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Metadata Use in the Commercial Banking Industry
Joan Starr is a graduate student in the School of Library and Information Science at San Jose State University. She is also a senior project consultant in the Information & Technology Services Department at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. She can be reached at email@example.com. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco or any federal entity.
In the library and archive information professions, metadata is typically presented as an enabling tool for information resource retrieval and/or management. In the industrial and commercial worlds, however, metadata can serve an altogether different goal: information exchange, either in a transaction or report format. The exchange paradigm of information use is scarcely apparent in information science literature, perhaps, in part, because transactional information is, by nature, pre-archival. Yet, the World Wide Web has blurred the lines between that which is fixed and stored and that which is underway, so, perhaps, this is an appropriate time to examine metadata use in the commercial sector.
This inquiry will begin with a brief introduction into the information-related behaviors of the American banking industry and include a discussion of how the use patterns have changed in recent years. It will further describe the development of one particular metadata standard currently gaining momentum and endorsements in the financial sector. Finally, it will identify a number of critical considerations that may impact the future direction and acceptance of that metadata standard.
Classic Information Behavior of Banks
To gain an overall understanding of the role of metadata in banking operations, it is first useful to delineate the specific types of information banks typically handle, as well as what they do with that information.
Many Types of Information. Commercial banking is an enterprise with several distinct, but interrelated functions, each of which generates large amounts of information. Banks maintain information on deposit accounts, loan accounts, customer profiles, bank investments, market research and corporate accounting. This last category includes general ledger and balance sheet data and also reserve account balance information that the bank must report to regulatory agencies such as the Federal Depository Insurance Corporation (FDIC) or the Federal Reserve Bank. Banks, like any modern organization, also have personnel-related information systems, and some very large banks support their internal and external communications with document-management systems as well. These systems have allowed banks to digitize signature cards, automate loan application processes and replace many other paper-based workflows.
To accommodate this range of content types, bank systems deal with several distinct information format types. Account information, either regarding individual deposits or loans or in connection with the corporation's accounts, tends to be almost exclusively numeric, although borrower's signatures are increasingly likely to be stored as graphic files, typically in TIFF format. Market research, on the other hand, may include numeric data as well as textual analysis, and perhaps even graphic representations. If the bank is using a document-management system, the system will be configured to handle a wide range of file types, including word-processed documents, Web pages, spreadsheets, slide presentations and perhaps even audio and video files. Where there is no document-management system in place, this full range of file types is typically stored on a shared (internal) network drive.
Three Principal Uses of Information. Banks, then, possess a wealth of information. And, the range of information types has a correspondingly broad range of information uses, falling into three categories: transaction, retrieval or reporting. For the purposes of this discussion, transaction is defined as information access in which content is changed. Retrieval is defined as information access in which content is not changed. Reporting, perhaps the most interesting category, presents an intersection of transaction and retrieval. That is, with reporting, the individual content elements are not changed, but they may be recombined and manipulated in such a way as to create a completely new and additional information packet.
Table 1 summarizes the discussion above and illustrates the distinctions made between the three information use types. Briefly, most bank systems for information access must allow both retrieval and transaction activity, depending upon the identity or status of the individual seeking access. The third use type, reporting, is critical to corporate accounting and investment information which must provide new compilations and combinations of data to shareholders and regulators.
Evolution of the Banking Industry
All the information described above, with the likely exception of document-like objects stored in a document-management system, has resided without descriptive metadata schemes in banks computer systems. Most of the information (accounts, profiles and related graphics) has been retained in relational databases and accessed for viewing (retrieval), update (transaction) or extraction (reporting) using proprietary tools. This includes Web portal access tools provided by database vendors for intranet, extranet or Internet access. And, as indicated above, word-processed documents, Web pages, presentations and spreadsheets have been stored loose on network drives. Any access from outside the organizations network is increasingly provided using some variety of hypertext markup language (HTML) served up to an Internet or extranet site. Internal access for update (transaction) or extraction (reporting) activity is gained through the proprietary software tools used to create the files. Internal view-only access (retrieval) may use the companys intranet site or the proprietary software.
Needless to say, metadata projects are both complex and costly to implement and maintain. For the private sector, this effort is a program of such magnitude that it must proceed on the basis of a truly compelling cost-recovery (or cost-avoidance) case or a regulatory requirement. Interestingly, the banking industry happens to be poised at a convergence of both of these arguments.
The Internet Changes Commerce. It is widely acknowledged that the Internet radically alters the commercial environment. In 2000, Gary Gensler, undersecretary for domestic finance in the Clinton Administration, told a meeting of the Bank & Financial Analysts Association, There may be no part of our economy more suited to delivery in electronic form than financial services. . . . The Internet creates a 24-hour marketplace for financial services (Gensler, 2000, p.50). Suddenly, not only do the banks depositors and borrowers expect to see and even manipulate their account information on the Internet, but also the banks suppliers would like to establish secure extranet relationships for data exchange. Indeed, the entire financial information community now seeks to access, exchange and research data in ways previously thought to be impossible. Bank executives are facing significant costs of failing to provide the new access with new tools.
Congress Changes the Rules. In 1999, Congress passed the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999, commonly referred to as Gramm-Leach-Bliley. This act repealed the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act, which created statutory separation between commercial and investment banking. Gramm-Leach-Bliley authorizes the creation of financial holding companies to act as containers for commercial banks, securities firms, insurance companies and other financial services. Gramm-Leach-Bliley effectively introduced a wave of mergers and acquisitions. This has two effects: banks are now handling new kinds of information, and banks are challenged to combine, or at least reconcile, internal information from multiple pre-merger organizations.
The Next Generation of Banking
With all this activity, it may come as no surprise that there are many proposed financial information standards. A comprehensive list would include the following standards for information exchange and transactions: ACORD (insurance), FinXML (capital markets), FIXML (securities), FpML (financial derivatives), MDDL (financial markets), MISMO (mortgage industry), OFX (consumer finances), RETML (real estate), STPML (securities). Two more standards have been proposed specifically for financial industry messaging, IFX and SWIFTML. Finally, there are currently three proposed reporting standards: IRML and RIXML both for economic and investment research reporting, and XBRL for business reporting. For an explanation of all these acronyms, please see Table 2.
Industry analysts warn that this glut of standards efforts, especially for transactions, will inevitably result in some fallout. The suggestion is that, ultimately, all transaction standards will coalesce around the ISO 15022 specification. ISO 15022 is the standard for message exchange in the securities industry. As noted, one area where there appears to be a bona fide standard is in business reporting, with XBRL.
A Brief History of XBRL. The genesis of XBRL is in the field of accounting, rather than banking. In 1999, the American Institute of CPAs gathered a group of accounting firms and technology vendors to work together on an XML-based standard focused on the requirements of accounting reports and aiming to serve all stakeholders for that information. The first XBRL specification was made available in July 2000. In early 2001, the XBRL consortium held its first international meeting, and, significantly, the FDIC joined the organization. Later that year, the federal governments Joint Financial Management Improvement Program recommended the use of XBRL to U.S. government agencies. At the close of 2001, the Bank of America conducted a pilot using actual client information, allowing customers to upload financial information from QuickBooks and then convert the data to XBRL format.
By December, 2002, the membership of XBRL International, the standards governing body, had reached 170, and its steering committee included representatives from major accounting firms, such as Ernst & Young LLP, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, and PriceWaterhouseCoopers, technology vendors such as Microsoft, regulators such as the FDIC, and academics. The XBRL US Domain Group chair and Microsoft executive, Rob Blake, has been quoted as saying, The XBRL consortium is becoming more like a Whos Who list of vendors, banks and accountants (Solomon, para. 13). This may be the best way to explain the standards dominance in the financial reporting market.
Under the XBRL Covers. The XBRL specification consists of a document type definition (DTD) for a core bundle of elements and attributes, as well as a taxonomy syntax for creating new elements and attributes. To date, a number of taxonomies have been created, and XBRL International uses a ranking system to keep them organized. Only one, the Journal Taxonomy, is in a Recommended, Final state. Others, in Recommended, Public Working Draft or Approved, include the Global Common Document Taxonomy, the U.S. Financial Reporting Taxonomy and several International Accounting Standards taxonomies. The XBRL International website also hosts royalty-free, conforming taxonomies its members have created. At the present time, these include a Management Report Taxonomy and a US GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Practices) Taxonomy.
XBRL does not include any explicit provision for a controlled vocabulary. One can argue that a cohesive community of practice, such as the accounting industry, with its national and international standards frameworks, supplies a de facto controlled vocabulary. As long as XBRL implementations and extensions are limited to this subject area, the lack of a formal vocabulary structure may not be discernible. The Version 2.0 specifications suggest that vocabulary problems may lie ahead by acknowledging that XBRL could be used outside the financial services arena. The specifications explicitly avoid an authority control role for XBRL International, but they include support for business entity authority control provided by some other organization, such as NASDAQ or CUSIP (a service bureau run by Standard & Poors for the American Bankers Association). This takes the form of an identifier element with an attribute of scheme, as in the following example from the specifications:
<identifier scheme=www.nasdaq.com>SAMP</identifier>
One may translate this as The company with the NASDAQ ticker symbol SAMP.
For demonstration purposes, Reuters Group created a number of example financial reports, exposing the XBRL coding (Reuters Group, 2001). Here is the code for cells in a table entitled, Reuters Group Revenue Analysis Third Quarter 2001.
This example shows several notable characteristics of XBRL. First, it can be used within HTML documents. Second, its most basic unit is the item, and each item has sufficient metadata attributes to provide unique identification. In this example, both items are of the same type, an income category of operations revenue. In XBRL, every item has an associated time period. The first, 313, is being reported for the third quarter, ending September 30, 2001, and the second is being reported for the third quarter, ending September 30, 2000. Notice also the reference to an authority control, with the unit attribute pointing to ISO 4217. This is the International Organization of Standards list of currency type abbreviations.
Future Directions. XBRL looks very promising as an emerging standard. It has been designed for flexibility, extensibility and international portability, although, as noted above, it has made little provision for vocabulary control, and it presently allows for only two types of data, text and numeric. Also, its governing board, XBRL International, is a collaborative body of virtually every important stakeholder in financial reporting, with the exception of individual investors and borrowers.
Indeed, there are a number of key indicators that point to XBRLs dominance. Numerous financial services software vendors now provide either add-on components to translate proprietary outputs into the XBRL format or completely new products, building XBRL compatibility into all the automated processes associated with financial reporting. This development is key, as borrowers, investors and back office clerks are not liable to perform XBRL encoding by hand. One assumes that there is no coincidence involved in the placement of the Microsoft representative to XBRL International, Rob Blake, at the head of the U.S. delegation.
The other interesting partner on the XBRL International Steering Committee is Phil Walenga, the XBRL project manager for the FDIC. This regulatory agency collects data on a quarterly basis from the majority of U.S. depository institutions in the Report of Condition and Income, more commonly known as the Call Report. In the summer of 2002, the FDIC, under the umbrella of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), issued a request for proposals for the development of a system to automate the submission of call reports, using XBRL . The FFIEC is a consortium of the FDIC, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (FRB), the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS). This amounts to a wholesale endorsement of the standard, as it will force the financial institutions to adopt XBRL in order to comply with reporting requirements.
In the wake of the Enron scandals, some XBRL promoters are looking at the standard as a way to make corporate financial information more transparent and more easily and meaningfully analyzed. A first step toward the fulfillment of this promise is EDGAR Online. EDGAR Online is a proprietary online tool that is widely used to gain easy access to the information reported to the Securities Exchange Commissions Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis and Retrieval (EDGAR) system. In early 2001, EDGAR Online announced an XBRL repository for financial statements. The goal was to make available a single source of company financials for use by analysts, investors (individual and institutional), journalists, accountants and others. This will have the tendency of making financial and marketing analysis more consistent and probably speedier as well.
Overseas, several countries have actually endorsed XBRL as national standards or, at least, recommendations. These include Australia, Singapore and the United Kingdom. The incentive is apparently cost-avoidance, with one Italian bank making loans more affordable for companies that use XBRL-compliant accounting software. The discount reflects the banks belief that these borrowers are likely to have more consistently audited books, presumably making them a better credit risk. An organization of chief financial officers in Europe, CFO Europe, identified XBRL as number eight in its list of Top 20 technology trends for 2003, suggesting that the standard is likely to encourage the creation of many new and innovative financial reporting tools. These developments increase the pressure upon domestic banks to adopt XBRL as they compete for global investments.
With its many information constituents including federal regulators, the commercial banking industry has an increasingly powerful incentive to coalesce on a metadata standard for the exchange of information. While the field of contenders is still quite large for transactional exchanges, there is a clear leader for financial reporting. Economists and other social scientists should welcome this development, inasmuch as XBRL-formatted call reports will soon become the stuff of trend analyses and other statistical research. The metadata scheme designed for information exchange will turn out to enable efficient information retrieval.
For Further Reading
Table 1. Use of Information in Banks
Table 2. Metadata Standards in the Financial Services Industry (Note: All Websites visited on February 8, 2003.)
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Information Science and Technology


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subset: commoncrawl


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The Authors Guild et al v. Google Inc.
Filing 40
NOTICE of Intent to Serve Subpoenas. Document filed by Google Inc.. (Attachments: # 1 Attachment (Part 1)# 2 Attachment (Part 2)# 3 Attachment (Part 3))(Raider, Ronald)
Disclaimer: Justia Dockets & Filings provides public litigation records from the federal appellate and district courts. These filings and docket sheets should not be considered findings of fact or liability, nor do they necessarily reflect the view of Justia.


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Good article but ipersonally use comodo mobile security for my android phones and it gives good security and keeps my phone from both internal and external attacks.
That sounds great but didn't the Dell Streak product get cancelled for lack of sales back in August 2011?
This suggests a chicken and egg dilemma for vendors -- how much to invest in niche products for government if approval lifecycles are so long that okays (and presumably sales) don't come fast enough to even recoup the R&D and paperwork expenses incurred upfront?
It would be very useful in articles such as this one to point out that "secure" is not the same as "approved for use in classified environments".
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The trading of unregulated weapons has fueled some of the world's worst crimes. Post-Cold War Soviet stockpiles in Slovakia and Ukraine, for example, have made their way to war criminals in Africa and Europe. Profits from exploitative mining industries often fund those purchases. A UN hearing in July will consider establishing a Global Arms Trade Treaty with common rules to regulate the movement of weapons. In order for the treaty to be successful, drastic measures must be taken, including strict licensing, public reporting, and punitive measures for abusers.
By Brian WoodHuffington Post
May 30, 2012
As the debate rages over whether Charles Taylor will languish in a British prison or elsewhere, much more important should be the discussion into how the former President of Liberia could have been prevented from aiding and abetting such atrocities in the first place.
As Arms Control Manager for Amnesty International, I have spent two decades researching and trying to expose the devastating impact of a blatantly irresponsible and, at times, unlawful trade in weapons - a trade which has fuelled some of the world's worst atrocities, including killings, rapes and mutilations as seen during the conflicts in Sierra Leone, Liberia and elsewhere.
What has always been obvious is that the world should not wait for arms to fuel a catastrophic human rights crisis before the great powers call time.
Security Council action has its benefits but it often comes late. It's time the world rejected the body bag approach to arms control.
During the summer of 2000, I presented evidence at a UN Security Council hearing into how the illicit diamonds revenue was converted into arms purchases.
This UN hearing was not only the first to try to understand a problem that perpetuates conflict, but also marked a watershed by providing evidence and official recognition of the inadequacy of existing arms trade standards and regulations.
During the UN hearing in 2000, several things were clear. Firstly, the deadly and dangerous weapons fuelling the conflict in Sierra Leone were traded and delivered not just at national or even regional level but a global one.
Secondly, the absence of any legally binding international standards governing arms exports meant that nothing was effectively done to stop the flow of arms into Sierra Leone - all we had was a UN arms embargo finally agreed a full six years later.
Thirdly, even once imposed, the UN embargo was circumvented on a massive scale not least because national systems to control the arms trade were so weak and poorly implemented.
Inadequate customs inspections and public record keeping as well as unverified trade documentation meant that arms from the post-Soviet Union stockpiles of east European countries like Slovakia and Ukraine easily found their way to Charles Taylor through the complicit states of Burkina Faso and the Ivory Coast.
The deals were set up by arms brokers from Israel, Kenya, the Netherlands, Russia, South Africa and Ukraine, yet jurisdictional loopholes meant none was tried at the time.
Inadequate registration and control of air and sea transporters meant that companies from Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom were used to ship the arms. Meanwhile, payments made with the revenue from the illicit trade in Sierra Leone's diamonds were channelled through bank accounts as far afield as Singapore, Cyprus and the USA, without investigation.
As we now know, this litany of failures massively contributed to the horrors of Sierra Leone's civil war. Tens of thousands civilians were killed and many more mutilated and wounded, thousands of women were raped, more than 5,000 boys and girls were forcibly recruited as child soldiers and over one third of the population were forced to flee their homes.
Charles Taylor's sentencing sends an important message to high-ranking state officials; no matter who you are or what position you hold, you will be brought to justice for your crimes.
It should also act as powerful a reminder to governments to reject the "body bag" approach and to ensure through their actions that they will put an end to irresponsible arms transfers. In just over a month's time, UN member states will gather in New York to negotiate the text of the world's first ever Arms Trade Treaty.
This July's UN negotiating conference is an historic moment to establish a tough, comprehensive global Arms Trade Treaty with common rules to help protect human rights. The experience of Sierra Leone and Charles Taylor's Liberia makes it clear what is needed.
Instead of having to wait for Security Council agreement on a UN arms embargo, which is imposed after the catastrophe has already happened, the treaty must require that no arms transfers can ever be approved if there is a substantial risk that the arms would be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of human rights or fuel persistent unlawful armed violence - what we call the "Golden Rule".
To ensure respect for this "Golden Rule" and tackle the multifaceted nature of the arms trade, the treaty must also cover all types of conventional weapons, munitions, armaments and related equipment as well as all forms of trade and government-to-government transfers. It should require governments to strictly regulate arms brokering, transport and financial services for such transfers.
To have teeth, the Treaty must require governments to undertake rigorous risk assessments prior to any authorisation of an arms transfer or transaction, and publicly to report on all authorisations and deliveries. Trading without permission or illegally diverting arms should be a criminal offence and states that fail to comply with the treaty obligations should be held to account.
Of course, sceptics may view this as an unrealistic shopping list but past failures have shown that standards and regulations that are not sufficiently comprehensive are destined to fail. The case of Charles Taylor and Sierra Leone's civil war shows that the exclusion of a human rights "Golden Rule" would invalidate the whole preventative value of a treaty. Similarly, without thorough prior risk assessments, strict licensing, public reporting and criminalisation of illicit trafficking, those responsible for fuelling atrocities will never be held to account.
This July, negotiators at the UN will have a choice but, if they remember what we have all heard in the case of Charles Taylor, they will realise that effective prevention is largely a question of all or nothing.


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March 9, 1918 - January 29, 2013
Town of Newburgh, NY
Frances Rose Cavanaugh, of the Town of Newburgh, NY, passed away on Tuesday, January 29, 2013 to be with the Lord. She was 94.
The daughter of the late John Rahemba and Victoria Luvak Rahemba, she was born on March 9, 1918 in New Windsor, NY.
Frances was a homemaker, predeceased by her husband, John Cavanaugh, Sr. in 1978. Also, she was predeceased by her son, John Cavanaugh, Jr., her daughter-in-law, Ila Dolly Cavanaugh as well as a brother and her sisters.
Frances was a loving mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, who loved watching the "Yankees" and golf.
Survivors include her son, Eugene Cavanaugh of Newburgh, NY; daughter, Paula Angelone and son-in-law, Pat of Colorado Springs, CO along with sisters, a brother, several grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews.
Visitation will be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Monday, February 4, 2013 at Brooks Funeral Home, 481 Gidney Ave., Newburgh, NY 12550. Funeral Services will be held at 1 p.m. at the funeral home. Burial will follow in Cedar Hill Cemetery, Newburgh.
To send a personal condolence or for directions, please visit BrooksFH.com or call 845-561-8300.


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The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has given an upbeat appraisal of Australia's economy, but advises the Labor government to rethink its promised budget surplus if the outlook deteriorateS.
The Washington-based institution, in its annual report on Australia released on Friday, says the economy remains in a favourable position, and predicts growth will be around 3.25 per cent this year, broadly in line with trend growth.
Treasurer Wayne Swan said the IMF had given the government's economic management "another big tick" during the most challenging period of global volatility in three quarters of a century.
"The government understands that not everyone is doing it easy, but reports like these demonstrate why all Australians can be proud of what we have achieved working together in the face of acute global challenges," Mr Swan said in a statement.
However, the report - the 2012 IMF Article IV Staff Report and Financial Sector Assessment Program - warns that because growth is being driven by a mining investment boom, it increases the economy's "vulnerability to terms of trade shocks".
An uncertain global environment, a high Australian dollar and sluggish housing construction mean investment outside of mining is also likely to remain weak in the near term.
But it says the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is in a position to respond to near-term shocks.
"The RBA has the scope to lower interest rates and loosen monetary conditions to buffer against a downside scenario," it says.
"Moreover, Australia's modest public debt gives the authorities scope to delay their planned return to surplus in the event of a sharp deterioration in the economic outlook."
The government has repeatedly pledged to bring the budget back to surplus, promising a $1.1 billion surplus in 2012/13 from a $43.7 billion deficit in 2011/12.
Despite risks to the outlook, the IMF believes this fiscal consolidation does strike a balance between the benefits of reducing public debt and the need to contain any adverse impact on growth.
Shadow treasurer Joe Hockey said the IMF report was timely, coming at a time when the government was refusing to repeat its guarantee to return a surplus this year.
"Returning the budget to surplus will restore much-needed confidence in the Australian economy," Mr Hockey said in a statement.
The IMF said the main risks to the outlook were an intensification of the euro crisis, a sharper than expected slowdown in China, and an "unfavourable resolution" to the US fiscal cliff.
Financial markets are jittery over whether the fiscal cliff issue will be resolved quickly, before the automatic spending cuts and unwinding of tax cuts are triggered at the turn of the year.
Mr Swan told a conference in Sydney it was imperative the US Congress work constructively with re-elected President Barack Obama to avoid the worst of the fiscal cliff and agree on a credible plan for fiscal sustainability over the medium term.
"We've seen all too clearly in Europe the high price to be paid when governments delay the politically tough decisions in favour of the easier populist path," he told a National Union of Workers event.


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26 August 2008|
Well known for their stopping power, BMW braking systems are amongst the best in the business. Most of their vehicles are jammed full of technology and luxury appointments making them highly advanced, but also very heavy. The heavier the car, the more braking force required. Right out of the box, our donor BMW 740i Sport uses massive floating calipers with metallic pads to grip a vented rotor measuring 324x30mm. The rear is a non-vented 324x12mm disc clamped by a sizable. Coupled with a powerful master cylinder, the system as a whole is well above average for a car of its physical dimensions and weight (estimated to be 4,500lbs as it sits). We hooked up our V-Box Performance meter (www.vboxusa.com) to get a best baseline of 128ft 60-0mph stopping distance but we know there is more left in there with a few upgrades from EBC Brakes!
One of the easiest upgrades out there for effective braking are upgraded brake pads. The various compounds can really reduce stopping distances even using OEM rotors! In our case we opted to go with EBC slotted rotors instead of OEM and eliminate the dusty BMW OEM pads as well. BMW pads work well and are virtually silent, but they generate a lot of brake dust. Not the case with EBC pads, they achieve low dust and low noise, yet maintain the friction required for improved braking.
We spoke with EBC Brakes President, Andy Freeman about what products we should consider for the test. "If you have a street car and drive it hard, you'll definitely want to go for the EBC Yellows!" Says Freeman "The Red compound provides lower dust and noise. The Greens are more for sport compacts, but if you really want to bring this car to a stop in a hurry use the EBC Yellows." Freeman mentioned the optimal heat range for the EBC Yellow is more suited to aggressive street driving and since we push our BMW sport sedan hard during spirited drives time to time, this is a great fit. The EBC Yellows are used in competition as their Aramid DM1793 compound offers improved braking when heated. The duality of this pad is that it can also be used as a street pad requiring no heat-up process ... the first of its kind in the world!
The EBC Yellows are well suited for the usage of this classic sport sedan. The dust levels are reduced over competing products by 60-80% and as Freeman points out, no pad is ever 'dust free.' However, the EBC compound contains no metal, so they are easy to clean and don't stain. The noise associated with some pad upgrades is often quite irritating too. Not the case with EBC, which generate the low audible levels one would expect on this luxury car.
We selected the EBC Ultimax (USR) series of slotted rotors for our tests as well. These slotted rotors come with a special plating that quickly wears off the braking surface, but sticks to other areas to prevent unsightly corrosion. The slotting process provides an opportunity for hot gases to escape and cool the rotor to prevent warping. The debate between cross-drilled or slotted rotors (or both) continues, but EBC maintains that slotted rotors improve parallel pad contact creating even wear without the ridges that develop on cross-drilled units. The contact area turns silver after bedding-in.
We topped up the system with DOT 4 fluid and after installation (reluctantly spending $80 on BMW wear sensors!) we were ready to start the bed-in process. The USR rotors require no cleaning prior to install as the red "BRAKE-IN" coating on the pads is a mild abrasive. The coating removes the black PHP coating on the USR rotor, so the bedding-in process is quicker. EBC recommends that proper bedding-in for street use means you do not heavily apply or drag the brakes for the first 100 miles. The next hundred miles more pressure can be added during all braking situations, but do not drag the brakes! Of course this is inner-city use as highway braking isn't going to provide the proper conditions. After 200 miles is complete, it's time to head out in a safe area (not public roads) for some heavy stabs at the upgraded brakes. Take the car up to 60mph (100km/h) and jam the brakes all the way down to 10mph (15km/h). After five of these aggressive decelerations, drive freely to cool the brakes with no full stopping for 15 minutes to create a proper transfer film. Braking will be dramatically improved however optimal performance may not be seen for as much as 1,500miles (2,400km).
While testing, we shook up the previous record with the new EBC gear, which had not yet completed the 1,500 mile marker, but was capable none the less. We clicked off a best of 124ft 60-0mph which is 4-feet quicker than stock! It may not sound like much, but lets remember that could be the difference in avoiding an accident. The fade is also improved as well with the slotted rotors, and at no time did the braking appear to be dipping in performance.EBC knows brakes, all they do is manufacture various friction products to stop: motorcycles, cars, trucks, planes and even bicycles! When you are looking for an end-to-end solution to work with your OEM system, EBC has the rest of it covered to change the way your car comes to a complete stop.


text: CES 2008 brought quite a few new robots from WowWee. One exciting entry was the FlyTech Bladestar flying machine, a spinning propeller with the unique twist of having sensors that allow it fly on autopilot. The most interesting in my opinion is the Rovio spy robot that allows you to monitor your home remotely and easily create patrol routes to go to predetermined spots in your home, using its point and click navigation software.


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Fort Hays State University > About FHSU > Division of Student Affairs > Academic Advising and Career Exploration > Overview
Academic Advising and Career Exploration Center
Fort Hays State University
600 Park Street
Hays, KS 67601
Phone: (785) 628-5577 or 1-800-628-FHSU
Fax: (785) 628-4657
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Contact Us
Are you exploring your major options, looking to confirm the major you are currently pursuing, assessing your current academic situation or wanting to take courses as a non-degree seeking student? If so, then the Academic Advising and Career Exploration Center (AACE) is the place for you to go. AACE serves exploratory majors, non-degree seeking students, students looking to confirm their current major, and students who are on academic probation and academic suspension. The Center is also a great advising resource for faculty advisors and staff. AACE can help you:
Contact our office to schedule an appointment with a professional advisor.
The Academic Advising and Career Exploration Center is now on Facebook! The AACE Facebook page offers information about:


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Here you'll find Genuine Original Manufacturer Parts (OEM parts) from top brands like Bach, Yamaha, Schilke, and more direct from their factory to our warehouse!
We have the most common parts available listed here on our site. However, if you need a part we don't have listed, please Contact Us.
We also offer Services like our thorough Trumpet Tune-up Service that includes:
* Some Tune-Up kits may vary. See individual Tune-Up kit pages for details.
**See Trumpet Tune-up page for details


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This pledge closed almost 5 years ago
Volunteer with Global Justice for Animals and the Environment at Earth Day New York's annual Earth Fair, a massive eco-event held this year in Union Square (4/5/6/L/N/Q/R to 14th Street-Union Square). We'll be running an information booth from 9AM until 6PM, where Earth Fair attendees can learn about TPP, pick up fliers, sign petitions, and find out how they can get involved in the fight for greener trade policy. We'll also be running a kids activity - kids will be encouraged to draw pictures of orangutans to express concern about the destruction of the orangutan's home in the Malaysia's rainforests by the oil palm trade -- and how corporations involved in the destruction like Cargill will be able to use TPP's procurement rules to prevent governments from instituting sustainable palm oil procurement rules and to prevent Malaysia from enacting stronger laws to protect its endangered forests. In addition to staffing the booth, volunteers will circulate through the crowd, asking attendees to sign petitions and handing out fliers on TPP and its threat to the environment. For more info or to find us on site, contact Wendy at (347) 881-5634 or email [email protected]


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BWW TV: Sneak Peek of Katie Holmes & Norbert Leo Butz in DEAD ACCOUNTS on Broadway - Full Preview!
DEAD ACCOUNTS, the new comedy by Pulitzer Prize finalist Theresa Rebeck, directed by three-time Tony Award winner Jack O'Brien stars two-time Tony Award winner Norbert Leo Butz and Katie Holmes. Dead Accounts also stars Judy Greer, Josh Hamilton, and two-time Tony Award nominee Jayne Houdyshell. The limited engagement of Dead Accounts is currently in previews and will open Thursday, November 29 at Broadway's Music Box Theatre.
BroadwayWorld brings you highlights from the show below!
In Dead Accounts, Jack's (Butz) unexpected return throws his family into a frenzy, and his sister Lorna (Holmes) needs answers. Is he coming home or running away? Where is his wife (Greer) everyone hates? And how did he get all that money? Theresa Rebeck's new comedy tackles the timely issues of corporate greed, small town values, and whether or not your family will always welcome you back…with no questions asked.
The creative team for the production features five-time Tony nominee David Rockwell (scenic design), five-time Tony winner Catherine Zuber (costume design), David Weiner (lighting design), Mark Bennett (sound design, original music), and Tom Watson (hair design).


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Home > Yacht Search: Charter > Monaco Grand Prix Yachts
Click here to view yachts available for the Monaco Grand Prix
The Monaco Grand Prix has been held annually since 1929, in the Principality of Monaco. It is a Formula One race which is considered to be one of the most important and prestigious races around the world. The Automobile Club de Monaco, which also runs the Monte Carlo Rally and the Monaco Kart Cup, organises The Grand Prix of Monaco. The race consists of the actual city streets of Monte Carlo and La Condamine, which are specially prepared in advance. The cars race down right past the moored super yachts in Monaco harbor. The race is held on a narrow course laid out in the streets of Monaco, with many elevation changes and tight corners, making it one of the most demanding tracks in Formula One. In spite the course makes it difficult for cars to pass, the amazing history and incredible spectacle to be continue to be considered the jewel of the maximum race category.
Chartering a luxury yacht has to be the ultimate way to experience the unique event that is the Monaco Grand Prix. Luxury yachts can be booked in the Port to provide optimum race viewing for groups of 10-150 guests and to provide accommodation for up to 36. With our experience and contacts, we can offer the most sought-after berths in the port of Monaco, offering some of the very best views over the GP circuit. The minimum period for a Monaco Grand Prix charter is normally 5-7 days. You can combine your visit to the Monaco GP with a cruising charter along the glamorous French Riviera to Cannes or Saint-Tropez.
For many, the ultimate Mediterranean yacht charter is the F1 Monaco Grand Prix, combine their trip with a visit to the Cannes Film Festival, which occurs simultaneously and is only a short yacht ride away. The view of F1 Monaco Grand Prix from you owns mega yacht moored up against the edge of the street course is spectacular. You can also enjoy the weekend getting busy with hundreds of related events and parties with some of the world's most elite people - entertainers, supermodels, royalty and hundreds of celebrities.
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257.7ft / 78.5m
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Tea Party
Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 12:40 pm
Anyone attend any Tea Parties today?
Tomahawk Leader Message Boards
Floyd Alvin wrote:What's the figure, half the people in this country don't even bother to register and half of them that do don't bother to vote? If that is the case my guess is it is a lot more then just those that supported the Tea Party that feel that way.
Floyd Alvin wrote:Unless you figure that many people are not participating because they are so happy about the way government is running things.... fat chance of that! lol
Floyd Alvin wrote:But to follow your train of thought of taxers being politicians I'm not sure it is as simple as that.
We all know that it is much easier to get reelected then it is to get elected in the first place. So either the vast majority of the voters are also taxers or stupid, one or the other.
I think some people are so invested in the "Obama is the answer" idea that they will follow his plans, regardless of wether or not they agree with them, longer than they normally would or should in order to save face. This is not to say republicans or any other political party supporters don't do the same thing.


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I have just finished the first release of the @LL Robot Radio website!
The new website features some prototyping of bot generated, produced and published content. The technology is a mix of RSS feeds, audio mixing and encoding automation as well as some bot created scripts (e.g. the chomskybot)
I am now digging into the next development phase of automating the complete process!


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Murdoch Paper Hacked Phone It Gave as Gift to Murdered Girl's Mother
News of the World, the Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid shut down last month over allegations of extensive illegal story-gathering practices, is now accused of hacking the voicemail of the mother of a murdered eight-year-old—on a phone that the paper's editor Rebekah Brooks gave her as a gift.
In July 2000, eight-year-old Sarah Payne was abducted and murdered by a man named Roy Whiting. Her mother, Sara, considered News of the World "a friend and ally" during the investigation, and had an especially close relationship with Brooks, then the paper's editor-in-chief. In fact, it was so close that Brooks gave Payne a cell phone "to help her stay in touch with her supporters."
You can guess where this is going. Scotland Yard now apparently has evidence that the phone Payne received was hacked by Glen Mulcaire, the private investigator employed by the tabloid. (Initially, the police had denied that Payne was a target; they now believe that details in Mulcaire's notebooks refer to her.)
Payne, according to friends who spoke with The Guardian, "is in bits about it," for obvious reasons, not the least of which is that she wrote a farewell column in the paper expressing fondness for her "good and trusted friends" at News of the World. Brooks, of course, has denied she had any knowledge that the phone she gave Payne was hacked. Sure.


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Status: Open
Know more about this business than we do? Cool! Please submit any corrections or missing details you may have.Help us make it right
Be the first NOLA.com user to add photos or videos of A Taste Of Home (Reported Closed)
A Taste of Home can be found at W Napoleon Ave 4947. The following is offered: Catering Services. The entry is present with us since Sep 9, 2010 and was last updated on Nov 14, 2013. In Metairie there are 9 other Catering Services. An overview can be found here.


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The USC Trojans, ranked No. 1 in this year's preseason Associated Press poll, have dropped all the way to No. 6 . . . in the state.
Of the seven major-college football programs operating in California, only the University of California is lower than USC in this week's AP poll.
Cal reacted by firing coach Jeff Tedford.
Outside of Berkeley and the gates of Heritage Hall, schools from the state are having excellent seasons. Stanford is 10-2 and ranked No. 8 in the AP poll this week. The Cardinal hosts No. 17 UCLA (9-3) Friday in the Pac-12 championship game.
San Jose State is 10-2 and listed first among "others receiving votes" in the AP poll with 78 points. San Diego State, which scored the program's first road win against a ranked team at Boise State on Nov. 3, received 15 points. The Aztecs are 9-3 and have won seven in a row under Coach Rocky Long — and two of their losses were against San Jose State and Fresno State.


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Excerpts from the spiritual Discourses of Sant Shri Asaram Bapu ji (पूज्य संत श्री आसाराम जी बापू) Each and every sentence of Pujya BAPU ji is a veritable spark of knowledge, capable of incinerating, in a moment, the overwhelming darkness of ignorance shrouding the Jiva's intellect for over thousands of years in the same vein as a raging fire burns down a stack of hay. This Blog is indeed, rejuvenating nectar for the gloomy, the worried, the despondent and the wretched.
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13. Lucky Cricket Productions, LLC
Film Tax Credit: $7,519,497.20 Production: Major motion picture "My Soul To Take," known as "25/8, A Wes Craven Production" during filming. Year Released: 2010 Locations: Danbury, New Milford, Tolland Caption: Max Thieriot, center, stars as Bug in the suspense thriller from writer/director Wes Craven, "My Soul To Take."
Rogue Pictures handout
Copyright © 2018, Hartford Courant


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Across the World: The December 2007 Issue of the AHR Is on Its Way
Members will soon be receiving their copies of the December issue of the American Historical Review. Along with our extensive book review section and six featured reviews, this issue contains three articles, one "Exchange," and an AHR Conversation on "Religious Identities and Violence."
As always, we strive to publish articles that represent the diversity of history as practiced today. For the most part the range of subjects and approaches is unplanned—that is, what we publish is largely determined by the serendipitous nature of the submissions we receive. In recent years, however, there has been a pronounced tendency in our pages toward articles that are transnational in scope. This is certainly true with the three articles in this issue. In "Holding the World in Balance: The Connected Histories of the Iberian Overseas Empires, 1500–1640," Sanjay Subrahmanyam offers us an analysis of the Spanish and Portuguese empires that helped create a world-encircling empire for the Habsburgs between 1580 and 1640. His particular focus is on the interesting ways in which the somewhat blurred boundaries between these two empires were often unacknowledged by contemporaries and remain poorly understood by historians today. Philip Morgan, David Eltis, and David Richardson confront some well-established approaches to Atlantic history, focusing on the question of rice cultivation in the New World in their article, "Agency and Diaspora in Atlantic History: Reassessing the African Contribution to Rice Cultivation in the Americas." (Their findings will be the subject of an "Exchange" in a future issue.) And in "Race, Racism, and Anti-Racism: UNESCO and the Politics of Presenting Science to a Postwar Public," Michelle Brattain provides an interpretation of how the concept of race was reconstructed as a biological category through a history of an international, post-World War II, antiracist public education campaign sponsored by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Finally, in an AHR "Exchange," Eliga H. Gould and Jorge Canizares-Esguerra engage in a discussion about issues raised in the June issue's Forum, "Entangled Empires in the Atlantic World."
The articles section of the issue concludes with an extended AHR Conversation on the topic, "Religious Identities and Violence." The conversation, which began in June and concluded in October 2007, was conducted online and included six participants with a variety of interests and scholarly specialties. Philip Benedict writes about early modern Europe and especially Calvinism. Nora Berend is a medieval history scholar with a particular interest in southwestern Europe. Stephen Ellis is a historian of contemporary Africa. Jeffrey Kaplan studies religious fundamentalism, mostly in the United States. Ussama Makdisi writes on Arab and Ottoman history. Jack Miles has been a journalist and scholar covering a wide range of topics, mostly religious in nature.
The Featured Review section contains six reviews of books selected by the editors as worthy of this extended treatment. As I noted in a previous Perspectives article, we try very hard to choose books from a range of different subject areas, periods, and regions. In keeping with the intent of this journal over the last 15 years, we would very much like to avoid having the majority of reviews on books about modern Europe or the United States. Despite this goal, it might seem to some as if we are slighting scholarship by historians of areas outside the West. Nothing could be farther from the truth. We take care to evaluate all the books we receive to determine whether they are good candidates for the Featured Review section, and we solicit the views of the members of the Board of Editors when making our choices. But it is sometimes difficult to find appropriate books from certain fields. We would be very grateful, therefore, if readers took the time to alert us to books that should be reviewed in such a fashion, particularly if they are from underrepresented fields.
—Robert A. Schneider (Indiana Univ.) is editor of the American Historical Review. He can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com.
Tags: AHA Activities Scholarly Communication
Please read our commenting and letters policy before submitting.


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Customer Reviews
All reviews are from people who have redeemed deals with this merchant.
What You'll Get
Ever since it was discovered on the moon's surface, organic food has supplanted "things wrapped in fried dough" as the preferred food of healthy eaters and discriminating garbage-scavenging animals. See what all the fuss is about with today's Groupon: for $35, you get $75 worth of organic groceries from Nature's Prime Organic Foods delivered straight to your doorstep, stoop, or balloon-hoisted sky fortress. Shipping fees of less than $100 have a flat rate of $15, and anything more than $100 is free.
Nature's Prime obtains its organic foodstuffs from a variety of midwestern farmers who use renewable resources and conserve soil and water without resorting to antibiotics, growth hormones, pesticides, bioengineering, or gene splicing with giant carnivorous plants. Its bacon comes from Wisconsin, its fish are line-caught, its lamb hails from the Midwest, and its fresh fruit is delivered via a giant suction tube directly from the Brazilian jungle.
Tasty organic items, such as Nature's Prime's Otter Creek seasonal cheese ($43.20 for four 8 oz. samples), baby-back ribs ($17.75 for 1.25 lbs.), and chicken thigh and leg combo packs ($20.34 for 1.75 lbs.), provide a higher-octane fuel for your food-injected stomach engine. Cut out grocery-store middlemen and squeaky-wheeled shopping carts with today's Groupon to Nature's Prime Organic Foods.
The Fine Print
Promotional value expires Nov 9, 2011. Amount paid never expires. Limit 1 per person, may buy multiple as gifts. Not valid until 5/10/11. Valid only for regular priced items. Not valid for membership prices. Not valid for gift certificates. Not valid with other offers. Merchant is solely responsible to purchasers for the care and quality of the advertised goods and services.


text: Las Virgenes View Trail is a 3.9 mile moderately trafficked out and back trail located near Monte Nido, California that features beautiful wild flowers and is rated as moderate. The trail is primarily used for hiking, walking, nature trips, and birding and is accessible year-round. Dogs are also able to use this trail but must be kept on leash.


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Apologies for my absence from the forum, I've been busily working away at the interactive whiteboard face at school. Events at school have absorbed a lot of my time, but I thought that I woudl take this opportunity to share the fruits of my labours.
The attached booklets are not perfect and represent a work in progress that addresses the particular concerns of my school. about 3 years ago, GCSE History had its curriculum time reduced to 2 hours a week. There simply was not enough enough curriculum time to deliver all the content, so I had to find a way of reducing the time my students spent making notes and instead focusing on the core skills that were being assessed by OCR. The nature of our students mean that many of them do not revise and the attendence of some means that they miss key sections of the course. When it came to revision they rarely took their books home or the expensive revision booklets that we had spent ages designing for them.
I cast around for a long time looking at the ideas of colleagues at SHP and local schools and eventually came up with the attached formula which works very well for my students. It combines both a revision booklet with built in exam board questions and pupil mark schemes. The idea being to give them the revision notes at the start of each topic, instead of wasting time marking notes. This then gave us the opportunity to spend more time getting our students to do past paper questions which tested their core knowledge and skills. This in turn helped to not only reduce our workload, but gave us a far better picture of their progress and provided us with all sorts of wonderful opportunities for peer and self assessment!
A typical history lesson will begin the usual starters and hooks, followed by a short teacher presentation using either the text book or some form of multimedia. We may well make some summary notes into a graphic organiser of the types I discussed in my whiteboard seminar. This part of the lesson will most probably take between 20 - 30 minutes. I will then dish out my class set of highligter pens and get them to summarise the information in the revision section for 10 minutes before setting them one of the exam questions in exam conditions. They then swap and use the pupil mark schemes to peer and self assess each others answers, write constructive comments and then feedback to each other. Once in a while, I will use my viewer to display someone's answer on the IWB and get the class to have a go at marking it. If they struggle with an answer we will then have a go at modelling an answer on the board so that they know what a good one looks like.
Anyway, I'll chip in a little more later on in the seminar, please do have a look at the resources below, feel free to share them, play with them and make them suit your own educational environment. They are not perfect, but by the time my students have loved them to death and customised them with their own answers and feedback, they always take them home with them to revise.
Kind Regards
PS Why reinvent the wheel?
Edited by Roy Huggins, 31 March 2011 - 06:37 PM.


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New Numark Webcast
Last night (Wednesday 29th October) Numark, Akai Profesional, ArKaos, and DJS Pro Audio and Lighting teamed up for a very special event featuring ArKaos and VJ Momo the Monster. Momo showed off the latest in cutting-edge video-mixing software, ArKaos GrandVJ that's perfect for VJs, DJs, bands, and other performers.
Momo demonstrated the hot software, which is distributed by Numark, using his weapon of choice, Akai Pro's MPK49 keyboard controller.
To watch the webcast, just visit this page.


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JerusalemJerusalem is a city of overwhelming emotions, a city that promises a religious and spiritual experience, excitement and
Tel Aviv-YafoTel Aviv, the country's economic and cultural center, is a lively, active city with entertainment, culture and art, fes
EilatEilat is the ultimate resort city, located on the shore of the Red Sea.
NazarethNazareth is a city of religion and faith, of spirituality and holiness, but also a city with a rich history, fascinatin
HaifaIsrael's third largest city and one of its prettiest, Haifa is a multi-faceted city with several unique characteristic
TiberiasTiberias is a lively tourist city on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, offering a variety of attractions and activities
IsfiyaIsfiya is a village that has a rich tradition of openness, hospitality, and warmth – all characteristics of the Druze
Ein GediEin Gedi is an oasis in the desert and a green Garden of Eden in the wilderness.
Sde BokerKibbutz Sde Boker is the realization of the dream envisioned by David Ben Gurion, Israel's first prime minister and de
Lohamey-Ha'getaotThe kibbutz Lohamey Ha'getaot was founded in 1949 by Holocaust survivors from Poland and Lithuania. Here the fighters
Be'er ShebaBe'er Sheva, the modern-day capital of the Negev, has a history going back all the way to Abraham, father of the Jewish
Gush HalavGush Halav is the site of a city that prospered 5000 years ago.
Ein-hodEin Hod is a charming, picturesque artists' village set in the heart of the Carmel Forest.
Daliyat El-CarmelDaliyat el-Carmel is a colorful Druze village high on the slopes of Mt. Carmel, that offers wonderful hospitality with
Kfar NakhumKfar Nakhum is one of Christianity's holiest and most important sites and is visited by Christian pilgrims from all ov
Mitspe RamonA pleasant and quiet town sitting right on the edge of the Ramon Crater
Peki'inPeki'in is a story of harmony: a village where Christian Arabs, Druze and one ancient Jewish family have lived peacefu
Acre (Akko)Acre is a meeting place for East and West, new and old, beauty and ruins, all adding to its uniqueness.
MetulaMetula is Israel's northernmost town, a quiet and pleasant place, built of a ridge of hills with a view of Mt. Hermon
Caesarea (Keysarya)The past and the future come together in Caesarea: the new city is graced with magnificent homes and the ancient city o
Kfar TavorKfar Tavor, situated on the eastern lower Galilee, invites tourists to enjoy a wealth of fascinating experiences.
KatzerinKatzerin, the capital of the Golan Heights, was founded in 1977 and since then has become an urban, commercial and tour
Bnei BrakBnei Brak is the only large city in Israel whose inhabitants are mainly ultra-Orthodox Jews.
Rosh-PinaRosh-Pina is a town whose main source of income is upscale tourism: a place of trendy cafés restaurants and guesthouses
AshkelonAshkelon is the southernmost city on the Mediterranean shoreline, offering new attractions alongside interesting archa
Tel-HaiTel Hai is a historic site that commemorates the heroism of the Hula Valley pioneers who stubbornly defended their hom
Neveh ShalomNeveh Shalom, or Wahat al Salaam, is the first Jewish–Arab settlement in Israel.
NahariyaNahariya, Israel's northernmost coastal city, is a place where one can enjoy an active vacation amidst an atmosphere o
Kiryat ShmonaKiryat Shmona, Israel's northernmost city, nestles in the Hula Valley, in the heart of one of the most beautiful natur
Safed (Tsefat)Safed is a picturesque city of spiritual people and artists, wrapped in mysticism and mystery, and steeped in sacred a
HertzeliyaHerzliya has three main features: popular beaches, an industrial zone which houses many hi-tech companies, and fine ma
Kafr KanaThe Arab village of Kafr Kana in the Lower Galilee is identified in Christian tradition as Cana of the Galilee
Beit Lekhem ha-GlilitParticularly beautiful ancient stone houses and the enchanting landscape of an oak forest greet visitors to the pictur
NetanyaNetanya is a lively seacoast town situated on the Sharon coastal plain, and a center for tourism that attracts thousan
Kafr KamaKafr Kama in the lower Galilee is home to a minority ethnic group called Circassians
Beit She'anA walk through Beit She'an, one of the most ancient cities in the country, is like a walk through time: archaeological
Abu GoshAbu Gosh, which was first settled over 6,000 years ago, is a Christian-Arab village built on a mountainside
Zikhron Ya'akovZikhron Ya'akov is a wonderful town for tourists, both local and foreign. It is built at the tip of the Carmel Mt. Ran
AshdodAshdod is a vibrant port city with many beautiful beaches.
AradArad and its surroundings have been blessed with beautiful landscapes, desert tranquility, and many walking trails nes
RekhaniyaThe charming Upper Galilee village of Rekhaniya is home to some 1,200 Israelis of Circassian descent.
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Car Review
2013 Mercedes-Benz CL600: Overview
Pros: Immense power from any speed; graceful, elegant design will look good for years; one of the last remaining V12 production cars
Cons: Small rear seats unusual in a car this big; V8-powered CL550 offers similar experience for less money; priced in Bentley territory without the Bentley badge
What's new: The 2013 Mercedes-Benz CL600 is unchanged following slight styling revisions for the 2011 model year.
The Mercedes-Benz CL600 is one of two V12-powered CL-Class models. It's positioned above the brand's CL550 as the flagship CL-Class for drivers who don't want a sporty AMG variant. All CL600 models have two doors and four seats, and all use a smooth 5-speed automatic transmission.
Under the CL600's hood is a 5.5-liter twin-turbocharged V12 that makes 543 horsepower and 612 lb-ft of torque. Although those are big numbers, they don't lead to vastly better acceleration than that of the base-level CL550. That model reaches 60 mph in around 4.8 seconds, while it takes the CL600 just 4.4 seconds. Indeed, the CL600's power advantage is mostly felt on the highway, where its V12 makes it feel like a sports car -- even from 65 mph.
The 2013 Mercedes-Benz CL600 starts around $161,000, making it one of the most expensive models in Mercedes' lineup. It's more expensive than the V8-powered CL550 and CL63 AMG models, but less expensive than the flagship CL65 AMG, which starts at well over $210,000 and boasts an enormous 621 hp and 738 lb-ft of torque.


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If the Canucks weren't one of the most hated teams in hockey heading into the Stanley Cup Final, they are now.
With Alex Burrows and Maxim Lapierre using the game's biggest stage to bite an opponent and fake an injury better than Brad Pitt, respectively, there aren't too many people around the NHL that have a measure of respect for Vancouver, despite the Canucks sitting one win from the Cup.
You can count defenseman Kevin Bieksa among those in a Vancouver sweater who don't care what the Canucks' critics say.
"At the same time, who really cares about what the guys are tweeting and stuff like that," said Bieksa about some players who've been critical of the Canucks from afar. "If I was on my summer vacation, I wouldn't be tweeting right now about the Stanley Cup Final, I'd be enjoying it. Consider the sources."
While his on-ice actions might be despicable, you have to give Burrows credit for embracing the hate.
"Obviously, we probably are," he admitted today about the Canucks being a despised team. "But we really don't think about that too much. We're going to focus in the locker room to get ready for the game, ready to put the best foot forward on the ice."
That foot forward might kick someone when the ref's not looking or lift just enough to take a perfect dive after brushing up against a Bruins player. Nonetheless, Burrows and his teammates are on the verge of finishing this season as the champions.


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Reviewed By RAYMOND D (Barrington, RI) Reviewed for a 1995 Ford Bronco —6/30/2010 9:09 AM
i first used on my miata, great overall. now, put on rear of a 2000 sable wagon. still sqealing as it settles in, but happy already. The has good grap at cooler temperatures, like a OEM, but better overall performance. Brake dust has been low. anythingauto, thanks- great service


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All of the stuff that he's been saying lately about how huge numbers of American Muslims are supporters of terrorism is way more outlandish than even the stuff that our village idiot used to say before he got sore at Pod and took his baseball and went home:
The New York Times - Fact Check wrote:A poll asserting that 25 percent of Muslim Americans condone acts of violence against other Americans was from a "very highly respected group of people."
More like "widely shunned."
Calling for all Muslims to be barred from entering the United States, Mr. Trump cited a poll released in June by an organization called the Center for Security Policy. The group said that an online survey of 600 Muslims living in the United States found that 25 percent agreed with the statement that "violence against Americans here in the United States can be justified as part of the global jihad."
Mr. Trump vouched for the group at a rally on Monday night. But the poll — conducted by the Polling Company, a Republican firm — is in no way truly representative of all Muslim Americans because of its methodology. The poll was not based on a random sample, but included only people who chose to participate, and therefore is not representative of the population being studied. In addition, some of the questions were leading and biased.
And though Mr. Trump may respect the organization that sponsored the survey, it has taken such extreme positions against Islam that it is shunned or ignored by most national security experts and policy makers.
Frank J. Gaffney Jr., the founder and president of the Center for Security Policy, has claimed that Muslims are planning to impose Islamic Shariah law in the United States; that President Obama is aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood, an extremist political movement born in Egypt; and that agents of the Muslim Brotherhood have infiltrated the United States government, the Republican Party and conservative political organizations.
The Southern Poverty Law Center describes Mr. Gaffney as "one of America's most notorious Islamophobes" who is "gripped by paranoid fantasies about Muslims destroying the West from within."
Of course we recognize Frank Gaffney's name, because he and Pamela Gellar are Shaun's two favorite leading Islamophobes. But even Dade didn't stoop to trying to use one of their manufactured, self-serving polls when he went around raving about how all True Muslims wanted to kill him. He at least cited real polls. (That inconveniently showed that Mormons and Jews are both way bigger supporers of violent extremism and killing innocent civilians in the name of religion.)
Then of course there's this fabrication:
Donald Trump wrote:I watched when the World Trade Center came tumbling down. And I watched in Jersey City, New Jersey, where thousands and thousands of people were cheering as that building was coming down.
Even though that's obviously not true I would expect people here to be cheering him on. A little fabrication here and there to make Muslims look evil never hurt anybody right?
Now he wants to ban all Muslims from entering the United States, and he's been talking about how FDR put Japanese immigrants into interment camps. Why don't any of the haters here have the nuts to just come out and say that's what you want?
How could you spend a couple of years on spouting hatred for Muslims nearly every single day and then let this guy come along and upstage you? Hurry up and propose that Muslims should be required to wear identifying badges on their clothing before he beats you to it.
Maybe somebody could propose a set of laws aimed at protecting America by preventing Muslims from intermarrying with non-Muslims? We don't want to allow weak Americans to have religiously impure offspring. How about laws for Americanizing Muslim businesses by dismissing the Muslim workers and transferring ownership to proper Christians?


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Review | Author Bio | Read an Excerpt
Chris Fabry's Bio:
Chris Fabry is an award-winning author and radio personality who hosts the daily program Chris Fabry Live! on Moody Radio. He is also heard on Love Worth Finding, Building Relationships with Dr. Gary Chapman, and other radio programs. A 1982 graduate of the W. Page Pitt School of Journalism at Marshall University and a native of West Virginia, Chris and his wife, Andrea, now live in Arizona and are the parents of nine children.
Chris's novels, which include Dogwood, June Bug, Almost Heaven, and Not in the Heart, have won two Christy Awards and an ECPA Christian Book Award, but it's his lyrical prose and tales of redemption that keep readers returning for more. He has also published more than 65 other books, including nonfiction and novels for children and young adults. He coauthored the Left Behind: The Kids series with Jerry B. Jenkins and Tim LaHaye, as well as the Red Rock Mysteries and the Wormling series with Jerry B. Jenkins. RPM is his latest series for kids and explores the exciting world of NASCAR.
Visit Chris's website at www.ChrisFabry.com


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There�s no use trying to figure out the permutations in play or the possible paths the Elon University men�s basketball team could travel in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament.
This postseason event has an indecipherable bracket.
In fact, it�s a bracket that presently doesn�t exist.
So, better for the Phoenix�s focus and preparation to live in the moment � that�s a must, really � entering tonight�s first-round CIT game at Canisius
�It fits perfectly where we can completely hone in on what�s in front of us right now,� Elon coach Matt Matheny said, �which is what we want to do anyway.�
This experience touches historical levels, thanks to a team that has authored Elon�s most successful season in 14 years as a Division I member.
The program is competing in a postseason for the first time since 1997, when the school was known as the Elon College Fightin� Christians and competed on the Division II level.
An Elon victory tonight would deliver its first postseason win since the 1970 NAIA Tournament.
�The neatest thing is being able to play long into March,� guard Jack Isenbarger said, �rather than sitting at home or sitting on the couch or sitting at a restaurant watching NCAA games.
�I�m excited for the CIT and hopefully to be able to fill out a bracket with Elon on it. Although it�s not necessarily the NCAA Tournament, it�s still an opportunity to win a championship, which is very cool.�
As for Isenbarger�s bracketology hopes, even a crystal ball and magic pen might not uncover the mysteries of the CIT�s 32-team field.
There are no pairings or configurations beyond the first round. Teams that win and advance then are notified of their next assignment by the CIT.
And that�s the manner in which the tournament unfolds, with the reshuffling and �reseeding� of the CIT picking the matchups � presumably sending the teams that own lower RPIs to play against the teams that have higher RPIs.
Furthering the unknown is the opponent, Canisius of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.
Elon played 18 Southern Conference games in the regular season, then two more in the league tournament, an intensifying grind considering the intimate knowledge of details and nuances involved.
Now, Canisius under first-year coach Jim Baron, presents something of a blank slate. The Golden Griffins knock down 3-pointers (286 on the season) at higher rate than 3-point proficient Elon (249 on the season). Billy Baron, the son of the coach, who began his playing career at Virginia, leads Canisius in scoring (16.9 points per game).
�It�s fun. It�s different. It�s exciting,� Matheny said of preparing for tonight�s game. �The other day we had practice on St. Patrick�s Day. Think about that, it�s the middle of March. That�s special for our program. An opportunity to practice on St. Patrick�s Day, that�s the way it should be. We want it to be that way every year. That�s what we want for our program.�
Isenbarger, whose energy and effectiveness in the Southern Conference Tournament significantly were drained by a sinus infection, is taking medicine and has been feeling better. He sat out two of Elon�s practices last week while recovering, and also got 13 hours of sleep one night.
Tournament tip-off
What: CollegeInsider.com Tournament
Who: Elon (21-11) at Canisuis (18-13)
When: 7 tonight
Where: Koessler Athletic Center, Buffalo, N.Y.


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Wow… Just WOW!
I stole this from the BadAstronomer Phil Plait's blog, and it was too good not to share. Make sure you bust it out to full screen.
That is all, please continue to be in awe with the world we live in.
From http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/Videos/CrewEarthObservationsVideos/
VN:F [1.9.22_1171]Wow... Just WOW!,


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Model: Bontrager RL MTB Shoes
Size: 42
Tester: Robert aka Pineapplebob Myint, 5'6", 140lbs
Months tested: 3
Sizes: 39-49 Euro 6.5-14.5 US
Website: https://bontrager.com/model/07810
• Mid-level mountain shoe offers rugged all-day performance in an affordable package
• Bronze Series Carbon sole for stiffness and excellent power transfer
• Simple and intuitive two straps plus buckle design for ease of use
• Reinforced toe box for protection and durability
• External molded heel cup prevents heel-slip and provides ventilation
• Direct-inject TPU lugs feature a durometer optimized for superior off-bike traction
• Built using Bontrager's standard volume inForm Pro SV last
• eSoles premium insole for optimal fit and support
From the Bontrager website:
"With cycling shoes, the perfect fit is essential to enjoying the ride. That's why Bontrager shoes are designed using inForm technology—proprietary features that offer almost every cyclist optimal support and fit no matter their riding style or foot structure. Unlike other cycling shoes, inForm models can accept any insole—including custom orthotics—without compromising fit. Their unique construction allows for near-custom adjustability from heel to toe for unmatched comfort mile after mile."
Once again, the folks at MTBR.com have graciously entrusted me with a product test, this time a pair a brand spanking new Bontrager RL MTB shoes. It's always exciting when a package arrives at your door for you – especially when it has something to do with mountain biking!
Initial impression…
I ripped open the package like an overzealous kid at his birthday party and the contents spilled onto the garage floor. "Wow" I thought, cool-looking shoes, silver uppers with an orange plaid trim around the ankle. They seemed reasonably light weight and the three strap system looked typical – two Velcro straps and one buckle-type strap. Also in the package were the optional toe cleats and the tool for tightening them.
The setup was typical for most cycling shoes; just attach your cleats – I use good old SPD's and adjust the position. I also installed the optional cleats.
As far as fit goes, I used to work in a running shoe store, so I know that just because you wear a 42 euro in one brand of shoe, that doesn't guarantee the next pair of 42's will fit exactly the same. But these were true to size initially. The fit was pretty good and the foot bed felt comfortable and supportive. I have wide feet, and the volume of the toe box was roomy enough that my feet had some wiggle room. The tab on the tongue was soft enough that I didn't really notice it against my ankle. You could still see the orange plaid on the ankle area – cool.
After clipping in, I tweaked my cleat placement until it felt right. Got dressed, grabbed my two dogs, and started pedaling to the trail by my house. It's a gravel road leading up to a waterfall with a "little" climb about half way through, but it's only about a 5 mile round trip. The shoes felt good, and the power transfer was pretty solid through the carbon soles. Climbing out of the saddle, the shoes felt solid and I made my way up the climb. The last 50 yards require a hike-a-bike over some roots and rocks to get to the falls, and the lugged outsoles provided adequate traction. The shoes are made for all-day riding, so they provide just enough flex for short hikes.
So initially, the shoes worked well. They were light, comfortable, supportive, stiff and easy to put on and take off.


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stubby wrote:aoffan23 wrote:Hey, indirectly altering the battle can be pretty awesome, too. What about a hypnotist hero who can command super soldiers to go on a rampage for them. The super soldier is much more capable than he is, so it's only logical. So does the hypnotist not deserve to become a hero just because he didn't directly kill anything?
Yeah, pretty much. Doing something amazing is not the same as doing something Heroic. I mean you just used the word "logical" to describe his strategy. You do the math.
A powerful Hypnotist is just a regular SuperNatural unit with a couple of Mind Dice; we already have rules for that. A Hero is a different kind of thing entirely.
Oh, I completely forgot about the Supernatural additions. Forget what I said, then.


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The GENES Blog (GEnealogy News and EventS): Top stories concerning ancestral research in Britain, Ireland, and their diasporas, from Irish born Scottish based professional family historian, author and tutor Chris Paton. Feel free to quote from this blog, but please credit The GENES Blog if you do so. To contact me please email chrismpaton @ outlook.com.
Thursday, 3 October 2013
Society of Genealogists certificates of recognition awards
For further details visit the SoG blog at http://www.sog.org.uk/news/article/society-of-genealogists-launches-a-new-prestigious-award-for-the-genealogic.
My latest book, Discover Scottish Civil Registration Records, is now available from http://www.gould.com.au (print) and http://www.gen-ebooks.com/unlock-the-past.html (ebook), whilst Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet is available at http://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Irish-History-on-the-Internet/p/3889/. My next Pharos Scottish course, Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the OPRs, starts Nov 13th - see http://pharostutors.com.
1 comment:
Personally I am delighted that Rosemary Clever is a recipient. I first met Rosemary and her late husband Peter at the Guildford meetings of the West Surrey FHS, back in the mid to late 1980s. Peter and I would always find a little time to chat about our Rugby Warwickshire roots!ReplyDelete
Together they worked tirelessly and contributed much to the field of genealogy. Sadly, Peter died within the last few years, but Rosemary is still involved and contributes a great deal


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The Principle of the little penguin.
like some other people :(
Love her cross-section of cookbooks,self-help, chic info
Don't we all do this
Books always seem to hold the answers..ahem
She has so many great French cookbooks that are NOT translated into English!!!
Why is that?
I'd love get my paws on Sophie!!
Hello US pubs-do something about it!
sooo annoying
I see my Laduree book:) So nice to be such friends!ReplyDelete
Exactly LA Table!!
I have so many of the same books as Fr Girl.
And the ones I don't have I WANT!!! :)
What a great sneak-peek! I love looking at what other people have on their bookshelves. Sometimes it's all you need to know about them (and I like French Girl though I've never met her for having COOKIES on her bookshelf!)ReplyDelete
it's lucky she doesn't have a medicine cabinet!!
too true Amy
A belated Happy May Day to you, Carol, and many thanks for those wonderful muguet photos. I could almost catch the scent all the way across the Atlantic.
Like you, I am fascinated by books on shelves, and always just wonder a bit about folks who have no books.
No books on the shelf!!
Definitely not a person to get to know well indeed.
What an artful bookcase...and collage...and clever use of paper bags! FG is, like yourself, very creative. I could have used that little penguin's method this a.m. Also can relate to the magazine collection...my Elle Decor mountain is growing. Thx for the glimpse into FG's lovely serene space.ReplyDelete
RE: Frances' comment: ARE there people who have no books????
Re: Where are the cookies?: Talk about hiding in plain sight!
Re: French cookbooks not available in translation: pourquoi pas?
Re: clutterers vs. non-clutterers: I am a hybrid! Parts of my home are totally uncluttered but my workspace is clutter incarnate!
French Girl has extremely tidy, ordered bookshelves, and a nice line in recycled decor. I also have an unhealthy interest in the content of other people's bookshelves.
Off now to find my inner penguin ...
Dear Ms. Pingouin,
I think you already have..IMHO
cool as a cuc is you Karen
I am extremely impressed (and flattered) by French Girl's reading material. I want to frame it - cookies included!ReplyDelete
I'm impressed by FG's creative decorating - goodness, you are such a snoop :) This was like watching CSI deconstructing a bookcase!
I love the sketch of Lulu!
like CSI!!!
oh my...
you do know how to compliment a girl...swoon
It appears French Girl has le bon gout!ReplyDelete
Of course one would keep cookies on the bookshelf. :)) I wish my shelves were as neat. Wow. I am envious of her orderly mind. :))ReplyDelete
omg wouldn't we all love to be so neat.
I feel a bit like the bull in the china shop here.
No idea at all why she allows me on the premises :)
Yep I remember Sophie Dudemaine was the pioneer for modern cookbooks. I also remember "Le Chocolat de Christophe" which remains my absolute reference for chocolate recipesReplyDelete
RP's seal of approval on FG's choco book :O
big merci!!
yr word is LAW!
Hmmmm...I never thought of stashing treats in with my books. Quelle bonne idee!ReplyDelete
Thanks for the reminder Connie.
I am about to have a tea..
how nice to have a cookie with my tea!
Fascinant! Merci!ReplyDelete
Love this post! Thank you for this. I will refer to it often for eye candy :)
Fashion store http://fashionstore-us.blogspot.com