text:
It's been said before, but it bears repeating: If you haven't begun assembling your acreage and yield records in preparation for signup for the 2002 farm bill, do it now. And, if you haven't talked with your landlords or tenants about updating bases and yields, don't put it off another day.
USDA has not set the dates for signup for direct and counter-cyclical payments authorized in the new farm bill, but it will be sooner rather than later, according to Hunt Shipman, deputy under secretary for farm and foreign agricultural services at USDA.
"We have to have the interim final rule written by Aug. 10, but we don't have to have the rule in place to begin signup," he said. "We anticipate that once it begins, the bulk of producers will sign up in the first few weeks. We will not be able to issue a check to a producer until he has signed a new contract."
Speaking at a meeting of the American Cotton Producers and The Cotton Foundation in Atlanta on July 24, Shipman said the Farm Service Agency has begun mailing letters to program crop producers advising them of the planted and prevented planted acres they have reported to FSA.
The FSA letter asks producers to review the Summary Acreage History Report in the letter and report any inaccuracies or updates by Aug. 31. Producers will need to provide verifiable documentation, including seed receipts, production records and crop insurance records, to correct any inaccuracies or update their records.
"A number of our people are in Chicago this week, undergoing training on updating bases and yield information as permitted in the new farm bill," he said. "They will go back to their state and county offices and train their people."
Under the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002, farmers may update their base acreages to reflect their planted and considered planted acres for the 1998-2001 period or they may add oilseed planted and considered planted from 1998 to 2001 to their existing base.
They can update their yields — for the new farm bill's counter-cyclical payments — by taking 70 percent of the difference between their current base yields and 1998-2001 average yields or by taking 93.5 percent of the average yields in the 1998-2001 period.
Shipman says the farm bill provides USDA with an expedited process to promulgate the rules. "For many of the farm bill provisions, particularly for the commodity programs, we will be able to publish an interim final rule, which will not require a formal comment period.
"We anticipate that the rule-making process should be complete in August, and that producers will have ample time to see the rule and come to the county FSA offices and discuss their options."
The checks that will be issued after they determine whether to update base or yield are what Shipman refers to as "top-up" payments or payments for the difference between the AMTA payments made under the Federal Agricultural Improvement and Reform or FAIR Act of 1996 and the payments authorized under the new farm bill.
Currently, FSA is issuing the final payments owed to producers under the old FAIR Act. Once signup is completed, FSA will begin sending out checks for the difference in the old farm bill and the new or, in the case of cotton, 1.11 cents per pound (6.67 cents under the new law — 5.56 cents under the old).
(For rice, the top-up payment should be 31 cents per hundredweight; for corn, 2 cents per bushel; for wheat, 6 cents per bushel; and sorghum, 4 cents per bushel.)
Shipman said that when producers receive the latest letter — an earlier letter sent in May outlined the new farm bill's provision — they should review the Summary Acreage History Report as quickly as possible.
"Those who would like to update their base and yield information can come into their county FSA office and discuss their options," he said. "We will have a new form with a row for each farm serial number farmed by that operator.
"I've been quoted extensively about the shoe-box approach," he said, referring to a comment he made during an earlier farm bill press conference with Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman. "You may not have to go with the shoe box, but you must be able to provide verifiable documentation if you decide to update your records."
Shipman cautioned that growers who bring in crop insurance records may not put APH or actual production history yields into the calculations because those reflect 10 years of yield history along with "plugged-in" numbers to replace disaster years. "They may be useful as background information, however," he said.
Once farmers have completed signup and FSA has issued the "top-up" payments, the agency will begin focusing on making the first advance counter-cyclical and the first advance fixed or direct payments under the new law.
The farm bill says the advance counter-cyclical payments will be made in "October or as early as practical," Shipman said.
On a question that has been drawing considerable attention in farm circles, Shipman said that when a tenant farmer is renting from multiple landowners, all must approve before the land can be enrolled in the new farm bill or bases and yields updated.
He said FSA would also require that new powers of attorney be executed for all landowners participating in the new farm bill.
Asked how FSA would attribute yields on a farm with two or more owners, Shipman said it would be up to the renter to work out the division with the owners. "That's the way we've done it in the past on reconstitutions," he said.
Shipman noted that Texas A&M University, Louisiana State University, Mississippi State University and other land-grant universities and some farm organizations have developed computer programs to help growers calculate their best option on updating bases and yields.
He said county Farm Service Agency personnel also would provide as much help to producers as they can in helping them make decisions on the updates. "We will also be relying on county Extension agents and university specialists because they have experience in working with producers."
County FSA offices now have desktop computers that will run the computer software to administer programs under the new bill, he said. "It may take longer to write the software than in the past, but we think we will provide better service in the end," he said.
Unlike the 1996 farm bill, farmers will sign up for the new farm programs from year-to-year. However, they will have only one opportunity to update their acreage bases and yields.
"Under the old farm bill, farmers were locked into their fixed payments and, in some cases, locked out of eligibility for the marketing loan for the life of the farm bill," he said. "We think annual signups will giver farmers more flexibility in dealing with the changes that will occur over the six-year life of the farm bill."
Shipman noted that some uncertainty remains because of the possibility that appropriations bill amendments could be introduced limiting the amount of payments cotton and rice producers may receive under the new farm bill.
"Hopefully, we won't go down that path," he said. "Secretary Veneman has said she believes Congress should wait until the payment limits study commission has time to be formed and reports its findings before any further actions are taken."
He also said USDA officials have been "disappointed" at the criticism that has been directed at the farm bill, some at the cotton provisions.
"There have been claims that the farm bill is protectionist, but that is absolutely false," he noted. "This farm bill does not increase tariffs and it does not increase farm subsidy spending above the level of the payments in the 1996 farm bill and the ad hoc disaster payments of the last four years.
"We don't expect the new law to significantly alter the number of the planted acres in the United States and certainly not like what occurred after the passage of the 1996 farm law."
e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com.


text: Autism facts and history Facts and statistics about autism, including how many autistic people are in the UK, how many autistic people have learning disabilities, a breakdown by gender, a history of autism studies, and some common myths and facts about the condition. How does autism affect children, adults and their families? The term 'autism' is used here to describe all diagnostic profiles, including Asperger syndrome and Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA). Without understanding, autistic people and families are at risk of being isolated and developing mental health problems. Autism is much more common than many people think. There are around 700,000 people on the autism spectrum in the UK – that's more than 1 in 1001. If you include their families, autism is a part of daily life for 2.8 million people. Autism doesn't just affect children. Autistic children grow up to be autistic adults. Autism is a hidden disability – you can't always tell if someone is autistic. While autism is incurable, the right support at the right time can make an enormous difference to people's lives. 34% of children on the autism spectrum say that the worst thing about being at school is being picked on2. 63% of children on the autism spectrum are not in the kind of school their parents believe would best support them3. 17% of autistic children have been suspended from school; 48% of these had been suspended three or more times; 4% had been expelled from one or more schools4. Seventy per cent of autistic adults say that they are not getting the help they need from social services. Seventy per cent of autistic adults also told us that with more support they would feel less isolated5. At least one in three autistic adults are experiencing severe mental health difficulties due to a lack of support6. Only 16% of autistic adults in the UK are in full-time paid employment, and only 32% are in some kind of paid work7. Only 10% of autistic adults receive employment support but 53% say they want it8. References 1 The NHS Information Centre, Community and Mental Health Team, Brugha, T. et al (2012). Estimating the prevalence of autism spectrum conditions in adults: extending the 2007 Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey. Leeds: NHS Information Centre for Health and Social Care 2 Reid, B. (2011). Great Expectations. London: The National Autistic Society, p7 3 Reid, B. (2011). Great Expectations. London: The National Autistic Society, p18 4 Reid, B. (2011). Great Expectations. London: The National Autistic Society, p8 5 Bancroft et al (2012). The Way We Are: Autism in 2012. London: The National Autistic Society 6 Rosenblatt, M (2008). I Exist: the message from adults with autism in England. London: The National Autistic Society, p3 7 The National Autistic Society (2016). The autism employment gap: Too Much Information in the workplace. p5 8 Bancroft et al (2012). The Way We Are: Autism in 2012. London: The National Autistic Society How many people in the UK are autistic? Around 700,000 people may be autistic, or more than 1 in 100 in the population. There is no register or exact count kept. Any information about the possible number of autistic people in the community must be based on epidemiological surveys (ie studies of distinct and identifiable populations). The latest prevalence studies of autism indicate that 1.1% of the population in the UK may be on the autism spectrum. This means that over 695,000 people in the UK may be autistic, an estimate derived from the 1.1% prevalence rate applied to the 2011 UK census figures. The prevalence rate is based on two relatively recent studies, one of children and the other of adults. The prevalence study of children, (Baird G. et al., 2006) looked at a population in the South Thames area. The study of adults was published in two parts, Brugha et al (2009), and The NHS Information Centre, Community and Mental Health Team, Brugha et al (2012). This is the only known prevalence study to have been done of an adult population. Autism and learning disabilities What proportion of autistic people have a learning disability? Between 44% - 52% of autistic people may have a learning disability. Between 48% - 56% of autistic people do not have a learning disability. Research findings on the proportion of autistic people who also have learning disabilities (IQ less than 70) vary considerably as they are affected by the method of case finding and the sample size. Fombonne et al (2011), in their research review of 14 prevalence studies that mentioned IQ, found a range of 30% to 85.3%, with a mean of 56.1%, of people without learning disabilities, p. 99. Emerson and Baines (2010) in their meta-analysis of prevalence studies found a range of people with learning disabilities and autism from 15% to 84%, with a mean of 52.6%. Explanation of why these findings are so variable and the reliability of the figures can be found in both Emerson and Baines (2010) and in Fombonne et al (2011). What proportion of people with a learning disability are autistic? Around a third of people with a learning disability may also be autistic. Around a third of people who have learning disabilities (IQ less than 70) are also autistic, according to research published by Emerson and Baines in 2010. The adult prevalence study, The NHS Information Centre, Community and Mental Health Team, Brugha et al.(2012), found between 31% and 35.4% of people with a learning disability are autistic. Autism and gender Are men more likely to be autistic than women? An overview of diagnosis rates Various studies, together with anecdotal evidence, suggest that the ratio of autistic males to females ranges from 2:1 to 16:1. The most-up-to-date estimate is 3:1. Lorna Wing found in her 1981 paper on autism and sex ratios in early childhood, that among people with a diagnosis of 'high-functioning autism' or Asperger syndrome there were 15 times more men and boys than women and girls, while in autistic people with learning difficulties, the ratio of men and boys to women and girls was closer to 2:1. In a much larger 1993 study of Asperger syndrome in mainstream schools in Sweden, Ehlers and Gillberg found a boy to girl ratio of 4:1. Brugha's 2009 survey of adults living in households throughout England found that 1.8% of men and boys surveyed had a diagnosis of autism, compared to 0.2% of women and girls. In 2015, the ratio of men to women supported by The National Autistic Society's adult services was approximately 3:1, and the ratio of boys to girls in our charity's schools was approximately 5:1. In a 2017 study, Loomes and other researchers analysed existing prevalence studies and found that the male-to-female ratio was nearer 3:1. Read more about the gender split. A history of autism studies It is more than 50 years since Leo Kanner first described his classic autistic syndrome. Since then, the results of research and clinical work have led to the broadening of the concept of the autism spectrum. In consequence, estimates of prevalence have increased considerably. This process has occurred in stages, the start of each of which can be linked to particular studies. Read our charity's timeline to find out more about the history of The National Autistic Society. Kanner syndrome 1943 The specific pattern of abnormal behaviour first described by Leo Kanner is also known as 'early infantile autism'. Kanner made no estimate of the possible numbers of people with this condition but he thought that it was rare (Kanner, 1943). Over 20 years later, Victor Lotter published the first results of an epidemiological study of children with the behaviour pattern described by Kanner in the former county of Middlesex, which gave an overall prevalence rate of 4.5 per 10,000 children (Lotter, 1966). The triad of impairments in children with learning disabilities 1979 In 1979 Lorna Wing and Judith Gould examined the prevalence of autism, as defined by Leo Kanner, among children known to have special needs in the former London Borough of Camberwell. They found a prevalence in those with IQ under 70 of nearly 5 per 10,000 for this syndrome, closely similar to the rate found by Lotter. However, as well as looking at children with Kanner autism, Wing and Gould also identified a larger group of children (about 15 per 10,000) who had impairments of social interaction, communication and imagination (which they referred to as the 'triad' of impairments), together with a repetitive stereotyped pattern of activities. Although these children did not fit into the full picture of early childhood autism (or typical autism) as described by Kanner, they were identified as being within the broader 'autism spectrum'. Thus, the total prevalence rate for the spectrum in all children with special needs in the Camberwell study was found to be approximately 20 in every 10,000 children (Wing and Gould, 1979). Gillberg et al (1986) in Gothenburg, Sweden, found very similar rates in children with learning disabilities There have been a number of other epidemiological studies in different countries examining the prevalence of autism (but not the whole spectrum). These results range from 3.3 to 60.0 per 10,000, possibly due to differences in definitions or case-finding methods (Wing and Potter, 2002). Asperger syndrome The studies described above identified autism in children, the great majority of whom had learning disabilities and special educational needs. However, in 1944, Hans Asperger (new evidence about his problematic history has recently been revealed and provoked a big debate) in Vienna had published an account of children with many similarities to Kanner autism but who had abilities, including grammatical language, in the average or superior range. There are continuing arguments concerning the exact relationship between Asperger and Kanner syndromes but it is beyond dispute that they have in common the triad of impairments of social interaction, communication and imagination and a narrow, repetitive pattern of activities (Wing, 1981; 1991). 1993 In 1993, Stephan Ehlers and Christopher Gillberg published the results of a further study carried out in Gothenburg in which they examined children in mainstream schools in order to find the prevalence of Asperger syndrome and other autism profiles in children with IQ of 70 or above. From the numbers of children they identified they calculated a rate of 36 per 10,000 for those who definitely had Asperger syndrome and another 35 per 10,000 for those with social impairments. Some of the latter may have fitted Asperger description if more information had been available, but they were certainly on the autism spectrum. The children who were identified were known by their teachers to be having social and/or educational problems but the nature of their difficulties had not been recognised prior to the study. 1995 For over 30 years, Sula Wolff, in Edinburgh, has studied children of average or high ability who are impaired in their social interaction but who do not have the full picture of the triad of impairments. In her book giving results of her studies (Wolff, 1995), she emphasises that the clinical picture overlaps with Asperger syndrome to a large extent. However, these children represent the most subtle and most able end of the autism spectrum. The majority become independent as adults, many marry and some display exceptional gifts, though retaining the unusual quality of their social interactions. Why include them in the autism spectrum? As Sula Wolff points out, they often have a difficult time at school and they need recognition, understanding and acceptance from their parents and teachers. The approach that suits them best is the same as that which is recommended for children with Asperger syndrome and high-functioning autism. In her discussion of prevalence, Sula Wolff quotes Ehlers and Gillberg's study. She considers that their total figure of 71 per 10,000, includes the children she describes. Autism spectrum 2005 A survey by the Office of National Statistics of the mental health of children and young people in Great Britain found a prevalence rate of 0.9% for autism or 90 in 10,000 (Green et al, 2005). These were not differentiated into autism, Asperger syndrome or other profiles on the autism spectrum. 2006 Gillian Baird and her colleagues published a report of a prevalence study which surveyed a population of children aged 9-10 years in the South Thames region. All children who either already had an autism diagnosis or were known to child health or speech and language services as having social and communication difficulties were selected for screening. Children considered to be at risk of being an undetected case because they had a statement of special educational needs were also selected. Diagnoses were based on ICD-10 criteria. The results showed a prevalence rate of 38.9 in 10,000 for 'childhood autism', and 77.2 in 10,000 for other conditions on the autism spectrum, giving an overall figure of 116 in 10,000 (Baird et al, 2006). In this study very few children were identified with Asperger syndrome. The authors acknowledged that some children in mainstream schools who did not have a statement of special educational would have been missed, because of the selection criteria. The authors note that the prevalence estimate found should be regarded as a minimum figure (Baird et al. 2006). There may be another reason why Asperger syndrome was rarely found in the study. ICD-10 diagnostic criteria for Asperger syndrome are such that a person who would be diagnosed with Asperger syndrome using the criteria used by Gillberg, would probably receive a diagnosis of childhood autism or atypical autism using the ICD-10 criteria. Prevalence in adults The Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey is the primary data source for monitoring trends in England's mental health. In 2007 it included for the first time a measure of autism and found 1% of the population studied had autism, (Brugha, T. et al , 2009). The Department of Health then funded a project to build on the APMS study and look more closely at the numbers of autistic adults that could not have been included in the original study. This included people in residential care settings and those with a more severe learning disability. The study was led by Professor Terry Brugha of the University of Leicester, who also led on autism research for the APMS 2007. Combining its findings with the original APMS, it found that the actual prevalence of autism is approximately 1.1% of the English population, (The NHS Information Centre, Community and Mental Health Team, Brugha, T. et al, 2012). Recent studies from other countries The Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network in the USA looked at 8 year old children in 14 states in 2008, and found a prevalence rate of autism within those states overall of 1 in 88, with around five times as many boys as girls diagnosed (Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network Surveillance Year 2008 Principal Investigators, 2012). The National Center for Health Statistics in the USA published findings from telephone surveys of parents of children aged 6-17 undertaken in 2011-12. The report showed a prevalence rate for autism of 1 in 50, (Blumberg, S .J. et al, 2013). A study of a 0-17 year olds resident in Stockholm between 2001-2007 found a prevalence rate of 11.5 in 1,000, very similar to the rate found other prevalence studies in Western Europe, (Idring et al , 2012). A much higher prevalence rate of 2.64% was found in a study done in South Korea, where the researchers found two thirds of the people on the autism spectrum were in the mainstream school population, and had never been diagnosed before. (Kim et al, 2011). Researchers comparing findings of prevalence studies from different parts of the world over the past few years have come up with a more conservative median estimate of prevalence of 62 in 10,000. They conclude that the both the increase in estimates over time and the variability between countries and regions are likely to be because of broadening diagnostic criteria, diagnostic switching, service availability and awareness of autism among professionals and the public, (Elsabbagh M. et al, 2012). References Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network Surveillance Year 2008 Principal Investigators (2012) Prevalence of autism spectrum disorders - autism and developmental disabilities monitoring network, 14 sites, United States, 2008. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Surveillance summaries, 61(3), pp. 1-19. Available to download at http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss6103a1.htm [Accessed 15/05/2013] Emerson, E. and Baines, S. (2010) The estimated prevalence of autism among adults with learning disabilities in England. Stockton-on-Tees: Improving Health and Lives. Blumberg, S. J. et al (2013) Changes in prevalence of parent-reported autism spectrum disorder in school-aged U.S. children: 2007 to 2011–2012. National Health Statistics Reports, No 65. Available to download at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr065.pdf [Accessed 15/05/2013] Brugha, T. et al (2009) Autism spectrum disorders in adults living in households throughout England: report from the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey, 2007. Leeds: NHS Information Centre for Health and Social Care. Available to download at http://www.hscic.gov.uk/catalogue/PUB01131 [Accessed 10/05/2013] Ehlers, S. & Gillberg, C. (1993). The epidemiology of Asperger syndrome: a total population study. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 34(8), pp. 1327-1350. Emerson, E. and Baines, S. (2010) The estimated prevalence of autism among adults with learning disabilities in England. Stockton-on-Tees: Improving Health and Lives. Available to download at http://www.improvinghealthandlives.org.uk/projects/autism [Accessed 10/05/2013] Elsabbagh, M. et al (2012) Global prevalence of autism and other pervasive developmental disorders, Autism Research, 5 (3), pp.160-179. Available to download at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/aur.239/pdf [Accessed 15/05/2013] Fombonne, E., Quirke, S. and Hagen, A. (2011). Epidemiology of pervasive developmental disorders. In Amaral D.G., Dawson G. and Geschwind D.H. eds. (2011) Autism spectrum disorders. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 90 – 111. Available from the NAS Information Centre. Gillberg, C., Grufman, M., Persson, E. & Themner, U. (1986). Psychiatric disorders in mildly and severely mentally retarded urban children and adolescents: epidemiological aspects. British Journal of Psychiatry, 149, pp. 68-74. Green, H. et al (2005) Mental health of children and young people in Great Britain, 2004. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Available to download at http://www.esds.ac.uk/doc/5269/mrdoc/pdf/5269technicalreport.pdf [Accessed 10/05/2013] Idring, S. et al. (2012) Autism spectrum disorders in the Stockholm Youth Cohort: design, prevalence and validity. PLoS One, 7(7): e41280. Available to download at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3401114/ [Accessed 15/05/2013] Kanner, L. (1943). Autistic disturbances of affective contact. Nervous Child, 2, pp. 217-250. Kim, Y.S. et al (2011) Prevalence of autism spectrum disorders in a total population sample. American Journal of Psychiatry, 168 (9), pp. 904-12. Available to download at http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/article.aspx?articleid=116570 [Accessed 15/05/2013] Lotter, V. (1966). Epidemiology of autistic conditions in young children, I. Prevalence. Social Psychiatry, 1, pp. 124-137. Wing, L. (1981). Asperger's syndrome: a clinical account. Psychological Medicine, 11, pp. 115-129. Available from the NAS Information Centre Wing, L. (1991). Asperger's syndrome and Kanner's autism. In: Frith, U., ed. Autism and Asperger Syndrome. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Available from the NAS Information Centre Wing, L. & Gould, J. (1979). Severe impairments of social interaction and associated abnormalities in children: epidemiology and classification. Journal of Autism & Developmental Disorders, 9, pp. 11-29. Available from the NAS Information Centre Wing, L. & Potter, D. (2002). The epidemiology of autistic spectrum disorders: is the prevalence rising? Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews, 8(3), pp. 151-161. Available from the NAS Information Centre Wolff, S. (1995). Loners: the life path of unusual children. London: Routledge. World Health Organisation. (1992). International Classification of Diseases. 10th ed. Geneva: WHO. Myths and facts about autism Although over 700,000 people in the UK are autistic (more than 1 in 100 people), false and often negative perceptions about the condition are commonplace. This lack of understanding can make it difficult for people on the autism spectrum to have their condition recognised and to access the support they need. Misconceptions can lead to some autistic people feeling isolated and alone. In extreme cases, it can also lead to abuse and bullying. Autism affects more than 1 in 100 people – fact. Over 700,000 people in UK are autistic, which means that 2.8m people have a relative on the autism spectrum. People tend to 'grow out' of autism in adulthood – myth. It's a lifelong condition – autistic children become autistic adults. Autism affects both boys and girls – fact. There is a popular misconception that autism is simply a male condition. This is false. Some autistic people don't speak – fact. Some autistic people are non-verbal and communicate through other means. However, autism is a spectrum condition, so everyone's autism is different. Autism is a mental health problem – myth. Autism is a developmental disability. It's a difference in how your brain works. Autistic people can have good mental health, or experience mental health problems, just like anyone else. All autistic people are geniuses – myth. Just under half of all people with an autism diagnosis also have a learning disability. Others have an IQ in the average to above average range. 'Savant' abilities like extraordinary memory are rare. Everyone is a bit autistic – myth. While everyone might recognise some autistic traits or behaviours in people they know, to be diagnosed with autism, a person must consistently display behaviours across all the different areas of the condition. Just having a fondness for routines, a good memory or being shy doesn't make a person 'a bit autistic'. Did you find this information helpful? Sign up for email updates

subset: commoncrawl


text:
It was widely reported that S'pore and the EU will start talks next Monday on a free trade agreement.
What was not reported (or if it was, I missed it) is that the EU had made the start of talks conditional on S'pore joining the likes of HK and Dubai in providing certain info on the financial transactions of EU citizens. S'pore had said "Bugger off" (OK in a polite way) as it wanted to make sure that clients of private banks (esp those of Swiss banks) had the confidence of secrecy from EU eyes.
It is reasonable to assume that S'pore has changed its stance given that the West has become more assertive abt info from places like Switzerland, rather than the EU accepting S'pores "Bugger off" stance. Note, last yr S'pore agreed to abide by the OECD code on info to ensure that it was removed from the OECD's grey list of offshore centres.


text:
Parent Watercooler: Give Mom a Box of LoveShop the Story
This Box of Love gift tutorial is brought to you by Melissa & Doug, written by our Blog Ambassador Zina Harrington of Let's Lasso the Moon.
Keep the light of curiosity alive!
– Zina
Still searching for a unique Mother's Day present?
A small "Box of Love" is the perfect gift for Mom. While I keep the clutter at my work desk to a minimum, this adorable Box of Love sits proudly under my computer screen. It makes me smile every day.
This classic school project and poem are guaranteed to melt Mom's heart:
This is a very special gift that you can never see.
The reason it's so special is, it's just for you from me.
Whenever you are happy or even feeling blue.
You only have to hold this gift and know I think of you.
You never can unwrap it. Please leave the ribbon tied.
Just hold the box close to your heart. It's filled with love inside.
Getting started:
- Small box: a cardboard jewelry box, a wedding-favor box from a craft shop or a non-glossy box from your recycling bin.
Project Tip: Looking for something a bit more sturdy? The Melissa & Doug Wooden Heart Box is also the perfect size.
- Poster paint and brushes
- Artist Smock
- Ribbon
- Box of Love printable
The best Mother's Day presents are handcrafted without adult intervention!
Here are directions for this priceless gift:
1. Give the box a base coat. Young children are often wonderfully sporadic with their painting. A light base coat of paint will give the project a finished feel without your having to say, "You missed a spot." Be sure to let it dry for 24 hours before decorating.
2. Prep the area and prep your child to paint. A vinyl shower curtain makes a wonderful art tablecloth; it is easy to wipe up and covers a huge amount of space. Prep your little one for painting with a short-sleeve shirt and an art smock. Be sure to have a damp towel on hand for spills.
3. Let the child decorate the box any way they wish. Walk away and give the child full ownership of the project. If your little one decides to experiment and mix all the paint colors together, remember that a brightly colored bow will look vibrant against black.
4. Decorate the box with a ribbon. After the paint is dry, have your child adorn the box with a small bow. Add a dab of glue to ensure it stays in place.
5. Pull Mom's heartstrings. Hand write or print the Box of Love poem.
The best part of this project is that each version is unique. The example below has a completely different look and feel from the one above!
We'd love if you'd share your finished project with us by tagging us on Twitter, Facebook or Pinterest using the hashtags #TakeBackChildhood, #CountlessWaysToPlay and #MelissaAndDoug.
Happy Mother's Day,
* * *
Like this post? Pin it!


text:
Mike Epps Threatens To F*ck His Daughter Up On A Phone Call! "Stupid B*tch" [Audio]
"MIKE EPPS RECORDED PHONE CALL CURSING OUT & THREATENING HIS DAUGHTER!!" - Submitted by @LYRICALPHETISH
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.


text:
What's Cookin'..
Chris' Friday Features:
Southern Homemade Chicken & Dumplings, Candied Yams, Collard Greens, Yeast Rolls
Y'all come see us.
Give us a call: 512-990-5282
Want some Good Austin BBQ?
Welcome to Branch BBQ, where central Texas comes to find the best BBQ in Austin!
When our customers dine with us, they enjoy our friendly atmosphere coupled with a personal touch. Our cozy family BBQ offers you the Texas tradition of hot smoked meats, topped with a savory BBQ sauce and good old-fashioned sides like cole slaw, potato salad, mashed potatoes, corn, green beans, and pinto beans.
We have been locally owned and operated since 1994. Owner Chris Carby, the Pitmaster, ensures everything is prepared to perfection. He only uses his secret recipe BBQ sauce made fresh from scratch.
Looking for BBQ Catering:
We cater for parties of 25 or larger. For a hassle-free event, let us do your catering. We specialize in boneless and skinless chicken, Elgin sausage, and our brisket is a favorite of many. We are also an approved vendor for all the local school districts.
Take a look around the site and then come give us a visit for some great BBQ and the best smoked catfish in Texas. We guarantee you'll be back!


text:
Though its success is far from reaching the level of the likes of Samsung, ZTE is beginning to prove itself a worthy smartphone competitor. Up until recently, people didn't really pay much attention to the company, but 2012 was a good year for ZTE. Judging by CES 2013 so far, it looks like the manufacturer is ready to push forward. It took the wraps off the leaked Grand S.
We can confirm now that the specs match what were leaked in December. It features a spacious 5-inch HD 1920×1080 display with a 1.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro processor and 13MP camera on the back, capable of taking photos large enough to compare to many standard compact cameras on the market. It comes with 16GB of internal storage and 2GB of RAM, plus runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.
The design is quite nice — simple and elegant — and it's incredibly thin at 6.9 mm. Though made of plastic, the build quality feels better than one might expect and it feels pretty good in the hand. The standard 3.5 mm headphone jack is located on the top to the left of the sleep/wake button. The volume rocker is found on the right.
Judging by the time we were able to spend with the Grand S, we're pleased overall with the device. It may not be totally unique, but it looks like a promising entry into the smartphone market thanks to ZTE.
Check out our full gallery of photos below!


text:
Welcome once again to greatest boss fights on gamer--freakz. Where selected bosses from select games are featured in all their glory. For the record, each and every one of these bosses are selected from my POINT OF VIEW, so don't go bashing or hating, since its just opinions. So, without further ado, here we go, enter the darth moab.
Darth moab is a boss from the prinny series, but the darth moab we are going to focus on today is the darth moab from prinny 2. This guy, if I'm not wrong, is the brother of morgan, another badass boss of the prinny series. Darth moab floats around and has some magical abilities of his own, including firing thunder bolts, generating wind, shooting fire balls.. etc. Normally, these wont look very special in many cases, but darth moab is an exception. He's way too cool to overlook.
|Darth moab in all his glory in the first prinny game.
First of all, in both prinny games, darth moab appears as a compulsary boss fight. He appears in the final stages of both games. In the 1st game, he was more bent on fighting up close where as in the 2nd game, he plays a more turtling style. Since we are talking about prinny 2 darth moab here, lets get down to his arsenal. Lets get 1 thing clear though, the area you fight him in is very strict, and attacking the bone platforms will cause them to break. Yeap, very annoying.
Darth moab may not be insanely hard like most of the bosses I have previously talked about, but he is no pushover (then again, so are half the bosses in the game). He comes into battle with a fully powered battle ship floating in the background, automatically making the battle an epic one right off the get go. Darth moab's arsenal in prinny 2 basically comes off as something basic. He has only 2 main attacks, and one of them is rather predictable. He takes some time to actually even cast these attacks, giving you some time to butt stomp him. His 1st and most predictable attack is his lightning blast. After his ridiculously long cast, he lets loose a WIDE range electric blast that can cover ridiculous areas if you arent careful. You can control where these waves hit by moving around or jumping, but doing so wrongly or carelessly will him electrifying an unfavourable area. His next move is a more dangerous one, but he uses this less frequently. He brings down a couple of meteors on your head, which come down fairly quickly. These are hard to dodge, but as long as you don't stay in front of him, you're good.
|Keep up the usual butt stomps and you're good.
But heres the fked up part. Darth moab himself is nothing, nothing at all, but the battle itself becomes much more annoying and irritiating because of the battle ship that backs him up. You gotta make this fight quick, cuz if you don't that ship's gonna screw you up. The ship is always in the background, firing craploads of cannon shells at you, destroying the bone platforms if any of the shells hit them, that is. You will already be wearing these bone platforms with your attacks, SURELY some of your attacks would hit these platforms, its highly unlikely that you will get full accuracy over darth moab.
Killing darth moab with that pesky ship shooting stuff at you is nigh impossible, so what do you do? Bingo, take the ship down. Now dodging darth moab is alright on his own, but dodging BOTH darth moab AND cannon shells can be difficult. You are going to have to bait darth moab into hitting the air, then go butt stomp those cannon buttons scattered across the area. Successfully butt stomping all cannons will temporary disable the ship, and send it flying off for abit. But if doesn't stop there, ohh no. After you manage to bomb the ship with all the cannons, he will launch a bomb at your current position, flaring up a huge flame sphere with enourmous AOE. This is enough to kill you, it can destroy even the large dragon head platform and send you falling to your death.
After you blow up the ship and manage to survive all that you have been through, go all out on the darth moab with whatever time you have left, because the ship WILL come back if you dont kill him before then. Alone, darth moab isn't much, make use of the fact that the ship is gone and smash him, before its too late. If the ship comes back, its probably over for you, because you will either already be drained of most of your life, or you wont have much time left to destroy the ship again and attack darth moab. Its quite restrictive, but thats how things are.
Thats all for darth moab. He probably isn't that hard compared to guys like garam and masala, junkie etna (whom I did not beat), the phantom thief, ji guang long, dolvalky and so on. Still, darth moab is the most memoriable fight for me in prinny 2, for multiple reasons. He looks cool, the stage to get to him is hellishly difficult, he has morgan as his brother and you have fought him before in the 1st game. Overall, hes a fun boss to fight. He may not be overly challenging, but to say the least, hes a fun one to beat. I lost over 20 prinnies trying to kill him on standard.
Video 1- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMM91SQLkL0
Video 2- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHRwVPtXWJg


text: We have purchased 22 out of the 27 titles DVD's from Russian Martial art. To date each one has lived up to expectancy as per it advertising. With this DVD your research begins in an excellent place to start the way of Systema. Systema is very different than other styles in that it is a natural st..read more >>


text:
What do you get for the woman who has everything?
Well, if it's Oprah Winfrey, not balloons!
In a video to promote to October issue of O Magazine and it theme this month--facing one's fears--the 59-year-old Winfrey admits to actually being terrified of the inflatable objects.
U.S. & World
"I really don't like balloons, and for my 40th birthday, my entire staff decided to surprise me," she says in the clip. "And I come downstairs and the entire audience is filled with balloons. Literally, I'm stepping over balloons, having to walk through balloons and I'm so, like, 'Oh! When is one going to pop?"
NEWS: Morning news show hangs up on Oprah during phone interview
When asked by someone off-camera the reason for such a fear, Winfrey replies, "It reminds me of gunfire...and it really freaks me out, being around balloons."
Winfrey recalled that at that moment there was "no way around it, just had to walk through them. And that became a metaphor for facing all of my fears."


text:
Charlotte's Web (CW) Full Strength Hemp Oil – 100ml Mint chocolate
Regular price
Approx. 11 mg hemp extract per 1 mL serving
Quality and consistency are key for an optimal hemp oil product. CW proprietary hemp genetics are expertly bred by the Stanley Brothers, so you know what's in the bottle every single time. Charlotte's Web™ delivers the best blend of the good phytocannabinoids & phytochemicals.
We nurture each plant from seed to sale. The process begins on our US family farms, and ends at our FDA registered production facility. Before any batch leaves our facility, we test it to guarantee it meets our high standards. Each bottle of hemp oil we deliver is packed with the highest quality whole-plant extracts.
To be used in accordance with Australian hemp regulations for "non-therapeutic" and "non-human consumption". Used for external use within Australia.


text:
Hard Ball Talks – Special Guest Elliott Finkelstein
Hard Ball Talks
Date: October 12, 2015
Guest: Elliott Finkelstein, Director at Triple Crown Sports. You can learn more about Elliott and the professional events that Triple Crown Sports hosts at www.triplecrownsports.com.
Topic: With an increasing number of youth clubs forming, more and more tournaments and events popping up, it is critical for us coaches and parents to take a more active role in the assessment of finding the right experience for our athletes. Events have the ability to be a contributor to the right experience in youth sports or a deterrent. Elliott took some time with us to discuss sports events, tournament experiences, and his overall passion to improve the youth sports platform.


text:
Oprah Winfrey may not have had fireworks when she quietly launched her new television network, OWN, on New Year's Day, but she promised round-the-clock inspiration as she broadcasted her goals on the television channel.
The network began with a one-hour preview special hosted by the daytime talk show Queen herself, giving a glimpse into the 24-hour lifestyle channel, AP reported.
"There are so many things happening here at OWN, and we're just getting started," Winfrey, 56, said at the end of her network preview special. "Every day, here's what I'm hoping: that you will find something here to inspire you."
This spring, Winfrey will end her historic daily talk show after 25 years. But in the beginning both the new network and "The Oprah Winfrey Show" will be strongly connected, as Oprah chronicles the ending on an era on day-time TV with a 25-part reality series behind the scenes of the show, according to its website.
Other programs include Oprah's "Master Class," which features interviews with celebrities like Jay-Z, Simon Cowell, Diane Sawyer, and Condoleezza Rice.
"In the Bedroom with Dr. Laura Berman," premiering Monday, is a couples sex counseling program with the celeb therapist. Oprah will also be premiering her own talent search reality show in "Your OWN Show: Oprah's Search for the Next TV Star" on Friday.
The Los Angeles-based OWN is starting off the year in 80 million homes, AP reported. The network's launch date has been delayed twice because the cost had inflated to a reported $189 million.
"I wanted to take the ideals of great television that we've established on the "Oprah" show and bring them to you through a variety of new shows 24/7," said Winfrey, 56. "Every minute of this network has been hand selected by me for you, the viewers."
Selected Reading: OWN Official Website, AP


text:
Dave Matthews
Photo: Douglas Mason/Getty Images
Dave Matthews Band At Air Canada Centre
Welcome to The Set List. Here you'll find the latest concert recaps for many of your favorite, or maybe not so favorite, artists. Our bloggers will do their best to provide you with every detail of the show, from which songs were on the set list to what the artist was wearing to which out-of-control fan made a scene. Hey, it'll be like you were there. And if you like what you read, we'll even let you know where you can catch the artist on tour. Feel free to drop us a comment and let us know your concert experience. Oh, and rock on.
By Nick Krewen
You never quite know what you're going to get from Dave Matthews Band when you see them in concert.
Actually, that's not exactly true. Some of the guarantees you will receive include a performance filled with immaculate musicianship, excellent execution and a headlining set that will either approach — or break — the three-hour mark, as it did at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto on Dec. 7.
But there's always the unpredictability factor: Which song will the GRAMMY-winning sextet, fronted by the South African-born singer/songwriter/acoustic guitarist Matthews, tackle next, and how radically will it differ from the studio version?
That is the key to the DMB live experience: six virtuosos that play together so seamlessly, they can read each other's thoughts and improvise accordingly, expanding and contracting on a theme so expertly that it will unveil, develop and explore the emotional nuances thoroughly before building them to exciting conclusions. (And they never play the same set twice. Hell, they never play a song the same way twice.)
Commencing with a beefy and funky rendition of "Seven," and sporting a unique guitar-violin-horns-drums concoction that melded the discipline of rock with the freedom of fusion that got the 18,000-strong crowd pumped, DMB began "Gravedigger" with a short Carter Beauford drum solo before jumping into "Rooftop," the first of seven songs from the band's latest studio album, Away From The World.
But it was "The Dreaming Tree" that was the band's first true elastic adventure of the evening, with Jeff Coffin on flute and Rashawn Ross on muted trumpet offering lovely, lively solos over the band's appealing ostinato groove, each lasting more than five minutes.
Electric guitarist Tim Reynolds — who has recorded a number of live duet albums with the equally proficient Matthews — offered several fiery moments, particularly during a raging version of the Bob Dylan classic "All Along The Watchtower" that brought down the house and also offered lots of room for violinist Boyd Tinsley to make his mark. (Although it's not quite in the same league as the Jimi Hendrix version, DMB's version certainly falls into the "modern-day definitive" category.)
"So Damn Lucky" and "Satellite" were taken at quicker clips than their studio renditions, and for those who simply love a good song, both "You And Me" and "Everyday" were thrilling sing-alongs that seemed to satiate a crowd that appreciated the best of both worlds.
Whether it was the infectious, joyful romanticism of "If Only," the electrifying exuberance of "Two Step" that continuously ebbed and flowed in terms of tension and release, or the spontaneous solo bass version of Canada's national anthem gifted to the Toronto crowd by Stefan Lessard, Dave Matthews Band were a potently powerful endorsement of all the finest aspects of musicianship, ranging from spontaneity to the great vibes generated by a form of escapism in which everyone should occasionally indulge.
And when DMB are at their peak performance, which they were several times in Toronto, there's no better indulgence.
Set List
"Don't Drink the Water"
"The Dreaming Tree"
"Broken Things"
"Belly Belly Nice"
"Proudest Monkey"
"Belly Full"
"If Only"
"So Damn Lucky"
"You And Me"
"Jimi Thing"
"The Riff "
"O Canada"
"All Along The Watchtower" (Bob Dylan cover)
"Christmas Song"
"Drunken Soldier"
"Two Step"
To catch Dave Matthews Band in a city near you, click here for tour dates.


text:
Just recently learn about The Banner Saga and wanting to learn more? Then this is the place to be! Read some of the recent posts and you may just get your questions answered or even learn about something you didn't even know was part of The Banner Saga!
Not finding what you're looking for? Simply post your question and hopefully someone will be able to supply you with the info you're looking for shortly!
Also, check here for various guides: New Vikings Start Here!


text:
The branch of posts and telecommunications includes incorporated enterprises providing post transport, financial services, ensured electronic communication, and electronic communication network and services. Data are presented for state post, courier activity, telecommunication services in fixed and mobile telephone network, and technical equipment within telecommunication and radiocommunication service.
Turnover at current prices without VAT are receipts for own products, receipts from sale of services, and receipts for goods.
Post office is the independent postal establishment on a determined place carrying out receiving and delivery service. Some post offices also provide clearing service.
Dispatched letters items are all kinds of items containing paper documents or tiny objects sent by post offices or by mail boxes.
Letter - boxes are public boxes for the deposit of mail.
Main telephone lines are subscriber lines as a set of technical facilities for the public telephone services access network in both fixed network and exchange termination of the relevant service nodes.
Mobile telephones are lines of public radiotelephone network (NMT - Nordic Mobile Telephone, GSM - Global System of Mobile Communication), whose call number is registered in the organizations which operate public radio/telephone networks NMT, GSM.
SMS (Short Messaging Service) is a telecommunications service enabling the sending of alphanumeric short messages to phones.
MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) is a telecommunications service enabling the sending of multimedia messages (as text, digital photos, voice messages, melodies, multiphoto documents) to other phones or equipment, which enable this service.
Internet is a complex computer network enabling communication between public and private networks on different types of communication media and different technical platforms.
Source of data
All published data are the result of the statistical surveys of the Statistical Office of the SR, except performance data on posts and telecommunications, which are taken from the Ministry of Transport, Posts and telecommunications of the SR. More informations can be obtained in Yearbook of Transport, Posts and Telecommunications.


text:
His formidable lead dwindling, Blumenthal soldiers on
STAMFORD -- Hours after a Quinnipiac University poll showed Republican U.S. Senate candidate Linda McMahon's self-funded ad blitz gobbling up much of his lead in the race, Democrat Richard Blumenthal visited a Stamford community center Wednesday morning and watched several children rehearsing for a musical.
The number -- "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" -- could not have been more apt, considering Blumenthal's loss of support.
When Connecticut's popular attorney general first entered the race to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd in January, Quinnipiac had him trouncing McMahon 64 percent to 23 percent.
But McMahon, who has said she is willing to invest $50 million of the fortune her family made running Stamford-based World Wrestling Entertainment on her bid for public office, has since been flooding the airwaves with ads and stuffing mailboxes with fliers.
Wednesday's poll showed she was now within 10 points of Blumenthal and on equal footing with independent voters.
But if Blumenthal was feeling a greater sense of urgency as a result of the new poll, neither he nor his staff showed it during a pair of relaxed campaign stops in Stamford Wednesday.
"I'm going to leave polls to the political experts and pundits," he said. "I'm going around the state, listening to people of Connecticut about what they think the problems are. They want answers and results."
And, he added: "At the end of the day the people of Connecticut know me."
Reactions to Blumenthal were decidedly mixed at the Yerwood Center, which McMahon has also visited.
Bonnie Kim Campbell, the center's senior activities coordinator, appreciates the fact McMahon survived bankruptcy decades ago. But she also considers Blumenthal a fighter and a man of integrity.
"It's going to be a tough decision," Campbell said of casting her vote in November. "But I've still got time."
Blumenthal's second stop was the Stamford Central Fire Station, where union president Brendan Keatley greeted him warmly. Keatley said Dodd did "a tremendous job for firefighters" and Blumenthal will continue his work in Congress.
"He has a long, proven history of supporting us," he said. "Nothing against Mrs. McMahon. She has a tremendous amount of money (and) everyone's being bombarded with it. We look at people's track records."
Adviser Marla Romash, who was on the road with Blumenthal Wednesday, said she was not concerned about the latest Quinnipiac results. She noted McMahon faces a primary Aug. 10 and Blumenthal has yet to undertake any major advertising. Blumenthal has about $2 million cash on hand and no debt as of June.
"A poll is a snapshot of a moment in time that has passed as soon as the poll's printed," Romash said.


text:
|System: X360
|Review Rating Legend
|Dev: Sandblast
|1.0 - 1.9 = Avoid
|4.0 - 4.4 = Great
|Pub: THQ
|2.0 - 2.4 = Poor
|4.5 - 4.9 = Must Buy
|Release: Dec. 1, 2008
|2.5 - 2.9 = Average
|5.0 = The Best
|Players: 1-4
|3.0 - 3.4 = Fair
|ESRB Rating: Teen
|3.5 - 3.9 = Good
by Adam Brown
As a series transitions from one generation of consoles to the next, fans' expectations inevitably increase, and rightfully so. With more powerful hardware comes the opportunity for better graphics, brighter A.I., more elaborate level design, and innovation. While not every franchise needs to reinvent the wheel every time they debut on a new generation of consoles, it should at least be possible to maintain the same level of quality as its predecessors on weaker hardware. Sadly, this is where Crypto's latest outing falters, seeming to be more of a step backward than forward for the Destroy All Humans series.
As with the previous titles in the series, Path of the Furon has Crypto tackling a new era in human history. This time around it's the seventies, which unfortunately isn't as interesting a backdrop as either the fifties or sixties were. Expect to hear plenty of era-specific jokes including constant Watergate references, high gas price mentions, and even some semi-comical encounters with popular celebrities of the time. However, to keep from having lawsuit issues and to make the humor a bit more tongue in cheek, these icons have seen name changes although their true identities are made blatantly apparent. A good example is a run in with Sammy and Faire, a clear portrayal of Sonny and Cher. Not only do the characters look uncannily similar to their real world counterparts, the dialogue also feels the need to drop extra hints to their true identity with phrases like gypsies, tramps, and thieves being awkwardly forced into your conversations.
Much like this game's desperate attempts to infuse comedy into every line of dialogue and situation, the graphics are also very hit and miss. The visual effects provided by Crypto's extensive handheld and UFO-based arsenals are fairly notable. Melting palm trees with your death ray, electrocuting pedestrians until their heads pop, creating a black hole that continually sucks nearby humans and automobiles into the void, and blowing up vehicles are all well done and fun to watch. Unfortunately, the rest of the game's presentation is so bad that it's hard to enjoy these small gems of visual competence.
When you boot up Path of the Furon for the first time you may think you've forgotten to put on your glasses for the day or perhaps need to get your eyes examined to get a new pair. Anything that is more than about ten to twenty feet away from you is blurry to the point of being virtually indistinguishable. As you attempt to walk towards this blurry haze; buildings, vehicles, pedestrians, and various other objects will constantly pop into existence from out of nowhere. Some objects will even completely fail to load, leaving only an invisible barrier where an object should be and a lot of head scratching.
Making matters worse, this horrible visual glitch can also adversely affect your missions. In one particular UFO mission that I played, one of my objectives was to destroy twelve cargo crates on a barge. Sounds simple enough right, that is at least until I realized that only eleven of the crates actually loaded. There was no way to destroy the twelfth phantom crate, so I actually had to retry the mission from my last checkpoint. Again the twelfth crate didn't appear, but I think the game just took pity on my situation and somehow registered that the phantom crate had been destroyed so that I could proceed.
These kinds of occurrences are inexcusable and unfortunate but, sadly, aren't the only aspects of Path of the Furon that exude the feeling of being completely unfinished. Besides the underwhelming graphics and these frequent loading glitches, players are also treated to dramatic dips in framerate, teleporting enemies, getting stuck in the environment (usually the ground), missing sound effects, cut off dialogue sequences, and even misspellings in the in-game text. Seriously, did no one read through the text in this game before it shipped? Because of these abundant issues, Path of the Furon feels very shoddily put together and rushed to the market, which is a real shame for all the Destroy All Human fans who have been waiting patiently for Crypto's current generation debut.


text:
Choose another country to see content and pricing specific to your location and shop online.
Your Recent Searches
No recent searches are available.
Product Suggestions
Latest Articles
Top 5 Cycling Bib Shorts This Season
Cycling Bib Shorts are not just reserved for the warmer months. We have taken a look at some of our favourite bib shorts for when the weather is less ...
Top 5 Cycling Rain Jackets This Season
Whether it is keeping the showers off, the wind at bay or the chill from ruining your ride a good cycling jacket is a must. We've taken a closer look ...
Two Weeks with the Cervelo S5 Red eTap AXS
Testing the new Cervelo S5 Disc Red eTap AXS Road Bike out in the Peak District, discover how Tim got on with one of the fastest aero road bikes on th...
Introducing: BMC Switzerland
Boasting a range that consists of road, time trial and gravel bikes, BMC are a Swiss brand that delivers when it comes to two wheeled fun and performa...
The New Commute - Running to Work
Introducing the 2021 Trek Emonda Road Bike
Top 5 Wetsuits for Wild Swimming
Join Our Community
Sign up to our newsletter and save £10 on your first order over £100 or £25 on orders over £250.
It looks like you've already got an account!
Sign in now for faster checkout. We'll also make sure this order counts towards your Loyalty Scheme discount.
Please enter your registered email address below and we'll send you an email explaining the next step.


text:
Johan (Jean) Julius Christian Sibelius (December 8, 1865 – September 20, 1957) was a Finnish composer of classical music. Together with the work of Johan Ludvig Runeberg, Sibelius' music is synonymous with Finnish national identity.
Jean Sibelius was born in 1865 into a Finland-Swedish family in Hämeenlinna in the Russian Grand Duchy of Finland. His family consciously decided to send Jean to an important Finnish language school. This should be seen as part of the larger rise of the Fennoman movement, an expression of Romantic Nationalism which was to become a crucial part of Sibelius' artistic output and politics.
His most famous compositions are probably Finlandia, Valse Triste, the violin concerto, the Karelia suite and The swan of Tuonela (a movement from his Lemminkäinen suite), but he wrote much else besides, including other pieces inspired by the Kalevala, seven numbered symphonies, over a hundred songs for voice and piano, incidental music for 13 separate plays, an opera (Jungfrun i tornet, which remains unpublished), chamber music including a string quartet, piano music, 21 separate publications of choral music, and Masonic ritual music.
Jean Sibelius was part of a wave of composers who accepted the norms of late 19th Century composition, but sought to radically simplify the internal construction of the music. Like Antonin Dvorák this led him to seek idiomatic melodies and developmental procedures. He was influenced by Ferruccio Busoni and Peter Tchaikovsky, particularly in his unumbered choral symphony Kullervo, from 1891, through his Violin Concerto of 1903. However, he progressively stripped away formal markers of the sonata form in his work, and pursued the idea of continuously developing cells and fragments until coming to a grand statement at the end. The synthesis was often so complete that it was thought that he began from the finished statement and worked backwards.
Sibelius built much of his music with melodies that have very powerful modal implications, and that are drawn out over a number of notes. He preferred simple harmonization with some form of long sustained note underneath, called a pedal after organ pedals that produce such low sustained sounds. He stated 'music often loses its way without a pedal.' Because of this, Sibelius' music is sometimes considered insufficiently complex, but he was immediately respected by his peers, including Gustav Mahler. Later in life he was championed by critic Olin Downes but attacked by composer-critic Virgil Thomson.
Sibelius over time sought to use new chord patterns, including naked tritones (see harmony) and bare melodic structures to build long movements of music, in a manner similar to Haydn's use of built-in dissonances. He would often alternate melodic sections with blaring brass chords that swell and fade away, or underpin his music with repeating figures which push against the melody and counter-melody. His work is rich with literary reference, even when not explicit. The second symphony has a section based on Don Giovanni sneaking by moonlight, while the stark fourth symphony combines work for a planned 'Mountain' symphony with a tone poem based on Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven. He also wrote several tone poems based on Finnish poetry, beginning with the early 'En Saga' and culminating in two late tone poems.
He published only a few minor pieces after 1925, and said he destroyed the score for a completed 8th numbered symphony. His last large works were the symphonies 6 and 7, incidental music for 'The Tempest' and the symphonic poem 'Tapiola'. For nearly the last thirty years in his life (primarily after World War I and an operation for suspected throat cancer), Sibelius avoided talking about his music and composed nearly nothing.
Sibelius has fallen in and out of fashion, but remains one of the most popular 20th century symphonists, with complete cycles of his symphonies being recorded even today. In his own time, however, he focused far more on the more profitable chamber music for home use, and occasionally on works for the stage. Currently Simon Rattle, Lorin Maazel and David Allan Miller are considered major exponents of his work.
Source: 8 Notes


text:
Arbitration / Mediation / ADR
Arbitration and mediation lawyers and attorneys who can help businesses and individuals use alternate dispute resolution (ADR) in order to have prompt, equitable, and effective resolution of a disputed matter. Arbitration/Mediation and ADR attorneys help private businesses and individuals and their families evaluate their claims, help resolve differences in family matters, debts, disputes over professional fees (medical, legal, or accounting, for example). Among other areas, they seek agreement regarding commercial, investment, banking, educational, and environmental issues, as well as business valuation, Internet auctions (eBay), and juvenile crimes. They also help settle disputes in the drafting of contracts, from business and employment contracts to construction and real estate transactions.
No Attorneys Found for this Topic and Location. Search Again.


text:
Complete Story
WLUK back on cable lineup; in digital, too
By: Warren Gerds, Green Bay Press Gazette
A bone of contention for many Green Bay Packers fans has vanished.
An agreement reached this morning between Time Warner Cable and LIN TV includes digital and high-definition signals.
"For those people who subscribe to digital cable and have HD through Time Warner, this will be a major coup," said Jay Zollar, general manager of Fox affiliate WLUK, Channel 11, which is owned by LIN.
WLUK returned to the Time Warner lineup early Wednesday morning at channel 11 in Marinette and Poy Sippi and channel 12 in all other areas of the cable system in Northeastern Wisconsin.
At 8:30 a.m., Time Warner added WLUK HD at channel 712.
The World Series, which is scheduled to resume tonight, may be seen on that channel, as well as Sunday's Packers game at the Tennessee Titans.
Time Warner subscribers with HD capability complained long and hard that they wanted to see the games with high-definition's sharper picture and sound.
In this area, the agreement affects approximately 150,000 Time Warner subscribers. In other LIN markets, 1.5 million subscribers are affected.
"We are pleased to come to an agreement that will return programming to our customers," Melinda Witmer, chief programming officer for Time Warner Cable, said in a statement. "We thank our customers for their continued patience and support as we worked to resolve this issue."
The blackout started Oct. 3, when the corporations could not come to terms on a retransmission consent agreement, for which broadcasters hold the reins. LIN told Time Warner to take its stations off the systems in 11 markets.
"Ultimately, it came down to the compensation that we were seeking and what they were willing to end up with," Zollar said. "It took time to get that worked through."
Compensation is involved in the new contract, Zollar said, without adding details.
"I cannot comment on the terms of the contract whatsoever," he said.
In a statement, Vincent Sandusky, LIN president and chief operation officer, called it "a fair market agreement."
LIN had said it was seeking 30 cents a month per subscriber for Time Warner to carry its stations.
Last week, Time Warner, the second-largest cable operator in the United States, announced basic and extended basic subscribers would see rate increases of 10 to 12 percent a month starting in November.
The deal with LIN may have a ripple effect as other station owners negotiate with cable, satellite and other providers on coming contracts.
"It's something that I'm sure the industry, both cable and broadcast, were watching and looking at," Zollar said. "But how people interpret it and what they do with it really ultimately is going to be up to each individual company."
The agreement arrives just days before the November ratings "sweeps," which dictate what advertisers pay.
Advertisers kept an eye on the situation.
"Clearly, there were some ramifications of our not being on the Time Warner, but we were up front with our advertisers," Zollar said. "We offered whatever we could in order to make them happy, and we're still looking at it and we'll review each individual advertising schedule on a case-by-case basis."
Aside from Green Bay, other markets affected by the agreement are Austin, Texas; Buffalo, N.Y.; Columbus, Ohio; Dayton, Ohio; Fort Wayne, Ind.; Indianapolis, Ind.; Mobile, Ala.; Springfield, Mass.; Terre Haute, Ind.; and Toledo, Ohio.
During the blackout, WLUK remained on the air with its over-the-air signals and on other cable systems in the region and satellite and AT&T where available.
As it did in other markets, Time Warner gave out thousands of rabbit-ear antennas an A/B switches so subscribers could watch WLUK. Time Warner also activated the Fox Sports Spanish-language network so subscribers could watch the World Series.
Source: http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20081029/GPG0101/81029011/1207/GPG01


text: /***************************************************************************** * * Authored by Nicolas Novello in Fall 2010 * File JSwift.java is an ultralight code editor-not quite IDE. * Yes I reinvented the wheel... and I hope you like it. Watch out EMACS...lol * * * Notes: * Problem now is I realized that I need to be able to control the programs that iv'e compiled and ran. * I have to have a way to kill zombie processes w/o having to pull it up in a terminal window or task * manager. Also, stdOutput is not printed until the running process is dead. In fact, a the JSwift * window locks out completely. Iv'e dealt with server-client relationships before and they suck. * Is there any other way to start in a new process while keeping old one awake? ******************************************************************************/ public void runApp (){ try { int fileParentPathLength = Global.file.getParentFile().getPath().length(); //used to find program name w/o full path systemCommand = ("java " + Global.file.getPath().substring(fileParentPathLength+1,Global.file.getPath().length()-5)); //will not work for .jar!! must change classpath somehow too! Global.infoBox.append(systemCommand + "\n"); //I need to create separate threads from current by calling these commands: Runtime rt = Runtime.getRuntime(); Process pr = rt.exec(systemCommand); //gives this command to the os to let it take care of business //then I need to somehow look for any runtime errors, exceptions... Scanner errorScanner = new Scanner(pr.getErrorStream()); while (errorScanner.hasNext()) Global.infoBox.append((errorScanner.nextLine()) + "\n"); //and also test for what the command is reading back from the stdoutput. //I guess Id have to put them both in a loop waiting for the process to be killed. terrible. Scanner inputScanner = new Scanner(pr.getInputStream()); while (inputScanner.hasNext())Global.infoBox.append((inputScanner.nextLine())+"\n");


text:
Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Citrix are partnering together to reimagine the way work happens. The workspace of the future will be built on a flexible architecture that enables IT to securely deliver and dynamically control a workspace experience that adapts to devices people want to use and the places they want to work. Together, we have the right set of technologies and solutions to help you, not only build the workspace of the future, but to become a hero of the digital age. This unique partnership helps you harness analytics for smarter enterprises, and makes IT a strategic enabler.
HPE brings their innovative and proven architectures for the data center, cloud and edge, together with Citrix secure digital workspaces to unify access to the apps and data people need to be more productive. The Citrix partnership with HPE enables IT to securely deploy and manage modern digital workspaces faster and easier and helps organizations deliver the right outcomes from their apps, data and infrastructure.
Time to refresh your VDI?
The HPE GreenLake VDI lighthouse program provides a solution that combines the security and performance of on-prem infrastructure with the flexibility and simplicity of cloud.
HPE SimpliVity is a HCI offering from HPE that consolidates all IT data services into an All-Flash based solution. HPE SimpliVity for Citrix Cloud enables simplified management, better security, and lower TCO & better performance. In addition, the HPE SimpliVity platform is based on the best in class servers from HPE. From a performance perspective, HPE SimpliVity provides a high desktop density and a remarkable cost per desktop offering. HPE SimpliVity Systems provide a software-defined hyperconverged infrastructure that offers enterprise-class performance, data protection, and resiliency. By delivering automated storage utilization, always-on compression, and policy-based VM-centric management, SimpliVity powers the most efficient data centers.
Transform your workplace for mobility, productivity, and user experience. HPE Hyperconverged 380 with Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops is the all-in-one solution for digital transformation. Deliver a high-definition user experience on any device, anywhere – on a platform that is easy to configure, scale, and manage.
Today's IT landscape is all about mobility–and its impact can disrupt your workforce. Workers need access to their entire workspace, apps, data, and services, all the time. And of course, they want the flexibility of using whichever device they prefer, in order to maximize productivity. If you're concerned about meeting your workforce's needs–while also keeping your data secure and controlling operating costs–HPE Moonshot with Citrix solutions can help. Learn how we can help deliver a high-performance anywhere-access user experience, while offering power, space and cost savings.
Financial services firms are adapting, and looking at new ways to deliver seamless and secure access to desktops, apps, and complete mobile workspaces for their employees to drive the business forward and keep users happy without taxing IT. HPE and Citrix have worked together to create a set of integrated and validated solutions for financial services firms. See how these solutions combine industry-leading application, desktop, and mobile workspace software from Citrix with HPE's energy and space efficient scalable hardware platform to provide users with just the right solution, whether they are performing basic tasks or the most demanding compute and graphics processing, at their desks or on the road.
Many healthcare organizations are looking to mobility and workflow-optimization strategies to improve the quality of patient care and preventative health maintenance while increasing revenue and reducing costs. Besides reducing institutional cost, risk, and complexity challenges that these strategies can pose, HPE and Citrix client virtualization solutions simplify and speed secure access to actionable data wherever and whenever needed. Enable secure access to patient records and accelerate the delivery of customized, digital workspaces to empower your entire healthcare workforce to deliver patient-centered services that help improve quality of care.
You need a roadmap to harness the savings, efficiency, and flexibility that mobility and the digital workplace have to offer. HPE can help you find yours. HPE experts will work with you to transform the workplace with better insights for IT, and better experiences that improve engagement for customers and partners. HPE delivers a formalized approach to organizations of all types and sizes to assist with the transition and provides ongoing operational support to address the technology changes in your organization and workplace.
Hear what customers are saying
With the Citrix Workspace and the Moonshot technology from HP Enterprise, we realized a scalable infrastructure with great performance.
Not only performance improvements, but also security enhancements and the convenience that one can manage work anywhere through access from anywhere according to work needs, are effects that have been gained as a result of implementing Citrix XenDesktop and XenServer.
We wanted to be able to shrink our data center footprint, lower our total cost of ownership, and that was really one of the biggest selling points of the Moonshot platform for us.


text:
Hello Nasty X Naijel Graph Sardine Can Navy | Hood
Incl. VAT, Excluding Shipping
More Information
To celebrate the 20th Anniversary of Hello Nasty, Beastie Boys have teamed up with artist Naijel Graph to make a limited run of tees and hoodies inspired by the album.
- Color: Navy
- Manufacturer: SG
- Article: SG 27
- Print: 1-sided
- Fabric Content: 80% Cotton 20% Polyester
- Gender: Male


text:
Visit City Hall to pick up a 2015 City Map!
Stockbridge is a city in Henry County, Georgia, United States with a population of 25,636 as of the 2010 census. It is the hometown of the multi-platinum selling alternative rock/post-grunge band Collective Soul and home to one of the youngest starting pitchers ever to play for the Atlanta Braves, Kyle Davies, who also graduated from Stockbridge High School. Stockbridge is part of the Atlanta metropolitan area.


text:
Susan Boyle's repertoire is largely show tunes and classics, but the YouTube singing sensation said she's open to the idea of an R&B duet with Rihanna.
"There are certain types of music that you're good at and certain types that you're not," the matronly Scottish singer, who shocked the world when she opened her mouth and rocked the stage on "Britain's Got Talent," told The Toronto Sun. "I mean, would I be good at R&B? I suppose you never know. Maybe me and Rihanna could get together, I could dye my hair purple."
It may not be the craziest idea for Rihanna to take Boyle up on her offer, considering Boyle's second album, "The Gift," topped the charts this week and trumped the R&B songstress's new release. A real dream for Boyle, however, is to perform with her childhood idol, Paul McCartney.
"I'd like to meet Paul," Boyle told the Sun. "If he ever wanted to perform together, I'd have no problem with it - here I am, baby!"
Whether or not a duet with Rihanna or McCartney would work, ex-American Idol judge Simon Cowell, thinks she is talented enough to sing at Prince William's Royal wedding to Kate Middleton in April.
"Susan Boyle would be perfect," TV Guide reported he told Extra, adding that the lovable British singer's version of "I Dreamed a Dream" would be icing on the wedding cake. So far, Elton John is expected to perform at the ceremony.
It's an exciting year for the talented singer- she will also be following Britney Spears, Javier Bardem and Gwyneth Paltrow by guest performing as a lunch lady on hit Fox show "Glee's" holiday episode.
Selected Reading: Toronto Sun


text:
Choose your room
In the name of our whole crew, we welcome you proudly to the Damascus Airport Hotel.
Spa Hotels are plentiful, but this one is a prime example of its type. It has all of the advantages you would expect, and more.
You can park your automobile for free at the hotel. It has allocated parking spots and a secure garage.
A free bottle of water awaits you on arrival.
This hotel offers Wi-Fi.
Make yourself at home
We have reception staff who are available day and night, providing guests with a friendly wake-up call service and a safe to store your valuables.
Our cushy hotel features a lift for its guests.
Our hotel's casino and nightclub are popular with all our clientele.
Car rental is available at our hotel. Just ask the competent team at the reception at your leisure.
Your children will enjoy the supervised play area. The hotel will also provide a crib if requested at the time of booking.
The dining room is proud to offer its yummy dishes also on the pleasant terrace.
Where you will stay
The minibar filled with a wide-ranging selection of beverages in your hotel suite will keep your thirst quenched and hunger satisfied. The air-conditioned rooms also include a safety deposit box and all the necessary work facilities including a work desk, a properly functioning landline and connection to the internet.
You can also reserve a room with a balcony in our hotel.
Satellite TVs are provided in each of the hotel rooms.
Our hotel rooms all have separate bathrooms, all with bathtub, bathrobe, and hairdryer for your convenience.
The bathrooms in every single hotel room provide a shower.
Relax or be active
Whether you just want to lounge around or you take your fitness seriously, our swimming pool is there for you!
Apart from the sauna area the hotel also offers a wide range of massage options.
You can book a beauty treatment in our hotel.
Business hours of reception:
Every day: from 00:00 to 00:00


text:
DIXON – Heroin addiction starts with freedom. Unparalleled freedom. It's a release, an escape from the pain, a numbing for all of life's problems.
At first, anyway.
And then comes the sickness.
Soon, using is part of the daily routine: Wake up, go to the bathroom, figure out how to get your next fix.
Sometimes you use once a day; sometimes you use twice. But it's always there, because you don't know how to live life any other way.
And then you lose your job. You're so intent on fending off the sickness, on staying normal, on getting your fix that you can't do anything else.
Staying high becomes your job.
Addiction is passing out on some mattress or in a car because your heart rate gets too low. It's waking up in a hospital bed without knowing how you got there, a tube down your throat – a machine breathing for you.
It's hitting rock bottom, only to pull out a shovel and keep digging.
It's life-consuming, and in the state of Illinois – according to the Illinois State Crime Commission – it's "an epidemic." On Aug. 16, the commission released the first in a series of anti-heroin ads meant to combat the drug's popularity.
Heroin usage is on the rise in the Sauk Valley, too. And while local officials aren't quite calling it an epidemic, it's high on their agenda.
That is especially true in Dixon, where, since Sept. 1, 2007, police have made more than 80 arrests for heroin and have seen 20 heroin overdoses – eight of which resulted in deaths.
Dixon Police Sgt. Matt Richards says it's affecting a surprising demographic: young people – high schoolers, even.
"It seems like they're skipping alcohol and skipping marijuana and going straight to heroin," Richards says. "We've heard rumors of 16-, 17-year-olds. It's just the trend right now. Ten years ago, it was ecstasy."
There's been an increase in Whiteside County, too. Where 5 years ago there was no heroin, recently both Rock Falls Police Chief Mike Kuelper and Sterling Police Chief Ron Potthoff have started seeing it come up in their drug investigations.
"For years, you didn't hear of heroin around here," Potthoff says. "But if you look at Lee and Whiteside counties, it's here now."
In Sterling, the numbers are smaller than in Rock Falls, but they're there: three cases involving heroin since 2009.
Kuelper says the increase in Rock Falls has been steady. His department has handled six cases since 2011 – but none before that.
"We're assuming we're going to see more," Kuelper says. "It's become the drug of choice."
Dixon's Richards says he's seen a dramatic increase over the past 4 or 5 years, one he attributes to a decrease in the price of heroin – especially compared to its popular prescription drug equivalents: Vicodin and Oxycodine.
For one Freeport man, a recovering addict we will call Ryan, that's exactly how it began. But he was able to overcome the disease.
It started when he was living in Dixon. He was 24 and had broken his ankle. His doctor prescribed painkillers.
"The prescription ran out, and I still had pain." he says. "So I went and found something to make the pain go away."
Ryan was never much involved in drugs growing up. He dabbled – some cocaine here, marijuana there – but had no serious interest. He wasn't even really a drinker.
But heroin he liked. It was that sense of freedom, the release, and the numbness. Heroin took away the pain from everything.
"You feel invincible," he says. "For a little while, nothing hurts."
Soon he was using daily, then twice a day.
"You use three or four times in a row, and if you don't have that fifth one you don't feel good," Ryan says, describing the sickness that accompanies heroin withdrawal.
"It's like the flu times 10: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, shakes, cold, hot, sweating," he says. "Backaches, neck aches, every bone in your body hurts. It's a horrible, horrible thing."
And so to avoid that sickness, Ryan would do anything: driving up to Rockford sometimes twice a day to spend $20 for a tenth of a gram of heroin. Finding needles wasn't hard; they're stocked in plain sight in any drugstore. And then he would shoot up wherever he could, as soon as he could. "Addicts aren't very good at saving," he says.
He would go anywhere for his high: gas stations, bathrooms, cars.
"It's like a little kid on Christmas," he says. "You can't go very far without using."
You mix the powder with water, or anything, really, he explains. He knows of people who have used Gatorade, rainwater, whatever they can. And then you cook it, mixing it up in the bottom of an aluminum soda can, or a spoon, before shooting it up.
It's a high that would last Ryan 6 to 10 hours before he would need another fix.
His usage got to a point where he was just doing it to maintain a sense of normalcy.
"It creates a trap," he says. "If you wake up with the flu every single day, eventually you're going to take something that makes that flu go away. With heroin, the only thing that makes that flu go away is more heroin.
"It encompasses your whole life. There's no time for friends, family, family gatherings, social events because it takes so much effort."
After 6 years of usage, Ryan finally got clean, although it took going to jail to get him there.
"I was done," he says. "I was tired. I was broke: physically, mentally, spiritually. I was done, but I didn't know how to stop."
All of his friends are gone now, he says.
"They're either dead or in prison," he says. "That's how it works. People don't realize that."
He has seen four friends die from overdose in the past 2 years.
He's overdosed a number of times. But as soon as he would go to the hospital, he'd sign himself out, go home, sleep, and then start the cycle over again.
He's been clean for 19 months and finally sees an end to it all.
He talks to his parents every day, has a good job, moved to a new town, and went back to school.
For Ryan, there's a light at the end of the tunnel.
By the numbers
• From 2008 to 2010, the number of emergency room mentions for heroin in the Chicago area increased by 27 percent among those 20 and younger, with a 12 percent increase among those 21 to 29.
• Chicago has more heroin mentions for emergency room admissions than any other city in America: 24,360 in 2010 compared to New York's 12,226 — the city with the second highest number of mentions.
• From 2009 to 2010, the average age of first use of heroin in America decreased from 25.5 years old to 21.3.
• Initiations to heroin have increased in America by 40 percent since 2002, from around 100,000 a year to more than 140,000 in 2010.


text:
College Basketball Highlight Of The Week: Double Overtime With Last Minute Buzzer Beater!
"In double overtime with 15 seconds left, the lead keeps changing hands in a series of amazing last- ditch shots." - Submitted BY: @AJ904
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.


text:
I have been thinking about some of the conversations I've had recently and in the past with different team members and realized....there seems to be very little discussion and truthfulness about the reality that high-performance teams are not for everyone. Some people will just never like it, some will tolerate it, some will love it, and some will just simply move on.
So much time is spent on the rah, rah of how great it will be for everyone, we need to remember to pay attention to the natural reactions and concerns of those that have never experienced a high-performance team before.
Speaking as a developer myself, I remember how I started in I.T. back in 1984. Someone presented me with a problem, and I sat in my apartment by myself working my own hours, watching TV, working through the night and generally being a loner. I do admit, I enjoyed those days.
My company grew and eventually I found myself working with different types of people; developers, marketing types, sales people, accountants, graphic artists and many more.
That's when I discovered something I enjoyed MUCH more.... Working in Teams!
But what about those that are unsure about what to expect.
My advice... Be TRUTHFUL and LISTEN.
For those that have never worked in a high-performance team environment, the change can be frightening. Allow new team members to talk openly about their fears and concerns. Show them that you care.
The concerns may not be real to you but they are definitely real to them!
Consider the following situation;
· You are working with a new team that has been told they are doing an Adoption.
· They are comfortable working totally on their own and interface with other team members only when necessary.
· They are comfortable working totally on their own and interface with other team members only when necessary.
Our natural tendency will be to try and minimize their negative feelings or concerns.
After all, we totally believe in Agile and really just want them to come around to our way of thinking. Instead, allow the person to say what they have to say and then be honest with them.
Explain to them that "Teams are NOT for everyone, and ask them to PLEASE give it a try first and see how you feel about it in a year from now".
"The goal of the company, me and everyone in the team is that you're here and enjoy it going into the future! I am here to help you in the transition."
The LAST thing you want to do is try and convince that person that their fears are not valid. They are valid to them. Explain that you are there for them to talk to at any time.
Explain that you believe in your heart that they will never want to go back to a non-agile environment. Don't be afraid to talk about your own skepticism when you first started with an Agile team.
I personally find that honesty and truthfulness about the situation is the best way to approach the subject. The recipient will gain trust in what you say. After all, if you are willing to be honest about possibly attrition, then they will realize you are being truthful about how things might be if they ride it out.
For me at least, the people who have argued with me the most about joining teams have become my biggest allies when a management change happened and the POSSIBILITY of breaking up the teams even came up in conversation.
My experience is that the honesty and rapport you built up with the person who was "worried", "not sure", "didn't think they would like it", etc. will be beneficial to both of you. The truthfulness you showed about their situation will help that person have a healthy, open-minded view to what will happen next.


text:
Escape from L.A.
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
The Man With the Iron Fists
Woman Thou Art Loosed: On the 7th Day
Cool Breeze
Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel
Larry Crowne
Just Wright
Class of 1999
Tough Enough
Back in the Day
All Pam Grier photos
All Pam Grier films
Movies.com, the ultimate source for everything movies, is your destination for new movie trailers, reviews, photos, times, tickets + more! Stay in the know with the latest movie news and cast interviews at Movies.com.
Copyright © 2020 FANDANGO MOVIES.


text:
BLS Releases Annual Workplace Injury and Illness Report (2010)
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its annual report of workplace injuries and illnesses for 2010, on Thursday, October 20th. BLS findings show a steady decline in the number of accidents for US workers since 2002. In 2010, nearly 3.1 million nonfatal, recordable incidents were reported in the private sector. The industry incident rate has reduced from 3.6 to 3.5 out of every 100 full time workers from 2009 to 2010. The BLS found that total recordable incidence rates are highest among companies with 50 to 249 employees and lowest among small employers, fewer than 11 employees.
Within the incident rate, the total number of other recordable cases significantly lowered, while the number of cases with days away from work and job transfer/restriction (DART) cases stayed constant. These DART cases accounted for over half of the 3.1 million incidents in 2010 and occurred at a rate of 1.8 cases per 100 full time workers. Work related illnesses make up an extremely small portion of all recordable cases with 200,000 out of 3.1 million cases being classified as such.
Manufacturing was the only industry sector to have an increase in the Total Recordable Incidence Rate (TRIR) for 2010. The TRIR increased from 4.3 to 4.4 cases per 100 full-time US workers. This increase can mainly be attributed to the decline in hours worked being larger than the decline in incidents in the industry. The manufacturing industry accounted for over 30 percent of all private sector illnesses. With an incidence rate of 41.9 cases per 10,000 workers, manufacturing claims the highest rate of all sectors.
The public sector reported 820,300 recordable cases for state and local government workers in 2010, resulting in a significantly higher incident rate (5.7 cases per 100 workers) than the private sector. Nearly 80 percent of all injuries and illnesses reported in the public sector occur among local government workers, such as emergency response, educational, and health departments. Local government makes up the highest incident rate category with 6.1 out of every 100 workers injured.
The overall decline in injuries and illnesses not only allows for a safer working environment, but also helps employers avoid costs incurred by these injuries each year.


text:
Here are select June 2014 ruling of the Supreme Court of the Philippines on commercial law:
Corporations; capacity to sue of dissolved corporations. The trustee of a corporation may continue to prosecute a case commenced by the corporation within three years from its dissolution until rendition of the final judgment, even if such judgment is rendered beyond the three-year period allowed by Section 122 of the Corporation Code. However, there is nothing in the said cases which allows an already defunct corporation to initiate a suit after the lapse of the said three-year period. On the contrary, the factual circumstances in the abovecited cases would show that the corporations involved therein did not initiate any complaint after the lapse of the three-year period. In fact, as stated above, the actions were already pending at the time that they lost their corporate existence.
In the present case, petitioner filed its complaint not only after its corporate existence was terminated but also beyond the three-year period allowed by Section 122 of the Corporation Code. Thus, it is clear that at the time of the filing of the subject complaint petitioner lacks the capacity to sue as a corporation. To allow petitioner to initiate the subject complaint and pursue it until final judgment, on the ground that such complaint was filed for the sole purpose of liquidating its assets, would be to circumvent the provisions of Section 122 of the Corporation Code. Alabang Development Corporation v. Alabang Hills Village Association and Rafael Tinio, G.R. No. 187456, June 2, 2014.
Corporations; refusal to allow inspection is a criminal offense. We find inaccurate the pronouncement of the RTC that the act of refusing to allow inspection of the stock and transfer book is not a punishable offense under the Corporation Code. Such refusal, when done in violation of Section 74( 4) of the Corporation Code, properly falls within the purview of Section 144 of the same code and thus may be penalized as an offense. Aderito Z. Yujuico and Bonifacio C. Sumbilla v. Cezar T. Quiambao and Eric C. Pilapil, G.R. No. 180416, June 2, 2014.