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The pension plans for Detroit's 30,000 current and retired government employees are unified behind the city's plan to exit federal bankruptcy, after the Police and Fire Retirement System today endorsed Detroit's plan of adjustment.
The governing board of the plan that covers 13,000 active and retired Detroit police officers and firefighters voted 8-3 with one abstention to recommend its beneficiaries approve Detroit's fourth amended plan of adjustment, introduced in May before U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes.
The separate General Retirement System pension board for nonuniform retirees last week passed a similar measure, recommending its members also vote in favor of the plan.
Individual ballots that went out to more than 170,000 creditors, including more than 21,000 retirees and about 9,000 active employees, are due back by July 11.
The board expects to mail out letters early next week to all of the plan's beneficiaries, with its rationale for encouraging members to vote their support.
In its current form, the adjustment plan calls for no benefit cuts to police and fire pensioners, who are not eligible to collect Social Security benefits, and limit cost-of-living increases to about 1 percent compared with the traditional 2.25 percent bump that beneficiaries receive.
Rhodes is expected to hold a confirmation hearing on the city's plan Aug. 14.
"The board took the action today after reviewing language related to the (adjustment plan's benefit) restoration clause, governance and other issues its team had negotiated in recent weeks linked to the state money referred to as the 'grand bargain,' governance and other key issues," the board said in a statement late Thursday.
The general system deal calls for a 4.5 percent reduction in monthly benefits, post-bankruptcy, and forgoes cost-of-living allowances.
Detroit claimed more than $18 billion in debt to 100,000 creditors in a Chapter 9 bankruptcy petition last July, but the two retirement plans are considered the largest among 17 classes of creditors; they have been estimated to be underfunded by more than $3 billion.
The Retired Detroit Police and Fire Fighters Association, whose 6,500 members include more than 80 percent of police and fire pensioners in the separate Police and Fire Retirement System, had already reached a separate agreement in mediation with the city in April.
Gov. Rick Snyder plans to be in Detroit Friday to sign a set of bills appropriating almost $195 million toward funding the "grand bargain" of assistance to city pensions to avert the possible sale of some of the Detroit Institute of Arts collection to pay bankruptcy creditors.
The 10 a.m. signing will be at the DNR Adventure Center along the riverfront.
The total pot of money for the "grand bargain" is at $819.5 million, but another $56 million in income stabilization funds to ensure that pensioners don't fall below the poverty line is expected to be added, Chief U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen, who serves as the lead mediator between Detroit and its creditors, told a crowd gathered at the DIA on Monday for an announcement of automaker grants.
Those included $26 million total in grants from the Ford Motor Co. Fund, General Motors Co./GM Foundation and Chrysler Group LLC.
Chad Halcom: (313) 446-6796, [email protected] Twitter: @chadhalcom


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When last we talked about NBC's cult comedy series, Community, we were at Comic-Con, rejoicing that the entire cast would be returning, but lamenting the absence of creator and show-runner, Dan Harmon. While we wait to see if new overseers David Guarascio and Moses Port can keep the old Community magic, season four will see an infusion of overseas humor with the addition of British comedian, Matt Lucas (Bridesmaids). Lucas, perhaps best known for British comedy series Little Britain, will star as Greendale Community College's newest faculty member. Hit the jump for more details on his character as well as a look at a great fan-made Inspector Spacetime poster.
TV Line reported on Lucas' addition to Community's cast as a history professor who will appear over multiple episodes. His character, who previously taught at Oxford, possesses a strict academic rigor that does not quite jive with the laid back, inept learning environment of Greendale. Like most characters on Community, the professor's polished exterior hides an emotional mess beneath the surface.
In other Community news, former showrunner Harmon shared this fan-made poster for internal TV show, Inspector Spacetime on his personal blog (via io9). A favorite past-time of Troy and Abed, the show is a thinly veiled reference to Doctor Who (much like Untitled Web Series About a Space Traveler Who Can Also Travel Through Time is a thinly veiled reference to both shows). Check it out below:
The whole gang, including Joel McHale, Danny Pudi, Donald Glover, Chevy Chase, Yvette Nicole Brown, Alison Brie, Gillian Jacobs, Jim Rash and Ken Jeong will resume classes this fall. Look for Community to debut its fourth season, now on NBC's Friday nights, starting October 19th.

subset: commoncrawl


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I can give you a case study, if you want.
ccfoo242,I'm also in Jacksonville. The water is horrible and does fluctuate a little year around.I've had variable experiences with the in-line RV charcoal filter hooked up to the garden hose.I recommend buying RO water in bulk from the machines in the front entrance of most grocery stores. It costs $0.30 per gallon. And just build your water profile with brew salt additions. You'll need a small scale that can weigh things in grams and ounces.I use bru'n water and have hit mash and sparge pH's within 0.1-0.2 everytime, regardless of recipe.
You're adding both chalk and acid to the mash. One negates the other. I never add alkalinity to the mash. Calcium and sulfate are a bit higher than I would go, but not awful.
Adding alkalinity and acidity to the water is counterproductive as Nate points out. The next version of Bru'n Water already has more error checking capabilities and adding alkalinity and acidity is one of those warning flags that were built in.
In trying to match up calcium and residual alkalinity with the target profile, and then get the mash pH down, this was my result.
OK, went back and did something a bit more simple (again, this is for an american pale ale). No dilution of my filtered tap water, just added a little gypsum:


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I just read the Nobody Loves Me topic. It doesn't matter that if this is a old topic or not but I just like to say something.
I think that Ashakanar was right. RyokoTK does treat people in a sick way and he also slowly takes people apart to build himself up and he doesn't notice it because he doesn't care. And in the argument in Nobody Loves Me topic RyokoTK tried to confuse the argument he had with Ashakanar by trying to refer the argument to some other past conversation about A1 dying in order to weaken or dilute Ashakanar's point of view so everyone would pick the obvious choice to agree with. The obvious choice was the person who was on the defensive and who was making himself believe that he had no idea what Ashakanar was talking about. RyokoTK was the obvious choice in the argument. Then RyokoTK tried making Ashakanar sound like a bad psycho but actually RyokoTK is the horrible person. And that's just why I hate you RyokoTK.
The reason why the people who hate you hate you is that your a ignorant but slightly calm person who uses every little reason you can find to ruin people. And if people were to try to ruin you, you would use your slight calmness to claim that they are crazy,stupid,immature or that they are just whining or you might try to use your power in the Pfhorums to crush a revolt or ban anyone in your way of your personality.
And I thought about all of that and remembered that RyokoTK uses any small reason he can find to ruin people so I had to make sure that every word and name was spelled correctly. Also I had to make sure that everyone of my details was exactly correct or else RyokoTK might find one error and post it in front of all of his friends to use against me. I shouldn't even have to correct every word and name error in my post because you should try to use your logic and reason to understand my post because it isn't that hard RyokoTK.
So in case you people who are reading this don't understand this some how I'll set up the points for you. The first paragraph is about why I hate RyokoTK. The second paragraph is about why the people who hate RyokoTK hate RyokoTK. And the third paragraph was about why RyokoTk is pathetic.
So Ashankanar... thank you for calling RyokoTK a... well you know.


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Allocation of Expense and Interest to Trust Funds
Large self-supporting operations and auxiliary organizations that are included in the University Cost Allocation Plan are not governed by this section of the Trust Fund Guidelines.
Trust Funds essentially represent self-supporting activities. As such, the cost of providing insurance, and business and financial services must be recovered from (charged to) the Trust Fund. This section explains the charges that are assessed to Trust Funds and how they are determined.
Special Exemptions. Some trust funds are automatically exempted from charges. These include:
- Scholarship funds: in order to preserve the greatest support for student aid, these funds are not assessed risk or administrative charges.
- Lottery Education Funds: Lottery funds are considered a state appropriation, not a self-supporting activity.
- Miscellaneous course fees: Per Executive Order 1054, miscellaneous course fees (category III fees) may only be assessed for the actual cost of the materials or services provided and may not include any administrative charges or inflationary components.
- Construction funds: Funds established to collect revenues for current or future construction projects.
- Internal services funds: These funds represent fees collected from campus units that are covered by the CSU Operating Fund, or by self-supporting units that reimburse the CSU Operating Fund for risk coverage and administrative services through the University Cost Allocation Program.
- Pass-through funds: These are funds established to facilitate activities that do not fall under self-supporting activities, but instead are passed through campus accounts by necessity (an example is the Associated Student fee collected by the campus and passed through to Associated Students).
- Other: Special exemptions may be granted on a case-by-case basis where revenues are generated by activities that result from a student's enrollment in a course. An example of this is theater productions, where participation in theater performance is required component of a course, and the performance generates revenues from ticket sales.
Other funds may be exempted from charges at the President and/or Chief Financial Officer's discretion, typically when a fund's dollar volume will be very small.
Some Trust Funds receive interest earnings on cash balances based on specific agreements with the President and Chief Financial Officer.
The remainder of this document describes the expenses allocated to Trust Funds, and the existing agreements related to the distribution of interest earnings.


text:
Shadow Dancer is a dour, delicate downer about an Irish militant who is forced to become a mole for British counter-intelligence. It opens in Belfast in 1973, where a young boy is shot dead while running out to get a pack of cigarettes for his father. Twenty years later, his sister, played by Andrea Riseborough, plants a bomb on a London subway platform. After escaping through a network of subterranean tunnels, she's picked up by MI5 agents and brought to a nondescript hotel.
Much of this opening stretch is wordless, with Dickon Hinchliffe's score—melancholy strings trellised by repetitive guitar and piano lines—serving as connective tissue. When Riseborough finally speaks, it's with no-nonsense agent Clive Owen, who offers her a simple deal: She can spend the next few decades in prison, or she can become his informant. Hours later, Riseborough is on her way back to Belfast. "Nobody dies, nobody gets hurt," Owen promises her.
Nothing is so simple, however. Upon returning, Riseborough arouses the suspicion of creepy IRA goon David Wilmot, a villain in a movie without heroes. At the same time, Owen begins to suspect that his boss, played by Gillian Anderson, has ulterior motives for recruiting his new charge. Though he's promised to protect her, Owen finds Riseborough difficult to control; their secret rendezvous become battles of will. By their second meeting, it begins to seem like the two leads are engaged in a competition to determine which one can exude more peeved world-weariness.
If there's a political edge to this story, it's in the understanding—implicit from early on—that this is a situation with no satisfying solution; eventually, someone is going to have to die. To that end, director James Marsh, best known for his documentaries Man On Wire and Project Nim, crafts an atmosphere of tenuous dread. The movie's powdery color scheme and diffuse lighting make everything look fragile; unstable surfaces (fluttering curtains, overcast skies, fogged-up glass) have a tendency to find their way into the frame at key moments. More is suggested than spoken. In the movie's most chilling moment, Riseborough passes a doorway on her way from a meeting with Wilmot and sees a gloved IRA operative rolling up a plastic tarp; had she cracked, this is where they would have executed her.


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Welcome to our online shop! We've added new and wonderful products to our store. Check out the jewelry, all custom made; each so original, no two items are alike.
TO ORDER, click on the categories above to begin your secure order over the Internet. We take PayPal, or credit card. All products sent US Post, First Class.
For orders outside of USA, additional shipping charges will be incurred if total shipping fee exceeds $5.50 US.


text:
I use ² and ³ a lot in e-mails. When using my Belgian Windows keyboard and a custom keymap it was easy to type this in Mac OS X as I assigned the appropriate key.
Now I switched to a qwerty International English Apple keyboard and I'm unable to type these characters easily. I've to copy-paste them or select them and make them superscript.
Is there a way to easily type these characters with touching my mouse or need to copy-paste?


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Topic: Need help with modding
These forums are closing and migrating to a new location! Please go to forums.darkestdungeon.com and create your account. Feel free to bring your posts over to this new forum.
This topic contains 0 replies, has 1 voice, and was last updated by FlyingPotato 2 years, 9 months ago.
Viewing 1 post (of 1 total)
The forum 'Modding' is closed to new topics and replies.


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memory card(redirected from PC memory card)
Also found in: Dictionary.
memory card[′mem·rē 'kärd]
(computer science)
A small card, typically with dimensions of about 2 × 3 inches (5 × 8 centimeters), that can store information, usually in integrated circuits or magnetic strips.
memory card(1) A user-replaceable module in a computer that holds RAM chips. "Memory card" mostly refers to flash chips in definition #2 below. See memory module.
(2) A removable module that contains non-volatile flash memory chips used for storage in digital cameras and mobile devices. The major card types are SD cards, Memory Sticks and CompactFlash; the SD card family being the most popular. See flash memory, memory card reader, SD card, Sony Memory Stick and CompactFlash.
|Digital Film
|Flash-based memory cards are 21st century "film." This digital SLR camera uses SD cards, the most popular memory card type.
|Memory Cards
|Ever since digital cameras came on the scene in the late 1990s, a variety of memory cards have been developed.


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I think it must be a phpBB "being different" thing. I can't think of another forum software that even has right-side and doesn't at least make it a user option.Eruanna wrote:The profiles on the left side thing - eh, it seems to be more common to have them on the right side, now. If I do find a mod that lets you choose I'll put it on.
Unfortunately I can't point you to any mods, since I modified mine manually. On that note: Hopefully I won't end up having to hack at the layout with Stylish, since it looks like the new Zandronum forum is going to give me the same problem.
Eruanna wrote:The icon is added. Thank you for making it!


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—Los Angeles Times
"A remarkable synthesis . . . the best, by far."
—Scott Eyman, New York Observer
"A history of American film in which the camera pans away from its presumptive stars and searches out the ink-stained wretches huddled over typewriters."
—San Francisco Chronicle
"Irreplaceable . . . Without question, the best treatment of the subject since Richard Corliss's Talking Pictures in 1974."
—Buffalo News
"Excellent . . . A book that deserves to become a classic of the genre."
—The Times (London)
"Marc Norman is not only a wonderful and talented screenwriter in his own right, but he has done a great job of laying out screenwriting's evolution in this excellent, comprehensive history. A must read for anyone who wants to know this important piece of the puzzle of Hollywood."
—Mike Medavoy
"A stunningly entertaining way to tell the history of Hollywood. But what's amazing about this wonderful book is not just that it's relentlessly insightful, constantly surprising and beautifully written–what's amazing is that no one has done this before. This is one terrific book."
—Phil Robinson, author (screenplay) of Field of Dreams
"Marc Norman's What Happens Next is not only a fine book, it's a necessary book, brilliantly narrating the turbulent saga of 100 years of American screenwriting with energy, style, and an insider's sympathetic understanding of the always uneasy marriage between a primarily visual medium and the people who use words as its architecture."
—Scott Eyman, author, Lion of Hollywood
"Marc Norman has created a comprehensive narrative of what is essentially a secret history. Entertaining, surprising and endlessly fascinating, he throws a bright light into a corner of our film heritage that has been habitually, even criminally, ignored."
—Lawrence Kasdan, co-screenwriter and director of The Big Chill
"At last! Hollywood History from a screenwriting perspective— a compelling, enlightening, and important work."
—Dave Trottier, author The Screenwriter's Bible


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Hey, who's up for a little civilizational-decline anxiety on a slow Tuesday news night? Why, I haven't wet myself like this over China since that Chinese professor ad during the campaign!
After reading this, I'm going to have nightmares like Cartman in that "South Park" episode about the Beijing Olympics.
"Wow, I'm kind of stunned, I'm thinking Sputnik," said Chester E. Finn Jr., who served in President Ronald Reagan's Department of Education, referring to the groundbreaking Soviet satellite launching. Mr. Finn, who has visited schools all across China, said, "I've seen how relentless the Chinese are at accomplishing goals, and if they can do this in Shanghai in 2009, they can do it in 10 cities in 2019, and in 50 cities by 2029."…
"We have to see this as a wake-up call," Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in an interview on Monday…
"This is the first time that we have internationally comparable data on learning outcomes in China," Mr. Schleicher said. "While that's important, for me the real significance of these results is that they refute the commonly held hypothesis that China just produces rote learning."
"Large fractions of these students demonstrate their ability to extrapolate from what they know and apply their knowledge very creatively in novel situations," he said.
Follow the link for breakdowns of international scoring in science, reading, and math. I won't spoil the surprise about where the U.S. placed, but here's a hint: Not second. There are a few caveats about the results, though. Duncan says he's confident that they're accurate and reliable, but the Times notes that the Chinese could be gaming them by letting gifted migrant students reside in the city instead of going home and by motivating them to study with nationalist appeals about how important the results would be to China's international standing. Which sets up this immortal line from a U.S. education wonk: "Can you imagine the reaction if we told the students of Chicago that the PISA was an important international test and that America's reputation depended on them performing well?" Yeah, imagine.
Worth noting: The spread between Shanghai and the second-place country in each category is conspicuously larger than it is between second place and third place and so on, so there is reason to be at least a bit suspicious, especially since we know how desperate China can get in international competitions. On the other hand, Hong Kong's near the top of the board in almost every category but, again, not nearly as high as Shanghai. If the Chinese were going to cheat, wouldn't they cheat across the board?
Exit question: Assuming no cheating, what's the real explanation for the results? Better teacher training and more hours devoted to study instead of extracurriculars? Or the ever-present possibility that if you flunk a test designed to enhance Chinese prestige, the punishment awaiting you might be a tad more draconian than detention?


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Featuring the Westone branded Instruments of Matsumoku, St. Louis Music, & Sid Poole/Status-Graphite
westone, matsumoku, louis, music, uncle, #mats, japanese, guitars, challenger, python, clipper, raider, concord, rail, corsair, rainbow, dimension, session, signature, dynasty, spectrum, thunder, genesis
Free forum : A network to share and cross train for free. A place to share styles of martial arts.
MATS. MaKaRoOoNa. Free forum, . MaKaRoOoNa. Free forum,


text:
Well, I just completed a Lister loco, in 1" scale, 32mm gauge. I painted and weathered it, and it runs very smoothly on it's Deltang R/C system.
BTW, I also sculpted the driver figure. You can read and see a lot more about this project, and the making of the driver, at http://www.carlospirito.com/wip.html
Regards, Carlo


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text:
This site is the archived OWASP Foundation Wiki and is no longer accepting Account Requests.
To view the new OWASP Foundation website, please visit https://owasp.org
Top 10 2007
Please visit the OWASP Top 10 project page to find the latest edition.
Welcome to the OWASP Top 10 2007! This edition, totally re-written from the previous 2004 version, lists the most serious web application vulnerabilities, discusses how to protect against them, and provides links to more information.
The OWASP Top 10 for Java Enterprise Edition is available for download here
The primary aim of the OWASP Top 10 is to educate developers, designers, architects, and organizations about the consequences of the most common web application security vulnerabilities. The Top 10 provides basic methods to protect against these vulnerabilities – a great start to your secure coding security program.
Security is not a one-time event. It is insufficient to secure your code just once. By 2008, this Top 10 will have changed, and without changing a line of your application's code, you may be vulnerable. Please review the advice in Where to Go From Here for more information.
A secure coding initiative must deal with all stages of a program's lifecycle. Secure web applications are only possible when a secure SDLC (Software Development Life Cycle) is used. Secure programs are secure by design, during development, and by default. There are at least 300 issues that affect the overall security of a web application. These 300+ issues are detailed in the OWASP Development Guide, which is essential reading for anyone developing web applications today.
This document is first and foremost an education piece, not a standard. Please do not adopt this document as a policy or standard without talking to us first! If you need a secure coding policy or standard, OWASP has secure coding policies and standards projects in progress. Please consider joining or financially assisting with these efforts.
|We thank MITRE for making Vulnerability Type Distribution in CVE data freely available for use. The OWASP Top Ten project is led and sponsored by .
Project Lead: Andrew van der Stock (Executive Director, OWASP Foundation)
Co-authors: Jeff Williams (Chair, OWASP Foundation), Dave Wichers (Conference Chair, OWASP Foundation)
We'd like to thank our reviewers:
- Raoul Endres for help in getting the Top 10 going again and with his valuable comments.
- Steve Christey(MITRE) for an extensive peer review and adding the MITRE CWE data
- Jeremiah Grossman (WhiteHat Security) for peer reviewing and contributing information about the success (or otherwise) of automated means of detection.
- Neil Smithline (OneStopAppSecurity.com) for comments and producing the Wiki version.
- Sylvan von Stuppe for an exemplary peer review.
- Colin Wong, Nigel Evans and Andre Gironda for e-mailed comments.
|A1 - Cross Site Scripting (XSS)
|XSS flaws occur whenever an application takes user supplied data and sends it to a web browser without first validating or encoding that content. XSS allows attackers to execute script in the victim's browser which can hijack user sessions, deface web sites, possibly introduce worms, etc.
|A2 - Injection Flaws
|Injection flaws, particularly SQL injection, are common in web applications. Injection occurs when user-supplied data is sent to an interpreter as part of a command or query. The attacker's hostile data tricks the interpreter into executing unintended commands or changing data.
|A3 - Malicious File Execution
|Code vulnerable to remote file inclusion (RFI) allows attackers to include hostile code and data, resulting in devastating attacks, such as total server compromise. Malicious file execution attacks affect PHP, XML and any framework which accepts filenames or files from users.
|A4 - Insecure Direct Object Reference
|A direct object reference occurs when a developer exposes a reference to an internal implementation object, such as a file, directory, database record, or key, as a URL or form parameter. Attackers can manipulate those references to access other objects without authorization.
|A5 - Cross Site Request Forgery (CSRF)
|A CSRF attack forces a logged-on victim's browser to send a pre-authenticated request to a vulnerable web application, which then forces the victim's browser to perform a hostile action to the benefit of the attacker. CSRF can be as powerful as the web application that it attacks.
|A6 - Information Leakage and Improper Error Handling
|Applications can unintentionally leak information about their configuration, internal workings, or violate privacy through a variety of application problems. Attackers use this weakness to steal sensitive data, or conduct more serious attacks.
|A7 - Broken Authentication and Session Management
|Account credentials and session tokens are often not properly protected. Attackers compromise passwords, keys, or authentication tokens to assume other users' identities.
|A8 - Insecure Cryptographic Storage
|Web applications rarely use cryptographic functions properly to protect data and credentials. Attackers use weakly protected data to conduct identity theft and other crimes, such as credit card fraud.
|A9 - Insecure Communications
|Applications frequently fail to encrypt network traffic when it is necessary to protect sensitive communications.
|A10 - Failure to Restrict URL Access
|Frequently, an application only protects sensitive functionality by preventing the display of links or URLs to unauthorized users. Attackers can use this weakness to access and perform unauthorized operations by accessing those URLs directly.
There are several pages in this document that are not dedicated to a specific vulnerability and hence are not listed in the table. Here is the list of them.
|Top 10 2007
|The main page for the document (this page). Besides providing an introduction, bookmarking the "Summary" section (this can be done by dragging this link to your browser's bookmarks) gives you quick access to the entire document.
|Top 10 2007-Methodology
|A description of the methodology used to select the vulnerabilities for this document.
|Top 10 2007-Where to Go From Here
|Some advice as to how to proceed once you have read this document.
|Top 10 2007-References
|Recommendations for further reading.
A Note About The Different Versions
While the only official version of the OWASP Top Ten 2007 list is the downloadable English PDF version, OWASP has put together this Wiki that initially contains the same content as the PDF. But OWASP hopes that will change with your help. OWASP encourages community involvement and wants your help to make the Wiki version even better. To aid in this they have put together a brief tutorial to get you started.
Downloadable Versions
You can download the Top 10 2007 (Final) here:


text:
Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas oversees 553 local government bodies. They include school districts, municipalities and all the other line-item entries on property tax bills.
Two years ago, she asked each and every one of those local government bodies to provide an accurate accounting of their debts and obligations. On Tuesday she disclosed a semi-complete total: $108 billion.
That's a fair amount of money. Sadly, it won't be the final total. There are 53 entities that still need to report in and retiree health benefits have yet to be calculated. We'll take a wild guess and estimate that the final number will land somewhere near $120 billion.
This saddles the typical Cook County suburban household with at least a $33,000 tax bill. Your typical Chicago household is on the hook for a minimum of $66,000.
Cook County and the 553 local government bodies under its purview cannot be bailed out on these debts and obligations. The state of Illinois is broke. The Federal government nears default. Ben Bernanke said yesterday no QE3 (which might have allowed the Fed to buy up a lot of muni bonds). So there's no way out. It's pay up or default.
http://www.cookcountytreasurer.com/news ... opicid=434


text:
Yo Gabba Gabba! Live! : Get The Sillies Out! will visit 50 cities across the U.S. next year. The live stage show is based on the live-action television series that airs several times a day on Nick Jr. Yo Gabba Gabba! was created by Christian Jacobs and Scott Schultz and is executive produced by John Berrett and Michael Polis. The live stage show is touring in support of the first national beverage launch, a new line of toys, a new line of kids sportswear, and a DVD/CD collector's edition.
For a complete list of upcoming tour dates, cities, and show times, visit www.yogabbagabbalive.com.


text:
Title: Chasing Ellie
A Chasing Fireflies Standalone Spin Off
Author: Paige P. Horne
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Cover Design: Cassandra Roop @ Pink Ink Designs
Release Date: May 12, 2017
I'm the wild girl whose mom decided she didn't want to live anymore. I grew up with a daddy who only had half a heart, in a town where everyone knows everyone. I've feared love nearly my whole life because I've seen first-hand what losing it looks like. It's ugly, it's scary and its pain is almost unbearable. When I was nine years old, my daddy told me you'll only find one true love in this life.
"It's the rarest but truest love there is, Little Miss. You find it and you never let it go."
But I didn't share the chief's feelings.
Until one summer day when a brown eyed boy with a busted lip and a smirk, showed up in the small town of Green Ridge. Tommy Kingsley started to change everything. The boy from the south side of Chicago taught me that love isn't something to be feared and that it's the only thing that makes everything else worth it. He gave me hope and this story tells you how.
Pre-order Links
99c for a limited time
Author Bio
Author Links
a Rafflecopter giveaway


text:
Links to articles, charts and information on INCIID programs and services.
There are several sections on the INCIID Forums: Ask the Experts, Infertility Support, Grief and Loss, Pregnancy After Infertility, Parenting After Infertility, Adoption and Lifestyles including the Infamous "SoapBoxes". The Ask the Experts area is set up so medical and other professionals in the field infertility, pregnancy, pregnancy loss and adoption will be able to answer your questions. Usually each expert area has a support area for peer support. Just follow the links. If you have questions please don't hesitate to email us. Support discussions should go to the Infertility Support Forum area. Thanks!
INCIID professional members go that extra mile with their patients. Find professional fertility service providers who support INCIID's mission here. Search by zip code or by state.
This is the first and only national IVF scholarship program. INCIID provides donated IVF treatment (including ovarian stimulation drugs) for those with medical and financial need but without insurance to cover it.


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- 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
- 2 teaspoons Hungarian sweet paprika
- 2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon dry mustard
- 1 teaspoon (packed) golden brown sugar
- 1 4-pound boneless grass-fed beef chuck roast, tied
- 6 ounces slab bacon, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices, then into 1x1/2-inch rectangles
- 2 cups dry red wine
- 1/2 cup low-salt chicken broth
- 2 large onions, thinly sliced
- 12 small shallots, peeled
- 12 garlic cloves, peeled
- 3 bay leaves
- 4 large carrots (about 1 pound), peeled, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 3 medium parsnips (about 12 ounces), peeled, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 small celery root, peeled, cut into 1-inch cubes
Recipe Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix first 6 ingredients in small bowl. Rub spice blend all over beef.
Cook bacon in heavy large ovenproof pot over medium heat until browned and lightly crisp. Using slotted spoon, transfer bacon to paper towels to drain. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons drippings from pot. Increase heat to medium-high. Add beef and cook until browned on all sides, about 12 minutes total. Transfer beef to plate. Add red wine to pot; bring to boil, scraping up browned bits. Boil until reduced to 1/2 cup, about 5 minutes. Add broth and bacon. Place beef atop bacon. Scatter onions, shallots, garlic, and bay leaves around beef.
Cover pot, transfer to oven, and roast 1 hour. Turn beef over; stir onions. Cover and roast 1 hour longer, adding water by 1/4 cupfuls if dry.
Transfer beef to plate. Add carrots, parsnips, and celery to pot; stir to coat. Place beef atop vegetables, cover, and roast until beef and vegetables are tender, about 45 minutes longer. Transfer beef to platter. Spoon off fat from surface of sauce. Season sauce to taste with salt and pepper. Pour sauce over beef and serve.


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Features of the Clinton Classic Wood Mat Platform with Removable Mat: • Mat attaches with Velcro® strips to the rimless subtop.
• 2" mat included.
• 700 lbs. load capacity.
• Width: 6'.
• Length: 8'.
• Height: 18".
This product is non-returnable.
Medex SKU: CLI-242-68-3AL


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Christina Aguilera turns 30 in December – and she says she's getting better with age.
"I'm proud of my age," she told Access Hollywood's Shaun Robinson during an exclusive interview on the set of her new video, "Not Myself Tonight." "Because with it comes wisdom, and we're smarter. And, you know what? I feel sexier than I have ever been in my whole life."
After a decade of stardom, the hot mom told Shaun that getting older had made her more confident.
"You know what you want. You know how you feel. And you know how to get it," she told Shaun.
Confidence comes easy when you look and can perform like Christina, who shows off some racy outfits in her "Not Myself Tonight" video – the first clip and single from her upcoming album, "Bionic."
But the singer admitted that getting her amazing body took some work.
"You know, its just about making the time for and I hate working out," she said. "No one hates working out more than me. I hate it with a passion, but I do it because in the end, it makes you feel better. In the moment, it sucks… and to get motivated to get on a treadmill and make time for it in your day. There's just not enough hours in the day as it is, and as a mother it's really hard, but just to squeeze in some cardio, some weights."
However, the curvy star said she doesn't want to get too thin.
"There's certain assets I like to have," she said. "I don't like getting too thin because I lose a little bit of booby."
Though Christina may be more confident than ever, she said there's one star whose advice she loved getting – "Burlesque" co-star and music legend Cher.
"I didn't know what to expect. I was excited for sure," Christina said of meeting the singer. "But I have to say she welcomed me with open arms. (She gave me a) big hug and we just started talking and it was like (we were) old girlfriends. Everyday it was just such a great experience with her because she was so warm and supportive and giving me advice, which I sucked in like a vacuum… we'd sit like girlfriends and talk about love and relationships on a personal level."
Head to Vevo.com now to see the full "Not Myself Tonight" video!
Related Content from AccessHollywood.com:
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Daring! Dramatic! Fabulous! Hot Shots Of Hollywood's Divas
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Beautiful Shots Of Songstress Christina Aguilera
PLAY IT NOW: Access Extended: Christina Aguilera - 'Bionic' Is 'Purely Fun'
PLAY IT NOW: Access Extended: Why Doesn't Christina Aguilera Wear Her Wedding Ring?
MORE ACCESS ON THESE TOPICS: Christina Aguilera - Fitness - Music - Shaun Robinson - Cher


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It's all the buzz in Ottawa — a federal election seems to be on the horizon. Vancouver South Liberal MP Ujjal Dossanjh has said a late spring election is all but "inevitable."
As soon as an election is called, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops will likely, as in the past, release an "elections pamphlet" as a reflection tool. Without getting partisan, Church communities are one of the few locations in modern society where voters can get together to talk, share and hone their thinking about the complexities of electoral issues and options.
Of all the important themes arising these days, I admit to being taken by surprise in mid-January when Prime Minister Harper announced that he would resurrect the issue of per-vote subsidies to political parties, and make their elimination an election issue. "I think we've been pretty clear that we don't think there's really strong justification for this direct subsidy to parties," he said.
There are really three types of election subsidies in Canada: there is a tax credit available for donors to political parties, there is a rebate available to candidates for a portion of their electoral expenses, and there is the per-vote subsidy. This latter subsidy will grant a party $2.04 for every vote received, and is the only one the PM wants to cut.
In 2010 five parties received $27.4-million from the per-vote subsidies: the Conservatives received $10.4 million; the Liberals received $7.3 million; the NDP received $5 million; the Bloc Québécois received $2.8 million; and the Green Party received $1.9 million.
Conservatives oppose the per-vote subsidy because it is not directly tied to a voter's intention to give money to a particular party (just their vote.) Quite a few commentators have railed against the fact that a party committed to the country's breakup (the Bloc Quebecois) receives this subsidy.
It is intriguing to note that elimination of the per-vote subsidy was not present in Conservative Party electoral platforms in 2006 or 2008. When the idea was floated in the Nov. 27, 2008 economic update, it was quickly withdrawn when the opposition parties began to consider a coalition to bring down the government.
If the PM is again seriously suggesting that this form of election financing is a concern, how might Canadian Christians reflect and react?
In fact, while specifically opposed to the per-vote subsidy, the governing party is not opposed to tax credits and election reimbursements. So the debate so far is not about opposition to all subsidies on principle - just this particular one. Any proposal must explicitly outline who benefits and who loses, and if a change serves to level the democratic playing field . . . or not.
Canadians should be concerned about any initiative that might negatively affect civic participation in this country. In the last federal election, the rate of voter apathy (41 per cent) was higher than the percentage of support received by any party.
As Citizens for Public Justice has argued, "Public subsidies to political parties can provide Canadians with an added incentive to get involved in political campaigns and vote for candidates whom they support, even if these candidates have little chance of winning in our first-past-the-post system. With voter apathy already reaching levels never seen in Canadian history, why would democratic Canadians support moves that could well decrease even further the number of persons who bother to vote?"
How much are Canadians willing to pay for a vibrant electoral democracy? Is this $27.4 million subsidy worthy of the same time on the political agenda as other decisions such as the billions to be spent on new prisons, or the $15-billion fighter aircraft deal? Would reduction in government subsidies open the door to more corporate and union donations to parties, such as in the U.S., where running for political office is now exclusively a millionaire's game?
Beneficial reforms to the electoral system, allowing for more enhanced participation by Canadians, are beneficial to the common good. Activities that limit, constrain and even exclude Canadians from participation in the political process are not helpful.
There are other worthy reforms that could indeed improve Canada's electoral system and encourage higher rates of participation by citizens. Proposals for proportional representation have been the worthy subject of debates and referenda in some provinces. CPJ believes that political parties could democratize their internal operations, allow more free votes in the House, and encourage more participation of women and ethnic minorities in all levels of politics in order to better reflect and engage Canada's population.
Imagine the impact if Christians made it known they would refuse to vote for any party that employed political attack ads in the upcoming campaign!
The elimination of per-vote subsidy funding to political parties may be a diversion from the real steps Canadians may want to take to enhance civic participation and culture.
(Joe Gunn is the Ottawa-based executive director of Citizens for Public Justice, www.cpj.ca, an ecumenical social advocacy organization.)


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I've been on a rice paper roll kick in the last few days. They are so fresh and light and take no time to make. Great alternative to bread, pitas, tortillas, fried spring rolls…etc. And you can fill them with just about anything! The two quick recipes I've added below are what I ate for both lunch and dinner. One has Chickpea "Tuna", which can be used as a sandwich spread, on top of salads, on crackers, or eaten on its own.
- Rice Paper
- Avocado Slices
- Alfalfa Sprouts
- Baby Spinach, chopped
- Romaine Lettuce, chopped
- Green Olives, sliced
- Tomato, sliced
- Red Bell Pepper, sliced
- Chickpea "Tuna" Spread (http://calmmindbusybody.com/chickpea-spread-faux-tuna/)
- Prepare the vegetables and chickpea mixture. Briefly soak a sheet of rice paper in warm water and place on a flat surface. Add the ingredients near the bottom of the wrap and fold the left and right side over. Then take the bottom of the rice paper and roll over your mixture and keep rolling till you've reached the top of the rice paper. Press down on the edges to make sure it is secure and doesn't fall apart.
- Cut in half on an angle (optional) and serve. I served these with hot red pepper jelly.
Ingredients for Grilled Portobello Cold Rolls:
- Rice Paper
- Alfalfa Sprouts
- Baby Spinach, chopped
- Sliced Tomato
- Grilled Portobello Mushroom slices
- My Mushroom marinade: Balsamic Vinegar, Lemon Juice, Olive Oil, Ground Pepper
- I marinated my mushrooms before grilled them. You can skip this step or just add them to the rolls raw, which is a good step if you are strapped for time. If you do want to marinade them, mix some balsamic vinegar, fresh lemon juice, 1 tsp olive oil and some ground pepper in a shallow dish and place the sliced mushrooms in. Leave them for a few minutes and then turn them over. Heat up your grill and grill for a few minutes on each side.
- Now make your wraps! How to Wrap Rice Paper. I served these with some hot red pepper jelly and some vegan cajun mayo (Just take homemade vegan mayo or store bought vegan mayo and add in some cajun spices.
I don't think rice paper wraps will last too long, so i'd eat them within 24 hours and wouldn't suggest making any more than you think you and the people you are feeding will be able to eat within that time. Fresh is best, anyway. :o)


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One location will be in Milton Keynes, UK.
IMAX is to open five theares in Europe with the help of three exhibition partners.
Odeon and UCI Cinemas Group will build one location north of London in Milton Keynes and Pathé Theatres will open three IMAX theatres in the Netherlands, including two in The Hague and Tilburg and one in an undetermined location.
In collaboration with Austrian exhibitor Cineplexx, Vienna will also see a new IMAX theatre installed at the Donauplex 13 complex.
"Europe continues to be a key strategic focus for IMAX and we're delighted that many of our existing exhibition partners are increasing their IMAX business," IMAX EMEA president Andrew Cripps [pictured] commented. "Today's announcement not only underscores the growth opportunities that exist in the region, which has approximately 450 million consumers, but it's also an endorsement of the confidence exhibitors have in IMAX to deliver audiences a differentiated experience and drive incremental revenue to their multiplexes."
Read the entire article here.


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5 Approaches to Unified CommunicationsBy Andrew Garcia Print
The value of unified communications is realized when technologies are tied to business processes.
Unified communications is one of those technology terms that means different things to different people. Nonetheless, it is ultimately a driver for better business processes.
Properly implemented, unified communications, or UC for short, will bring together people (both internal and external to the company), applications and data in ways that increase efficiencies and create new opportunities.
On a technical level, UC may be viewed as an effort to tie together disparate communication modalities—presenting a unified interface for VOIP (voice over IP), instant messaging, real-time video, whiteboarding and presence. Users would then have the ability to efficiently navigate and migrate among the different communication channels, easily initiating collaborative work sessions with other employees as needed.
But from a wider perspective, UC should be viewed as the convergence of communications with business processes. The real value of UC becomes apparent when it is tied to business objectives and business applications to advance the company's competitive advantages and increase shareholder value or market share. The individual technologies comprising UC are but a bunch of moving parts working together to solve the underlying business challenges.
That said, a UC implementation is disruptive. An undertaking of this magnitude will likely touch every aspect of IT, requiring significant planning and cooperation between the teams responsible for the day-to-day operation and availability of numerous data services.
UC also will undoubtedly change the way workers do business on a daily basis—requiring them to learn new tools, adapt to the new technologies and recognize that seemingly simple communications and conversations will be archivable business assets.
To manage the disruption, any UC initiative needs to be carefully planned and considered in the early stages to keep the project on target and the disruption positive, instead of a distraction.
Following are the five steps eWEEK Labs recommends that any company take before undergoing such a herculean project.
Read the full article at eWEEK.
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VANCOUVER -- It was what you would call a complete game shutout.
The Vancouver Canucks were very good from top to bottom Friday night as they ran their season-best winning streak to six games.
The fact their impressive 4-0 win at Rogers Arena came over the struggling Edmonton Oilers may carry with it an asterisk, but there simply is no disputing the fact that this was one of the Canucks' best games of the season.
Daniel Sedin scored on a power play and the Canucks got goals from their second, third and fourth lines. Defenceman Jason Garrison added three assists and goalie Roberto Luongo stopped 19 shots to earn his third shutout of the season.
"I think the past three games we have had spurts of it, but tonight I thought we brought it right from the start," said centre Ryan Kesler. "We had a lapse there in the second period for a bit, but we didn't give them much. It was a complete effort by everybody."
"All four lines played great," added Luongo. "Our fourth line did an amazing job protecting pucks down low and cycling and creating chances, same thing with our third line. And you know when we get good production from those lines we have a good chance to win."
The Canucks demonstrated Friday they can be a dangerous team when all four lines are playing well and of course, defensively, Vancouver has been superb in recent games.
The Canucks have surrendered just six goals during this six-game winning streak and just one in their past three games.
Frustrated Oilers coach Dallas Eakins certainly was a believer after the Canucks outshot his team 40-19.
"We just couldn't ever get going," Eakins said. "It seemed like every time we got the puck, they had already closed on us. We just couldn't even get out of our zone.
"It's hard to get a shot on the net from your own zone... That is as good as I have seen the Canucks play in a while. I try to watch them as much as I can with them being in our division, but I thought they were excellent tonight."
Vancouver coach John Tortorella was somewhat subdued after the win, clearly recognizing his team has a much tougher opponent to face Saturday night when the Boston Bruins make their first visit to Rogers Arena since Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final in 2011.
"I thought everybody contributed," Tortorella said. "I thought they were energetic, the rest helped them. They looked refreshed and we'll find out the real stuff though when we play the next game."
It was the line of Kesler, Mike Santorelli and Chris Higgins that set the tone right off the opening faceoff. They had the Oilers hemmed inside their own zone for 90 seconds and the rest of the team followed suit.
If not for Edmonton goalie Devan Dubnyk, this one would have been over much earlier than the third period.
Daniel's Sedin's goal, on a 4-on-3 power play at 8:41 of the second period, had the Canucks up only 1-0 after two periods. It was the third straight game the Canucks entered the third period clinging to a 1-0 lead.
This time they displayed a killer instinct that hasn't been evident much this season.
Zack Kassian, criticized by his coach in recent days, scored at 2:26 of the third when he tipped in a shot by linemate David Booth through the legs of Dubnyk. Less than four minutes later Chris Higgins finished off a nifty three-way passing play with Kesler and Santorelli to put the Canucks up 3-0.
"They are just tenacious," Tortorella said of Kesler's line. "They forecheck, I think they read well off of one another and they are hard on the puck. It is a big part of how you have to play. Starting from the first shift they set the tempo that way. I thought they played very well."
Tortorella was also pleased with Kassian's play and not just his goal.
"He played good," Tortorella said. "I thought he had good decisions with the puck. On that goal, he finishes a check, gets a turnover, gets a goal, made some right decisions right on through the game, just simple little plays."
Fourth-liners Jeremy Welsh, Zac Dalpe and Dale Weise got in on the act in the final minute when Tortorella rewarded them with some power-play time. Weise banged in a rebound off a Yannick Weber shot at 19:25 of the third to make it 4-0.
Weise had earlier hit a post and late in the second period his line played what may have been the best shift by a Canuck fourth line this season when they pressed hard in the Oiler zone for what seemed like an eternity.
"Good for them," said Tortorella. "They had some chances before that."
ICE CHIPS: Luongo's shutout was the 65th of his career. He and Eddie Lack have now pitched back-to-back shutouts. Luongo and Cory Schneider did that only once during their time together as Canucks. Luongo will get the start Saturday night versus Boston.


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Too Human Pulled From Xbox Live Marketplace In Response To Lawsuit
Last year, Too Human developer Silicon Knights was ordered to destroy all game code created using the Unreal Engine, which includes games both released and unreleased by the developer. The process has begun with Too Human's disappearance from the Xbox Live Marketplace.
To refresh, Silicon Knights sued Epic Games in 2007, claiming that it was holding back on its resources when it came to supporting Unreal Engine 3. Silicon Knights licensed the Unreal Engine to make Too Human and other games, and felt that Epic was, in laymans terms, saving the good stuff for Gears of War. After five years of deliberation, the court ruled in favor of Epic Games.
Too Human was available on-demand, but now it has disappeared along with all its related downloads, including gamer pictures, themes, and demos. The product page still exists, but there's nothing there. It's a just a shell of its former being.
[via Eurogamer]


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PartyPlannerUSA.com is the newest directory to hit the internet. We make it easy for you to plan your next party or event. We are confident that our research will help you find that perfect vendor.
Begin by following these several steps:
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Do you know? The words "Singers" have also other spellings. Some of these names are listed below: a capella & doo-wop, solo-artists, jazz singers, french cabaret, singers, performers, opera artists, wedding singers, pop & rock artists…...


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I have had Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) since March 2002. Both of my sons also got ME/CFS at ages 6 and 10. Our younger son fully recovered after 10 years of mild illness. Our older son still has ME/CFS and also has Lyme disease plus two other tick infections. This blog is about how our family lives with chronic illness, with a focus on improving our conditions and enjoying our lives in spite of these challenges.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Feed a Crash
Anyway, I'm feeling a lot better today. I think this was "just" a regular crash and not a new herx from Lyme treatment. Both boys had some congestion earlier this week, so there was probably a virus lurking around to trigger my crash. This is one of the biggest improvements I've seen in the past year - fewer crashes and when I do have one, it doesn't last very long, thank goodness.
Time for my nap. We have a busy weekend coming up, with my mom and her husband coming to stay with us and celebrate Superbowl Sunday (no school on Monday, so the kids get to stay up for the whole game for the first time ever!)
Have a nice weekend!
6 comments:
- Paula said...
Too funny - I am herxing bad today after IV treatment at the Fibro center and right after the IV yesterday, all I wanted to do was eat!! And I craved steak and buttery baked potato. mmmmm.. All I need is heating pad and food today. It might be a comfort thing as you said. This is so rough.
Enjoy your party Sunday..
- Shelli said...
Maybe it is a comfort thing -- because when I crash, I play computer games all day! For some reason, I can't justify staying in bed all day no matter how yucky I feel.
Glad it was a "little" crash! Do you think your improvement is from LDN, better management, or just plain luck? I'm always curious! Thanks!
- Sue Jackson said...
Shelli -
I'm definitely doing better due to LDN, plus anti-virals. I saw a significant improvement last year (before I got Lyme).
When I crash, I can't handle any computer time at all. Yesterday, I couldn't even manage the laptop, even though I really wanted to check blogs at least! When I'm that bad, I have to just lie down completely, plus being on the computer tires me even more, if I'm already feeling bad.
Glad to hear you have your own comfort mechanism - games are probably better than food!!
- Sue Jackson said...
Paula -
Hope you were able to enjoy that steak and baked potato! For me, it's cereal. I love cereal and usually try not to eat too much of it, but when I feel bad, I can reason that I really NEED the extra energy!
Hope you're feeling better soon -
- Ms.F. said...
Glad you're feeling better!
I have intense sugar and/or salt cravings during crashes - I think my body just believes that it needs more 'fuel'.
But the funny thing is that on most days I tend to forget to eat. I only remember I haven't eaten when I feel the sudden drop in energy. I actly have to set times and alarms to remind myself to eat properly through the day!
- Sue Jackson said...
Ms. F -
ha ha - I never have to remind myself to eat!! I have low blood sugar (like many people with CFS, though I've always had it, I think). I can't go more than a few hours without eating or I start to feel sick. My husband makes fun of me because I always carry food with me!


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Human rights expert decries U.S. response to genocide
Speaking to a capacity audience at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs Tuesday, Harvard University lecturer Samantha Power related a hair-raising account of the startling absence of American response to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
"We didn't stop genocide because we didn't want to," Power asserted. "We wanted genocide stopped, of course, but we didn't want to undertake that which would have been required to stop it."
Power insisted the U.S. has justified its lack of intervention in genocide situations with two platitudes: 'we didn't know,' and 'we couldn't have done much about it if we had known.' Power rejects these excuses.
Officials, said Power, "see no costs to standing by, and enormous costs to standing up and delivering messages no one wants to hear." She said this reticence to take the political risks necessary to intervene early has meant the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent victims, from Germany to Rwanda to Kosovo. And history seems to only repeat itself. "Because the lives of these people aren't weighted very heavily in the political calculus the equation comes out the same way again and again," said Power.
Power's talk was based on the Rwanda chapter of her recent book, "A Problem from Hell: American Bystanders in the Age of Genocide," which details American responses - or lack thereof - to cases of genocide, from the Holocaust to the former Yugoslavia. Power chose to focus on the Rwandan case in her lecture; however, she reminded the audience, "the U.S. response to most of these cases was all systems shut down."
One of Power's most poignant points was the complete lack of heed that apparently was paid by the U.S. to blatant warning signs in Rwanda that genocide was imminent. She said the commander of the U.N. peacekeeping forces in Rwanda had information, as early as four months before the killing began, that should have stirred the U.S. government into action. However, when Congress learned that the Rwandan militia was capable of exterminating 1,000 people every 20 minutes and that primary targets in the coming uprising were to be international peacekeepers, they began pulling their forces out of Rwanda rather than sending in the reinforcements necessary to meet the burgeoning need. "This was one of the most graphic warnings you could get," said Power, "but it was still not heeded."
The fear of becoming involved in another international peacekeeping disaster like that which had occurred in Somalia just the year before was a large factor in the U.S. decision to steer clear of the situation in Rwanda, said Power, and the government chose its words cautiously to avoid being forced to intervene. Power cited an internal memo from a U.S. general that read, "Be careful. The legal department at State was worried about this yesterday. If we use the word 'genocide,' we'll actually have to do something."
Power also laid some of the blame for the lackluster response on the "society-wide silence" in the U.S. that accompanied the issue whenever it was raised. Rwanda had never before been on the public radar screen, and few members of the press were focusing on the situation as it unfolded. The result, said Power, was that the U.S. government hid behind public apathy to justify its noninterventionist stance.
Power, who covered conflicts in the former Yugoslavia as a reporter for U.S. News and World Report and The Economist, is a lecturer in public policy and executive director of the Carr Center for Human Rights at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Contact: Marilyn Marks (609) 258-3601


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Few movies are as fun to quote as "The Big Lebowski," which comes out on Blu-Ray Aug. 16, and will be celebrated at the New York edition of Lebowski Fest Aug. 15-16.
But when I rewatched it the other night, "Causasian" (what the Dude calls a White Russian) in hand, I realized I'd been quoting some of the lines wrong for years.
I always remembered Jeff Bridges snapping back at the home invaders who've confused him with a richer Lebowski by saying "Does it LOOK like a woman lives here?" But no, the actual line was "Does this place look like I'm f---ing married?"Slideshow: Unforgettable images from 'The Big Lebowski' (on this page)
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And somehow I thought that after his car is stolen, a cop told him "You're not getting your Creedence back." Nope, one cop says "Wouldn't hold out much hope for the tape deck, though," and another responds "Or the Creedence." (Spoiler: But he does!)
The lines, though, are just as great whether you get them exactly right or now. A few favorites:
"Oh, you know, the usual. Bowl. Drive around. The occasional acid flashback." --It's not like the Dude doesn't have hobbiesVideo: 'Little Bit of Love' for Jeff Bridges (on this page)
"Obviously you're not a golfer." --The Dude explains the presence of a bowling ball in his house
"I am not Mr. Lebowski. You're Mr. Lebowski. I'm the Dude. So that's what you call me. You know, that or, uh, His Dudeness, or uh, Duder, or El Duderino if you're not into the whole brevity thing." --There are many choices when addressing the Dude
"Careful, man, there's a beverage here!" --The Dude must protect his beloved White RussianStory: Jeff Bridges is country solid on new album
"Just because we're bereaved doesn't mean we're saps." -- Walter points out that funeral urns are darn expensive
"A wiser man than myself once said, 'Sometimes you eat the bar, sometimes, the bar eats you.'" --The mysterious narrator known as The Stranger offers up words to live byMark it, Dude. 'Lebowski' reunion a blast
"You want a toe? I can get you a toe, believe me. There are ways, Dude. You don't wanna know about it, believe me." --Walter's right, we don't want to knowStory: Where do 'Big Lebowski' stars abide today?
"The Dude abides. I don't know about you but I take comfort in that. It's good knowin' he's out there. The Dude. Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners." --Yes, Mr. Stranger, we do take comfort in that
"I don't roll on Shabbos!" --Later on, the Dude argues that Walter is actually Polish Catholic
"Another Caucasian, Gary!" --There are many ways to order a White RussianDude, you could own 'Big Lebowski' bungalow
"I had buddies who died face-down in the muck so you and I could enjoy this family restaurant." --Walter is pretty intense about Vietnam
"Nice marmot." --The Dude doesn't think it's so nice when the clawy little guy is tossed in the tub with him. Plus we're not zoologists, but it looks like a ferret
"Sure, I'll just check with the boys down at the crime lab, They got four more detectives working on the case." --What we all imagine happens when our car is stolen or broken into
What's your favorite "Big Lebowski" quote? You don't have to get the wording exactly right, but do share with us on our Facebook page.
© 2012 MSNBC Interactive. Reprints


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I would like to say up front that I think this is an excellent web site, and I am sorry to see that it has become somewhat moribund. The links to Amazon and ABEBooks no longer seem to work, so I am concerned that the creator of the site is deriving no revenue from it. I have enjoyed this site for a while and there are authors such as Charles G. Finney, E. T. A. Hoffmann, and Mervyn Peake that I would probably never have read had I not seen them recommended on this site.
The creator (Owlcroft) clearly has a definite point of view and a sense of style, and the authors he recommends are all highly enjoyable. His point of view does, I think, lead him to overlook a type of literary quality which many more 'orthodox' readers of science fiction do recognize. In the spirit of being a devil's advocate, and in the hope of perhaps kicking off some worthwhile discussion, I wondered if I could assemble twelve five star masters from names that are not in this site, without lowering the level of literary quality: twelve names with the same sort of literary sweep as Owlcroft's. That would be a bit of a task, since to assemble my own personal list of twelve star masters I would have liked to poach some of Owlcroft's, but in the spirit of the game, I came up with a list of twelve who are excluded from this site and who, in my more 'orthodox' eyes, are worthy of recognition. So I am now proposing a 'dark twin' twelve five star masters:
Isaac Asimov
Arthur C. Clarke
Philip K. Dick
Frank Herbert
Aldous Huxley
Madeleine L'Engle
George Orwell
Mary Shelley
Jules Verne
Kurt Vonnegut
H. G. Wells
Yevgeny Zamyatin
And I still have William Gibson in my back pocket.


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Kanotix Requests - KDEnlive as Kanotix video editor?
- 03.06.2012, 12:36 Uhr
KDEnlive as Kanotix video editor?
I think Kanotix already has an excellent choice of packages and most common desktop computing tasks can be achieved with just the apps included with the full versions of the distro except for one popular task - video editing.
Seeing as Kanotix is primarily a KDE distro then including KDEnlive would make a lot of sense and its certainly more user friendly than the alternatives of blender and **censored**. Maybe we'll have the choice of Lightworks soon too although from what I hear that won't be fully open source like KDEnlive which is here now and working very nicely too.
I couldn't see this idea being discussed in the English forums here and I've not checked the German forums so excuse me if this has already been discussed and decided against. I would expect not to see KDEnlive included on the mini versions of Kanotix although it'd be great if it could be fit onto the mini releases too!
Alle Zeiten sind GMT + 1 Stunde
© 2003-2007


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Along with being one of the most influential journalists in the history of Kentucky, Al Smith is a fascinating role model of redemption and overcoming addiction.
January 2013 will mark the fiftieth year since Al took his last drink and began his road to greatness. The former head of the Appalachian Regional Commission for President Carter, Smith's second book, "Kentucky Cured: Fifty Years in Kentucky Journalism,†is a collection of reflections and stories about mesmerizing people that he met during his decades in the bluegrass state.
A must-read for students of Kentucky history, journalism and politics, "Kentucky Cured†is really the book that I thought Smith would write as his autobiography. "Kentucky Cured†is loaded with insight about Kentucky and Kentuckians.
In 2011, Al became a first-time author at age 84 with his stunning autobiography, "Wordsmith.†As I noted in a review of that book, "Smith writes with gut-wrenching honesty about how he overcame self-destruction. It might be one of the best books that anyone anywhere has written about overcoming the grips of alcohol addiction.†Much of that book is centered on his years in New Orleans and I noted in my review that it was written "with the raw edge of a man who looked the devil in the eye and stared him down, but knows he is always just one drink away from falling back into the abyss.â€
Kentucky Cured reflects the upbeat, spellbinding and positive side of Smith's personality, laced with colorful characters, both well-known and unknown. It traces his journalism career from his "rebirth†in Western Kentucky to the most current of current events. Kentucky Cured gives a glimpse at people like political powerhouses Emerson "Doc†Beauchamp of Logan County, who few Kentuckians of this era know about, but played a major role in shaping the state's history.
But the book is not really about other Kentuckians, it's about Al, a man who seems to know everyone. A man who overcame adversity and passionately devoted his life to helping people that society often throws away. A man who, like Forrest Gump, always seems to show up just as history is happening.
Kentucky Cured reflects all of those traits that Al possesses. It is also an entertaining and easy read. The 220 pages fly along from story to story.
Anyone who watched Kentucky Educational Television's "Comment on Kentucky†program during the 30-plus years that Al hosted the show definitely should want to own a copy of the book. It fills in the gaps on many of the issues, people and ideas that made "Comment†a must-watch for movers and shakers in the state.
Al was granted the gift of "amazing grace†to overcome his addiction, but what he has done in the 50 years since he became "Kentucky Cured†makes for a fascinating read, for Kentuckians and non-Kentuckians as well.
Don McNay, CLU, ChFC, MSFS, CSSC is a best-selling author and expert on what to do when you win the lottery. He was a frequent guest on "Comment on Kentucky†when Al Smith hosted the show. His latest book, "Life Lessons Learned from the Lottery,†will be available on Kindle Nov. 17.


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This is a standard SD card that supports High Capacity, so you won't be able to use it in devices that don't already support SD HC. This lack of compatibility is down to the way SD HC cards read data, as they use FAT32, so they address sector writing, which isn't supported in older cards.
Bundles of storage
With 16GB of storage on this card you'll be able to store, on average, 320 hours of music or 100 hours of MPEG-4 footage at 384Kbps resolution. This amount of storage needs a fast controller, so this Class 6 card is guaranteed a constant data transfer rate of 6Mbps, but can obtain a maximum speed of 20Mbps.
We found the card could transfer 1GB in a little over three minutes, which is slow, but once reformatted, this dropped to two minutes 12 seconds, which is much more acceptable.


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Products, Services
By Ernie Stephens | March 1, 2009
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What happens during an engine overhaul? Let's walk through the engine shop and see for ourselves!
You've just walked into the hangar and noticed something unusual. There's an empty space where your helicopter's turbine engine used to be. But it's okay. It was pulled out by the mechanic and sent to an authorized service center for a scheduled overhaul. In 20-30 days, however, it'll be reinstalled back in its rightful place, ready to be flown for several hundred more hours. But what happens to your engine after it reaches the repair facility?
This month, Rotor & Wing will escort you through the process of a turbine engine overhaul at Sikorsky's subsidiary, Keystone Helicopter, located in the rolling hills of Coatesville, Penn., 30 miles west of Philadelphia. Our guide will be Chuck Hurdelston, program and sales manager for the engine division.
"Here are the basic steps," said Hurdleston. "Receiving, preliminary inspection, teardown, cleaning, detailed inspection, quoting, re-work, assembly, testing, quality assurance and finally, shipping."
Engines usually arrive mounted inside a shipping box and are immediately taken into the engine shop of Keystone's massive 250,000-square-foot facility where they also assemble, complete and repair Sikorsky S-76s and S-92s. As soon as an engine is uncrated, a set of tracking documents and work orders are placed inside of a clear plastic pouch that will move through the overhaul process with the engine, thus ensuring accountability.
"Be sure to tell your readers to make copies of the engine log book before they send the original to us," said Hurdleston. "If the originals are lost by the shipping company, it's going to complicate matters."
After the engine has been removed from its crate, it is mounted onto a wheeled stand that allows it to be rolled to the inspection and disassembly areas easily. The rack also allows the engine to be rotated end-over-end for closer inspection and ease of dismantling.
During preliminary inspection, a technician will take a good, superficial look at the engine and its accessories, checking to see if there are any obvious problems, such as fluid leaks and corrosion. If anything out of the ordinary is found, a notation will be made on an in-house form and slipped inside of the document pouch for later action.
While on the rack, the engine will also be bled of fluids, which Keystone will send to recyclers.
At the front of the engine shop are the disassembly stations. Here, technicians methodically take the engine apart down to the smallest components. Each part is then placed on a wheeled cart with foamed cutout cradles for major pieces, such as turbine wheels, fuel controllers and shafts. Each part gets a visual check for obvious problems at this point, as well.
Once the engine has been disassembled, it can now be moved around to other locations in the shop on its wheeled, shelved cart.
Nearly everything in an engine needs some sort of cleaning during the inspection process; some because they will be returned to service aboard the customer's aircraft and others because soot, lubricants and discoloration can hide damage during the inspection process. So, engine parts will be tagged individually with the main tracking number, and sent off to be cleaned by a process that's appropriate for the component and the material it is made out of.
Inside of the well-ventilated cleaning room are a variety of vats and sinks where chemicals are used to clean certain parts.
"You've got various hot soak and cold soak solutions here," said Hurdleston as he pointed out the heavy cleaning stations, some of which looked like deep fryers from a restaurant. "The parts get agitated and cleaned in sodium hydroxide and other chemicals, to name a few. We use ultrasonic cleaning, too."
But sometimes the accumulated dirt and corrosion are so thick it has to be blasted off the part. For that, they go into the grit blast room.
Inside the grit blast room, components are placed in large metal cabinets where technicians literally blast the part clean using sprayers that attack the dirt with "grit," which is actually glass or plastic milled into a fine granular substance. When properly used, the part is left clean and virtually intact.
Once everything is clean, the parts are sent to various stations in the engine shop for detailed inspection following the procedures set forth by the engine's manufacturer. Of particular interest are the "wheels," meaning the rotating parts that make up the compressor that packs air into the engine; the power turbine, which drives the transmission and some of the accessories; and the exhaust turbine, which helps drive the compressors in the front of the engine by way of a shaft.
Of all the part of an engine, the wheels require the most precision to build because they have to be perfectly balanced and spin freely within a hair's width of their housings. Therefore, during an overhaul inspection, these parts must be checked for even the slightest bit of deformation, pitting, corrosion or deterioration.
In one area of the engine shop, technicians take measurements of parts to ensure they are within the manufacturer's wear limits. To accomplish this, they use hand calipers and computer-assisted laser triangulation to identify the exact amount of wear on a part, as well as its alignment.
Balance is key to a properly running engine. If its shafts and wheels are not spinning true, the engine will vibrate, causing even more damage or catastrophic failure.
To ensure proper balance and alignment of rotating parts, an assortment of special tools are used to identify warped, worn or deformed areas where various components mate with each other. This way, a bearing seated in a deformed housing, for example, won't impart its unwanted vibration onto another part.
In another area of the shop, a technician sits in a darkened room inspecting a compressor rear support using a process known as "dye penetrant."
For a dye penetrant inspection, the technician spreads a special powder over critical portions of the component. When examined under ultraviolet light, the powder, which will appear bright green under the UV light, will highlight any pits and cracks that the naked eye would miss. If any are discovered, the technician marks them for later evaluation.
Not far from the shop where UV light is used, another technician is mounting turbine and compressor wheels on the side of a large airflow machine. One by one, the machine will test the efficiency of compressor and turbine wheels by driving a prescribed volume of air through them at a specified velocity. A computer read-out will alert the technician to any issues that are prohibiting the proper handling of air, especially vane deformation.
The engine's fuel system will get a detailed inspection, too. For that, there are three machines waiting in a separate room. They are the fuel nozzle flow cabinet, which allows the technician to see fuel being sprayed out of the engine's nozzle to ensure proper volume and spray pattern; the power turbine governor test cart, which looks at the accuracy of the component's ability to regulate fuel; and the fuel accessories test stand, which powers up the engine's fuel controller to check its functions.
Once the various sub-shops of the engine department have competed their tests and placed their findings in the plastic document pouch that the engine was given when it arrived, a specially trained member of the administrative staff with extensive engine repair experience will review all of the identified problems with that engine. That person will then prepare an itemized estimate for the customer, indicating what needs to be repaired, what needs to be replaced, and what the estimated cost for the entire overhaul job will be. The quote will then be sent to the customer for their review.
Once the customer has approved the recommended course of action for the completion of the overhaul, workers will go about pulling the needed parts from stock, ordering items that aren't on-hand, and, in the case of repairable components, make those items ready to be returned to service aboard the engine.
When a part that comes in with an engine has a defect that the engine's manufacturer says can be repaired, that item is tagged for what is called "rework."
In most cases, reworking is a matter of grinding scored or pitted surfaces down until smooth, then rebuilding the affected area until it returns to the proper dimensions. This process takes two separate shops; the machine shop and the plasma spray booth.
The machine shop is equipped with an assortment of large grinding and drilling machines that carefully file away deformities in metallic surfaces much the same way a piece of wood is shaped on a lathe. Technicians command the computers on the machines to remove the required amount of material until smooth and perfectly round.
The newly filed component is then taken to the plasma spray booth, where molten material it sprayed onto the surface of the recently smoothed part. Once it has cured in a brick-lined oven, the part is returned to the machine shop where it is machined again until ground down to the manufacturer's specifications. When completed, the part will be sturdy enough to withstand the rigors of another few hundred hours of operation.
Not everything can be repaired at every engine shop, though. Some parts – different ones for different engines – may only be reworked by the manufacturer or a very small number of factory-authorized centers. Consequently, the reworking process sometimes involves sending worn or damaged parts to another place for repair. With luck, those parts will be returned to the engine shop soon after the components done in-house are finished.
Once all of the engine's parts have been inspected, replaced or repaired according to the manufacturer's specifications and the owner's wishes, it is time to assemble them back into one fully functioning power plant.
The wheeled rack of components gets a bag of brand new gaskets before being handed over to a technician for assembly. Care will be taken to torque all nuts and bolts to factory specifications as the engine is built up mounted back on a wheeled engine stand. When done, it will be pushed over to the engine test cell.
The best way to test an engine before reinstalling it aboard an aircraft is to mount it in a test cell. The engine test cell consists of two specially constructed rooms; the test cells itself and the operator's room.
The test cell is where the engine mount is located. It is here that the engine will be bolted to a rack, connected to fuel and oil lines, and then hooked up to various probes and sensors that will monitor its performance. A dynamometer or "dyno" is attached to the output shaft of the engine to measure torque, as well as to put the engine under a load similar to what it will have to operate under in the helicopter. A ceiling vent carries engine exhaust outside where a color camera watches the chimney for trouble that may identify itself in the form of smoke or super-intense heat plumes.
A critical part of the engine test cell is a steel, rail-mounted shroud that is positioned around the turbine housing when the engine is running. In the unlikely event of a catastrophic engine failure, the shroud will minimize the danger of parts literally flying off the engine.
Adjacent to the test cell is the sound-dampened operator's room. From here, the technician will run through a series of manufacturer-prescribed tests for a particular model engine. It usually includes running the engine at idle while a second technician conducts a visual check for leaks. If all is well, the engine will run through a range of RPMs as its performance is monitored on computer screens and compared to pass/fail parameters set down buy the designers.
If the engine fails any portion of the test, the computer will point to the general source of the trouble, and that component will be sent back for rework or replacement. If the engine passes, it will be wheeled to a holding area while its paperwork is reviewed by quality assurance personnel.
The quality assurance, or QA, people will read through the paperwork to ensure that all of the required work was properly done, carefully documented and appropriately recorded in the customer's engine log books. Once QA gives it the thumbs-up, the engine can be readied for return to the awaiting owner.
When preparing to ship, shop technicians will ensure that the engine has enough lubricant to protect critical parts from the affects of corrosions during return shipment, since some returns will include passage aboard an ocean-going vessel. The engine is then put back into the shipping crate it arrived in, and taken to the loading dock to be sent out.
Chances are that when the worker drops a newly overhauled engine at the shipping desk to be sent out, another engine will be waiting in the receiving area for its turn to be overhauled. And the process begins again.