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Get down on the farm, enjoy the idyllic island life, smile at the crocodiles, snorkel the Whitsundays, dive the Great Barrier Reef, and then dance the night away in Cairns. This extravaganza shows you all that 'Down Under' has to offer!
Meet your Contiki crew then we're off to town for a Cairns orientation tour, so you can get a feel of the area you will be spending the next two nights. There's a chance to experience the Great Barrier Reef on an optional day trip. Put on your snorkel gear or try an optional introduction to scuba diving and check out colourful fish, turtles, vivid coral and the incredible clear waters.
Later, hit the seaside esplanade back in Cairns, sit down with a coffee and people watch. For your first night with the group in this city, there's a chance to head down to a local hot-spot for dinner if you're up for it.
Day 1: Resort Dinner
- M: Outer Barrier Reef Cruise from A$170
Wake up to the warm waters of Cairns. There's a chance to experience the Great Barrier Reef on an optional day trip. Put on your snorkel gear or try an optional introduction to scuba diving and check out colourful fish, turtles, vivid coral and the incredible clear waters.
Later, hit the seaside esplanade back in Cairns, sit down with a coffee and people watch. For your last night with the group, there's a chance to head down to a local hot-spot for dinner and a dance if you're up for it.
Day 2: Resort Breakfast
- Skydive Australia From A$259
- Outer Barrier Reef Cruise from A$170
Relax on the coach as we cruise past thick, tropical rainforests into Tully, home to some of Australia's best whitewater rafting.
Slowly leaving the tropics behind us, we hit Townsville for some free time. Check out the colonial buildings and get a feel for its maritime past as we drive along the esplanade and into town where you can grab some lunch.
See vistas over Magnetic Island, a National Park and bird sanctuary, before we continue our travels south. Play some tunes on your ipod, have a chat, catch a DVD or simply enjoy some downtime before you board a ferry out to stunning Daydream Island.
The time is then yours to enjoy the picture-perfect Whitsundays! Slow the pace down, kick back and make the most of the fantastic facilities available at the resort. Go for a rainforest walk, swim in the pool, get into some beach or water sports, try your hand at fish-feeding, catch a film at the big outdoor cinema or laze about on the beach.
For those that are up for it, you could get away from it all with our optional day sail. Check out some of the Whitsunday's 74 islands from the boat – you'll soon understand why this region is so famous. Experience what is known as one of the top ten beaches in the world, uninhabited Whitehaven Beach. Swim off the boat and play beach volleyball or cricket with the local skipper and crew before enjoying a tasty lunch and a few drinks on the way back to Daydream Island.
Day 3: Resort Breakfast, Dinner
Day 4: Resort Breakfast
- Pass through Tully, home to Australia's best whitewater rafting
- Pass Hinchinbrook Island - Australia's largest island national park
- See Magnetic Island
- Townsville city orientation
- Visit the vibrant seaside town of Airlie Beach
- Transfer boat to Daydream Island
- Stay on Daydream Island and enjoy all the resort facilities
- M: Cruise Whitsundays Camira Day Sail A$170
Today you head back to the mainland, plug in you ipod or chat with friends as we drive through scenic Mackay, with countryside full of vibrant green vegetation and sugar cane plantations. Continue down the Capricorn Coast and head inland to an authentic country homestead, right in the heart of Queensland's cattle country, for our overnight stay.
During our time at Langmorn, a working cattle station, you'll experience a taste of real Aussie country life. The owners will show you around the enormous property in a behind-the-scenes look at daily life on the farm.
Taste local hospitality tonight as your welcoming hosts pile your table high with a hearty roast beef and vegetables (like you've never tasted before) followed by an indulgent homemade decadent desert.
Later, have a go at whip cracking an authentic leather stock whip under night lights before heading back inside for traditional Aussie bush dancing. Have some fun and a giggle with some evening karaoke. See if you can spot the 'Southern Cross' amongst a chandelier of stars, a constellation only visible in the southern hemisphere & featured on the Australian flag.
Day 5: Country Homestead Breakfast, Dinner
- Visit the main region of Australia's sugar cane industry
- Visit & cross the Tropic of Capricorn
- Rockhampton sightseeing tour
- Meet the cattle station owners
- Check out the farm & animals on a hay wagon ride, then try whip cracking!
- Aussie Outback experience: Langmorn Station Special Stopover
After breakfast we drive back out to the coast and jump on board a ferry. Enjoy the cruise out to famous Fraser Island, where we'll stay at an eco-lodge for our time here. Each cabin has its own kitchenette and living room, as well as a balcony – perfect for hanging out and listening to the sounds of the bush surrounding your lodge.
If you're done with the pool and spa, you could take a stroll along the sand, check out the busy crabs on their evening march up the beach or the fish that dart amongst the jetty pylons. Make yourself comfortable on the beach and take in a unique sunset over the water near the Jetty Hut.
Tonight, grab a bite to eat at one of the resort restaurants, then grab your dancing shoes and use the coloured chalk to write on the walls of the popular Dingo Bar.
Day 6: Eco Lodge Breakfast
- Stop in Childers, a small country town, known for its heritage & farming history
- Stay on the world's largest sand island, a UNESCO World Heritage site
- Stay in an eco-village & enjoy the resort facilities
Experience a slice of paradise on Fraser Island this morning. This UNESCO World Heritage-listed site is the largest sand island in the world and is 800,000 years old. Packed with around 40 fresh-water lakes, lush rainforests and diverse wildlife, Fraser Island lives up to its amazing reputation.
Jump on our included 4WD adventure through the island's sand dunes, rainforests & freshwater lakes. Our Local Guide will show you some of the island's best spots and hidden treasures, such as Lake McKenzie – make sure you keep your camera handy – this is one of Australia's most beautiful regions.
Once we're back on the mainland, Noosa is up next. It's a trendy beach resort town. Enjoy a drink or two with the included dinner tonight at the local surf club. Later if you want to take it up a level, head out into the town & explore Noosa by night.
Day 7: Resort Lunch, Breakfast, Dinner
- Take a locally guided 4WD trip across Fraser Island & indulge in a gourmet BBQ lunch
- Drive along Australia's only sand highway
- Visit the picturesque seaside town & beach of Noosa
- Dine beachside at Noosa Surf Club & meet a lifesaver
There's time to explore Noosa this morning so take a stroll through the shops or sunbathe and swim at the beach before we make our way south. We also stop off in Brisbane today. You'll get a feel for the capital of Queensland's laid-back atmosphere when we have a look around town.
Tonight we pull into legendary Surfers Paradise, the Gold Coast's party hot spot and home to some of the best surfing beaches in the world.
Grab some of your new friends and join the party atmosphere of Surfers tonight with included VIP nightclub entry. With loads of restaurants and buzzing nightlife, there's something for everybody. Head to the happening Orchid or Cavill Avenues, where clubs and bars line the street or shoot some pool at the pub.
Day 8: Resort Breakfast
- See the Brisbane River, South Bank, Royal Botanical Gardens & visit Queen Street Mall on a city tour
- See the Glass House Mountains
- Stay at a resort located right by the beach
- VIP nightclub entry
With a free day, hang out among the bronzed bodies, bikini babes and surfer dudes on the golden sands. Check out what Surfers is most famous for, the three kilometers of gorgeous natural beaches. Kick back and spot some locals showing off their talents in the waves.
If you want to get amongst the action there's so much happening in Surfers Paradise you are spoilt for choice. You could head up into the Hinterland Mountains on a 4WD trip, visit South Stradbroke Island on a kayaking safari.
Our hotel is only a short walk from both the beach and downtown Surfers Paradise so you could also hit the shops – Surfers has some great places to shop and a huge outlet mall for bargains, so get some tips from your Trip Manager on where's best to head.
Day 9: Hotel Breakfast
- Relax on some of Australia's most famous beaches on the Gold Coast
- M: Tandem Skydiving from A$345
- M: Southern Cross 4WD night tour AU$ 105
Your trip ends after breakfast and it's time to say goodbye to your Contiki crew and friends.
Day 10: Breakfast


text:
FDA issues new statement on wood-aged cheese
Local makers say aging on boards is a safe, essential part of process
Late on June 11, the Food and Drug Administration, besieged by the outcry over a newly released document suggesting the agency would start banning cheese makers from aging their products on wooden boards, issued a new statement, putting an end to any likelihood that the practice would be banned - at least in the near future.
The statement read, in part:
"The agency's regulations do not specifically address the use of shelving made of wood in cheesemaking, nor is there any FSMA requirement in effect that addresses this issue. Moreover, the FDA has not taken any enforcement action based solely on the use of wooden shelves.
"At issue is a January 2014 communication from the agency's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition to the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets' Division of Milk Control and Dairy Services, which was sent in response to questions from New York State.
"The FDA recognizes that this communication has prompted concerns in the artisanal cheesemaking community. The communication was not intended as an official policy statement, but was provided as background information on the use of wooden shelving for aging cheeses and as an analysis of related scientific publications.
"The FDA will engage with the artisanal cheesemaking community, state officials and others to learn more about current practices and discuss the safety of aging certain types of cheeses on wooden shelving, as well as to invite stakeholders to share any data or evidence they have gathered related to safety and the use of wood surfaces. We welcome this open dialogue.
Gabe Luddy, a fourth-generation cheese maker at Vella Cheese Co. in Sonoma, makes his dry Jack the same way his grandfather and great-grandfather did: He rolls and presses curds into large wheels of cheese, then brines the wheels before sliding them onto wooden racks. There they age, from seven months to several years.
A U.S. Food and Drug Administration statement that became public last week puts Vella's 83-year-old practice in peril.
In what the agency called a clarification, the FDA declared that wooden racks similar to the one Vella uses "cannot be adequately cleaned and sanitized." That, in effect, would make Luddy's cheese impossible to sell.
While the FDA late Tuesday issued a statement indicating there is room for compromise, if the original clarification holds, it may affect more than Sonoma Jack. The Parmesan you grate over your pasta might also be declared illegal.
Producers all over the world age their cheeses on wood rather than on plastic or metal because its porous surface absorbs excess humidity and prevents unwanted mold. Plus, Luddy said, "It's what gives our cheese its flavor."
Nora Weiser, executive director of the American Cheese Society, a professional organization of 1,500 cheese makers, estimates that 65 percent of the members of the organization - from farmstead producers with a few head of sheep to major cheddar factories - age their cheese on wood.
Clarification requested
The recent brouhaha started when Rob Ralyea, an extension specialist at Cornell University, and the New York state Department of Agriculture and Markets asked the FDA to clarify its position on wood boards after a cheese maker from the Finger Lakes region of New York was repeatedly cited for bacterial contamination.
A response from Monica Metz, a section chief at the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, came months later.
"The porous structure of wood enables it to absorb and retain bacteria, therefore bacteria generally colonize not only the surface but also the inside layers of wood," she wrote. "The shelves or boards used for aging ... could be a potential source of pathogenic microorganisms in the finished products."
In California, the state Department of Food and Agriculture, which has had primary responsibility for inspecting cheese-making facilities, has long permitted cheese makers to use wood.
New authority for FDA
The FDA's clarification calls that into question, and the agency has new authority to make its position stick.
The Food Safety Modernization Act of 2011 gave the FDA additional powers to issue new food-safety regulations and demand recalls of contaminated foods.
In general, these new regulations are posted for public comment before being enacted. Metz's statement, however, doesn't fall under the same category. According to an FDA representative, the rule forbidding wood has been on the books for quite some time.
That's news to Liam Callahan, cheese maker for Sonoma County's Bellwether Farms. He ages Carmody, San Andreas and Pepato cheeses on racks with removable wooden shelves, which he scours between uses.
The state inspects his 20-year-old facility annually, and, since 2011, the FDA does as well.
"Not only have (my wood racks) not been an issue, the inspectors haven't even pointed them out," Callahan said.
Impact on imports
The federal agency could apply the ruling to well-known European cheeses such as Comte and Parmigiano-Reggiano as well.
There's precedent: In 2005, the FDA ruled that raw-milk cheeses aged less than 60 days were not safe to eat. The new rule stopped the import of millions of dollars of Reblochon and other soft French cheeses until producers could develop pasteurized-milk versions.
As news stories and statements from interest groups ricocheted across the Web, the FDA responded with Tuesday's statement.
The "FDA is always open to evidence that shows that wood can be safely used for specific purposes, such as aging cheese," it read. "The FDA will engage with the artisanal cheesemaking community to determine whether certain types of cheeses can safely be made by aging them on wooden shelving."
The cheese society's Weiser says her organization has been besieged by calls from cheese makers, retailers and legislators.
"Our next step is to work with this groundswell of support," she said.
Vella's Luddy is more blunt.
"We're talking about a crushing blow to the artisan cheese industry," he said. "For us, replacing wood shelves would require a huge capital investment. I don't even know what we would switch to."
Jonathan Kauffman is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com Twitter: @jonkauffman

subset: commoncrawl


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Letter from the Editor
I have always thought that if I can see something in my mind's eye, I'll be able to describe it. Or in another sense, if I can see what a speaker is saying, I'll be able to interpret it. My orientation is acutely visual, although I will say that certain places have imprinted an olfactory rather than a visual image. But I haven't yet found a use for smell in my interpreting practice while I have for visualization.


text:
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Windows 10 Top - like every one of you- likes freewares, however sometimes the good value is not for free. You will always find a cheap buying link with discount just above the download links when available.What version should I download & install?
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text:
Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time
Crown Business, 2014 - 379 pagina's
The bestselling business classic on the power of relationships, updated with in-depth advice for making connections in the digital world.
Do you want to get ahead in life? Climb the ladder to personal success?
The secret, master networker Keith Ferrazzi claims, is in reaching out to other people. As Ferrazzi discovered in early life, what distinguishes highly successful people from everyone else is the way they use the power of relationships—so that everyone wins.
In Never Eat Alone, Ferrazzi lays out the specific steps—and inner mindset—he uses to reach out to connect with the thousands of colleagues, friends, and associates on his contacts list, people he has helped and who have helped him. And in the time since Never Eat Alone was published in 2005, the rise of social media and new, collaborative management styles have only made Ferrazzi's advice more essential for anyone hoping to get ahead in business.
The son of a small-town steelworker and a cleaning lady, Ferrazzi first used his remarkable ability to connect with others to pave the way to Yale, a Harvard M.B.A., and several top executive posts. Not yet out of his thirties, he developed a network of relationships that stretched from Washington's corridors of power to Hollywood's A-list, leading to him being named one of Crain's 40 Under 40 and selected as a Global Leader for Tomorrow by the Davos World Economic Forum.
Ferrazzi's form of connecting to the world around him is based on generosity, helping friends connect with other friends. Ferrazzi distinguishes genuine relationship-building from the crude, desperate glad-handing usually associated with "networking." He then distills his system of reaching out to people into practical, proven principles. Among them:
Don't keep score: It's never simply about getting what you want. It's about getting what you want and making sure that the people who are important to you get what they want, too.
"Ping" constantly: The ins and outs of reaching out to those in your circle of contacts all the time—not just when you need something.
Never Eat Alone: The dynamics of status are the same whether you're working at a corporation or attending a social event—"invisibility" is a fate worse than failure.
Become the "King of Content": How to use social media sites like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook to make meaningful connections, spark engagement, and curate a network of people who can help you with your interests and goals.
In the course of this book, Ferrazzi outlines the timeless strategies shared by the world's most connected individuals, from Winston Churchill to Bill Clinton, Vernon Jordan to the Dalai Lama.
Chock-full of specific advice on handling rejection, getting past gatekeepers, becoming a "conference commando," and more, this new edition of Never Eat Alone will remain a classic alongside alongside How to Win Friends and Influence People for years to come.
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LibraryThing ReviewGebruikersrecensie - DaveHowe - LibraryThing
Loved this book. Had my doubts .. but it was recommended by so many people I had to read it. Keith believes the classic quote that your network is your networth, and I agree with him. The more people ... Volledige review lezen
LibraryThing ReviewGebruikersrecensie - damienfranco - LibraryThing
I really enjoyed the book. Networking is one of my strengths and I'm pretty excited about some of the knowledge I was able to gather from this book. I've already started implementing some of the ideas ... Volledige review lezen
Geselecteerde pagina's
Becoming a Member of the Club
Dont Keep Score
Whats Your Mission?
Build It Before You Need It
The Genius of Audacity
The Networking Jerk
Do Your Homework
Take Names
Social Arbitrage
PingingAll the Time
Find Anchor Tenants and Feed Them
Tap the Fringe
Become the King of Content
Engineering Serendipity
Be Interesting
Build Your Brand
Warming the Cold Call
Managing the GatekeeperArtfully
Never Eat Alone
Share Your Passions
Follow Up or Fail
Connecting with Connectors
Expanding Your Circle
Health Wealth and Children
Overige edities - Alles weergeven
Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time
Keith Ferrazzi,Tahl Raz
Gedeeltelijke weergave - 2014
Never Eat Alone, Expanded and Updated: And Other Secrets to Success, One ...
Keith Ferrazzi,Tahl Raz
Gedeeltelijke weergave - 2014
Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time
Keith Ferrazzi,Tahl Raz
Geen voorbeeld beschikbaar - 2014
Veelvoorkomende woorden en zinsdelen
attend became become believe better brand build career close comes conference connect consulting contacts conversation course create deal develop dinner don't e-mail event executive experience fact feel follow friends getting give goals hard ideas important industry interesting introduced invite it's keep kind knew less lives looking marketing matter means meet months never offer once opportunity organization party passion person professional questions reach relationships remember share simple social media someone speak started story successful sure talk tell There's things thought told trust turn write York you're young


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Imagine walking into a room and being greeted by the decor. Literally. The walls look back at you and seem to smile, with a cheerful affirmation such as "All You Need is Love"… or "Be Your Own Kind of Beautiful". With the right quotes, your walls can truly inspire you and your guests. Wall words can include snippets of favorite songs and poems, like "We Can Be Heroes" from David Bowie, classic nursery rhymes like "Row, Row, Row your Boat" for a darling baby decor idea, and expressive wall quotes. Love being unique? Remind yourself and your roommates everyday with the "Never let Anybody Dull Your Sparkle" design. Bringing together decorative fonts together with the art of poetry, a wall quote is artistic and thought provoking.
If you want to spell out your own message, you can bring any phrase to life with the alphabet wall decal sets. With multiples of each letter, and several colors and fonts to choose from, these letters let you express anything from a simple and unique name to your personal mantra or favorite saying. You can even move the letters around if your sentiment changes from time to time. Change your mind? Change your design!
We also love the concept of using letters and words to personalize items, designate an area, or make a seasonal sentiment. We have seen decals used at baby showers to declare exciting news, such as "it's a boy!" We have seen fun rooms that added a festive phrase like "merry and bright" or "happy Easter" to walls during the holiday season as part of the decor. Adding a name to your child's door or a piece of furniture can be a great use of font as art, as well as a way to keep things organized.


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A 22-year-old student last Friday killed six people and wounded 13 more in Isla Vista before turning his gun on himself. Commenters blamed the killer's crimes on everything from misogynistic "pickup artist philosophy" to easy access to guns and no-fault divorce. Even "nerd culture" has come under scrutiny.
Is American culture to blame for mass murder?
Bad men with guns
Hey guys: It's time we stopped being jerks.
Elliot Rodger was not a typical man — few of us go on shooting sprees — except that he was: Desperate for sex, frustrated by its absence, convinced he was owed it, and seemingly unconcerned about the actual person who might furnish it.
The result: All too often we treat women like objects for our lust, instead of the complete, whole, human beings they are. We use sex to diminish them in endeavors that have nothing whatsoever to do with sex. We help make one half of humanity quite rationally fearful of the other half.
We can do better.
Having said that, the problem with America is that we've got any number of pathologies running wild out there — it's a big country — but when those pathologies seek to express themselves in the most horrifying way possible, it is almost always with the use of guns.
Not having enough sex? Go on a shooting spree.
Unpopular at school? Go on a shooting spree.
Need some attention? Go on a shooting spree.
We could keep going, but you understand the point: Columbine is not Newtown is not Aurora is not Jonesboro is not Virginia Tech is not Elliott Rodger's failures with women. Except for one thing: There are a lot of innocent people dead in those towns, the victims of bad men with guns.
We're told the best thing to stop bad men with guns is good guys with guns, yet (with the exception of police) those good guys never materialize when we need them. Possibly that's because they're all down at the Chipotle, showing off their weapons to their best buds. Whatever.
Men need to try to act better. But we'd be less terrified of whatever culture was supposedly doing to us this week if we didn't have the tools to turn those impulses into pure death. Elliot Rodger was a narcissistic, evil man whose sex desires got in the way of his humanity — and who all too easily had access to the precise tools to make his ugly revenge fantasies a reality.
Evil is evil. Evil with a gun is effective at spreading evil. There's no pretending otherwise.
— Joel Mathis
Something is rotten
When will we finally learn the folly of ascribing simple political or public policy explanations to evil acts? We can no more resolve the problem of evil in a single newspaper column or act of Congress than the League of Nations could successfully outlaw war with a piece of paper in 1928.
The Isla Vista killer — may his name and memory be erased — had been in therapy more or less nonstop since he was 8. Surely the nonjudgmental therapeutic environment fostered poisonous habits of mind? The killer's parents divorced when he was 7. Perhaps, then, he is just another castoff of a callous, no-fault divorce culture?
Something is certainly rotten. After the Sandy Hook massacre in 2012, Joel Mathis and I departed from our usual format and wrote a column calling for more taxpayer funding of mental health services and perhaps new laws easing the commitment of dangerous people to mental institutions. Would that have helped here?
Seems unlikely. The killer's parents reportedly knew he was trouble. The murderer's mother was so alarmed by his YouTube videos that she called a mental health hotline. Santa Barbara police visited his apartment last month, but for whatever reason concluded he was not an imminent threat to himself or anyone else.
Something is rotten online. The killer resented that he was a virgin. He immersed himself in Internet "pickup philosophy" forums. He wrote misogynist rants. But he didn't merely hate women. His 141-page manifesto is a sad, sickening testament to his misanthropy. Perhaps we should pass a new law against hate.
Something is rotten in the media. Every time one of these crimes occurs, the press rushes to publicize the killer's name, his face, his rants. This animal's manifesto is everywhere, exactly as he hoped. Enough of this!
We don't need new laws; we need to shift the culture. Stop publicizing the names of spree killers. Don't show their faces. Don't repost their Facebook accounts and their insane screeds.
The rot runs deep. We shouldn't glorify it more than we have to.
— Ben Boychuk
Ben Boychuk is associate editor of the Manhattan Institute's City Journal. Joel Mathis is a contributing editor to Philadelphia Magazine. email@example.com, firstname.lastname@example.com


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Book News: 'Goodnight Moon' Author's Lullabies See The Light After 60 Years
Kathy Willens/AP
The daily lowdown on books, publishing, and the occasional author behaving badly.
- A collection of lullaby poems from Margaret Wise Brown, the author of Goodnight Moon who died in 1952, is being published on Tuesday by Sterling Children's Books. The works were discovered in a trunk in her sister's farmhouse in Vermont. One lullaby, titled "Sleep like a rabbit," begins: "Sleep like a rabbit, sleep like a bear / sleep like the old cat under the chair." Kirkus says the lullabies "were written in 1952, the last year of her life, when she was traveling in France for a book tour and under contract to create songs for a new children's record company." The compilation is titled Goodnight Songs.
- Bill Adler, creator of scores of books such as Outwitting Toddlers and What Is a Cat? For Everyone Who Has Ever Loved a Cat and What to Name Your Jewish Baby, died Friday at age 84. One book, Who Killed the Robins Family?: And Where and When and How and Why Did They Die?, promised a $10,000 reward for solving the (fake) murders. In 1983, People magazine wrote, "For a quarter of a century now, Bill Adler has been a publishing phenom, packaging, agenting and mainly pushing books for movie stars, TV personalities, politicians and just plain folk whose success in life — whether meager or mega — does not rest on the coruscating quality of their prose."
- Ansel Elkins has won the Yale Younger Poets Prize for her forthcoming collection Blue Yodel, which is set to be published next year by Yale University Press. The prize, founded in 1919, has been awarded to poets including Adrienne Rich and John Ashbery. The poet Carl Phillips, who judged the competition, wrote in a press release, "Razor-edged in their intelligence, southern gothic in their sensibility, these poems enter the strangenesses of others and return us to a world at once charged, changed, brutal, and luminous." You can read Elkins' poem "Reverse: A Lynching" at The Boston Review. It begins:
"Return the tree, the moon, the naked man
Hanging from the indifferent branch
Return blood to his brain, breath to his heart
Reunite the neck with the bridge of his body
Untie the knot, undo the noose
Return the kicking feet to ground..."
- In The New York Review of Books, Edward Mendelson argues that the supposedly bristly poet W.H. Auden had a "secret life" made up of quiet acts of kindness, and that he worked to portray himself "as rigid or uncaring when he was making unobtrusive gifts of time, money, and sympathy."


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Cecil CountyHome Menu
Community Services & Resource Directory
The Community Services & Resource Directory is provided as a service to the visitors of our site who would like information on local businesses and services.
Cecil County Government does not represent or warranty the goods or services of businesses or resources listed in this directory. This directory is intended only to provide contact information for local services.
Elizabeth Cooney Personnel Services Village of Cross Keys
- Departments:Community Services
- Divisions:Alzheimer Assistance, Companions/Aides, Home Health Agencies (Providers)
- Phone:(888) 353-1700
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As the MLS Cup playoffs continue, the MLSsoccer.com series "Playoffs In Profile" will take a look at the players and personalities who will each play a crucial role in their teams' hopes of winning the MLS Cup. In the eighth installment, managing editor Jonah Freedman examines the physical and psychological overhaul that led to a career year for Houston's Brad Davis.
Check back with MLSsoccer.com to read the final story on Thursday as the "Playoffs In Profile" series continues.
If the Brad Davis of a decade ago could see the Brad Davis of 2011, he'd probably be pleased at how his career turned out just shy of age 30 – the mind-bending service, the leadership by example, the iron man who has yet to miss a game this season.
On the other hand, if today's Brad Davis could have a word with his 19-year-old self, he'd probably punch him in the shoulder and wonder what on earth he was doing eating yet another burger and fries for dinner with a cold one to wash it down.
"When you're young, you think you're invincible," the Houston Dynamo midfielder and MLS MVP candidate says, looking back on his younger, naïve self. "I was still playing the game because it was fun, but I felt like I was a kid just playing to play. I didn't realize it was my job."
The Brad Davis who has dazzled Dynamo fans in 2011 season is the complete package: one of the best soccer brains in the league, the veteran savvy of a champion, a leader in every capacity and, oh yeah, that mean left foot that helped the St. Louis-area native post a career and league high in assists with 16.
He is, by his teammates' accounts, the consummate professional. If you want to succeed in the game, do what Brad does. Behave the way Brad behaves. Take care of your body the way Brad does.
During an up-and-down season in which the Dynamo have flittered in and out of the playoff picture, to the top of the Eastern Conference and back out again a handful of times, all while searching for consistency as players shifted around the pitch from position to position, the one constant has been Davis at left midfield.
He's been the rock, the fulcrum that makes Houston tick, the winner who will stop at nothing. That he has become that person is a remarkable feat for someone who, as recently as three seasons ago, could barely make it 70 minutes into a game without doubling over to catch his breath.
Attitude Adjustment
At the end of the 2008 season, Houston head coach Dominic Kinnear sat Davis down and dispensed some tough love: He needed to take better care of himself.
Davis was, and still is, Kinnear deems, one of the purest natural talents he's ever seen in MLS. He was a player who, when he was on the field, made a huge impact on the team's fortunes. The problem was, he couldn't stay on the field consistently.
The Dynamo's quest to three-peat that year was near impossible considering their schedule. Between MLS play, the US Open Cup, the CONCACAF Champions' Cup and SuperLiga, they played close to 50 games – often three games in the span of seven days. And Kinnear didn't feel he could count on Davis.
"He'd get frustrated when I'd take him out and had a hard time understanding it was because I needed him ready for the next game," Kinnear recalls. "His recovery time, he was at a fitness level where I think it was hard for him to compete."
The message hit home for Davis. He knew that he needed to make an immediate change to his lifestyle or his career was going to end prematurely.
"It wasn't necessarily a make-or-break time in my career, but I knew I had more to give," he says.
Ironically, he realized he had been overlooking obvious inspiration for years. The guy wearing the captain's armband, Wade Barrett, was 32 at the time and yet rarely missed a game. He was in better shape than anyone on the team.
Back when Davis joined the-then San Jose Earthquakes in 2005, Barrett's ludicrously strict fitness regimen was something of a source of amusement to the young midfielder. Suddenly it occurred to Davis that Barrett had it right all along.
With the help of Dynamo assistant athletic trainer Shane Caron, Davis put himself on the P90X fitness plan, a rigorous routine that required more than an hour of intense exercise a day, alternating core exercise, weight-lifting and cardio – not including 90-minute yoga sessions. He stuck to it religiously, and overhauled changed his diet. He cut out fast food and anything fried. He eliminated desserts and sweets, his Achilles heel.
And he began to feel the difference immediately.
"At first it was really hard, both mentally and physically," he says. "I was a country boy growing up and we didn't have a lot of money – it was fried this and fried that. Bacon, whatever. But seeing Wade working out every day after training kept me inspired."
By 2009, Davis had found a groove. He started to develop what he calls "more of a muscular tone" and dropped a lot of the pudge he had been carrying around for years. And on the field, the results were profound.
He started 26 games that year and logged 2,207 minutes – both career highs. He also logged career highs in assists with 12 and was named to his second All-Star team. Most tellingly, the injury problems that had been dogging him – the muscle pulls, the strains, the soreness, the slow recovery time – all started disappearing. He had become the durable player he never was in his youth.
And that was enough for him. He realized that he'd found a new lifestyle that was making him a better player.
Brad's New Groove
As his body and performance improved, Davis upped his own ante. He began to feel more ownership over his team, more of a responsibility to be a go-to guy.
But as 2009 moved into 2010, the faces around him were new, too. Barrett retired to become part of the coaching staff. A carousel of stars from the Earthquakes/Dynamo dynasty – guys like Dwayne De Rosario, Stuart Holden, Ricardo Clark – had moved on.
And then the 2010 season, which started so high with expectations, began to fall apart. Barrett's on-field leadership was sorely missed, and injuries decimated the team, including a serious knee injury to Geoff Cameron and a bad hamstring knock to Brian Ching.
The young Dynamo were rattled and were horribly mistake-prone, giving up points in the final minutes of games and failing to win back-to-back matches all season. By October, their final record was 9-15-6 and they missed out on the playoffs for the first time in Dynamo franchise history.
Davis took it personally. He felt like all the work he had put in to reinvent himself had been horribly derailed by his inability to lift his team. In reality, it was hardly his fault. It was just a rare off-year for a franchise used to success. But he wasn't having that at the time.
"A lot of guys took it personally," remembers Kinnear. "He was one of those guys."
All Davis could do was keep working. During the offseason, he increased his workouts, encouraged all along the way by his exercise partner, goalkeeper Tally Hall. Though he no longer kept to the strict regimen of the P90X workout, he was still diligent about maintaining discipline in his routine.
"I learned a lot about that experience personally," he says of that offseason, the furthest he'd been from an MLS Cup since joining the San Jose/Houston franchise in 2005. "You just can't take these moments for granted. It takes a lot of hard work to stay a good team, and it's that much harder to win Cup."
In the meantime, Kinnear and president of business operations Chris Canetti were busy restocking the roster yet again to keep the Dynamo from suffering a similar letdown in 2011. Fourteen new players were added, by far the biggest clear-out in club history.
Davis remembers walking back into the locker room for the first time this past spring and his jaw hitting the floor.
"The turnover was amazing," he recalls, "but it was also kind of rejuvenating. It's like knowing you've got a blank canvas to see what you can do."
And very early on, Davis realized that he was one of only four remaining players on the roster who remained from the last time the Men in Orange last hoisted MLS Cup in 2007. Houston's opening-day roster was an average age of a shade over 26, the sixth-youngest in the league.
Davis was surrounded by kids, many of whom, he realized, were going to look up to him, the same way he looked up to Barrett.
"I knew I was going to have to step up and do something special," he admits. "I was going to have to have a great year."
Passing of the Torch
"Pressure" is the word Davis uses. It's the responsibility he's put on himself to become a leader, the general his troops follow into battle. It's helped him maintain focus this season as Houston righted the ship over the course of an often bumpy year. And if you ask Davis, the fun is back again.
"I needed that pressure, to be totally honest," he says. "I had to put myself in this type of role. It reminds me of what I have to do. You have to lead by example, you have to do what people expect."
That includes everything, he says – from taking care of your body to handling yourself in a professional way off the field to making smart decisions. A week shy of his 30th birthday, it's now Davis who is one of the fittest players on Houston's roster. The parallels aren't lost on Barrett.
"Not everybody who progresses through their career ends up taking that leadership role," he says. "With all the turnover we had, guys needed to step into that role. Brad has welcomed the challenge. The key is that he continues to drive himself forward."
Davis' 2011 regular season was easily his best as a pro. Besides his 16 assists, he played in every league game (a personal first), led the league in chances created at 121, according to Opta (at 69, Philadelphia's Sébastien Le Toux was the next-closest) and spent nearly 3,000 minutes on the pitch.
And he also donned the captain's armband in 19 starts this season, perhaps signifying that his shift to become more like Dynamo stalwart Barrett has been a successful one for both Davis and the club.
He is the single most personifying piece of evidence of the Dynamo's turnaround in a year when many wrote them off before a single ball was kicked.
The cries for MVP have gotten louder as the season approached its close. And Davis isn't playing politics about it: He wants to win it.
"I'd be lying if I said I didn't," he says. "But it's not up to me. Hopefully [the voters] will see what's been accomplished, not just by myself, but by the whole team. If I don't win it, I'll still be proud of the season I've had."
Odds are, the Brad Davis of 10 years ago would be beaming with pride at his future self. He might even call him a role model, and offer to buy him a beer. And that's OK – even the new Brad Davis indulges every once in awhile.


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This HTML form module doesn't try to do everything for you, and thus avoids the primary reason most other form modules suck. (In his blog post on the creation of Chloro, Dave quotes Matt Trout as saying "form modules are... satan". Never have truer words been said.)
This is a pretty simple HTML form validation engine built on Moose. At its core, you define forms as classes using Moose types for field validation. It makes you design in terms of data, not the form presented to the user. It focuses on delivering a strong validation system, and leaves the HTML generation to other facilities better suited to the task (like, say, the templating system you almost surely already have in your application).
Even in its alpha state, I find it preferable to the other options in this domain on CPAN, enough so to use it in at least one production application.
I find that a lot of Dave Rolsky's modules tend to work their way into a lot of my projects, because they are all pretty well done and tend to be pretty ubiquitous in their use. Chloro is no exception.


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Today is the feast day of Saint Andrew, remembered as the first disciple. He's the brother of Simon Peter, and Andrew is the one who told Peter about Jesus. Andrew followed John the Baptist, and John the Baptist introduced Jesus as the true Messiah. Andrew believed, and Andrew brought his brother to see what he had seen.
Tradition has it that the brothers didn't give up their family fishing business at first, but eventually, Christ requested full commitment. I've always wondered about the family relationships that simmer in the background of the Gospels.
I remember one Gospel reading that mentioned Jesus healing the mother-in-law of Simon Peter. I thought, mother-in-law? That means there must have been a wife. What did the mothers and wives and mother-in-laws think of the men abandoning their fishing business to follow Jesus?
I also think about the sibling relationships here. What does Andrew think about Simon Peter, who quickly moves into the spotlight? Is Andrew content to stay in the background?
We know from the passage in Matthew that begins with Matthew 20:20, that there is competition to be Christ's favorite. We see the mother of James and John who argues for her sons' importance. We see the other disciples who become angry at the actions of this mother. I extrapolate to imagine that there's much jockeying for position amongst the disciples.
Christ never loses an opportunity to remind us that he's come to give us a different model of success. Again and again, he dismisses the importance that the world attaches to riches, to status, to a good reputation. Again and again, Jesus instructs us that the last will be first. Jesus tells us that the way to gain prestige with God is to serve.
We see stories that show that Andrew is the kind of disciple who is working for the glory of Christ, not for other reasons. In John's Gospel, Andrew is the one who tells Jesus about the boy with five barley loaves and two fish, and thus helps make possible the miraculous feeding.
Andrew was the kind of disciple we could use more of in this world. Andrew so believes in the Good News that he brings his family members to Christ, and he continued in this path, bringing the Gospel to people far and wide. We see him beginning this mission in John's Gospel, where he tells Christ of the Greeks that want to see him.
Andrew gets credit for bringing Christianity into parts of eastern Europe and western Asia: Kiev, Ukraine, Romania, Russia. He's the first bishop of the Church of Byzantium and patron saint of all sorts of places, from Scotland to Cyprus to Russia.
On this day when we celebrate the life of the first disciple, let us consider our own discipleship. Are we focused on the right tasks or are we hoping that our Christian faith brings us non-Christian glory? How can we help usher in the miracles that come with the presence of Christ? Who needs to hear the Good News as only we can tell it?
you're perfect just the way you are
4 months ago


text: Madikizela-Mandela has been accused of ordering four murders, including that of Stompie Sepei [EPA]A specialised missing persons unit in South Africa has opened a new investigation into the 1988 disappearance of two men last seen in the company of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, the ex-wife of Nelson Mandela, prosecutors said. Authorities said new information caused them to reopen the case of Lolo Sono and Siboniso Tshabalala. The two young men figured into Madikizela-Mandela's chaotic life in Soweto when she ran a soccer club and faced a host of allegations that she and those under her committed violent attacks. The National Prosecuting Authority of South Africa's Missing Persons Task Team, assigned to investigate disappearances from the apartheid era, is handling the investigation. Already, investigators have taken DNA samples from Shabalala and Sono's family members, spokesman Makhosini Nkosi said in a statement. "The investigations into this case are still ongoing and possible burial sites are still being examined on the basis of recently obtained information," Nkosi said. "No exact burial sites have yet been confirmed or excavated." Bodyguard unit Madikizela-Mandela married Mandela in 1958 and they spent 27 years apart while Mandela was imprisoned by South Africa's racist white government. While beloved by some, her behaviour grew increasingly erratic in the 1980s as crackdowns against her and the African National Congress liberation movement grew increasingly intense. She and her former bodyguard unit, known as the Mandela United Football Club, were accused of committing 18 killingsand other crimes during this period. The violence by young men she allowed to sleep at her house and sponsored as a soccer club caused the mainstream anti-apartheid movement to ostracise her. Exiled ANC leaders, on instructions from her jailed husband, ordered the club's disbandment. Madikizela-Mandela later was convicted on kidnapping and assault charges involving four young men in 1991. Initially sentenced to six years in jail, she was ordered to pay a $3,200 fine on appeal. In 1997, as she appeared before the country's Truth and Reconciliation Committee in what she described as an attempt to clear her name, Sono's father Nicodemus testified that he saw his son and Madikizela-Mandela in the same van. He said his son's face was puffy from a beating. Asked why his son was attacked, Nicodemus Sono said Madikizela-Mandela told him his son was a spy who needed to be dealt with. The van drove away, and Nicodemus Sono said it was the last time he ever saw his son. When it came time for her to offer testimony, Madikizela-Mandela described most of the accusations as "ludicrous," "lunacy" or "ridiculous". Madikizela-Mandela divorced Mandela in 1997. She currently is a member of the now-governing ANC political party's national executive committee. SOURCE: Agencies Africa South Africa


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Grab your FREE 'Easy Being Vegan' Pack
Grab your FREE 'Easy Being Vegan' pack
Vegan Coaching
Not Vegan Yet?
Benefits of Going Vegan
Get Started Slowly
What Will Vegans Eat?
What Won't Vegans Eat?
Food & Diet
Your FREE 'Easy Being Vegan' pack
Common Foods
Basic Nutrition
Interesting Food Buys
Easy Vegan Beginner Recipes
Further Support
Advanced Nutrition
Hidden Ingredients
Vegan Lifestyle
Vegan Toiletries
Vegan Cosmetics
Vegan Clothing
Vegan Waffle Mix from JM Posner
Personalised Vegan Products from Veronika Honestly
Vegan Beauty Makeover: A Book Review
Sunkissed Self-tan Mousse
I'm A Supervegan : A Children's Vegan Book Review
My Favourite Vegan BBQ Foods
Kiss or Cook: A Children's Vegan Book Review
Vegan Easter Gift Ideas
Why Vegans Should Visit Non-Vegan Restaurants (A Hooper and Howard's Kitchen Review)
Going Vegan Through Coronavirus
Child-Friendly Food For The Summer Holidays
My Favourite Vegan BBQ Foods
Vegan Spring Fashion – My Top Picks
Easy Vegan Family Meals – They'll Love Them!
Talking About Veganism To Family And Friends
Things You Should Do Before Going Vegan
How Can I Ditch Dairy For Good?
Making The Leap From Vegetarian To Vegan
Changing Habits As A New Vegan
Planning For Success As A New Vegan
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Surviving Your First Supermarket Shop As A New Vegan
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Going vegan can be a big lifestyle change, especially if you don't have any vegan family...
New Vegan


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Fixed tablesDining Tables | Contemporary Dining Tables | Modern Dining Tables
Fixed tablesTables are among the most ancient pieces of furniture ever invented. Since the old times, men and women had always felt the need to put their stuff - whether that be food or not - on flat surfaces. The traditional tables were made of wood and they have never went out of fashion. We do offer a lot of wooden tables, which may give a touch of warmth and cosiness to your kitchen or dining room. Many of these tables may also be used as desks where you can put your own computer, write or just study. Their design is suitable to kitchens, dining rooms, living rooms and also bedrooms. We have many prestigious suppliers, such as Compar, Sedit, Orme, Imperial Line and Stones.
Of course, we offer a very wide range of tables and wood is not the only material our tables are made of. We have metal, plastic and of course glass tables - which, despite a natural scepticism towards their durability, are resistant and reliable, especially if made by good manufacturers that use strong and tempered glass. We strongly suggest you to think a lot about the table you are going to choose. Tables are among the most important and significant pieces of furniture in every house - they are a symbol of sharing, of family life, of generosity and inclusion. Do you remember the musical Add a Place at the Table? Of course you do! We want you to feel proud and always willing to add another place at your beautiful and carefully picked table - which must be in style with the room and of course comfortable and big enough to welcome as many people as possible.
You can choose one of our traditionally four-legged tables, but of course you may find them in different shapes and styles, dimensions, materials and colours: from the ones with elegantly designed metal frames and tempered glass tops, to the completely pitch black ones that look stunning in any contemporary environment. These are only two kinds among the many rectangular tables - but if you like round tables more, we also have more than a solution for you. Our round tables may be four-legged or just have a single, cone-shaped column to support the flat surface. Of course, there are many dimensions of round tables as well - if you want your kitchen to seem like a cool coffee shop, then you can find small, stylish and tall tables, but if you have a big family that reunites for breakfast and dinner, before and after a long day, than you may want to consider our bigger ones, probably made of a material that is not as delicate as glass.
In the tables section, we also offer you the possibility to see our tables in a nice environment, whether that'd be in the kitchen, in the living room and so on. we really suggest you to consider the idea of considering a nice, maye glass table for your living room. it adds a touch of incredible style and you can use the surface to show off your ornaments, books and magazines. Give a look to our single pieces to find what suits your house best.
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Can Leeds Return to the EPL After a 13 Year Absence?
10 Apr 2017 10:19 am, by YorkshireSquare
The Championship is inundated with fallen giants, many of whom have struggled to regain their top flight status in the ultra-competitive Premier League era. This number includes Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa, who managed to win three European Cups between them in just four years between 1979 and 1982.
Then we have Leeds United, who were relegated from the Premier League 13 years ago and have even plumbed the depths of League One during this time.
The Yorkshire club has also won five major honours and two Inter-Cities Fairs Cups in its impressive history, while they remain the fifth best supported side in the Championship despite having spent more than a decade in the wilderness.
Can Leeds Make Their EPL Return This Season?
This year could mark Leeds' return to the EPL, however, with the club remaining in fifth place after an impressive 3-0 win over Preston at the weekend.
Monk's men are now three points clear of Yorkshire rivals Sheffield Wednesday (who recently kept up the pace with a thrilling 2-1 win against promotion favourites Newcastle), while more importantly they have maintained a five point lead over Fulham in seventh place.
The Cottagers are the only side that can realistically deny Leeds a play-off place, with the team 10 points clear of eighth place Derby County with just five matches to play.
However, it's important to note that securing a play-off place is still far from guaranteed. Leeds host Newcastle in the next game, for example, and the Magpies will be keen to bounce back from their recent defeat at Hillsborough and resume their title charge.
A home game against free-scoring Norwich City on 29th April will also be testing, as will the season finale at Wigan (the Latics are currently fighting to retain their Championship status).
In contrast, Fulham will fancy their chances of garnering points from their next four games, before steeling themselves for a final day clash with Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough.
What Do the Bookmakers Think? Is This Leeds' Year?
Even allowing for the competitive and unpredictable nature of the Championship (and the form of fellow promotion chasers Sheffield Wednesday and Fulham), Leeds have a clear advantage that should see them confirm their play-off place. The bookmakers have certainly recognised this. We can be backed at 1/12 to finish in the top six and are priced at 7/2 to achieve the ultimate goal of promotion. If you're going to put money on the Whites, Bonus Codes' offering of free bets may be worth a browse.
Of course, it is impossible to predict how Leeds will fare during the play-offs, particularly given that just five points separate sixth place from third. One thing that cannot be denied is the fact that the club's fans feel as though they are long overdue a return to the Premier League.
This could definitely be Leeds' year, although much will depend on how the players handle the expectation of the fans and imposing weight of history.


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Grains continued their selloff from last week with a gap open lower. December corn finished 12 ½ cents lower at $5.97 ¾, January soybeans 20 ¼ cents lower at $11.48, and December wheat 6 ¾ lower at $5.91 ½.
Outside markets helped push grains lower with the Dow Jones futures falling over 300 ticks at one point in the day. Crude oil was trading over $2 lower during the weakest part of the trading session while the dollar was stronger for much of the day. The outside market weakness was stemming from the failure of the Super Committee to produce a budget plan that they could agree upon, their deadline is midnight tonight. This is the 4th trading day in a row that December corn has finished lower. The near-term downside target for December corn is at the lows we found on July 1st and October 3rd in that lower to mid $5.70's (see chart). Of course if it does get to those levels, this doesn't mean it has to stop there, this is just where we found support in the past when production was still quite unknown. Of course production is expected to be well off of trendline levels, but we are still seeing demand rationing at these levels. Over the weekend Egypt contracted more Ukrainian and Russian wheat (240,000 MTs). Chinese corn imports are down 36.5% year to date. Every week we seem to be hearing more and more stories about Asian countries contracting feed grade wheat in place of corn. Until demand picks up we can see the price of corn and wheat continue to slip here in the US. Soybeans have not had great demand either, but if there were to be any weather problems in South America this winter we could see this market remain better supported than corn in that timeframe.
Fundamentally we still stand bearish especially in the wheat and corn markets. Technically these markets are also looking to point lower. Please call EHedger if you would like to discuss developing a marketing strategy for 2012. Our grain marketing software can help you discover your risk based on your current strategy and help you make marketing decisions going forward. Have a great week!
To receive a two week trial of our services please contact an EHedger broker today or sign up using the link below.
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Trading commodity futures and options involves substantial risk of loss and may not be suitable for all investors. You should carefully consider whether trading is suitable for you in light of your circumstances, knowledge and financial resources. The market information contained in this message has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but is not guaranteed as to its accuracy or completeness. Market information may not be consistent with current or future market positions of EHedger LLC, its affiliates, officers, directors, employees or agents.