammers or other criminals, > the decision has been made, long ago (and in many cases even BEFORE the > advent of the Great Recession) that any sort of "abuse desk" type function > is an unjustifiable "cost center" as opposed to a "profit center". Thus, > with only rare exceptions, virtually every ISP that is any bigger than a > small-time "mon and pop" operation has long ago aliased abuse@ to /dev/null > because management sees no profit potential whatsoever is assigning even > a fractional warm body to read that stuff. > > And of course, the advent of the Great Recession only speeded up the final > (and now near total and global) aliasing of abuse@ to /dev/null. > > Even for those networks... a minority to begin with... where there existed > some sense of public/community responsibility (e.g. to investigate & > respond to network abuse reports) and/or a sense of the importantance and > value of maintaining a good corporate reputation, the Great Recession has, > for many, sharpened the coroprate focus on mere survival, while niceities > like good corporate netizenship have, understandably I suppose, gone by > the wayside. > > #2) Even for those networks where abuse@ is not aliased to /dev/null, > sending anything other than a _spam_ report to that address will typically > engender either (a) no response at all (with the message being silently > discarded) or else (b) an irritated response of the form "Why are you > sending this to abuse@??" or else (c) a more or less automated response > (either from an actual program or else from a low-paid human who has been > trained to act like one) the form "We're sorry, but we cannot accept > abuse complaints without either (a) a full set of e-mail headers or else > (b) a complete set of system intrusion logs." > > Obviously, in the case under discussion, which involved primarily > violations of trademark rights (and with the high probability of > associated phishing activity being only "unproven" and speculative) the > party sending the report had no system logs nor any e-mail headers to > send. > > #3) Although, for the various reasons noted above, and others, sending a > report like this to an abuse@ address might yield no meaningful or useful > action at all, the mere presence of the corporate abuse@ address, either > in the To: header or in the Cc: header would most likely cause any and > all other parties to whom such a report had been addressed (and who might > otherwise potentially be more responsive/responsible than abuse@) to simply > trash the message, e.g. because they might reasonably assume that "Oh! > This was sent to abuse@ too, so the abuse department/person will surely > handle it, and I don't need to get involved." > > #4) Last but not least, in the circles I travel in, a clear and unambiguous > distinction is often drawn between "abuse ON the network" and "abuse OF the > network". As we all know, the latter occurs almost every second of the > day, somewhere on the Internet, and it can range from undeserved insults > and slanders to sophisticated social engineering con games involving > millions of dollars. But none of that "abuse ON the network" in any way > threatens the operational status of any part of the net. Conversely, of > course, spam and DoS attack directly threaten the operational status of > either parts of the net or, in sum, even the whole thing, and thus, by > tradition among the people I commonly hang out with, "abuse OF the net" is > widley considered to be the only thing (a) that humans can reasonably > fight and also (b) in many people's minds, it is the only thing that's > _worth_ fighting for. (After all, the world and the net will go on even > if you or I are heniously slandered or even defrauded, tomorrow, somewhere > on the Internet.) > > The upshot of all this line of thinking is that some (many?) believe that > it's not even the job of an ISP abuse desk to even delve into any matters > that do not clearly affect network operational status. At any and all > ISPs of this persuasion, a note to abuse@ regarding a clear trademark > violation (and a plausible/possible phishing threat) would be discarded > virtually the moment it was opened. > > _=_=_= > > I'm not saying that any if the above are ``good'' reasons why a report like > the one sent to you from BofA _should_ be effectively ignored by the person > or robot tasked with reading mail sent to abuse@ (at various ISPs). I am > only saying that out here in the Real World, that is, alas, what often > would (and does) happen. > > >>> If your first language isn't English then I suspect you'll dismiss it > >>> as spam .. .. I know some of my staff did and they supposedly speak > >>> English > >> > >> Again, I am utterly baffled by your comment. Can you explain why anyone > >> would ever dismiss BofA's message to you as spam? > > > >Read the message. Instead of simply stating that they are alerting us to > >an > > > > issue they start off with a long convoluted text about their trademarks, > > w > > > >hich is totally irrelevant to us. All we want to know is that someone is > >re porting abuse, what type of abuse it is and where it is located. > > OK, now _here_ you have a point that I cannot reasonably take issue with. > And your point is, I think, not only valid but also, potentially very > useful. You're right. I think the way that people in the news business > commonly express the point you just made is that it is bad practice to > "bury the lead", i.e. its important to express the major point you are > trying to make (in a news story or in an abuse report) clearly, concisely, > and in the first sentence. > > That's a good lesson for all of us writers of abuse reports, and one I'll > try, in future, never to forget myself. > > >You might not find this hard to understand, but I suspect this is because > >y ou are used to reading these kind of emails and might be immune to how > >badly worded they are. > > No, actually, it is more because I have some extensive experience reading > legal documents (e.g. court filings) and thus I'm already so adept at > hacking through the thicket of words (to find the meat) that it's almost > second nature (and automatic/subconcious) to me now, kind of like people > who are so practiced that they can almost play a piano concerto in their > sleep. That explains why, when I see something like that BofA e-mail you > posted, its verbosity and/or failure to clearly and quickly come to the > point doesn't faze me in the slightest. (I guess that I have been hanging > out with lawyers too long. :-) > > > Regards, > rfg
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Despite the still fragile situation, in 2014 Dutch retail trade has benefited from higher consumer confidence, economic growth and improved purchasing power.
The Netherlands
- Rebound since 2014, but margins remain under pressure
- No major insolvency decrease expected in 2015
- Online sales increasingly essential for business survival
Subdued consumer spending was one of the main reasons for the Netherland´s poor economic performance in 2012 and 2013, when measures to trim the budget deficit, a persistent slump in the Dutch property market (that has left many home owners in negative equity) and higher unemployment heavily weighed on consumer confidence. After two years of contraction, the Dutch economy rebounded again in 2014, by 0.8%, and is forecast to grow 1.7% in 2015. However, this recovery is expected to remain fragile for the time being. In 2014, Dutch consumers´ purchasing power grew again for the first time in four years, by 1.5%, and another 0.5% increase is expected in 2015. Although private consumption continued to shrink slightly in 2014 (down 0.1%), it is forecast to increase 0.9% in 2015, fuelled by higher disposable incomes. While stronger consumption growth is still held back by lower house prices, this effect is at least bottoming out. However, the debt ratio of Dutch households of around 130% of GDP is still higher than that of its EU neighbours.
Despite the still fragile situation, in 2014 Dutch retail trade has benefited from higher consumer confidence, economic growth and purchasing power. According to Statistics Netherlands (CBS), retail sales volumes increased 1.0%, the first year-on-year growth since 2008. Mainly non-food shops registered turnover and sales volumes increases. However, sales prices continued to decrease due to the strong competitive business environment.
Sales volumes increased in the consumer electronics (up 7%) and do-it-yourself (DIY, up 2.6%) segments; however, sales volumes of household items shrank 0.8%. Furniture and household appliances still suffer because consumers are bound by tough financing rules and have less to spend on those items.
In 2015, non-food retail sales volume growth is forecast to accelerate to 1.3%, given increasing consumer confidence and rising household consumption. While demand is improving, it is also expected that competition and subsequent pressure on prices will remain high, and the deterioration of profit margins of many businesses in this industry will continue. At the same time, access to bank loans remains limited for many companies.
On average, payments in the Dutch consumer durables retail sector take around 60 to 90 days. While notifications of late payments still increased in 2014, we expect them to level off in the coming months, given better growth prospects for the industry. Retail insolvencies decreased 30% year-on-year in 2014, to 644 cases. However, in January 2015 insolvencies increased again, and in contrast to the general Dutch business insolvency development, we expect no further significant decrease in the coming months.
Our underwriting stance remains cautious, given the on-going difficulties in this sector. Close attention is paid to businesses´ turnover and margin development as well as their ability to sell online. Given persistent overcapacities, especially in the brickand- mortar businesses segment, non-food retailers' resilience and ability to survive increasingly depends on successfully combining offline (shopping floor) and online sales channels.
This accounts for all retail subsectors such as clothing, shoes, textiles, furniture, household appliances, DIY, consumer electronics and personal care. According to CBS, following increases of 9% in 2012 and 10% in 2013, both considered to be difficult years for the sector, mail order and web-shop retailers´ turnover increased nearly 10% in 2014. It cannot be excluded that businesses unwilling or unable to adapt to the changes in shopping behaviour will sooner or later cease to exist. This trend could mainly affect smaller businesses, which often lack the required financial strength to make the necessary investments.


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DISCLAIMERThe postings on this blog are my own (except as noted) and do not necessarily represent the positions, strategies or opinions of my current, past, and future employers, cats and other family members, relatives, Facebook friends, real friends, Charlie Sheen, people who sit next to me on public transportation, or myself when I'm in my right mind.
About picturesI decided to start using other peoples' pictures of cats for my blogs for a variety of reasons. It's hard enough for me to get a good picture of my cats let alone one that might go with what I'm writing. I also thought it would improve my blogs by having a much greater variety of images to choose from. I understand enough about creativity and art and photography to know they are both a talent and a skill that should be recognized. I want to give proper attribution to the creators of the images I use in my blogs, but there is a problem. Virtually every image I want to use appears in more than one place on the Internet. I thought using tineye.com, a search site for finding URLs of uploaded images, would help. In fact, I found the opposite. Some of the images I've searched for are found on a hundred different sites, making it impossible to identify the original. So, if I can't identify the original, I'll cite the site I got the image from or if it's an image I don't have a URL for, I'll cite the site that tineye.com indicates has the image that most closely matches the image I use. If I use an image that you created and I didn't give you credit, I'm sorry. Let me know and I'll fix the citation or remove the image.
Types and Patterns of Data Relationships
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I wrote this for my personal use, and decided to release it.
It's a very simple and small gray item seller with what I think is a funny name.
There is no configuration. When visiting a vendor it tries to sell any and all gray items, giving you a quick cashstring output of how much money you made by visiting the vendor.
Posts Quoted: