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RALEIGH, N.C. -- Ten years ago, maybe even five years ago, you'd have had a difficult time finding a coach who'd pair two defensemen shorter than 6 feet. It goes against the big, physical blueliner mentality that most in the NHL have.
But Jack Capuano did it with Lubomir Visnovsky and Thomas Hickey, both generously listed at 5-10. The result has been a second-pair combo who lead the Isles in plus-minus as well as the advanced statistic known as "Corsi,'' which measures total shots -- including those blocked and missed -- for and against while a player is on the ice.
"It's about puck possession and about being on the right side of the puck,'' Hickey said. "When you have the puck and you can move it quickly, that's as important as the physical side.''
Neither of them shies from the physical aspects, though Hickey, 23, isn't built quite as solidly as his older counterpart. But Hickey, in his first NHL season, has learned a lot about positioning and skating from the quiet, happy-go-lucky Visnovsky, 36. The pair has worked well together the last two months.
"He's such a positive guy, so it's mostly 'good job' or 'keep doing that,' '' Hickey said. "You see the decisions he makes, when to jump into the play and when we switch sides inside the zone to confuse the coverage. I'm picking up a lot.''
And Visnovsky, the guy who supposedly didn't want to be an Islander, not only has blended in well but might be the veteran leader of a very young defense if Mark Streit does not return.
"When I came here, I saw this was a very good team, and I'm very happy I will be here two more years,'' said Visnovsky, who has 14 points and a team-high plus-12 rating.
The most important aspect of the Visnovsky-Hickey pairing working well is alleviating some of the huge minutes Streit had been playing at even strength. His minus-15 rating is the worst on the team. With the return of Brian Strait, Capuano has a six-man defensive alignment with which he's quite happy.
"Viz and Hickey have gotten more comfortable with one another, and that leads to confidence,'' Capuano said. "They've been good for one another.''


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Congressional candidate Aaron Schock announces his initiatives on agriculture issues Thursday, including increasing the ethanol blend from 10 percent to eventually 20 percent to release reliance on foreign oil and drive down gas costs. Also wants Congressional appropriations to fund the recent authorization of river improvement and locks and dams. Illinois Petroleum Institute says the idea isn't feasible because auto makers won't agree and there's not enough ethanol. Also thoughts from other candidates.
To lessen the U.S. dependence on foreign oil, increase the price farmers get for their crops and reduce the price of gasoline, 18th Congressional District candidate Aaron Schock said he wants to introduce legislation increasing ethanol blends to propel demand.
State Rep. Schock, R-Peoria, said at a news conference Thursday that he would like to see the current 10 percent ethanol blend in gasoline increased to 15 percent and, eventually, 20 percent.
"Throughout the 20-county (18th Congressional) District, farmers have had relatively good years with high prices and high yields, but a number of them are concerned about what the future may hold with any type of dip in yields and prices," Schock said. "There are things we can do as a government and policy makers to keep prices strong, the markets strong for agriculture and lessen our dependency on Mideast oil."
Schock said farmers are looking for a safety net for when prices and yields fall and less of a subsidy when high prices and high yields exist in the same year. He said while E85 gasoline uses 85 percent ethanol, it requires specially-built engines and service stations that sell the product.
David Sykuta, executive director of the Illinois Petroleum Council, said there's not enough ethanol now to meet the current 10 percent blend, and auto manufacturers would have to agree to a larger mixture.
"I'm not saying we're against what he wants to do, but it's a heck of lot more complicated than what (Schock) is making it sound like," Sykuta said, adding the state's already massive ethanol subsidy would get larger as blend percentages increase. "Every once in a while these guys have to get off the promotional end of it and the realization end of it."
The legislation would require a transition, Schock said. It would be a catalyst for construction of more ethanol plants and negotiations with the auto industry.
Matt Bisbee, campaign manager for 18th District Republican candidate Jim McConoughey, agreed the U.S. must continue to move toward renewable energy sources to diminish dependence on foreign oil. "But it is not realistic to advocate for pie-in-the-sky mandates to take effect so suddenly as our opponent would suggest," he said.
The third GOP candidate, John Morris, said he is "committed to using our natural resources to secure both our energy independence as well as the independence our food supply." He supports creating a tax code that creates incentives for investment in ethanol, bio-fuel, commercial batteries and fuel cells, wind energy, and clean coal technology.
Schock also wants to increase the speed of getting grains to market and costs associated with transportation and delivery to allow farmers to better compete with foreign producers who have lower transportation costs. If elected, he said he would work in a bipartisan way to ensure funding is appropriated to implement the Water Resource Development Act, which authorized river improvement and rebuilding of the locks and dams on rivers to facilitate economical river transportation of agricultural commodities.
Karen McDonald can be reached at (309) 686-3285 or email@example.com.

subset: commoncrawl


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It's a controversial topic in gaming: should the focus be on improving the "gameplay" aspects of the game or making a story worth telling? You'll hear a different answer from everyone, whether they realize their answer is different or not. I exist as part of the minority of gamers that plays games solely for the story.
This article has already taken a turn for the controversial with just that one sentence for some. I'm sure that some people would be quick to point out that games like Left 4 Dead and Call of Duty aren't known for their stories and I won't refute that I enjoy a bit of fun on them occasionally, but if it weren't for the immense storytelling potential of video games, I wouldn't identify as a gamer.
My life has been fraught with the desire to experience the greatest story ever told. I've been on an unspoken mission to experience everything the world has to offer from folklore to books to video games and to this day I maintain that the medium with the potential to tell the greatest story ever is a video game.
Video games are more capable than any other medium of immersing the audience. We make decisions, those decisions affect the outcome, and we literally become our player character. In addition, game engines are capable of realizing fantastical worlds small cost compared to a live-action movie. We can build worlds that could never exist in reality, interact with them, and become a part of them in a way that other mediums could wish to surpass.
Gameplay and Story:
It's important to understand how I define story and gameplay in this article. "Story" is the abstract notion of a narrative within a video game, either written by the player or by the developer. Essentially there exists a sequence of told events which eventually culminates in an outcome. This definition is extremely versatile and applies to basically every game in history. Even Pong fits. Why? Because it's a sequence of told events which eventually results in one player winning or losing. Sure, Pong's story sucks, but there is one that's written by you: the player.
The second definition is of gameplay. Gameplay is the blanket term for any system within a video game that is capable of altering the course of the story (which we just defined). In Pong, you can move your piece and deflect the ball, which thereby alters the course of the story. That's its gameplay.
It's a simple distinction that I actually find quite elegant. Based on these definitions, I will forever consider things like Heavy Rain and visual novels as video games. More on that later.
Gameplay-Story Dissonance:
EDIT: There is apparently an accepted term for "Gameplay-Story Dissonance" that I was unaware of. It is "Ludonarrative dissonance". I'll leave the article as-is, but this edit is a writer's correction.
A big problem that plagues video games is "Gameplay-Story Dissonance". I define this term as the invariable result of a video game's gameplay taking precedence over the story.
This takes root in a number of ways. Many of us remember the penultimate level of Halo 3, where we fought through hordes of Flood to reach of new Halo installation's control room to beat the game. We fight through tons of an unstoppable enemy (particularly on Legendary) and sentinels on our way to the door and then defend the door against the same enemies. We kicked ass and we were unstoppable.
Then, when we entered the control room, Guilty Spark immediately kicks our ass (let's not mention how co-op buddies mysteriously go missing in cutscenes, another form of gameplay-story dissonance). When the cutscene is over and the gameplay is back, we proceed to wipe him out in no time flat.
The story and the gameplay are disagreeing with each other. The story is trying to tell us that Guilty Spark is more powerful than the endless hordes of Flood that just tried to kill us, while the gameplay easily suggests that Guilty Spark is a complete pushover.
This dissonance takes root everywhere in video games when you look closely. From games like Call of Duty to Valkyria Chronicles, it's an evasive problem with video games in general. It happens to varying degrees of course, but it's nearly always present in some fashion.
Overcoming this problem is key for making video game stories powerful. You'll never be able to erase the problem entirely, but you can do enough to get players to overlook it as an acceptable break from reality. Every gamer's acceptable break from reality threshold is different, so developers have a fine line to walk.
Besides this one drawback, there is no other medium I know of that is capable of telling a story like video games. Its immersive capacity knows no bounds at all and I'm always enthralled when a video game story sucks me in. Even Call of Duty campaigns have their moments for me.
The Search Continues:
Up until just under two months ago, my favorite video game was Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War. It's part of a series that is rarely known for its gameplay and rarely known for its mainstream appeal. It's a video game about fighter pilots and taking down enemies in dogfights, but it's also one of the games that was a part of the golden age of Ace Combat: The Playstation 2 era. Alongside Ace Combat 4: Shattered Skies and Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War, the game is packed to the brim with thematic depth and storytelling. It was never about the gameplay, it was about the story. A damn good story at that. Because the story and gameplay were kept relatively segregated, the game didn't experience much dissonance to boot.
But, as I said, that was almost two months ago. After fellow TAYvian Rockmandash12 started reviewing visual novels on TAY, I decided to take on visual novels once again. Visual novels are unique among video games because the gameplay is very limited (helping stave off gameplay-story dissonance considerably). In its most basic form, visual novels are more akin to choose-your-own-adventure games, but I consider them clearly members of the video games category.
Almost two months ago I found myself enthralled in the story of Muv-Luv, an eroge series out of Japan that was absolutely incredible. After about half of Muv-Luv Alternative, it shot straight past Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War and secured the spot for greatest video game I'd ever played without a doubt. More impressively, I decided to crown it the greatest story I ever experienced. It set a bar extremely high indeed, to the point where I will forever judge stories in relation to Muv-Luv.
Despite having just options that came up on the screen every once in a while, it became the greatest story I ever played, and it came from the video game medium. It seamlessly tied together the story and the gameplay on an order of which I didn't think was possible. Everything was explained and everything made sense. It was, quite literally, something I thought to be impossible.
Eventually, I finished Muv-Luv and continued my journey to find something that may yet trump it in storytelling. After a false-start on Grisaia no Kajitsu, another visual novel, I eventually came upon G-senjou no Maou.
It wasn't better than Muv-Luv, but it did further prove to me that video games and visual novels are capable of telling some incredible stories.
More conventional video games have rarely had an impact on me in the same way as visual novels as of yet. Games like Persona, Ace Combat and Mass Effect have gotten close in many ways, but they do suffer a bit from gameplay-story dissonance and under-performing stories.
It really comes down to the fact that visual novels necessarily put their story ahead of gameplay. Instead of being subservient to the gameplay, the story is allowed to flourish with the benefit of gameplay. This is a difficult balance to strike in a conventional video game because mainstream gamers look for action and certain gameplay rules need to be followed.
There's Still More To Come:
As time goes on, there's an even greater chance that I'll run across a game that usurps the title for greatest video game. There's a ton of potential for video games to become the source of the greatest stories we'll ever hear. They're immersive, intricate, and capable of building worlds we'd never see elsewhere. While visual novels have already managed to tell some of the greatest stories I've ever heard, there's potential for even more on the horizon if we manage to obtain it.
If we can overcome this dissonance between the gameplay and story and finally strike the mythical balance between them, I think we'll be capable of doing so much more.
Until then, I'll be content to focus much of my time on RPGs and Visual Novels: two of my favorite genres for storytelling. While everyone is different, I would highly recommend trying out the latter if you're a story-seeker like me. Visual novels are capable of extraordinary storytelling if you give them a chance.
You can read all my articles on Dex's Corner and join us on TAY for more fun. If you're interested, Ani-TAY has you covered for all things Japan.


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Rumours have surfaced that a retail site in the UK is set to sell the HTC Incredible S from tomorrow, 25 February.
Electric Pig is reporting that Mobiles.co.uk is set to begin selling the smartphone, which would be much earlier than anticipated.
However, it's not outside the realms of possibility that a launch for the Incredible S is imminent; after all, it's going to ship with Android 2.2 instead of holding out for Gingerbread (that update will come later).
Mobiles.co.uk seems quite confident that it will have stock from tomorrow, and customers who buy the Incredible S on Friday should expect delivery on Saturday.
The site says you'll be able to nab the handset for free on two-year contracts with O2, Vodafone and Orange starting at £30 per month.
That'll get you a 4-inch LCD screen, 8MP camera with dual LED flash and HD video recording, all backed up with a 1GHz processor.
There's no word from HTC about this and the company hasn't unveiled official HTC Incredible S pricing or release dates.
In short, we'd advise you to take the rumour with a bucket or two of salt.
Via ElectricPig


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The first New York graded route on the road to Kentucky Derby 2012 was run at Aqueduct on Saturday and overwhelming favorite Alpha did not disappoint in a facile G3 Withers tally.
G3 Withers (2-4-12): 90 BSF (Alpha)
Alpha was my original number one Derby contender when I posted my first blog about the current sophomore class last September and he is on the upswing for Godolphin and Kiaran McLaughlin.
Alpha began his career with a facile extended sprint win at Saratoga last summer before rallying for the place behind Union Rags in the G1 Champagne. He lost his top ranking on my list after coming apart at the gate and finishing up the track in the G1 BC Juvenile but he always remained in my top ten.
I gave the Count Fleet hero a C+ grade for his win on Jan 7 and thought he was more professional in the Withers. He behaved in the gate, sat a wide stalking trip from the outside post, and was hand urged while clearly best under Ramon Dominguez on Feb 4.
Alpha has all of the tools to make a splash on the first Saturday in May. He is bred top and bottom (Bernardini-Nijinsky II) to improve as distances increase and his sharp conditioner has Kentucky Derby experience. Godolphin wants to win the Derby and they are going about it the right way this time after buying young talent and unsuccessfully shipping to/from Dubai in the past.
The promising son of Bernardini is making nice progress on the Beyer scale, going from an 85 in the Count Fleet to a 90 in the Withers. I love his tactical speed and top notch jockey Ramon Dominguez rides him well. He needs to run faster to be considered a serious Derby player but he is only getting warmed up at a mile and a sixteenth and is clearly moving in the right direction.
There was not much depth in the Withers. Outsider Speightscity completed the exacta at 44-1.Rallying show finisher Tiger Walk has potential for Sagamore Farm. He was making his first start of the year and handles turf/dirt.
Withers Stakes Grade: B-


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by Kimberly
It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown Costume Photo 9 of 10
Rate this costume:
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This homemade costume for families entered our 2015 Halloween Costume Contest.
A word from Brian, the 'It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown' costume creator:
Halloween is our favorite holiday of the year and some of my favorite cartoons growing up are still part of our family's Halloween traditions today. This year is the 50th anniversary of the Charlie Brown Christmas... Read more »
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text: Embark on your day's adventures with the best casual shoes for men from Sperry underfoot, giving you a comfortable, stylish, and seafaring footing. Sperry's array of best-selling casual shoes and boots for men are the best of the best, coveted by like-minded modern-day explorers that lead the way with the most popular men's shoes. Shop Sperry's best-sellers, including timeless classics like our Authentic Original 2-eye boat shoes, chukka boots, and duck boots. Our men's best sellers also include the latest must-have popular men's casual shoes like our ultra-comfortable Striper sneakers, Billfish 3-eye boat shoes, and more. Whether you're looking for a adventurer-tested wet-weather boot to help your brave the elements or you're looking for a laid-back-yet-stylish boat shoe to wear on the dock, Sperry has the best casual shoes for men to take you from land to sea and back again in enduring style.


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This ultra sexy T-back thong will give men a sexy look and ultimate comfort.
- Material: 65% polyester, 35% cotton
- Color: Black
- Waistline: Approx. 23 1/2 inch / 60cm (unstretched)
- Crotch Depth: Approx. 8 inch / 20 cm (unstretched)
- Stretchy waistband, comfortable to wear
- Seamed pouch
- G-string style gives a sexier look
- Size: S - M
Package Includes:
- 1 x Men's underwear
Note: Due to health regulations, we regret to inform you that we cannot accept returns on intimate apparel. Only defective product will be offered exchange or store credit. Please be reminded that due to lighting effects and monitor's brightness/contrast settings etc, the color tone of the website's photo and the actual item could be slightly different.
Keywords: Underwear for men, thong, brief, g string, t-back


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Thousands of Equipment Upgrades and Maintenance Tasks Completed Safely
DELTA, PA (October 16, 2011) - Following a safe and successful refueling outage, station operators placed Peach Bottom Unit 3 back in service yesterday at 8:49 p.m. ET. During the outage, workers replaced nearly a third of the reactor's fuel and safely performed more than 15,000 inspections and maintenance activities on a variety of plant components and systems. This year, workers also upgraded Unit 3's low-pressure turbines using state-of-the art technology and implemented plant improvements to further safeguard equipment in the event of a fire or electrical disturbance.
"Thanks to the support and hospitality of our neighbors in York, Lancaster and Harford counties, Peach Bottom's fall outage was a big success," said Site Vice President, Tom Dougherty. "We completed a host of maintenance activities and equipment upgrades that will help us run the plant safely and more efficiently for many years to come."
Peach Bottom utilized the talents and expertise of more than 2,500 supplemental workers to support this year's refueling outage. Many of these workers traveled to Peach Bottom from outside the area, providing a significant boost to the local economy. During the outage, Exelon and outage workers raised $12,700 for Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central PA, located in Hershey, which serves hundreds of local families each year.
"We are incredibly grateful to Exelon for their support," said RMHC Executive Director, Kathy Denton. "Thanks to local businesses like Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station, we are able to keep families together at times of critical need."
Peach Bottom is home to two boiling water reactors that went online in 1974 and jointly produce over 2,200 megawatts of electricity, providing safe, clean and reliable power to more than two million homes. Peach Bottom and its employees are very active in the community, volunteering, hosting tours, visiting area schools, appearing at community events and financially supporting dozens of civic organizations each year.


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Today we learn how to resize an image using Preview.
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41-Year-Old California Teacher Leaves His Wife & Kids To Move In With His 18-Year-Old Student!
"An angry California mother is alleging abuse now that her 18-year-old daughter is living with her former high school teacher, who left his wife and children to move into an apartment with the young woman. James Hooker, 41, quit his job after going public with his love for Jordan Powers, who stopped attending classes at her Modesto high school and left home to be with her former business teacher. The girl's mother is skeptical of the couple's claims that nothing sexual happened between them, and exactly when the relationship became physical has become the center of a police investigation. "She looked up to him," mom Tammie Powers said. " [He was in the] position of an educator, [and you] don't abuse your student. Period. She's still in high school. She still lives at home. She has a curfew. … That's not OK." The couple maintains that their feelings for each other blossomed slowly by spending time together during and after school, and then via phone calls and text messages. The two first met when Jordan was a high school freshman at James Enochs High School, but they say they only developed romantic feelings after she turned 18 in September." - ABC
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Whoopi Goldberg Takes Sides In Teresa Giudice Vs Melissa Gorga Family Feud!
Real Housewives fans coast to coast have already decided whose side they are on when it comes to the bitter family feud between Teresa Giudice and her sister-in-law Melissa Gorga, and now, Whoopi Goldberg has weighed in too, RadarOnline.com is exclusively reporting.
The outspoken host has come down firmly on the side of Teresa after a fraught taping of Goldberg's hit show The View, which is set to air Friday on ABC.
Real Housewives Strip Down! See The Hottest Bikini Babes From Every City
"The producers on The View asked Teresa if she would try to resolve her issues with Melissa, together, on the show in front of the cameras, but Teresa said she didn't feel she should do so in front of an audience," a well placed source tells RadarOnline.com.
"Teresa felt that after apologizing repeatedly with no resolution, that Melissa would just attack her, so this all should be handled privately at this point.
"The show agreed to have them film separately and put Teresa on first which really upset Melissa, because she thought it was unfair. She wanted to go head to head with Teresa.
"Teresa discussed openly the issues she had to deal with when it comes to the other women on the cast and the way they have treated her. Whoopi was shocked by what Teresa told her about Melissa's behavior towards her in particular and in turn didn't want to return to the stage to listen to Melissa bad mouth Teresa."
And Whoopi wasn't the only one to take sides after hearing Teresa's tale of woe.
"Elizabeth sympathized with Teresa too about what she has endured, off camera during the break," the source says.
"Elizabeth asked Melissa if she joined the show by going behind Teresa's back and she got caught up in a lie."
You can watch the Housewives argue their case Friday on The View on ABC at 11/10c.
Family Feud! Teresa Giudice & Joe Gorga Come To Blows Over Melissa 'Gold Digger' Slur
New Jersey Housewives REALLY Bring The Drama! Teresa Giudice & Melissa Gorga Face Off
Teresa Giudice: Reality TV Spoiled My Friendships And Ruined Our Family
Overdone The Self-Tanner, Teresa? Giudice Is Looking Remarkably Brown!


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COVID-19 policies and precautionsRead more
Book now for 2019 Salmon and Halibut fishing
Salmon and Halibut fishing Ucluelet
Ucluelet is one of the best places on the coast to catch salmon and halibut and we are booking for 2019. The 2018 season was good for Chinook salmon in the 15-25 lb range and we were surprised by how consistent fishing was over the summer. It definitely beat forecasts.
Ucluelet continues to be one of the most consistent productive places to catch salmon on the coast. Ucluelet has the largest feeding area on the coast for all types of fish including salmon, halibut, ling cod and snapper. Most Canadians fly into either Comox or Nanaimo and then drive 3 hours to Ucluelet. A 3 day 4 person trip starts around $1425 per person.
Our guides know your vacation time is short and so you want to make the most of it. Our guides have spent many hours on the water and know where and when to put down for the fish so you have a successful fishing trip. Our 27-29ft heated boats have heated cabins and large decks so you don't have to dress in oversized suits to keep warm.
Check out www.salmoneye.net/site/fishing-packages.html for all our packages. We start fishing in March and wrap up in late September.
The Pacific Rim is one of the most beautiful places in the world. For more things to do in Tofino and Ucluelet check out www.tofino-info.com.
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Deaths at tennis star's mansion were murder-suicide, police say(CNN) -- The deaths of four people this week at a Florida mansion leased out by tennis star James Blake were murders and a suicide, with a man shooting his wife and teenage children in the head and setting the home on fire before shooting himself, authorities said Friday.
By: Suzanne Presto and Jason Hanna, CNN
(CNN) -- The deaths of four people this week at a Florida mansion leased out by tennis star James Blake were murders and a suicide, with a man shooting his wife and teenage children in the head and setting the home on fire before shooting himself, authorities said Friday.
Authorities have identified the dead as Darrin Campbell, his wife Kimberly Campbell, and their teenage children, Megan and Colin, Hillsborough County sheriff's Col. Donna Lusczynski told reporters.
The family, found dead at the burning Tampa home on Wednesday, had been renting the 5,800-square-foot mansion from Blake for the past two years, authorities said. Blake was not at the home at the time, police said.
Investigators don't know Darrin Campbell's motive, Lusczynski said.
Authorities believe he used a gun that was registered in his name, Lusczynski added. The sheriff's department hasn't said exactly what led investigators to believe he shot his family, but it did say the Florida Department of Law Enforcement performed a ballistics test.
Information on whether the four died from their gunshot wounds, the fire or some other manner wasn't immediately available.
Firefighters first learned of the blaze in a 911 call around 5:45 a.m. Wednesday reporting an explosion and flames.
Campbell used an accelerant to feed the fire and also placed fireworks throughout the home, Lusczynski said Friday. Campbell bought fireworks and cans of gasoline on Sunday and bought more gasoline from two stores on Tuesday, Lusczynski said.
A surveillance video obtained by CNN shows a man believed to be Darrin Campbell inside a Phantom Fireworks store in Tampa on Sunday, buying about $600 worth of fireworks. He walks out of the store with one cart, and an employee seems to help him out with a second.
Blake, 34, born in Yonkers, New York, starred at Harvard before breaking into professional tennis. He peaked at No. 4 in the world rankings in November 2006, according to his ATP World Tour profile.
He retired from the sport last year, and remains active with his namesake foundation and Thomas Blake Sr. Memorial Research Fund to support research at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
CNN's Alina Machado, Greg Botelho and Susan Candiotti contributed to this report.
Tags: news, national, fire, crime, updates


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In two related posts from Scott Johnson and Matthew Weir O'Phinney, there's a question about metaprogramming in PHP, specifically between the use of call_user_func, call_user_func_array, and variable function calls (as asked by Scott).
One of the characteristics of meta programming is lots and lots of dynamicism everywhere. So here's my php question: Is there a real difference between call_user_func versus call_user_func_array and the variable function syntax i.e. $function_name() ? As best as a quick experiment shows they seem to function the same although I did a quick hack / quick doc check as opposed to really drilling into it. Any efficiency benefits in doing it one way or another?
Matthew replies on his blog by running some benchmarks (and wondering why Scott didn't run his own).
Back to benchmarking. Scott asks, "Is there a real difference between call_user_func versus call_user_func_array and the variable function syntax i.e. $function_name()?"
The short answer: absolutely. The long answer? Read on.
He details what the differences are in the functionality (how they're used and all) as well as examples of their usage. He whips up a test class and function to go through different benchmarks, testing response times with the microtime functionality of PHP. He results aren't too surprising, but you'll have to check out his post to get the full details.


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As the Web provides many mechanisms to interlink data across systems, it is important that it keeps the possibility for users that want or need it, to keep their personal information private and fragmented.
Do Not Track is a technology that lets users express their preferences around online tracking while browsing the Web. Advertisers, analytics, publishers and other online services that respect the DNT signal will limit the behavioral tracking of their users. By creating a simple, persistent and technology-neutral preference, Do Not Track will enhance users' control of their browsing information and improve their online privacy.
The HTTP/DOM mechanism for expressing a Do Not Track preference and policies for server-side compliance are both currently in the process of standardization in the Tracking Protection Working Group.
The Platform for Privacy Preferences Project (P3P) enables Websites to express their privacy practices in a standard format that can be retrieved automatically and interpreted easily by user agents. P3P user agents will allow users to be informed of site practices (in both machine- and human-readable formats) and to automate decision-making based on these practices when appropriate. Thus users need not read the privacy policies at every site they visit. See the list of P3P software.
P3P uses machine readable descriptions to describe the collection and use of data. Sites implementing such policies make their practices explicit and thus open them to public scrutiny. Browsers can help the user to understand those privacy practises with smart interfaces. Most importantly, Browsers can this way develop a predictable behavior when blocking content like cookies thus giving a real incentive to eCommerce sites to behave in a privacy friendly way. This avoids the current scattering of cookie-blocking behaviors based on individual heuristics imagined by the implementer of the blocking tool which will make the creation of "stateful" services on the web a pain because the state-retrieval will be unpredictable.
POWDER the Protocol for Web Description Resources provides a mechanism to describe and discover Web resources and helps the users to make a decision whether a given resource is of interest. There are a variety of use cases: from providing a better means to describing Web resources and creating trust marks to aiding content discovery, child protection and Semantic Web searches.


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Year 2013
Make Chevrolet
Model Equinox
Body SPORT UTILITY 4-DR
Num Doors 4
Trim 1LT AWD
Mileage 122,679
Engine 2.4L L4 DOHC 16V
Transmission 6-Speed Automatic
Drivetrain AWD
Ext. Color Black
Stock Number 41CD
Location: Reel's Orwell
Orwell, OH
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Guest Host
Posts: 161
Joined: April 23, 2016, 01:32:10 AM
Voting Stage - May Flash Fiction Challenge
Over the summer months, I will be changing things in the flash fiction challenges, trying new things and promoting the challenges to both experienced and new writers.
This is a place where we care about the writers as people as well as the growth of their gifts.
The most important part of this work for me is meeting and communicating with the authors.
The main purpose of these flash fiction challenges is to have joy in the writing and the camaraderie of fellowship with other writers.
Comments begin now.
I am placing the voting set up prompt and each story in a separate post. This way, when a reader finishes a story, they can click the quote button and leave an immediate comment.
Authors can post comments about their own stories, how they conceived the idea, develop their plot and characters and any thoughts they had when creating their stories.
Authors and readers can comment on stories as they read. Do not be afraid to express your opinion - nicely.
The commenting is as important as the voting. This is where you meet and greet.
Members may discuss writing in general and writing techniques.
So keep clicking the quote button after reading each story and comment away!
How to Vote
Paste "The Story Line Up" into the body of your e-mail. Rank your top 3 favorite stories by placing a 1, 2 and 3 after their story title. Leave the other stories without a number.
Then send them to me (Daniel Johnson) through e-mail by clicking on this address - firstname.lastname@example.com and I will tabulate the votes as they come in.
The voting will conclude on Sunday at 5 pm Central Standard Time on May 28, 2017. The results will be posted in this topic thereafter.
Protective Measures
I am pleased to help anyone understand and implement the rules and guidelines for these challenges.
But there is one overriding rule that everyone must follow.
Do not be rude, which includes mocking, insulting or take a negative tone with any author or their stories.
Comments can be instructive without being critical. Remember, you're communicating with a real person. Always be kind.
I will not tolerate conflict or disruptive behavior in these challenges. If there is a problem, send me an e-mail.
There are a number of options I have to moderate forum decorum. These include warnings, and more stricter measures if necessary.
I don't want to do any disciplinarian actions so be kind to everyone in these challenges.
Alright, let's have some fun!
Now For Our Starring Line Up
- 01 Ivy and Justin by K. Vesi
- 02 Other People's Children by Genna Watson
- 03 The Pettiness Device By Jean-Paul L. Garnier
- 04 Meal Time By Thomas Wm. Hamilton
- 05 For the Greater Good By Hope Gillette
- 06 The Lily Pads of Your Minds By Gareth D Jones
- 07 For a Mile or an Hour by Glenn M. Diamond
- 08 Omnipotent by Roderick D. Turner
- 09 101 Uses For Mind Control Slaves By Frank Martin
- 10 All the King's Horses and All the King's Men By Haydn T. A. Jones
- 11 Absolute Platitude By Mike Dorman
- 12 Mister Adjuster By Alexander D Jones
- 13 Inside the Cave by Jason McGraw
- 14 The Day the Earth Moved by Martin Westlake
- 15 A Confrontation of Wills By Sergio 'ente per ente' Palumbo
- 16 The Spider By Robin B. Lipinski
- 17 A Bouquet of Flowers of the Mind by Florin Purluca.
- 18 The Director by Ryan Harris
- 19 Eric's Peace by Mike Wilson
Remember, after reading a story, click the quote button and comment. The authors will enjoy it.


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John's Phone, from the designer firm John Doe Amsterdam, could be the greatest grandparent phone of all time. It is certainly an interesting minimalist experiment in usability.
Ten centimetres tall and weighing 95g, John's Phone cuts the crap so pretty much all that remains is a basic box with a standard keypad.
A screen along the top displays incoming and outgoing phone numbers, as well as battery status. But how useful is a screen you can't see while dialling and where's the address book?
Built into the back is a removable pen and pad, so numbers can be stored old-school style, ideal for grumbling "it's not as good as it used to be" fogeys. It is possible to set up ten speed-dials though, one for each number.
There's no choice of ring tone, but a switch sets the volume between loud, normal and quiet. A vibration setting is also included, which according to the Dutch website, "works in all positions" - Don't you just love translation software?
With barely any functions and a 1200mAh battery, standby lasts longer than three weeks.
John's Phone is quad-band and comes with hands-free earphones. Available in several colours, prices start at €70 (£58). ®
A tip of the hat to Tim Russell, who brought this to our attention.


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I suppose this is a bit of a different kind of "project" compared to most other things on this board, but it's the most appropriate I've been able to find, at least. In any case:
The Idea
Since one of the pillars of LBP is creating, I figured that getting back into LBP meant I should try out some kind of creative venture again. I wanted to try out something that might involve actual interaction with people, instead of just spending hours on a level to send out into the aether, so I figured I could put together something of a video series, on the optimistic assumption that videos in LBP2 still have an audience.
The idea's this: I remember once hearing somebody praise the details of LBP's physics years ago, saying it had some unexpected details. Bad physics can really make a game not worth playing (or worth playing for all the wrong reasons), so I wanted to make something of a tribute to the intricacy of LBP's physics by examining it up close to identify and appreciate its details.
This means taking something of an experimental approach, using the in-game logic to create instruments that can produce measurements to model the physical behaviour of objects. I don't clutter it much with math, since that'd make it less accessible, but I try to be transparent about when I'm using it to let people know what's going on. I wait until pertinent aspects of logic come up to explain, which will only mean getting into really complicated stuff if necessary (and many here know it has no upper bounds on how complicated it can get - this stuff can get into calculus, not that I intend to do that).
The Series So Far
How Tall is Sackboy? - Length
How Heavy is Sackboy? - Weight
How Fast is Sackboy? - Speed
How does Sackboy Fall? - Gravity
How Big is the World? - Various Lengths
How Heavy are Different Materials? - Density
Why do Some Objects Fall Faster? - Air Resistance
What Happens When You Push an object? - Pushes
What Does Antigravity Do? - Antigravity Air Resistance
What Happens When Objects Collide? - Momentum
What's Pulling Everything Down? - Forces
What Lies Beyond? - Out of Bounds
I realize I'm probably catering to a pretty small crowd by this point with how small the LBP community has shrunk (as promising as future prospects are for Dreams), but I'd love to hear any thoughts anybody has on what could be worked on. I'm currently considering making some smaller episodes as well, just a few minutes long, to deal with miscellaneous things like density or how long one unit of the grid is in create mode. I'll just have to play around with the format and see what works.
Results 1 to 14 of 14
02-12-2018 #1
LittleBIGPhysics: Investigating the Laws of LBP2
Last edited by PlayerPolymathic; 09-07-2019 at 01:22 PM.
02-12-2018 #2
- Hanfi1311
- Join Date
- Jul 2011
- Location
- Germany, Bavaria
- Posts
- 845
- Blog Entries
- 1
Wow, these videos are crazy, have to watch them when I have more time...
02-25-2018 #3
In case anybody would like to follow along, the next episode's out now, too, this time dealing with measuring constant speeds.
Truth be told, I actually had this video done a week earlier, but a lack of available time to sit down and draw the thumbnail held things back. I even had to settle for a much less interesting graphic than what I originally envisioned, but to be realistic, I might have to make do with simpler thumbnails from now on to remove that limiting factor.
On the brighter side of things, I'll be recording the footage for a bunch of episodes pretty soon, so now would be the best time for any suggestions for things to explore or specific methods to try out, since I'll be able to incorporate them into what I record. I'm planning on making a couple larger episodes and a number of smaller ones to see if a shorter format (for at least some videos, probably not all) works well for easier questions, like how dense different things are.
That having been said, I'll get to work on the next episode, which incorporates what I think is the most interesting measurement tool yet.
03-25-2018 #4
Alright, it took a lot longer than I would have liked, since I took some time to record footage for future episodes, and playing with the graphs for this episode took a few hours, but the newest episode's finally here.
As I've discussed previously, I'll be doing some shorter episodes inbetween big ones like this one from this point onwards, to help soften the blow of some episodes taking this long to produce. These big ones are my favourite so far, though, where the analysis gets a bit deeper as we dive further into uncharted territory, so I'll always have a few planned for the future. In any case, next up will be the first of the sweet and small videos, applying a concept we explored in an earlier episode to learn more specific things about the game world.
Hope you guys enjoy.
04-08-2018 #5
The promised shorter episode has finally arrived, focusing on something a bit more simple but no less interesting.
People have apparently been wondering about the precise sizes of the grid spacings for a while, and though I heard some interesting ideas, I'm quite sure now that I've figured out where it comes from. That being said, I still have no idea why the default range for sensors is 22.4 units, or whatever it happens to be. Not sure what's special about that distance.
Next time will be an alternate method of making a certain kind of measurement, for the sake of showing off some variety and getting back into expanding out toolbox for making observations.
04-09-2018 #6
...whoops, there was a bit of a problem with that last video. I thought things turned out fine, but my computer crashing while rendering apparently caused some bigger issues than I thought.
Here's the real one. Sorry about that.
04-29-2018 #7
Another entry in the series, this time investigating a certain way in which different materials vary from each other: link.
I'm going to have to think a bit about what I do next, actually. I have footage recorded, but it's not always obvious how to group different experiments together. Guess I'll get to working on that.
05-20-2018 #8
Alright, here's another bigger one: link. I do have to say that this one was pretty fun, though, since it explored some different tools for analyzing data.
I'm actually pretty much out of footage right now, so I guess I'll have to think up how I'm going to tackle the next few ideas I have and get them recorded before I get back to the usual production schedule. Even so, though, I don't think I'll be running out of concepts to explore any time soon - the questions might eventually get a bit more specific, but that'll just make them more practical, anyways.
05-23-2018 #9
- CuriousSack
- Join Date
- May 2011
- Location
- Germany
- Posts
- 4,193
- Blog Entries
- 22
I'm totally impressed of the video, thanks a lot for sharing!
Many greetings, Jürgen^^
07-15-2018 #10
I can't help but feel that this is long overdue, but I assure you I'm working on these quite frequently. Anything with graphs just takes me quite a long time, unfortunately. Regardless, the newest episode, focusing on what happens when you give something a shove: link.
09-08-2018 #11
Alright, somebody posed a question in response to the methods used in the last video, so here's the newest episode, where we take a closer look and test new aspects of what we did before: link.
12-21-2018 #12
Okay, I guess I chose the wrong time to do another longer one. A few busy weekends in a row made this take way longer than I would've liked, but rest assured that I always have this series on my to-do list. Trying to make sense of something I did months ago makes this process a lot harder, too, so I'll try to avoid having that happen again.
Until now, we've only ever looked at objects in isolation, and it's about time we start thinking about what happens when things get social and everyone's bumping into each other. Thus, our newest instalment focuses on collisions.
I have to admit that this is turning out a bit more realistic than I had expected. These videos are really making me appreciate some of the finer details of the engine, especially the surprise of air resistance (and by extension varying terminal velocities) being programmed into the game.
05-19-2019 #13
Apologies for the delay on this one - I accidentally created the perfect storm of having very little free time and having more editing to do on this video than any others, with the highest ratio of images to footage to date, not to mention a video of decent length. And to think that I was always worried about being delayed by a lack of footage; I've had footage sitting around for months without the time to edit it.
Anyways, here's the newest instalment, taking a closer look at ideas presented in the previous episode and developing the concept of forces from there.
09-07-2019 #14
Apologies for the wait (again) - I did something shorter this time to try to get it out more quickly, but there a few shifts in my schedule and wasn't able to make any meaningful progress for a long time anyways. Rest assured that I have more episodes both planned and already recorded, though.
For our newest entry in the series, we're going to take a look at what lies beyond the four walls of a level in LittleBigPlanet.


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Innovations & AwardsShare This
Did you know that Bunge Loders Croklaan:
- Created Coberine®, the first cocoa butter equivalent?
- Created Couva® 850 NH, the first trans-fat-free cocoa butter replacer?
- Invented Betapol®, a breakthrough fat for the infant nutrition industry?
- Brought the first palm-based alternatives for trans-fat-containing shortenings to the US market?
- Won Food Ingredients Europe awards for Prestine® in 1994 and Cotebar® in 2001?
- Won the Institute for Food Technologists' award for SansTrans VLS 30 and 40 in 2011?
- Won a "highly recommended" status for Creamelt® 500 at the Gulfood show in 2012?
- Won the Food Ingredients Europe award for most innovative confectionery ingredient with CristalGreen® in 2013?
- Was a Food Ingredients Europe award finalist with Creamelt®Stand in 2015?
- Created Biscuitine®Balance 77 for bakery products providing excellent volume and texture at low levels of saturated fat?
- Has received accolades for many other breakthroughs and product developments?
- Was a Food Ingredients Europe award finalist with Presdough 270SB in 2017?


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Come, forum bookworms. Impress (or amuse XD) us with what you currently can't put down.
Myself, I'm a major true crime fan. I just finished You'll Never Find My Body by Don Lasseter, and jumped straight to Ann Rule's But I Trusted You. While I generally prefer books written either by or with heavy influence from prosecution/defense, Ann Rule provides a heavily sympathetic voice to her books which pulls at the heartstrings.


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The USA's Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has not allowed the death of Osama bin Laden in a raid by US naval commandos at his hide-out at Abbottabad on May 2,2011,to slow down its hunt for other high-value targets of Al Qaeda and its affiliates in the Pashtun tribal belt of Pakistan.
2. Its relentless search for them through newly-created human sources and Drone (pilotless plane) strikes has been kept up. The successful commando raid at Abbottabad has added to the already existing disruption in the command and control of Al Qaeda and its affiliates. Their remaining leaders are on the run re-locating themselves in new sanctuaries due to a fear that their old sanctuaries might already be within the knowledge of the CIA as a result of its scrutiny of the documents and computer material seized from OBL's hide-out.
3. Their hurried efforts towards re-location have provided the CIA and its Drones new opportunities to run them down and eliminate them. Ilyas Kashmiri, the head of the so-called 313 Brigade of the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HUJI), one of the constituent units of Al Qaeda's International Islamic Front For Jihad Against the Crusaders and the Jewish People, appears to have been successfully hunted down and eliminated along with some associates---all Pakistanis--- in a Drone strike near Wana in South Waziristan on the night of June 3,2011.
4. Though their bodies are reported to have been mutilated beyond recognition and quickly buried by the locals thereby making physical or forensic identification impossible, the admission by a self-proclaimed representative of the HUJI in Fax messages sent to the local media of the fact of Ilyas' death in a Drone strike has added strength to the widely-held belief in the South Waziristan area that Ilyas is no more.
5. While one cannot rule out the possibility of the HUJI or its 313 Brigade deliberately disseminating a false claim of his death in order to protect him from the relentless hunt by the CIA, one has to note that there has been no instance in the past of Al Qaeda or its affiliates disseminating false claims of death in order to protect their leaders.
6. There had been instances in the past of Pakistani agencies claiming to have killed high-value targets, with the claims subsequently proving to be false. A report in September 2009 disseminated by Pakistani sources regarding the death of Ilyas in a Drone strike subsequently proved to be false. At that time, no claim or admission of his death had been made by the 313 Brigade or the HUJI.
7. Thus, one can be reasonably ---though not totally—certain that the CIA has scored another high-value success in eliminating Ilyas. This will further add to the disruption in the command and control of Al Qaeda and its affiliates. After Rashid Rauf, a Mirpuri from Birmingham, who was reportedly killed in a Drone strike some months ago in the FATA region, Ilyas is the second jihadi terrorist of Kashmiri origin associated with Al Qaeda to have been killed by the CIA. He hailed from the Bhimber area of Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir.
8. Ilyas was often compared to Khalid Sheikh Mohammad (KSM), who orchestrated the 9/11 terrorist strikes in the US homeland, but he was not of the same class as KSM in conceiving and executing spectacular terrorist strikes.
9. His value to Al Qaeda arose from the fact that he had a wide network of contacts not only in the Pakistani Armed Forces and intelligence agencies, but also in the diaspora of Pakistani origin in the West. This enabled him to find new non-Arab volunteers for Al Qaeda's operations in foreign soil.
10. However, it has to be noted that his spectacular successes were mostly in the Af-Pak and Indian regions. None of his planned operations in the West---including the plan to blow up the offices of the Danish newspaper that published cartoons of the Holy Prophet in 1995, reached a successful culmination.
11.Ilyas did not have a technical bent of mind like KSM, but he developed an expertise in organising complex swarm attacks using the commando tactics of special forces. The increasing number of such successful swarm attacks by the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET), the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Haqqani network in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan bore his signature and signs of his expertise and training. It remains to be seen whether his death will have any impact on the ability of Al Qaeda and its affiliates to carry out such swarm attacks in future. ( 5-6-11)
( The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and Associate of the Chennai Centre For China Studies. E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com )
Sunday, June 5, 2011
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Federal government's tax evaders whistleblower program delayed
OTTAWA — A whistleblower program announced last March by the federal government that would pay cash rewards to snitches with tips on tax evaders is several months overdue, and isn't expected to be up and running until sometime later this year.
The Stop International Tax Evasion Program was announced in last year's budget and trumpeted by the Conservative government as a key tool in combating the growing, multibillion-dollar problem of offshore tax evasion.
The measure was included in a federal budget that focused significant attention on cracking down on tax cheats and closing tax loopholes, just as leaders from G8 and G20 countries were facing pressure to step up their efforts to fight offshore tax evasion.
The program is to pay rewards to whistleblowers, of up to 15 per cent of the federal tax collected, for information leading to tax assessments exceeding $100,000.
Briefing materials provided to new Revenue Minister Kerry-Lynne Findlay in the July cabinet shuffle, and obtained by Postmedia News using access-to-information legislation, show the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) planned to launch the program last September.
But now, almost 10 months after the announcement, the program is still in the works with no date set for when the snitch line and program will be operational.
"The program is expected to be launched in 2014. More information will be available at that time," CRA spokesperson Mylene Croteau said in an email.
The reward payments will, however, be subject to income tax, so tipsters will still have to pay the taxman at the same time the CRA pays for their information.
The rewards would only be paid where the questionable activity involves foreign property, or property located or transferred outside Canada, or transactions conducted partially or entirely outside Canada.
The Internal Revenue Service runs a similar program in the United States, but it pays whistleblowers up to 30 per cent of the additional tax, penalty and other amounts it collects.
"CRA has consulted with the Internal Revenue Service on their paid informant program. Discussions are taking place with the Department of Justice on the legal issues surrounding Stop International Tax Evasion program. This program is planned for launch in September 2013," say briefing materials provided to Findlay last July.
International and domestic tax evasion is stealing potentially tens of billions of dollars in revenue from federal coffers, making it more difficult to fund government programs and ultimately sapping money out of taxpayers' pockets.
International tax havens alone are costing Canada potentially $7.8 billion annually, estimates Canadians for Tax Fairness, an advocacy group.
Statistics Canada data show Canadians have stashed a whopping $170 billion in the top 12 global tax havens around the world, the group says.
Liberal Sen. Percy Downe, an outspoken critic of the Conservatives' efforts on combating offshore tax evasion, said the government has been talking a tough game on the file but actually doing very little.
He questions why the Conservative government is being "cheap" in its attempts to fight tax evasion, including only paying tipsters 15 per cent of the tax collected when the U.S. offers up to 30 per cent.
"Absolutely nothing has happened on it," Downe said. "What is being done and who is being served by this behaviour at the Revenue Agency?"


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Crisp corners a trend in Shady Acres
Crisp's official name - Crisp Wine, Beer & Eatery - spells out the biggest Houston dining trend of recent years in plain view, so there's no mistaking what you're walking into. It's one of a growing breed of drinks-forward restaurants in which the liquids come first but in which there's an attempt to make the food an equal partner.
More or less. I'm still searching for my ideal local representative of this red-hot genre, which includes such buzzed-about newcomers as Cottonwood, D&T Drive Inn, Goro & Gun and Lowbrow. For a while I hoped it would be the Queen Vic Pub, an early pacesetter with its craft beer and cocktails keyed in to an ingenious Brit/India menu.
Alas, the menu dumbed down as time went on. I thought Hay Merchant, the ambitious craft-beer bar next to Underbelly, might have a shot at my heart, too, but so far the food has never quite grabbed me as much as the exciting selection of microbrews.
Crisp may not be my ideal, either, but this likable year-old spot has plenty to recommend it. The food from the Italian-skewed menu by chef Jared Estes (formerly of Vin in Bayou Place) is generally good, or at least serviceable. And there's one stone-oven pizza that's charismatic enough that I'd drive to this obscure corner of Shady Acres, northwest of the Heights, just to eat it.
I managed to consume all but two pieces of my good-size Toscano pie on a sunny winter afternoon, marveling over the way its slick slices of salami went boom in the presence of pungent Gorgonzola cheese crumbles, a scatter of herb-roasted mushrooms, rings of red onion tinged with balsamic and a swirl of red sauce.
Its crust was so determinedly browned and crisp that I smiled in acknowledgment that the Wine, Beer & Eatery's name was actually warranted. The pie's swift passage through a very hot stone oven serves the toppings well, leaving the thin-sliced salami singed to a slight curl, the red onion with a bit of bounce to it still.
That pizza killed. And it killed even harder in tandem with a glass of Clos du Caillou Cotes du Rhone, all velvet tannins and resinous hillside herbs that brought out the sage on the pizza. I didn't acquire that splendid glass of wine from Crisp's rather humdrum by-the-glass list. The Clos du Caillou was on the more satisfying bottle list for $68, but I scored it from Crisp's card-operated Enomatic wine dispenser system, which is tons of fun to use.
Here's how you access the eight premium whites and eight premium reds held in coolers at precisely the right cellar temperatures, with inert argon gas keeping the wines from oxygenating in the opened bottles. You put some money on a plastic credit card that you insert at the top of the coolers. Then you press a button to unleash small, medium and not-so-large "full" pours into one of the clean wine glasses at hand. My glass of Cotes du Rhone cost me 18 bucks and change, and it was worth it for the discovery alone.
Going through the ritual is an infantile thrill I can only compare to being taken to the Automat in Manhattan as a very young child, sticking in a quarter and extracting a piece of apple pie from behind its little glass window. By now I've run through a variety of reds in Crisp's Enomatic selection, which changes a bit from week to week.
More Information
Crisp Wine, Beer & Eatery 1 star
2220 Bevis at W. 23rd
Hours: L&D 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays; 11 a.m.-midnight Fridays; 10 a.m.-midnight Saturdays; 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Sundays
Credit cards: all major
Prices: starters $7-$15; entrees $10-$30; desserts $9
Must-orders: Pizza Toscana; saffron arancini; Caesar salad; orecchiette with lamb ragu; beer flight
Reservations: yes; walk-ins welcome
Noise level: moderate to moderately loud
Website: facebook.com/crispheights
I loved the cooked black fruit flavors and earthiness of a big Inkblot Cabernet Franc from Lodi, Calif. I was far less taken with the jamlike fruitiness of a Figgins Estate Red blend from Walla Walla, Wash. I was surprised to find that I actually loved my sample of Opus One, a costly red that I've thought of, unkindly, as a slightly obnoxious trophy wine. Joke's on me: I found its rounded tannins and twinge of eucalyptus tantalizing.
What gives Crisp its appeal is that both wine and beer drinkers will find interesting selections, carefully served. Bottles are housed in a temperature-controlled glass room for cool cellar temperatures, rare for a place with a pub atmosphere.
Narrow slate paddles holding flights of four 4-ounce microbrews, with chalked-on numbers identifying each small glass, make an entertaining way to discover new favorites.
You can put together your own $8 sampler of Belgian-style saisons or farmhouse ales, for instance; or, if you love hops as much as I do, a quartet of India pale ales. Crisp's management has come up with its own themed assemblages, including the Houston We Have a Flight assortment of locally brewed Buffalo Bayou 1836 Copper Ale, Karbach El Hopadillo Negro, Saint Arnold's seasonal winter stout and Karbach's Rodeo Clown double IPA.
So what to eat with your beer or wine? The pizzas are a good bet, from the San Fran North Beach pie with rosemary ham, pepperoni and fennel-seed sausage, to the eccentric Dragon's pie in which prosciutto and gorgonzola meet apples poached in Gulden Draak, a dark Belgian beer that tempers the sweetness.
There's a frisky Caesar-style salad trimmed with a rather-too-sturdy Parmesan crisp and a light, lemony dressing. There are plump fried risotto balls stuffed with mozzarella, molten beneath their crisp crust and moored in a not-unpleasantly-sweet orange and thyme vinaigrette. There's even a confited duck leg shreddy and soft enough to do credit to a much more ambitious restaurant, served atop an arugula and beet salad that I wished had a dash of acidity to balance its balsamic sweetness.
Orecchiette pasta ears here come in a casserole, bound up with salty feta and a meaty lamb bolognese laced with winter greens. It's simple and unexpected. Short ribs with polenta, braised mushroom, pickled parsley and red wine sound more exciting than they taste. The dish is decent if unremarkable, like the nicely cooked tenderloin steak served with Gorgonzola and charry grilled asparagus, plus orecchiette-type mac-and-cheese flavored, to my regret, with truffle oil.
The very respectable burger is seared according to specs, and it's served with an uncommonly fine-textured Challah bun and similarly respectable hand-cut fries. But the burger's adornments of aged provolone, tomato basil and the modular balsamic onions that have so many applications here never quite coheres as a sandwich. It's missing a galvanic condiment that could give the whole thing a swift kick, and the sage mayonnaise involved is not up to that task.
Does the food really rise up to meet the beers and wines? Not quite. But there's not a huge, dispiriting gap, either, and that makes Crisp work. It's a sprawling place that manages to seem warm and cozy, with a welcoming oblong bar near the center of the dining room. The service is mostly eager if not always well versed on the menu, and beer service at the bar can be excellent.
As a bonus, Crisp has a big outdoor component, a patio just recently roofed over by an awning, strung with lights and fitted out with sputtering tall heat lamps. That's where a hardy crew of Houstonians hunkered on a recent chilly evening, hoisting brews and demolishing pizzas.
Crisp is open continuously, seven days a week, and its weekend brunch and takeout entrance makes a useful amenity. It's somewhat startling to see a thronged parking lot and a valet stand on this hidden corner, but so it goes in present-day Shady Acres.


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Aural Intensity is the Glee Club of Westvale High School in Fort Wayne, Indiana. They competed at the 2010 and 2011 Midwest Regional Championships. Their Modus Operandi is to "kiss up" to the judges of the competitions they go to by singing songs that appeal to them.
Season One
As was overheard from New Directions' green room, they performed a mash-up of Magic and You Raise Me Up sung by Olivia Newton-John and Josh Groban respectively, coming second to Vocal Adrenaline. Sue voted them as the runners-up, and while it's assumed that the other judges did as well, their votes were never revealed. Sue calls them the "not at all stupidly named" Aural Intensity.
Season Two
Mr. Schuester announces that Aural Intensity will once again compete against them at Regionals this year. Sue announces at the end of the episode that she has become their director of the group saying that she had "the music in her" and as such can continue threatening New Directions' existence. Later, in Blame It on the Alcohol, Sue reveals that she pushed the "chipper homosexual" director of Aural Intensity down the stairs twice, in order to suffeciently injure him to take over the job.
Original SongAural Intesity "kiss up" to the judges again by singing Jesus Is My Friend. The rest of their set-list is unknown, though Sue implied that it contained similar songs. They do not win over all the judges as Sister Constance believes it to be "cheap pandering" which she hated even as a stripper and Rod presumably agrees, though it wins over Tammy-Jean. As a result they do not win leaving Sue very angry and she punches Carla Turnington-Stevens.
Known songs
- Magic/You Raise Me Up (Journey)
- Jesus Is My Friend (Original Song)
- Neither of their songs were released.
- Comfort Fedoke and Lauren Froderman from So You Think You Can Dance perform in Jesus Is My Friend. Fedoke also appears as a back-up Troubletone in Season 3.
- First Glee Club from Indiana, with the second being The Hoosierdaddies and the third Throat Explosion.


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Lord Jeffrey Archer, 2001 News
novelist and British politician, was found guilty of perjury and perverting justice by a London court in July. The charges against him stemmed from a 1987 libel suit he won against the Daily Star. The paper printed that he had an affair with a prostitute, paid her hush money, and falisified records. Outraged at the alleged slander to his good name, Archer sued and won. The paper's allegations were later proved accurate. He was sentenced to four years in jail and fined $250,000. Other scandals forced Archer to resign from politics three times: from Parliament in 1974, as deputy chairman of the Conservative Party in 1986, and as a London mayoral candidate in 1999.


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Meat's retreat: Veggies star at Maruthi
The moniker of the restaurant next to Integral Yoga natural foods has been spinning in recent months. After Veggie Heaven closed its eight-year run last fall, two new concepts came... and went. But with Maruthi, a new South Indian vegetarian restaurant in Preston Plaza, Integral Yoga may have found its culinary compliment.
The owners of Maruthi, Jaya S. Tiwari and Sridevi S. Prasad live at Yogaville, the Scottsville-area ashram that operates Integral Yoga. Maruthi celebrates the vegetarian lifestyle that has been particularly vibrant in South India for centuries.
If you wonder about an Indian restaurant without popular dishes like chicken tikka masala or lamb vindaloo, Maruthi may convince you that such a menu is indeed possible– maybe even preferable.
In South India (Tiwari is from Bangalore and his wife from Chennai), cooks use spices, aromatic herbs, and chutneys to transform intricate mixtures of vegetables, lentils, and rice into delicious meals and snacks that leave you feeling light and energized, not stuffed.
"This is very healthy home-cooked food, very easy to digest," Sridevi says as she patiently explains each of the 15-or so items on the menu board. The couple's bright-eyed three-and-a-half year old son, who has never tasted a hamburger or chicken nugget, plays quietly in the still largely unadorned space. All the better to focus on the food.
Two or three minutes after placing my order, Sridevi serves the first lentil and rice concoction, idly, two soft steamed rice pancakes floating in a shallow pool of sambar, or red lentil and fresh coconut soup. The rice and lentils must be soaked for one day before being stone-ground, just a hint of the extensive preparation time required for most of the key ingredients in this fascinating cuisine. A plate of sprouted lentils with a hint of hot pepper comes out next, and Srideva tells me this quick-to-serve dish actually takes three days to make.
The yogurt for my mango lassi (an Indian smoothie) was also made in-house, as is the masala yogurt with ginger, garlic, and cumin seeds.
My next surprise came in the form of a foot-long dosa, an crisp and chewy (and addictive) rice and lentil crepe. Maruthi's griddle-cooked masala dosa is rolled around a soft potato mixture and accompanied by little cups of cilantro coconut chutney and sambar. Golden, delicately spicy uttapam are rice and lentil pancakes made with onion and cumin seeds and served with a hot onion chutney.
With such variety, it's hard to imagine what creations lie in store for Maruthi diners. The couple, who share kitchen duties, have about 500 recipes in their collection, which they will slowly debut. Since Maruthi is currently open 7 days for lunch (11:30-2) and dinner (5:30-9pm), the couple will likely need an extra hand, so Tiwari is currently searching for another cook in India.
Seafood: surviving the hurricanes
We've all seen the impact of the recent hurricanes at the gas pump, but what about at restaurants and food counters?
Chris Arseneault, owner of Seafood at West Main, which services a number of area restaurants as well as retail customers at its Main Street Market shop, is all too aware of the devastating impact Katrina and Rita have had on the commercial seafood industry. Tuna, oysters, crabmeat, and shrimp production suffered the most when the Gulf was hit.
"All of my suppliers, mainly family-owned small business, are anxious to rebuild and recover," Arseneault says. "They're rugged individuals and understand the wrath of Mother Nature."
Seafood at West Main is recovering, too, both by obtaining products from other areas and through its expanding selection of semi-prepared, gourmet seafood items. Smoked salmon spread, crab and salmon cakes, shrimp salad, and Carolina catfish with Cajun-style crawfish stuffing are just a few of the calming offerings.
Indian Veggie Heaven: Jaya Tiwari and Sridevi Prasad of Maruthi


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This range of healthy gluten free recipes has been tried and tested in our Healtheries kitchen. We have recipes for all your gluten free baking needs from breakfast, cakes, cookies through to meals. Each recipe includes a full nutritional profile. See our full range of other recipes including dairy free, diabetes friendly and low fat recipes
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MOSCOW — The outlook for Syria's embattled president darkened considerably Thursday, when his most powerful foreign ally, Russia, acknowledged that he was losing the struggle against an increasingly coordinated insurgency, and for the first time said it was making contingency plans to evacuate its citizens from the country, the Kremlin's last beachhead in the Middle East.
The Russian assessment, made publicly by a top Foreign Ministry official in Moscow, appeared to signal a major turn in the diplomacy of the nearly two-year-old conflict and presented new evidence that the Syrian president, Bashar Assad, was losing politically as well as militarily.
On Wednesday it was revealed that Assad's forces had resorted to firing Scud ballistic missiles at rebels in an attempt to slow the insurgency's momentum.
The assessment suggested that Russia no longer viewed Assad's involvement in a negotiated solution as a viable alternative. It also appeared to reflect a new recognition in Moscow that Assad and his minority Alawite government, long a Russian client, cannot survive in the face of a well-armed opposition financed by Arab and Western countries seeking his ouster. Some Russian officials have concluded that Assad's foreign adversaries want an outcome decided by military force.
Further punctuating the Russian assessment was a dark view offered by the secretary general of NATO.
''I think the regime in Damascus is approaching collapse,'' Anders Fogh Rasmussen told reporters in Brussels. "I think now it is only a question of time.''
While senior Western officials said the basic Russian position had not shifted markedly, they welcomed the comments that were made to a Kremlin advisory group by Mikhail Bogdanov, a deputy foreign minister and Russia's top envoy for the Middle East, which were reported by the Interfax news agency.
"Unfortunately, it is impossible to exclude a victory of the Syrian opposition,'' Bogdanov said. ''We must look squarely at the facts, and the trend now suggests that the regime and the government in Syria are losing more and more control and more and more territory.''
Bogdanov predicted a bloody future with many more dead, suggesting that the fall of Assad and his government would not mean the end of the civil war, which is increasingly sectarian — Sunnis from within and without versus minority Alawites and Christians.
"If you accept this price to topple the president, what can we do?'' he asked. ''We of course consider this totally unacceptable.''
Bogdanov said that Russia continued to urge political compromise to avoid many more deaths, but he also said that Russia was making plans to evacuate its many citizens in Syria, if necessary.
Senior Western officials said the remarks of Bogdanov and Rasmussen were not tied to any major or sudden shift on the ground. Rather, these officials said, the long war of attrition had leached power and money from the Assad government, and while the Syrian military had not been broken, it was no longer capable of regaining and retaining large swathes of territory.
A coalition of opposition fighters, with arms and training from Qatar and other Persian Gulf countries, is performing better in the field, and while some are fighting for a more democratic Syria, others are fighting for sectarian reasons, as committed Sunni Muslims trying to topple a minority Alawite government.


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Well, I'm always up for a challenge, anyway!
My youngest and I wandered through the aisles of the grocery store this morning, looking for something suitable for Letter X. Here is what we found:
And what on earth did we make with all that??
Here it is!
I let each student decide whether their x-ray would have a broken bone or a healthy bone. You'll never guess what the majority of the kids chose... yep, broken!
These would also be fun treats to cheer up a child who has just broken a bone and gotten a cast -- or to celebrate cast removal!


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What a powerful statement by Jonathan Edwards! This journal entry reflects the truth of Romans 12:1-2!
I have been before God, and have given myself, all that I am and have, to God; so that I am not, in any respect, my own. I can challenge no right in this understanding, this will, this affections, which are in me. Neither have I any right to this body, or any of its members–no right to this tongue, these hands, these feet; no right to these senses, these eyes, these ears, this smell, or this taste.
I have given myself clear away, and have not retained any thing as my own. . . . I have given every power to him; so that, for the future, I'll challenge no right in myself, no respect whatsoever. I have expressly promised him, and I do now promise Almighty God, that by his grace I will not. I have this morning told him that I did take him for my whole portion and felicity, looking on nothing else as any part of my happiness, nor acting as if it were; and his law, for the constant rule of my obedience; and would fight with all my might against the world, the flesh, and the devil, to the end of my life; and that I did believe in Jesus Christ, and did receive him as a Prince and Savior; and that I would adhere to the faith and obedience of the gospel, however hazardous and difficult the confession and practice of it may be; and that I did receive the blessed Spirit as my Teacher, Sanctifier, and only Comforter, and cherish all his motions to enlighten, purify, confirm, comfort, and assist me.
This, I have done; and I pray God, for the sake of Christ, to look upon it as a self-dedication, and to receive me now as entirely his own, and to deal with me, in all respects, as such, whether he afflicts me or prospers me, or whatever he pleases to do with me, who am his. Now, henceforth, I am not to act, in any respect, as my own. I shall not act as my own, if I ever make use of any of my powers to any thing that is not to the glory of God, and do not make the glorifying of him my whole and entire business."
– Jonathan Edwards, January 12, 1723.


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With the Beijing 2007 Intel Developer Forum in full swing the amount of information that is coming out on Penryn is nothing short of amazing. Intel has even gone as far as showing performance numbers and has had systems up and running with these 45nm processors this week in Beijing, China. Legit Reviews has recently covered the upcoming Penryn and Nehalem 45nm processors, so be sure to read up on our previous coverage to better understand the changes that are coming.
To quickly sum up Penryn for the desktop market, there will be two versions. One will be a quad-core varient with 12MB L2 cache and the other will be a dual-core part with just 6MB L2 cache, since it is missing a core.
Current Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad processors have 16-way associativity, but on Penryn this number has been increased to 24-way associativity, which improves the access paths to the larger L2 cache. Other than the performance improvements that are taking place in the cache the Penryn processors have a new SSE4 instruction that can be used on various media, gaming, and graphic applications. Now that we have a quick background on the processors lets skip on to the performance numbers!
With CPU-Z 1.38 loaded on the Intel test system we can see what a quad-core Yorkfield 45nm processor shows up as in the test system!
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Favourites Ivory Coast step back into the African Nations Cup spotlight on Sunday, spoilt for choice as they meet Nigeria in the quarter-finals in Rustenburg.
DURBAN, South Africa - Favourites Ivory Coast step back into the African Nations Cup spotlight on Sunday, spoilt for choice as they meet Nigeria in the quarter-finals in Rustenburg.
Outsiders Burkina Faso and Togo also meet in the last eight in Nelspruit on Sunday, seeking to continue their surprise run at the tournament in South Africa.
The decision on whether to start Didier Drogba is eagerly awaited as the Ivory Coast proved in the group stage that they could do without a player who previously had a talismanic influence on the team.
Drogba was dropped for their second group game, which produced Ivory Coast's most convincing performance and secured qualification. Coach Sabri Lamouchi has hinted he may go back to that selection for the game at the Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace.
Traditionally, a meeting with Nigeria would be a heavyweight clash but the odds are firmly with the impressive looking Ivorians after the stuttering form of the Nigerians, who needed two late penalties to book their progress from the group phase.
Unlike Drogba's tenuous hold on his starting spot, fellow striker Emmanuel Adebayor has been the catalyst for Togo reaching the quarter-finals for the first time and will be key to their hopes again versus Burkina Faso.
The finishing ability of the tall Tottenham Hotspur forward, who just weeks ago was not sure if he would be competing at the finals, is Togo's best chance of finding the net.
The Burkinabe eliminated defending champions Zambia in a show of surprising strength but have since lost their top scorer Alain Traore to injury.
Sunday's games will complete the semi-final lineup after home hopes were dashed by South Africa's penalty shootout loss to Mali in Durban after Ghana ended the fairytale run of the Cape Verde Islands in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.
Ivory Coast decision on Drogba awaited


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Events Home
Ron White
Ron White
Nov 13, 2020 – 08:00 PM
King Center for the Performing Arts
3865 N. Wickham Road
Melbourne, FL 32935
Find Tickets
Ron White
More Info
Ron White:
With a glass of Scotch in one hand and a cigar in the other, Ron White has put audiences in stitches on numerous stand-up tour dates, albums, and comedy specials. White rose to stardom while appearing on the
Blue Collar Comedy Tour
with fellow comedians Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall, and Larry the Cable Guy. He then came into his own with a number of commercially and critically successful comedy albums, tour dates, and stand-up specials.
Texas born and bred, Ron White earned the nickname "Tater Salad" in the Navy for his love of the side dish. When he returned from service, White decided to pursue his dream of becoming a comedian, driving around Texas on tour dates in a Nissan pickup truck. In 1990, he recorded his first comedy album,
Tater Salad aka. Busted in Des Moines
. After struggling to book tour dates at smaller stand-up clubs, Ron White was discovered by Jeff Foxworthy and invited to join the
Blue Collar Comedy Tour
in 2000. White's tales of drunkenness and adventures in Texas, told in a laid back style (cue the cigar and Scotch), became a huge hit with audiences.
The exposure brought Ron White hundreds of more high profile tour dates, as well as his second solo stand-up album,
Drunk in Public
. The album went gold and was soon followed by White's first Comedy Central stand-up special,
They Call Me Tater Salad
. While the DVD version of the special flew off the shelves, the CD version ended up going multi-platinum. Ron White's next stand-up special came in 2006, titled
You Can't Fix Stupid
; the album shot to the top of
Comedy Albums chart and was nominated for a Grammy.
Shortly after the release of his 2009standup special,
Behavioral Problems
, White formed his own record label with Michael Blakey called Organica Music Group (OMG). The label caters to both emerging and established comedians and musicians, and released White's most recent stand-up video,
A Little Unprofessional
While Ron White may not have as big a presence on television and movies as he once did, he has split his time between stand-up tours and appearing with his wife, singer Margo Rey, who suffers from breast cancer.
Buy tickets via axs.com!
Event details at artsbrevard.org!
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Boy George Shows Off Dramatic Weight Loss in London
With the help of nutrition planning, the singer-songwriter has shed a significant amount of weight
By George, he's lost it!
Boy George showed off a svelte new figure when attending the Whatsonstage.com Awards on Sunday night in London.
Sporting his trademark eyeshadow, Boy George, 51, wore all black, save for a baby blue tie and beige hat, to the event.
As he's shed the pounds, the singer-songwriter has documented his journey on Twitter, sharing everything from advice from his doctor to reactions on his healthy lifestyle.
"I've been doing burst of exercise all day and everyone thinks I'm a bit mental! Lol!" he Tweeted on Jan. 31.
Then on Feb. 8, Boy George shared his breakfast. "Mmm, porridge with cherries & a dash of cinnamon! Cook the cherries with the porridge! Bloody gorgeous!" he Tweeted.
The former Culture Club frontman also attributes his new figure to Freer Nutrition, a weight-loss program headed by a nutritional therapist, calling it his "secret."


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According to the Microsoft Security Response Center, Microsoft will issue three Security Bulletins addressing 11 vulnerabilities on Tuesday, November 9. It will also host a webcast to address customer questions the following day.
The first of the vulnerabilities is rated "Critical" while the other two are marked as "Important." The first two vulnerabilities earned their rating through a remote code execution impact, meaning a hacker could potentially gain control of an infected machine. All the three of updates may require a restart.
Windows operating systems aren't in the bulletin this month; Microsoft Office XP, Office 2003, Office 2007, and Office 2010 are all being patched, as is Office 2011 for Mac. Separately, the Forefront security suite is also vulnerable.
Compared to last month's record Patch Tuesday, this one is puny. The exact breakdown of the bulletins is as follows:
|Affected software
|Remote Code Execution
|Office XP/2003/2007/2010, Office 2011 for Mac
|Remote Code Execution
|PowerPoint 2002/2003
|Elevation of Privilege
|Forefront Unified Access Gateway 2010
Along with these patches, Microsoft is also planning to release the following on Patch Tuesday:
- One or more nonsecurity, high-priority updates on Windows Update (WU) and Windows Server Update Services (WSUS)
- One or more nonsecurity, high-priority updates on Microsoft Update (MU) and WSUS
- An updated version of the Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool on WU, MU, WSUS, and the Microsoft Download Center
This information is subject to change by Patch Tuesday; Microsoft has been known to rush patches or to pull them as it deems necessary.


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In recent months there has been a lot of talk about a crash in the real estate market.
Analysts predict a housing bust. News reports indicate that home sales are declining in several markets all over the country. This paints the picture that real estate investing is no longer a lucrative business. Investors all over the country are advised to get out of the game as quickly as possible to avoid losses.
What analysts and news reports don't tell you is that every decade for the past forty years there has been some kind of warning about a crash in the real estate market. Each time these warning come out, people begin to mistrust real estate investing.
They turn their sights to other forms of investing. Analysts to preach this gloom and doom on the real estate market also do not understand that real estate investing is much different than stock investing. The same rules and trends do not apply.
Every decade when analysts state their predictions for a real estate market crash there are some real estate investors who heed this advice. These investors eventually regret doing so once they realize that there was no cause for alarm in real estate investing. Smart investors, on the other hand, realize that there is always money to be made in real estate investing and they know exactly why.
Humans have only a few basic needs. These basic needs never change, they never go away. These needs include food, clothing, and shelter.
The constant need for shelter lies at the root of the reason that real estate investing will remain profitable. Of course, there are some other key elements, but the least you need to know is that humans will always need real estate.
Even if real estate somehow dwindles from a structure with walls and a roof to a measly hole in the ground, it is still considered shelter. Someone has to provide these holes in the ground. Some holes will end up being better than other holes. Some people will have the means to buy and sell multiple holes. Real estate investing will continue to exist.
The real estate market alone will never experience a crash. In all the years that real estate has been around, the market has never crashed. The only time you will see a negative impact on the entire real estate market is when the general market experiences a downfall as well. However, when this happens, the value of all other commodities will decrease at the same time. Even in this case, real estate investing can still prove to be profitable.
You might see a local real estate market decline as a result of another catastrophe, such as New Orleans in the case of Hurricane Katrina. Because of a natural disaster, the majority of the real estate in the area was lost. There were no properties for homeowners to purchase. A key thing to know in real estate investing is that local markets always correct themselves. The disastrous loss in the New Orleans area created a huge opportunity for real estate investing.
Although the real estate markets in various cities might fluctuate from time to time, the real estate market as a whole will never experience a serious decline. This is the reason that real estate investing will remain a lucrative form of investing.