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Thursday, February 4, 2010
Yay! and other things...
22 comments:
- littletoesandcheerios said...
I know on the 13th we are going out for an early breakfast and on the big V-day I hope we can at least have a nice dinner. I am making Andy a movie of our old pictures to the song My Valentine by Martina McBride.
- February 5, 2010 at 12:31 AM
- Delora said...
Miss Ives, I'm sorry that I didn't get in on your fantastic contest earlier! Is there an international version?
- February 5, 2010 at 4:55 AM
- Noe Noe Girl...A Queen of all Trades. said...
yeah kacey!
- February 5, 2010 at 5:28 AM
- Nurse Nancy said...
Congratulations to Kacey!
- February 5, 2010 at 7:17 AM
- Kacey said...
Yay! So cool. I love pink. I can always use more pink to ward off all the maleness around here. Thanks, Mama!
- February 5, 2010 at 8:12 AM
- I Am Woody said...
I can feel a good round of bathroom cleaning coming on for this weekend. Yuck! I need a maid!
- February 5, 2010 at 8:31 AM
- big hair envy said...
Spending it with you, Silly!!!
- February 5, 2010 at 8:55 AM
- abb said...
Perfect gal to get those earrings, though I really thought they were meant for me. Just sayin'.
- February 5, 2010 at 9:10 AM
- Snooty Primadona said...
I have to say that our recent ski trip was my early Valentine's Day. Since the snowflakes were flying, I just had to go! Otherwise, I'm going to do our standard Valentine's Day meal for the hubby. He's done it the last two years, so it must be my turn.
And, congrats to Kacey, the winner of those gorgeous earrings!
- February 5, 2010 at 9:47 AM
- Daryl said...
I am spending next weekend with a lot of wonderful women ...
- February 5, 2010 at 10:27 AM
- Tammy said...
Congrats to Kacey!!!
No plans for the non-holiday, I refuse to participate.
- February 5, 2010 at 11:21 AM
- Patty said...
Happy week-end. Hope it's a relaxing one.
- February 5, 2010 at 12:12 PM
- Country Girl said...
I'm seeing you. Yay! And so glad Kacey won. She loves pink.
- February 5, 2010 at 3:02 PM
- Chesapeake Bay Woman said...
Congratulations go Kacey. Valentines Day I'll be at your house! At least until we hop the train back home.
Can't wait!
- February 5, 2010 at 3:13 PM
- Decadent Housewife said...
Congrats to Kacey!
- February 5, 2010 at 5:58 PM
- Unknown said...
So happy for your winner : )
- February 5, 2010 at 8:28 PM
- Tracey9AD said...
Congrats, Kacey you lucky girl. You will be just gorgeous in those pink earrings!
I'm just a little sad I didn't get them.
- February 5, 2010 at 9:26 PM
- Deb said...
Oh, congrats Kasey...but I was planning an entire ensemble around those earrings! Just kiddin'.
- February 6, 2010 at 10:03 AM
- kim-d said...
I will be doing the same thing I do every other non-holiday day, except maybe a little more reminiscing than usual...you know, about the non-holiday days of years past. :)
And wishing I had pretty pink earrings...congrats to Kacey!
- February 6, 2010 at 6:38 PM
- Karen Deborah said...
whooo hoo for her hopefully she will model and do a photo!
- February 6, 2010 at 8:44 PM
- Suz Broughton said...
Sweet! Have a Happy Snow Storm! I like it.
- February 9, 2010 at 11:43 AM
- imbeingheldhostage said...
Yay Kacey! She'll post pictures wearing them, right?
- February 10, 2010 at 7:51 AM


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Capital Connections
This story appears in the March 1997 issue of Business Start-Ups magazine. Subscribe »
Phoenix businesses that are at least 2 years old, have a net worth of less than $7.5 million, and annual profits (after federal income tax) of less than $2.5 million may apply for microloan funds ranging from $25,000 to $100,000 through the Enterprise Community Microloan Participation Program operated by the city of Phoenix. Loans are provided by community lending institutions, with the city putting up 25 percent to 50 percent of the total loan amount. Call (602) 262-5040 for information.
- Manufacturing or light industrial firms in Irvine that are expanding, moving to the city or building a new facility to create or retain jobs can apply for up to $10 million at below-market interest rates through the Industrial Development Bond program. Proceeds can be used for capital improvements or equipment purchases. For information, contact Peter Cox at (714) 724-6364.
- The Southern California Funding Directory lists places to obtain equity or debt financing in Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties. The cost is $29.95 plus $5 for shipping. Order by calling (714) 855-0652.
Georgia exporters in business for at least one year who need a working capital guarantee can apply for one through the Georgia Export Finance Fund/Ex-Im Bank Co-Guarantee and Delegated Authority program. The program guarantees up to 90 percent of as much as $1 million for a specific transaction or a line of credit. For information, contact Jean Prasher at (404) 657-1958.
- The Illinois Department of Commerce and Community Affairs offers grants through its Technology and Practices Demonstration Program to help businesses and nonprofit groups create innovative technologies to use waste generated in Illinois. Entrepreneurs can apply for up to $150,000 and must supply a minimum of 10 percent of the requested amount in matching funds. For an application, call Ron Swager at (217) 785-2800.
- Loans of $2,000 to $15,000 are available through the MicroLoan Lending Program of the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at the Evanston Business and Technology Center. Loans are open to entrepreneurs in North and Northwest Cook counties. Contact the SBDC at (847) 866-1817.
Start-up and expansion grants and loans are available to nonprofit and for-profit small businesses in designated revitalization areas in the state. Through its Neighborhood Business Development Program, the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development will finance up to 50 percent of a project ranging from $25,000 to $500,000. For more information, call (410) 514-7288.
New Jersey
The Southern New Jersey Small Business MicroLoan Fund provides start-up or existing businesses in Camden, Burlington and Gloucester counties from $5,000 to $25,000 in financing. The fund is operated by the Small Business Association of Delaware Valley and Partners for Small Business Development Inc.; call (609) 667-3888.
Entrepreneurs and companies trying to develop technology can compete for funding from the Advanced Technology Program (ATP) through General Competition 97-01, offered by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). March 19 at 3 p.m. Eastern Standard Time is the deadline to submit a proposal; NIST estimates some 20 projects of about $1 million each will be funded. To receive proposal guidelines, call 800 ATP-FUND.
ATP is also seeking proposals for two other programs, Information Infrastructure for Healthcare and Motor Vehicle Manufacturing Technology. Companies that create information-processing technology for the health-care industry can compete for a total of $10 million to $15 million in prizes. The Motor Vehicles Manufacturing Technology program is looking for techniques to strengthen auto manufacturers' capabilities and lead to advances in the automotive production chain; this program also has $10 million to $15 million available. The deadline to submit proposals is 3 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on April 30. For more information, call (800) ATP-FUND, or visit ( http://www.atp.nist.gov ).
American Express Co. and AT&T Capital Corp. have created a joint venture company--American Express CapitaFinance LLC--to provide small-business equipment financing. American Express Corporate Card holders can obtain up to $25,000 on one- to five-year terms to purchase items ranging from office furniture and computers to faxes and telecommunications equipment. Call (800) 403-1288 for more information.
Contact Sources
City of Phoenix , Community and Economic Development Department, 200 W. Washington St., 20th Fl., Phoenix, AZ 85003-1611;
Industrial Development Bond Program , fax: (714) 724-6440;
Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development , 100 Community Pl., Crownsville, MD 21032-2023, ( http://www.dhcd.state.md.us );
MicroLoan Lending Program , Small Business Development Center, Evanston Business and Technology Center, Evanston Enterprise Bldg., 1840 Oak Ave., Evanston, IL 60201, fax: (847) 866-1808;
National Institute of Standards and Technology , fax: (301) 926-9524, ( http://www.atp.nist.gov );
Small Business Association of Delaware Valley , Ave. of Commerce, 2428 Rte. 38, #201, Cherry Hill, NJ 08002;
Southern California Funding Directory , fax: (714) 859-1707;
Technology and Practices Demonstration Program , Bureau of Energy and Recycling, Illinois Department of Commerce and Community Affairs, 325 W. Adams St., Rm. 300, Springfield, IL 62704;
U.S. Export Assistance Center , Georgia Department of Industry, Trade and Tourism, 285 Peachtree Center Ave., #200, Atlanta, GA 30303.

subset: commoncrawl


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Questions you should ask yourself when buying replacement windows
As homeowners, we understand the substantial difference windows can make in our homes, but we aren't always sure which window selection will provide our home the most transformative effect. If you are beginning the process of replacing windows in your home, these are some important questions to ask yourself.
The most appropriate place to begin in the window replacement process is establishing your goals for the aesthetic of your space and what aspects are most important to you in the transition:
- Why are you replacing windows? This question could create a series of answers such as a new room design, ease of operation, better light, more protection from the outside elements and so on. No matter the reason, after determining your key reasons for replacing, the process of selecting replacement windows becomes purposeful.
- Is energy efficiency a deciding factor? While many types of windows offer a variety of benefits for your home's overall energy efficiency, there are other factors that impact efficiency in the same way. Would a shading device or overhang outside the window help with these efforts in addition to the energy-efficient windows? Depending on the location of the windows in your house, particular areas of your home may also be customarily warmer or cooler, which is all good to know if energy efficiency is vital to you.
- What style of window is preferred; traditional or contemporary? Answering this question and knowing your preferences is a simple way to eliminate certain styles of windows and further along the decision process. If you are not sure how to name or describe your preferred style, finding pictures or examples of styles that you like can help the window pros make a recommendation on the right product for your space.
- What are the long-term plans for this window replacement? Thinking about the future of the space you are replacing windows in is important in the decision-making process, too. This space, inside or outside, could help influence the functionality of the windows you choose. You may intend for more light in this area or greater privacy in the future, making this the ideal opportunity to consider those options.
These questions should help you narrow down essentials for new windows, while remaining open to other possibilities within your specifications. Planning at the beginning and asking yourself the important questions can result in the right replacement windows for your home. Our professionals at Pella Windows and Doors are ready to assist you in finding these ideal windows. Give our team a call today at 208-373-0002 or conveniently schedule an appointment online.


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Zalman and quiet computing go together hand in hand, and once this unit with its 120mm fan was installed in our test PC, the noise from the CPU cooler became more pronounced than ever. But apart from the lack of noise, there's nothing unique about this PSU from Zalman.
You'll get all the connectors that you could need, such as SATA adaptors, 20/24-pin ATX, and plenty of Molex cables. However all ATX v2.2 PSUs available today offers all of these. Unless you wish to run a hefty dual GPU configuration, 460W will satisfy your requirements.
However, there are many other branded PSUs out there offering more than 460W with added features such as modular cabling, costing less than this PSU. You may not get the ultra quietness of this product but there are many new units that are close to silent anyway.
With the hefty price tag and the reduced number of features, the ZM460B isn't up to the grade we usually expect from Zalman.


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Days into an unprecedented social-media push on behalf of a criminal defendant, George Zimmerman's attorney,Mark O'Mara, is already owning up to two missteps.
Neither one is significant enough to greatly impact his case. At least so far.
But the lessons in the days since O'Mara launched a voice for Zimmerman on Twitter and Facebook, as well as a blog (gzlegalcase.com), show just how dicey such exploits can be for a criminal defendant.
O'Mara may be the first criminal-defense attorney to use social media in this way.
But if he isn't careful, he could really step in it. He could find himself wiping virtual dung from his virtual shoe — but never fully ridding his case of the very real stench that's left behind.
It's easy to understand O'Mara's motives. He has already helped humanize Zimmerman and wants to maintain control over his image. He wants to correct falsehoods circulating about the case. And he wants to monitor the online conversations, hoping to glean nuggets of information that could be helpful to the defense.
But he's also providing another forum — as if there weren't enough already — for people to spout unsubstantiated theories and opinions about the man who killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin and is claiming self-defense.
Some of the Facebook threads have more than 100 comments. You have to wonder whether O'Mara is helping to calm pretrial publicity — or fuel it.
"I hope you get Zimmerman acquitted so that I can go to Florida, stalk people because I don't like the way they look, and then shoot them if they dare defend themselves," one poster wrote on the Facebook site.
There's more like that. And worse.
O'Mara acknowledges his strategy is experimental.
He says he's taking a conservative approach and won't discuss the facts of the case.
He's posted five times on the blog since Saturday on topics such as why he started the website and why he's waiting to demand evidence from prosecutors (he wants to try to keep information about witnesses private).
On Wednesday, he responded to news reports of Zimmerman's old MySpace page, including posts that contained disparaging remarks about Mexicans and a reference to previous criminal charges that were dropped. He confirmed it was his client's.
"We believe that inviting public scrutiny of the contents of this social media account invites scrutiny of the social media accounts of all parties involved," he wrote.
O'Mara is upfront about the mistakes he's made so far.
He took down a question he posted on Facebook asking what people thought about the $200,000 Zimmerman raised through a previous website set up before O'Mara took his case.
"That may be a little too close to a lobbying effort or a fact-specific effort," he said.
He is also distancing himself from a new website he set up to collect money for Zimmerman's defense.
"If I had thought it through, I wouldn't have done it with my name at all," he said, adding that he didn't want to appear to be soliciting dollars to pad his own paycheck. He has hired a former IRS agent and accountant to administer the fund and is waiting for official approval from the state Department of Consumer Affairs.
O'Mara, an experienced attorney whose style is much more down-to-earth than showman, acknowledges this may appear unbecoming to some — but argues he has little choice.
"It's taking more time than I thought," he said. "I'm getting a little bit of flak for it. But I've got to say, it's so here to stay."
He's right about that. In a case that is as high-profile as Zimmerman's, social media have become an irresistible force — for better or for worse.
O'Mara is simply joining what he could never beat on his own.
firstname.lastname@example.com or 407-420-5448


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TrakDealaz, Boogz Boogetz, R. Fox, Sleezo Bang, & Stone Freestyle Cipher Session!
Boogz Boogetz, R. Fox, Sleezo Bang & Stonez of O.T.L. (Outta They League)...The TrakDealaz are working with everyone in the game!!! For more info on The TrakDealaz go to MySpace.com/trakdealaz &
Please click the "Report" button below if the video on this page is not working properly.
Comments will only be displayed by verified emails. No Spamming or Racism.


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Date: OngoingOrganized By: Doobert
State: TNContact: firstname.lastname@example.com
Simply by using your vehicle you can save animals -Volunteer your time to transport animals along what is called a "Rescue Relay Transport". Each week there are hundreds of animal rescue transports taking place where animals are moved from high-kill shelters to no-kill shelters and rescue organizations, as well as foster homes and adopters. It's easy for you to get involved and help save more animals simply by driving a leg in this relay.
How it works:
1. Sign-up on Doobert.com or use the Facebook plug-in (search for "Doobert Rescue" on Facebook) and specify the days you're available, the distance you're willing to drive, and then sit back and we'll do the rest.
2. When an animal rescue organization posts a transport request, the system will automatically search to see if it matches your profile (if you're available and within the distance) and then it automatically sends you an e-mail.
3. Then you simply click on the leg that you can cover and everyone else will see that you've signed up for that leg.
4. You'll get communications from the transport coordinator and, once the transport is a "go", you simply drive to the meeting place, load up the animals, and drive them to the next meeting place to hand them off to the next volunteer. You'll get plenty of doggy kisses and thank you's along the way as the animals know you are there to help them.
There are videos on www.doobert.com that walk you through the process and give you tips and tricks on how to do transport. It's simple - and we need volunteers across the country, so share with your friends and help save an animal today!
Matching Interests: Outdoors, Geared for 50+ volunteers, Family friendly, Requires Physical Ability (for example, lift 50 lbs.), Animals
This volunteer listing is provided by AARP's Create the Good. Visit Create The Good to search more volunteer opportunities or post your own opportunity.


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High-tech tools find body in Indiana pond
- Car that Morgan Johnson last drove was below surface of small retention pond
- Autopsy on body found in car planned for Saturday
- Police also used sonar technology to search pond
PLAINFIELD, Ind. -- More than two years had passed since anyone heard from Morgan Johnson.
His family and friends organized repeated searches for the Plainfield man, 27, when he went missing. Plainfield police — though criticized by Johnson's family for not investigating more aggressively — said they never gave up on finding him.
It was that determination, investigators said, along with the discovery of some helpful technology, that led them Friday morning to a small, murky retention pond in Plainfield. Below the surface was the Pontiac Grand Am that Johnson last drove, and inside it was a body; an autopsy Saturday will determine whether it is the missing man's as well as a cause of death. Also still under investigation is how the car wound up in the pond.
Plainfield police Lt. Jeff Stephens, a detective who took over Johnson's case about two months ago, credited the technology — particularly a tracing method that he recently learned in a cellphone forensics class, as well as the sonar device with which police finally found the car.
But it was also hard work that led them there.
"We've searched multiple ponds," Stephens said. "We've done aerial searches. This case was never put to rest."
Johnson was reported missing in May 2011 after leaving the extended-stay hotel where he was living in the Plainfield area. At the time, he was working as a customer service representative at Brightpoint in Plainfield.
He said he was taking a few days off to attend a grandfather's funeral in Washington, D.C., but his family said he never made it there.
It wasn't until about a month later that authorities issued a "Silver Alert" seeking help in the search for Johnson. By then, widespread publicity was circulating around the still-unsolved disappearance of Indiana University student Lauren Spierer in early June 2011.
In July 2011, Johnson's family filed a civil rights complaint against the Plainfield Police Department, alleging racism and mishandling of the missing-person investigation.
In the complaint filed by Ann and Carl Smith with the Indiana Civil Rights Commission, the family said police had failed to explore all clues, did not check Johnson's computer nor conduct an aerial search for his car.
Plainfield police denied the allegations at the time and said detectives followed up on every lead.
Investigators on Friday said that since May 2011, virtually every detective in the Plainfield department had worked on the case.
"We didn't give up," Stephens said. "We searched everything we could possibly search."
Police officials said they had been in touch Friday with Johnson's family, who did not reply to phone messages from The Indianapolis Star.
Avery Garrett, a friend of Johnson, said he has mixed emotions about Friday's discovery.
"I kind of knew something like this would happen," he said. "But I also kind of held that hope that he was somewhere and something happened to him, but he was still OK."
Garrett commended Stephens for not giving up on the search.
"He looked at the facts," he said. "He took ownership of the case."
Stephens said a course in cellphone forensics showed him how to track the last signal from Johnson's phone to a specific area. The technology revealed that Johnson was checking voice mail before his phone died — and that he was within a mile of the pond where the car was found.
But at least 15 ponds were in the area of that last signal, and Plainfield investigators said they searched 13 on Thursday.
Earlier this week, Stephens got in touch with Team Watters Sonar and Search Recovery Inc., an Illinois-based nonprofit that specializes in assisting law enforcement in recovering remains, vehicles and other items.
Friday morning, the group's drone boat with sonar technology detected Johnson's car in a pond just north of Interstate 70. At the bottom of the boat was a transducer that took an ultrasound-like photo of the car, submerged at least 7 feet below the surface.
A conventional boat, officials said, could not have accessed the retention pond, which appeared almost too small to hold a car.
"We really never thought we were going to find anything in the pond. If it weren't for this boat, that pond would not have been searched," said Dennis Watters, who co-founded Team Watters with his wife, Tammy.


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There are many ways to get rid of itchy skin naturally. Itchy skin disease also known as pruritus, it is a feeling that arises automatically makes a person want to scratch spontaneously. But the act of scratching can lead to something more severe the appearance of redness on the skin and scratches. Even sometimes the itching was increasing because irritation persists of the skin.
Causes of Itchy Skin
Itchy skin can be caused by several factors such as insect bites, allergies, medications and so on. But the majority are caused by allergies and fungi.
There are simple ways that can be used to distinguish the cause of itching, by observing the location and at the onset of itching. Itching in the folds of a damp, typically caused by a fungus. While in the body that is easy contact with objects, usually due to an allergic reaction. For example, after using the soap, liniment, detergents, cosmetics, plastics, metals (imitation watches or jewelry), skin, or cement.
Home Remedies To Get Rid of Itchy Skin Naturally
Oatmeal and Milk
Milk bath. Combine oatmeal in milk evaporation (milk that has reduced water content and use for bathing. Oatmeal (1-2 small bowls) can also be mixed with warm water in a bathtub. Susu worked well enough to drive itching on the skin and makes the skin more subtle.
Baking soda
Baking soda (about 1 small bowl) can also be mixed into the tub of warm water to reduce itching due to irritation, insect bites, bee stings, and more. Soak about 30-60 minutes. For little wounds in the skin, mix three parts baking soda with one part water and apply this paste to the itchy area. However, do not do this if the skin is injured.
Apply lemon juice to the itching part of the body, allow it to dry. Lemon contain anesthetic and anti-inflammatory ingredients to overcome powerful itching.
Aloe Vera
Apply aloe vera flesh to itch part. Substance in the aloe vera not only can overcome the burn, but also itching.
Peppermint oil
Bathing with water spiked with peppermint oil. For areas bit, brewed mint leaves and use the water to wash away the itching part of the body, or dip a clean cloth into water and then steeping mint leaves compress the itching part of the body. Menthol mint contains anesthetic and anti-inflammatory nature. Rosmarinik acid are also anti-inflammatory in it that are easily absorbed into the skin.
Apple cider vinegar
Add two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar in the water bath and the itching will be reduced.
Cold compress
Compress part of itching with a cold compress.
Tips To Get Rid Of Itchy Skin With Medication
1. To overcome itching, rather than trying products that have not been known be better addressed by the provision of a powder that contains 2% salicylic acid. The powder is safe for dry skin conditions and can be bought in drug stores. Use the powder after a bath, morning and afternoon on the itchy areas. Next, go to the doctor. If necessary, to a skin specialist.
2. For itching due to fungi, including skin fungus and athlete's foot, you should immediately go to the doctor or dermatologist.
3. The drug can be taken using antihistamines (such as hydroxizin and diphenhydramine) can help reduce the itching, but these drugs cause drowsiness. Antihistamines are usually not given in the form of spreads directly to the skin because it can cause an allergic reaction.
4. The thing to remember. Your sensitive skin should be more critical in buying products that are worn on the skin, such as soaps, cosmetics, skin care products, perfumes, and medicines rub. Do not hesitate to ask the experts, before buying a particular product.
How To Prevent Itchy Skin
Here are some tips to get rid of itchy skin
- Always keep your skin clean by bathing at least 2x a day
- Always keep the skin to keep dry and humid
- For this type of itch contagious, avoid direct contact with patients itch
- Avoid wearing clothing that was used by people with itching
- Avoid wearing clothing made from nylon
- Do not consume food and medicines that can cause allergies.
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A Marble Dining Table with Liquored Surface Finish made of marble and resin for longer durability. This table is finished with a black and white coloured top, and onyx pattern around surface edges and base. (See the photographs) It is a very generous 180cms long and 100cms wide, meaning you can seat 6-8 diners in comfort depending on your choice of table size. It will definitely be the talking point of your dinner parties and the focal point of any dining room. It comes with six solid wood with cream fabric chairs.
Moscow Marble Dining Table 180CM + 6x Black Straightback Chairs
Marble Table and 6 Modern Dining Chairs
Includes Free Delivery and Fittings*
In Stock Ready for Delivery
With our new range Table and Chair designs you can get the first opportunity to own these beautiful pieces of furniture.
Table Size: Length: 180cm Width: 100cm Height: 75cm
Table Weight: 100kgs
Chair length: Chairs – 50cms wide x 108cms tall. Weight – 25kgs each
Chair Weight: 25kgs
We have our own delivery team who will come out to deliver your table to the choice of your room, unpack and assemble the table. All the packaging will be taken away to be recycled if you do not wish to keep them. We are sure you will not have any issue with our tables as they are fantastic in design and in quality. However, should you have any questions or queries or you would like to visit our show room, please contact us on the details below:
Email: email@example.com
Phone: 01353 967182
Mobile: 07399 144125
If you are unsure of the colour or the quality of this table You are welcome to visit our showroom by pre-arrangement. For all other delivery address please contact us before buying so we can discuss whether that we can provide free delivery or have to charge.


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I believe this may be the first time I have written about Google's operating system named Chrome OS. First, it is important to distinguish the operating system from the browser of the same name. A browser is a program that runs on your computer to provide you access to the Internet. An operating system is the program installed on your computer to operate the entire computer. Obviously, the most popular and used operatings systems are Windows based with well over 90% of the computers using Windows. Apple's operating systems are a distant second with about 6%. See NetMarketshare.com. Statistics on operating systems are difficult to interpret because every release and update of an operating system is considered to be a new operating system. So, you don't just get statistics for Windows vs. Apple, you get numbers for Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7 and etc.
Finding accurate statistics on operating systems' usage is further complicated by the fact that there is a further distinction between the types of computers. Desktop computers, laptops, tablets and smartphones are all considered separately because they run different operating systems.
After doing a rather extensive review of websites monitoring the statistics of operating systems, I couldn't find any significant market penetration listed for Chrome operating systems.
Presently, the only computers that come pre-loaded with Google's Chrome operating system are those sold under the Chromebook label.
The main limitation with the Chrome OS discussed in the online world is that the operating system only works completely when it is connected to the Internet. There is also a lot of discussion about the availability of compatible software. Presently, its usage is entirely limited to online genealogy programs. None of the popular genealogical database applications run on Chromebooks. I'll keep monitoring the situation and report any changes.


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BMW 5 Series Carbon Fibre M-Style Boot Spoiler (F10)
High Quality Carbon Fiber Boot Spoiler designed to fit the BMW 5 Series F10 (M5- Style)
One Piece Design
Light weight yet very strong
Length End to End – 120cm (47in) (Straight line)
Professional fitment of the spoiler is recommend, as not to have any issues with alignment, but most spoilers are simple to attach.
Feel free to ask any questions you like as we want to make sure you get the correct part for your car.
Additional Information
|Car Model
|Body Type
|4 Door (Saloon)
|Carbon Fiber
|Boot Spoiler
|2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015
Installing a PU / FRP/ Carbon Fiber
Detailed Instructions: https://www.skunkwurx.co/blog/how-to-install-a-boot-trunk-spoiler-on-a-bmw-mercedes/
Installing these spoilers is simple, some spoilers come with 3M tape either in Roll form or pre-Applied.
If this is not the case most local amenities will sell a thick double sided tape or adhesive of type (Not recommended to Hot Glue or Super Glue).
If the Spoiler is PU or FRP please remember to have your spoiler prepped with cleaning and spraying colour of choice, our spoiler only come in either Black or Primer Grey.
(See Images)
TEST FIT THE SPOILER FIRST Make sure your spoiler is level
Peel back the 3m tape (Red Side)
Push, with force, into place on the rear boot or roof of the car depending on the spoiler chosen.
Easy as that!
Make sure your spoiler is level and clean after.


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"Take 5 for Heart Health" with LMC
Lexington Medical Center is pleased to introduce its "Take 5 for Heart Health" campaign for February. "Take 5 for Heart Health" encourages community members to take time for their heart health with five key elements: Eat Right, Chill Out, Get Moving, Call 911 and Learn CPR. As part of the innovative program, Lexington Medical Center is partnering with Midlands businesses to provide free heart health events including exercise classes and stress relief activities throughout the month of February.
Community members can sign up for free classes and activities at www.lexmed.com/take5. The events include fitness classes, bowling at Anchor Lanes, volunteering at Pawmetto Lifeline and the Harvest Hope Food Bank, golf at Rawl's Creek Golf, an olive oil and vinegar tasting at The Classy Cruet, cooking demonstrations with Charleston Cooks, salsa and tango classes with Vista Ballroom, a Riverwalk tour with Palmetto Outdoors, ice skating and roller skating at Plex Indoor Sports, tickets to University of South Carolina basketball games, a grocery store tour to learn about healthy food shopping and lessons about plants at Riverbanks Botanical Garden. And that's just the beginning. Participants at the classes and events are encouraged to wear red as a sign of support for spreading the message about heart health.
"We're thrilled with the response we've had from our business partners to provide important heart health education to our community," said Barbara Willm, vice president of Community Relations at Lexington Medical Center.
The idea is to educate our community about heart health and encourage people to lead a heart-healthy life through exercise, education and minimizing stress. Heart disease is an epidemic in South Carolina. One out of every three deaths in our state is related to cardiovascular disease. Lexington Medical Center is dedicated to treating heart disease with comprehensive cardiovascular care.
For a full list of events, visit www.lexmed.com/take5. Businesses can sign up to offer free classes and participants can register on the website. Each participant must sign up in advance. Class space is limited and classes will close when they reach capacity.
During the month of February, you can also see Lexington Medical Center's 2014 heart commercial. The 60 second spot, produced by Lexington Medical Center, personifies a heart attack and educates viewers about heart attack symptoms in women. The commercial is a continuation of last year's heart commercial, "I Am A Heart Attack." You can view both commercials on YouTube.com/LexingtonMedical.
The campaign will culminate with an interactive Heart Fair on Sunday, March 2 from 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. at the Doubletree Hotel at the intersection of Interstate 20 and Bush River Road in Columbia.
Here are five ways that you can Take 5 for Heart Health:
• Eat every 3 to 5 hours during the day to avoid overeating at mealtimes.
• Use simple breathing techniques to lower your heart rate and blood pressure.
• Strive for 30 minutes or more of moderate physical activity on most days of the week.
• When it comes to heart attack and stroke, call 911 instead of driving yourself or a loved one to an emergency department.
• Learn CPR. It can save a life.


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Ragged Tooth Sharks
Also known as the 'sand tiger' or 'grey nurse' shark, the ragged tooth shark's rather frightening appearance is quite deceiving. These sharks are relatively tame and placid and will usually only attach if they are cornered or provoked. Because of their frightening appearance, the ragged tooth sharks are ideal for animated photography.
All images copyright Chris Fallows 2014
A Ragged tooth/Sand tiger/Grey Nurse Shark patrols a shallow reef system of South Africa's south Cape coast. Despite their fearsome appearance these sharks almost exclusively feed on other species of fish.
Air Jaws
Carpe Diem
The Essence of Seal Is...
Balancing on a Knife's...
Portrait of a Predator
information on prints
Print size may not be exactly as advertised and may vary slightly according to image dimensions. Larger photographic print sizes may be available on request. Please contact us directly regarding your preferred print and print size.
C-Type prints on Fuji Crystal Archive Gloss paper, printed on a Lightjet 430 printer. Fuji Crystal Archive paper is a true photographic paper printed in a darkroom and developed using traditional methods. It's known for vivid reproduction of subtle shades of green to more vivid blues, deeper reds and cleaner yellows. It has more natural skin tones and lifelike texture and sharpness. It also has brilliant whites with improved highlight details.
Signed prints
Chris Fallows may be away at the time of the order and customers will be given the option to wait for his return or to receive the print unsigned.
Print finish
All prints are Matte finish.
Art prints
Both the canvas and the inks used are archival and the print is guaranteed to last. It is important to handle the prints with care to ensure longevity. All prints are sold unstretched for shipping ease. Recommended framing solution: Canvas can be stretched over a 23 mm or 50 mm thick stretcher frame in white or black.
All orders are sent airmail via the South African postal service. Airmail delivery time is 14 working days. Orders may be couriered on special request and at an additional cost to the customer based on the dimensions and weight of each order. Please contact us directly for this service.
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Please expect 3 weeks delivery time from time of order.
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If any product is received in a damaged condition the product will only be replaced at no extra charge once the product is shipped back to Apex at the customer's expense.
The customer agrees to pay for the shipping of the replacement product.
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Any product that is lost in the postal service will be resent at no extra charge.
Orders will only be considered 'lost' once 8 weeks since postal date has passed.
Photographic prints are sent registered airmail so a signature check will first need to take place. As per the post office this process can take up to 8 weeks.
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Truro Wide TV Unit
Product Description
Truro is a gorgeous collection of bedroom, dining and living room furniture. Skilfully crafted from solid oak and oak veneer, this wholesome collection offers quality and style that's made to last. Furthermore, this collection is highly versatile and will compliment a variety of interior settings; both modern and traditional. Some of the pieces within the collection are available in a choice of metal or wooden handles; please enquire for further details.
Truro's wide TV unit is part of the stunning contemporary solid oak and oak veneer range with an attractive and unique curved finish to the tops and legs. It comes with a storage cupboard on either side with a centrally positioned drawer in between and open spaces above that to house your media boxes. Supplied with the option of chrome or wooden handles, you can complete the look to suit your taste.
Dimensions - Width 145cm x Depth 40cm x Height 50cm
DeliveryWe offer a free delivery on all orders over £150 in a 50 mile radius. There are certain products we can send further (due to our suppliers doing a direct home delivery service) and on large orders we can discuss whether it would be possible for us to do. All our own deliveries are by our trusted team, and where possible and practical all items are unpacked and inspected in our warehouse prior to delivery.
Product Features
- Dimensions: Width 145cm x Depth 40cm x Height 50cm
Truro Wide TV Unit
To Order - Approx 4-8 weeks
Home Delivery
UK mainland delivery from FREE check delivery cost
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Last night at New York University's Center for Law and Security, the man spearheading Iran sanctions, Treasury Department Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David Cohen, ran down his office's successes in hitting Iran where it hurts.
"Taking aim at Iran's oil revenues, combined with squeezing Iran's access to the international financial system ever more tightly, created a dynamic that encouraged Iran to come to the negotiating table earlier this year," said Cohen, reading directly from his prepared remarks.
But those talks, for the moment, are going nowhere fast, and the story of the day has become Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's calls for a more aggressive posture from the U.S.—so far rebuffed. But Israel was bound to come up. And it did, sort of.
The last questioner of the night—Cohen took no queries from the two rows in the back set aside for press—came from a young unidentified man in a dark suit. He made oblique reference to "countries impatient that sanctions are not enough."
"In working with our international partners, do we sometimes find people who are more important or more skeptical? Of course," Cohen replied. "It's a big and complicated world, and different countries have different perspectives."
This was a very diplomatic understatement from the Treasury man. Well more than just perspectives separate allies these days. Nonetheless, the frank and self-evident statement makes for a welcome departure from the incessant mantra that there's "no daylight" between the two countries when, in reality, you could get a tan lying between them. The discourse, though, could still use a stronger dose of reality. A good start might be naming the countries.


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The Royal Caribbean cruise line on Sunday ended a ship's 10-day trip in the Caribbean two days early after nearly 650 passengers and crew members were sickened with a gastrointestinal illness and the company said it was "unable to deliver the vacation our guests were expecting."
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said early Monday that 595 of the 3,050 passengers aboard the 15-deck ship reported getting sick during the cruise that left Cape Liberty Cruise Port in Bayonne, N.J., on Tuesday. Fifty crew members also reported feeling ill, according to the CDC.
The Miami-based company made the announcement to cut the trip short a few hours after CDC officials boarded the Explorer of the Seas during its U.S. Virgin Islands port call to investigate the illness and evaluate the outbreak response.
"New reports of illness have decreased day-over-day, and many guests are again up and about. Nevertheless, the disruptions caused by the early wave of illness means that we were unable to deliver the vacation our guests were expecting," the company said in a statement.
The ship is expected back in New Jersey on Wednesday.
According to the Staten Island Advance, the parents of City Council Minority Leader Vincent Ignizio are aboard the ship, but the politician told the paper they haven't gotten sick and are in good spirits.
"Their best friend is Purell these days and when in port they're spending as much time outside the ship as possible," Ignizio told the Advance.
Tests are required to confirm the cause of the outbreak, but fast-spreading norovirus is often to blame for similar symptoms sweeping closed quarters like those on cruise ships.
Royal Caribbean said special cleaning products and disinfectants proven to kill norovirus were being used to clean the ship before it returned to the U.S. It said a full sanitizing program would be carried out after the Explorer of the Seas reached its home port Wednesday.
Janet Diaz, a company spokeswoman, said CDC representatives boarded the Explorer of the Seas during the afternoon when it docked in St. Thomas, the main island of the U.S. Virgin Islands. During the previous port call in Puerto Rico, the ship underwent "extensive and thorough sanitizing" to help prevent more people from getting sick, she said.
Passengers and crew who fell ill have "responded well to over-the-counter medication being administered onboard the ship," Diaz said.
On Friday, an Explorer of the Seas passenger named Arnee Dodd tweeted that she had become ill aboard the ship and was quarantined with the other sick people. The Connecticut woman wrote that ship employees "put a lock down on food & are constantly cleaning everything."
Royal Caribbean said it was "taking several steps" to compensate passengers for the shortened trip. It also sought to assure customers scheduled for the ship's next voyage that "all possible measures will have been taken to prevent further problems."


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What we read while being constantly reminded to never forget…
- Are you sick of 9/11 anniversary pieces yet? If not, here are some shocking photos from that day and it's aftermath, as well as a few different reviews of the World Trade Center memorial, which opens today in New York City. Also, religious people got upset that yesterday's ceremonies weren't more religious (yeah… there's some irony there).
- Is Obama's new environmental policy actually bad for jobs (in addition to being bad for, you know, the environment)? And are jobs obsolete anyway?
- A former Republican Congressional aide gives an excoriating account of the current GOP. But Jon Huntsman is a huge Captain Beefheart fan, so it's not all bad.
- Chuck Klosterman sat down with Noel Gallagher, who is surprisingly self-aware (considering Liam is his brother).
- Jonah Keri breaks down the turnaround of the Texas Rangers.
- Are we using the U.S. Open as an excuse to link, once again, to DFW's 2006 Roger Federer profile? Yes, yes we are.
- The Institute for Justice is fighting to liberate food trucks.


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|System: Xbox 360, PS3, PS4, Xbox One
|Dev: Ubisoft Montreal
|Pub: Ubisoft
|Release: December 17, 2013
|Players: 1
|Screen Resolution: 480p-1080p
|Blood, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Use of Alcohol, Violence
This is precisely the place where the "game" part of video gaming can get in the way of exploring serious topics. The Assassin's Creed series has a well-established formula that this piece of DLC needed to follow, and it makes sense in game terms to tie Adéwalé's progression to the number of slaves he has freed. On the other hand, this kind of reward structure removes humanity from the slaves the game depicts. I'm not condemning Ubisoft, which made an honest attempt to be respectful towards the people it was depicting in the game, but I think it's worth discussing whether there were better options for this DLC than tallying up a freed slave count and giving players goodies as rewards.
I'm also given pause by the fact that the only major female character in the DLC is, once again, a brothel madam. Ubisoft's willingness to explore the difficult subject of slavery underlines the fact that the Assassin's Creed series has a habit of limiting its female characters to the sex trade. Even Freedom Cry uses prostitutes as a game mechanic without questioning prostitution, an industry which has always traded heavily on trafficked and enslaved women.
One game concept that does work and contributes heavily to the uncomfortable nature of Freedom Cry is the fact that neither the player nor Adéwalé will ever be able to free all the slaves. For Adé, this is one of the main themes of the story. For the player, it plays out in the fact that "events" respawn regularly and freed plantations are eventually taken by a new owner. There's no comfortable sense of solving the problem of slavery here, more like helplessly trying to plug holes in an eternally leaking ship. I'm not sure if the respawns were made that way to purposefully underline the impossible enormity of Adé's task, but they certainly reminded me that although the slaves of Haiti eventually gained their independence, almost no other slave revolts in the Western Hemisphere were successful, and it would be more than a hundred years from the time this story takes place until slavery was fully abolished.
Despite its issues, both technical and philosophical, I'm giving Freedom Cry a "must play" rating. I think it's an important start in tackling such a difficult and tragic topic via the medium of interactive entertainment. Few companies are brave enough to even bring up topics like slavery and genocide in a real-world setting. You should play it, and you should feel uncomfortable, angry, and sad while playing it. Adéwalé may not have been a real person, but this is our history, and the reality of slavery was even more brutal than the game depicts. Freedom Cry may stumble, but it opens up some important discussions that we should be having as gamers and human beings.
Becky Cunningham
Contributing Writer
Date: January 6, 2014


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Joe Raedle / Getty Images file
A Bushmaster XM-15 .223-caliber rifle, the type of weapon that authorities say Sandy Hook Elementary School gunman Adam Lanza used to inflict most of the fatalities.
NEWTOWN, Conn. -- The three guns carried by the gunman in the bloody Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting were all purchased by his mother since 2010, law enforcement sources told NBC News on Tuesday.
The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that Nancy Lanza, who friends described as a gun enthusiast, purchased the weapons legally over a three-year period, beginning in 2010 with a Bushmaster XM-15 .223-caliber semi-automatic assault-style rifle -- the weapon that authorities say 20-year-old Adam Lanza used to mow down the victims in Friday's rampage. She then bought a 9 mm Sig Sauer pistol in 2011, followed by a 10 mm Glock pistol in January 2012. Both weapons also were in Adam Lanza's possession during his attack on the school, and he used the latter to kill himself when police arrived on the scene, authorities say.
Adam Lanza killed his 52-year-old mother at the home they shared before driving to the school and forcing his way in. Once inside, he killed 20 children and six adults before committing suicide, authorities say.
In addition to the weapons recovered at the crime scene, including a shotgun recovered from the trunk of the car the gunman drove to the school, the Associated Press reported that authorities investigating the shooting recovered three other weapons -- a Henry repeating rifle, an Enfield rifle and a shotgun. It was not clear where those weapons were found.
Meantime, the sources said investigators have found no evidence that Adam Lanza visited area shooting ranges in the last six months.
Federal agents have been examining records at the ranges to see if Adam Lanza had been practicing his marksmanship in the months leading up to the attack, which could indicate that he had planned the massacre well in advance of carrying it out.
Michael Isikoff is NBC News national investigative correspondent; NBC News' Justice Correspondent Pete Williams also contributed to this report.
More from Open Channel:
- New details emerge on private lives of school gunman and his mother
- Mom of suspected school shooter, first to die, was avid gun enthusiast
- Rossen Reports: Furniture, TV tipovers threaten children
- North Korean progress on nuclear arms, missiles rattles US, allies
- How outside money was poured into governors' races
- Dental chain accused of hurting kids, bilking taxpayers
- American contractor's jailing in Cuba 'arbitrary,' UN panel finds
- 'Jane's' jihad: Confession jail and unwavering faith
Follow Open Channel from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook


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For the Governor of California, it is the kind of publicity that could doom everything.
The stories appearing this week in the Los Angeles Times, the Sacramento Bee and even on this blog about the proposed contract with the state prison guards union has been brutal. Certainly critical enough to undo Jerry Brown's effort at developing fiscal credibility with the electorate (an image he's shored up in myraid ways, from flying alone on Southwest to eliminating cell phones for state workers).
All this while arguing the importance of tax hike extensions.
U.S. & World
News from around the country and around the globe
So it shouldn't have been a surprise that the administration, led by Gil Duran, Brown's press secretary, mounted a rapid response effort which has resulted in a partial retraction from the Sacramento Bee as well as backslides on talk radio, and to some degree here, as well.
"Prop Zero betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of the vacation cap issue" Duran argued in an e-mail which was followed up with a phone conversation with Ron Yank, Brown's head of the Department of Personnel Administration (a former labor attorney who often represented the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, the union in question).
The most prominent issue on this blog deals with the new contract elimination of the "vacation cap" -- the number of unused vacation days a corrections officer can collect over the course of his or her career. Those days can then be cashed in at the guard's pay grade at retirement, as opposed to when the vacation days were offered.
Yank argues that the "cap" never really existed in the first place and all the new contract does is admit that fact.
That's because the prison system is a 24-7 operation, and staffing requirements mean most correctional officers can't take all of their allotted vacation. The union says the situation was made worse by the imposition of furloughs under the Schwarzenegger administration.
While "use it or lose it" may be a policy for private employers, there is no such thing in state employment. The "cap" was simply unenforceable.
Yank also rejected the notion that this was a "pay off" to a major campaign contributor. He says unions that supported Republican Meg Whitman are getting the same labor agreements that are being offered to groups that supported Brown. In fact, Yank argues the CCPOA is not happy with the contract in that includes a five percent pay cut, and requires members put in more for their retirement.
We have offered the governor's office a chance to respond in detail to the contract issue in this blog.
But it isn't the media alone calling the deal into question. The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office has yet to determine the cost of lifting the cap. Still, policy analyst Nick Schroeder has found that the average corrections union member has accumulated nearly 19 weeks of leave time, with a current total value of $900 million.
Yank didn't talk about the timing of the agreement but one wonders about the strategy of putting it out there in the middle of a debate on tax extensions or tax hikes.
He has said that since the union had been without a contract for three years it was about time they had one. Based on the media fallout, perhaps they may be wishing they had waited a few more months.


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More on:
Nonproliferation, Arms Control, and Disarmament
Ray Takeyh, CFR's top Iranian expert, says that the latest National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) presents a mixed picture for Iran policy. The report says that Iran shelved its secret weapons program in 2003, but Takeyh says it also makes clear that the country possesses "a vast and growing civilian nuclear program, which, if it completes the fuel cycle and if it can successfully enrich uranium in large quantities, as it is determined to do, then it still has a nuclear capability that can be easily converted for military purposes." Takeyh adds that the immediate threat of an attack by the United States against Iran is sharply diminished, but so too is the likelihood of stronger Security Council sanctions.
The Bush administration surprised just about everybody on Monday by issuing a National Intelligence Estimate that contradicted one that had come out just two years earlier. The latest one says that Iran apparently stopped work on a military nuclear program in 2003 and hasn't resumed it yet, and therefore the chances of its having a nuclear weapon capability now, even with all the civilian nuclear enrichment going on, has been put off as far as 2015. Were you surprised by all of this?
Well, first of all, you said that the Bush administration surprised everyone. Actually, the intelligence community surprised everyone, including the Bush administration. And also the estimate that Iran will achieve nuclear weapons capabilities somewhere between 2009 and 2015 is not remarkable. It's part of the intelligence community's and outside experts' assessments, so that's not really a particularly exceptional conclusion. And I would need some clarification about what a nuclear weapons program means. If it means developing missile technology and engineering to actually assemble nuclear materials properly enriched on top of a missile, and a delivery system, and if that's what they're talking about, then it's important.
It's important also to note that Iran does have a vast and growing civilian nuclear program, which, if it completes the fuel cycle, and if it can successfully enrich uranium in large quantities, as it is determined to do, then it still has a nuclear capability that can be easily converted for military purposes.
So, in your mind there really is reason to be concerned about Iran's nuclear program?
So long as Iran is intent on having an indigenous enrichment capability of significance, there is cause to be concerned about Iran's nuclear ambitions.
Does it affect Iran's position in the Middle East, for instance, if it is seen as not having an immediate nuclear weapon capability? Is that going to relax other countries?
Yeah, I think it relaxes everybody, but part of this has to do with the Bush administration's representation of the Iran threat. The administration had suggested there was an immediate, imminent threat, which was frankly always contradicted by a body of evidence that was available even before the release of this NIE. Nobody thought Iran was on the threshold of developing a nuclear weapon anytime soon, so this was a particularly important contradiction in the way the administration had chosen to present this Iran case.
Do you think it undercuts dramatically the U.S. effort to get additional sanctions at the U.N. Security Council against Iran, or do you think that other countries will still go along with the sanctions?
There are several points to be made. First, the political ramifications of this report are significant, whether the technical aspects are sound or not. It essentially removes the possibility of a military confrontation between the United States and Iran over the nuclear issue. The president and the candidates for the [U.S.] presidency can go around and talk about all options on the table, but the military option at this point is not on the table.
It essentially removes the possibility of a military confrontation between the United States and Iran over the nuclear issue. The president and the candidates for the [U.S.] presidency can go around and talk about all options on the table, but the military option at this point is not on the table.
Does it evaporate international solidarity, particularly European compliance, with the American demands for sanctions? To some extent, yes. Part of the reason why Europeans were inclined to support the Bush administration in its financial sanctions policy was that they feared that, if they did not do so, the administration would resort to military force. Given the implausibility and improbability of the use of force at this point, that rationale is no longer valid. Therefore, I think there will be less support for a strong Security Council resolution, or even informal sanctions. They will probably still get another resolution but it's going to be so watered down that it will be of no significance whatsoever. That means that the international solidarity that came together as a means of averting the administration from war, I think will have largely dissipated.
You're not an Israeli expert, but this probably has a dramatic effect on Israeli policy, right?
And I suspect a disconcerting one, because, for Israelis, the nuclear program that mattered was advances that Iran was making in terms of its indigenous enrichment capabilities. That hasn't stopped. As a matter of fact that is surging forward without any impediment or caution on the part of Iran. So for the Israelis, who had hoped that international financial sanctions or perhaps even a military solution would come to their rescue, this must be a very disconcerting development since none of those are very likely to happen anytime soon.
The excitement about the new NIE is a little puzzling because, what you're saying, and what is obviously correct, is that nobody had found any nuclear weapons in Iran, but everyone knew Iran was trying to accelerate its uranium enrichment ability, and we know this can produce nuclear weapons. And so the principal question is how well the nuclear enrichment program is going.
Yes. That's the big one. This is not as significant, but it does reflect some of the calculations that Iran made in light of the disclosures in 2003, 2002. Iranians clearly decided that the problem they got into was that they didn't declare their facilities. That's the only thing that Iran didn't do prior to 2002. Eight years of secret work and Iran hadn't declared its facilities to the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency]. Had it done so, there would be no IAEA resolutions and no U.N. Security Council resolutions, because Iran's program would have been compliant with its non- proliferation commitment. So I suspect the calculation that Iran has made was: "Look, we can have a very elaborate nuclear infrastructure that is significant, that is advanced, that is sophisticated, that gives us a nuclear weapons option, and that is legal, so long as we declare our facilities and so long as we cooperate with the IAEA."
Iran does have a vast and growing civilian nuclear program, which, if it completes the fuel cycle and if it can successfully enrich uranium in large quantities, as it is determined to do, then it still has a nuclear capability that can be easily converted for military purposes.
Furthermore, at this particular point, Iranians are simply not going to engage in any particular activity that embarrasses Mohamed ElBaradei, the director general of the IAEA. He is the one that seems to be their most flexible interlocutor. They don't want to put ElBaradei in a position where his inspectors find evidence of clandestine nuclear activity. Thus, in Iran, there is a combination of a desire to be solicitous of ElBaradei and a recognition that they can have a nuclear program that is large and significant, like Japan's, and that is still legal.
It's a rather baffling situation, then.
Well Japan can have a nuclear bomb in a couple of months. I mean, Japan's program is not illegal. There are safeguards. Its program is subject to IAEA monitoring. There's no one on the Security Council saying, we have to sanction Japan because of its nuclear weapons program. The problem, or the issue, is that the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty allows you to develop a very significant nuclear infrastructure that can be converted for military purposes on short notice, and it can also allow expertise and technology to be mastered by the member nations.
So there's obviously a contradiction here. The headlines today suggest that the Bush administration was misleading the public about Iran's nuclear ambitions. On the other hand, you're saying that Iran's nuclear ambitions are still there, and they just don't have a specific military program.
That's right. I think the Bush administration was misleading the public regarding the immediacy of the Iranian threat. That was obvious before the release of this report.
What does Iran have to agree to that would satisfy you and others that it's not a threat?
Well if Iran decided that they're going to accept one of the main offers being put before them—whereby they will outsource enrichment, as opposed to having it completed on their territory—that would be an indication that it's a country that wants to have nuclear energy as opposed to nuclear technology, which would give it a nuclear weapons option. But at this point that's unlikely to be the case.
So if you were writing a headline on what the real situation is, what would it be?
Well I'm not good at writing headlines, but I wouldn't go with the headlines you see in the papers. What I would say is that, you know, the weaponization part of their nuclear program seems to have been suspended and delayed, while the nuclear program is making significant advances. I don't know how you'd capture that in a headline, but that's the gist of the story.
Okay, and as far as Iran's relations with the Arab countries in its region?
There are so many suspicions regarding Iran's activities from the region that they are unlikely to be ameliorated by this report. Everybody's a little calmer, but the real impact of this report is not going to be necessarily in the region, but it's going to be in the European capitals, and certainly in Beijing and Moscow.
On the sanctions questions.
More on:
Nonproliferation, Arms Control, and Disarmament


text: WebMatrix and node.js: The easiest way to get started with node on Windows September 16, '11 Comments [24] Posted in IIS | nodejs | WebMatrix Sponsored By Tomasz Janczuk and Steve Sanderson are having entirely too much fun. I posted just two weeks ago on Installing and Running node.js applications within IIS on Windows - Are you mad? when Tomasz and the team got node.js running rather nicely under IIS. Now they've got a nice little development environment in WebMatrix. Cats and Dogs, living together, mass hysteria Then, Steve and Tomasz decide to share clever thing with us. Well, let me just show you. Remember, this is all in-progress goofing around v0.5 stuff at best but the concepts are sound. And then: Hit Run: How can you use WebMatrix to develop node.js applications yourself? With these easy steps: Install WebMatrix node.js (x86): http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9784334 iisnode for your Web Server iisnode for iis7 express (x86) iisnode for iis7 (x86) iisnode for iis7 (x64) Install Steve's node.js templates for WebMatrix Open WebMatrix, choose "Site from folder", enter %localappdata%\iisnode\www, start the site, and play with the iisnode samples, or Use Steve's templates to get started quickly Profit Isn't it lovely when LEGO pieces snap together so nicely? Enjoy, Dear Reader. « Back to Basics: Big O notation issues wi... | Blog Home | New Tools and New Content - ASP.NET, Vis... » About Scott Scott Hanselman is a former professor, former Chief Architect in finance, now speaker, consultant, father, diabetic, and Microsoft employee. He is a failed stand-up comic, a cornrower, and a book author. About Newsletter Sponsored By Hosting By Comments [24] Share on: Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or use the Permalink


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The Best Delivery Snack Packages in the U.S.
The home-delivery snack box trend has expanded rapidly over the last few years, to the point that you can find just about any kind of specialized box, from gluten-free to Paleo-diet-friendly. But being the snack-obsessive that I am, I was most interested in testing out the bigger and broader options, some of the best of which are reviewed here.
Most of the founders I spoke with credit savvier consumers for the proliferation of these snack-of-the-month clubs—best described as subscription-based food services that deliver a box of goodies to your door. They also point to the lack of innovation in standard grocery and convenience stores, which are more focused on the bottom line than selling unique and independent labels. And, of course, there's the internet—you can buy pretty much anything online.
So what do I look for in the perfect snack box? First and foremost, variety. I want an even mix of sweet and salty, chewy and crunchy, healthy and indulgent. On the ability to compose the contents of your own boxes, I'm torn. (Only one company on this list leaves the decision 100% in the subscriber's hands; a few allow you to rate snacks, which influence future orders.) Sure, it's nice to be able to pick out what you want. Yet part of the fun is the element of surprise and being forced to try new things. And of course, services should be convenient, giving you the ability to start and stop whenever you want.
So which ones, er, deliver? Read on the find out.
Love With Food
What's New On Serious Eats
Founded in late 2011 by Aihui Ong, a software engineer with a passion for food, Love With Food is part snack box business, part charity. For every box ordered, the company donates a meal to a U.S. food bank, with more than 150,000 meals donated to date. The focus is on organic or all-natural goods with no artificial flavors or colors, trans fats, hydrogenated oils, or high-fructose corn syrup. The cheery red box I received was a grab bag of somewhat random single-serving items that skewed sweet—I could have used a few more salty or savory options (or even a second bag of the addictive 479 Degree black truffle-white cheddar popcorn). The dark-chocolate-covered blueberries by Emily's Chocolate and chocolate-chip biscotti from Biscotti di Suzy weren't anything special, but the individually wrapped pieces of TCHO chocolate—including Mokaccino, made with Blue Bottle Coffee—made up for it. The Back to Nature honey graham sticks were like that somewhat healthy dessert you put into your kid's lunch; for me, they hit the spot when I wanted something just a little sweet. And though I was skeptical at first of the small pouch of seasoned pitted olives ("packed loose without the juice!"), they were surprisingly good.
Based on the volume and variety, I definitely felt like I got my money's worth, and adding coupons for a few of the items was a nice touch. The box also had a card listing every snack included, along with a description (and Twitter handle of the company); this came in handy to remind me what I liked even after I'd eaten it in case I wanted to order more directly from Love With Food website. Once a quarter, Love With Food invites celebrity chefs such as Ming Tsai and Andrew Zimmern to curate boxes. Users are very active on the company's website, writing about and rating (from 1 to 5 stars) individual snacks; one item had more than 1,000 reviews.
How it works: Tasting box (from $10) includes around eight snacks; the Deluxe box (from $17) comes with 16-20 snacks. Subscribers also earn points with each box, which can be redeemed online for individual snacks they want more of (100 points = $1).
Promo: Click here to receive your first box free, with $2 shipping.
What sets this two-year-old snack-of-the-month company apart is that it lets you choose what you want in your own boxes. Subscribers can choose from more than 120 products that are free of high fructose corn syrup, trans fat, and artificial colors, sweeteners and flavors; filters like dietary needs and taste (such as savory, sweet, and spicy) make the website easy to navigate and fun to use. If you'd rather not decide for yourself, pre-made boxes like Picnic Season and Fall Feast are also available. Snacks come in full-size, NatureBox-branded re-sealable bags. The Pistachio Power Clusters— nut squares with almonds, cashews, and pistachios— were a crunchy treat, while the French Toast Granola (maple-flavored granola with pecans) tasted too sugary for me. I used the Cherry Berry Bonanza (dried cranberries, cherries, and blueberries) in my cereal every morning —it saved me from having to buy that week's worth of dried fruit. The box also includes a pamphlet that illustrates the serving size for each snack, which made it clear that I was eating way too many of both the Masa Crisps (mini corn chips with flax seeds) and Roasted Kettle Kernels (honey-coated toasted corn that made me never want to eat a salty corn nut again). The pamphlet also mentions ways to use them in recipes, though telling me to sprinkle dried cherries over Greek yogurt for "tart texture" or serve masa crisps with a homemade dip (without providing a recipe for said dip) wasn't that helpful.
Despite the relatively streamlined website, I couldn't figure out how to put my subscription on hold—there wasn't an easy "cancel" button on the account page—but my correspondence with customer service via email was quick and easy. And though this one is on the pricier end, you get enough snacks to last at least a few weeks (assuming you adhere to the serving sizes). Like Love With Food, NatureBox donates a meal for every box it ships—the company says it's on track to donate over 1 million this year.
How it works: The Deluxe package includes five full-size packages ($19.95/month); Happy Snacker, good for four to five people, has 10 packages ($29.95/month); and Smart Snacker, eight to 10 people, has 20 packages. ($49.95/month). Shipping is free.
Promo: 50% off first box, use code SERIOUSEATS
This company, which launched two years ago, is the most expensive option on the list—but it's also the sharpest. It all starts with the website, which really is a work of art; I challenge you to visit and not go down the rabbit hole of impeccably photographed food. The company champions what it calls "indie food"—made-in-America, small-batch goods that use mostly fair trade and organic ingredients, with cute packaging. My reusable tote bag (another bonus) came with not-too-salty potato chips from St. Louis; Brooklyn-made Butter & Scotch caramel popcorn (punched up with bourbon and lemon zest); a salty-and-sweet granola studded with dried sour cherries and pumpkin seeds by Portland, Oregon's Blackbird Food Co.; a Sweeteeth chocolate bar from Charleston, made with port wine and vanilla bean; a fiery jar of jalapeño-honey-dill pickles (complete with a mass of dill fronds in the jar) by Denver-based The Real Dill; and chewy filet mignon from Three Jerks Jerky (Venice, CA). There was not one thing I didn't like or wanted more of once it was gone (except maybe for the pickles—that was one huge jar).
Unlike the others on this list, Mouth.com is not as invested in meeting certain nutritional standards—so if you're looking for a way to only snack healthfully, this is probably not for you. The price comes out to $60 per month, so it's best for that person who is committed to supporting homegrown brands and quality goods, rather than someone who just wants the convenience of snacks delivered to their door.
How it works: Subscriptions start at three months for $180, and go up to a year for $720.
Promo: Enter SeriousEats15 for 15% off.
This new subscription service sends four single-serving, individually sealed boxes. I received two sweet and two salty options, with nothing over 150 calories. I could have used a second (or third) serving of the Sesa-Me & You (sesame honey almonds), but the Stuck on Flax (flax sea salt pretzel pearls) felt like they were giving me cavities while I ate them. The seasoned curry cashews were the highlight of the Oh My Thai mix, which also had raisins and toasted coconut. My favorite was actually the simplest: dried figs, dates, and apricots, a.k.a. Mediterranean Treasures, though it could have had more apricot and less fig. In general, I've never been a fan of paying more for pre-portioned anything, but if nothing else, Nibblr showed me how much dried fruit I should be eating (a lot less than I usually do). Users can go online and rate the products, from "Love it" to "No thanks." While you can't choose exactly what you get, the more you rate, the more the company will know what you like and don't like, so your box still maintains some element of surprise.
The website is simple and easy to use, but the search function didn't work that well; key terms such as "flax," "fig," and "sesame" turned up no results. When I found my way to the snacks I had received, I noticed that many of my opinions didn't match up with the overall "Love it" ratings: the pretzel pearls came in at 42% (I would have said "No thanks"), while the cashew mix ranked 21% ("Like it" for me). It made me curious what the highest-ranking snacks were—perhaps a tab the website could incorporate in the future.
How it works: Frequency is weekly, every other week, or monthly, and you can pause or cancel at any time. $5.99/box (if you order four at once, it's $5.75, and 12 at once, it's $5.50).
Promo: SERIOUSEATS for your first box free.
This European transplant was founded in London in 2008 by seven friends who were "sick of chips and candy." Since launching in the U.S. at the end of 2013, Graze has already doubled its U.S. subscriber base. The format is essentially the same as Nibblr: boxes contain four individually packaged and pre-portioned snacks. Full nutritional info can be found online, though each package is labeled with a symbol that describes its health benefit, from having a serving of fruit to being a source of protein. The mixes didn't always live up to their names. Take Cookies and Cream, for example. Sure, it had somewhat cardboard-y mini chocolate cookies and white chocolate "buttons," but hazelnuts and a lot of sunflower seeds outnumbered them. Jelly Doughnut was much better: raspberry strings (best described as less sugary sour straws), raspberry-infused dried cranberries, almond slices, and Nilla wafer-like "sponge pieces." The two savory options were the straightforward black pepper pistachios (my favorite) and the too-garlic-and-onion-y Cheese Board, with "cheese cashews," baked herb bites (a.k.a. crackers), and salsa corn sticks.
Like Nibblr, the website is simple and clean-lined, though it has a lot more specific categories to search (including "flapjacks," British for oat-based granola bars). Also like Nibblr, rating your snack box is a huge part of the process and helps the company customize deliveries. According to an article on Market Watch, more than 15,000 new ratings are generated per hour. Don't like a certain ingredient? You can "trash" everything that contains it. There's also a tab for "undiscovered foods," which indicates the snacks that you personally have not yet tried, which is a nice touch.
How it works: Boxes cost $6, including delivery. They initially come every two weeks, but you can choose to get them every four weeks or even weekly.
Promo: Enter SERIOUSSNACKS for your first box free.
All products linked here have been independently selected by our editors. We may earn a commission on purchases, as described in our affiliate policy.


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Don't Get 'Ghosted' By Lawn Scammers and Other Spring Lawn Care Tips
At the start of spring, the ABC News Fixer takes it outside to save you money.
April 8, 2014 -- If you've got a lawn and hate to mow, beware the lawn service "ghosts."
"Ghosting" is an insiders' term used by lawn care professionals to describe workers who promise to come out and treat a homeowner's lawn but who don't actually do any work.
Homeowners who've been ghosted will find service flags stuck in their lawn and a receipt in their mailbox, but not much else. Complaints about ghosting and the "splash and dash" -- which is like ghosting, except a little bit of fertilizer or herbicide is thrown around -- abound on online lawn care forums.
Some consumers are catching on. More than 3,500 complaints were filed last year in the Better Business Bureau network against various lawn care services, including gripes about shoddy workmanship, contract issues or problems with billing and collections.
"Either the grass [problem] is not 'cured' or the lawn is not any better than before they came … or the contract is never-ending, so they get stuck in that long-term contract," said Steve Bernas, CEO of the Better Business Bureau of Chicago and Northern Illinois, citing some common complaints.
David Feeney of Land O' Lakes, Fla., caught a lawn ghoster shortly after installing a home security camera in 2010. On the video he posted to YouTube, which stops and starts when motion is detected, an employee from a lawn service can be seen driving up to Feeney's house, placing a flag in the yard, knocking on the front door and leaving without doing any work, as he looks over his shoulder.
"The lawn really looked great, and I think that was probably why the guy decided not to do anything," Feeney told the ABC News Fixer. "It was a Friday afternoon. Maybe he wanted to get done early and go have a beer.
"I was pretty shocked," Feeney added.
After Feeney examined the video – and the $42 bill for the nonexistent service – he complained to the lawn service, which apologized, withdrew the bill and let him cancel his account.
Bernas of the BBB said it's tough to prove "ghosting" without crouching behind the curtains or installing a security camera. "It's a spray," Bernas said. "How can you tell?"
Consumers need to check out the company and know exactly what they're signing up for – and not agree to a plan over the phone without first seeing a contract, Bernas said.
Are you having a lawn service problem? Tell it to the ABC News Fixer by CLICKING HERE.
Here are some tips for keeping your lawn and your wallet green:
Be specific. Do you just need mowing services, or are you looking for fertilizing, weeding, aerating – the whole gamut?
Find out what products and brands will be used and research the safety of any pesticides or herbicides. Are there any precautions for children, pregnant women, the elderly or pets? Ask about using less harmful alternatives.
Request a yard inspection and estimate before agreeing to anything. Be wary of anyone who will quote a price for elaborate lawn work without seeing your yard first.
Check reviews online. Get recommendations from family and friends. Talk with neighbors who have nice lawns.
Get written estimates from at least three companies.
Understand the contract. Are you paying for each mow or by the week? Does it include special services like edging or pest control? Who takes away the clippings? And what happens if it rains -- do they skip that week?
This is a big one: Does the contract automatically renew from season to season and year to year? If you aren't happy, what are your cancellation rights? Does the company offer a guarantee?
Make sure the company meets local licensing requirements and has liability insurance for its workers. Ask whether they use subcontractors.
- The ABC News Fixer
CLICK HERE to go to The ABC News Fixer homepage


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When it was clear that he was set for a stunning election victory last week, Narendra Modi sent a message that read simply "India has won": It instantly set a record as the country's most retweeted Twitter post.
And yet two days earlier the top trend on Twitter India had been #ThankYouDrManMohanSingh, a popular tribute to Manmohan Singh, who bows out after 10 years as prime minister with deep respect even if voters thrashed his party in the polls.
Singh will be remembered for the reforms he drove through as finance minister in 1991 that prised open a state-stifled economy. In his budget speech that year, he quoted Victor Hugo, saying "No power on earth can stop an idea whose time has come".
Those reforms snapped India out of a shuffling rate of growth of that time, lifted millions out of poverty and propelled the country into the league of dynamic emerging economies.
In a blizzard of commentaries examining 81-year-old Singh's legacy in recent weeks, the Oxbridge-educated economist has been praised for his intellect and personal integrity, and world leaders have reached out to wish him well in retirement.
And yet Singh's stock tumbled during his second five-year term as economic growth skidded, inflation ballooned and spectacular corruption scandals clattered like skeletons out of a cupboard. His public silence on many matters became the butt of jokes, including one which said movie theatre patrons were being asked to put their mobile phones in "Manmohan mode".
Singh struggled to fend off the perception that the real power in his government was Sonia Gandhi, leader of the Congress party and widow of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, whose family has ruled the country for most of the time since independence from Britain in 1947.
In a book published during the election campaign, "The Accidental Prime Minister", a former media adviser said that Singh allowed his authority to be undermined by Gandhi.
"You must understand one thing. I have come to terms with this," the author, Sanjaya Baru, recalled the prime minister telling him in 2009. "There cannot be two centres of power. That creates confusion. I have to accept that the party president is the centre of power. The government is answerable to the party."
Graphics on India elections link.reuters.com/cyg49v
Singh's spokesman dismissed the book as an incorrect interpretation of the prime minister's decade in power, but the memoirs only served to reinforce a popular perception that an extra-constitutional authority had called the shots for years.
The only prime minister since independent India's first leader to serve two full five-year terms and the first Sikh to have held the office, Singh told his final news conference that history would in the end be kind to him.
Swaminathan Aiyar, a prominent journalist, said that Singh's achievements would indeed become his story.
"People will forget Manmohan Singh's failings, and remember him as the father of economic reform and superfast growth," Aiyar wrote in a Times of India commentary.
Born into a poor Sikh family in a part of British-ruled India now in Pakistan, Singh studied by candlelight to win scholarships to Cambridge and Oxford, earning a doctorate with a thesis on the role of exports and free trade in India's economy.
He held the top finance and economic planning posts in India's bureaucracy for decades and was also head of the central bank before joining the cabinet in 1991. He became prime minister in 2004 when Sonia Gandhi, who led the Congress party to a surprise victory, declined the job fearing her Italian birth would be used by Hindu nationalist opponents to attack the government.
As prime minister, Singh sought to liberalise the economy further. However, he often ran into resistance from wayward allies in his coalition government and from his own left-leaning party, which prioritised welfare schemes such as a jobs programme for the rural poor.
In 2008, he stood up to his party's one-time communist allies over a civilian nuclear energy deal with the United States that took his country out of decades of diplomatic isolation over its atomic weapons programme.
Singh saw India's growth story wobble in the last years of his premiership as global economic turbulence combined with a policy paralysis at home battered the investment climate.
His second term was also overshadowed by mass protests against corruption, and he was widely criticised for apparently turning a blind eye to the graft raging around him.
Harish Khare, who served as the prime minister's media adviser from 2009 to 2012, described Singh in an article for the weekly magazine Outlook as "spectacularly unflamboyant", but credited him for making historic course corrections that brought India more social harmony, equity and regional peace.
A leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party, which routed Congress in the election, praised the outgoing prime minister for his "dignity and grace" but like many voiced doubt about his overall record.
"It was the inability to speak up within his own party that may compel the historians to take a different view of the man," Arun Jaitley said in an article sent to media last week. "Only if he had stood up at the right time and disagreed he would have been regarded with still a greater honour."


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Handling SI worker complaints
Our self-insured department will investigate the issue and resolve it promptly and fairly.
An injured worker (or representative) can file a complaint as a party to the claim using the Allegation Against a Self-Insuring Employer (SI-28) or a clear written statement. The statement should clearly outline the issue(s) and provide supporting documentation. Then submit to BWC.
Mail: Bureau of Workers' Compensation
Attn: Self-Insured Department
30 W. Spring St
Columbus, OH 43215-2256
Email: email@example.com
Fax: 614-621-1081
Upon receipt of a complaint, our self-insured staff sends a notification letter to the employer's designated administrator, assigned representatives, injured worker and injured worker's representative. We request the employer provide a written response to the allegation within 14 days of receipt. The employer may, with good cause, request an extension for providing a response by contacting the assigned BWC representative.
We will investigate the allegation(s) to determine the validity of the complaint and send notification to all parties to the claim. Within 14 days of receipt of the BWC decision, all parties to a complaint may file a written request for reconsideration. The reconsideration must include evidence of new or changed information not considered in the initial decision.
In these cases, we conduct a second-level administrative review to address the complaint reconsideration and notifies all parties to the complaint of the outcome of this reconsideration investigation and evaluation.
Any unresolved issues and appeals to the administrator's designee's finding will go to Self-Insured Employers Evaluation Board (SIEEB). View past SIEEB decisions.
BWC maintains a record of all findings which will be included in evaluating the employer's fitness to maintain its self-insuring privilege. Ohio Administrative Code 4123-19-09 governs the complaint process pertaining to self-insuring employers.
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So you say you've reached a plateau with your GMAT scores? They've leveled out (or stayed level) and won't for the life of you go any higher? You've been at it weeks (or months) only to see ten points here and ten points there? I feel your pain. Many test-takers find themselves caught in a similar place, and it's a frustrating circumstance. The GMAT is designed to thwart score improvement. GMAC, which administers the test, seems to take a certain sadistic pride in touting its algorithm's accuracy at determining one's "true" ability on the GMAT, and even has research that shows the average retake score improvement to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 points. 30 little points! So what can you do to counter this trend? Let's take a look in today's post at some general things you might do to garner yourself a bump. In later posts we'll return to this theme to look closer at people scoring at different levels to see how they might get themselves out of the GMAT scoring rut.
1. Study differently — the old adage that "practice makes perfect" only goes so far. For a test as specific and regimented as the GMAT, a certain kind of practice is required. One of the primary inhibitors to improvement is using the same methods over and over and over again (it is this simple fact that often turns peoples' "three-month study plan" into a year-long struggle). Here are a few things you might do differently:
- Study Concepts/Topics NOT Questions — There is no substitute for learning and knowing the content. Period. Anyone that tells you differently is simply helping you to limit your score improvement potential. After you know the content front and back (all the rules, all the formulas, all the equations) you want study questions to see how they are SIMILAR to other questions. If you can't see the similarity of a given question to other questions you've seen you either a) haven't seen enough questions, or b) don't fully understand what the question is testing. Seeing similarities between questions allows you to see the fundamental concepts being tested, and allows you to hone your ability to recognize those concepts in manifestations that aren't always so easy to see. If you can see the concept and know the math behind it, your odds of getting a question right go up, big time.
- Quality vs. Quantity — I cannot tell you how many people come to me saying things like "I've done all of the Official Guide, and Quant and Verbal Review Questions. I've taken a practice test every week for 6 months from just about every test prep company on the planet. I've done all the questions on your site and just about every other site imaginable. I've been at it a year and my score still hasn't gone up. And…I'm out of practice material." The extremity of this case is a little (only a little, trust me) beyond the common. If you've done all that but there was still no improvement, don't you think it probably has something to do with how you're preparing as opposed to how much you're preparing? Instead of doing thousands of questions (the largely faulty "take a practice every week and my score will go up" mentality), spend more time with fewer questions. Which means…
- Analyze, Analyze, Analyze — Again, all problems share something in common with other problems. There are only so many concepts and so many ways to present the material. Thus, you should be spending a significant amount of time analyzing your results, rather than just checking whether you got questions right or wrong. If you don't walk away from a question having learned something concrete and tangible about how you approach questions, take tests, recognize concepts or something similar that you can apply to other problems, then that question was a waste (and wasted opportunity). You won't remember that problem again. You will make the same mistake again. The GMAT is almost as much about pattern recognition as content. You don't see patterns by doing thousands of problems, you see patterns by closely assessing the problems you do.
- There are NO Irrelevant Topics or Questions — ever felt like you've gotten the same question over and over on your GMAT? That's your brain telling you this stuff is all the same. The more you analyze, the quicker you'll be to see those similarities that will allow you to find a way into trickier problems. Heed your subconscious. If something looks familiar, it probably is. You just need to understand how its similar (and how its different). You need to understand how strategies you've learned apply (or have to be adjusted) for this particular problem.
2. Develop multiple approaches to the same problem — There is almost always a better way to answer any given question. When reviewing a question, you want to ask yourself if there was another way, or if there was a faster way, than how you did it. Doing so will accomplish two things: a) hone your cognitive skills, and b) give you flexibility in unfamiliar contexts.
3. Use your practice tests wisely — far too many GMAT-takers believe (or have been counseled to believe) that practice tests are a panacea for their GMAT-woes. They're not. Practice tests are essentially for increasing your test-taking fitness, adjusting your holistic testing approach, and comprehensively assessing your standing. In and of themselves practice tests are not learning tools. You can learn a great deal from practice tests, but you'll likely run out of tests before you learn all you need to learn. Generally, the only people for whom practice tests suffice as an improvement tool are those people already scoring relatively highly (indicative of a predisposition and level of preparation already commensurate with GMAT success). For everyone else, focusing on practice tests is an undue and incomplete approach.
4. Temper Expectations and Plan Accordingly — In most cases significant score improvement takes time. "Significant" is relative, but the higher you go on the scale the harder points are to come by. For most people, 100+ points requires both time and the appropriate study methods. Consider the time and effort required to grow exponentially as we go from 100 to 150, 150 to 200, and so on. 200+ points improvement is very rare indeed. If you're looking for 200+ points improvement, know it's probably going to take a very long time, a very intensive and organized approach, and infinite patience. Plan accordingly. How much time varies for each person, but you shouldn't expect to be operating or succeeding on anyone's schedule but your own. Remember, the GMAT seeks to mitigate score improvement potential. Sometimes overcoming that takes time.
Best of luck, and if you need us send us a message and we'll help in whatever way we can.


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Federal officials will tell kids ages 8 to 16 about the risks and rewards of using coding skills to break into computers at this weekend's first DEFCON Kids hacker conference, Aliya Sternstein writes in Nextgov.
The lineup includes officials from the Army's computer crime investigative unit, the Defense Department's code-cracking division, the National Security Agency and the Homeland Security Department, the article states.
The two-day computer security workshop for children of the 19th annual DEFCON conference in Las Vegas, which attracts a variety of technologists that include ethical hackers hired by companies to find security defects, the story states.
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2005. 2 x 715 HP Caterpillar C12. 6 berths in 3 cabins.Lying Portland, UK.
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CLIFF RICHARD & THE SHADOWS - Summer Holiday CD Disc MEMORABILIA presentation
- Customer Reviews
Available to buy online today, celebrating UK Music Awards Worldwide.
Uniquely Framed Memorabilia to compliment any room.
A uniquely designed disc with printed signature/signatures.
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Framed in a Black Ash Wooden frame.
Frame size 9'' x 14'' (approx)
This CD Disc Memorabilia Presentation is a product completely designed and manufactured by musicdezigns.co.uk having been established and working for over 20 years producing Gold, Silver and Platinum Disc Presentation Awards, supplying the Music Industry, Trade and Fans with unique designs and high quality framed memorabilia.
Our products are made to the highest standards and professionally manufactured using the best possible materials.